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SPOTLIGHT ONANTHROPOSOPHY

by Sharon Lombard

Cultic Studies Review,

Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003

Return to PLANS Articles

Abstract

The author discusses how she and her amily enrolled their child in a !aldor school "

without consciously decidin# or a#reein# to $oin a new reli#ious movement " and ound

themselves involved in %nthro&oso&hy. She shares some bac'#round on Rudol Steiner,the ounder o !aldor schools, and his esoteric reli#ion, %nthro&oso&hy, which is

ine(tricably entwined in !aldor schools) curriculum, &eda#o#y, and school activities. *er

introduction to Steiner)s doctrine ocuses on identiyin# Steiner)s macro+microcosmic

worldview and racist under&innin#s. She uestions why some !aldorers oten down&lay

or deny their ervor and involvement in %nthro&oso&hy and critici-es the movement)s

leadershi& or denyin# Steiner)s racist doctrine as documented in the /utch Re&ort. The

author shares her own mis#ivin#s about the #rou&)s reli#ious oundation and ar#ues thatsome o Steiner)s ollowers wor' to conceal the reli#ious conte(t o !aldor education.

Some &ersonal recollections o &eculiarities durin# her amily)s e(&erience with !aldor

education are discussed, includin# a beni#n %nthro&oso&hic &rescri&tion or the author)s

sic' child and removal o her dau#hter rom the !aldor school.

Steiner: "WE MUST emphasize again and again that the anthroposophical world-

conception fosters a consciousness of the common source of art, religion and science.

uring ancient periods of e!olution these three were not separated the# e$isted in unit#.

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The M#steries which fostered that unit# were a %ind of com&ination art institute, church and

school. 'or what the# offered was not a one-sided sole dependence upon language. The

words uttered &# the initiate as &oth cognition and spiritual re!elation were supported and

illustrated &# sacred rituals unfolding, &efore listening spectators, in might# pictures."  

Steiner, 14, &. 536

 % riend o mine who hel&ed start a !aldor School li'ed to say, 7 you turn on the &orchli#hts the moths will come. 7 would add that an assortment o other insects mi#ht alsoa&&ear, not necessarily see'in# the li#ht. 8y riend is alludin# to !aldor schools bein# ama#net or %nthro&oso&hists and Steiner enorcers, but her alle#ory is also a ittin#meta&hor or my amily)s association with such a school and how we were burned in the&rocess. %s it was, my husband and 7 were not see'in# occult illumination or ourselves, orour dau#hter, when we moved to !isconsin so that our child mi#ht attend a !aldor

school. 7ronically, we were drawn to the lame ater a conscientious search or a&ro#ressive, nonsectarian education system with an em&hasis on creativity, art, and #lobaldiversity. The school)s ull+color boo'let and interviews validated that our uest was over.The ollowin# &ersonal sa#a relates how, in retros&ect, we unwittin#ly ound ourselvesimmersed in %nthro&oso&hy, what we e(&erienced, and how traumatic circumstances ledto our climactic e(it. 7t also shares what my later e(tensive readin# and research revealedconcernin# the ounder o !aldor education, his doctrine, which im&acts all as&ects oollower)s lives, and the real meanin#s o the doubles&ea' a&&ellations " art, verse,dance and doctor.

Rudolf Steiner, Founder of Waldorf Education

The esoteric &ersuasions o Rudol Steiner " the %ustrian mysta#o#ue who died in 129" survive and inluence contem&orary occult e(&erience in %merica. They are &er&etuatedthrou#h a schismatic branch o Theoso&hy which Steiner e(&anded to accommodate hisworldview and entitled %nthro&oso&hy. The most successul vehicle or the disseminationo %nthro&oso&hy is the networ' o !aldor Schools established in accordance with the

ounder)s &rece&ts " thou#h many &arents have little, i any, historic understandin# oSteiner or his reli#ion, %nthro&oso&hy. The !aldor School 8ovement is su&ericially&erceived as a trendy, alternative education system because it is &romoted asnonsectarian, art+based, multicultural, scientiic, new education. Critical investi#ation,however, reveals to the contrary that these schools are instead centers o occult initiation" modern mystery schools " where every as&ect o the curriculum is rooted in %nthro&oso&hy and its incor&orated ma#ic and rituals. Steiner saw %nthro&oso&hy as as&iritually com&lete Rosicrucian &ath which will #uide &u&ils to hi#her worlds throu#h anesoteric trainin#, and althou#h this &rinci&le o initiation is adhered to by !aldor Schools, itis accom&lished oten without &artici&ants) understandin# or sanction.

:orn on 2; <ebruary 151, in Croatia, Steiner #rew u& in Neudorl near the %ustro+*un#arian border where his ather wor'ed as a tele#ra&h o&erator or the %ustrianRailway. %s a child, Rudol Steiner believed he saw the a&&arition o an aunt who had

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committed suicide wal' throu#h a door, into the middle o a room, ma'e some odd#estures and say, Try now and in later lie to hel& me as much as you can, beorevanishin# into the stove !ilson, 15;, &. 1;06. %s a #rown man he disclosed that aterseein# this #host he was clairvoyant, able to see the s&irit world and communicate with thedead. !hile a student, Steiner &ublished &hiloso&hical studies and edited =oethe)s wor's.These " es&ecially =oethe)s mystical writin#s " remained inluential throu#hout his lie.*e believed that =oethe had come into contact with a Rosicrucian source and had

e(&erienced a loty 7nitiation Steiner, 151b, &. 6. Similarly, he was to embrace themysticism associated with the Rosicrucian tradition or all o his adult lie, eventually&romotin# %nthro&oso&hy as a s&iritually com&lete Rosicrucianism. 7n 1554, Steinerbecame tutor to the our sons o >auline and Ladislas S&echt in Vienna? one o the childrensuered rom hydroce&halus or water on the brain. Steiner lived with this amily or si(years and e(&erimented with ways o teachin#, claimin# that the sic' child)s concentrationand learnin# ability could be im&roved i the boy were &re&ared to receive the instruction!ashin#ton, 19, &. 1906.

