liturgy of the seasons (5)
a weekly translation of Rudolf Steiner’s Seelenkalender verse
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.
FIFTH WEEK OF THE YEAR
Im Lichte, das aus Geistestiefen
Im Raume fruchtbar webend
Der Götter Schaffen offenbart:
In ihm erscheint der Seele Wesen
Geweitet zu dem Weltensein
Und auferstanden
Aus enger Selbstheit Innenmacht.
∇∆
LO! the light (which from the spirit’s vales
weaves fruitful patterns in the cosmic skies)
the handiwork of e’er creating gods unveils:
there may the soul her likeness recognise
and let them bear her out upon a starry sea
and from selfhood’s anguished clutches set her free.