E-news links

Here are links to our past biweekly e-news letters.
Search this page for specific items (shortcut on laptops: Ctrl+f on PC or Command+f on Mac).
Leave comments below, or email John Beck at editor@anthroposophy.org


April 14, 2022
Our images this time are from that incredible university in stone called the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres; one might plan on six months there, with René Querido’s classic book. These photographs prepare both for Easter and for the conference coming in two weeks. Click on any image to open a larger copy in a new window.
The General Anthroposophical Society’s 2022 annual meeting took place this past weekend at the Goetheanum, with much of it live-streamed in four languages including English. The theme, which is also announced as a new theme or motif for the year, is “Moving in the in-between: wanting society – shaping the future.”
At the AGM Dr. Constanza Kaliks was affirmed for a second, seven-year service on the Goetheanum Executive Council. Treasurer Justus Wittich was able to report that a serious shortfall for 2020 had been overcome by a surplus in 2021, including pandemic help given voluntarily by the Solothurn regional government. Our own Nathaniel Williams, who will become international Youth Section leader next year, made a short appearance by Zoom. Country Representatives and General Secretaries were introduced.
The Calendar of the Soul. We are happy as in years past to be able to offer suggested dates from Herbert Hagens for the use of this amazing resource created by Rudolf Steiner in 1912. There is a brand-new book on the Calendar from The Kolisko Institute, as well as a webinar recording.
“To contemplate the destinies of human beings with reverence and awe, that is something our times demand of us.”  — Rudolf Steiner
The new issue of being human which members have just received includes a number of articles about the social healing needed after two years of the pandemic and other stresses.
The most destructive fires in Colorado history last December spread throughout Boulder County with winds up to 100 mph, and destroyed more than 1,000 homes. To help children release the shock of this experience, occupational therapist Ana do Valle and friends Christine Summerfield, Tom Altgelt and Kathleen Thompson created a ten-minute interactive e-book and video.
Eugene Schwartz has been providing online trainings since long before the pandemic. He recently offered “Does Waldorf Still Matter” and now in April is tackling the topic of “Gender and Identity: The Dilemma of the Divided Soul.”
As spring takes over from winter, much of the country will find bees coming out of hibernation—a few of them at least. The well-being of the bees is a lynch-pin of ecological health. We are so fortunate to have the Spikenard Bee Sanctuary and to see it expanding programs and trainings.
The Biodynamic Demeter Alliance is the result of several years’ work to unify the Biodynamic Association and Demeter USA; and now a development director is being sought. A 2020 statement said,
“Our conscious intention is to infuse an understanding and application of Rudolf Steiner’s social threefolding throughout the structure and work of the Biodynamic Demeter Association, with balanced effort in the spheres of culture, rights, and economy.”
Peter Selg on “Anthroposophy as resurrection science”: “As the festival of the commemoration of Christ’s earthly death and resurrection, Easter marks a turning-point of time. But the earth continues to be a place of war and destruction, of suffering, need and hardship. The human heart is at the center of this conflict, as the organ of empathy and of hope, of trust in the future.”
View the full text, images, and live links…


March 27, 2022
Images include details with links to the full images of three new works by Patrick Stolfo: “Divine Sophia,” in cast crea-stone with amber patina; in carved wood a “Winged Being”; and then a “Fallen Figure” carved in cherry wood.
COMPASSIONATE ACTION
Serguei Krissiouk is an anthroposophically trained physician currently involved in research and therapeutic work with chronically ill children, as well as a clinical homeopathic practitioner, translator, and musician. He has been involved at the New York Branch for many years and last Thursday night gave a talk and Zoom presentation on the spiritual and historical dimensions of the “War in Ukraine,” his country of birth.
The forthcoming print being human features an article by Karine Munk Finser, MEd, about the new Kairos Institute sponsored by the Center for Anthroposophy in New Hampshire in collaboration with the Transdisciplinary Healing Education Program at Antioch University New England.
ANTHROPOSOPHIC MEDICINE IN ACTION
We also have a link to a YouTube recording of a lecture at the Rudolf Steiner Haus Stuttgart featuring Philipp Busche, a specialist in internal medicine and gastroenterology, and head of the internal medicine and medical training of the anthroposophic Arlesheim Clinic near the Goetheanum, on their work with Covid.
The Anthroposophic Health Association is having a conference, “The Mysteries of Healing: Realizing AnthropoSophia,” July 19-22 in Kimberton, Pennsylvania. Keynote speakers are three MDs: Ursula Flatters, James Dyson, and Marion Debus.
Coming up very soon is a three day seminar from the Association for Anthroposophic Psychology. James Dyson from the UK and Simon Kuttner from Israel are the lecturers for “Soul Matters: The Journey So Far.”
HEALING, FREEDOM, CHILDREN
“Leadership in Transformation” (LiT) is a project of the World Social Initiative Forum, an international network of spiritually-inspired grassroots initiatives addressing poverty, marginalization and social injustice. It started March 22 with a talk by Aonghus Gordon, “Freedom in Culture: From limitation to potentiality (The ‘I as I’).” Next up, on April 6th, is Carrie Schuchardt, MEd, of the House of Peace, who has lived and worked with refugees since 1980.
Re:Generation Education has been working on “trauma-informed education” in the Middle East for many years now. Co-founder Shepha Schneirsohn Vainstein, a long-time Waldorf parent and advocate, was the keynote speaker at our 2017 fall conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Their latest newsletter begins with the sobering observation that “When war breaks out, children are the least responsible — but suffer the greatest consequences.”
ARTS IN ACTION
The IVAA is the international federation of anthroposophic medical associations. They recently offered a series of four short videos, to view or download here, on arts therapies, in German with English subtitles. a mini-documentary series with four distinct episodes focused on the therapeutic areas of painting, music, modelling and speech. 
The M.C. Richards Program at FreeColumbia is named for a notable poet, potter, essayist, painter, and teacher, involved in the Camphill movement. “The program is one contribution toward her question: ‘What are some practices to strengthen and enliven living images, in contrast to mechanical and life-destroying images? And how may thinking itself be taught in ways that promote life, rather than estrange us from it?’” Applications for the 2022-2023 cohort are being accepted.
Next weekend (April 1-3), Lightforms Art Center is hosting Urban First Aid from the Circles for a Renewal of Culture. The lineup is remarkable.
HAPPENING
Our own ASA events titled Sophia Rising — both a face-to-face conference in Santa Fe, NM, April 21-24, and a webinar series for all who can’t make it or want to prepare, 4pm PT, 7pm ET, on March 28, April 4, April 11.
View the full text, images, and live links…