Steiner was an active &artici&ant in the &an+=erman movement durin# the 1550s. 7n the

late 1550s, early in his career as esoteric evan#elist, he wrote that it was not &ossible to #o&ublic with his occult convictions at that time sayin#, 7n all this, the &ublic dis&lay oesoteric ideas was out o the uestion. %nd the s&iritual orces standin# behind me #aveme only one &iece o advice? )@verythin# in the #uise o 7dealistic &hiloso&hyA Steiner Bvon Sievers, 155, &. 116. 7n 15; he moved to :erlin where he edited The Magazine '(r)iteratur , claimin# to have brou#ht a s&iritual current to bear on literature by #uidin# thema#a-ine into esoteric &aths?

=ently and slowly 7 #uided it into esoteric &aths, careully but clearly, by writin# an essay

or the 190th anniversary o =oethe)s birth? =oethe)s Secret Revelation, which merelyre&eated what 7 had already indicated in a &ublic lecture in Vienna about =oethe)s airy+

tale "The *reen Sna%e and the +eautiful )il#."  Steiner B von Sievers, 155, &. 146

*e married %nna @unic'e in 15 and the ollowin# year he was as'ed to #ive lectures tothe members o the :erlin Theoso&hical Society. Conidently, at the a#e o orty, he&resented himsel as a 8aster, in accordance with his occult belies that teachin# at ayoun#er a#e was in error. Steiner met %nnie :esant while attendin# the Theoso&hicalCon#ress o 102 in London. Dn Dctober 20, 102, Steiner became =eneral Secretary o

8adame :lavats'y)s Theoso&hical Society, which was at that time under the leadershi& oCol. *enry Dlcott as :lavats'y had died. Steiner led the =erman and %ustrian branches oTheoso&hy or ten years. %nnie :esant was to re&lace Dlcott in 10;6. Collin !ilsoncommented on the emer#ence o this &rominent Theoso&hical leader in his boo' fterlife:

 n n!estigation of the E!idence for )ife fter eath?

 %nd then " it seemed to ha&&en overni#ht " /r. Steiner had become head o the :erlin

Lod#e o the Theoso&hical Society, and was bein# acce&ted by an increasin# number o

&eo&le as a 'ind o 8essiah. 7ts membershi& increased remar'ably. 8rs. :esant had met

Steiner, and been im&ressed. She had seemed a little concerned about the stran#e,

mystical Christianity &reached by Steiner, but then, 8adam :lavats'y had tau#ht that all

reli#ions are roads to the same truth, so that was no cause or alarm. Steiner certainly

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seemed to acce&t 8adame :lavats'y)s basic teachin# that the &resent human race is the

ith root race the ourth were the inhabitants o %tlantis6 and that we all #o throu#h many

reincarnations ... E*eF tal'ed with sta##erin# authority about the childhood o Christ and the

various s&iritual movements in !estern history. !ilson, 15;, &&. 1;+156

7n 104 the 8aster moved out o %nna @unic'e)s house and into the :erlin Theoso&hical

headuarters where the occultist 8arie von Sievers lived. She became Steiner)s adorin#and devoted disci&le, hel&in# him or#ani-e his lie and attendin# his lectures. *is wie %nna @unic'e died in 111, and Steiner eventually married 8arie von Sievers in 114.

 %ll his adult lie Steiner &artici&ated in various secret societies and ma#ical orders,establishin# some o his own. <or e(am&le, he $oined the 8asonic rite led by *einrich Gleinand <ran- *artman, who initiated Steiner into the :rothers o Li#ht and the Rosicrucian7lluminati Gin#, 1;0, &. 206. *e also bou#ht a membershi& in 8em&his+8israim romTheodore Reuss in 109 Goeni#, htt&?HHwww.cyberlin'.chHI'oeni#Hsteiner.htm &ara#ra&h56, and used that ritual as a basis or his 8i-raim %eterna, which he ho&ed would restore

the @leusinian mysteries. Rituals o 8ystica %eterna were celebrated only in the&resence o Rudol Steiner and by members o the Theoso&hical Society Goeni#,&ara#ra&h 1;6. The mysta#o#ue created an @soteric School that held closed meetin#sand utili-ed some 8asonic rituals. 7n 121 the @soteric School was transormed into the<ree Jniversity or *ermeticism Goeni#, &ara#ra&h 36. Steiner borrowed e(tensivelyrom :lavats'y)s doctrine and too' rom the <rench occulist @li&has Levi)s /o#ma andRitual o *i#h 8a#ic Goeni#, &ara#ra&h 496. Steiner)s %&ocaly&tic Seals are almostidentical to Levi)s seals &ictured in the boo'. Steiner  ins&ired others, li'e 8a( *eindel, toound the Rosicrucian <ellowshi& in Dceanside, Caliornia Ken'ins, 2000, &&. 52+536, and

L. Ron *ubbard o the Church o Scientolo#y.

Steiner told ollowers o his clairvoyant abilities and other &sychic &owers, claimin# to readthe %'ashic record to obtain inormation and channel arathustra. The %'ashic Record isbelieved to be an invisible chronicle that records every word s&o'en and deed &erormedby man'ind since the be#innin# o time. Dccult believers say this record can be ound inthe ether and read by clairvoyants. Steiner tau#ht believers how to read to the dead and tomeditate on the deceased)s handwritin# in order to communicate with those that have died.*e lectured &rousely on to&ics such as reincarnation, hy&notism, occult science,Rosicrucianism, Theoso&hy, mystery centers o the middle a#es, astral bodies, #nomes as

lie orms, an#els, 'arma, Christian mysticism, how to see s&iritual bein#s, moderninitiation, %tlantis, Lemuria, etc. Steiner)s sermons, settin# out his occult teachin#s, wererecorded by his disci&les and &ublished in more than 390 volumes. 7n a &a&er such as this,it is only &ossible to scratch the surace o the vast body o tenets that he im&arted to hisollowers.

