being human - spring-summer 2024

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4 Introduction to this issue from Mary Stewart Adams

5 Letter from Guest Editor Maria Ver Eecke Initiative!

15 Outreach of the General Secretary Mary Stewart Adams

16 What is meant by “The First Class”? by Herbert Hagens

17 Foundation Stone Meditation in Eurythmy by Andrew Wolpert

18 Metal Colored Light Therapy by Helena Hurrell

19 Your Song: Wake Up to the Spiritual Gesture Living in Your Voice by Shannon Boyce

21 Truus Geraets and The Art of Living

23 Creating a School for Working with the Word by Barbara Renold

24 We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it! By Monika Leitz

25 Turning Point by Ruth Dubach Arts & Ideas

26 Anthroposophy, Art, and Perceiving What Seeks to Become by Members of the Visual Arts Section, School for Spiritual Science

29 Archetype of the Pentagram by Brigida Baldszun

31 Shakespeare and the Time Arts by Fred Dennehy

32 Reflections on the Experience of the Lyre Tone by Sheila Phelps Johns

34 A Look at the Path of Professional Development in Eurythmy by Beth Dunn-Fox

36 The Foundation Stone Meditation as a Wellspring of Life by Miriam Ward Cosentino

37 Creating and Supporting Salutogenesis by Michael Hughes

39 On Karl Koenig’s Cross of Light by Richard Steel

41 Images from the Soul Calendar Cross of Light by Jannebeth Röell

43 Elisabeth de Bruyne: An Introduction to the Artist, Her Books, and a “High” School of Painting by Pamela Sophiajohn Research & Reviews

46 Rhythms of Light and the Path of the Calendar of the Soul by Richard Steel

48 Reflection on the Calendar of the Soul Conference by Constance Michael

49 Calendar poem by Michael Vode

50 A Festival of Unbornness – The Journey Toward Birth by memebers of the Helen Hecker Group

51 The Categories of Aristotle by Nadya Thompson

52 Eur ythmy Festival – “I Hear America Singing” by Claudia Fontana

53 My Life as an Amish Electrician, viz an Anthroposophical Comedian by Ronald Koetzsch

55 Fire in the Temple, a review of a new Glen Williamson play by Aaron Mirkin

56 A review of Eric G. Müller’s book, Why Parzival? News for Members & Friends

57 Rudolf Steiner’s Calendar of the Soul dates for Easter 2024-2025 by Herbert Hagens

58 Sec tion for Performing Arts announcement

58 Working Together in the Sections by Alice Stamm

59 “Taking Heart, finding our way together” review by Alexandra Spadea

60 Welcoming New Members of the Anthroposophical Society in America

61 Honoring Members Who Have Crossed the Threshold of Death

62 Memoriam for Gail Biesantz-Faude

62 Eur ythmy poem by Gail Langstroth

On the Cover:

Metal Colored Light Therapy glass panel from the Helios Center, Carbondale, Colorado, where art therapist Helena Hurrell offers her work and research in private practice (see page 18). Metal Colored Light Therapy originated in 2001 in Schwörstadt, Germany and has been developing ever since at the Lichtblick e.V Foundation, also in Germany. The glass panels are used in clinics and hospitals in Germany, England, Holland, Sweden and currently in private practices in America. Metal colored light is an emergent anthroposophical therapy, perhaps, as Helena describes in her article, one that Rudolf Steiner called for at this 100th year mark - a spiritual impulse that fosters a salutogenic process of self-healing, discovery and balance for the body and soul. Find out more from Helena Hurrell at her website www.helioscenter.org

The Anthroposophical Society in America

GENERAL COUNCIL

Mary Stewart Adams, General Secretary & President

Gino Ver Eecke, Chair, Eastern Region

Charles Burkam, Treasurer, At-large

Leah Walker, Secretary, At-large

Christine Burke, Western Region

Margaret Runyon, At-large

Ezra Sullivan, At-large

Tess Parker, Director of Programs

Eddie Ledermann, Director of Finance

being human is published by the Anthroposophical Society in America 1923 Geddes Avenue

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Letter from the general secretary

Welcome to the Spring-Summer 2024 issue of being human , in which we take as our focus the time arts as they are expressed through spiritual science. The term time arts refers to those arts that exist in time rather than in material form, such as eurythmy, speech, and drama ~ those arts that carry us through an experience beyond the day-to-day where, as Plato described it in his Phaedrus, the soul has a moment to behold the beauty it knew as it journeyed with the gods.

It was the 100th anniversary of the first performance of the Foundation Stone in eurythmy that inspired this theme, which occurred on April 20th, 1924. In that year, April 20th was Easter Sunday. The eurythmy performance on that day marked a culminating act in Rudolf Steiner’s life work with the Foundation Stone, which, as a first step, he placed into the Earth, in September 1913; then into human hearts at Christmas 1923/24; and then offered to the spiritual world through eurythmy on Easter Sunday, 1924.

In 2025, the 100th anniversary year of Rudolf Steiner’s death, Easter will recur on April 20th, which heralds the next century of anthroposophy in the world like a poem, which, in the words of TS Eliot, communicates before it is understood. Such a recurrence can strengthen our thoughts about the future, and about how we step into the unknown ~ for here, through the life and deed of Rudolf Steiner, a foundation has been laid, in the earth, in our hearts, and as an affirmation that we can and do, as a humanity, speak with the gods.

Through the time arts we prepare a space for this.

In this issue are essays on the time arts, the visual arts, and more, with a feature on Metal Colored Light Therapy in the midst. This therapy, pictured on the cover, is inspired by the etched windows of the Goetheanum, and here it serves nicely as a bridge between the healing imparted by the visual and time arts. This therapy allows for an experiecne of how light streams into the world, and as it flows into visible color through the oxidized metal in glass, it can inspire healing thoughts that form in the life body of the human being. Rudolf Steiner described this life body as the time body.

Beth Dunn-Fox’s article on the professional path to eurythmy is nicely complimented by Andrew Wolpert’s detailed description of the Foundation Stone Meditation. And as eurythmy is intimately connected through the word to the speech arts, we are happy to highlight the speech training that formed in Spring Valley in 2017. Fred Dennehy writes about Shakespeare, whose command of the language can be imagined as an invocation of the spiritual. Shannon Boyce’s article on the living voice addresses the healing power of the sung tone, which is beautifully complimented by the soul connections fostered by the lyre tone.

We are also happy to include here articles from the Bay Area Eurythmy Ensemble, on the archetype of the pentagram as researched by Brigitta Baldszun, and Salutogenesis from Michael Hughes.

We are pleased to feature Richard Steel’s rich work with the Calendar of the Soul which is nicely supplemented by Karl Koenig’s artwork. This inspired us to call on artist Jannebeth Röell for several of her calendar pieces.

Jannebeth works in Portland, where we will host this year’s annual conference in October 11-14, 2024.

There are several reviews, including Glenn Williamson’s play Fire in the Temple, and Eric G. Müller’s book Why Parzival? And a few regular features, including Herbert Hagens’ handy Calendar of Soul verse and date alignments for 2024-25, as well as a celebration of both new members who have joined, and an honoring of those who now work with us from beyond the threshold, through the veil of space and time, and who are there to meet us in the work of following the good star of anthroposophy.

I would like to express my deep gratitude to Maria Ver Eecke for taking up the role of guest editor for this issue, and to all the artists and writers who made submissions. Counting 100 years from Rudolf Steiner’s act of laying the foundation stone in 1913 to the Christmas Conference 1923/24, we have just completed a decade of centennials. This final year that culminates in the anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s death provides a unique

opportunity to review the staggering riches that he placed on the path of humanity, from the publication of his Philosophy of Freedom and his first esoteric lectures on Goethe’s fairy tale, all the way to establishing the Michael School, the final address, and the on-going cultivation of Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts, until, at last, he closed his own eyes and walked on from this life.

Through the time arts we are carried to and, potentially, across this same threshold and into an experience that activates the living imagination , that can nourish our capacity for orienting beyond the exoteric in inspiration , and may support us in finding ourselves among the gods once again, in intuition.

We hope you enjoy this issue, Mary Stewart Adams General Secretary Anthroposophical Society in America

On behalf of all who contributed to this issue of being human

Letter from the guest editor

The arts are transformative. Ask any artist how creative activity can become a discipline. Even more so, the anthroposophical arts have the potential to transform one’s perceptions, by working with renewed spiritually imbued concepts.

We can look back on decades of developing anthroposophical arts. The Visual Arts are well represented. Arts that involve music or movement have a verbal heritage, as the first artistic performances were not recorded. Music, eurythmy, speech and drama flowed into the ether of the earth. These are the Time Arts. The artists rehearse tirelessly for extended periods of time before performance. The audience is necessary for the artists to give away their creations. A space is created from the activity on stage to the receptive onlookers, who bear witness. Souls across the threshold are interested in our heart-felt, well worked efforts to present (and to represent) an artistic experience. Through the dark clouds of humanity’s conflict and disassociation, we artists hope that our efforts rise upward to the stars!

Thank you to everyone who submitted articles and reviews for being human. Together we create a chalice for the soul and spirit to communicate.

This year is the Centennial of the Speech and Drama course and the Section for the Performing Arts hosts an international conference at the Goetheanum, July 1014, 2024. Let us know how you will celebrate the Performing Arts of Anthroposophy.

Therapeutic eurythmist Maria Ver Eecke holds a diploma from the Medical Section of the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, and is certified by AnthroMed. In July 2022 she joined the faculty of Kairos Institute, Waldorf Pedagogy for Traumatized Children. Previously, Maria taught eurythmy for forty years in Waldorf schools, at a statefunded independent school, and in a home-school program; she was also a class teacher in the Maseru English Medium Preparatory School in southern Africa. Currently Maria edits the newsletters of the Eurythmy Association of North America and the Association of Therapeutic Eurythmy in North America; she can be reached at editor@ eana.org.

Gradalis Curriculum Frameworks

Math & Literacy Standards & Benchmarks created for Waldorf schools, public & private

A five-volume, detailed-scope sequence with scaffolded benchmarks in Math and Language Arts for Kindergarten through Grade eight. D esigned by Prairie Adams, a Waldorf teacher, eurythmist, and co-founder of the Gradalis Teacher Training. These volumes were developed over a twelve-year period with the support and guidance of educators and consultants who are experts in their fields.

The Frameworks are a resource for researching content and designing lessons. They can serve as the basis for discussion and consideration when a school is reviewing educational goals or developing rigorous academic standards while maintaining the integrity and genius of the curriculum as given to us by Rudolf Steiner. Common Core standards are designated clearly where they are met, and a matrix is provided for those who need to quickly access particular standards within the Waldorf Curriculum.

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RESILIENCE and SELF-CARE Workshop

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Request a Zoom link from Graham: kennish46@gmail.com

The School of Spiritual Science in North America

The Path of the New Mysteries

Engaging with the 19 Lessons of the

First Class of the School of Spiritual Science

A conference for members of the School of Spiritual Science, Blue Card required.

at the Threefold Community in Chestnut Ridge, New York August 4-10, 2024

This year, 2024, is the 100th anniversary of the esoteric lessons given for members of the First Class of the School for Spiritual Science. We will mark this anniversary with a conference focused on bringing the path described by the Class Lessons to light. Over the course of the week, we will experience all 19 lessons held in groupings of two or three to gain a deeper understanding of the stream that flows through the constellation of the lessons as a whole.

Information about the School of Spiritual Science: reception@anthroposophy.org about the conference: Barbara Renold barbararenold@yahoo.com

Registration: threefold.org/19lessons

Threefold Educational Foundation

260 Hungry Hollow Road

Chestnut Ridge NY 10977

Outreach of the General Secretary

by Mary Stewart Adams

To be a member of the Anthroposophical Society in the United States at this time is to findoneself in a remarkable convergence of esoteric streams, given the 250th anniversary of the First Continental Congress, which was held September 5th to October 23rd, 1774, and the on-going centennials within the anthroposophical movement, from the culmination of the Christmas Conference January 1st to Rudolf Steiner’s Final Address, September 28th, 1924.

And while these events are sounding into our midst, a Total Solar Eclipse has recently occurred, the path of which fell largely across the US. It was April 8th, 2024, eight days after Easter, a rhythm of time marked in the Gospel stories by Thoma’ firstencounter with the Risen Christ. Theteaching is of faithfulness and of uniting in spirit-certainty toward the world’s salvation.

What’s more, this eclipse belongs to the Saros Cycle 139, which includes eclipse events in the years 1861, 1880, 1898, 1916, and so on, in an 18.6-year rhythm. Theyear 1861 was not only the year of Rudolf Steiner’s birth, but also the year that marked the beginning of the American Civil War.

I could push further into these associations, but my intent is rather to ask: Who are we in relation to esotericism in current American culture? What is necessary now to further pursue the ideals expressed in these “foundings”? And where do we give one another, or need to give one another, spirit-certainty?

Since taking on the position of General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America at the Society’s online Annual General Meeting in October 2023, I have had the opportunity to travel and work with: our friends in the Spring Valley, NY, community; colleagues in Nuechâtel, Switzerland; members and friends along the central California coast; and country representatives and the leadership at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland.

In Spring Valley, together with fellow council members, we participated in the deep research and preparation the community had been engaged with throughout the year, in anticipation of the centennial of the Christmas Conference. Thiswork was rooted in the Foundation Stone, and beautifully held by eurythmy, speech, and shared study.

In Neuchâtel, our group work focused intensively on how Rudolf Steiner formed the Society through the Christmas Conference, the role of financein the associa-

tion, and how we step into the new, now that we are 100 years from this act. We met from New Year’s to Epiphany at L’Aubier, a thriving biodynamic farm, restaurant, and hotel founded by Marc Desaules. Rudolf Steiner gave significantlectures on Christian Rosenkruetz in Neuchâtel, and it is easy to imagine how he lifted the veil on this mystery there, when you look out from L’Aubier over the forest and across the lake to the snow-capped Jura mountains beyond.

Thelast day of January 2024, I arrived in Sacramento, California, and despite the intensity of the weather, there was a full and lively house of friends that came out for candid conversation about what it means to be an anthroposophist in America now.

Thenext stop along the way was Santa Cruz, with the entire General Council. Thenight we arrived, Daniel Bittleston stepped across the threshold, which resulted in a weaving together of our work with the beautiful memorial services held in his honor. It was as though Daniel himself opened a door to welcome us into community, with an intimacy that only the dead can achieve.

Santa Barbara and LA were next on the list, where speech artist and fellow council colleague Christine Burke and I offeed our presentation on the Festival of Unbornness as an invitation for establishing a mid-winter celebration of welcoming souls coming to birth, as a compliment to the mid-autumn festival for those who have crossed the threshold at death.

During the time between Easter and Ascension, I traveled back to Switzerland, firstto meet with the country representatives (at more than 30, the group was said to be the largest to date), then to attend the firs annual meeting of the Goetheanum Fund Worldwide. The General Anthroposophical Society’s Annual General Assembly followed, with high anticipation that the members’ forums that formed after last year’s meeting would have a positive effecton this year’s assembly. In large part they did, but there are still challenges to be sorted out. One of the solutions presented that will have a stabilizing effecton this potential for discord was the request by the circle of treasurers, which, in a fittin move, was the opening item at the assembly: That the financial and fiscal aspects of all concerns and applications, before being brought into effect, be examined in detail and without haste for the General Anthroposophical Society and for the country societies in accordance with the treasurers’ guidelines for strengthening the Goetheanum’s finances.

What is meant by “The First Class?

by Herbert Hagens Princeton, New Jersey

Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society in 1923 at a Christmas conference held in Dornach, Switzerland. At the same time he announced the establishment of a School of Spiritual Science. “The General Anthroposophical Society looks upon the School of Spiritual Science as the center of its work” (Society Statute 5). The School is organized in several departments (called “Sections”) and is headquartered at the Goetheanum in Dornach. The Sections cover various fields of spiritual activity in the sciences and arts.

But there is one Section that stands out: the General Anthroposophical Section. The word “general” (in German: allgemein) is meant to be understood as “common to all.” Everyone who becomes a member of the School belongs to the General Anthroposophical Section. The mission of the School of Spiritual Science is the pursuit of research.

Rudolf Steiner also clarified how the task of the “First Class” relates to the Society and the School: “In general…it will be necessary for human beings to get to know the spiritual world first in the form of ideas. This is how spiritual science is cultivated in the General Anthroposophical Society. However, there will be people who want to participate in portrayals of the spiritual world that progress upwards from the form of ideas to manners of expression that are borrowed from the spiritual world itself. There will also be people who want to get to know the paths to the spiritual world in order to tread them with their own souls. The three Classes of the School will be for them.”1 This points to Steiner’s definition of anthroposophy: “Anthroposophy is a path of knowledge, to guide the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the universe.”2

Unfortunately, Rudolf Steiner died before he could develop all three Classes. But he did manage to

1) Rudolf Steiner, Constitution of the School of Spiritual Science. Forest Row: Rudolf Steiner Press, 2013.

2) Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts. London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1985

complete 19 Lessons for the First Class. The initial group to hear the esoteric lessons were those members of the Anthroposophical Society who were admitted to the School by Steiner and his colleague Ita Wegman. The process of applying for membership remains under the direction of the Leadership Council (Vorstand) at the Goetheanum.

The author Thomas Meyer has written a concise description of Rudolf Steiner’s endeavor known as the First Class: “Today, meditation is often spoken about, both inside and outside of the anthroposophical movement. The path of meditation that Rudolf Steiner made available to humanity at the end of his life is the quintessence of all his prior presentations…He touched upon and listened to the intentions of the true spirit of our time, which in Spiritual Science bears the name of Michael. This is a path of self-knowledge from which world knowledge can be gained.”3 The lessons and mantras of the First Class introduce the seeker to the initial steps that go beyond “the form of ideas.” They are very much a schooling for those who feel called upon to follow a path of modern initiation.

The course of the First Class consists of 19 esoteric lessons that Rudolf Steiner gave between February and August 1924. He repeated some of those lessons in other places and also in Dornach. The first official version of the lessons was published in 1992. Other editions have appeared since and are available to the public.

The institution known as the School of Spiritual Science continues today with the Goetheanum as its center. The Leadership Council is responsible for guiding and coordinating the work of the First Class of the General Anthroposophical Section as well as the other Sections. The leadership also appoints the Class holders, who are assigned to conduct Class lessons in many countries around the world. Members of the General Anthroposophical Society all have the opportunity to apply for membership in the School. Rudolf Steiner emphasized three important conditions for those who yearn to participate with others in the life of the School: 1) that they regard themselves as true meditants; 2)that

3) Rudolf Steiner, The First Class Lessons and Mantras (T. H. Meyer, ed.). Gt. Barrington: SteinerBooks, 2017

they take working with esoteric content with utmost earnestness; and 3) that they have the will to become respresentatives of the anthroposophical cause.

For further information about the First Class and the School of Spiritual Science please contact a local group or branch of the Anthroposophical Society. People can also check with the Society’s main office in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The booklet entitled A Way of Serving offers an excellent introduction to the General Anthroposophical Section (available from SteinerBooks).

