---
ga: 40
title: "The Cycle of the Year. Annual Festivals"
words: 2238
---
# The Cycle of the Year. Annual Festivals

> In the cycle of the year,  
> The growth power of summer  
> And the earth's rest in winter change.  
> And in the course of human life,  
> The power of wakefulness also changes  
> With the peaceful powers of sleep;  
> Yet in sleep and wakefulness  
> The spirit-filled soul lives on.  
> So too does the soul of the earth live spiritually  
> In the change of summer and winter.
> Undated
> Winter Will
> O images of the world,  
> You float toward me  
> From the vastness of space.  
> You strive toward me,  
> You penetrate  
> The thinking powers  
> Of my mind.
> Summer Will
> You, my head's  
> Formative soul forces,  
> You fulfill my being,  
> You penetrate from my essence  
> Into the vastness of the worlds  
> And unite me myself  
> With world-creating powers.
> from Dornach, November 25, 1923
> Experiencing the seasons in ancient mysteries
> Midsummer  
> Receive the light
> Autumn solstice  
> Look around you
> Midwinter  
> Beware of evil
> Spring solstice  
> Know yourself
> from Dornach, April 8, 1923
> Spring
> The sunbeam and the blossom bride
> The sunbeam,  
> Sparkling with light,  
> Floats toward her.
> The blossom bride,  
> Exciting with color,  
> Greets him joyfully.
> Trustingly,  
> The earth's daughter  
> The ray tells,
> How sun forces,  
> The spirit-born,  
> In the home of the gods  
> Listen to the world tone;
> The blossom bride,  
> The color-glittering,  
> She hears pensively  
> The fire tone of light.
> For eurythmy 1921
> Easter
> In human souls I want to guide  
> The spiritual feeling that willingly  
> Awakens the Easter word in hearts;
> With human spirits I want to think  
> The warmth of the soul, that they may powerfully  
> Feel the risen one;
> It shines brightly in the light of death  
> The earthly flame of spiritual knowledge;  
> The self becomes the eye and ear of the world.
> Easter 1915
> Easter
> Stand before the gate of human life:  
> See the words of the world on its forehead.
> Live in the inner soul of man:  
> Feel the beginning of the world in his circle.
> Think of the end of man on earth:  
> Find in him the turning point of the spirit.
> from Dornach, April 20, 1924
> The Easter idea of the Ephesian mysteries
> as a summary of everything that has ever been known about the true dignity of the human being in the entire cosmos
> World-born being, you in form of light,
> Being born of the world, you in your luminous form,  
> Empowered by the sun in the power of the moon,
> You are gifted with the creative sound of Mars  
> And the limb-moving wings of Mercury,
> You are enlightened by Jupiter's radiant wisdom  
> And Venus's loving beauty —
> May Saturn's ancient spiritual intimacy  
> Consecrate you to spatial existence and temporal becoming!
> from Dornach, April 22, 1924
> Pentecost Thought
> Beings line up with beings in the vastness of space,  
> Beings follow beings in the course of time.  
> If you remain in the vastness of space, in the course of time,  
> Then you, O human being, are in the realm of transience.  
> But your soul rises mightily above them,  
> When it sees, intuitively or knowingly, the imperishable,  
> Beyond the vastness of space, beyond the course of time.
> from Hamburg, May 15, 1910
> Beings follow beings in the vastness of space,—  
> Beings follow beings in the course of time  
> If you want to penetrate from the realm of transience  
> Into the realm of the eternal,  
> Then make a covenant with knowledge,  
> For only then will you find the eternal  
> Within yourself, the eternal outside yourself—  
> Beyond all space—  
> Beyond all time—!
> from Hamburg, May 24, 1910
> Pentecost saying
> Where sensory knowledge ends,  
> There stands the gate,  
> The realities of life  
> Open to the soul;  
> The soul creates the key,  
> When it grows strong within itself  
> In the struggle that world powers  
> On their own ground  
> Wage with human forces;  
> When it drives away  
> The sleep that envelops  
> the powers of knowledge  
> At the limits of the senses  
> With spiritual night.
