The Spiritual Sun

Introduced by David Lowe

Rudolf Steiner characterises the Christ as the Spirit of the Sun. This knowledge was regarded as secret until Steiner began to speak more openly of it. Even today it is not very well known or understood. This term speakers will approach this significant spiritual fact from many different aspects to try and penetrate its hidden meaning.

Anyone is welcome to attend these lectures, but speakers will assume an openness to a world-view which acknowledges body, soul and spirit, as well as an understanding of basic terms such as 'etheric body' and 'astral body'.

7.30pm - 9pm   No bookings required - just turn up.
£3.50   (£1 concessions, students and under 25's)

6th January - David Lowe - A Baptism and a Pieta

Michelangelo’s early Pieta which stands now in St. Peter’s in Rome established his reputation as an artist. It is regarded by many as one of the most beautiful sculptures in the world. Rudolf Steiner suggests that it is the gateway to mysteries regarding the spiritual Sun and the Grail. Piero della Francesca’s Baptism in the National Gallery in London, according to a Professor of Art at Yale University, also contains hidden references to the Christ as Sun Spirit. In the church calendar, 6th January celebrates the feast day of the Baptism.

David Lowe is a writer and lectures in the UK and the USA on Art History and Spiritual Development through the study of Art. He is joint author with Simon Sharp of ‘Goethe, Palladio and the Discovery of Metamorphosis’.

13th January - Andrew Wolpert - The Love of Light and the Light of Love

A biography of Turner’s artistic inspiration An unmistakable dynamic discloses itself in a particular sequence in Turner’s paintings. His fascination with the interpenetration of the elements, particularly of the sea, and his compositional development reveal the changing effects of Light and its redemptive task in Nature and on the Earth. For Andrew this dynamic in Turner manifests an aspect of the Grail theme in the contemporary world of the Romantics.

Andrew Wolpert lectures on Anthroposophy and Art History in the UK and Europe.

27th January - Nick Thomas - Natural Science and the Spiritual Sun

Although scientists cannot see directly into the Sun, much has been found using instruments. As the Sun is the spiritual heart of the Solar System and of us, another approach will be described that interprets the findings in a spiritual manner.

Nick Thomas was trained as an electrical engineer in the RAF. He has been interested in Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy since his teens and lectures widely on many themes.

17th February - Virginia Gilmer - The Palladium and the Threefold Sun

The Palladium, ‘the greatest spiritual treasure for humanity’, revealed the true nature of the sun, as taught by ancient priests in Troy. It was taken to Rome where it was central to the spiritual life of the city. When the Emperor Constantine founded his new capital, Constantinople, it was taken there and buried; then, the Palladium’s rightful cosmic wisdom was extinguished. Shrouded now in darkness, the Palladium wants to be renewed by Spiritual Science infused with threefold illumination for the redemption of West and East.

Virginia Gilmer is a music teacher, composer and painter whose connection with Anthroposophy goes back two generations, through her mother and grandparents.

2nd March - Sylvia Francke - The Sun Intones in Ancient Splendor...

We will consider how the Spiritual Sun acts as a mediator. Through it the formative power of the harmony of the spheres works into matter. This has been described in detail by Rudolf Steiner and more recently physicists have described how 'sound' can be detected in the interior of the Sun. We will consider too the real 'marriage' between Christ and Mary Magdalene and the mysterious connection between Mary Magdalene and Venus. A special relationship of Venus with the Sun is marked by an almost perfect pentagram formed by Venus/Sun conjunctions over a period of eight years. Pentagonal geometry can be traced in many of the secrets of nature, for example in the angle of the Sun as it shines through dewdrops just after dawn. The healing properties of dew have been recognised from the time of the early alchemists to the Bach Flower remedies in the 20th Century.

Sylvia Francke is a well-known lecturer and author of the seminal work ‘The Tree of Life and the Holy Grail’.

16th March – Dr. Brien Masters - The Light of the Spiritual Sun

A journey of spiritual discovery from Ptolomy to Copernicus to Julian the Apostate to Tycho Brahe

Spiritual Science cleared the Grammar School clouds that loured over the pupil's understanding of history - never more so, for this pupil, than in the case of Julian the Apostate. In this talk, Brien will share some of that clearing and the light towards which it has led, prompted by Rudolf Steiner's research, and put into practice over some fifty years of teaching history as one of the core subjects in Waldorf education.

23rd March - Philip Martyn - Sun Evolution

Anthroposophy considers the previous and future incarnations of the Earth Planet. Philip will survey these with a special focus on one of the earlier stages of our planet referred to as ‘Old Sun’. He will talk about what was developed during that stage and how it affects the condition of life today.

Philip Martyn is Joint General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain. He worked in the City for many years before his retirement.