Foundation Stone Meditation in Eurythmy

by Andrew Wolpert

This Easter 2024 marked the centenary of the eurythmy forms for the Foundation Stone Meditation. There will be a festival in Sheffield, England, to celebrate the event with several eurythmists sharing their work on April 20, 2024. In my continuing exploration of the Foundation Stone Meditation as a metamorphosis of the First Goetheanum, I offer these thoughts to accompany the invaluable artistic research the eurythmists engage in.

If the sculpture of the Representative of Humanity had been at the back of the stage of the First Goetheanum, when leaving the auditorium we would have felt the confirming and enabling power of the Christ behind us, in His engagement with the adversaries, and blessing our exit back into the world where we, too, have our engagement with the challenges of everyday life. But this was not to be. In the metamorphosis through fire of the First Goetheanum, the House of the Word, not just into the Foundation Stone Meditation , but then also into the eurythmy forms and gestures of this meditation, we see and are blessed by the following.

In the postlude after the first three sections, there is the exchange of positions between the eurythmists that are customarily referred to as Figures 6 and 5 at the front of the stage. This making way of the former for the latter unmistakably expresses the Pauline words, “Not I, but Christ lives in me.” Then the other four eurythmists exit the stage, and now from the back of the stage, Figure 6 powerfully affirms the Christ presence in Figure 5 from behind, before Figure 6 withdraws through the temporary opening in the center of the back curtain. Now the fully ‘Christened’ Figure 5 makes a huge circle around the stage that symbolizes entering and embracing the whole of the world, the world we will go back into at the end of the performance. Before Figure 5 exits, the

Christ affirming gesture is shown to us once more, actually from the place where the Representative of Humanity sculpture would have been.

The living enactment in eurythmy of the gesture and power of the sculpture is a further example of the heightened metamorphosis in the movement of what would have been a spatial experience. It is an experience that eurythmists can celebrate anywhere, as it does not involve going to the original place, and how Michaelic is that! Also, it becomes another compelling reason for not putting the sculpture at the back of the present stage. The sculpture (wherever it is located) always exists, the metamorphosed gesture in eurythmy only exists when it is brought to life by the artists. Eurythmy certainly has not rendered the sculpture unnecessary, but it has rendered it unnecessary in a place where the eurythmist can raise the Christ experience from the fixed threedimensional space to the dimension of time.

The sculpture, like the First Goetheanum, is susceptible to being destroyed, yet its metamorphosis into eurythmy is indestructible, and, like a meditation, only exists when it is brought to life consciously. The sculpture still exists because of what Rudolf Steiner and Edith Maryon did . The meditation and the eurythmy for it lives only when we give them life through our initiative, by what we do

To put all this concisely: The Foundation Stone Meditation has rescued, transformed, and affirmed what lived behind and within the destroyed ‘static’ building that was sense-perceptible in space, always there, whether seen or not. Meditated, it lives in the

supersensible. The eurythmy forms given at Easter 1924 render the meditative substance into the realm of the sense-perceptible in space, movement, color, and sound, but only when striven for artistically, and if seen and affirmed within by a receptive witness.

Andrew Wolpert has been active as a course facilitator, lecturer, tour leader and author in the fields of language teaching, art history, Shakespeare, Parzival and general anthroposophical themes at Emerson College, at the University in Stuttgart and in other institutions around the world.

Metal Colored Light Therapy

by Helena Hurrell

Metal Colored Light Therapy originated in 2001 in Schwörstadt, Germany, as a funded research project and has been developing ever since at the Lichtblick e.V Foundation in Germany. The late Marianne Altmaier, an anthroposophic art therapist, developed this therapy alongside her colleague Lucien Turci, the glass maker and etcher. She had a deep longing to find new ways that would enable the healing qualities of color to be experienced through natural sunlight.

On one particular day when Marianne was in the Goetheanum auditorium where she gave public tours, she paused in front of the south iron green window. She observed, in a new conscious way, the vibrant quality of the color. Her gaze was led by the motifs through the window and the change in color when the sunlight passed through the etched images. This became a powerful realization for her and was the initial inspiration for what she had been seeking for so many years - to create colored windows transformed into a therapeutic modality.

or loosening qualities. It also creates a new relationship to light. In this way, the evolving purpose of the metals are freed, to offer their healing gifts to humankind. Steiner also gave detailed sketches for all the window engravings, those which were destroyed in the burning of the first Goetheanum as well as those in the second Goetheanum. The inspiration for the artistic wisdom he developed in the etched motifs is considered a path of inner schooling that could, as he said, “open vistas into the spiritual world.”

Rudolf Steiner had originally given instructions on how to create the window colors from metal oxides in the glassmaking process, which led Marianne to consider her intention that colored light therapy could also become a metal therapy. The intense colors of the glass panels arise from metal oxides of iron, copper, silver, and gold. Etched patterns on the panels intensify the effects of the metal colors. Light that passes through the glass panels to the observer’s senses conveys the qualities of the metals, for example: warmth or coolness; lively or peaceful flowing movement; structuring forces

There are times when we yearn for sublime quiet moments where we can be freed from all the overwhelming stimuli that affect our modern lives. By being immersed in the light-filled spaces of a metal-colored light window through weekly sessions, a therapeutic effect arises, which has the possibility of unveiling profound insights. For some, this can occur even after one viewing. Individuals are drawn to this therapy for numerous reasons and for conditions ranging from cancer, post-traumatic stress disorders, depression, chronic pain, to incarnational challenges. There are also those who come to bathe in the colored light because they are curious and seek to experience its healing effects.

When asked about a typical session with metal colored light, I am reminded and inspired by a quote from Novalis in his Fragments : “The mortal rumbles in its foundations, but the immortal begins to shine brighter, and becomes selfaware.” What follows is a brief description of how an individual session unfolds.

The therapy session takes place in a darkened room where the only daylight in the room is the sun’s light that passes through the glass panel. The viewing time is usually between 5-12 minutes, depending upon the

individual and the colored light panel that is used. All is silent as the glass quietly becomes a threshold, a doorway, a mirror for one’s encounter in the present moment. This is followed by a 20-minute rest period while the therapeutic activity continues, ripening in an ongoing after-image process within the soul.

The individual’s capacity for transformation is stimulated by colorful harmonizing effects that remediate conditions which no longer serve the individual. A deepening of the breath and warmth often begins through the forces of the metals. A lively exchange happens when the sun suddenly appears from behind a cloud giving rise to awe and wonder. Release comes along with feelings of gratitude and trust. Often, there is the experience of an overall enlivening and strengthening power that can bring clarity to one’s life path. Individuals speak of being profoundly touched and can develop a relationship with one or more of the glass panels, inspiring them to create through the written word, painting, singing, or sculpting, in response to their experience.

Metal colored light is one of the fruits of anthroposophy in our time and was brought to us by two individuals as a free deed, profoundly good for our world. The windows have become healing companions in

a unique way. The training continues and is recognized by the Medical Section at the Goetheanum.

I had the deep honor of studying with Marianne as part of the first training group from 2010-13. The glasses are now used in clinics and hospitals in Germany, England, Holland, Sweden, and currently in private practices in America. Metal colored light is truly an emergent therapy, perhaps one that Rudolf Steiner called for at this 100th year mark – as a spiritual impulse that fosters a salutogenic* process of self-healing, discovery, and balance for the body, soul and Spirit.

* Salutogenesis is the study of the origins of health and focuses on factors that support human health and well-being, rather than on factors that cause disease (pathogenesis) www.helioscenter.org

Helena Hurrell, Director of the Helios Center.

Helena is trained in Metal Color Light Glass Therapy from the Lichtblick Atelier in Schwörstadt, Germany, and received a certificate approved by the Medical Section at the Goetheanum in 2013. She has also completed a master’s level therapeutic training at the Tobias School of Art and Therapy in the UK and is currently providing anthroposophic art and metal color light therapy to children and adults in Carbondale, Colorado. Helena has been working therapeutically with individuals and groups in the UK, Australia, and the USA since 1981.

Your Song: Wake Up to the Spiritual Gesture Living in Your Voice

by Shannon Boyce

Recently, one of my singing students commented, “I don’t feel alone anymore.” I was so stunned that I got goosebumps and wanted to cry with joy. She had encountered a deep connection to herself. Her voice had begun to resonate with her personal life force and the harmony of vibrant embodied selfhood.

When I first met her over four years ago, she struggled to sing in tune and had a very small range. She also often showed up ill at ease, stressed, and a bit anxious due to the busyness of the day. Yet she has consistently transformed during our sessions, evolving from frazzled to relaxed. Her memory has strengthened, and she has been able to sustain this consciousness more and more. I have had the joy of watching her transform

through the healing power of the sung tone.

She does not live near and we have never met in person, so all her lessons are online. Her first big breakthrough came one day when it sounded as if she had a pet bird in her home. It turns out that the birds were singing outside her window (even from afar, over the internet and speakers, I heard the birds). So, I told her to listen to the birds singing more than to herself singing. She relaxed and became much calmer in herself and started to sing in tune.

We were doing a simple exercise based on the renewed art of singing cultivated in the School of Uncovering the Voice, founded by Valborg Werbeck-Svärdström (18791972), underpinned by her 11-year relationship with Rudolf Steiner.

Now I’d like to tell you about myself and what

it means to be an anthroposophically-inspired voice teacher.

I’ve been singing in front of audiences since I was 13, and my passion led me to pursue two degrees in vocal performance, including one from a renowned institution in New York City. When teaching voice lessons for children, teens, and adults at a small, after-school music program, the director introduced me to Waldorf education, which led me to anthroposophy. Even with my degrees, I still felt uncertain about my teaching. It was then that I delved into studying the foundational principles of music out of anthroposophy and discovered Werbeck’s work. Initially skeptical, I entered the training to improve my teaching skills, particularly for my students from the Waldorf school. Little did I know that this journey would not only make me a better teacher and singer, but also a better human being.

As a singing teacher, I am acutely aware that most people allow their ideas about what it means to sing interfere with the process of singing itself. And why is that? Because humankind has fallen prey to materialism, which also entered the art of singing. The average person just opens their mouth to sing and quickly realizes that it doesn’t come out as they imagine they would like their voice to sound. Singing no longer comes as naturally and as easily as it once did. It has mostly been relegated to the land of the professional. Since the invention of recorded music, people have become consumers of music more than makers of music, neglecting a vital means of spiritual connection. Even congregational singing has diminished.

Singing is a most intimate expression for a human being. The vulnerability of singing is great, and I believe this is why fewer people are singing today. The voice is the barometer of your soul, and it does not lie. Even science has a way of measuring the voice to detect patterns of possible onset of Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease nearly ten years before symptoms appear. When we are disconnected from our core sense of self, it shows up in our voices and can often lead to illness. Our voices are also the greatest expression of our personalities.

We must learn to lift ourselves and our voices out of the hardened nature to which they have fallen prey. And just as Werbeck says in her book, I, too, believe that everyone has a singing voice and everyone can find their way to a more beautiful, realized, free voice no matter what style of music they want to sing.

But how? By consciously recognizing the hindrances in the way of your perfect natural voice. Your voice is

always longing to be free, and the path to vocal freedom is naturally spiritual. And it takes work and practice. Even Werbeck says you have to “work like a lumberjack.” It is joyful and pleasant work because we always start with connected relaxation. As we wake up dormant parts of our selfhood, we no longer feel alone, as my student so eloquently shared. Werbeck describes this experience as being kissed by the angels. What an experience of cosmic humor it is that you must work like a lumberjack to be kissed by an angel!

As human beings, we can often experience ourselves as being overstimulated, overwhelmed, and overburdened. Ideally, when we sing, there is no ‘over’. There is just freedom, full of love-consciousness, and equanimity. This is what we practice in the singing school. The school is actually divided into three phases that take the student on a journey to develop thinking, feeling, and willing. It begins with an approach to breathing where we learn it is not about the need for conscious breathing as was practiced in ancient times, but about the need to forget that we are breathing so that it can work naturally for what is needed for the times we live in today. Then we start to recognize how the sound streams on the flow of the breath and wake up to how it moves through us like a gentle breeze blowing through the screen of an open window - all along working to become transparent beings for the sound. As Werbeck says, “We don’t make the tones, but we create the conditions for the tones to move through us.”

As one progresses through the schooling, we then build upon this transparent sound by learning to widen and open up to a fuller sound that is embodied but not bound up in the body. And in time, a reflected sound that is free enough to earn a kiss from our angel. It’s the holistic nature of this approach that builds our relationship to the spirit, and by nature, it is a healing path. This idea of removing hindrances extends throughout one’s life, so it is a path of schooling that anyone can begin at any point in one’s life. It’s a schooling that offers vocal practices that nurtures the whole human being.

Being human is knowing yourself, knowing your voice, and knowing your song.

Shannon Boyce is the director of A Supple Voice, an anthroposophically-inspired singing school working out of the principles of Valborg Werbeck-Svärdström’s School of Uncovering the Voice. If you would like to try some of the basic exercises and join the list to be notified about new in-person and online classes, visit www.intro.asupplevoice.com

Truus Geraets & the Art of Living

As if in letters of gold, there should always stand before the soul of the anthroposophist: “Initiative is part of your karma; much of what meets you in life will depend on whether you can bring this initiative to consciousness.”

—Rudolf Steiner

It seems that initiative good will filled the consciousness of Truus Geraets through her whole life ~ initiative, and the feeling for the world which was part of her Dutch heritage. In 2018, she decided to return to the Netherlands; she crossed the threshold of death in 2023. An extensive account of her remarkable life with many pictures is at www.truusgeraets.nl and includes a link to an international Zoom peace gathering in her honor on December 3, 2023.

Her lifelong response to her sense of helplessness as a youth was the cultivation of “The Art of Living” across four continents. This art for Truus included witnessing, understanding, exploring, helping, healing; awareness of the human and cosmic spirit; the art of movement, eurythmy; and love. In the foreword to her book Love in Action , which grew out of her experiences in the US prison system, Truus asked, “To believe in the higher self of the other as much as of one’s own, isn’t that another expression of LOVE?”

At the time of her leaving the USA, she shared the account which follows. — John Beck

A Life of Initiative: The Story Thus Far (2018),

by Truus Geraets

I was born in 1930 in Holland, youngest of four children, growing up without a father but with a terrific anthroposophist mother, and with love for music from both sides of the family. I lived most of my life far from Holland, still I had this soft spot for it. I often told people, “You know I have been born with this ‘social streak’”. Extreme tolerance is the mark of Holland.

Around age sixteen, I came to the conclusion that the most important thing I could do with my life was to work with children “as they are the future.” I did a training for pharmacist assistant. I was mortified by the “immoral” practices of the pharmacist who declared to visitors that the little homeopathy cupboard carried only “nonsense stuff.”

The next phase saw me join my brother and sisterin-law who had just started Christophorus, a home for children in need of special care. Erna van Deventer, one of the very first eurythmists, came to work with a fouryear-old very disturbed little girl in my group; what she did totally baffled me. I saw before my eyes the healing power of eurythmy at work. She was the reason I started the study of eurythmy at the Goetheanum, but not before

taking one year at the Seminar for Curative Education in Eckwaelden near Stuttgart. Many of our teachers had known Rudolf Steiner personally: Dr. Ernst Lehrs, Frau Dr. Lehrs, Albrecht Strohschein, Dr. Hauschka and Margareta Hauschka. Also, in Eckwaelden was Else Sittel, a very impressive eurythmy therapist and pianist. My intention when going to Dornach was to study eurythmy as an art as well as a healing art. This was not allowed, but I was not put off. Through all the years I attended regular afternoon sessions with Ilse de Jaager and received much stimulation from her for my later work with eurythmy therapy. Also significant in my biography was the fact that in the last year in Dornach (1959) I had an operation with local anesthetics, resulting in a near-death experience.

Coming to Holland in 1960, I made life-changing connections with a friend named Barbara with whom I lived four years, then moved with her to Scotland (Garvald School) before we started Haus Columban in Ueberlingen, Germany. Some of the 25 children were labeled “time-damaged” children, others severely handicapped. After three years and new rules, we found good places for all the children to go to, some to their parents and regular Waldorf schools. Two children went

Truus in Altadena, California, with the eurythmy alphabet figures which she always wished to make more available.

back to live with Barbara and me in the Westerwald.

This is now 44 years ago. In America I switched to giving eurythmy lessons to Waldorf classes. That continued once I had bought a house in a Black neighborhood in Kalamazoo, Michigan. While waiting for a work permit, I restored the whole house to create a space for eurythmy workshops. Then I started working, commuting between work at Esperanza School (an honor to have worked with Dr. Traute Page) and the Detroit Waldorf School. A small group of students of anthroposophy decided to start working with the innercity youth of Detroit, trying to create employment opportunities for them. They called it the Life Center. I suggested then that just living was not enough, it had to be the Art of Living. This became my lifelong code, alongside The Art of Healing.

I had to create sources of income in a place where eurythmy was totally unknown. So, I went to an institution for mental patients to offer my expertise in eurythmy. Though the staff had never heard of it, they let me start with the idea, “If they like it, you can continue.” And they liked it. In this time, I also met those caught up in drugs and crime. That led me to offer eurythmy in a big prison in Michigan’s upper peninsula.

I took a year off from eurythmy (made possible by a small inheritance after my mother’s death) to become a mentor for many inmates of the Jackson State Prison, which housed 5000 people. I describe this story in my book Love in Action. I came to meet my true soul mate, born on the same day as me, but 18 years younger. At his insistence we got married, a Muslim wedding inside the prison! I accompanied him for over thirty years, when he was more often inside than outside of the prison system. I became well qualified to report on “Perspectives of the Prison System in America from both sides of the walls.”

When Dawud was released but could find no work in Michigan, I moved with him to Texas. It was easy to find work there as I was the only eurythmist far and wide. I covered Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.

After we divorced in 1984, there was no need for me to stay any longer in the United States. I was now free to follow a long-deferred dream to do some work in Africa. The opportunity to follow this dream arose when the Max Stibbe School in Pretoria, South Africa, adopted a Black farm school. I loved the work, teaching eurythmy to classes of ninety children in a chicken coop, but I disdained the racist remarks toward the Black teachers.

And so, I found my way to Johannesburg to work with an anthroposophical doctor, who prescribed eurythmy therapy for his patients. I also could work on weekends in the Weleda lab.

Meanwhile, I found the friends with whom to start the first Waldorf school in a Black township. We knew that we had to make use of this window-in-time to do something unusual. Where half a million people live in one square mile, it obviously is a very dangerous place. My car was hijacked twice, the second time with a distinguished guest from America, Joan Almon, in it! The Inkanyezi School was seen as an oasis of peace amidst all this devastation. [The name means “starlight.” –Editor] It is a wonder that the school still exists and is thriving with 360 pupils.

