News for Members

news for members & friends of the Anthroposophical Society in America

anthroposophy belong? During one of the closing sessions of the conference, twelve people were seated on the stage, each one tasked with reporting on the themed discussions in which they participated each morning of the conference. The very last to speak took his time not to describe an experience, but to invite each of us gathered in the Great Hall at that moment to contemplate the being of Michael, quietly, and for just one minute. With

the potency of that moment still resonant in me, I find the beginning of an answer to my question: The fruits of our striving in anthroposophy belong to the spiritual world, which has the sublime capacity to direct these fruits where they are most needed. This means that we may not always know, see, or enjoy the fruits of our labor, but when something is undertaken by a human being in freedom, with love, then good will always become.

Honoring Members Who Have Crossed the Threshold of Death

PA 05/01/198011/01/2021

Maria Linder Burbank CA 08/02/197709/25/2022

Dietrich Meyer Pine Grove CA 12/28/196805/01/2021

Traute Page Yonges Island SC 09/12/195203/06/2023

Mary Jane Di Piero Nevada City CA 05/30/199706/15/2018

Anni G. Redding Greenwood CA 01/31/200301/21/2023

Ruth M. Riegel Ann Arbor MI 11/13/199509/15/2022

Susan E. Starr La Mesa CA 05/25/198303/20/2023

Victoria Susan Temple Petaluma CA 06/30/199601/06/2023

Katherine Thivierge Southgate MI 03/31/197607/09/2023

Barbara Walker Escondido CA 03/19/197904/05/2023

Jean Wetzel Brooklyn NY 12/11/200906/15/2022

Grace Worth Farmington Hills MI 06/17/1987 08/24/2022

Welcoming New Members of the Anthroposophical Society in America

February 13, 2023—August 31, 2023

Peppi-Emilia Airike Nyack NY

James Alderfer Pottstown PA

Natalie Baird Berkeley CA

Damian Baker Middletown NY

Jessica Barrett Sedona AZ

James Bass AthertonAustralia

Wilfred Berlin Broken Arrow OK

Jaye Brown Manhattan NY

Christopher Wayne Buckley Seattle WA

Nicholas Budwine Tucson AZ

Rosemary Bulman Stow OH

Elena Butkov Boca Raton FL

Rebecca Campon Delray Beach FL

Michael Charter Milan MI

Derrick Cullen Kimberton PA

Lindsay Kathleen Curren Staunton VA

Sarah Deichmann Chester Springs PA

Faith DiVecchio West StockbridgeMA

Patricia Dunn Denver CO

Megan Eberhardt Chicago IL

Ngozi Ezinwa Redlands CA

Gaby Raschid Farrokhi Kennesaw GA

Jacqueline L. Gabe Barre VT

Mayra Galvan Fort LauderdaleFL

Mia Gibson Los Angeles CA

Alice Gilmartin Pasadena CA

Carolina Golden New Hope PA

Katherine Goodwin Peterborough NH

Amy Grau Lake Geneva WI

Barbara Hamilton Pottstown PA

Steven Hess Tucson AZ

Raymond Ijichi Brookline VT

Bobby Irelan Reno NV

Samuel Jaehnig Sedalia CO

Zach James Fort Worth TX

Danielle Bridget Jarecha Berwyn PA

Terry Johnson Connersville IN

Jeannie Katzenmiller NashvilleTN

Carolyn Kersh Sedona AZ

Julia King Arlington MA

Sofia Kondrashin Englewood Cliffs NJ

Nina Kuettel Wichita KS

William La Tourette Suffern NY

Christine Langley-Obaugh Winchester VA

Edward Ledermann Ann Arbor MI

Jenny Leonhardt Pasadena CA

Melania Levitsky Ghent NY

Cecilia Liss Baltimore MD

Taylor Malone Jonesborough TN

Maria C. Mauricio Coral Gables FL

Sue Mckenzie Saugerties NY

Ana McKibben-Singh Mukwonago WI

Linda D. Miller Santa Rosa Beach FL

Michael Moretti San Jose CA

Holly Nielsen Chico CA

Samara Penman Kyle TX

Jared Pickard Austin TX

Mark Pizarro Ronkonkoma NY

Sharon Polchies Baltimore MD

Ernesto Ramos Los Angeles CA

Chantale Rodrigues Corona CA

Rabecca Rose Portland OR

Deborah Rosser South Hamilton MA

Clay Ruby Viroqua WI

Alexandra Rutherfurd San Francisco CA

Donald Samick Wyckoff NJ

Paola S. Santillan Peterborough NH

Ed Smith Amherst MA

Emmie Strassberg Purcellville VA

Lauren Stuparitz Pittsburgh PA

Elisha Danielle Thompson Wyandotte OK

Angela Raphaela Tomaino New Brighton PA

John Voris Sacramento CA

Joel A. Wendt Paxton MA

Donna J. Wiesner Harrison MI

C. S. Williams Fairmont WV

Abby Wright Conyers GA

Noah H. Wright Leesville LA

Melos Yan Spring Valley NY

Colbert Young Aurora CO

Fredric Zeller Asheville NC

Report on the World Goetheanum Conference of Michaelmas 2023

John Bloom

Sold out! That’s what the website said about the World Goetheanum Conference held at the Goetheanum and surroundings September 27–October 1, 2023. About 1,000 people from fifty countries gathered to take up the question of “Reshaping a World Movement.” It was a well-orchestrated collaborative inquiry that included celebrating nearly one hundred years of the Christmas Conference, sharing how anthroposophical activity has found its expression around the world, and asking the question, “What is the future asking of anthroposophy?”