March 19, 2022
CALENDAR
The online calendar is full of offerings, with Marta Stemberger (calendar@anthroposophy.org) seeing that they get added.
SOPHIA RISING! – CONFERENCE & WEBINAR
The ASA is offering a face-to-face conference in Santa Fe, NM, April 21-24. And there will be a webinar series for all who can’t make it or want to prepare, 4pm PT, 7pm ET, on March 28, April 4, April 11.
REFLECTION: THE VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE
A look at last month’s email from John Bloom, with the central questions of reincarnation and karma.
RUDOLF STEINER: SUFFERING & SOPHIA
From his lectures on February 13, 1923, soon after the burning of the First Goetheanum.
View the full text, images, and live links…


January 10, 2022
DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS
The new ASA Director of Programs is Tess Parker, whose excellent work and engaging presence you have probably experienced many times already, in the Holy Nights, the fall conference, and over the previous three years.
VISUAL ELEMENTS…
this time are details from the sculpture and drawing of well-known artist and teacher Patrick Stolfo; his work will be featured on the cover and in the gallery of our winter-spring being human print edition.
HOLY NIGHTS
The grand idea of an “evolution of consciousness” is important for understanding why anthroposophy speaks of spirit and spirituality and religious figures like the Christ and the Buddha and of theological subjects like higher intelligences—but is not a religion… but has been reawakening and deepening the meaning of this season.
IMPROV:
Actress and teacher Laurie Portocarrero shared a holiday story of events transforming themselves this year.
View the full text, images, and live links…


December 13, 2021
The HOLY NIGHTS offering from the ASA will be a reading of the ancient Sumerian saga “The Epic of Gilgamesh.”
GOETHEANUM TALKS online in December include Peter Selg on “Hope and trust in the future,” and Constanza Kaliks addressing “World becoming – the seed meditation.”
The remarkable HAWTHORNE VALLEY ASSOCIATION has a podcast “Roots to Renewal,” launched as part of its fiftieth anniversary celebrations. Our own John Bloom, whose involvement with HVA goes back many years, was a guest on episode #6, speaking with executive director Martin Ping.
SPIKENARD FARM HONEYBEE SANCTUARY is a well-organized and inspiring entryway into the bee world.
Let’s salute WELEDA, the healthcare company inspired by anthroposophy that is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
LITERARY ARTS AND EPIGRAMS
John Urban shared several one-line poems on the theme of “Building the Temple of the Heart.”
The website theliteraryarts.com continues to be a outstanding exposition of the life of the Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities.
MUSIC OUT OF CONFINEMENT
Mark McAlister introduced us to pianist Ben Cruchley, who has created an online lecture-recital featuring piano sonatas by two prominent composers of the Terezìn Concentration Camp, anthroposophist Viktor Ullmann and Gideon Klein.
MUCH WAS EXPECTED at the beginning of the 20th century. Along with greatness of many kinds, it gave us terrible demonstrations of Rudolf Steiner’s warning, that without the new vision of human nature and potential that is anthroposophy we would soon face the “grave of all civilization,” and that our goal must be to create new culture and a “future worthy of the human being.”
Pope Francis seemed to speak from the same insights recently. “Let us stop this shipwreck of civilization,” he said, visiting a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. “Let us stop ignoring reality,” Francis said. “How many conditions exist that are unworthy of human beings? How many hotspots [are there] where migrants and refugees live in borderline conditions, without glimpsing solutions on the horizon?”
The Advent season prepares us for the joy of new birth. Today it is up to all of us to make the new birth of humane civilization happen. It is good to be able to report on many bright spots.
View the email to see full text, photos, and live links…