/urin# his time as =eneral Secretary o the Theoso&hical Society, Steiner built RosicrucianTem&les. Dne lay beneath the Stutt#art *ouse, althou#h many o his ollowers who metu&stairs 'new nothin# o its e(istence. 7n 112, ater a doctrinal rit with %nnie :esant overher claim that Kiddu Grishnamurti was a reincarnation o Christ, the charismatic &ro&hetinsti#ated a schism in the Theoso&hical Society. Steiner too' most o the =erman and %ustrian believers with him to establish his own esoteric reli#ion, %nthro&oso&hy, in orderto be ree rom :esant)s theolo#ical restraints and im&ositions. Steiner and some ollowersmoved to /ornach, Swit-erland, to build their uto&ia which included an enormous mystical

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tem&le 'nown as the =oetheanum. The ori#inal intricately carved and &ainted woodenbuildin# burned down durin# Steiner)s day but was re&laced by a subseuent tem&ledesi#ned by Steiner and constructed out o concrete. The second =oetheanum remainsthe world headuarters and s&iritual center or %nthro&oso&hy today.

Steiner also develo&ed a s&iritual medicine system based on his S&iritual Science whichincor&orates alchemical, astrolo#ical, Cabalistic, and other ma#ical conce&ts. *is views onillness are unorthodo( when com&ared to contem&orary scientiic medicine, but they arestill u&held and &romoted by his ollowers. <or e(am&le, Steiner viewed certain bacilli asnothin# else than &hysically embodied demons #enerated by lies, Steiner, 151b, &. 6and he claimed that certain children with learnin# disabilities are not really human butinhabited by bein#s that do not belon# to the human race?

The #irl L.G. in class 1...is one o those cases that are occurrin# more and more reuently

where children are born and human orms e(ist which actually, with re#ard to the hi#hest

member the e#o, are not human at all but are inhabited by bein#s who do not belon# to the

human race...They are very dierent rom human bein#s where s&iritual matters are

concerned. <or instance they can never memorise sentences, only words. 7 do not li'e

s&ea'in# about these thin#s, as there is considerable o&&osition about this. Kust ima#ine

what &eo&le would say i they heard that we are tal'in# about human bein#s who are not

human bein#s. Nevertheless these are acts. <urthermore, there would not be such a

decline o culture i there were a stron# enou#h eelin# or the act that some &eo&le, the

ones who are &articularly ruthless, are not human bein#s at all but demons in human orm.

:ut do not let us broadcast this. There is enou#h o&&osition already. Thin#s li'e this #ive

&eo&le a terrible shoc'. >eo&le were ri#htully shoc'ed when 7 had to say that a uite

amous university &roessor with a #reat re&utation had had a very short &eriod between

death and re+birth and was a re+incarnated ne#ro scientist. :ut don)t let us &ublici-e these

thin#s. Steiner, 15, &&. 3+3;6

@rrors resultin# rom devotion to the dar' #od, %hriman, will be &unished in the orm odiseases in a ollowin# lietime. Too much se( and desire or sensual &leasure in a &ast lie

will be &aid bac' with a case o &neumonia in the ne(t lie. Garma will &unish selishnesswith malaria. /evelo&in# healin# orces and overcomin# diseases enables the human toevolve onwards and u&wards on Steiner)s evolutionary &ath, towards his &ro&hetic uture.Vaccines are rowned u&on by many %nthro&oso&hists because they interere with 'armiccom&ensation?

... Let us assume that many e&idemics, communal causes o illness, can be traced to the

act that victims are see'in# to remove what they have 'armically ostered within

themselves. This is the case, or instance, with small&o( which is the or#an o

unlovin#ness. %lthou#h we may be in a &osition to remove the &ossibility o this disease,

the cause o unlovin#ness would still remain, and the souls in uestion would then be

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orced to see' another way or 'armic com&ensation either in this or in another incarnation.

Steiner, 19a, &. 1446

Steiner tau#ht that beore the a#e o nine children, #enerally, should be bro'en o let+handedness. Some !aldor teachers attem&t to chan#e children)s dominant hand in orderto hel& them in uture incarnations?

The &henomenon o let+handedness is clearly 'armic, and, in connection with 'arma, it is

one o 'armic wea'ness. %llow me to #ive an e(am&le? % &erson who was overwor'ed in

their &revious lie, so that they did too much, not only &hysically or intellectually, but in

#eneral, s&iritually, within their soul or eelin#, will enter the succeedin# lie with an intense

wea'ness Steiner, 123 lecture, htt&?HHwww.bobnancy.comHretrieved 8arch 3, 2003. Clic'

on !aldor then develo&in# child, then Let+handed Cross+dominance, scroll to 8ay

29, 123 lecture6.

Steiner)s alchemy attem&ts to heal all the members com&risin# the human bein#, whichincludes his conce&t o man as havin# an astral, etheric, 7 and &hysical body. %nim&ortant com&onent o his healin# art is Curative @urythmy. 7t is a ma#ic based system oan#elic communication incor&oratin# Cabalism, astrolo#y, -odiac, numerolo#y, si#ils,#estures, the al&habet, co&&er wands, color, and more, that su&&osedly connect the&artici&ant to Steiner)s s&iritual world invo'in# various s&iritual bein#s) healin# &owers.

Met another o Steiner)s contributions to humanity is :iodynamic <armin#, an %nthro&oso&hic+based armin# &ractice in which or#anic methods are imbued with

ma#icalHs&iritual com&onents. <or e(am&le, cows are sacriiced at certain times o the yearand their body &arts used or ma#ical &ur&oses. >rimary 8oon orces bein#s6 are believedto come to rest in horns. 7n one ritual resh dun# is stued into cow horns and buried in the#round in autumn to attract various bein#s in the cosmos or better cro& ertility. 7n s&rin#the horns are du# u& and the contents em&tied into warm water and stirred in a s&eciicmanner or a s&eciic time. Rotation must be ast to cause a vorte( and the direction o thestirrin# chan#ed once or twice a minute. This substance, 'nown as &re&aration 900, isdiluted with water and s&rayed over ields. :iodynamic &ractitioners claim this ty&e oarmin# &roduces more nutritious ood. % #rou& o New ealand :iodynamic a&ostates

believe that cow horns on livin# cows act as antenna attractin# world etheric and worldastral orces, while deer radiate orces outwards throu#h their antlers %t'inson,htt&?HHrimu.orcon.net.n-H#arudaHboo'sHcowhorns.html , &.16.