This broad scope of topics all centered on the imagination of a worldwide Society, especially given that the conference was held in the space and spaciousness of the Goetheanum, where the movement was birthed and the School of Spiritual Science has its center. It was a living question of how to move through the natural tension between center and periphery, and even of how to recognize the challenge of questioning that metaphor as a way of thinking about the work of the Society in the world.

The three-and-a-half days were framed on the architecture and imagination of the Foundation Stone Meditation. Day 1: Earth and incarnation; Day 2: Plurality and being together in diversity; Day 3: Knowledge and insight; Day 4: The good and how we work with heart and thought. Each of the keynote speakers addressed these topics directly in their relation to the theme of the conference and to the call to the human soul found in each of the panels of the Meditation itself. Each was rich; all were beautifully woven together. There would not be enough space to recount or do them justice here. Maybe one highlight from Michaelmas Day, spoken by Christine Gruwez, will suffice. She spoke of three kinds of courage: courage to live with the fragment; courage to be vulnerable; courage to be awake in and to the world and to remain awake. Without over-interpreting, she used “fragment” in the sense that at any given moment we have only a piece of the whole.

The structure of the conference, following the keynotes from the morning speakers, was an attempt to respond to current worldwide issues by scheduling thematic forums cohosted by cross-sections of the School of Spiritual Science and co-facilitated in some cases by those working afar in the practical fields. Topics included: On earth we want to live; Health for humans and the planet; Living with technology; Meditation!; Equal and different: How to contribute to the search for the ‘I’; Follow the science!?; Anthroposophy and public debate; How do we build peace?; Biosphere-based economy; The presence of anthroposophy; Transformation through art; Transforming leadership. One goal of these thematic forums was to create active working groups that will take up some of the tasks identified during the sessions.

The afternoon was filled with topical and practical workshops including a full spectrum from the three domains of threefolding. Each of the workshops was conducted in a multilingual environment, so that participants could begin to feel a kind of world presence and to sense how to navigate in that kind of environment. Here are few examples of the workshops: Dyeing with plants; Building the future through sculpture; New mindfulness in business; Learning from the bees; The courage to be vulnerable; Building a spiritual community; Global North and South in the anthroposophical community; Waldorf education in dialogue with Indigenous Cultures; Anthroposophy and the question of racism; Banking and finance of the future. Needless to say, there was no dearth of choices in following one’s own interests and learning path. What became remarkably visible is the diversity and richness of leaders working out of anthroposophy around the world.

Each afternoon concluded with multilingual conversation groups. The groupings stayed the same through the conference in order to build a sense of shared space and comradery. Each day started with a different question: How participants first connected with anthroposophy, then what reflections and new questions arose from the contents of the day and days.

It was very apparent through the time together how much anthroposophy has grown or “mushroomed” around the world, especially in Waldorf education and biodynamic agriculture. There was an expressed need for new translations: educational material in many languages, crafted in the vernacular of place and of the times. And there was a call to be seen as equal human strivers across cultures, identities, and languages around the globe. Suffice it to say that while there is much material throughout the history of anthroposophy, including the availability of Rudolf Steiner’s work in text form, it is not enough and not adequate to meet the souls seeking connection to spirit in this time—seeking in fields of indigenous and cultural wisdom that were not visible one hundred years ago. So there is a real and meaningful tension between the deepening of spiritual science in its traditional forms and the dispersion and development of anthroposophical activity truly around the globe. It is very clear that anthroposophy is a lively yeast. The younger generation is making that clear. The yeast catalyzes much inspiration, renewal, and innovation—all of which need to inform the science of the spirit for the next one hundred years. So, one could say that the reshaping of the world movement will rise out of this yeast. And maybe we also need to live into not knowing quite what that might look like.