> from Vienna, May 6, 1915
> The spirits of the world souls
> In light we switch,  
> In seeing we rule,  
> In our thoughts we weave.
> From our hearts we lift  
> The struggle of the spirit  
> Through the wings of the soul.
> We sing to humanity  
> Of the experience of the gods  
> In the shaping of the world.
> For eurythmy, Pentecost 1921
> Midsummer
> Uriel Imagination
> Mysteries of the Heights
> Behold our weaving,  
> The luminous excitement,  
> The warming life.
> Mysteries of the depths
> Live what sustains the earth  
> And what is formed by breathing  
> As an essential force.
> Mysteries of the center or the human inner being
> Feel your human bones  
> With heavenly radiance  
> In the ruling world association.
> Like a cosmic affirmation of these mysteries ringing into the whole, like with organ and trombone tones
> Materials are condensed,  
> Mistakes are corrected,  
> Hearts are examined.
> from Dornach, October 12, 1923
> Autumn
> The Earth Body and the Warm Soul
> The Earth Body,  
> The Spirit Seer,  
> Lives in Witheredness.
> The seed spirits,  
> The material-pressed,  
> Gain strength.
> And fruits of warmth  
> From the vastness of space  
> Strengthen earthly existence.
> And earthly senses,  
> The deep-seers,  
> They see the future  
> In the creation of form.
> The spirits of space,  
> The eternally breathing,  
> They gaze peacefully  
> Into the weaving of the earth.
> For eurythmy 1922
> Michaelmas You, the disciples of spiritual knowledge,  
> Take Michael's wise gesture,  
> Take the word of love of the world's will  
> And apply it effectively to the soul's lofty goals.
>
> Struggling spiritual forces  
> Striving in matter.  
> They do not find matter,  
> They find themselves.  
> They float above the natural,  
> They live within themselves  
> Breathing Michael's power.
>
> Undatable
>
> Michael Imagination
>
> Sun powers, you the shining  
> Powers that bless the worlds,  
> Waving, undulating shell becomes your light  
> Shell of Michael, the bearer of humanity.
>
> Thus he appears, the Christ messenger,  
> Proclaiming with earnest will  
> He will bring the new, the bright time  
> As the time of the reign of spiritual man.
>
> You, the disciples of spiritual knowledge  
> Take his will into your hearts—  
> See his wisdom in Christ  
> Who strives in the dwelling place of your souls.
>
> Draft
>
> Michael Imagination
>
> Sprouts of the sun powers,  
> Shining, blessing worlds  
> Spiritual powers, to Michael's ray garment  
> You are predestined by the thinking of the gods.
>
> He, the messenger of Christ, points out in you  
> The holy will of the worlds that carries humanity;  
> You, the bright beings of the etheric worlds,  
> Carry the word of Christ to humanity.
>
> Thus the herald of Christ appears  
> To the waiting, thirsting souls;  
> Your shining word shines upon them  
> In the world time of the spiritual human being.
> from Dornach, September 28, 1924
> Michael's Sword<
> Meteoric Iron
> O human being,  
> You shape it to your service,  
> You reveal its material value  
> In many of your works.  
> But it will only be a blessing to you  
> When its spiritual power is revealed to you.
> from Dornach, October 5, 1923
> Winter solstice
> Earth covers the sun,  
> Forcing seeing powers  
> From elements of the earth  
> Free sight.
> Notebook Christmas 1922
> Winter solstice
> The sun looks  
> At midnight hour  
> Builds with stones  
> In the lifeless ground
> So find in decline  
> And in the night of death  
> The new beginning of creation  
> The young power of the morning
> Let the heights reveal  
> The eternal word of the gods  
> The depths shall preserve  
> The peaceful refuge
> Living in darkness  
> Create a sun  
> Weaving in matter  
> Recognize the joy of the spirit.