7n 11, drawin# on his lie)s wor' as a mysta#o#ue, Steiner develo&ed !aldor educationbased on %nthro&oso&hy and his e(&ertise on mystery schools. Steiner died in 129,beore the Na-is came to &ower in 133. !aldor schools remained o&en in Na-i =ermanyor years due to the amiable relationshi& between some %nthro&oso&hists, !aldorleadershi&, and the new rulers in =ermany. The schools received criticism rom some &artymembers or not bein# strin#ently Na-i they were however deended or bein# anti+

intellectual and servin# as a model or indoctrination. /e&uty <Ohrer Rudol *ess was %nthro&oso&hy)s chie &rotector within the Na-i hierarchy and it was only ater he lew to:ritain that the last !aldor school was closed in =ermany in 141 Leschins'y, 153, &.2996.

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!aldor @ducation is a #ood e(am&le o an im&osed alternate reality with an anti+cultbac'lash ormed in o&&osition to the schools. The sociolo#ist, &sychiatrist, and othersinterested in investi#atin# cultic studies mi#ht ind the schools and controversy to be ointerest. Lamentably, critical research on %nthro&oso&hy and !aldor &ublished in @n#lishis lac'in#. 8ost boo's about Steiner, %nthro&oso&hy, and !aldor are &ublished romwithin the enclosed world o %nthro&oso&hy. Contributin# diiculties or the researcher arethe secretive, hierarchical, occult tradition rom which Steiner emer#ed, and editorial

deletions and revisionism in the &ublications o his recorded lectures by disci&les. Thosewho study !aldor mi#ht ind that many involved in the schools have absolutely nocom&rehension o the subte(t inormin# !aldor education and that the uninormed &eo&letend to normali-e the environment. Scholars may also discover that %nthro&oso&hymotivates all !aldor classroom activity and that, or those in the 'now, the &eda#o#yand curriculum serves as an %nthro&oso&hic mystery initiation or both teacher and &u&ils.:ecause o this, %nthro&oso&hists are drawn to !aldor Schools. Scholars mi#ht see that %nthro&oso&hical belies are the reasons or some o the more unusual &ractices, as wellas the sometimes humorous, but too+oten tra#ic, scenarios that surace when theesoterically uninormed lutter with the moths drawn to the li#ht.

Antro!oso!" # $octrine of te Grou!

Sects drawn to occult illumination much li'e what would today be termed New %#e werealready irmly entrenched in the %merica o the nineteenth century. %ter a &eriod os&iritual e(&erimentation, the Theoso&hical Society, ounded in 15;9 by *elena >.:lavats'y, emer#ed in New Mor' City. Theoso&hy s&awned s&iritual &ro#enies such as 7 %m, most modern =nostic sects, modern astrolo#y, as well as %nthro&oso&hy. These

s&iritual movements inte#rated s&iritualist ideas with a #reat deal o *indu and :uddhistthou#ht, includin# the theories o 'arma and reincarnation and &o&ulari-ed *ermeticteachin#s in %merica. Theoso&hy en$oyed a #lobal boom by the early 1550s and had anenormous im&act on all subseuent occult movements Ken'ins, 2000, &. 416 includin# %nthro&oso&hy.

Rudol Steiner was a white ma#ician and one o the most 'nowled#eable occultists o histime 8er'ur, 13, &. 16. *e saw the universe as a vast, livin# bein#, inhabited by amultitude o s&iritual bein#s at various sta#es o develo&ment, whose orces create the&hysical world. *e was a macro+microcosmic thin'er, and the old hermetic a(iom onceembraced by alchemists " %s above, so below " is essential to Steiner)s %nthro&oso&hical &ers&ective. This undamental tenet o ma#ic is a radical diver#encerom contem&orary scientiic thin'in#. Dtherwise stated as the universe a vast humanbein#, the individual a small universe, this ma(im o truth was ori#inally ado&ted byoccult thin'ers ree rom the restraints im&osed by scientiic models o the universe and the/arwinian theory o human evolution. %lthou#h the attitude is viewed as erroneous bymodern science, ma#ic e(&ert 8ichael =reer writes, in ircles of /ower , that throu#houthistory &eo&le have &ersisted in viewin# the interaction between consciousness and matteras a reality inde&endent o the mind. *e adds that there are still those who embrace this

&rinci&le o macrocosm #reat universe6 and microcosm little universe6 as a more useulmodel or e(&erience than the scientiic belie system acce&ted in %merican culture =reer,1;, &&. 13+146. They ollow in a lon# succession, embracin# this construct &reviouslywidely disseminated by Cabalists, *ermeticists, =nostics, Neo&latonists and Rosicruciansas they e(erted inluence or centuries. %s above, so below a&&ro&riates continuity with

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the &ast, ri#ht to the &resent day, in the eclectic teachin#s revered by the disci&les o the %ustrian mysta#o#ue o the last century, who borrowed e(tensively, rom this esoterictradition, to concoct his own belie system " %nthro&oso&hy.

Steiner is re&uted to have said that @li-abeth Vreede understood his wor' more dee&lythan anyone else Vreede, 2001, bac' cover6. Dnce a&&ointed the head o the8athematical+%stronomical Section o the School o S&iritual Science by Steiner himsel,Vreede reiterated Steiner)s belie that stars are the discarded &hysical bodies and e(ternalorms o divine, s&iritual bein#s members o a )s&iritual colony) that, althou#h invisible,wor's directly into the material realm ... E*Fuman souls are ellow members in thiscommunity o s&irits in the lie between death and rebirth Vreede, &. 2546. 7n herboo' nthroposoph# and strolog# , Vreede #ives a summary o the %nthro&oso&hic macro+microcosmic world view. %ter e(&lainin# Steiner)s conce&t that &lants on earth corres&ondto the livin# mirrored ima#e o the bein#s o the star world and describin# &lants as bein#swith sel+consciousness in a #rou& soul which e(ists as the os&rin# o the s&irits owisdom &. 256, she writes?

