liturgy of the seasons (31)

a weekly translation of Rudolf Steiner’s Seelenkalender verse

IN 1912-1913, Rudolf Steiner created a sort of liturgy of the natural and spiritual year in the form of fifty-two short verses. Experience—my own and others—testifies to the powerful effect that a short meditation on the relevant verse throughout the course of the year can have in respect to awakening and sensitizing the soul to each season’s unique quality and gesture.

Below is Dr. Steiner’s original Seelenkalender, or “Calendar of the Soul” verse for this week followed by my translation into English. I have opted to follow, whenever a conflict arose, the spirit over the letter in my translation efforts, attempting to convey the “mood” before the propositional content.

THIRTY-FIRST WEEK OF THE YEAR

31. Das Licht aus Geistestiefen,
Nach außen strebt es sonnenhaft.
Es wird zur Lebenswillenskraft
Und leuchtet in der Sinne Dumpfheit,
Um Kräfte zu entbinden,
Die Schaffensmächte aus Seelentrieben
Im Menschenwerke reifen lassen.

∇∆

EFFULGENCE from the depths of mind
outward streams in sun-like fullness
transforming light to life and will
enlivening the senses’ dullness
to rouse the soul to action till
her will shall overperch her soulness
and go forth as spirit working deeds in humankind

.