In 1994, I was able to get back from the bright sunshine into the deep snow cover of Maine, at the invitation of Jennifer Greene. I immediately organized monthly eurythmy workshops, where people came from faraway places. During the week I taught eurythmy in three different Waldorf schools, while also taking in the rich natural beauty of Maine. However, I wanted to live in a state that was multicultural. That is how I came to choose California, and specifically, Los Angeles.

Special attractions here were Orland Bishop and Wiep de Vries. With my car, I again covered long distances to do eurythmy therapy work in three different Waldorf schools. The Westside School in Santa Monica allowed me to use their building on a weekend for a Social Forum in 2012 and we were able to fundraise for scholarships for many young people to attend. Already in 2001, I was able to work together with Tim Smith, lecturer at the CSU university in Northridge to organize a most successful Social Forum with Nicanor Perlas from the Philippines and Orland Bishop, attracting many young people to learn about Rudolf Steiner’s farreaching ideas to create a healthy society. In Hollywood, Dottie Zold built on those social impulses with the Elderberries Café.

In 2000, I met Ben Cherry when Ute Craemer and I gathered support for a World Social Forum to be held at the Goetheanum. In 2018 the idea still awaits realization. [The impulse is carried forward now in the World Social Initiative Forum.] Over the years I followed the work Ben was doing in China within the burgeoning Waldorf school development. I now decided to contact him, expressing my wish to contribute eurythmy as a healing art in China. In 2018, I will go for the fifth

time, as people appreciated my approach. People relate to my style.

In 2018, came the time for big decisions, to leave California and the US and the many good friends and colleagues here, and go once more into unchartered waters, just as the Dutch Seafarers did, exploring new horizons.

A few performances I did with groups of teachers over

the years: in 1962, a Russian legend by Alex Remisow in Holland; in 1968, excerpts from the Hiawatha story by Longfellow in Scotland; in 1971, a lyre concert on the Kalewala with children in our Home in Rengoldshausen, Germany; in 1977, the Mexican story of How Music Came to Earth at the Esperanza School in Chicago; and in 1990, The Little Angel’s Way to Earth with students of our Baobab College in Alexandra, South Africa.

Creating a School for Working with the Word

by Barbara Renold

“In the sounds of speech live Divine Beings; and we must approach these Beings with devotion, with prayerful devotion. They will then be the very best teachers we could possibly have.

…And we are dealing with realities when the sounds of speech in their mysterious running become for us Gods— Gods who form within us our speaking.”

“In the human form the universe is revealed; in the forming of word and sound man is revealed. The speech organism itself teaches us how to speak; the organs of throat and mouth become the pupils of the sounds. The sounds are the Gods who instruct us; we must approach them with reverence.”

(Ru dolf Steiner, Speech and Drama Course, Lecture 18, Sept. 22, 1924)

We all speak. Why might someone spend four years studying the art of speech, or even wrestle with deciding whether that was a life vocation?

The Steiner School of Speech Arts opened in 2017 as a full-time training in the Art of Speech in response to a person wishing to take up this path. Though we have remained small in numbers, the intensity and joyfulness of the work continues to permeate those taking ‘a path less trodden’ and enlivens the life of the community through festivals, end-of-term presentations, and plays.

Speech is very much connected with an experience of ourselves, our sense of Self, our personality. When we are tired or inebriated, when the Self is not so well connected to its physical instrument, speech is one of the first things that goes, and then, closely connected to speech, thinking. Those speaking more than one

language as a mother tongue are well aware of how differently one feels, thinks, perceives the world, depending upon which language you are speaking or thinking. The more we care about how we speak, the more our experience of true Selfhood, and not egotism, increases.

Thoughts clothe themselves in the spoken word. They are in themselves, however, wordless. This process happens so instantaneously and instinctively that we are largely unaware of how we translate a thought into language. This is an intellectual use of language.

Through creative speech, the artists enliven the spoken words through the speech sounds themselves, enhancing the intellectual meaning to an imagination. We work to do justice to those places where speech is creative, as in reciting poetry, creating the character in plays, etc.

It is a long journey to bring one’s speech organism and growing relationship to the sounds of speech, to realize the wealth of the sounds that create a much vaster experience than the personal experience of the speaker. Four years working with diverse exercises, poetry, plays, eurythmy, Greek gymnastics, all activities to ‘tune the instrument’ to bring speech alive, is but a brief beginning to a life-long path.

The Steiner School of Speech Arts offers the opportunity to work on creative speech. We believe that a full-time immersion is a one of the gifts of the 20/21st centuries, given to humanity through the

Spiritual Science of Rudolf Steiner, which we wish to cultivate, thereby ensuring its future existence. We are extremely fortunate to be situated in the culturally-rich environment of the Threefold Educational Center, in Spring Valley, New York, a tremendously supportive place for those seeking an artistic enlivening. We welcome anyone who wishes to come for a visit!

Speech artists can be contacted through our website: creativespeech.org.

Barbara Renold is a practicing speech artist, teacher and director of community theatre. She trained at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, from 1978-1981, and supplemented her studies at the Harkness Studio in Sydney, Australia, in 1982-83. During her time as a speech and drama teacher at Sunbridge College (1983-2007), she taught in all programs and directed many student productions. Her great passion is Rudolf Steiner’s Mystery Dramas, and she has directed two full cycles. This work culminated in the historic Mystery Drama Festival of August 2014 in Spring Valley, NY, in which, for the first time in English, all four dramas were presented by one cast, in a nine-day conference. Currently she teaches at Eurythmy Spring Valley and is one of the founding teachers of the full-time speech training, the Steiner School of Speech Arts, housed in the Threefold Community in Spring Valley, NY.

We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it!

by Monika Leitz

For the Bay Area Eurythmy Ensemble

Greetings from the San Francisco Bay region.

The Bay Area Eurythmy Ensemble is a group of eurythmists working around a body of water that connects and simultaneously divides us into discrete spaces of North, South and East Bay, bordered in the West by the Pacific Ocean. Coming together for practice always involves crossing a bridge, literally and figuratively. For many of us it becomes the symbolic bridge of a decision—the decision to make the often lengthy (and costly) journey to work together. Eurythmists all too often become soloists by necessity. Finding our way to each other to enliven the space between—the space so vital to eurythmy—is a challenge. Though closer in proximity than many others, overcoming traffic and bridge tolls in a major metropolitan area is no minor obstacle and we are proud to have an eight-year record of this effort. Up until now we have performed eurythmy to the local Waldorf schools and our students. And we intend to continue to produce story programs in the future, seeking to keep the flame for eurythmy alive for the next generation.

This year we are branching (pun intended) out, as we offer the Michael Imagination in eurythmy to any group willing to host us.

Michael Imagination

Springing from powers of the sun, Luminous, world-blessing Spirit-powers, to be Michael’s garment of rays

You are foreordained by the thinking of gods.

He, the Christ-proclaimer, reveals in you––Mankind sustaining––holy cosmic will;

You, the bright world-ether beings, Bear the Christ-Word to human beings.

So Christ’s herald appears

To waiting, thirsting souls.

To them, your word of light streams forth In the world-age of spirit-man.

You, students of spirit-knowledge, Take Michael’s wise directing, Take the word of love of the will of worlds

Into your souls’ high aims––actively.

Rud olf Steiner

The experience of the Michael Imagination performed in eurythmy by the Eurythmy Spring Valley Ensemble a few years ago was the starting point of this endeavor. Deeply smitten with its power, I immediately resolved to find a way to cultivate it on the West Coast. Our ensemble is now free to pursue this endeavor and to carry it forward into the future. This year marks the 100th Anniversary of the Michael Imagination and its presentation to the anthroposophical community by Rudolf Steiner, and seems, thereby, a particularly fitting

year to attempt to offer it in our area. Sailing on the coattails of the 100th anniversary of the laying of the Foundation Stone, our ensemble hopes to find groups or individuals who would like to collaborate in the creation of a Michael Festival that includes this imagination in eurythmy.

We hope that there are many people in the Bay Area (or indeed anywhere on the West Coast) who are ‘waiting (possibly) thirstily’ for an experience of this verse in eurythmy. It is a wonderfully mysterious verse and eurythmy can bring a fine reality to the ‘garment of rays’ spoken of in the first stanza.

The marvel of the eurythmy-form to this imagination, given by Rudolf Steiner, is a source of inspiration to us as a group. The fine balance and interplay of parts, the turns from center to right or left, and the colors bring a very unusual dynamic and experience of space into this choreography.

Still at the beginning of our exploration, we let the words and movements resonate deeply in our soul life, as we continue with our rehearsals and search for copresenters.

Generous support in kind is given from Eurythmy Spring Valley (ESV). The Eurythmy Association of North America (EANA) contributes funds to take off the edge of financial burden involved in working together in this region.

Please consider supporting this effort in your heart and mind . It will generate a perceptible substance and sheath of warmth for us to move ahead and push on manifesting our goal. Please contact us at skyleitz@ gmail.com for a eurythmy performance of the Michael Imagination (and other pieces) for your local Michaelmas event on the West Coast.

Together we can cross that bridge – “actively.”

Turning Point

Ruth Dubach, Speech Artist at the Goetheanum April 3, 1929 – November 25, 2021

Suddenly

At the turn point of the path you become aware how clouds that just a moment ago threatened you already overflowed with the fullness of light…

Suddenly you see the dying trees sta nding as shining ones…

Suddenly you sense what moves you is not Beauty alone, It is language, silent language, it is divine gestures that take hold of you, and you know once more: The world is awaiting, the spirit of the times is awaiting your being’s in nermost answer at the turning point of the path.

©Michigan Sky Media

Anthroposophy, Art, and Perceiving What Seeks to Become

by Council of the Visual Art Section of North America

Bert Chase, Canada, Architect

Patricia Dickson, California, Sculptor

Van James, Hawaii, Painter and Author

Regine Kurek, Canada, Painter

Kristena West, California, Painter

Even in anthroposophical circles not everyone thoroughly comprehends the fact that Anthroposophy strives to foster, in every possible way, the artistic element.

—Rudolf Steiner, The Arts and their Mission, GA276

How can we develop the capacities needed to discern what seeks to come toward us out of the future? How do we learn to read the hidden script of transformation concealed within our daily endeavors—the yet to be revealed impulses that would transform culture? These questions were at the very beginnings of the founding of the Visual Art Section during the Christmas Conference one hundred years ago.

hierarchical strictures and precise social relationships developed during the Roman Empire. These influences continue to press themselves into many aspects of human life.

Architecture has been imprisoned in neo-classicism that not only has to do with outer appearance, but also impacts every aspect of the planning of space, reinforcing principles of axial symmetry and layers of spatial hierarchy. These classical design principles determined not only how spaces were to be organized within buildings, but how cities were planned and built—designed to reinforce and strengthen the long existing power structures that had evolved over two millennia. Approved sculptural expression was also defined by an alignment with classical influences and so too the whole field of painting. It also was circumscribed and dominated by the requirement to conform to images that were perceived as being ‘real,’ derived from the world of the senses.

From the very first appearance of what would become anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner stressed the central significance of art and its creation. The presence of the arts and the artistic environment were integral to what could be considered the origins of anthroposophy in the Theosophical Congress in Munich in 1907. With this event Rudolf Steiner called for the participants to seek an understanding of the significance of the arts for humanity’s future. This call was, and still is, hindered by ways of perceiving the world that we have inherited from past cultural periods. For over 2000 years human civilization has been indelibly stamped by highly evolved

The birth of the 20th century brought with it a deep unconscious sense of the seemingly unbreakable bonds of this perception of the world. The tension between this classical-influenced perception of reality and those who wanted to break the bonds of the establishment created great social upheaval. This struggle dominated the first decades of the 20th century. Rudolf Steiner and anthroposophy cultivated the awakening of the capacities through artistic practice to see beyond the binding limitations coming to us from this ancient past. Powerfully influential academies determined what was seen as authentic, and therefore legitimate, artistic expression.

Rudolf Steiner not only had to awaken those around him to the significance of cultivating artistic practice for the soul’s development, but he simultaneously had to demonstrate how one could transform the arts to align with what seeks to arise out of the future, rather than reinforcing the principles at work in art coming from a previous stage of consciousness.

From the 1907 Munich Congress, through to the end of his earthly life, Rudolf Steiner continuously devoted

Some of Rudolf Steiner’s architecture: the Eurythmy Houses, the Transformer Building and the First Goetheanum.

himself to this elevation and re-creation of the arts. He expended immense personal effort, in particular, on the visual arts of architecture, sculpture, and painting. He stressed how individuals incarnating into a body and awakening soul life would only be possible in the right way through the experience of future-oriented artistic practices.

As Rudolf Steiner often pointed out, the experience of architecture is inseparable from the relationship between our sense of self and our ability to incarnate into our physical constitution. This process is difficult to grasp as it works unconsciously. The challenge faced in Rudolf Steiner’s time, and to some extent still today, is that the way of imagining and creating our spatial surrounding is still unconsciously determined by archaic principles. This was a profound concern for Rudolf Steiner, and so he devoted his own creative efforts to bringing about the creation of forms as the foundation for the new Art of Architecture.

she dedicate her life, but all of her consummate skills and capacities, to this creation of a new Art of Sculpture.

This transformative process would also guide the hand of the sculptor, for it is the sculptor’s art that enables the individuality to wake up to the experience of self within the physical body. With the transformation of the art of architecture the conditions are set for the individual to ‘feel at home’ in their bodily sheaths. To awaken an inner experience of one’s stature, of one’s uprightness within the body is the sculptor’s domain. We are given an extraordinary education in this process of transforming the art of sculpture through the ‘conversation in clay’ between Rudolf Steiner and Edith Maryon, the British sculptress of some renown. The models they developed led to the creation of the wooden sculpture of the Representative of Humanity. When Edith Maryon made the decision to join Rudolf Steiner, she was already struggling with the transformation of her personal style of an inherited classicism into a new form of expression. Not only did

In the realm of painting, Rudolf Steiner was confronted by the powerful forces at work within the academies of the time. These stultifying forces stood against what he saw as an essential element needed by humanity to awaken the individual’s soul experience. Rudolf Steiner had to battle with the impinging limitations that required painting as the so-called ‘legitimate art’ to limit itself to the depiction of the sense world. For him, the realm of color before form in painting — “painting out of the color”— was the bridge between sense reality and living soul-spiritual experience. From his indications many modern artists drew their inspiration and many directions developed in the new Art of Painting.

The transformed arts of color in painting, and form in sculpture and architecture were all needed as cultivators of the capacities for the full unfolding of evolving humanity. This mighty impulse for the creation of a new world of artistic practice is what then developed initially as the Endowment for a Theosophical Art and Way of Life, the creation of what was to become the Goetheanum , and then the establishment of the School for Spiritual Science with its professional Sections, all of which were to become fields of artistic practice in life. One among these was the Visual Art Section under the care of Rudolf Steiner’s long-time artistic collaborator, Edith Maryon.

The Second Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, and the interior of the Great Hall.

Rudolf Steiner’s 9-meter wood sculpture of the Representative of Humanity

Rudolf Steiner’s first painting, Light Streaming, in tempera; a plant color painting in the cupola of the First Goetheanum, The Representative of Humanity ; and his last two watercolor paintings, The Archetypal Plant and Archetypal Man/Animal

In each of these spheres of the practice of a new Art of Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting, the most essential element has to do with what the artist does. In the world of art coming from the past, the judgment for artistic authenticity had to do with the capacity, or skill, to reproduce what has been. The artist was bound to inherited principles that were, and to a certain extent still are, determined by the world of a ‘perceived reality’; what our outer senses reveal to us. To imagine that, as an artist, one could take up the creative process outside of the determining guidelines of the ‘ruling authority’ was to place oneself outside of what was determined to be the authentic stream of artistic creation.

The artistic process, or the creative process, could not include what lies beyond the sense perceptible. In its essence, the transformed, or anthroposophical, impulses in art are exactly the opposite. In each sphere, the process of creation has to do with building a bridge to what would stream toward us out of what has not yet been created, from beyond what has not yet become sense perceptible. From an anthroposophical perspective, all art focuses on the process of creation, rather than the outcome of that process. It is the creative process that unites us with what seeks to become, rather than what has already been.

It is in this sense that Rudolf Steiner began to refer to all anthroposophical endeavors, whose intention has to do with the transformation of human culture, as artistic practices. So this activity of creation at the boundary of sense perception, which is informed by what seeks to become, is essential for all true anthroposophical initiatives. Education becomes the Art of Education, medicine the Art of Healing, farming the Art of Healing the Earth, Biodynamics, etc. It is the sacred activity of creation that places us at the boundary of

the senses and that links us to the foundation of a true, genuine experience of being alive.

To enter the creative process is to stand before the unknown in complete vulnerability and allow a conversation to blossom within the soul, between the individual and what seeks to become. It is this practice of the transformation of art, given to us by Rudolf Steiner, that develops in us the capacities to stand before this threshold, to become co-creators of the future.

The Visual Art Section of North America came into being in 1995. Our task is not only to support the spiritual research of the individual in the realm of the visual arts but also to be part of a communal effort serving the larger field of human spiritual development. The Visual Art Section periodically sponsors public events and publications and also maintains a blog: http:// northamericanartsection.blogspot.com where you will find event postings, articles of interest and an archive of the past years of Newsletters. We welcome all who are interested in connecting with the anthroposophical Visual Art Section. Please consult our blog on the homepage where there is a link to join.

Sculpture by Patricia Dickson.

Paintings by Kristena West.

Archetype of the Pentagram

by Brigida Baldszun Eurythmy Therapist

This is a shortened version of a research paper from 2015.

People around the world draw stars, with any number of points. The transition from drawing a star to moving the figure of a star is immense. The rosacea of the plant world, the starfish of the animal world, and the human form share this star form.

Children will run joyfully from the center of the star out into one direction, return to the center and ray out to another point! Adults, by contrast, find it satisfying to have a pattern in mind, walk through it, and finish in the center.

Another stage of moving the star pattern is when a group of five people move star-ways together, each one contributing one path of the star and lifting the exercise to a social level. An orderly web of crossing lines will appear for the viewer. This choreography of the pentagram can be adapted to accommodate any number of people.

The Esoteric Background of the Pentagram

When did the five-pointed star first appear? What makes it such a popular symbol?

The relation between the pentagram and the celebrated “Golden Ratio” has motivated a number of historians of mathematics to investigate the topic thoroughly.

A pentagram appears on a jar dated to 3100 BCE, found north of Thebes in Egypt. As an Egyptian hieroglyph, a pentagram enclosed in a circle meant the netherworld, the underworld of the dead.

Interestingly, pentagrams from the same period were found in Mesopotamia. In Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform texts, the meaning of the five-pointed star was the “Regions of the inhabited world, which are not the regions warmed by the brightness of your light.” (1)

At Tell Esdar, in the Israeli Negev desert, archaeologists found a flint scraper with a pentagram (Figure 1), dated to the Chalcolithic period (4500–3100 BCE).