November 15, 2021
Link to John Bloom’s latest letter. Some fine observations linger from the October conference, including from Dr. Michaela Glöckler’s keynote. “Biography work is heart research.” The photos this time remind us of the busy lives of insects.
HYBRID
Our fall conference was successful in weaving a good number of face-to-face gatherings into a larger and very satisfying digital package. How can we do this at all levels.
META
The “battle for reality” is intensifying.
From 2010 social media stepped squarely into the middle of individuals’ relations with each other. Making extraordinary profits, these apps opened this intimate zone of human relations to access by influencers and advertisers and governments and corporations. Those with funds learned to manage it all with machine intelligence that was trained over vast fields of personal data gather by the same social media… 
Now comes the metaverse, or omniverse, or comprehensive artificial reality. It sounds and looks too boring to bother with, but it will get better, shaped by our own reactions to it, and its purpose is to contain and exert maximum influence over our consciousnesses. Are there any human beings who might be qualified to manage such a project?
NATURE INSTITUTE
It is both confounding and inspiring to behold this tiny team in Ghent, New York, working with such care and penetration to awaken us to the sublimity of nature, maya, at just the moment when a corporation worth a thousand billion dollars and hosting two billion customers, and controlled by one man, has turned to summon us into an artificial replacement for nature. Do spend some time at www.natureinstitute.org
STEINER ONLINE
It is surprising to learn at his retirement from the RSArchive and e.Lib that Jim Stewart began this internet project before the World Wide Web and browsers were invented in 1989-90. Learn about the new e.Librarian…
IN BRIEF
A new Waldorf Education eNews arrived ten days ago from Rebecca Moskowitz, Executive Director, Advancement, of AWSNA, and it is full of valuable content including an hour video conversation with young alums for current students.
Accreditation is an important and difficult challenge for higher education organizations. Gradalis Waldorf Consulting & Services in Colorado (their Gradalis Teacher Education offerings are advertised in our print being human) received the good news of a five-year continuation of accreditation from ACCET, the Accreditating Council for Continuing Education & Training.
It’s important to the movement that Antioch University offers a Master of Education degree in Waldorf Education, through AU New England.
While the world situation is challenging in many ways, it is hard not to be impressed with the quality and relevance of anthroposophical initiatives. Can we learn how to communicate that these many parts are an outline for building a global culture that will serves all of us and the Earth?
View the email to see full text, photos, and live links…


October 26, 2021
There were strong good feelings at the end of our members meeting and fall conference, October 7-10, Building the Temple of the Heart.
This issue of e-news was devoted to the conference.
Recordings of the full conference and the keynotes are available in the store.
View the email to see the live links.


September 24, 2021
Photos focus on our animated friends. For our visual elements going forward, we would be glad to hear from visual artists willing to share “details” of larger works in the 680 by 300 pixel format.
AAC 2021-2022
The experience offered by the new year of the Applied Anthroposophy Course (AAC) seems really quite extraordinary.
A wonderful recent email from the AAC team, Tess Parker, Angela Foster, and Jordan Walker, named the first semester “seed series” guides: Brian Gray, Laura Summer, Seth Jordan, Julia Porter, Alex Tuchman, Chris Burke, Anne de Wild, Megan Durney — and linked further to a faculty page that adds Bastiaan Baan, Lisa Romero, Patrick Kennedy, Séamus Maynard, Jaimen McMillan, Orland Bishop, and Sea-Anna Vasilas, with still more to come.
https://api.neonemails.com/emails/content/JY4HgqzVyQqeGUtZLvvLWvER3rNWN_wd-0eMghvEhZY=
AUTUMN
Verbal art, abstracted though it be into little ink-marks or patterns of phosphorescent pixels, has power to awaken and sharpen the other senses. Virginia Woolf spoke of a couching operation performed by great literature, using the old term for removal from the eye of lenses clouded by cataracts.
John Keats: first stanza of his ode “To Autumn”:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “To the Autumnal Moon”
DR. SELG TO DR. PAGE
Christiane Marks translated and shared with us some time ago a May entry in the German-language magazine Das Goetheanum. In it Peter Selg greeted Dr. Traute Page on her 102nd birthday, offering in salute a 1924 birthday poem by Rilke, Handinneres (“Palm of the Hand”) also ably brought over into English by Christiane Marks. https://anthroposophy.org/in-honor-of-your-birthday/
EURYTHMY UPDATE
The movement art of eurythmy has been strongly affected by the pandemic, and it is good to see it coming back into real space as well as online.
THE NEW FIVE COLLECTIVE 
Cedarwood Waldorf School in Portland, Oregon, has been creating and perfecting an exhibit space for visual arts, The Art Hall. The New Five Collective were exhibiting when the pandemic closed the space, and it is open again now through Oct 2nd with a new show by these artists: MJ Connors Davison, Robin Lieberman, Patricia Homan Lynch, Jannebeth Röell, and Jenny Siegel.
CHANGES AFOOT
Council Chair Helen-Ann Ireland has a new blog post detailing changes in the ASA General Council, whose volunteer members represent the three regions, serve as a board of directors for the ASA as a non-profit organization, and through study and conversation carry consciousness for the life of anthroposophy across the USA.
SILLY?
A certain number of bumper stickers saying “anthroposophy” with the lemniscate (a.k.a. infinity symbol) have been given out at conferences. Margaret Runyon sent in a picture of her bumper and suggested we solicit others — “Just a summer fun suggestion!” If you have such a sticker, send a photo, perhaps with a summer travel background, or a bit of a story.
THE OCTOBER CONFERENCE
Our “hybrid” national conference, co-produced with the Central Regional Council, is a rich and imaginative and interactive presentation. It is also a bit more complicated, offering access for all online with added face-to-face gatherings in at least six locations. You should do a little planning now!
https://secure.anthroposophy.org/np/clients/anthroposophy/event.jsp?event=211&
Then you can look into possible face-to-face options in LA (Pasadena), Sacramento (Fair Oaks), CA, Decatur (Atlanta), GA, Chicago, IL, Durham, NC, Spring Valley, NY, or Portland, OR.
View the email to see the live links…