The &lant world receives its orms rom the starry heavens, and the animal world its orm

rom the -odiac. *uman bein#s receive their orm rom the whole s&here o the heavens,

not rom the sin#le constellations, $ust as we also bear in our head an ima#e o the entire

stellar universe. %#ain we ind the human bein# as the synthesis, the &erect embodiment

o the entire cosmos. Vreede, 2001, &. 25;6

7n other words, a tuli& is created by a certain #rou& o s&iritual bein#s) orces, while the lilyis created by another #rou& o bein#s, whereas, animals #et their orm rom the #ods o the

odiac. %ll bein#s in the cosmos ma'e u& man. 8an is the world and the world is man.8acro+microcosmic thin'ers &erceive the world rom inside and outside o their bodies,rather than ob$ectively rom within their s'ulls. Their world is animistic, teemin# withs&iritual bein#s whose &owers create and re#ulate the &hysical world. 7n 8arch 110,Steiner #ave a series o sermons on the to&ic o 8acrocosm and 8icrocosm, addressin#his audience? 7 have tried to ma'e it clear that in the microcosm, in the nervous system, inthe brain, men are mirror+ima#es o the activities and bein#s o the macrocosm Steiner,15, &. 14;6.

Steiner tau#ht that the &hysical human bein# is com&rised o an etheric body, astral body,

and an 7 body. This belie #ives %nthro&oso&hic believers the ability to leave their&hysical bodies durin# their day+to+day earthly e(istence in order to commune with s&iritualbein#s in the cosmos. 7n !aldor education, Steiner)s True Nature o 8an " morecommonly 'nown by the uninormed as his child develo&ment model " is based on hisconce&t o man as &hysical, etheric, astral, and 7. 7t is e(tremely hel&ul to be amiliar withSteiner)s conclusions about these soul+and+s&irit bodies o man in order to understand his&eda#o#y. <or e(am&le, the em&hasis on delayin# irst #rade and readin# until the ethericbody enters si#naled by #rowth o secondary teeth6, and delayin# intellectual thin'in# untilater the a#e o ourteen when the astral body su&&osedly incarnates. %ccordin# to Steiner,

these s&iritual bodies incarnate in seven+year increments, ater birth, as the &hysical body#rows. They are believed to leave the &hysical body ater death and reincarnate ater a&eriod o cosmic e(istence s&ent with s&iritual bein#s in the universe. The &hysical body isthe hereditary body o lesh and bones. :ein#s in the cosmos cause the &hysical body to

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microcosm, a ive+&ointed star or &enta#ram, re&resented man and all occult orces. Thesesi#ns had ma#ical &ower over su&ernatural bein#s. S&ence, 1, &. 29; B &. 2;6.Li'ewise, Steiner tau#ht his &u&ils about star ma#ic as documented in the boo'0osicrucianism and Modern nitiation: M#ster# entres of the Middle ges. 7n the lecturerecorded in cha&ter ive he claimed that once, while on a s&iritual $ourney in the s&iritworld, he became aware o a lonely occult school in Central @uro&e that im&arted theover&owerin# and #reat wisdom o the meditation 'nown as Solomon)s Gey. %ccordin# to

him, this wisdom #oes ri#ht bac' in history throu#h the 8iddle %#es to %ristotle in =reece?the tradition ori#inated in %sia and %le(ander the =reat brou#ht it to =reece via8acedonia. This symbol &layed a ma$or role in the Central @uro&ean mystery school thatSteiner clairvoyantly discovered while in the s&iritual world. Su&&osedly, the master o theoccult school would instruct &u&ils to ma'e a star with their bodies by standin# with theireet a&art and their arms stretched out above. :y assumin# this &osition the &u&ilsbecame conscious that they really do e(ist Steiner, 19, &.46. %ter dee& meditationthe &u&ils learned that they could write themselves into s&ace and eel the very marrow intheir bones. They went so ar inside o themselves that they let their bodies and theylearned to 'now the lines o orce that the #ods had drawn to establish and ound the world

&. ;6. *avin# discovered the &aths to the #ods throu#h 8an and by &lacin# themselves inthe s&irit+bein# o man, the &u&ils learned to loo' bac' into &ast %tlantean times and evenurther &. 56. The teacher would say to the &u&il? :ehold, 8an is a 8icrocosm heimitates in his or#anism what #oes on in the #reat Jniverse &.6. This conce&t o manas &enta#ram was a avorite to&ic o study or medieval wi-ards and alchemists. Theima#e is ound in numerous Renaissance ma#ic te(tboo's and alchemical sources. 7trea&&ears in Steiner)s %nthro&oso&hical teachin# today, and, remar'ably, in the lessonboo's and classroom rituals o !aldor &u&ils.

/urin# the Renaissance, inluential ma#icians such as %#ri&&a o Nettesheim 145+19336and others, li'e =iordano :runo, Robert <ludd, and Kohn /ee, disseminated macro+microcosmic ideas. %#ri&&a was one o the &redominant sources o Renaissance ma#icMates, 1;2, &. 106 and his wor' was well 'nown by Steiner who described him in theboo' M#sticism and Modern Thought . %#ri&&a)s Christian, Cabalistic, alchemical, andma#ical &hiloso&hy is very close to the Rosicrucianism e(&ressed in the Rosicrucian8aniestos associated with the mythical Christian Rosen'reut-, and it was a ma$or sourceor most Renaissance ma#icians) wor'. 8any te(ts were &ublished about the #reatmacrocosm and the little world o man, the microcosm, in an attem&t to order and to&resent the &hiloso&hy based on the con#ruent desi#n o the cosmos and its

corres&ondences in man. 8an became the world and the world man. *e too' his &lace atthe center o the universe, the mid+&oint between s&iritual realms and the &hysical realm,#ainin# &ower over matter and the ability to &artici&ate with S&irits and %n#els Clulee,155, &. 146.

