Illustrations by Eva Mees-Christeller
Translated from the German by John Roy
The Seelenkalendar in Scots
The Sowl's Year
Anthroposophischen Seelenkalender
I have two aims in this Soul Calendar: to enrich the literature of Scots by adding another gem of world literature and to bring Rudolph Steiner’s universal vision into the heart of Scotland. There have been strong seeds of Anthroposophy in Scotland for a long time, in particular the the Camphill Community has been settled here for some half-century, (George McLeod, the founder of the Iona Community, was influenced by Steiner’s work) yet Steiner seems still somewhat “foreign”, “peripheral” to Scotland itself. I intend to help remedy that. My inspiration has been the Lorimer translation of the New Testament into Scots and the work of the Glasgow Steiner School in its first year of existence. During the morning I visited the children sang in English, French, German, Gaelic and Glaswegian Scots. I wonder if this is the first time a Waldorf School has sung in Glaswegian? I rather expect so. Some Anthroposophists may wonder at the linking of the Scots language to Anthroposophy as they are troubled by the rebirth of aggressive nationalism in the world today. For myself I see the present time as one in which we will find our essential humanity & universality in oor ain back courts - not in the tongues and dresses of others. Others may well say - is Scots the dress of anyone alive today? I believe it is a rhythm and a sound close to the heart, the soul of Scotland and needs revived (as has indeed been done in the last century) to a spiritual level. C M Grieve wrote his great poem “ A Raised Beach” in English not Scots, and yet I cannot conceive of such a work being written unless he’d found the universe in his own self first. Like Barfield’s paraphrase of the Calendar into English this is a paraphrase into Scots, and it brings sudden new images up from the depths of soul and sound (such as “spygless” from the sounds of “spiegelbild”). I am singularly ill equipped for the task as I am illiterate, really, in German and in Scots - but the task should be done and I’ve done what I can. John.
Introduction
The Seelenkalendar in Scots