September 12, 2021
This week’s verse from Rudolf Steiner’s Calendar of the Soul describes the summer transition into fall, and our photos, from Dwight Ebaugh, portray those bright impressions of our summery senses which now are laid into the memory’s treasure.
9/10, 9/11, 9/12
The events of September 11, 2001, have reached their twentieth anniversary. We link to conversations by Lynn Jericho recorded shortly after: Ground Zero & The Human Soul: The Search for The New Ordinary Life. Informed by anthroposophy, they “move the listener from the individual to the global, from the present to the future.”
We also link to T.H. Meyer’s Reality, Truth, and Evil (2005, Temple Lodge) and to America’s Global Responsibility: Individuation, Initiation and Threefolding, by Yeshayahu (Jesaiah) Ben-Aharon.
SKETCHES, VIRTUES
In Santa Cruz, CA, an exhibit of pen and ink drawings recalls the late art historian and anthroposophist Johannes Gaertner (at the R. Blitzer Gallery). He is known today for Worldly Virtues, an elegant collection of reflections on the great classic virtues by which we may endeavor to live our lives.
TACT— Implies the awareness of another person’s feelings, the anticipation of his reactions, and the adroit removal or avoidance of psychological difficulties and social frictions. Tact is less a function of feeling then one of intelligence. If women are said to be more tactful than men, it is because they are more intelligent, particularly with regard to human relations. (Baby girls smile earlier than baby boys.) Tact requires what Rudolf Steiner called “moral fantasy.” One must be able not only to see but to feel the world as another might, thus not merely refraining from saying the wrong thing but sometimes actually not saying or doing the right thing. Tact is the courtesy of the heart.
INNER FIRE
Beatrice Birch of the Inner Fire initiative in Vermont shared a link to a story by Amy Biancolli, published on the website Mad in America – Science, Psychiatry, and Social Justice. “Inner Fire: Where Seekers Have a Choice — A Vermont residential community program helps people taper or stay off medications with holistic care embedded in a pastoral setting.”
IN BRIEF
Some events don’t fit the posting requirements of our calendar:
A new series of five MysTech Study Groups are starting this week of September 13th.
The Pfeiffer Center’s Year Long Training in Biodynamics covers the basic principles of biodynamic agriculture according to the seasons, in thirteen workshops. It starts September 18th in Chestnut Ridge, NY.
Online courses with Laura Summer of Free Columbia are consistently well-received. Color, Composition, Contemplation will run for 10 months from October 8th. Color Dynamics also starts October 8th and runs for ten weeks. Contact Laura for information and to register.
What is the MC Richards Program like, experientially?
View the email to see the live links…


September 1, 2021
Knowing the world, knowing ourselves.
Fall Conference and Applied Anthroposophy Course registration open; APO Walkathon coming up.
A ZOOM SALON?
The Section for the Literary Arts & Humanities has an open Zoom hour on September 19, at 1-2 pm Pacific time, 4-5 Eastern.Email Bruce Donehower at TheLiteraryArts@gmail.com
FUTURE DAWNING
Join the Association for Anthroposophic Psychology for eight sessions this fall on Future Dawning, a Spiritual Fantasia on World Themes, by Glen Williamson, a new 21st-century mystery drama.
SACRED CREATION
An important new book for the anthroposophical movement, especially in North America, has arrived: A Road to Sacred Creation: Rudolf Steiner’s Perspectives on Technology; a compendium, volume 1, edited by Gary Lamb.
MORAL TECHNOLOGY
In Silicon Valley, too, the question is raised, “Can Tech Ethics Be Learned—or Is Society Doomed?”
READING “THOUGHT SCORES”
Steve Brannon and Mark Riccio have founded the George O’Neil Group named for the author of The Human Life and practitioner of Rudolf Steiner’s organic-living thinking. [Update Dec 2022: Interested persons need to resubscribe to their list with this link.]
BRIEF NOTES
Sound Circle Center in Seattle welcomes a new cohort of its Grade School Teacher Training Course Sept 17th.
Lightforms Art Center’s World of Color Exhibition (Hudson, NY, through Sept 26) is “an interactive, experiential and educational experience for all ages. Four color/light experience rooms invite the visitor into a full surround color immersion.”
Awakening Connections; Creating Community: The Center for Biography & Social Art is pleased to offer a series of three half-day workshops over the school year for independent and charter Waldorf faculty, staff, parents, and board members.
The photos take us on a late road trip with stops in NYC, SF, LA, and DC.
View the email


