In my last series of articles (“The Seven Miracles”), I made the observation that the time period from 2028-2040 would be the ideal time for the 4th Miracle of the Etheric Christ to come to fruition. This miracle would be analogous to the Feeding of the Five Thousand, and would be the organic metamorphosis following upon the founding of the Michael School (within the vessel of the General Anthroposophical Society), the Christ School (within the vessel of Meditations on the Tarot), and the Sophia School (within the vessel of the Sophia Foundation).

However, in an earlier series of articles (“The Cosmic Communion of Fish”), I observed that the year 2018 might be the beginning of a time period analogous to that of the 40 days the Risen Christ was with his disciples after the Resurrection, following up on a period analogous to the first five Stages of the Passion (1879-1928) and a period analogous to the sixth stage, that of Entombment (1928-2018).  I also made the observation that just as there was confusion, fear, and anxiety around the phenomenon of the empty tomb subsequent to Christ’s Resurrection, there may be a similar mood on a wider scale next year.

The question may arise as to whether there is a connection between the year 2018 and the years from 2028-2040, and if so, what that connection is. In fact, it is my observation that these are not two isolated periods; that there is a bridge connecting the two; and that both time periods point in the direction of a third:  that of the year 2047, which according to Robert Powell is the end of a Cosmic 40 Days of Temptation, in which every day of the life of Christ has transformed into one Saturn year of 29.46 years. From this perspective, the entire time period from 869 AD through 2047 AD is analogous to 40 Days of Temptation, with 2018-2047 marking the last “day.”

Before we can make sense of the connection between the three time periods 2018 — 2028-40 — 2047, we will have to look more closely at the three prior “days” of temptation, those during which the three temptations recorded in the Gospels occurred on a global scale for humanity. From 1929-1959, humanity was faced with the temptation of the will to power, with Lucifer offering all the kingdoms of the world at the price of us worshipping him. From 1959-1988, both Lucifer and Ahriman approached with the temptation to throw ourselves down from the pinnacle, to rely on blind instinct rather than conscience. Finally, from 1988-2018, the temptation proceeding from Ahriman has been to turn stones into bread, to create a completely technological/materialistic culture.

The three temptations involved a roving spotlight, one that first cast its focus onto Middle Europe (particularly Germany), then onto the USSR, and finally onto the USA. We can see a progression from the current and into the future cultural epochs spoken of by Rudolf Steiner and others: the 5th (European – Age of Pisces), 6th (Slavic – Age of Aquarius) and 7th (American – Age of Capricorn) cultural epochs.

During the first temptation, it was primarily a question of the world at large under threat from Germany. The crumbling of the world situation occurred primarily in the first 4 years of the “day” of temptation (1929-1933). This time period saw both the Great Depression as well as the rise of Adolf Hitler to power. The threat reached a fever pitch and a turning point 10-16 years into the “day” (1939-1945), the time period during which World War II was fought. Finally, it was during the shift into the next “day” of temptation that cultural breakdown and punishment of Germany took place, primarily on the part of the USSR in the splitting of Germany into East and West and the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961.

We see here that now Germany (and the rest of Europe) experienced something from 1959-1963 akin to what the world at large experienced from 1929-1933. Rather than Fascist Europe threatening the whole world, Communist Russia became the threat to a broken Germany. And once again, 10-16 years into this tension between Europe and Russia, a turning point was reached: from the years 1969-1974, the Prime Minister of Germany was Willy Brandt, whose “Ostpolitik” aimed at relieving tensions between East and West Germany. (There are of course other geopolitical events happening parallel to these, reflecting the same core shift. For example, the election and assassination of John F. Kennedy between 1959-1963 on the one hand, and on the other the Nixon administration and its failure in Vietnam between 1969-1974).

So we can see that between 1929-1959, the entire globe went through a kind of death and renewal process via the threat emanating from Germany. Subsequently Germany herself experienced a death and renewal via the split into two pieces and the construction of the Berlin Wall. The first four years of the next day of temptation (1988-1992) saw the renewal of Germany come to a certain level of fruition:  as Communism began to lose its grip as a cultural impulse in the USSR, the Berlin Wall came down, and Germany was once again a whole nation.

Now it was Russia’s turn to die. Between 1988-1992, there were massive upheavals in the USSR; the entire country experienced a breakdown and descent into chaos and poverty. This was brought about primarily through the covert operations of the USA in their attempts to destabilize the USSR as a world power and a threat to global hegemony. Once again, 10-16 years into this “day” of temptation (from 1998-2004) a turning point was reached. With the election of Vladimir Putin to the Presidency in the year 2000, Russia became a new nation. In the time since he was first elected President, Putin has directed and facilitated a miraculous turn around of his culture.