The Pentagram in Eurythmy

The pentagram is widely considered to be the Star of Man, as shown in the illustrations by Leonardo da Vinci and by Agrippa von Nettesheim. Rudolf Steiner used the pentagram for the first time in a eurythmy lesson in 1912. Lory Smits was given the first word “Hallelujah” in eurythmy, during which Rudolf Steiner said, “It will become a beautiful exercise if you place five people in a pentagram, letting them form this word at the same time, as one being. This would have a social effect in the highest sense of the word.” (2)

Steiner made comments about the pentagram already in the years of 1906 and 1907. He emphasized that the pentagram can be a figure, a symbol, a decoration, but, in relationship to the human body, it is a picture of those etheric streams which penetrate the etheric body as well as the physical body. In his notes of an esoteric lesson from Nov. 14, 1906, he writes: “Streams of ether are always circulating out of the cosmos through the human body. One such stream enters through the head, passes from there into the right foot, then into the left hand, then into the right hand, then into the left foot, and from there back to the head. It would be bad for man if the stream did not enter into him through the head but through the feet. These streams circulate all the time in man and bring him into connection with the entire cosmos.” (3)

Just as the anatomist sees the skeleton as being part of the physical body, the occultist sees the pentagram being part of the etheric body.

What happens when a human being moves this ether stream as indicated? The Roman architect Vitruvius (80BC-15AD) first coined the word eurythmy to described a certain degree of harmonious relationship of measurements in space. And the German poet Goethe also (1749-1832) used the name eurythmy. Through Steiner’s work the harmonic relations were put into movement. People young and old love to move the pentagram in eurythmy.

Lessons with Children

In many decades of teaching eurythmy, I experienced the truth of a passage in a lecture by Steiner: “The teacher should really regard the child before him as something like a riddle that he has to solve. …He must never proceed in any dogmatic way, but all the time he has to consider the child itself as his teacher, and see how

the child, through its special behavior, betrays the very way in which these veils are to be broken through, so that, from out of the child itself that Divine instruction can come forth.” (4)

Imagine 20 or 30 children moving in a room without chairs or desks; the situation is actually close to explosive. If the pentagram is the major theme, the directions need to be age appropriate, engaging, clear and succinct. A truthful response of a student, “Of course I can do it, if I want to.”

How can the archetype of the human body, come alive for the children of today?

School is not only the place for learning but also for playing and socializing. Very often I have the impression that the children lack social and emotional skills. They are rather detached from the ground, as if uprooted. They remind me of The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. (5) When I was struggling to create a mood of Advent to a multicultural group, the ‘Genius Loci’, the genius of the place, was a help. Young children, who feel princely, will stand up straight and tall, full of positive energy, and thereby become a source of light.

The essential mood for preparing a festival in the dark time of the year is to be able to create light and warmth, to make something beautiful and to do it with joy; to do it secretly so that a surprise could happen, as a gift to a friend. All these attitudes and skills come into the eurythmy lesson and help to overcome their differences.

When I taught eurythmy at the Prerana Waldorf School, Hyderabad, India, I was expected to teach the children a couple of exercises that they could repeat without me. Then I realized that they don’t know what the five-pointed star is! When they lay on the floor, with arms and feet apart, I asked them to listen to a brief story. “A tree was standing right behind their head and one leaf was turned and twirled by the wind. The leaf fell on their forehead, the wind picked it up and let it drop on the right foot. From there it flew to the left hand, to the right, then to the left foot, and magically back to the forehead. What path did the leaf travel?” Two children with sparkling eyes responded, “The way of a star!” Then everyone was able to walk ‘the way of

the leaf.’ With my help they made drawings of that star with the leaf and the person against the blue sky. The children learned to move a pentagram, as the way of the leaf and as upright human beings.

Conclusion

It is important to realize that the pentagram is not just a geometric form, but that it has an esoteric background that is significant. The structure of the etheric body relates to the divine origin of the human being.

Eurythmy leads us to the source of divine creation. “This is what really lies behind eurythmy. The human being as we see him is a completed form. But the completed form has been created out of movement. …In eurythmy we are really going back to primordial movement. What does my Creator, working out of primeval, cosmic being, do in me as a human being? If you would give an answer to this question, you must make eurythmy movements. God eurythmizes, and as the result of His eurythmy there arises the human form. …. Eurythmy is not to be taken as something which can be learned in the ordinary conventional way. Think of it as something which brings the human being nearer to the divine than would otherwise be possible.” (6)

The idea that we lift ourselves to the Divine while doing eurythmy is my daily experience.

Bibliography

1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mariolivio/ thefivepointedstaras_b_619 2742.html

2. Rudolf Steiner, Eurythmy: its Birth and Development, Anastasi Ltd 2002, based on the German Edition at Rudolf Steiner, Verlag, Dornach, 1982

3. Rudolf Steiner, Guidance in Esoteric Training, Rudolf Steiner Press 1994, page 96

4. Rudolf Steiner, Eurythmy as Visible Speech Anastasi Ltd. 2005, page 139ff

5. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, poet, pioneering aviator, and author of The Little Prince

6. Rudolf Steiner, June 24, 1924, Dornach, Eurythmy as Visible Speech, Anastasi Ltd 2005

Brigida trained in Vienna, Austria, and worked for nine years at a Waldorf school in Germany; in that time, she taught eurythmy, music, and led a class of 39 children grades 4-8. Learning eurythmy in the English language opened for her new aspects to teaching and performing in Detroit, Chicago, and New York. She has taught in India, Russia, South Africa, and repeatedly in China. Since 2012, she added eurythmy therapy to her work. Since 2016, she works with therapeutic Eurythmy at Green Meadow Waldorf School and in the larger community, Chestnut Ridge, New York.

Shakespeare and the Time Arts

by Fred Dennehy

There is a story, no doubt amplified through repetition, about the great British Shakespearean actor, Sir Laurence Olivier. He had been starring in a long run of a play in London’s West End. One night his performance, always superb, was astonishing in its aliveness and intensity. The audience felt that they were witnessing something more real than the world around them. His fellow actors felt it, too. After a sequence of thunderous curtain calls, Olivier suddenly raced to his dressing room and locked himself in. He could be heard sobbing from the corridor. Finally, one of his fellow actors went to the door, knocked tentatively, and said “Larry, what’s this all about?” Olivier’s voice came back, broken: “It’s about tonight.” “Tonight?” she asked. “Tonight was the greatest performance you’ve ever given.” “I know it was,” the voice roared back: “And that’s just it. I don’t have any idea how I did it.”

That’s the thing about the ‘time arts’ generally, and live theater in particular. A given performance, or even a moment within the performance, may be utterly stunning – and it is never repeated. Even if you should happen to listen to a recording or watch a video of it, the same magic isn’t there.

One reason is that those rare occasions are experienced by both the actor and the audience outside the physical body, in the etheric. There are no instruction manuals for the etheric, so the experience can neither be encapsulated nor imitated. The power of the performance lies not so much in its content as in its emergence, its becoming, and that happens for us only once.

Theater at its best, as Steiner often pointed out, is an invocation of the spiritual, a visible realization of the invisible. It seeks to bring a play to life – to beget an experience on a different plane from the underlying sensory sequence of events, to realize a spot in time where the immediacy of the present moment is the focus, and everything may be possible.

When what is happening on stage in fact becomes a spiritual activity, the actor is no longer thinking about carrying out a task. Though what he says and does on stage goes according to the script, the quality of his speaking and moving shifts into improvisation. He acts spontaneously, the way a child plays. Each thing

on the stage – each object, each person, each event – is experienced as something new, in its full dignity.

Such a transition does not flow readily out of the accustomed exercise of the actor’s craft. It is outside the causal chain, beyond habit, beyond expectation, and even beyond concepts.

How does it happen? It may be something abrupt in the course of the performance. There is a pause, an interruption, and the actor is suddenly faced with what the great director, Peter Brook, calls ‘the empty space’ or ‘the open door.’ He is without the customary emotional and associative supports that have been carrying him from scene to scene. He feels alone, turned in on himself, called upon to do something, but not knowing what that something is. Maybe it is only a brief discontinuity, a gap, but it can be encountered by the actor as an abyss.

Rudolf Steiner has written of the intensity and danger of such moments in works like How to Know Higher Worlds and The Threshold of the Spiritual World . The actor may well shrink back from this invitation from the spirit. His attention may become divided, and (since we are our attention) he may feel torn apart. His performance can deteriorate precipitously and he may experience paralyzing stage fright, even to the extent that he walks off the stage.

But something else may happen. He may embrace the void with his full attention and find himself at the beginning of a performative freedom that can create an original interpretation, a new meaning. The invisible may in fact begin to become visible. For a brief time, the actor’s everyday I may coincide with a higher I, and he may surrender his own gratification and security and simply let himself drop away. “Renunciation,” as Georg Kuhlewind has said, “is the secret of every true ascent.”

We can never summon back an otherworldly jazz solo that has disappeared into the ensemble, or the flash of recognition between two people on stage that cracks open with ferocious energy and then subsides into simple discourse. But we can prepare the way for the grace of their coming. At the very least, in the theater, we need plays that can bear those moments. And even today, after more than four centuries, there are no plays that can carry the spirit better than Shakespeare’s.

Shakespeare’s plays, as his contemporary Ben Jonson famously put it, are “rammed with life.” Peter Brook has

imagined Shakespeare writing lines like atoms, able to release infinite life, if only we can split them open.

Shakespeare’s ‘mirror of nature’ is always a two-way mirror. Though his mind works in polarities, he never writes crudely, giving us stale matchups between ‘heroes’ and ‘villains.’ His polar forces generate one another within every one of his characters, so that the portrayal that emerges is full to bursting with living contradictions – and utterly real.

Of all dramatists, Shakespeare is alone in his generosity. He could have used his pantheon of totally believable human beings to say what he wanted to say to the world, but he doesn’t. He lets them say what they need to say. He steps back. He is happily content to be the bearer of others’ truths. As the Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges has put it, Shakespeare is everyone and no one.

No one ever understood this generosity of mind that Shakespeare possessed better than John Keats, who called it “negative capability, that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.” Keats means a letting go, a surrendering to what is simply there. Negative capability is a renunciation of the ego, of the lust to make judgments, of the seductions of pandering entertainment. It embodies the same qualities of wonder,

reverence, acceptance and devotion that Rudolf Steiner set as preconditions for knowledge of the spirit in How to Know Higher Worlds. It opens for us what Keats calls “the penetralium of mystery.” Without the ability to “be still and know,” the mystery in the world vanishes, and with it the life of things

Shakespeare himself was an actor and a director –a creator of time art. He understood his audiences and knew from decades of experience that when everything goes right, the audience is swept along with the performers.

How do we account for the silent exaltation of an audience after the end of a great performance of “King Lear” in which the actors have discovered something truly new? They have just sat through the most heartrending final moments of all theater. They know that Cordelia will “never, never, never, never, never come again.” They have seen Lear himself die without any perceived redemption from his torment. There has been no final saving secret communicated to them.

What is it? We could say, with Aristotle, that the members of the audience have experienced “catharsis,” a purging of the emotions of pity and fear. But there is something more. They have been awakened into a part of themselves that they rarely touch. They have been awakened into freedom.

Reflections on the Experience of the Lyre Tone

by Sheila Phelps Johns

The singular experience of the tone of the lyre is what has called many to take up this instrument since the first days of its creation, for purposes of soul nourishment and soul connection with others through playing, teaching, or therapy. Over the years, a number of colleagues have shared lovely personal experiences with the lyre tone, so it seemed tempting for an article on this topic to allow more than one voice to sound. I express gratitude to those who helped to create a multi-faceted picture of how the tone of the lyre manifests in the world and how its effect connects us to ourselves, to one another, and to the spiritual world that enlivens our daily existence.

Here follow a few vignettes that elaborate various experiences with the lyre tone through pedagogy, art, and therapy. We begin with the words of Giselle Whitwell: The tone of the modern lyre is unique among all

stringed instruments. Because of the way it is built, the tone is able to resonate freely in a given space once it is stroked. We may refer to the resounding lyre tone as free because of a very special quality: it is unhindered from being transparent, which makes it not only soothing and calming but also very quietly present in the listening. Tones played on this instrument are therefore capable of meeting several different needs – those of the unborn child equally with those on the threshold of death, from lullabies to hymns, with limitless possibilities in between for improvising freely.

Julia Elliott frames her observations in the context of shared community experience: The lyre is a uniquely social instrument. It has the ability to connect and resonate with the human being, drawing us warmly into its circle. Whether it is the intimate relationship of a single player with her lyre or an ensemble of players and their instruments, the responsive quality of the lyre’s tone bridges our humanity and makes us feel welcomed. Because of this, lyre players of all different levels can come together and make music in a satisfying and beautiful way. The lyre creates community, and music in community heals us.

Diane Rowley points to the catalyst of the sequence of mostly Raphael Madonna paintings, used in either hygienic or therapeutic settings, that can allow for a similar soul experience: While playing lyre for the Madonna series, it was as if time stood still, the mind stopped thinking and the heart expanded to encompass all the people, energy, and space in the room.

Catherine Read takes the reference to the heart another step, incorporating a fascinating observation Steiner made about dimensionality in the physical experience of playing the lyre: From November 20-22, 1914, Rudolf Steiner gave three lectures entitled “The World as Product of the Working of Balance” (GA 158) in which he reveals some startling aspects of the human physical, etheric, and astral bodies. He describes the working of Lucifer and Ahriman in relation to the higher hierarchies and how the human being is placed between these polar opposites. In the evolution of consciousness, we have worked to balance these opposing forces. This balance relates specifically to the area of the human heart, and from three directions: left/right, up/down, and front/back. If space is opened up in these three directions, a cube is formed in which opposite forces are balanced. Steiner describes how the left/right and up/ down have gradually evolved to have a space, but we now must develop this balance from front to back.

As I play the lyre, I experience the space between the two hands as well as the space between the front and

back strings. The two hands, working in a rhythmic and structured alternation with each other can begin to expand the space between the left and right and to create a threedimensional space in the place where the hands meet. The plane that exists in the vertical and horizontal dimensions can be expanded into a three-dimensional form in the area of the heart as the tones sound through the player’s heart and back out into the world .

Margo Ketchum details a ‘heart-warming’ example of the lyre as a tool for finding one’s own inner tone: My husband had finished his teacher training as a Waldorf educator and was ready to begin first grade with his new class. His challenge was that he felt unprepared to sing with the class, as he could not carry a tune — or so he had been told since childhood. As a lyrist, I was able to help him learn music. I put a soprano lyre into his hands and taught him his songs for the circle work. Soon he was able to play like a minstrel and accompany all the class songs on the lyre

By third grade, it became apparent that he was, after all, able to sing on pitch by matching his voice to the tones of the lyre. It was quite remarkable to witness how over time, teacher and students alike could join the sound stream as their natural musicality emerged. And it all began with the tone of the lyre

Sally Willig shares an additional poignant cameo of the lyre inspiring ‘one’s own tone’: My client was an elderly woman – a Holocaust survivor, in declining health, but very awake in her thinking, who shared many childhood memories with me. One of these memories had to do with singing. Her sister and other family members had beautiful voices. Whenever she began to sing, even in music class, the teacher would say to her “Later,” which she took to mean, “Don’t sing now, do it later when we don’t have to hear you.” When I began to encourage her to sing with me, it was difficult for her. However, when I put the lyre on her lap, and showed her how to stream through the strings, her musical-self began to awaken. She smiled and remarked that she was making beautiful music. She could tell when her tone was good, and she felt motivated to make it even better. This was a wonderful gift for her – that the lyre could reveal her inner musician and her ability to produce a beautiful tone out of herself.

A further revelation was gifted to me in the form of a client’s experience of the lyre tone ‘from the other side’: A number of years ago, a father in our school community had a devastating stroke. He was rendered unconscious for months, and many approaches were employed in the attempt to bring him back to consciousness. I visited him with my

lyre twice weekly as part of this endeavor, as did others in our school community who sang, told stories, played recorded music, and offered massage. At first, I focused on sounding beautiful melodies, but I eventually settled on certain scales connected with the planetary tones, ordered in accordance with what is known as the ‘incarnation sequence’. Shortly following our session one afternoon, months after his stroke, he quite unexpectedly ‘came back’. I continued my work with him after he returned home, and once he had reclaimed his ability to express himself, he told me of his experience of being ‘elsewhere’, though aware of the care he was receiving at his bedside. Although he knew that he had surely been supported by all of the other offerings made on his behalf, he shared with me that during those months, the only thing that he actually experienced was the tone of the lyre – not any melody or harmony – simply the lyre tone, and he fully believed that this was what had ‘called him back’ .

We close with words of Christof-Andreas Lindenberg, penned over 60 years ago, but echoing and confirming what has been shared out of contemporary experience about the centrality of the heart in connection with the experience of the lyre tone:

The heart in us is a true lyre. Tuning and sounding at the same time, it sings the changing melos of our daily existence. Its very position suggests the attitude of listening as well as the attitude of sounding; an axis neither horizontal nor vertical, taking all dimensions into its force – right-above-back to left-below-front. That is the secret of its seat. And the fourfold structure of its chambers is the secret of its purpose, its beat. Only at times, and not more than dimly, are we aware of its rhythm, and systole and diastole never become fully conscious to him who tries to hear the heart’s polyphonic harmonies, resounding as they do in head and limb: it remains a secret! Revelation is not given through anatomical study nor through the stethoscope or electrocardiogram. Nor is it possible to check the music of the heart by theories on vibrations and sound-waves. The heart may begin to reveal its sound when two people meet in unison and harmony, tenderly prompting: they know – now it is the beat of the bar, now of the melos..... The modern lyre is an example of the highest achievement in combining form and sound. We can feel it as a revelation through this instrument of warmth, and we know now that this is a step to unite – a true communion of hearts.

A Look at the Path of Professional Development in Eurythmy

by Beth Dunn-Fox

Eurythmy Spring Valley

Stepping onto the path of becoming a eurythmist begins an unimaginable journey. As in earlier times, when an apprentice worked for years to build the myriad skills under the tutelage of a master, so does the eurythmy student train rigorously to embody the skills that will allow them to bring eurythmy to others. This process must happen at every level, penetrating down to the limbs, beyond the fingertips, through the whole of the self.

The journey of development in eurythmy draws one progressively deeper into the substance that lives in human speech and song, the basis for eurythmy as an art. Each day one slips into the skin of sound – slowly discovering that each tone, vowel, or consonant is a universe, with a form that comes into being out of the

movements of the creative forces from which all forms in the world arise.

One soon learns in the eurythmy training that the key for entering these sound worlds is found in the element of time; the time given to practice. Practice here means – making space (time) to be in the presence of what we want to know, continuously, so that it begins to speak to us. For the eurythmy student this encompasses the rich moments of learning with teachers, rehearsals with fellow students, and, critically important, the time regularly spent alone in the practice room. Through these different forms of practice, a conversation is initiated with the ground elements of eurythmy that will progressively open the ability to embody them.

