The Imagination and Intention of Fall

The Festival of Courage

Rudolf Steiner makes reference to the Fall in the Northern Hemisphere as one of “shooting stars” or meteor showers which offer a finite curtain of iron showering down upon the earth. So small are the shower-drops that they offer homeopathic-like doses of iron to earth’s growing plants. He further offers that the dark berries and dark leafy plants have an affinity for taking up this iron and offering it to humans. It is a yearly cycle and one, in ancient times, that was recognized as essential to the human force of willpower. “Iron rich= strong will”.

Steiner looks to the summer festival as one in which the human, full of sun forces, makes promises to self-develop toward one’s “higher nature” in order to offer highly individualized gifts to earth and all of humanity. This is often felt by people who take “time-out-of-time” for renewal… a vacation? The promises we make at that time can become heavy and burdensome in the fall. They drag us down and make us want to “sleep with nature”. It is just at that crux in life that one must summon the strength to fulfill on the promise and choose carefully, what can be done… of all one dreamed of in the height of summer… what can actually be done?

These promises that become burdens that drag us down are often represented in the image of the dragon. Steiner talks about two distinct forces that bring us balance or imbalance depending on how we meet them and put them to service in our lives. Speaking from his Judeo-Christian background, he names these forces Lucifer and Ahriman. (These have similar names in many other non Judeo-Christian cultures.) They serve as a duality which can be harmonious or greatly dissonant …. Lucifer is the force of levity, joy, spontaneity and the great wisdom to be gained by these playfully-informed actions. Ahriman is a force of gravity, form, serious inquiry, planning… and the great wisdom to be gained by our seriously-intentioned actions. One can see that either of these taken too far can become the debauchery of Dionysius or the hardened Apollonian heart (to play a little with the Greek Culture’s look at these). It is in the fall, especially, that we look at all that we dreamed of in our Dionysian Summer and start to beat ourselves up, for, from the vantage of the Apollonian-based taskmaster, we cannot possibly fulfill these dreams! I mean, what were we thinking? This struggle can lead to a frozen will and the accompanying depression.

To use our will to sort through and find the one promise that must be kept is what is asked of us at this time. The crazy cacophony roaring in our ears is pictured as the dragon from the middle ages from middle Europe to Asia … This dragon so wants us to succumb to the numbing of indecision or to escape to mindless entertainment. Thus, some see the two forces coming to imbalance in the “untamed dragon.” To some cultures the Dragon is the teacher who forces you to discern (stay awake and not numb). But the Dragon can also become the force of confusion which results in a frozen will power. It can be both in the same body. 

Therefore, in the fall, one chooses to apply one’s will to fulfill a promise made. To do this takes so much strength and courage. Some people start diaries anew at this time of year, others start projects and “will themselves” to build a rhythm till completion. A lot of teachers rededicate themselves to the meditative practices of a Waldorf Teacher.

 For adults, it is a promise they make to their “higher selves” to become the noble human they aspire to be. To model to their children the values they hold dear. Some parents have even written “Family Mission Statements” or “Parent Covenants” at this time of year.  It is, essentially, a time to take inventory and choose what to exemplify in one’s life for the coming time.

For children the “higher self” is encapsulated in the words we use in our local Waldorf programs … Our most Noble Way of Being.  You can hear a teacher ask “What is your most noble self asking you to do?”  Is this your “Noble Way”? This is referring to a code of conduct conducive to harmony and justice among the students. In the past, the being that personified this Noble Self, was “The Great Knight” robed in red and gold velvet, with a band of gold around his head who stood before the children and asked them “What will you give to further all of humanity and to honor Earth?” The red velvet is the softness of the red of the heart (iron laden blood cells) and the gold is for wisdom of a “Golden Rule”. The Knight Is a Noble, a warrior for Goodness, Beauty and Truth. It is portrayed as a masculine force that lives in all of us. A force that chooses a path and stays to it.

Young or old, everyone may take part in this season of intentionally by taking a few moments to vocalize and share the commitments we make to ourselves, to each other and to the betterment of the greater world. We all have the courage and nobility to live into these commitments, and to find balance, and make peace with our own inner dragons