7n a lecture entitled The 0elationship of Man to the Sun, Steiner reca&itulated his owndoctrine by tellin# his audience that %#ri&&a 'new uite well that in the several &lanets oour system are s&iritual :ein#s o s&eciic character and 'ind Steiner, 19, &. 46. *ewent on to say that %#ri&&a assi#ned to each &lanet what he called the 7ntelli#ence o the&lanet. %#ri&&a believed that stars were a si#n o the &resence o s&iritual :ein#s. *e

'new that the bein#s united with stars are :ein#s who rule the inner e(istence o that staror &lanet, rule its movements in the Jniverse and hold sway indeed over its wholeactivity. The 7ntelli#ence o the @arth Star was man himsel. 8an had been #iven thetas' to re#ulate and rule the @arth by the !orld+S&irit. Throu#h what he is, throu#h theorces and &owers he bears within his bein#, 8an #ives to @arth the im&ulse or her

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movement round the Sun, or her movement alto#ether in cosmic s&ace. 8an is Lord othe @arth Steiner, 19, &&. 90+916. 7n turn, %#ri&&a)s ma#ical universe had beeninluenced by the doctrines o the le#endary *ermes Trisme#istus " the &atriarch onatural mysticism and alchemyP " Roob, 1;, &. 56, which claimed that man was theima#e o =od and #ited with omni&otence. Li'e %#ri&&a and earlier ma#icians, Steinerwas also to systemi-e the inluence o the &lanets, numbers, *ebrew words, the odiac,an#els and other su&ernatural bein#s, relatin# their connection to s&eciic or#ans o man.

 %&&earin# throu#hout Steiner)s doctrine are reerences to his trinity o %hriman, Lucier,and what he calls the Christ S&irit. Two thousand years a#o, the Christ " who e(isted inthe Sun " came to @arth and inhabited Kesus) body or a &eriod o three years? this Christs&irit had also inhabited other #reat s&iritual leaders o human 'ind such as arathustra.Lucier had a human incarnation about 9000 years a#o in China, and %hriman incarnatedin the !est in 15. Steiner)s &ath o initiation enables disci&les to remember &ast livesand #ain the ability to reco#ni-e ellow believers in uture reincarnations. This ability toremember &ast lives was considered crucial to his &redicted Si(th @&och?

7t is the dee&er tas' o the anthro&oso&hical movement to enable a number o human

bein#s to enter their ne(t incarnation with an 7 each remembers as his or her own,

individual 7. These &eo&le will then orm the nucleus o the ne(t &eriod o civili-ation. Then

these individuals who have been well &re&ared throu#h the anthro&oso&hical s&iritual

movement to remember their individual 7 will be s&read over the earth. <or the essential

characteristic o the ne(t &eriod o civili-ation is that it will not be limited to &articular

localities, but will be s&read over the whole earth. These individuals will be scattered over

the earth, and thus everywhere on earth there will be a core #rou& o &eo&le who will becrucial or the si(th e&och o civili-ation. These &eo&le will reco#ni-e each other as those

who in their &revious incarnation strove to#ether to develo& the individual 7. Steiner, 10,

&&. 22+236

!ith the hel& o the %'ashic record and his &roessed clairvoyant abilities, he laid out theevolution o the @arth in a series o e&ochs and rounds? Saturn, Sun, 8oon, @arth, Ku&iter,Venus, and Vulcan. @arth consists o ; e&ochs, and &resent human'ind e(ists in the later&art o the <ith @&och on @arth. Ku&iter, Venus, and Vulcan, are &ro&hesied uture &eriods.*e tau#ht that believers who develo& their 7 will remember each other and reincarnateto#ether in core #rou&s to instruct others in what to thin', eel, will and do, and that theywill inherit the earth?

To &ut it bluntly, we can say that the earth and all it can yield will belon# to those who now

cultivate their individualities. Those, however, who do not develo& their individual 7 will be

de&endent on $oinin# a #rou& that will instruct them in what they should thin', eel, will and

do. 7n the uture develo&ment o humanity this will be elt as a re#ression, a second <all.

Thereore, we should not re#ard the anthro&oso&hical movement and s&iritual lie as mere

theory but rather as somethin# that is #iven to us now to &re&are what is necessary or the

uture o humanity. Steiner, 10, &. 246

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Steiner)s lectures are &e&&ered with racism and anti+Semitism. *is racist doctrine is similarto other occult variants li'e arioso&hy, sometimes attractin# interest rom ar+ri#ht&ublishers and distributors. >eter Staudenmaier studies racism and Steiner te(ts includin#untranslated =erman lectures such as those recorded in ie *eistigen 1intergrunde desErsten Welt%rieges 1;4, =% 1;4b6. Dn the 7nternet discussion #rou&, waldor+criticsQto&ica.comStaudenmaier translated some =erman Steiner te(t into @n#lish see&osts rom Se&tember 2002 titled s'in color and s&irit archived at 

htt&?HHwww.waldorcritics.or#HactiveHarchives.html 6. *e concludes that Steiner acce&ted asobvious the basic Theoso&hical notion that intelli#ence and beauty are correlated withracial characteristics and lin's this to the classical Theoso&hical conce&t that &rimitive&eo&les are the de#enerative remnants o older racial orms. Staudenmaier notes thatSteiner subscribes to esoteric /arwinism in which inerior races o his lietime werebelieved by him to be descendants o the earlier Lemurian and %tlantean root races whichwere devolvin# &hysically and s&iritually toward an animal state. 7n contrast, the ith rootrace, the %ryans, continued evolvin# u&wards, towards universal humanity. <ollowers willbe saved rom Steiner)s &ro&hetic, a&ocaly&tic !ar o %ll %#ainst %ll " when whitehumanity will destroy colored humanity who has not ta'en the s&irit dee& within the s'in.