June 21, 2021
SUMMER
Welcome to summer! Despite good reasons for anxiety about extreme weather, this is a season of mysterious uplift as the summering parts of Earth reach up to the sun and raise our spirits.
ELEMENTALS
A month ago, almost 400 people signed up for a timely half-day conference with Bastiaan Baan, Lisa Romero, and Janey Newton on “Supporting the Elementals.” It is now available in the store.
The photos this time begin in the west at the Hearst Castle and end on Martha’s Vineyard off Massachusetts.
IPSWICH
If you will be in Massachusetts, the Anthroposophical Society of Cape Ann has announced its in-person 2021 Summer Series: the Monday evenings in July plus a Sunday, all 7:30-9:00pm.
THANK YOU!
Everyone should have seen the email announcement some weeks ago that at the end of May our Director of Programs, Laura Scappaticci, left her position to pursue new challenges after almost five years with ASA. She leaves with a great list of accomplishments! Thank you, Laura!
EARTH, ASKING
What is the Earth Asking of Us? That is the ongoing question of the Natural Science Section colloquia. Next Saturday’s event, “Change in Understanding of Matter and New Organics,” has been moved up to 12 noon Eastern Time.
REGENERATIVE
The World Social Initiative Forum (WSIF) which we mentioned in April is sponsoring an interactive workshop facilitated by Sundeep Kamath of the Biodynamic Association of India and General Secretary of the All India Organic Network Association (AIONA).
GARDENS
Susan Kurz has written a memoir where she talks about anthroposophy coming into her life as well as her time as CEO of Dr Hauschka Skin Care. We will have a review of Gardens of Karma: Harvesting Myself Among the Weeds in the summer-fall issue of being human.
VOICED
Gail Langstroth, eurythmist and poet, has created a new video with eurythmy-inspired movement as a means to be present, at least virtually, at a recent festival in Bonn, Germany; it is called VOICED : words from asphalt.
ART, SCHOOL
Sara Damerow, a member connected with George Washington Carver High School, the first public-Waldorf high school in California, sent us a link to the annual art show of the Sacramento Waldorf School, normally displayed in the school halls, but this year online!
SUMMER LEARNING
Our online calendar is full of summer activities, but often with only a sample of what is being offered. If you are looking for something with no travel cost, do follow the links and look around.
View the email


June 6, 2021
COLOR
Color, said Rudolf Steiner, is the soul of Nature and of the entire cosmos. It’s a lovely statement, and it deepens quickly when set beside Goethe’s statement that Colors are the deeds and suffering of light-sufferings?-and his view of color emerging from between darkness and light. It becomes something worth pondering.
In this issue our photography, a word which means “drawing with light,” continues from Whitsun with images of flowers, at or near Rudolf Steiner House in Ann Arbor, with some vivid colors…
SUMMER, READING
Books of myth and legend and novels suitable for adults. Shirley Latessa.
A. Roz Mar. Eric G. Müller.
WALDORF, ALL TOGETHER
School Renewal and the Heart of Change is the first ever joint Waldorf education conference. Registration has been extended to June 17.
KIDS ON TECH
Henning Kullak-Ublick at Waldorf 100 has alerted us that “the film-maker who created our Waldorf-100 films has collaborated with us again to create an outstanding film on the contentious issue of children and technology.”
ECONOMY; HIBERNIA
The Economics Conference of the Goetheanum wrote about its various online resources, and announced an interesting new book.
EDITH MARYON
Dottie Zold writes about a program, Edith Maryon – Rudolph Steiner and the Christ Sculpture, June 26th, 11:00 am PDT, 2:00 pm EDT. Keynote by Peter Selg, introduction by Patricia Dickson, presentations by Brigitta Gallaher and Rembert Biemond of the Edith Maryon Foundation.
View the email


May 23, 2021
WHITSUN
The important but little-known festival of Whitsun or Pentecost is fifty days after Easter, and therefore a moveable feast, May 23rd this year. It is a very beautiful time in the temperate northern hemisphere where it is a festival of flowers, as we recognize with Dwight Ebaugh’s photography.
YOUTH, INITIATIVE
The International Youth Initiative Program (YIP) is a 10 month residential “societal entrepreneurship” training, based in Sweden, for 18-28 year olds. YIP 14 starts August 29, 2021.
SWEATING THE MIDDLE EAST
Thinking of re:Generation, whose motto is “Imagine the Potential: Christian, Jewish, Muslim children together.”
Yeshayahu Ben-Aharon, co-founder of Kibbutz Harduf in north Israel, has reposted part of a lecture, “Israel and the Global Melting Pot” given in New York City in 2002, just after 9/11.
“These are the pains of convergence…”
WHITSUN SPEECH, FLOWERS, CHAKRAS
Anthroposophy’s interest in the Christian festivals arises from its far-reaching pictures of human evolution, affecting all of us, an evolution of consciousness, which Rudolf Steiner described.
TAKING ANTHROPOSOPHY INTO LIFE
Whitsun/Pentecost seems an appropriate time to speak about speaking. Bill Manning of Minnesota, engaged with anthroposophy for decades and recently retired from the practice of law, has a new web site which combines his human interests and professional reflections.
ROOTS, FLOWERS
Many plants are part of the wellness-promoting arsenal of anthroposophic medicine and personal care.
Ross Rentea, MD, on the dandelion.
View the email


May 9, 2021
Mother’s Day!
INTO THE CLOUDS
We are offering some photographs of clouds for Ascension.
Why clouds?
Two weeks from today is Whitsun or Pentecost, a festival of flowers and inspired words.
A beautiful Whitsun webinar, “Five Good Words” with Orland Bishop, is available free in our store.
SHARE THE LOVE
Our spring appeal is for a new Youth & Inclusion Access Fund.
And a tax note for extra benefit from cash donations to many non-profits.
MARIANNE FIEBER / CRC NEWS
Marianne Fieber is stepping back as the Central Region representative on the General Council.
The regional council is looking for new council members.
DEMONSTRATING
Between Waldorf education and the Camphill schools and communities is a gap where many young adults on the autism spectrum can use help as they move into lives of greater independence. Enter Meristem.
EVENT & OPEN CALL
Lightforms Art Center Sculpture Show, May 14th, 7pm, masks required but open door.
Lightforms has also made an “open call to photographers” for a Nature Photography Show opening in November.
View the email


