Viriditas - The Greening
St. Patrick was a lapsed Druid...The Irish harp...& "Rhineland School of Mysticism"
Today I am invoking my mother’s Irish ancestors - The Tuatha Dé Danann - goading Leprechauns - & jigging in the green spectrum of the rainbow - after a night of lake-effect thunder & lightning, producing a slushy snow squall – my soul humming like an Irish Harp, integral to Celtic culture, curling in my cochlea, like I did in the womb.
Based on the ancient lyre, the Irish harp is one of the world’s oldest instruments. Ireland is actually the only country in the world to have a musical instrument as its national emblem.
The primeval Irish kings encouraged harpists to entertain the tribe, granting these bards a special prestige in Gaelic society.
When the British invaders moved in, they made it illegal to even possess an Irish harp, & set out to burn every sacred instrument, & imprison the Druid Priests & Bard-Singers of the land, in a failed attempt to kill the “Celtic Spirit.”
This lilting fairy music went underground for a wee time, only to rise up again with a renewed vigor, so that today the Celtic revival is stronger than ever, especially in Northern Ireland, where British oppression still seeks to reign.
Éire go Brách (literally means “Ireland till the end of time”)
With a nod to St. Paddie & the Trinity in the Shammrock, I am also thinking of the monastery of Hildegard von Bingen, built by Irish monks on the Rhine River. Distinctly Celtic, her "Rhineland School of Mysticism"- honored the authority of women, & the Holy Spirit as the Divine Feminine power of the Trinity - the healing nurturing power that sings thru Nature. She called this power "Viriditas” a word she coined, which means "the Greening."
"I am the breeze that nurtures all things green. I encourage blossoms to flourish with ripening fruits. I am led by the spirit to feed the purest streams. I am the rain from the dew that causes the grasses to laugh with the joy of life. I call forth tears. I am the yearning for good. I adorn all the earth.
"Good people, Most royal greening verdancy - Rooted in the Sun, You shine with radiant light through this earthly ring. You shine so finely, it surpasses understanding. God hugs you. You are encircled by the arms of the Mystery.
"O Lord, most gentle viriditas, O Mary, honeycomb of life, O Jesus, hidden in sweetness as flowing honey, Release my voice again. I have deliciousness to share. I have stories to tell. I have God to announce. I have green life to celebrate. I have rivers of fire to ignite."
—Hildegard von Bingen
17 March 2025 - “Speaking with the Stars”
THE SOUL CALENDAR translated, with added titles, by Roy Sadler - This week's verse, leading to Passiontide - was Rudolf Steiner's birthday verse: Monday 25/2/1861 which was 34 days before Easter on March 31st that year.
LENT III - Awakening Of Love - v48
In light, whose flowing from the heights
would be the world's empowering of soul,
let shine the certainty of cosmic thought
that solves soul riddles
and focusing its radiance in human hearts
empowers light's awakening of love.
20 March 2025 ~OSTARA -
Come gather in Conscious Community for the Vernal Equinox
6 pm Potluck
Biodynamic Prep-Stir - a gifting to the Elemental Beings w/ ~hag
Bonfire w/ CG
Song Circle w/ UVA & friends
at the domicile of the Lucchesi-Archer-Ginsberg kin & kind
RSVP Hazel@CogRite.com
The Tomb & the Womb – Rosicrucian Retort & Bridal Chamber w/ Mysteria Mystica Americana MA
Exploring the Vernal Equinox, with Leading thoughts by Richard Cloud; Reverberations of the 100-year Anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s Death – & the Lapis Exillis for the next Century.
Sunday 23 March 2025 live on Zoom 1 – 2:30 pm CDT
Join us in our Zoom Meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/7050174041?pwd=IHmFS9yuzUXffIXg5b4OojEMtLzbFA.1&omn=84728448792
Meeting ID: 705 017 4041
Passcode: MA
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I find the expression rhineland mystics again and again in English-language anthroposophical texts. I would like to point out that this expression was first used by French authors during the First World War, especially since the “rediscovery” of mystics such as Tauler, Seuse, etc. at the beginning of the 20th century. This term Rhineland Mystics was invented to distract from the fact that these mystics were German or spoke German. Until then, people simply spoke of mystics or, if they wanted to distinguish them from Eastern mystics, they simply spoke of medieval mystics or Germans.