In this time of the year when the summer sun is lower in the sky and the whispers of winter are felt in the early morning mists, our thoughts turn to the great Archangel Michael. He who is the face of god, who stands as warrior against the dark forces, who stands as protector and guide of human beings. Michael is the Archangel of the Sun and works closely with the Christ forces.
In the traditional legends of Michael he vanquishes the dragon. He is a being that is depicted in action: often with a lance. His feet are in contact with the fallen forces (represented by the dragon), and his great wings are connected to the heavens. We can see how he stands as a connecting force between the earthly and the cosmic.
On the earth we are surround and penetrated by the four elements of earth, water, air and fire. These beautiful words remind us of how we are nature and part of the great circle of the elements:
I Arise Today
I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendour of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth
Firmness of rock.
— Kuno Meyer, Selections from Ancient Irish Poetry
Saint Michael stands between earth and fire, Substance and Spirit. We can have the fire of initiative, and in order to manifest this we have the gifts of the earthly substance of our bodies: then we can be active, and take action!
The Spacial Dynamics® exercise the Lower Stream helps build healthy movement habits in the lower, metabolic/limb system.
Moving around this region of the body gives us vigor and power. Let’s celebrate these forces of the will! This is where we can initiate activity! Many people have good ideas, but not that many actually put them into action.
“There comes a moment when you have to stop revving the car
and shove it into gear”
(David Mahoney).
The movement begins as a concentrated Fibonnacci sequence spiral. It flares behind and continues forward, slowing down and radiating to the front. The forward arm indicates these lower forces of strength and initiative. Don’t let the baser forces dominate and rise up, use this arm to indicate this containment at the same time as allowing the movement to continue growing. This serves to keep the head clear.
You can ask yourself, what happens in the moment of beginning? How do you get going? How do you move from stillness to movement? Do you always have an idea or intention and then take action?
Michael the warrior is an archangel of action, his connection to the Will is important. Rudolf Steiner describes this as “Michael’s radiant, sun-like life-will”. He works tirelessly against the cold rigidity of Ahriman’s power, bringing warmth. When we take initiative “That good may become”, we use our own forces to put ideas into practice, to practice moving towards ideals. How do we get things done? Sometimes it is just a matter of taking the next step – launching oneself into activity without planning or contemplation. Initiative can be on impulse, or a spontaneous action in response to a need, or it can be well thought out and planned. Rudolf Steiner described Michael as being connected to human movement in the way he facilitates “thoughts flow through the will with force of purpose”. “We have the will to work”
We can ask the question, is there a dynamic to stillness?
One way of creating outward stillness is movement is the point. When we are drawn by the point our large movements get smaller and smaller and there is a drawing in of space and dynamic. Then stillness becomes potential and possibility, rather than fixedness and inertia.
Can our actions include the wisdom of stillness? In the Lower Stream, allow the starting point to be this point of stillness that has living potential and rest.
Let’s explore another possibility with the Spacial Dynamics® exercise The Pulsar.
Create a sphere. This can have the quality of a created stillness. Some paintings of Christ show him holding the world – a crystal sphere.
Then spiral out – one arm going low and into the earthly realm, and one in the heavenly realm. Grow into the diagonal. Continue round to return to the crystal sphere.
Let’s go back to the elements. How can they enhance our movements? First, begin with earth (the sphere). Then add the dynamic of fire (the opening spiral). In the diagonal, the most open position feel yourself drawn by the periphery, as the air that is hardly contained and everywhere. Finally add the quality of water as you the circling back.
Stay awake in the dynamic of fire – let it flame but don’t let it cloud your consciousness. The flames of action can easily become instinct – we can have “kneejerk” reaction which arise instinctually from our lower selves as untethered will.
Create the diagonal, the possibility of uniting heaven and earth before you move. Initiative has to do with the future – create your future and step into it.
The pulsar should pulse – open, closed, open, closed. It takes courage to be open. “Boldness, be my friend” – William Shakespeare.
You can try moving the Pulsar to this poem by Saiom Shriver:
The sunray swords
of St Michael
pierce the gray
cloud shroud
The pouring
power of truth
light and love
now silently
shouts out loud.