April 25, 2021
In this issue…
PHOTOS: in southern California again.
EARTH DAY & SOCIAL INITIATIVE
World Social Initiative Forum adds an ecological fourth leg to the familiar threefolding.
SUMMER & YEAR-LONG
Our event calendar has been loaded up significantly with summer programs.
FIFTY YEARS
Hawthorne Valley is a remarkable achievement, a family of initiatives…
WARMING
Portland (Oregon) Branch’s new space, housewarming.
MANIFESTATIONS OF KARMA
The Central Regional Council’s “The Karma Project.”
PHOTO: a wall in SF, Helen Keller: “The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.”
View the email


April 11, 2021
NEW PODCAST
At The Anthroposopher: “Elemental Appreciation,” with Harald Hoven in conversation with Laura Scappaticci.
WHITSUN
The Western Regional Council invites you to join them in a study.
HEALTH
The Foundation for Health Creation, has a very useful new website.
ITA WEGMAN INSTITUTE
Peter Selg, MD, shares their recent newsletter.
being human ONLINE
The most recent print issue is now online with articles in a smartphone-friendly format.
SOPHIA
“A Sophia Mosaic” is good preparation for a new Sophia Community Circle starting in May (look for the email) and leading up to a Sophia Conference in 2022.
THREEFOLD
Aug 11-15 will bring a conference, The Twelve Senses: Sensing Justice in the Encounter.
PHOTOS
From early spring in Los Angeles
View the email


March 28, 2021
Link to photos of the Goetheanum from this time in 2019.
EASTER
Program resources available for the Easter week that begins today.
HEALTH
The Medical Section at the Goetheanum report: “Covid-19: Looking to the future.”
Programs coming soon: SOPHIA & THE STARS
The Sophia Community Circle would like to invite you to gather with them monthly.
Mary Stewart Adams will offer The New Images of the Zodiac in the Cycle of the Year.
PERFORMING ARTS
Eurythmy, Speech Formation, Eurythmy Therapy: the Section at the Goetheanum offers a digital working meeting.
HELP FOR NONPROFITS
The American Rescue Plan Act details are at the website of the National Council of Nonprofits.
CALENDAR OF THE SOUL
Our page has been updated with Herbert Hagens’ dates for the year ahead, and other links.
FARM RELOCATION
Blossom’s Farm, active and socially-engaged, is facing that challenge.
BODY & SOUL
The Association for Anthroposophic Psychology offers “Psychological Disturbances in Relation to Lung, Liver, Kidney, and Heart.”
PHOTOS from Dwight Ebaugh taken this time of year in various locations.
View the email


March 14, 2021
— The Goetheanum Youth Section has a full event calendar.
— A beautiful winter newsletter from Free Columbia
— The Economics Conference at the Goetheanum publishes a newsletter, Associate! Its January issue is devoted to youth financial literacy.
— The inspiring teacher, researcher, and author Dennis Klocek is offering an online “School of Soil, Soul and Spirit.”
— “Comprehensive Health” may be a good way to introduce Anthroposophic Medicine.
View the email


February 28, 2021
— Thoughts on the pandemic deaths.
LISTENING?
The Youth Initiative Initiative Forum is coming up in just a few days (March 3-7).
MACBETH & THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
The Association for Anthroposophic Psychology and the Eckersley Shakespeare Trust announce a five-part series: Shakespeare’s Macbeth: Illuminating the Challenge of Evil.
THE MYSTERY DRAMA OF OUR LIVES
A continuing resource is the Center for Biography and Social Art.
THE MYSTERY OF TECHNOLOGY
One extraordinary event of “Covid-time” was the August 13-16, 2020, MysTech Conference.
BASIC HEALTH
There is now a four-part set of videos on YouTube that share basic anthroposophic medical concepts in a way that assumes no prior knowledge.
STEINER AUDIO
Sometimes it is nice to be read to; Dale Brunsvold has been recording Steiner for 17 years.
— Photographs of rural habitations are again contributed by Dwight Ebaugh.
View the email


February 15, 2021
— photos by Dwight Ebaugh.
PROGRAMS
— Lisa Romero’s webinar the Spiritual Origins of Conspiracy is now in our store (free, donations welcomed).
— A 12-part program with Mary Stewart Adams will start May 17th: “The New Images of the Zodiac in the Cycle of the Year.”
— Save the date for a Sophia Conference in April, 2022.
YOUTH & AGRICULTURE
— The Youth Section in North America organizes a “Open-Pollinator Future Lab: a conversation across North America on Youth+Agriculture.”
— One pollinator presentation by Walter Goldstein is available in PDF form.
— The Pfeiffer Center is inviting applications for a three-month summer farm internship, prerequisite for a nine-month extended internship.
BEING HEARD
— Coming out of last September’s “How We Will 2020” was an impulse to create ALIANT, a US equivalent to the ELIANT alliance in Europe.
GREAT BOOKS
— View the latest from the UK’s Rudolf Steiner Press and Temple Lodge Publications and SteinerBooks and its imprints.
— Available now: Rudolf Steiner: Esoteric Lessons for the First Class of the School of Spiritual Science, volumes 1-4; with English and German texts printed side by side, plates with Rudolf Steiner’s handwritten notes of the mantras and reproductions of his original color blackboard drawings.
TALKING AMERICA
— The Sacramento Faust Branch holds meetings on Zoom: Exploring the Spiritual-Historical Background of America.
THINK TECH
— “Learning to Think Like a Smart Machine” is the latest essay online at Medium.com from anthroposophist Boyd Collins.
Also,
— The Portland (Oregon) Branch has found a home for its library of 3,000 books along with human get-togethers.
View the email