> from Berlin, December 17, 1906
> Christmas
> In the depths of the human soul  
> The spirit sun lives, confident of victory;  
> The true powers of the mind,  
> They are able to sense it  
> In the inner winter life,  
> And the heart's drive for hope:  
> It beholds the victory of the sun spirit  
> In the blessed light of Christmas,  
> As the symbol of the highest life  
> In the deep night of winter.
> Christmas Eve 1913 Dr. Rudolf Steiner
> Manuscript for Sophie Stinde after from Berlin, December 23, 1913
> Ave, star of the sea,
> Divine young mother Divine young mother  
> And eternal virgin,  
> You happy gate of heaven.  
> Taking that “Ave”  
> As a gift from Gabriel  
> You became the foundation of peace for us,  
> By turning around  
> The name Eve!
> Translation of words from the first Christian centuries from Berlin, December 22, 1910
> Ave Maris Stella  
> Dei mater alma  
> Atque semper virgo  
> Felix coeli porta.  
> Sumens illud Ave  
> Gabrielis ore  
> Funda nos in pace  
> Mutans nomen Evae!
> Christmas
> Translations from Luke 2:14
> Revelation through the heights to God,  
> Peace and quiet through the spaces of the earth,  
> bliss among men.
> from Berlin, December 22, 1908
> Divine revelation in spiritual heights,  
> peace, peace more and more  
> to all human souls on earth  
> who are of good will.
> from Dornach, December 26, 1914
> Revelation of divine powers in the heights  
> And peace to the people of Earth,  
> Who are of good will.
> from Dornach, December 26, 1915
> The divine is revealed  
> In the heights of the world,  
> And peace will spring forth on earth  
> To people of good will.
> from Dornach, December 24, 1922
> Christmas
> Reflected in the soul's eye  
> The light of the world's hope,  
> Wisdom devoted to the spirit  
> Speaks in the human heart:  
> The Father's eternal love  
> Sends the Son to Earth,  
> Who graciously bestows Heaven's light upon the path of humanity.
> from Dornach, December 26, 1914
> At Christmas 1919
> The sunrise of humanity's earthly becoming
> That is the great mystery
> On Mount Golgotha;
> In the light of Christmas
> The dawn shines brightly.
> In this twilight
> Mild light
> Worship the soul:
> Of your own being
> Kindred spirits
> Power and source of existence.
> Rudolf Steiner
> For Helene Röchling
> At Christmas 1920
> The soul of the earth sleeps  
> In the hot season of summer;  
> Then shines brightly  
> The mirror of the sun  
> In outer space.
> The soul of the earth watches  
> In the cold time of winter;  
> There shines spiritually  
> The true sun  
> In inner being.
> Summer joy day  
> Is earth's sleep;  
> Winter's consecrated night  
> Is the earth's day.
> For Helene Röchling
> Isis-Sophia,  
> The wisdom of God,  
> She killed Lucifer  
> And carried him away on the wings of the world's forces  
> Into the vastness of space.
> Christ's will  
> Working in human beings,  
> Will snatch Lucifer away  
> And on the boats of spiritual knowledge  
> Will awaken in human souls  
> Isis-Sophia,  
> The wisdom of God.
> Christmas 1920 Rudolf Steiner
> For Marie Steiner
> Stars once spoke to humans,  
> Their silence is the fate of the world;  
> The perception of this silence  
> Can be the suffering of earthly humans;
> But in the silent stillness matures  
> What humans speak to the stars;  
> The perception of their speech  
> Can become the strength of spiritual humans.
> December 25, 1922 Rudolf Steiner
> Primordial Christmas
> At the turn of time  
> The light of the world spirit entered  
> The earthly stream of beings;  
> The darkness of night  
> Had been dispelled;  
>  
> Daylight  
> Shone in human souls;  
> Light,  
> Warming  
> The poor shepherds' hearts;  
> Light,  
> Enlightening  
> The wise kings' heads
> Divine light,  
> Christ sun,  
> Warm  
> Our hearts;  
> Enlighten  
> Our heads;
> That good may come  
> From what we  
> Found in our hearts,  
> What we  
> From our heads  
> Want to lead purposefully.
> from Dornach, December 25, 1923