Images of Michael often depict what is above and what is below, often with a strong diagonal. What is the diagonal in our bodies?
- A dynamic connection between the head, the heart area and the lower metabolic/limb
- Right and Left working together in new ways
- The organs are not symmetrical – most of us have our hearts on the left side
- With the diagonal the head and upper torso stays free, as does the metabolism.
With the Pulsar we can light up both the will and the intellect and warm the heart.
The Pulsar begins in the heart region, incorporating the solar plexus. We can balance the thinking forces and the will forces. Let the movements pulse like the heart, and feel the lower arm reflecting the flow of blood that can warm the whole body, right down to the toes.
Such a man, able to see into the deeper spiritual life of the 18th Century would have to be represented pictorially somewhat as follows: outwardly the human form; in the lower, animalistic portion the Dragon writhing — even coiling about the heart; but then — behind the man, as it were, for we see the higher things with the back of our head — the outer cosmic figure of Michael, towering, radiant, retaining his cosmic nature but reflecting it in the higher human nature, so that the man’s own etheric body reflects etherically the cosmic figure of Michael. Then there would be visible in this human head — but working down into the heart — the power of Michael, crushing the Dragon and causing his blood to flow down from the man’s heart to the limbs.
Rudolf Steiner – Sep 27, 1923
Let’s move on to courage. When we act with courage, it is the warmth of our conviction and the motivation to do good that has spiritual value. What is the movement of courage? When you “take the next step”, “take up the call to action”, “take heart” – from your starting point you move forward into your life. Courage means that we risk standing or moving in the face of challenge: risking change that might put us out of balance. Courage means that you have faith that even if you suffer you will be able to find equilibrium and healing. Courage is standing in the midst of uncertainty, of not-knowing.
Press back – a Spacial Dynamics® exercise – can be used to facilitate courage. When we live fully in our bodies, we stand firm in the world. When the world pushes into us and we begin to collapse, we can learn to take a stand and reclaim our full selves. “
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it”
(Nelson Mandela)
The feeling of fullness and presence can be reassuring and encouraging. We meet what is coming towards us with equanimity, ease and grace. Practicing such movement dynamics creates new patterns and habits.
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow”. Mary Anne Radmacher
An enlivening Bothmer gymnastics exercise is Fall in the Point. Here we are working with above and below – above with the Cosmic Intelligence and below with the force of Will. When we bring them towards the center we can bring warmth and caring into the human manifestations of these forces.
This exercise begins with a fall. Then let the will forces surge and give wings to your arms, creating dynamic forces around you and lifting you. Then turn to face what is behind. Bringing the space down you conquer, keeping the instinctual life in check. It is an exercise that asks you to be master of yourself and of the forces that hinder development.
As you return to the staring position, you celebrate again.
Michael is the Archangel of action, who is also connected most strongly to Cosmic Intelligence. In this way he supports human beings in their journey towards bringing warmth and heart into thinking. “Michael administers the power of intellect not for himself, but as a divine spiritual force”.
So we have the picture of a being who works from both ends – the polarity of the thinking and through the will. Working towards the middle to imbue the heart with wisdom and the will with warmth. The fiery glow of the sun radiating golden light over the depth of the ocean, unknowable and mysterious, moving and breathing. Above are the realms of light and air. Beneath the realms of water and earth. Our connection is with all four elements. The quickening of initiative has to do with the fire of self, flaming into our will forces and moving ourselves into the world. The courage to create, to stand firm, to overcome challenge. Not to lose heart but to take heart, to bear arms.
This poem, by Malcolm Guite, can be spoken while moving Fall in the Point.
Michaelmas
Michaelmas gales assail the waning year,
And Michael’s scale is true, his blade is bright.
He strips dead leaves; and leaves the living clear
To flourish in the touch and reach of light.
Archangel bring your balance, help me turn
Upon this turning world with you and dance
In the Great Dance. Draw near, help me discern,
And trace the hidden grace in change and chance.
Angel of fire, Love’s fierce radiance,
Drive through the deep until the steep waves part,
Undo the dragon’s sinuous influence
And pierce the clotted darkness in my heart.
Unchain the child you find there, break the spell
And overthrow the tyrannies of Hell.
Kate Hammond – Michaelmas 2023