!hite human'ind is still on the &ath o absorbin# the s&irit dee&er and dee&er into its own

essence. Mellow human'ind is on the &ath o conservin# the era when the s&irit will be 'e&t

away rom the body, when the s&irit will only be sou#ht outside o the human+&hysical

or#ani-ation. :ut the result will have to be that the transition rom the ith cultural e&och to

the si(th cultural e&och cannot ha&&en in any other way than as a violent battle o white

human'ind a#ainst colored human'ind in myriad areas. %nd that which &recedes these

battles between white and colored human'ind will occu&y world history until the com&letiono the #reat battles between white and colored human'ind. <uture events are reuently

relected in &rior events. Mou see, we stand beore somethin# colossal that " when we

understand it throu#h s&iritual science " we will in the uture be able to reco#ni-e as a

necessary occurrence. Steiner, 1;4, &. 35, translated by >. Staudenmaier6.

7n a 119 sermon in Stutt#art, Steiner said that advanced s&irituality is tied to e(ternal s'incolor and that white s'in is a si#n o s&iritual &ro#ress?

This carryin# down, this thorou#h im&re#nation o the lesh by the s&irit, this is

characteristic o the mission, the whole mission o white humanity. >eo&le have white s'in

color because the s&irit wor's within the s'in when it wants to descend to the &hysical

&lane. That the e(ternal &hysical body will become a container or the s&irit, that is the tas'

o our ith cultural e&och, which has been &re&ared by the our other cultural e&ochs.

 %nd our tas' must be to acuaint ourselves with those cultural im&ulses that tend to

introduce the s&irit into the lesh and into the ordinary. 7 we reco#ni-e this com&letely, then

it will become clear to us that where the s&irit is still su&&osed to unction as s&irit, where in

a certain way the s&irit is su&&osed to be retarded in its develo&ment " because in our

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time its tas' is to descend into the lesh " that where the s&irit is retarded, where it ta'es

on a demonic character and does not ully &enetrate the lesh, then white s'in color does

not a&&ear, because atavistic &owers are &resent that do not allow the s&irit to achieve

com&lete harmony with the lesh. Steiner, 1;4, &. 3;, translated by >. Staudenmaier6.

Racial selectiveness was im&ortant to Steiner)s doctrine which includes the notion that

beauty and intelli#ence correlate with racial characteristics?

7 the blondes and blue+eyed &eo&le die out, the human race will become increasin#ly

dense i men do not arrive at a orm o intelli#ence that is inde&endent o blondeness. 7n

the case o air &eo&le, less nourishment is driven into the eyes and hair? it remains instead

in the brain and endows it with intelli#ence. :rown+ and dar'+haired &eo&le drive

nourishment into their eyes and hair that the air &eo&le retain in their brains. Steiner,

151a, &. 56

Steiner)s doctrine o esoteric /arwinism was stee&ed in :lavats'y)s basic theoso&hicalteachin#s sava#es are considered de#enerate remnants o older racial orms devolvin#into a&es. % year beore he died he was still &reachin# the same sermon?

E!Fe are not $ustiied in thin'in# that human bein#s were ori#inally li'e the sava#es o

today. The sava#es have develo&ed into what they now are " with their su&erstitions, their

ma#ical &ractices and their unclean a&&earance " rom states ori#inally more &erect. The

only su&eriority we have over them is that, while startin# rom the same conditions, we didnot de#enerate as they did. 7 mi#ht thereore say? The evolution o man has ta'en two

&aths. 7t is not true that the sava#es o today re&resent the ori#inal condition o man'ind.

8an'ind, thou#h to be#in with loo'ed more animal+li'e, was hi#hly civili-ed. ... Kust as the

&resent sava#es have allen rom the level o the human bein#s o &rimeval times, so the

a&es are bein#s who have allen still lower. Steiner, 15;, &.126

7n 104, early in his Theoso&hical career, he tau#ht that the bac'ward races were the

descendants o the earlier Lemurian and %tlantean root races which survived the %tlanteanlood. Steiner)s clairvoyant &owers enabled him to see ar bac' in time, beore thebe#innin# o the world, lon# beore that mar'ed by historians and scientists. *is &sychicabilities enabled him to describe %tlantis in elaborate detail, when humans still had ma#ical&owers and could lit their hands above &lants to ma'e them #row ra&idly, and when mandrove vehicles that loated in the air. These bac'wards races should have died out, but %hriman thwarted this cosmic &lan. 7nstead o evolvin# towards a more advanced s&iritualstate and hi#her sta#es o evolution with more beautiul bodies, they &hysically ands&iritually re#ressed. Steiner and other Theoso&hists asserted that these lower raceswere devolvin# toward an animal state, while the ith root+race, the %ryans, led by 8anu,was saved rom the %tlantis lood and continues to evolve towards a hi#her Si(th race.Steiner tau#ht that a universal human would eventually return to &ure s&irit, ree rom therestraints o the &hysical body in his uture Vulcan &hase o cosmic evolution.

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 %nthro&oso&hists continue to u&hold Steiner)s racist teachin#s claimin# that there is nouestion o a racial doctrine. This is documented in an article entitled 2o 3uestion of a0acial octrine, utch 0eport is 0ead# , &ublished in the ma#a-ine about lie in the %nthro&oso&hical Society, nthroposoph# Worldwide, No. 4, 8ay 2000, &a#e 3. The articlerecords that on %&ril <ool)s day, 2000, the %nthro&oso&hy and the uestion o RaceCommission " a &anel o %nthro&oso&hists a&&ointed to study and re&ort on whether ornot Steiner)s doctrine is racist " &resented a ;20+&a#e inal re&ort to the &ublic which has

