A famous member of the Stella Matutina was one Edith Maryon, a very talented sculptress, who at one time saved Steiner's life when he fell from some scaffolding.
The anthroposophical work in Havelock North, New Zealand, was seeded from Dr. Felkin's group (who arrived there first and set up a temple- the "first in the Southern Hemisphere".)
"Ara ben Shemesh. This was a discarnate Arab who claimed affiliation with the desert-temple visited by Father Christian Rosenkreutz on his Middle Eastern pilgrimage. Felkin, realising a magical sodality's need for contact with the inner planes, accepted Ara ben Shemesh as his teacher and the latter's 'Sun-Masters' as his Secret Chiefs. [Ben shemesh encouraged Felkin to keep learning under Steiner.]
"He and his wife undertook several journeys on the Continent with this end in view and their contacts with Rudolf Steiner there coloured henceforward the égégore of all Stella Matutina Lodges in varying degrees. A cognate quest also undertaken by them was the search for Christian Rosenkreutz's tomb described in the Fama Fraternitatis; but this proved a wild goose chase."
Robert Felkin
"On yonder hill you will pitch your tent' prophesied the daughter of Golden Dawn founder Robert Felkin to Herbert Sutcliffe, as she pointed out towards Te Mata Peak. It was about 1940 and he was staying at her home, Whare-Ra [Matutina Temple], in Havelock North..... "Peloha's grounds with its large citrus orchards and organic gardens made the property almost self-sufficient. By the late 1980s, after the deaths of Dr Sutcliffe and his wife, Peloha was no longer economic to run and was sold to Weleda, makers of herbal and homeopathic medicines in the Steiner tradition."
Maryon was obviously talented - more talented than Dr. Steiner in the art of sculpture (much to the chagrin of some anthroposophists). I once heard John Wilkes talk on this. He had prepared an exhibition at the Goetheanum, placing the marquettes for the "Representative of Man" sculpture with Edith Maryon's being the first. Some misguided enthusiast changed them around to make Steiner's models the first in line!
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| May Morning- Edith Maryon |
7 comments:
Excerpts from some letters to Edith Maryon, from Rudolf Steiner: Stuttgart 25.03.23: “As to the Society I have actually no more to say than that I would prefer to have nothing to do with it any longer. I am repelled by everything its executive Councils do”. Stuttgart 11.05.23: “…. The Anthroposophical Society remains asleep. It refuses to be woken up…..” Vienna 30.09.23: “Otherwise, everything went well, leaving aside the albeit significant fact that our Viennese members are also asleep…. The Hague 16.11.23: “……here, too, the Society is in a parlous state, disunity, inadequacy etc….”
More on the history of Felkin: http://kimshistory.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Dr%20Robert%20Felkin
Dr. Felkin also practiced homeopathy.
Naturally enough, there were others who were both members of the Anthroposophical Society and Felkin's Stella Matutina. The most influential was Harry Collison, translator of Steiner's lectures and Secretary General of the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain in 1923:
"in so far as some members of the society who supported the candidacy of D N Dunlop, newly arrived from the Theosophy Society, had expressed an opinion that Freemasonry was not compatible with Anthroposophy. When invited by Collison, Steiner took the opportunity to make it clear to the general meeting that there was no incompatibility between Freemasonry and Anthroposophy." http://www.academia.edu/7712668/Harry_Collison_anthroposophist_freemason_and_magician
She was a member of A.E. Waite's Christian Esoteric Group before she got involved with Felkin.
H.Collison (a leader of the AS in England), Evelyn Underhill- celebrated author of Mysticism (there is a feast day in the Anglican Church for her), Pamela Coleman Smith (artist-designer of Tarot deck) and Arthur Machen (author) were also members.
What an interesting bunch!
Thank you for your words, Bruce. Am I wrong in my perception that all these societies and groups are atomizing? Are we reaching a point where all the currents of 'groupthink' are separating into their individual atomic components? (As in the alchemical 'Solve' in Solve et coagula or the Dispersion (Dissolution) Hexagram in the - I Ching?) This seems to be happening in America and many other institutions.
The Felkin Group did die out Br. Ron, but in more recent (internet) years there has been an attempt at revival. The internet has given us a way of communication and sharing that we've never had before!
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