In this first phase of professional development, the student begins to work with the different qualities of time as structured by the training. Through the rhythmic engagement in classes, peer rehearsals, and

private practice, the student’s partnership with time builds different capacities.

A wonderful, living clue that Rudolf Steiner gives about the transformative forces of time can be found in the Foundation Stone Meditation. In the first three panels of the Meditation, we hear the call to engage in three practices:

Practice Spirit Recalling – Practice Spirit Sensing –Practice Spirit Beholding

Uncovering the wealth of guidance provided by the Foundation Stone Meditation is a life work, yet even living with the sounding of these three calls alone can be of immeasurable value in professional and spiritual development.

In any process of research, meditative practice, or eurythmic activity, we traverse the interpenetrating forces that these three distinct actions hold. In the eurythmy practice room, the student or eurythmist is constantly moving between sensing, reflecting, and beholding, as they work to embody the deeper substance of the content at hand. Recalling and working with the elements that form the music or poetry or prose, paves the path from the known to unknown, to recognizing the core signature of the piece. For the eurythmist, this includes coming to know not only the audible, but the inaudible sounding, the source of the piece.

Developing the capacity to hear and move this inaudible sounding requires that we learn to practice spirit sensing, particularly in those moments when it seems we will not be able to uncover it. It asks us to face the threshold of not knowing over and over again by practicing the form, sounds, and elements with new senses. This time process yields new experiences only by setting aside the premature judgments of, “I know that” or, “I can’t know that.” If we continually sustain rhythmic practice, working with the elements we know with new eyes, we have the chance to behold the deeper layers of music, language, and life. The moment that this happens is beyond words.

In the three practices of the Foundation Stone Meditation, we have the fundamentally powerful, yet simple actions that we can take each day to access greater meaning and depth in our endeavors. They stand as resources that will sustain continual, life-long progress by deepening our ability to move beyond the countenance of the world and into its actual substance. When these calls sound in the Foundation Stone Meditation, it is clear that we must journey into each of their spheres in

our daily work, to engage in the profound process that Rudolf Steiner pictures in this meditation.

This partnership with time goes through a metamorphosis in each phase of the professional development of the eurythmist. As one prepares for taking up a professional focus, the root elements of eurythmy are further developed into potent tools for teaching, providing therapy, or performing, through advanced professional trainings. Each discipline in eurythmy gives access to different forms of experience and development. The specialized skills gained in these trainings will provide the basis for the eurythmist’s future work, whether it is to serve the healthy development of the child, support the healing process in illness, further inner development in adults, or cultivate artistic capacities.

A true threshold is crossed when the eurythmist begins their professional life. Anyone who has experienced a first year of teaching knows this threshold. The time has arrived to actively share the health-giving movements of these sound worlds, the process of which will initiate a lifetime of research into the art of working with others. In this phase, the focus of practice prepares the capacity to impart the substance of eurythmy to others through thorough preparation, a sense of living presence in the teaching or performing moment, and clear selfreflection, so essential to professional development.

Rudolf Steiner made a remarkable discovery when he recognized the profound healing effect of embodying the inherent forms within sound. Each eurythmist contributes to taking this insight further as they develop their daily eurythmic practices and are thereby increasingly able to bring eurythmy into all of the spheres where it can contribute to human development.

Time given to this work with the basic elements remains a life-long source for one’s development as a eurythmist.

Beth Dunn-Fox, Administrative and Development Coordinator, Eurythmy Spring Valley

Raised in California, Beth’s life-long interest in the developmental potential of movement grew through education and performing in modern, ballet, and folk/character dance forms. Upon discovering eurythmy she trained at Eurythmy Spring Valley, graduating in 1986, and joined the ESV Ensemble in its inaugural season the same year. She traveled and performed with the Ensemble until 2000, when her family grew larger. With a background in developing financial systems for small nonprofits, she has also been active in the work of carrying ESV administratively since 1988, balanced by working locally on project and festival pieces with the Ensemble and other eurythmy colleagues.

The Foundation Stone Meditation as a Wellspring of Life

by Miriam Ward Cosentino

Speaking out of the spirit

And unfolding the spirit

In the way we speak Is more significant

Then merely talking about the spirit. Spirit presence in the spoken word Should become the stroke of lightning That fires our dead culture

To new life.

Rudolf Steiner, October 1922

Speaking the Foundation Stone Meditation for eurythmy surely belongs to the most honorable tasks in a speech artist’s life. While I am hardly aware of the many stepping stones leading to this highlight on my life’s journey, a few easily come to mind.

I was introduced to Sprachgestaltung (sometimes translated as the art of “creative speech”) during my first weeks as a student at the Hannover Waldorf School in Germany. Having recently arrived from Colorado at the age of 16, my command of the German language was still nascent. The speech artist I experienced during an assembly at the school seemed very serious and strangely poised. While I shared this impression with my classmates, who were restlessly suppressing their reactions to her strong and articulated voice that was carried by a sing-song kind of warble, I was experiencing something not related to sympathy or antipathy. I guess I was just amazed. This initial experience awakened and moved something in me to seek out the Marie Steiner School for Speech and Drama ten years later.

During the first year of my training in Switzerland, I traveled home to the United States for a visit and attended one of the “Re-think Conferences.” The Else Klink Ensemble of Eurythmeum Stuttgart was offering an evening performance with texts translated into English, but they had not brought anyone with them from Europe to speak! I eagerly volunteered and was allowed to read a fairytale out of one of Rudolf Steiner’s Mystery Dramas. It was my first time speaking for eurythmy, and after this experience, I knew that I did not want it to be my last.

Speaking has much to do with breathing, and there is nothing more enjoyable than breathing together with the art form of eurythmy. This breathing movement, while carrying a pulse of weaving rhythm, makes visible qualities that can be experienced as belonging to the living word as it transcends into silence. Through weeks of practice, the speaker and the eurythmist become united in a shared breath stream, to the extent that the speaker should not even look at the eurythmist. Rather, both should feel each other in a shared etheric stream.

Eventually, during my speech training, I was introduced to the Foundation Stone Meditation published in the book Truth Wrought Words by Rudolf Steiner. The guidance that I received was that these words needed to be spoken with a golden tone, while being carried by a cosmic, lyrical quality. With this, a seed had been planted. Its future would depend on how the soil would be tended; the soil, of course, being anthroposophy.

Another ten years passed, and I found myself back in the United States in the early ‘90s meeting my American speech colleagues. Speaking the Foundation Stone Meditation as a chorus supported a communitybuilding experience, as we prepared to bring it to various anthroposophical events. Changes were made to the English translation and published by the Anthroposophical Society in America. I experienced the Foundation Stone Meditation being performed in eurythmy for the first time in the United States by the Eurythmy Spring Valley Ensemble under the direction of Dorothea Mier. During the Holy Nights of 2023/24 a celebration was created for the 100th Anniversary of the re-founding of the Anthroposophical Society. The Foundation Stone Meditation was performed in four languages on the Goetheanum Stage. Each recipient at the conference was given a book in which the Foundation Stone mantra appears in 39 languages as they are sounding around the world.

The number of eurythmists working as a group to make this text visible is growing. This impulse was taken up by the Portland Eurythmy Group in response to being asked. I don’t think it has been any less than lifechanging for all of us who have been working with this sacred text. Rudolf Steiner’s gift to humanity, sculpted

from the spiritual realities living in the word, can reveal itself to us only in as far as we are able to receive it. Receiving this gift is a process of a lifetime, fostering a relationship that can evoke profound gratitude.

The Foundation Stone Meditation given by Rudolf Steiner as the Foundation Stone of Love is what is being carried by the living being of Anthroposophia. The first three panels each close with the words: This is heard by the spirits of the elements in East, West, North, South. May human beings hear it. These words live on as hope, that

what has been given to us out of the spiritual research of Rudolf Steiner can reflect in our hearts and shine forth carrying humankind into the future for free and active willing.

Miriam Cosentino Ward studied nursing at the first anthroposophical hospital in Germany to offer a nursing degree and then went on to study speech and drama in Switzerland. Returning to the United States she worked at Raphael Association in California for four years before moving to Camphill School in Pennsylvania, where she was part of the community for 20 years. Having obtained her BSN she worked as a school nurse in the public school system for over a decade. She is presently retired and lives outside of Portland, Oregon.

Creating and Supporting Salutogenesis

Salutogenesis—focuses on factors that support human health and well-being.

by Michael Hughes, Makawao, Maui,

Hawai’i

It is widely acknowledged in our times that sources of health need to embrace not just physical well-being, but also psychic (soul) and spiritual health. How do we do this? We know that in our ‘inner landscape,’ how we engage our thinking activity, our inquisitive contemplative reflections, and feelings such as wonder, thankfulness, and gratitude put us on the right path.

Having a good rhythm in our life, exercise, experiences in nature, good food, socializing, laughter, and enough healing sleep are all ways to nourish our lives. So put in the simplest terms, can we find ways to positively support ourselves and others in the realms of thinking, feeling, and willing? A powerful activity toward human health, engaging us both inwardly and outwardly, is an artistic activity.

Strengthening the Soul Qualities of Wonder, Hope, and Love through Eurythmy Eurythmy is a movement which addresses our physical, soul, and spiritual well-being. We will consider three eurythmy sequences which are well known in some circles as a ‘preventative, or prophylactic sequence,’ in that they ‘make sturdy’ our whole being. These are part of a series of exercises known as soul exercises. This is because each of these exercises calls for creating a ‘soul mood,’ enhanced through specific gestures, which are

then complimented or contrasted with a vowel. Each of these sequences are performed a number of times, which help one experience the results.

Love-Ae

The first sequence we will refer to is known as ‘Love – Ae’ (vowel sound A as in the word ‘gate’). Calling forth a mood of love, or of embracing the world in our heart, we open our arms wide, curving slightly forward, and let a feeling of loving warmth flow from our hearts through our arms, fingers, and beyond. Having established this, the arms then swing inward, crossing firmly in front of our heart (the vowel ‘Ae’). We then relax and continue the sequence a number of times. You know you are on the right track when you experience the warmth flowing in your arms, hand, fingers, and further, for this exercise works strongly on warming our blood flow and circulation.

Ah-Veneration

The next sequence we will describe starts with a vowel, and then the soul mood is expressed in movement. It is called ‘AhVeneration’ (vowel sound Ah as in

the word ‘f ather’). One creates the ‘ah’ gesture with both arms streaming out at an angle in front of the body. One is active in the arm muscles, but they are not ‘locked.’ Having created this gesture, one allows the soul mood of wonder and reverence to find expression in the next movement. This movement is a great release which starts behind in the shoulders, then gently lifts the arms over the head and slowly streams downward behind one. Again, one relaxes and proceeds to do these movements a number of times. It can perhaps be expressed as being filled with wonder, veneration for the world of the spirit which stands behind all of our sensory experiences. This is a ‘tonic’ for our whole organization, strengthening us. This sequence is also very helpful if one is having trouble ‘releasing from the day’ and to more easily fall asleep.

Hope-U

The third sequence we are considering, ‘Hope-U’ begins with the soul gesture followed by the movement for the vowel ‘u’ (‘oo’ as in ‘throu gh’). Here we start by creating a mood for our Great Wishes or Hopes. Our feet, as in the other sequences, are comfortably close together (they are creating a strong pillar for us in our legs and feet, grounding us with the strength of the earth). Here, in filling the soul mood we slightly lean back, with the weight bearing more on our heels, so the toes are actually lifted from the ground, while our arms, which are at the sides of our body are turned outward, curving upward in our hands. In a sense we could say that in creating this posture, filled with the soul content, we form a ‘vessel’ of our body. From here, holding this gesture filled with our soul content, the arms slowly rise, still on our sides, and then come together in front of us, close to the body. In the coming together, the back of the hands meet each other and move downwards in the middle in front of us, through a full extension of the arms which are held as closely together (hands still ‘back to back’) as comfortably as possible. The sense is as of a response, a filling, of the vessel we created. Holding the hands and arms briefly in this full extension downward, we then again release, relax, and proceed with the sequence a number of times. This exercise works beneficially on our breathing system. One can perhaps characterize this sequence as a trust in the Divine that moves into the ground of our existence. Through this we can experience

‘the father ground of existence,’ which gives us support. We need such confidence for life!

These are sequences that all therapeutic eurythmists know and would be happy to share with you. I wish you well in your practice of salutogenesis! Here is a health giving meditative poem given by Rudolf Steiner (translation by Ernst Katz):

‘O Spirit of God – abide in me, Fill my I within my soul,

On my soul bestow a strengthening force, Strengthening force too for my heart, For my heart that seeks Thee, Seeks Thee with deepest longing, Deepest longing for good health, For good health and trust in life, Trust in life which through my body streams, Streams as a precious gift divine, Gift divine from Thee, O Spirit of God, O Spirit of God – fill me.’

Michael Hughes is a eurythmist and therapeutic eurythmist living on the island of Makawao, Maui, Hawai’i. Presently he is the president of the Association for Therapeutic Eurythmy in North America.

Cross of Light

The images on these pages depict Karl Koenig’s ‘Cross of Light’, which is formed by the Calendar of the Soul verses for weeks 5 and 48, and 22 and 31.

The fifth cross was called by Karl Koenig the ‘Cross of Light’. Two of these verses begin with the words, “The Light”, and two of them with the words, “In the Light”, or “Within the Light”, depending on the translation.

It is a bit like the Curative Meditation, which many of you know, the very special meditation Rudolf Steiner gave for Curative Education towards the end of the lectures he gave in 1924. He gave this symbol of the Sun, the circle with the point, and described how one can use this meditation for the evening and the morning, going into the night and going into daytime. It is a celebration of the Sun at nighttime and in the daytime, with the two moods, “In me is God”, and “I am in God”.

I experience that it is very similar to the feeling of the verses of the fifth cross, “I am in the Light”, and “The Light is in me”. Twice we go through this experience with the correspondences with these four verses.

Perhaps we are also reminded of the Light in the Foundation Stone meditation, the very special part that is almost like a fifth part of the Foundation Stone meditation, when we hear this prayer, “Light Divine, Christ Sun”, and we realize that the Light, also the Light in these verses, is the Light of the Sun, the Divine Light.

When Karl Koenig drew the Metamorphoses of the Cross, he used for the fifth cross the symbol of the Spirit Sun, the Celtic cross, the Sun cross. So we see in these four verses how we go through a series of experiences with the Light.”

by Richard Steel, for the Karl Koenig Exhibition at the Threefold Foundation

Within the light that out of spirit depths Weaves germinating power into space

Cross of Light

The light from spirit depths Strives to ray outward, sun-imbued

The light from world-wide spaces works on within with living power

Within the light that out of worldwide heights Would stream with power toward the soul

Within the light that out of spirit depths

Weaves germinating power into space

The light from world-wide spaces

Works on within with living power

Verse 5

Verse 22

by Jannebeth Röell, four corresponding Calendar of the Soul images to Karl Koenig’s Cross of Light

The light from spirit depths

Strives to ray outwards, sun-imbued

Within the light that out of world-wide heights

Would stream with power toward the soul

Verse 31

Verse 48

Elisabeth de Bruyne:

An Introduction to the Artist, Her Books, and a “High” School of Painting

by Pamela Sophiajohn

The first time I saw “Fragrant Rose” (at center), I immediately heard these words from Rudolf Steiner in my inner ear: “More radiant than the sun, purer than the snow, finer than the ether...” At that time, the online photo of the painting did not have a title, and Elisabeth de Bruyne was not credited as the artist. Also, I had no artistic practice or knowledge of anthroposophical arts. However, I recognized one profound connection between Steiner’s poetic words and Elisabeth’s painting: both lifted my soul toward the spiritual. Steiner’s words pointed me toward the ineffable experience of The Spirit within – our True Self. Elisabeth’s painting evoked a threshold-feeling with a rose and its essence emerging out of the invisible. Although all art indeed holds meaning, I later came to understand that this inner soul movement towards the threshold of the spirit is a defining element of true art, as described in Rudolf Steiner’s The Arts and Their Mission (GA 276) and, more recently, the books of Elisabeth de Bruyne, which are listed at the end of this article.

side of painting taught by d’Herbois (in contrast to the therapeutic side).

Margaretha Hauschka, who researched the therapeutic nature of colour with Dr. Ita Wegman and Liane Collot d’Herbois in the 1940s, called the “Collot” approach a “high” school of painting, which is sometimes referred to as a “School of High Art.” For those who seek to study this high school of Light-Darkness Painting, Elisabeth’s books provide essential instruction and insight into colour and colour movements. Equally important, her books reveal some of the challenges and turning points in her journey towards making this art of painting her own and how she developed it further. For this article, three key topics are highlighted to demonstrate how her books can support artists interested in this school of painting.

I. Correcting Exercises Mistakenly Described in Light, Darkness and Colour in PaintingTherapy

Elisabeth de Bruyne’s books are devoted to the art of “Light-Darkness Painting” developed by Liane Collot d’Herbois, also known as the “Collot Method of Painting.” Born in 1938, Elisabeth was one of the first painters to study with d’Herbois, and she also became one of the first in 1993 to start a school devoted to this new approach to painting, an initiative begun upon the wish of her teacher. To the best of her knowledge, Elisabeth is the only person to have a school devoted to the artistic

Although Light, Darkness and Colour in Painting-Therapy was published under the name of Liane Collot d’Herbois in 1988, she did not actually write or edit it. Instead, Margreet Meijer independently produced the book from lecture recordings and personal notes she took from the class she attended. Unfortunately, d’Herbois found many exercises confusing, primarily because they do not accurately reflect the laws of light and darkness and the colour movements. Elisabeth wrote Exercises for the Painting of the Colour-Movements After Liane Collot d’Herbois to correct these mistakes and support the integrity of this school. In her own words, “It is very important that the exercises of Liane Collot d’Herbois

are rescued from error, for they provide artistic and therapeutic knowledge given from the spiritual world to aid humanity.”

II. Clarifying the Role of Thinking & The Anthroposophical Foundations in Light-Darkness Painting

Developed by Liane Collot d’Herbois with guidance from Rudolf Steiner, Light-Darkness Painting is deeply rooted in anthroposophy, or as Elisabeth de Bruyne describes, “Without Anthroposophy, this approach to painting would not be possible.” Perhaps the strongest example of this is how her books teach Light-Darkness Painting as a meditative process built upon the principles taught by Steiner in How to Know Higher Worlds. This contemplative approach to painting, of course, does not replace the importance of an actual meditation practice. However, when Light-Darkness Painting is exercised with patience and devotion, it becomes a spiritual practice within a school of art that can strengthen one’s soul development and open one’s inner eyes.