And now where do we stand, here at the threshold to the last “day” of temptation, when Angels are meant to come and minister to us as they did to Christ on the 40th day? Is the USA really getting ready to have nuclear war with Russia? Is the world completely doomed?

This was my fear for quite some time, but now I see it differently. The Resurrection event alluded to above, one that will leave confusion and fear in its wake for a time, will primarily be the Resurrection of Russia coming to its fruition, the time period 1988-2018 being analogous for Russia what 1959-1988 was for Germany. The recent sanctions on Russia on the part of the USA will have the unintended consequence of welding Russia and China further together, and driving the EU into their waiting arms. In fact, the USA may have inadvertently written sanctions against themselves. On the other hand, the time from 2018-2022, which will be a resurrection for Russia, is also a time of the death of the American Empire. Whatever and whoever Donald Trump is on the level of personality, it is clear what his task in the cosmic drama is:  the demolition man. It is in the destiny of America at this moment in time that all of the false systems, ideology, and culture that we have cultivated for the last 70 years will be exposed for what it truly is. The phenomenon of Trump is the unveiling of what has been there all along, what needs to come to the light of day and evaporate. His complete lack of competence will only more quickly dissolve the utterly inadequate structures upon which the Empire has been built.

This is a tragic time for America; tragic to the same degree 1929-1933 was for the world, as 1959-1963 was for Germany, and as 1988-1992 was for the USSR. But just as when one has an upset stomach, one can only avoid purging for so long, so the United States has reached the end of its tether. At the same time, this is a glorious time for the rest of the world, a time during which the unilateral hegemony of the USA can potentially give way to the more multilateral and cooperative approach of a nation like Russia.

As tragic as this time period is for the USA, however, it bears within it the seed of a great hope. We can look forward to the time 10-16 years into this “day” of temptation as a turning point, a time when renewal might begin to occur. This falls on the years 2028-2034, which also happens to fall during the time in which the 4th Miracle of the Etheric Christ has the opportunity to unfold (2028-2040). This time period also bears the 2000th anniversary of the three and a half year ministry of Christ, from 29-33 AD. It may be that during this time period, the American people will be given the opportunity to find the spiritual impulses which have been buried under the atrocities committed by Empire, the original spiritual impulses which lay behind the founding of many Utopian communities early on in America’s history.  Many of these found their place in Pennsylvania, such as the Quakers in Penn’s Woods, the Society of the Woman in the Wilderness (who settled in Germantown, PA), the Ephrata Cloister in Lancaster, PA, the Harmony Society (who settled in Butler County, PA), and the Moravian Brotherhood, a Pietist movement that settled in Bethlehem, PA. One could also look to the founding of places like New London, Connecticut; John Winthrop, Jr., the founder of New London, based his life around the resurgent Rosicrucianism and alchemy of the 17th century. In fact, all of the Utopian communities above can trace much of their origin back to the Hermetic stream of Jakob Boehme.

The uniting threads of these communities, the founding impulses of a true America, consist in 1) the intention to infuse traditional Christianity with the forces of the Heart, 2) an appreciation of the Divine Feminine, 3) an eye for the spiritual in Nature (Pan-en-theism), and 4) a direct and unmediated experience of the spiritual world (specifically, Christ). We could see modern forms of such communities in this country in the Camphill Movement as well as the Sophia Foundation.

As the Cosmic Days of Temptation finally come to a close in 2047, we may find a very different arrangement of world leadership compared to what we now experience. And we can make it our hope and intention that we will find a completely reformed American culture in the United States; one that is ready to bear a folk-soul. Valentin Tomberg, in his Lord’s Prayer Course, makes the observation that the USA does not have a folk-soul; it suffers the tension between a Luciferic (backward) Archai and an Ahrimanic elemental. What if the long and difficult road of redemption we are to take in America over the course of the next 30 years is meant to overcome these two opposing forces and midwife the birth of our folk-soul, Columbia?

The year 2047 will mark the time that the turning point reached between 2028-2034 (the 4th Miracle) can fully flower, placing America back on its feet as a member of the world community. And so we have come to our bridge:

2018 — The beginning of the 40th Cosmic Day of Temptation; the Resurrection event of the Grail Stream; full re-emergence of Russia, demise of American Empire

2028-2034 — The 4th Miracle of the Etheric Christ; The beginning of American Reform

2047 – The end of 40 Days in the Wilderness; America reborn, birth of Columbia.

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