January 30, 2021
— program notes: Lisa Romero “The Spiritual Origins of Conspiracy”; John Bloom & Laura Scappaticci podcast, “The Social Life of Money”
— four Goetheanum events:
—The Goetheanum Anthroposophy Studies.
—Rudolf Steiner mystery drama materials are being offered online.
—Youth and Agriculture Sections conference “Breathing with the Climate Crisis” from February 11-14
—Youth Section (Re)Search Summer School “for young people of all backgrounds, regardless of previous academic experience.”
View the email


January 16, 2021
— thoughts of Gene Gollogly of SteinerBooks who passed on at 70
— full details now on “Die and Become ~ Bridging the Sacred Threshold” an interactive workshop series with Linda Bergh and Jolie Hanna Luba
— thanks from Deb Abrahams-Dematte for a strong response to our end of year appeal
— Remarkable offering from the Natural Science Section and the Goetheanum, an introduction and ten translated sessions for the October 2020 conference on climate
View the email


January 2, 2021
— a short issue while we work on being human print edition
— “Die and Become ~ Bridging the Sacred Threshold” an interactive workshop series with Linda Bergh and Jolie Hanna Luba
— Beethoven and becoming human; “Beethoven is Prometheus”
— his one ballet, The Creatures of Prometheus
— a full performance online by the Philharmonia Orchestra
— Rudolf Steiner: 1906 statement on music and the spirit
— Photos from Southern California this time of year
View the email


December 19, 2020
— the annual appeal
— Beethoven and his 250th birthday
— The Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch presents a Zoom talk by Prof. Peter Selg, MD
— The new outreach program of Anthroposophic Medicine has a timely focus on public health
— Otto Scharmer of MIT and Theory U addresses Post-Truth, Post-Democracy, and Post-Humanity
— Essential Anthroposophy reflects briefly on our human mission.
— Fred Amrine reviews Wolfgang Schad, Threefoldness in Humans and Mammals
— WECAN has wonderful books on sale
— The photos take us from dim northeastern winter to sunny California
— The Portland Branch Site Committee is polling friends and members about a home
View the email


December 5, 2020
— the annual appeal
— plans for a Holy Nights daytime “seed gathering”: A Rose by Any Other Name
— seasonal inspiration in our store; a new Holy Nights Journal 2020-2021 from Alan Thewless
— Dennis Klocek: “The School of Michael: Soul Health in an Age of Falsehood”
— the Goetheanum’s report on the recent general meeting
— essential anthroposophy: Steiner’s all-embracing spiritual ecology
— the “great conjunction” Jupiter & Saturn this year at the Winter Solstice
— renewal a “farm organism” with the arrival of a new farmer
— photos of Rudolf Steiner House and environs dusted with snow
View the email


November 21, 2020
— Anthroposophic Nursing Practice: the new book
— “Growing Roots at Plowshare Farm” at SentinelSource.com (Keene, NH)
— Link: the recent being human is now online
— Rudolf Steiner on Viral Illness and Epidemics – review by Michael Ronall
— Hazel Archer-Ginsberg: temperaments at ReverseRitual.com
— THANKSGIVING THOUGHTS
— Andrew Linnell on The Hidden Heretic of the Renaissance: Leonardo
— Rev. Gisela Wielki’s retirement and Franz Marc’s Fighting Forms (1914)
— Photos show a changed palette in our nearby arboretum.
View the email


November 7, 2020
— Holy Nights online
— Leaving a Legacy of Will
— Upcoming Writers’ Salon
— Charles Andrade color class
— Homeopathy appeal to the FDA
— Bruce Donehower video of a poem by Novalis
— Sunbridge Institute Teachers Conference on Race
— Boyd Collins: To See with a Thousand Eyes
— A new website, TheLiteraryArts.com
— Kolisko Institute annual conference webinars
— Lightforms Art Center: Judy Pfaff; Place as Portal
— “Fear of Rest” from The Sun magazine
— Keats “To Autumn” and photos of foliage and leaves
View the email


October 25, 2020 — the annual meeting and conference recordings
— the Goetheanum annual meeting livestream
— John Bloom reappointment as General Secretary
— Flight, a new sculpture by Martina Angela Müller
— Antioch University’s new EdD program with a Waldorf cohort
— Dan McKanan’s new book on Camphill; Camphill Research Symposium
— Photo: a flower gone to seed
— Essential Anthroposophy: the soul forces
— Photo: berries on a vine
— The NYC Branch Keep Talking blog
— The Goetheanum Leadership’s talks on “The Signature of Our Time.”
— Photo: Maple tree seeds on cement
View the email


October 10, 2020 — Spanish is coming to RudolfSteiner.org!
— Another wonderful issue of the twice-yearly Art Section Newsletter
— Recalling Sally Voris of White Rose Farm
— Archangel Michael, illuminated manuscript, Germany
— The Front Range Anthroposophical Café
— Stella Natura 2021 Biodynamic Planting Calendar
— Photo of a very small flower unfolding an image of a whole constellation
— Photo of a garden in a crack in a cement sidewalk
— Edward Reaugh Smith passed away in August
— Lynn Jericho proposes “Holy Calm in Chaotic Times
– An Introduction to Equanimity”
— Photo of sunflowers in front of Rudolf Steiner House in Ann Arbor, MI.
View the email