The role of clear, conscious thinking is also emphasized in Elisabeth’s books, as it is throughout the whole of Anthroposophy. Here is a quote from Elisabeth for this article that provides a concise introduction: “What does it mean that in this art of painting one must think? It does not mean that one must only paint from thinking. Art takes place on the level of feeling. So, feeling and thinking both take part in the art of light-darkness painting...Rudolf Steiner pointed to the possibility of involving Goethe’s theory of colour in painting. Here one can recognize how the colours, seen within a prism, appear through the interaction of light and darkness. This takes place after set laws. This is the scientific aspect of colours. To apply this scientific aspect of colour, one must think. However, light-darkness painting is not possible only through this scientific thinking, for Goethe’s Theory of Colour is based on static laws. In contrast, light-darkness painting is based on the movement of colour, which one experiences through meditating on the colours and anthroposophy. Rudolf Steiner had intended to speak about this in a seminar for painters, but due to illness and his death, it did not take place.” All of Elisabeth’s books include information about the nature of thinking and colour movement. However, Exercises for the Painting of the Colour-Movements After Liane Collot d’Herbois and Light and Darkness in the Art of Painting have the most content.

III. Providing Examples of an Artist as a Co-Creator

A new impulse for the arts began to unfold when Rudolf Steiner taught about the spiritual origin of the arts and their high mission.

Distinguishing itself from popular art, this impulse elevates the arts from an activity of self-expression into a conscious partnership with the spiritual world in the act of creation. Light-Darkness Painting is a school of art that carries this impulse forward, and Elisabeth de Bruyne, as her books reveal, is an example of the painter as a co-creator. She encourages artists to call upon and trust their angels and muses as they paint. She also describes the importance of working in harmony with the spiritual beings that live within each colour, including “Christ as The Lord of Colour.” (“Christ as The Lord of Colour” is an insight of Elisabeth’s described in Light and Darkness in the Art of Painting ).

However, to help artists with their most challenging of times, she allows us to know of moments when she has received help from across the threshold, as reflected in the following quote from Exercises for the Painting of Colour Movements: “After the death of Liane, my development in this [her] art of painting went on. When I am struggling, I direct my questions to the muse of this art of painting, to Rudolf Steiner, who also inspired Liane, and I receive many answers and insights. I know those answers and insights are not exclusively for me, so I include them in the following descriptions [and throughout my books].”

As a high school of art, Light-Darkness Painting is not easy, and ultimately, each painter must find their own relationship to it. However, to encourage others along this path, Elisabeth has allowed herself to be seen by standing up through her art and her books.

Currently, Elisabeth de Bruyne lives in Finland. Still active in her mid-80s, she teaches seven-day seminars on Light-Darkness Painting and colour movements through her traveling school, Wanderschule Turmalin. Over the past thirty years, she has been invited to teach in eleven countries, and her artwork includes five altar paintings for Christian Community Congregations in Northern and Eastern Europe.

©2024 SOPHIAJOHN. Written by Pamela Sophiajohn with editorial contributions from Marietta Yeager, OTR®, Art Therapist, and a Tobias School of Art & Therapy graduate. Pamela, a member of the Visual Arts Section of The School of Spiritual Science in North America, is a retired writer of nonprofit marketing and fundraising communications. Living in Dublin, Ohio, she has a painting practice and undertakes selected writing and artistic projects.

Liane Collot d’Herbois did not include the colour black in her method of painting. Therefore, it was a dramatic moment for Elisabeth when she inwardly saw a “special black“ to add to her paintings (as shown above). Light and Darkness in the Art of Painting includes the story of how Elisabeth worked over seven years to add this special black to her paintings.

BOOKS BY ELISABETH DE BRUYNE

Elisabeth’s books are available in English, German, and Dutch. They are printed with quality, have a simple but artistic touch, and are penned more like excerpts from a journal than a classroom textbook. Although her books are delicately written and not highly edited, there is a grace and enlivening breath behind her words that allows one to enter their meaning.

Light and Darkness in the Art of Painting ©2012

Exercises for the Painting of the Colour-Movements After Liane Collot d’Herbois ©2013, 2020

The Spiritual Significance of Colour for the Daily Life ©2014

The Spirituality of Light-Darkness Painting ©2021

To learn more or to place an order: www.lightdarknesspainting.net lightdarknesspainting@gmail.com

MAGENTA - VERMILION by Elisabeth de Bruyne

Rhythms of Light and the Path of the Calendar of the Soul

—A New Approach to the Dimension of Time—

by Richard Steel, Karl Koenig Institute

The rhythms of the year and of the human soul within it are experienced as we journey through the 52 verses of the Calendar of the Soul . We are thereby connecting our own rhythmic system with the breathing process of the year and the being of the Earth. Another level is the environmental questions we are facing today – a worthy theme for another article.

With the Calendar of the Soul , we begin the journey into the year at Easter, and are gradually expanding our soul in harmony with the breathing out of the Earth’s soul. Yet at Michaelmas, we do not follow the death processes of nature, but rather, we turn at the halfway point of the year to an inner growth and ripening process; it is equivalent to breathing in. And this breathing process becomes more and more inward as we make our way through the Michaelmas season into winter. We gradually become the focus in our inner journey, in that we are giving our summer gains to the Earth:

And , waking, carry sun’s fiery glow

Into the surge of winter’s flow

at the crossing point from Michaelmas to winter, when we hear that the world would be but empty life if we did not carry into it the compassion of our souls. Indeed, Without creating itself anew through souls / It could of itself find only death. A strong warning – but it is given with a strong possibility that the world can create itself anew through souls! What is the path of souls that awaken to this responsibility? It is the path of connecting with the forces of creation themselves, and of beginning to realize how these creative forces become more and more the center of our being. And these creative forces are forces of ether, they are forces of time.

As our awareness grows of how we as human beings journey through the Calendar of the Soul , we can arrive at the experience that it is a very central path of anthroposophical practice. It is not one leading us off into spirit realms, away from the world of the senses!

Already at the end of Easter time, at Ascension week, we hear the strong warning in verse 7: My self it threatens to flee / Strongly lured by the light of worlds! We are then asked in verse 9 to lose ourselves in order to find ourselves! In this way, we are discovering more and more how, as human beings are involved in self-development, we become responsible for world development

Verse 33 is an extremely strong reminder of this, just

The dimension of time does not exist in the spiritual world – there, everything is omnipresent. Does time really exist on Earth? Well certainly if one asks around, the one thing no one has is time ! Is that not a central phenomenon of our times ? It would certainly seem that parallel to the growth of materialism, time has become mainly a spatial experience. Time can then almost be seen as synonymous with “development.” The more humanity has withdrawn from its natural habitat on Earth, the more time has become a measurable, constant element depicted by outer calendars, clocks and increasingly, by digital abstractions. The washing machine and the automobile, trains and airplanes, were thought to be creating so much time for human beings. Yet time became increasingly scarce until suddenly, we can overcome time altogether and through the forces of light that have “fallen” – been forced into electricity – we can create a duplicate of the spirit world, where everything is omnipresent. So-called artificial intelligence is merely the perfection of this duplicate, or maybe we can say specter. Social life has become void of time – and this means it becomes devoid of possibilities for development. We no longer write a letter that takes a week to arrive, wait while the receiver lives with it or perhaps consciously sleeps over it and brings an answer into

Karl König’s drawing for week 48 of the Calendar of the Soul

consciousness, writes it down and sends it on its journey. Unthinkable today.

If time as a dimension enters into Earthly space, it does so through rhythm. We see this clearly in the plant world, but we also see it in the many rhythms of the human body and bodily processes. Similarly, we can expect that our path towards the spirit also needs rhythms. Rudolf Steiner once brought this as a pearl of wisdom:

One learns to live in eternity

When understanding how to solve

One’s relation to time.

And the path to time seems to depend on rhythm. In the preface to the Calendar of the Soul , 1912, we read the following very condensed statement of Rudolf Steiner: Through the verses expressing the characteristic moods of the respective week [we] can experience the timeless cycle of soul life in relation to time Soul life needs to strive towards time, to connect to time, which expresses itself in rhythms.

Let us consider briefly where the Calendar of the Soul came from. Certainly, out of Rudolf Steiner’s connection to the spirit world – and perhaps very directly so, taking into consideration how often we hear from him what speaks in the depths of our soul This is named in the Calendar quite clearly, for instance in Advent (a time when there are still traditions for preparing a festival – adventus means expectancy, preparation):

Within my being’s depths speaks,

Striving to reveal itself,

Mysteriously, the cosmic word:

And then we hear what it speaks!

Fill the aims of your work

With your spirit light

To of fer yourself through me.

about the Gospel of St. Mark, in Berlin 1910/1911. It was at the end of those amazing lecture tours from north to south, east to west in Europe, that he had tried to prepare people for the coming possibility of a new Christ experience – within not the physical, but the etheric world. It was the last battle with the Theosophical Society and consequent founding of the Anthroposophical Society, when rumors about a new physical incarnation of Christ were being spread.

And in the lectures around and after Christmas 1910/11, we hear of the great task of the Gospel of Mark, to give an experience of the connection between macrocosmos and microcosmos. One lecture begins to explain how important it will be for humanity to gain forces of the macrocosmos through rhythmical life cycles, and how our ideas and impulses can only thus be baptized by spirit beings.

Directly after this, Rudolf Steiner states that we will need a new connection to time, and will, therefore, need an inner calendar for the future. Surely an indication was given that needed to be taken up.

We should take heed of the challenges Rudolf Steiner builds into these words striving, mysteriously, and even the sentence structure helps us to find our way into – the being of time.

But apart from searching within the verses to find what speaks and how it speaks, we need to be aware of the birth of this impulse through the course of historic time Rudolf Steiner laid a foundation for this in his course

And indeed on the next journey, which was to Italy, Imma von Eckartstein accompanied Rudolf and Marie Steiner, and she asked the right question – Do we need a new form of calendar for our work? Immediately Rudolf Steiner gave Imma the task of designing new drawings for the signs of the zodiac; and he would also prepare something. And so, after the fateful Christmas time of 1911/12, in Berlin once more, the new drawings and the 52 verses for the weeks of the year were combined and printed for the first time as the Calendar. The book alone was a challenge because it showed how Easter must become the center of life, the start of the inner year ; additionally, Sunday was to be seen as the beginning to each week, and – probably to everyone’s dismay – although it was the year 1912/1913 (Easter to Easter), the date on the front was 1879. Yes, the year he had already named as the beginning of the Michael presence on earth…but of course, if the year begins with Easter instead of Christmastime (in January), then it starts 33 and one third years later. That was quite a radical move and seemingly too difficult for people to follow. But to renew our connection to time is also not an easy undertaking.

Karl König’s drawing for week 5 of the cross for week 5

Perhaps our understanding of the significance of the Calendar and its 52 enigmatic verses can be enhanced by contemplating the historic context; not only as preparation for our abilities to perceive the Christ being in the etheric realm, but also as a path to include the influences of the spirit once more in Earthly matters. As we know from the verse given to Marie Steiner before the burning of the Goetheanum: Once the stars spoke to human beings and now, we must find our connection to the stars. Only a short time later the new impulse was given to the world: The Foundation Stone – words spoken directly to human hearts. The central verse tells how the human soul lives in the rhythms of heart and lung, and that just in this realm a new path of practice can evolve: Practice spirit-sensing is the call – a new path of heart thinking developing out of our true feelings (And you will truly feel):

For the Christ-Will in the surrounding circle holds sway Bestowing grace upon souls, in the rhythms of worlds.

In many ways, the path of the Calendar of the Soul can be seen as an exact preparation for the Foundation Stone, still today preparing the heart space needed and preparing the turning point of time also for us today.

The breathing process of the year is also a process of light – growing, receding, and being reborn. The Calen-

dar of the Soul tells of this process and gives us a path of practice. Time forces can be newly created through our inner work – and given to the being of the Earth – which also today can no longer breathe. Perhaps if we commit to find our new connection to time, stars can begin to speak once more – and spirit beings can work into Earthly space.

And perhaps it can also be seen as a re-enlivening of light itself, that no longer is only forced into time-destroying technical intelligence, but can be reborn as cosmic thought – cosmic intelligence – within human life.

The rhythms of the Calendar of the Soul that Karl Koenig suggested to take up* (also a worthwhile theme for another article), show us how the process of light breathing can lead to a new experience of world thought. The verses 5, 22, 31, like the three first verses of the Foundation Stone, lead us in verse 48 to a turning point in time :

In the light which from world heights

Would flow mightily to the soul,

May world thought’s certainty appear,

Resolving riddles of the soul

And gathering its radiant power

In human hearts love evoking.

It is meaningful that this is the verse of the week into which the birth of Rudolf Steiner appeared, February 27, 1861.

*Karl Koenig: The Calendar of The Soul, A Commentary

Reflection on the Calendar of the Soul Conference

Spring Valley, New York

March 8-10, 2024

by Constance Michael

After participating in a few zoom sessions with Richard Steel on the Twelve Senses and The Calendar of the Soul verses, it had been my wish to see him speak in person, though highly unlikely as we live on different continents! As a eurythmist, I am strongly drawn to the weekly verses of the year written by Rudolf Steiner, The Calendar of the Soul . As destiny would have it, the stars aligned! On the weekend of March 8th, my husband and I drove from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Spring Valley, NY, for the amazing and inspiring Calendar of the Soul Conference, to see both things unfold.

Richard gave marvelously fresh and lively lectures on the year in relation to our soul rhythms with nature and the spirit. His depth of knowledge and subtle and beautiful insights inspired us about the soul verses that Rudolf Steiner provided for humanity. He led us to understand that a soul path of “heart-light” which the verses provide gives rise to the spiritual aims we are seeking: to heal humanity and the earth. He challenged us to the task, “the call” so to speak, of will. “Will we strive to awaken our ‘I’ from the numbing sleep of our times to become co-creators with the aims of the spirit world—to fill our souls with the sun-imbued creative forces and powers of the world?”

During his lectures, he wove the origins and history of the original Calendar, along with Karl KÖnigs’s work with the soul calendar throughout his life, emphasizing the drawings that KÖnig created during WW II, when he was exiled on the Isle of Man in Britain. KÖnig’s 52 drawings illustrating the year lined the outer aisles of the Threefold Auditorium, and people were able to view those that mirrored each other. Upon entering the hall, one stood between Easter, verse 1 on the right, and Holy Week, verse 52 on the left. Richard’s workshops, with guided tours of the pictures, illumined more depth of content.

Karl KÖnig also developed what he called “crosses of the year,” where four verses stand juxtaposed: three verses of the year in relation to the current one. In all, there are 13 crosses for the year. When practiced together, it can enhance our experience of time, resurrecting it from the linear quality it has today to a living life force. KÖnig had also given each cross a name. During this conference, four of them were presented: the Cross of Easter, the Cross of Light, the Cross of Death, and the Cross of Thomas. Before each lecture (on the crosses), we were moved and dazzled by the eurythmy and colored veils and lighting for each cross of four verses. Beautifully formed speech accompanied the verses by speech artists. One began to realize what a deed this event truly was! From the standpoint of practicalities, I was amazed and grateful for the collaboration it took of so many artists and people to make it work.

Many thanks must be given to Deborah Grace, who administrates the Karl KÖnig Institute here in America and arranges these conferences with Richard. Also heartfelt thanks to the Threefold Organization who provided all the necessities to allow this wonderful event to take place. I believe it is a first, therefore, historic event, representing our developing attempts with the gifts of Anthroposophia to heal our world.

Constance Michael, BA in Animal Psychology, Windham College, Vermont; Eurythmy diploma, Eurythmeum Stuttgart, Germany; former Midwest Representative of Eurythmy Association of North America. Constance is a founding member of the Cincinnati Waldorf Grade School in 1987 and teacher of eurythmy for early childhood and grades for over 30 years, while serving in various leadership roles. Currently she teaches adults in Foundation Studies, and privately. She and her husband, Jack, hold an ongoing anthroposophical study. She has three grown children and loves to hike, garden, read, and teach.

Calendar

Soul calendar—soul-making, spirit-shaping—joyous birth from the glad heart’s girth, expanding from East to West heaven-sent— yea, earth-bound. Each week IMAGINATION threshold veiled in diaphanous folds meaning full. Verses to be indwelt, wholly each year more realized in ascents. So the earth may through nascent human I’s become a heart-radiating Star. Cognizing, contemplative advance in a universal rhythmic attention, borne by polar drifts in seasonal lines drawing down—lifting up— a one-fold, unifying Cosmos. Cycle of nature imbued by transformative re-cognition year in and out, being schooled, greathearted, chastened human consciousness the vessel— the Urpflanze Logos Kraft inside seed-form flames.

Michael Vode, Spring Valley, NY

A Festival of Unbornness— The Journey Toward Birth

by Kathy Neely, Barbara Rosen, Dory Rindge, and Roger Rindge

for the Helen Hecker Group in Santa Barbara.

“Not only do we pass through the gate of death as immortal beings, we also enter through the gate of birth as unborn beings. We need the term unbornness, as well as the term immortality, to encompass the whole human being.” Rudolf Steiner

In the wake of an atmospheric river over much of California’s Central Coast, Mary Stewart Adams and Christine Burke safely made their way to Santa Barbara from Santa Cruz to lead a presentation in the form of an invitation to create a festival on the theme of “Unbornness,” a festival so new it was a challenge for the local anthroposophical group to find words for the advance invitation. It was held in a beautiful classroom at the Waldorf School of Santa Barbara on February 6, 2024.

Because of its newness, Mary and Christine expressed the need for an ongoing creating of such a festival, which was inaugurated in February 2020, in Spring Valley, New York (Mary Thieme and Kathy Neely from Santa Barbara had attended that event). The Festival of Unbornness is meant to be a complement to the All Souls Festival that occurs each autumn, during which we honor loved ones who have died. Celebrated in early February, this time of year marks the halfway point of winter and coincides with the traditional celebrations of Candlemas, Groundhog Day, and the Celtic festival of Imbolc. Rudolf Steiner described this time as the season when all the souls that will come to earth in the coming year are gathered together in the moon sphere. Together, All Souls Day and the Festival of Unbornness honor those going, and those entering, across the threshold.

Christine began by leading us in speech exercises, and then Mary spoke about the importance of this festival as a way of balancing the preponderance of attention usually given those who have died. She described the constellation Cetus (the whale), significant at this time of year, and then told the richly imaginative

Old Testament story of Jonah. A reluctant prophet, Jonah underwent a three-day initiation in the belly of the whale, a womb-like space surrounded by water, that confirmed his destiny as a prophet of the spirit.

Mary added that the very word unbornness rattles the adversarial beings, who would much prefer that human beings consider their Earthly life to be bounded by nonbeing, nothingness, on either side of birth and death.

Christine led us on an equally rich and imaginative journey, dramatically telling a chapter (“Diamond’s Dream”) from George MacDonald’s At the Back of the North Wind . MacDonald (1824 – 1905), a prolific writer, was a mentor to Lewis Carroll, and an inspiration to C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Madeleine L’Engle, among others.

Water plays a part in Diamond’s story as well; it is an entry into the world of Unbornness, as it bathes the steps by which he goes down in order to rise up into the spiritual world. He is a young lad who works hard to help support his family, lightening his day by indulging in whimsy and nonsense verses. He asks his mother if the angels too might speak nonsense poems; she says she couldn’t see why not. Falling asleep at the end of his day, he dreams of cavorting with angels, who look much like boys with tiny budding wings on their shoulders. They dig for stars, and if each happens to find just the right one, he slips through the hole and descends. Importantly, Diamond is described as having learned “to look through the look of things,” a fairly concise picture of anthroposophy.

