bid the violet live
This is the treacherous month when autumn days
With summer’s voice come bearing summer’s gifts.
Beguiled, the pale down-trodden aster lifts
Her head and blooms again. The soft, warm haze
Makes moist once more the sere and dusty ways,
And, creeping through where dead leaves lie in drifts,
The violet returns. Snow noiseless sifts
Ere night, an icy shroud, which morning’s rays
Will idly shine upon and slowly melt,
Too late to bid the violet live again.
The treachery, at last, too late, is plain;
Bare are the places where the sweet flowers dwelt.
What joy sufficient hath November felt?
What profit from the violet’s day of pain?
—Helen Hunt Jackson, "November"
Books from Karsten Massei
Gifts of the Honeybees
Their Connection to Cosmos, Earth, and Humankind
Karsten Massei
Karsten Massei presents the fruits of years of careful intuitive research into the spiritual and elemental reality of honeybees. Karsten’s sharing of his ongoing dialogue with the inner being of the bees gifts us with surprising insights, giving us the opportunity to look at the world of bees, and ourselves, with different eyes.
Child of the Cosmos
Strengthening Our Intrinsic Being
In terms of our intrinsic self, we can easily feel like a novice. Indeed, we face a long journey before we can fully understand ourselves, and we are equally unpracticed in relating to our “shadow” and inner wounds. Child of the Cosmos offers surprising perspectives arising from the author’s personal experiences, opening a clear path of personal development. The text is complemented with seven special meditations to help us engage with the challenges ahead.
Connecting with Nature
Earth and Humanity – What Unites Us?
In a series of concise and accessible chapters, Massei illumines human characteristics—our senses, the quality of our listening, our soul wounds, and the possibility of transformation. Likewise, he lights up the natural world—plants and animals, as well as elemental beings, tree spirits, and Christ, the great being of the earth. Based on first-hand research, this book is filled with reverence for the hidden aspects of life and their significance for personal growth.
School of the Elemental Beings
As beings of the living Earth, we have certain responsibilities, too long neglected. The Earth is not an abstraction—a dead “rock” hurtling through space—but a living being. The elemental beings, who are intimately, intrinsically connected to the living Earth and to the living human race, suffer from our indifference, egoism, and ignorance of life, but they have much to teach us and patiently await our attention.
“Know your environment!” It can begin with this book.
From the Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner
Nature and Spirit Beings
18 lectures in various cities, November 5, 1907 – June 14, 1908 (CW 98)
We do not know the world until we advance everywhere from the physical to the spiritual. We, as human beings, will walk through the world in a completely different, conscious way when we learn to empathize with everything that is around us. This will make our lives infinitely richer. . . . Knowledge only acquires its value when it becomes life, when we learn to live differently and not just to know something.
—Rudolf Steiner, from a lecture of February 2, 1908, in Nature and Spirit Beings: Their Activity in Our Visible World (CW 98)
15% discount applies to all titles on our website. Offer code HOL15 must be entered at checkout and cannot be added after the order is placed. No refunds on previous purchases. Online orders ship to US addresses only.
Offer ends 12/31/23.