IN the 1920s, 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.
FORTY-EIGHTH WEEK OF THE YEAR 48. Im Lichte, das aus Weltenhöhen Der Seele machtvoll fliessen will, Erscheine, lösend Seelenrätsel, Des Weltendenkens Sicherheit, Versammelnd seiner Strahlen Macht, Im Menschenherzen Liebe weckend. ∇∆ IN LIGHT, from on high streaming, with the will itself into the soul to pour shining, world riddles unveiling o’er darkness, colours myriad prevailing and love in human minds inspiring and love in human hearts enfiring