At the end of the evening, participants were given a small bag containing a candle, a poem, and a golden star, in the hope of creating a sacred space in which to remember our own star, and always to welcome those souls waiting in heaven, who will at last find theirs. One significance of this festival is for us to welcome them back to Earth lovingly. These souls have great courage to come here, and we can dearly hope they are greeted with open hearts upon arrival.

Christine closed the evening with a call-andresponse of MacDonald’s lovely poem “Baby.” Its first two lines:

“Where did you come from, baby dear?

Out of the everywhere into here.”

The Categories of Aristotle

Does one have to be a philosopher of great erudition to understand Aristotle’s gift to humanity – his Categories? Perhaps, yes! However, let us explore a path out of intellectual confinement to an experience of expansion supported by eurythmy.

A lecture and workshop given by Claudia Fontana, October 2022 Jointly sponsored by the Threefold Branch and Eurythmy Spring Valley

Review by Nadya Thompson

Behold the Sun at the midnight hour; Build with stones in the lifeless ground. Thus in decay and in the night of Death Find Creation’s new beginning, young morning’s strength. Glory in the heights the eternal Word of Gods; Shelter in the depths the Powers of Peace. In darkness dwelling, create a Sun; In matter weaving, know spiritual joy!

Rudolf Steiner

“Behold the sun at the midnight hour,” a verse by Rudolf Steiner, set the mood for our time together with Claudia. She is a fascinating, engaging artist with a fine sense of humor. As a fourth-year eurythmy student, I was deeply touched by her vivid presentation.

The theme of the categories of Aristotle was very well presented. Aristotle is the father of logic. His work on categories brings structure into the sentence as we know it; his point of departure was the experience. To have such an experience, the soul has to be led out of imprisonment of the physical body. Aristotle received his knowledge in the Mystery Center through intuition imparted to him from the spiritual hierarchies.

Through a carefully constructed sentence, Claudia led the audience through a discovery of the ten categories. She would ask us: what is the substance of the sentence? What is its orientation? And we were able to explore together the meaning of the categories. The last category is suffering, which is the mystery of evil. Can I bear it? Can I overcome darkness that is in me?

Broadly stated, this necessary darkening aspect in human evolution began with Aristotle and ended with Kali Yuga. I think of it as a time of contraction. Now our task, as humanity, is to expand. Then Claudia began to speak of the artistic aspect of eurythmy, which leads to an expansion of language.

Claudia presented excerpts of poems for each

of the twelve consonants of the Evolutionary Sequence. She spoke these by heart. In poetry, we are lifted into another level of consciousness.

The next day in the workshop, we explored these twelve consonants in eurythmy with this expansion in mind. She led us through an artistic exploration of these twelve speech sounds of the Evolutionary Sequence.

Claudia, an experienced eurythmist who has taught all levels in the United States, Europe, Thailand, Malaysia, and China, shared with us an alphabet sequence the way she presents it to children moving along the circle with piano music. She led us through an artistic exploration of the twelve speech sounds of the Evolutionary Sequence. What is ‘B’, as it protects and surrounds? She spoke of ‘M’ as tasting and ‘D’ as blessing. ‘R’ moves the air; ‘R’ storms can happen not only in nature, but also in our thoughts. ‘Ch’ lives in light imbued air. Air is filled with the effects of our thoughts, shaped through our movements, sculpted by our speech.

Through eurythmy we can learn to truly experience the essence of the sounds of speech. With her delicate guidance we tried to experience through gesture and movement that which is inherent in each speech sound. The following is an example of the imaginations that Claudia gave us to better know ‘L’ through eurythmy.

‘L’ is the sound of ever-blooming unfolding life. It is the destiny of the soul to remain young. Only on earth do we grow old. The source of life is in the ‘L’. The human being is like a cathedral built over a spring; I can discover huge vaults of space, inner and outer, and the spring of blossoming life and revelation. In the body there is rest. In the blood there is constant movement and in the movement lives the ‘I’. The physical home of the ‘I’ is in the blood. That which is to come, rests on that which was….metamorphosis.

All of us moved a simple form along the circle experiencing the mystery of the L as Claudia spoke these

enchanting lines by David Richards…

The Lily is a flower

The f lower is a star

The star is a rose.

I left the workshop uplifted, inspired, and

encouraged to seek meaningful experience in every eurythmy gesture and to make sense of everything I do eurythmically. We have eurythmy that Rudolf Steiner gifted us and we, eurythmists, can find the courage to help others expand their conceptual understanding.

Eurythmy Festival – “I hear America Singing”

An Echo of the Eurythmy Festival, August 2023

Sponsored by the Eurythmy Association of North America and the Threefold Educational Foundation and School, Chestnut Ridge, New York

by Claudia Fontana

Each morning of the festival began with Du holde Kunst, O holy Art presented differently: as eurythmy solo, instrumental music, singing. Jeanne SimonMcDonald presented it in eurythmy with the vowel concordances in relation to musical intervals. Finally, on the last morning this beloved song was presented in a most hilarious rendition by Jennifer Kleinbach as an aspiring Diva, with her overly enthusiastic pianist, Sue Buffington, pumping the pedals like crazy, forcing the Diva to great pitch and volume! It brought down the house.

Eac h morning the speech artists spoke this verse as a chorus, “In primal days the Earth-Spirit addressed the Heavenly-Spirit.” We all participated in a most creative approach to this verse, led by one of the speech artists.

On the last morning, Dorothea Mier led us through the vowel sequence within the Foundation Stone Meditation. We were divided into two groups facing each other. Simultaneously, the one group did IAO, the other OAI. It was spectacular to experience the power of these different vowel sounds in the space done by so many eurythmists and then the incredible harmony when we were all united in the Ah gesture.

How all the workshops, lectures, rehearsals, lighting etc. were organized was a great feat of planning; and all went so smoothly. The evening performances by the many groups and individuals were the high points. All was so varied, so creative, innovative and colorful! I felt a true commitment, a love for our beloved eurythmy which presented itself here, with work done by

individuals working on this continent.

The grand finale took place as a flash mob (pictured above) at the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park arranged by Alexandra Spadea and supported by Rudolf Steiner School alumni. In a big circle of over fifty people, we let our gestures for HALLELUJAH and EVOE soar into the sunshine!

My Life as an Amish Electrician, viz. an Anthroposophical Comedian

by Ronald Koetzsch

First, we should to determine if you, the reader, are qualified to be reading this magazine and this article. To that end, please take the following “Rudolf Steiner Lifestyle Quiz.” For each “yes” answer, you receive one point. Five or more points is passing.

1. You do not own a television.

2. You own a television, watch it every day, but conceal thi s fact from everyone you know.

3. You own a Smartphone, but have not figured out how to turn it on yet.

4. You own two sheep fleeces. If you are a member of a Hell’s Angel’s motorcycle gang you must own thre e.

5. At a restaurant, regardless of the humiliation experienced by your children, you sing the verse “Bles sings on the blossoms …” then hold hands and say “Blessings on the meal.”

6. The last significant movie you saw was The Grad uate starring Dustin Hoffman.

7. You use only Weleda and Hauschka body care products on your skin and only on the part of the body indicated on the package.

8. You wear a scarf at all times, including in the shower.

Anthroposophy can seem very serious, even daunting. There is the vast collection of Dr. Steiner’s writings and talks, which are for the most part quite serious and not so easy to understand. And virtually all extant photos of Steiner show him tight-lipped and unsmiling.

However, according to his friends and close students, Steiner was a very humorous person. One eurythmist tells of a post- performance restaurant meal with the “Herr Doktor.” The eurythmists all ordered toast and salad, but Steiner, the last to order, asked for meat and potatoes. When Steiner noticed their surprise, he quipped, “Better to eat meat, than to think about eating meat.”

While taking a walk during a lecture tour in England,

Steiner noticed his very shy translator approaching him on the path, carrying a bouquet of flowers. Steiner plucked a flower and playfully tapped the man on his nose.

According to Steiner, humor is essential to human life and to spiritual development, and he spoke about it on many occasions. In fact, there is a 290-page book (published in 1985) by Henrich Eppinger titled Humor and Heiterkeit im Leben und Werk Rudolf Steiners (Humor and Cheerfulness in the Life and Work of Rudolf Steiner), which includes 60 pages of anecdotes about Steiner’s use of humor. More recently, eurythmist Stephanie Janisch wrote her graduation paper on Humor and Heiterkeit. The following are direct or paraphrased quotes from lectures of Dr. Steiner:

Something we cannot do without: humor

When the ‘I’ or higher self raises itself to laughter, it calls up its powers for self-liberation, for its exaltation, and for being fully contained within the world.

Oh, in laughter and weeping lie at the same time the means to educate the I and the powers of the I. Laughter on the face of a human being is the spiritual revelation that the human being strives for release, that he does not allow himself to be grasped by things not worthy of him, but rather that with a smile on his face he transcends those beings to whom he should not be enslaved.

The human being can truly rise to the spiritual only when he does not seek it with egoistic sentimentality, but only with purity of soul. This purity of soul can only come through humor.

It is easy to think that it is something terrible to satirize “holy things.” However if one wants to advance in the terms of the spiritual world view a basic requirement is that one not forget how to laugh about those things that must be laughed at in the world.

He who cannot find humor in the humorous also cannot in a true sense be serious regarding what is serious.

research & reviews

If you bring in humor and make children laugh that is the very best method of teaching. Teachers who are always solemn will never achieve anything with the children.

My career in humor began in third grade. My teacher had me sit in the first seat of the first row so she could keep an eye on me. This didn’t prevent me from turning around periodically and making a comment that made the other students laugh.

Finally, the teacher told me, “Ronny, go to the back of the room and read the encyclopedia!”

My comic activity developed greatly, in the mid90s, when I became an employee of AWSNA as editor of Renewal: A Journal for Waldorf Education. I served as emcee at AWSNA’s biannual teacher conferences and specialized in humorously explaining the previous day’s presentations by the featured speakers such as Peter Selg.

About the same time, as a faculty member at Rudolf Steiner College, I began to emcee at College events and festivals, trying to bring humor into them.

I developed a full one-hour-plus show called “The Beeswax Conspiracy” (the Steiner Lifestyle Quiz is part of it) and began to tour with it. For over more than two decades I performed the show (usually as a fund raiser) at schools and conferences in the United States and Canada as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Israel, the United Kingdom, South Africa, et al. In 2011, I did a standup show focusing on anthroposophy in the Great Hall of the Goetheanum.

The “Beeswax” show is basically a satire of various aspects of anthroposophy and Waldorf Education, describing, for example, the preparations parents make before the class teacher’s annual home visit. (i.e. concealing the household TV with a silk cloth). Students fifth grade and above were usually allowed to attend and they got the humor as well as the adults.

The show and I encountered only warm, heartfelt, and enthusiastic receptions everywhere we went. Audiences were happy to hear some of the salient characteristics of Waldorf Education gently poked fun at. In effect, it was an opportunity to laugh at themselves and at the very special, idiosyncratic Waldorf world in which they were living. The jokes about aspects of Waldorf Education resonated with teachers, parents, and students all over the world.

I have strived to have my humor be respectful, positive, loving, and joyful. I don’t use profanity or bathroom humor and don’t pick on members of the audience—unless they seem to deserve it. Some forms of humor, such as sarcasm, can be hurtful, and while they may evoke laughter they can create a negative energy.

A sense of humor is most likely to some degree inborn. However, it is possible to develop one’s sense of humor. I found that learning to play the piano as an adult seemed to help my sense of humor. It may have something to do with improving the communication between the left and right sides of the brain. And if you search, “How to develop your sense of humor” you will find a number of sites that promise to help you do just that. Good luck. It is worth the trouble. Saying something that brings people to laughter, whether in a small group of friends or in a large auditorium, is one of the profound joys in life.

Also, please keep in mind that at the very top of Steiner’s monumental statue, “The Representative of Humanity,” a puckish, winged being looks down with a wry smile on the cosmic drama of the Christ and the adversarial powers. This is “World Humor,” telling us that the cosmic drama is more likely a comedy than a tragedy and that, “All shall be well. All manner of things shall be well.”

Final scene of Fire in the Temple Photo by Catdodge Photography

Fire in the Temple

A review of a new play by Glen Williamson

by Aaron Mirkin

I had the great privilege of being able to witness and experience a performance of Glen Williamson’s new play Fire in the Temple performed at Camphill Copake, in upstate New York. It is the fruit of six years of work with various iterations and collaborations along the way, including notable work by director John McManus.

The 13 actors and eurythmists, plus two musicians, received a standing ovation from the audience of some 200 people. The rapturous applause was said to equal that of the opening night the day before, and, in my view, it was fully deserved.

The performances were by and large very convincing and performed largely by semi-professionals, most of whom are connected to the anthroposophical community in the USA.

The 2 ½ hour performance didn’t have a dull moment, both in terms of the drama and the content that so many of us probably know quite well from our own studies and engagement with anthroposophy. The play begins with the tragic burning of the Goetheanum on New Year’s Eve 1922 and portrays key moments in the life and work of Rudolf Steiner and some of his closest co-workers, up until his death in March 1925.

Glen has drawn the content entirely from documented events and records of the time, including words from several of Rudolf Steiner’s lectures which were held in that period. In addition, Glen has also introduced, in part or whole, content from many different verses and meditations that Rudolf Steiner gave at that time, including a slightly rephrased but powerfully effective dramatic rendering of the verse usually known as The Green Demons given by Rudolf Steiner to Ita Wegman probably in late 1924.

This verse stands, in many ways, at the heart of the play, and is an exhortation to wake up and actively wrestle, courageously, with facing the riddles presented to us by the forces of darkness in our time. We should learn to offer up this wakefulness to the spirit beings who, only then, can help humanity transform the darkness with light. The verse ends with the words: Thus speaks the admonishing gaze of Michael.

We hear and see the Archangel Michael at many points throughout the play. We also see and hear the Spirits of Darkness speaking through two representatives of the secret brotherhoods who wish to destroy anthroposophy and Rudolf Steiner; and who also appear literally as green and black demons. From time-to-time they menace, unseen, around the characters on the stage. The clever use of lighting and music was especially helpful here, as it was throughout the entire play.

More than anything, we were able to experience the on-going wrestling of Rudolf Steiner himself who, dayby-day, minute-by-minute, had to deal with constant attacks on himself and his work, both super-sensible and sensible. This was especially evident by his having to deal with the blindness and weakness of so many around him, yet he always managed this with the greatest clarity and compassion.

There are many very moving moments in the play when one is suddenly thrust into the stark reality of those intense and dramatic times that belonged to the bringing to birth of a worthy home for anthroposophy within human hearts on Earth. Time and again we are thrown into deepest awe and wonder for all those whose destiny and karma led them to be there as the frail pioneers of this work, despite the impending split that we know took place in 1935, and which is alluded to several times in the play. The karmic backgrounds of Rudolf and Marie Steiner, and Ita Wegman, for instance, are cleverly woven into the drama with seamless ‘flashbacks’ from previous lives.

The greatest awe, wonder, and compassion was awakened for Rudolf Steiner himself, and the suffering that he had to endure as he worked ceaselessly, leaving no stone unturned in his task of waking up as many people as possible to the desperate needs of the time and of our pressing Michaelic Age.

In the light of all of that, I felt humbled, and in many ways, ashamed to be such a weak and poor proponent and defender of anthroposophy and Rudolf Steiner in my own life.

And this, in many ways, is probably the greatest achievement of the play – rather than attempt to present an accurate blow-by-blow presentation of events which

would no doubt satisfy one’s need to know (and there was certainly plenty of that), Glen, together with the fine directive skills of John McManus, and through convincing performances, has created a work of art that touches not only the head, but also the heart and hands – very deeply. If I dare say, the individuality of Rudolf Steiner, and indeed of Anthroposophia herself, could at times be felt, asking the burning question that sounds forth in many ways during the play: What happened then is still happening today, and the forces of darkness are as active now as they were then. Will you wake up and offer yourself as a true and willing servant of Anthroposophia?

The play is certainly no dramatized history lesson, but far more a calling out to the hearts of all who consider themselves to be anthroposophists today –right here and now!

My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all who made this play possible, and especially to Glen for his daring, wit, and conviction in bringing this play to us now. I very much hope that in one way or another it might find its way, either on the stage or at least as readings, into as many of our anthroposophical groups as possible around the world.

A review of Eric G. Müller’s book, Why Parzival?

Reviewed by Leif

Garbisch

Being an individual is a difficult job. It takes work to know the self. Trials and errors. Hundreds of mistakes. Much time to learn, even lifetimes. And it takes meeting others who come to us as doors to greater perception. The world is full of others, many who may provide keys, keys that lie in wait until we use them to unlock the mystery of ourselves. It’s as if we each consist of multitudes. But to begin with, the job of an individual is more private. And it takes a first step of trust to accept that there is actually someone (a significant I) to be in the world. And it takes another step of trust to begin to see the responsibility to go along with that inchoate I.

The epic of Parzival , written in the 13th century by Wolfram von Eschenbach, is an adventure of the emerging self. It also is a thrilling quest, a quest for wholeness, not to mention the Holy Grail. Eric G. Müller has taught this epic for many years to the fortunate students at Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School in Harlemville, New York. He has engaged his high school students with this tale of coming to terms with one’s place in the world. Who are we? Where are we taking ourselves, each other, and our planet? And now, with his masterful book, Why Parzival?, Müller welcomes others into the class.

Throughout his book, which methodically follows the narrative of Parzival , Müller weaves 21st century issues. He introduces Parzival to the contemporary lives of his students, bringing the story to modern times. And,

as readers will see by the many questions, the students meet the story with keen arguments and wisdom, all of which is distilled by Müller into page after page of insights about the epic itself, and our current world problems. And to be clear, this is a book not just for students of Parzival . Müller does such a good job of re-telling the adventure that a reader need not have first studied the epic. The only prerequisite is interest in both the world and human relationships. With that, any reader can enter the classroom and join the discussions.

Parzival is a universal hero, not so different from each of us. Perhaps that answers his why. Eric G. Müller has written a book that allows a character from the past to offer his support today. He has written a book to help us better understand what it is about existence that makes us keep at it no matter the failures, the hardships, or the persistent suffering in our world. Parzival struggled with himself, he learned from his failings, he sought deeply in his soul for answers only to emerge outside the self so he might serve others. Why Parzival? is a book that wishes a similar route for its readers. It wishes to help us see that we are in this existence not for ourselves alone, but for each other. All in one class. All in one world. All in one life, learning forward. All here to help manifest the true being of love for the cosmos.

