Dispel Your Fears
Posted by Marta Stemberger on Sep 27, 2026 | 0 commentsI’m intrigued that Rudolf Steiner used the word “maternal” (mütterliches) in the verse marking the festival of Archangel Michael. This is the only time he uses this expression in his entire Calendar of the Soul. Why? He never wrote anything by accident, especially not in his verses.
At Michaelmas, the Feast of Archangel Michael, celebrated on September 29, we’re encouraged to overcome inner fears (the Dragon) with the strength of our Light (the Spear). The imagery is always showing a male-looking angelic warrior standing on or beside a dragon that he conquered with his sword. Yet, this special day is seven days after the Autumnal Equinox during the harvest season. If we are in the time of balance and abundance then we need the feminine aspect as well, to even out the masculine energies.
The life-sustaining feminine vigor in us gives the power to our will, our impulse and strength to act in the world. The fire within, or rather, the will to exist, enables us to bring the Spirit into the matter, to ground the Cosmic Light in our Souls, housed in our bodies, the earthly sheet of our human selves.
O Nature, your maternal life
I bear within the essence of my will.
And my will’s fiery energy
shall strengthen my spirit striving,
that sense of self springs forth from it
to hold me in myself.
~ Weekly Verse 26 by Rudolf Steiner from The Calendar of the Soul
(trans. Ruth & Hans Pusch)
Life-sustaining feminine force
gives power to my will.
The fire, the urge to exist
draws Spirit Light into matter.
My Soul becomes alive, aware
of its human nature in action.
~ Soulful Spark 26 by Marta Stemberger
“Blasphemy!” I hear the opponents’ voices cry. Indeed! If the feminine is responsible for bringing the Light of the Spirit into the darkness of matter, can we be surprised that women have been, and still are, abused, killed, burnt, prosecuted, pushed down, thrown out, excluded? And women do it to women too, sadly.
Genuine maternal nourishing warmth dispels dread. True motherly care soothes the wounded souls. The scary dragon can only be conquered if the spear of light within each one of us is sustained through the love of the hearth. No wonder that the patriarchal cultures have tried hard to eradicate the feminine power in women and men. The cold and calculating mechanisms can only thrive on fright.
The day of Archangel Michael, the presiding entity of angelic beings, has even been downgraded in Christianity, and not celebrated like the other three festivals around the Sun solstices and equinoxes: Christmas, Easter, St. John. Growing up as a Catholic in Europe, I never heard of Michaelmas. Again, we should not be surprised. No patriarchal structure can exist without terror. And so the dominant forces could not allow celebrations that inspire people to dissolve anxieties.
Fear is especially destructive in shattered women who pass them onto their partners and children. Fearfulness fuels separation, greed, technological coldness, mainly perpetuated by fractured men. The annihilating urges in injured souls of men and women are devastating, pushing us all into life-negating sociopathic behaviors. The whole world is currently swamped with these unfortunate energies.
We all need to heal. We all need to mend our brokenness.
“With the experience of lives fully lived (l-i-v-e-d is devil spelled backwards, a reversal!), Matrons figure out reality in time to do something about it, averting tragedy daily in time for a good laugh over tea in the afternoon,” wrote Carolyn Myers for the Autumnal Equinox in the We’Moon calendar 2015 by Mother Tongue, Inc.
