liturgy of the seasons (35)

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-FIFTH WEEK OF THE YEAR

35. Kann ich das Sein erkennen,
Daß es sich wiederfindet
Im Seelenschaffensdrange?
Ich fühle, daß mir Macht verlieh'n,
Das eigne Selbst dem Weltenselbst
Als Glied bescheiden einzuleben.

∇∆

CAN I that presence recognize
that in knowing is also known, 
couched within the striving soul
and her creative drive?
enthused I feel, made stronger, more alive
by a power in me more than mine:
the All-in-All works through my hands.

thank you to Karen Gillis for the photo