Rudolf Steiner’s Calendar of the Soul dates from Easter 2024-Easter 2025

by Herbert Hagens

Verses 1 – 52

March 31, 2024: #1 Easter Mood

April 7: #2

April 14: #3

April 21: #4

April 28: #5 Light

May 5: #6

May 12: #7 Lucifer

May 19: #8 Whitsun

May 26: #9

June 2: #10

June 9: #11

June 16: #11/12

June 23: #12 St. John’s Mood

June 30: #13

July 7: #14

July 14: #15

July 21: #16

July 28: #17

Aug. 4: #18

Aug. 11: #19

Aug. 18: #20 Lucifer

Aug. 25: #21

Sept. 1: #22 Light

Sept. 8: #23

Sept. 15: #24

Sept. 22: #24/25

Sept. 29: #25 Michaelmas Mood

O ct. 6: #26

Oct. 13: #27

O ct. 20: #28

O ct. 27: #29

N ov. 3: #30

N ov. 10: #31 Light

Nov. 17: #32

N ov. 24: #33 Ahriman

Dec. 1: #34

De c. 8: #35

D ec. 15: #36

D ec. 22: #37/38 Christmas

Dec. 29: #39 Mo od

Jan. 5: #40 Epiphany

Jan. 12: #40/41

Jan. 19: #41

Jan. 26: #42

Feb. 2: #43

Feb. 9: #44

Feb. 23: #45/46

Mar. 2: #46 Ahriman

Mar. 9: #47

Mar. 16: #48 Light

Mar. 23: #49

Mar. 30: #50

April 6: #51

April 13: #52 Palm Sunday

April 20: #1 Easter Mood

Note: Rudolf Steiner first published the 52 mantric verses we know as the Calendar of the Soul in 1912 and again in 1918. The y begin with verse number one on Easter Sunday and continue through until the following Easter. Since the celebration of Easter shifts cosmically every year, an adjustment becomes necessary.

The dates presented here are based on the practice of meditating a new verse each week, Sunday through Saturday. Thi s is the same formula followed in the original 1912 edition. The idea is to work with the verses in harmony with the seven-day astral rhythm of the soul from one Easter (March 31, 2024) to the next Easter (April 20, 2025). We a lso want to keep the major Christian festivals and observances in sync with their corresponding verses (“moods”).

R udolf Steiner composed 52 verses, but there are 55 weeks between the current Easters. The proposed adjustments appear at St. John’s, Michaelmas, Christmas, Epiphany, and just before the start of Lent.

T he Calendar of the Soul incorporates the annual cycles of nature, the activity of the senses, the influences of Lucifer and Ahriman, the cultivation of one’s inner life and much more. The verses can also be studied in relation to the planets and zodiac. It i s especially fruitful to explore the polarities as well, starting with verses 52 and 1, and continuing on with 2/51, 3/50, etc. We c ome to treasure the anthroposophical Calendar as an essential tool for nurturing the soul on our pathway to self-knowledge.

Herbert O. Hagens, Princeton, NJ hohagens@aol.com

Section for the Performing Arts

After the 2023 General Assembly, and with a view to the coming years, the Executive Council of the General Anthroposophical Society has nominated Stefan Hasler to join the Executive Council at the Goetheanum.

This nomination is based on his readiness for this task and comes out of consultation with the Goetheanum leadership in June and the conference of general secretaries and national representatives at the beginning of October. The nomination will be presented for approval at the General Assembly at the end of April 2024.

Stefan Hasler has led the Section for Speech and Performing Arts since 2015 and is a member of the Goetheanum Stage Leadership and the Eurythmy Ensemble. Previously, he worked for the Hamburg Eurythmy School and Stage and later became the first Professor of Eurythmy at Alanus University. As a

member of the management of the Goetheanum and a native Swiss citizen, he is closely connected with many tasks, initiatives, and responsibilities in the daily happenings in Dornach.

An addition to the Executive Council was deemed necessary because Matthias Girke will not be available for another Executive Council term after he completes his seven-year term (2017 to 2024) and hands over the leadership of the Medical Section. The Executive Council will ask for the approval of Stefan Hasler from the membership at the 2024 General Assembly and is looking forward to the shared board responsibilities.

Stefan Hasler will remain in charge of the Section for the Performing Arts. Most board members are section leaders, fully responsible in one field.

Working Together in the Sections

Reviewed by Alice Stamm

Sacramento, California

Often eurythmists are the ones who initiate a performance, having gone to a speech artist or to musicians with a wish to work on a particular poem or piece of music. So, performances come about and a wonderful working together takes place. More musicians have come to me to ask, what would this look like in eurythmy? It is always a delight to be asked to make visible what we usually enjoy audibly.

In the introduction to a eurythmy performance at the beginning of the Foundation Stone conference in 1923, Rudolf Steiner brings a new picture of eurythmy in performance with speaker and eurythmist and audience. Eurythmy had accompanied the building of the first Goetheanum, its forms and all artistic aspects. This imaginative quality and power of this new art form was vital for this building’s development and almost completion. Eurythmy itself was imbued anew with this, making it possible for the Foundation Stone to be performed for the first time on April 20, 1924.

Dr. Steiner gives a new picture of what is happening during a performance, knowing this can only inspire our relation to performing, deepening our working with such materials. There he speaks about what we otherwise know along the Rosicrucian path of development, from living

thinking to imagination, inspiration, and intuition.

In the introduction, Dr. Steiner speaks about the relation between speaker and eurythmist. In a performance one has the possibility to experience the mystery behind the artistry of speaker and eurythmist. The audience is addressed as well. For in the performance, he relates how the eurythmists create imaginations in doing eurythmy to the speaker’s recitation; inspiration is evident; and the audience experiences the intuitive element of what is performed.

This moment of the laying in our hearts of the Foundation Stone, one sees how a truly esoteric deepening is given, even in the realm of eurythmy and performance. Rudolf Steiner has indicated that the Masters who care for western esotericism are Christian Rosenkreutz and Master Jesus. Throughout his life and work, Dr. Steiner always made room for or allowed Christian Rosenkreutz’s impulses to inspire his own endeavors in bringing Anthroposophia to work in the world. The Rosicrucian impulses had always to do with the artistic, lifting the material into the gesture of the spiritual.

So too in eurythmy performance, there was an open secret of spiritual reality.

When Ilona Schubert asked Dr. Steiner what the C and R meant in the prelude to the fourth panel of the Foundation Stone in eurythmy, and then R, C in the silent conclusion, he answered Chrisrian Rosenkreutz

news for members & friends of the Anthroposophical Society in America

and Rose Cross. And in the eurythmy form For Rudolf Steiner by Christian Morgenstern, the prelude sounds are IRAM and afterward MARI. So too open secrets acknowledge one’s teacher.

In our little community here in Fair Oaks, California, our dear speaker Margit Ilgen has been living with the 23rd Psalm. Her inspiration is that this must be done in eurythmy! She asked one eurythmist and then a second, and then a third to come together to build an imagination of this Psalm. And at some point, we plan to perform it as part of a festival here. It was a magic moment to be asked.

Something similar could be happening in the Literary Arts Section work here. The heart of the Section here has been sharing poetry written by our members, and some of these poems could be done in eurythmy. Every day we are grateful for this art of making something visible, and with others I feel that we come closer to the Logos of our work.

Through their research at the Goetheanum, Stefan Hasler and Martina Maria Sam have been able to show something of Dr. Steiner’s process as a whole. One can see similarities in the notes to the other lectures given at the same time, in Curative Education and the Karma lectures. This shows the amazing amount of work done by Dr. Steiner at the time.

Stefan is sharing this work with training centers that he visits, as well as during conferences at the Goetheanum. These results are to be found in the latest editions of both cycles, in German initially, and possibly to be translated. They intend to bridge the early eurythmists’ work and traditions with what is possible now through individual initiatives and work. This looking into Rudolf Steiner’s workshop (kitchen it was called) can help to unite with the original spiritual impulse of eurythmy and awaken new interest in this art. And this leads to a joy in discovery and wonder at what lies in eurythmy.

I can imagine more joy would come in studying this material with others, trying out and comparing what is new or what deepens the work and experience. To work together on these discoveries is future language forming.

Alice Stamm has been teaching eurythmy since 1975. She began her eurythmy training in Eckwalden, Germany, and finished with Else Klink in Stuttgart. Alice also trained in therapeutic eurythmy, receiving a diploma from the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. Having moved back to the States in 1978, she taught in several eurythmy trainings, Waldorf schools and performed eurythmy in Spring Valley, Kimberton, Chicago, on the west coast in Los Angeles and Fair Oaks. Alice is on the faculty of Gradalis Waldorf Consulting and Services, LLC. Alice is a founding member of the Eurythmy Association of North America, which she began with six other colleagues in 1979. She also helped to form the Section Collegium for the Performing Arts in North America in 1988.

“Taking Heart, finding our way together” was the theme of The International Student Conference 2024

by Alexanda Spadea

Artistic Director, Goetheanum, Switzerland

During the week of April 8-15, eleven students of the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City attended a conference along with 750 Waldorf students from 31 countries to explore the conference theme through morning lectures, interactive activities such as movement and singing, as well as workshops, and a peace pageant in Basel.

The evenings were filled with performances in the Great Hall, which seats 1000 people. The Steiner School Eurythmy Elective were honored to be one of the groups invited to share a 20-minute eurythmy performance, for which they received a standing ovation by the over 800 people in the audience.

The experience of meeting other Waldorf students

in this remarkable setting, a space permeated by anthroposophical arts and thoughtful, heartfelt intentions, was a transformative moment in our student’s life.

The San Francisco Youth Eurythmy Troupe Since 1999, Eurythmist Astrid Thiersch has directed a eurythmy elective of high school students who have performed worldwide. The troupe produces a showcase in San Francisco each February and then performs internationally, hosted by Waldorf school communities abroad.

Welcoming New Members of the Anthroposophical Society in America

8/23/2023-4/15/2024

Kerrin E. Abromowitz New ton NH

Christy Albert Louisville KY

Loki Anthony Hud son NY

Heather Armbrust Prescott AZ

Lindsey Auckland Fircrest WA WA

La ne Badger Cornville AZ

Louisa Barnum Seba stopol CA

Linda Beck Robesonia PA

Lisanne Belgrade Stonington CT

Michelle Blazewicz Tuc son AZ

Ja ran R. Blessing Peterborough NH

Michael Bloom San Francisco CA

Blair Blumberg Canaan NY

Leilani Bonora West New York NJ

Jennifer Bowen Seba stopol CA

Emre Brookes Wimberley TX

Sa ndra Cantrell Silver City NM

Heather Church Gores Landing ON, Canada

Sara Colburn Dillon MT

Larry Coltrain Laurinburg NC

Chela Crane Spring Valley NY

Ashley Dale Hamilton Township NJ

Kathryn L Decater Wil lits CA

Derek DeStephen Houston TX

Elizabeth DeStephen Houston TX

Na ncy Douglas Round Pond ME

Justin Downey Nor th Quincy MA

Joseph Ecklund Viroqua WI

Fernanda Ferreira Arlington MA

Jessica Fish Escondido CA

Jordan Fountain Hancock ME

Da shawn Gibson Cincinnati OH

William Glenn Viroqua WI

Kyle Gray Santee CA

kimberlee Greeley Aaronsburg PA

LouAnn Haaf Minneapolis MN

Annie Haas Apex NC

Rachel Hazlett-Karr Santa Rosa CA

Su san Hiertz Woodcliff Lake NJ

Don Hollister Yel low Springs OH

Katrina M Hoven Fair Oaks CA

Rachel Hubbard Evesham Township NJ

Anson Jones Por tland OR

Fa ith Jones Shelburne Falls MA

Juniper Joseph Memphis TN

eQuanimiti Joy Wilton NH

Alcyone Komoto Pasadena CA

Alex Koritz Salt Lake City UT

Kraig Kostanich Federal Way WA

Ta nya Kozlova Naples FL

Kenneth Ksiazkiewicz Jackson MI

Amelie Lacasse Kimberton PA

Ja mes Dale Lang Greenfield NH

Annie Levy Wil liamsburg MA

Ha nnah Lewis Colorado Springs CO

Erin Libby Vancouver WA

Ju lian, SHU-YEN LIU KENNETT SQUARE PA

Whitney MacDonald Hil lsborough NC

Ashley Madrigal La Porte TX

Ly nn Madsen Por tland OR

Joanne Mantha Gatineau QC, Canada

Eileen Markland Windsor MA

Stephanie Mastri Warrenton VA

Stephen Thomas McGuire

Trevignano Romano Ita ly

Rosibel Mejia Sheffield MA

Sa ndra Mendez Takagi Sacramento CA

Sa ndra R Messano Wakefield RI

Andrea Metzler San Jose CA

Su san Milus Ridgewood NY

John Minutoli Chittenango NY

Da niel Mistak Andover OH

Su san Neimes Toluca Lake CA

John Nelson Cor vallis OR

Steve Nieman Brush Prairie WA

Su san Offield Harbor Springs MI

Natalia Paredes Soquel CA

Da kota Patterson Oceanside CA

news for members & friends of the Anthroposophical Society in America

Jack Patterson Glens Falls NY

Ja mes Patterson Pacific Palisades CA

Aa ron Perry Bou lder CO

Michael Pollutro Newport TN

Michele Poplarchik Anchorage AK

Ga ilyn Porter Gra ss Valley CA

Mike Potvin Breckenridge CO

Christina Punter Men lo Park CA

Alana Rae Minneapolis MN

Gabriella Randazzo Cotati CA

Jill Robin Ratner Pomona NY

Collins Reagan Toa no VA

Douglas Reinemann Mad ison WI

Heidi Reynolds Golden CO

Ke vin Ring Lynchburg VA

Susan Roberts Bou lder CO

Chris S Roe Royal Oaks CA

Josiah Ruble Fayetteville AR

Da nny R Simmons Dierks AR

Sergei Slussky South Portland ME

Derek Stellaferous Hardwick VT

Ver Stellaferous Hardwick VT

Alexandra Stevens Chapel Hill NC

Cy nthia Stilley San Marino CA

Sa rah Stosiek Hil lsdale NY

Jerome Suah Buf falo NY

DeShawn Tavilla Phoenix AZ

Da niel Trezza Pennsburg PA

P. David Walker Jr. Louisville CO

Va lerie Walsh Bou lder CO

Xintian Wang BEIJING China

Carol Wiley Columbia CA

Linda Wrinn GLOUCESTER MA

Christina R Yon Woburn MA

Honoring Members Who Have Crossed the Threshold of Death

G ail Biesantz-Faude

4053 Basel Switzerland 10/01/1971 03/13/2024

Daniel John Bittleston Santa Cruz CA 07/01/1966 02/02/2024

Ingrid Cain Copake NY 03/24/1997 09/01/2021

Geertruida “Truus” Wilhelmina Geraets Driebergen The Netherlands 10/04/1978 10/04/2023

Betty J. Jones Hou ston TX 11/27/1979 10/11/2020

Millard W. Jones Hou ston TX 02/29/1996 04/11/2018

Charles B Matlock Copake NY 09/19/2008 07/18/2023

John W. Pettingell Spr ing City PA 09/21/1972 01/17/2023

Mary Lee Plumb-Mentjes Austin TX 09/21/1972 03/04/2024

Eliah Rael Mc Cormick SC 05/24/1976 04/15/2023

Al Schubert Cardington OH 12/15/1997 04/07/2023

Debra Shiba Chico CA 10/09/2009 12/24/2023

Elizabeth Simons Camdenton MO 01/11/1979 11/11/2023

Marilyn C. Sutcliffe Nashville TN 07/31/1998 06/01/2023

David Tresemer Bou lder CO 03/14/1990 02/12/2024

Ed Scherer Che stnut Ridge NY 08/03/1989 02/21/2024

news for members & friends

Memoriam for Gail Biesantz-Faude

June 5, 1941—March 13, 2024

Gail was originally from Michigan. She was an alumna of Lawrence College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As a 21-year-old college sophomore in 1962, Gail studied in Paris under the institute’s honor program in contemporary European civilization. Her eurythmy training was under Marguerite Lundgren at the London School of Eurythmy. In 1975, Gail worked at Esperanza School in Chicago and then she did another term at the London School of Eurythmy that year.

Gail loved speech eurythmy and poetry. She worked with American poet Daisy Aldan on a translation of the Calendar of the Soul, so that the speech sounds and rhythms could be coordinated with the eurythmy forms. Hagen Biesantz wrote an introduction to the 1974 publication. Gail was an active writer of letters and she deeply loved poetry. Her letters almost always had a poem written on a separate sheet in her very distinctive handwriting.

Gail was married to Hagen Biesantz, a member of the Executive Council at the Goetheanum, and they lived together in Dornach, Switzerland.

Hagen Biesantz, a German classical archaeologist and art scholar, was appointed to the Executive Council

eurythmy

an art of movement as spiritual path the invisible made visible how I am shaped and created out of The Word eurythmy makes limber the limbs of listening it inspires a recognition of the movement that has formed me

as I shape the air gesture that each sound of speech awakens when spoken I awaken and only out of that can I write

at the Goetheanum in 1966. His academic focus led him to head the Section for the Performing Arts beginning in 1968, and he later founded the Section for the Performing Arts in 1978. His contributions enriched the cultural and artistic endeavors at the Goetheanum for many years.

Hagen Biesantz gave lectures at several conferences, such as “Reincarnation and Karma” in Chicago. He taught art history at The Waldorf Institute in Detroit. These were very powerful in deepening the life of anthroposophy in America.

Hagen spoke this verse at a meeting of the Section for Performing Arts in Spring Valley, New York, on May 4, 1992.

For Marie Steiner

To sacrifice the word, one gains power.

To sacrifice power, one gains will.

To sacrifice will, one gains insight.

To sacrifice wisdom, one gains spiritual life in present reality.

Hagen Biesantz (3 November 3 1924, in Cologne – † 4 December 1996, in Dornach)

Beth Usher, Barbara Richardson, Judith Pownall Gerstein, Maria Ver Eecke

poem

dewpoint of the word, crystalline heard the I empties opens listens to the silent movement within The Word creating Self the poem stands—a column upright

condensed Halleluiah song in praise of the highest dance Living!

© gail langstroth

New Books STEINERBOOKS

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF RUDOLF STEINER

The Arts and Their Mission (CW 276)

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Christ and the Human Soul

The Meaning of Life – The Spiritual Foundation of Morality – Anthroposophy and Christianity (CW 155)

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The Language of the Cosmos Cosmic Influences and the Spiritual Task of Northern Europe (CW 209)

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The Nature and Significance of Central Europe and the European Folk-Spirits (CW 159)

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On Philosophy, History, and Literature Lectures at the Worker Education School and the Independent College, Berlin, 1901–1905 (CW 51)

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Past and Future Impulses in Societal Events (CW 190)

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The Tension between East and West (CW 83)

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Three Paths to Christ Experiencing the Supersensible (CW 143)

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nthroposophical S ociety is to be an association of people whose will it is to nurture the life of the soul, both in the individual and in human society, on the basis of a true knowledge of the spiritual world.

Rudolf Steiner | 28 December 1923 You can join at anthroposophy.org or 734.662.9355