September 26, 2020 — Annual Conference: “Healing the Social Life, Preparing the Future” – keynote presenters
— ALIANT Alliance
— Philip Thatcher on Jupiter/Saturn, US Elections
— More eurythmy online
— Images of Archangel Micha-el, Russian, French, Italian
— Photo: late September mushrooms, SE Massachusetts
— The Michaelmas thought
— CAO racial sensitivity training
— CfA Explorations Online
— Anthroposophic Health Ass’n Resources
— Photo: late September, wild turkeys, SE Massachusetts
View the email


September 12, 2020 — Western fires
— ‘Podding’
— APO Walkathon
— Anthroposophy Worldwide online
— Michaelmas preparations and podcasts
— Joseph Beuys, Cosmos and Damian Polished (1975)
— 9/11: Love, Service, Remembrance
— photo: Rockface, Sept, NE California
— Essential anthroposophy: living in the life of the Earth
— Dan McKanan interviewed
— Fred Amrine – Keryx Books
— New ASA events calendar
— photo: Dried cone and pine needles, Sept, NE California
— Joseph Beuys on suffering and compassion.
View the email


August 29, 2020 — Fall conference suggestions
— Applied Anthroposophy Course “A Crash Course for Beginners” with Sherry Wildfeuer and Alex Tuchman
— CA Santa Cruz Fires / Gulf Hurricane
— September Art Dispersal with Laura Summer
— Eric Müller – Black Madonna novel
— The Annual Report for 2019 is now online
— Essential Anthroposophy: we are woven into the world
— A new General Secretary Page online
— Inventing Color: Late Works of M.C. Richards at Lightforms Art Center
— Waldorf Education: A Family Guide is available in a new, completely revised 2nd edition
— Photos of August clouds, afternoon and evening, from southern New Jersey
View the email


August 15, 2020 — Eric Utne’s memoir is published
— Free Columbia Puppet Troupe performs a new work
— EduCareDo announces five new distance learning courses
— Lines by poet Seamus Heaney
— Essential anthroposophy: the stages of the human self’s development
— new books from Waldorf Publications
— How We Will in Chicago, August 17-30
— Youth Section study of the Foundation Stone – western landscapes
View the email


August 1, 2020 — Applied Anthroposophy – coming in September
—Association for Anthroposophic Psychology continues its training online
— Boyd Collins writes about technology with a deep appreciation of anthroposophy
— The BD Association’s blog is always interesting
— Our online fall conference will have a first online art dispersal
— Essential anthroposophy: the journey of the ‘I’
— The Goetheanum has an English channel on YouTube
— How about educating outdoors?
— Gain skills with nine months at the Fellowship Community
View the email


July 13, 2020
— Preparing the Sixth Epoch
— Eurythmy Online
— A new comet
— Goetheanum Climate Conference Feb 2021
— “The human being is a bridge” verse
— Essential anthroposophy: selfhood makes us human
— Anthroposophic Medicine conference in Sept
— International Lyre Day
— Steiner on viral illnesses and epidemics, collected
View the email


June 29, 2020 — Social inclusion at a distance
— Our annual conference
— Biodynamic Association/Demeter USA merger
— Essential anthroposophy: the human form and constitution
— Lightforms Art Center
— The Twelve Senses Online from Threefold
— Steiner School of Speech Arts
— “Earth Alive”: Questions of Courage
— MysTech Conference
— Video: A Prayer
— Recruiting for initiatives
View the email


June 15, 2020 — Fellowship Community fire
— John Bloom letter
— “Five Good Words” online
— “Teaching” by Molly McMullen-Laird, MD
— Essential anthroposophy: affirming humanity
— Michaela Glöckler, MD, on coronavirus questions
— Parent-Teacher support links
— Craig Holdrege: “Viruses in the Dynamics of Life”
— Regional reports
— Observing plants with the will.
View the email


communications update

May 27, 2020 — Summering online?
Summer programs status – postponed, online, focusing on being human advertisers. — View the email

5 Comments

  1. Christopher Guilfoil on July 13, 2020 at 2:06 pm

    Dear friends,

    While most of the news from various anthroposophical endeavors now tends to be about stuff to do online, Zoom, webinars, etc., all well and good, it would be nice to also hear what folks are doing in person, face to face. These examples are needed now to balance the quick turning to screens.

    Yes, it can meet the desires and needs of many, 600 doing eurythmy online, but news of two or more gathering can be inspiring and insightful as well.

    Thanks for the good work,
    Christopher Guilfoil, Editor, Portland Branch Newsletter, Portland, OR

  2. Joan Tannheimer on July 14, 2020 at 4:46 pm

    Thank you Dear John Beck,

    Your writing is always inspiring, helpful, and kind. In response to Christopher, I am a flute and recorder player. We are now having rehearsals in a garden setting near a farm. Walking groups wander by and listen to us for awhile sometimes. Also in-person eurythmy has been available at the House of Peace, in the large barn space, for which my harpist friend and I play accompaniment. We can keep a distance, but the soul- warmth of interacting with friendly humans is invaluable.

    With Gratitude and earnest good wishes,

    • editor on July 14, 2020 at 5:15 pm

      Christopher, thanks for the question. Joan, thank you for this lovely answer!

  3. John Schuchardt on July 14, 2020 at 11:43 pm

    Greetings, John.
    Another issue of New View has arrived containing many articles that I believe are important and helpful in our crisis.
    I had suggested a link to the earlier issue, which you said was a good idea, so I was disappointed that you omitted that.
    Now I also request a link to this important resource of the most recent issue of New View.
    with hopes that the efforts of our anthroposophical friends in Europe can be shared with our membership here,
    best wishes, John

Leave a Comment