not yet been &ublished in @n#lish see van :aarda, et al, 2000 or source o the re&ort in/utch6. The ma#a-ine article states that the /utch re&ort conirmed the indin#s o its15 interim re&ort that Rudol Steiner)s com&lete wor's contain neither a racial doctrinenor racist comments. Critics o %nthro&oso&hy who have studied Steiner)s doctrine andthe /utch re&ort observed that notably racist wor's were not included in the study and thatsome racist &assa#es rom included wor's were omitted. /es&ite their indin#s, however,the Commission admits that there are si(teen discriminatory remar's by Steiner thatwould be ille#al in the Netherlands i &roclaimed &ublicly by anyone today. TheCommission recommended that these si(teen uotes, as well as si(ty+seven, easilymisunderstood remar's should be &ublished with accom&anyin# e(&lanations in the

uture. ETFhe Commission ound no racism in /utch !aldor schools, only some use ostereoty&es in ethnolo#y lessons. Some %nthro&oso&hists in @uro&e have &laced ads inma$or daily news&a&ers distancin# themselves rom Steiner)s racism, while other %nthro&oso&hical Society members critici-ed them or doin# so. Ted van :aarda, head othe Commission, was concerned about acin# these uestions due to %nthro&oso&hists)loyalty to Steiner. The Commission, however, was not to evaluate s&iritual science butrather the eect o such remar's on the &ublic. The re&ort was to identiy the acts inorder to develo& a strate#y or dealin# with attac's, because, as van :aarde em&hasi-ed,!e cannot aord to lose. >resumably he means that initiates are obli#ated to &roselyti-eSteiner)s racist doctrine or society)s redem&tion and the ulillment o his &ro&hecies.

>eter Staudenmaier studied the /utch re&ort and commented on the Commission)sstatement? The Commission conirmed the indin#s o its 15 interim re&ort, that RudolSteiner)s com&lete wor's contain neither a racial doctrine nor racist comments. Dn/ecember 12, 2002, in a &ost to waldorcriticsQto&ica.com entitled 7t ta'es an e(&ertStaudenmaier wrote?

This is what %nthro&oso&hists are as'ed to believe. Since nobody acuainted with

 %nthro&oso&hy)s central wor's can &ossibly believe this, it raises an obvious uestion

about %nthro&oso&hy)s basic ability to deal with the maniest content o its own teachin#s.

The standard %nthro&oso&hist res&onse is that, yes, indeed, it does ta'e an e(&ert to

understand Steiner)s wor's. %side rom the &atently elitist and authoritarian im&lications o

this stance, it is unconvincin# even accordin# to its own lo#ic, because so many o the sel+

&roclaimed e(&erts on anthro&oso&hy 'now astonishin#ly little about what Steiner actually

wrote on racial to&ics and about the historical and intellectual conte(t o those writin#s.

That is &recisely why inormed critics o %nthro&oso&hy are routinely #reeted with the

char#e o arro#ance? even sim&le, unadorned uotations rom Steiner are enou#h to

unsettle the %nthro&oso&hist consensus on these matters, because they show that any

thin'in# &erson can ma'e sense out o Steiner)s racial teachin#s without bowin# to the

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sel+a&&ointed e(&erts.

7 very much ho&e that the /utch re&ort is made available in @n#lish soon, so that &eo&le

can &eruse its &a#es and decide whether Steiner)s uoted &assa#es " even i blatantly

incom&lete and deconte(tuali-ed " contain racial doctrines andHor racist comments.

Staudenmaier, 2002, /ecember 12, htt&?HHwww.waldorcritics.or#HactiveHarchives.html search archive6.

Steiner)s hierarchical scheme o human evolution is subtly incor&orated into the !aldorcurriculum. %s &art o their history lessons, &u&ils learn ancient 7ndian reli#ious stories aswell as >ersian, @#y&tian+Chaldean, =reco+Roman, and =ermanic+Nordic myths which aremeant to $o# &ast lie memories. Jninormed &arents mi#ht inter&ret the lessons asmulticulturalism in reality, however, &u&ils are bein# &assed throu#h a covert mysteryinitiation, corres&ondin# to Steiner)s doctrine o the s&iritual evolution o the %ryan. Steinerbelieved that 8anu saved an advanced #rou& o &eo&le rom the %tlantis lood, #uidin#

them to 7ndia. They evolved u&wards ater a >ersian initiation, @#y&tian initiation, etc.,and accordin# to Steiner, will continue to evolve hi#her durin# his &redicted uture &eriodso @arth. The ollowin# e(am&le rom a !aldor &u&il)s main lesson boo' relects how %nthro&oso&hic myth+ma'in# is woven into the curriculum?

The Kourney rom %tlantis to 7ndia

Thousands o years a#o there was a vast continent named %tlantis. The &eo&le used their

ma#ic or evil and #reedy &ur&oses. Dn %tlantis there was a wise man called 8anu. =reatlove lived with 8anu. Dten he would s&end time alone thin'in# with his heart about =od.

Dne day when 8anu was sittin# by a &ond he saw a small ish that needed hel&. %s the

ish #rew, 8anu continued to hel& the ish. !hen the ish was as bi# as a whale he told

8anu that the #reat rains were comin# to wash away evil in the world. 8anu built an %r'

and illed it with &lants and 'ind &eo&le. The hu#e ish &ulled the %r' to the Northern

8ountains o 7ndia. The &eo&le were over$oyed at the si#ht o the rainbow and or the irst

time they saw the bri#ht blue s'ies >ersonal collection6.

Steiner &ro&hesied that the &ure and advanced will evolve into various orms on their wayto becomin# &ure s&irit, ree rom the restraints o the &hysical body. These utureevolutions o man include a &lant+li'e body durin# Ku&iter and a bee+li'e state when @arthbecomes Venus. :y the Vulcan &eriod, man)s &resent or#ans o re&roduction will atro&hyand the s&iritually advanced will instead have a hi#hly evolved laryn( as an or#an ore#eneration man will #ive birth by s&ea'in# another into e(istence. 7n other words, inuture, ollowers will return to s&irit and become the creator, the universal human. %t one&oint alon# Steiner)s &ath o evolution, &ossibly durin# @arth)s uture Venus &eriod, two

win#s or antenna will develo& on the orehead and the heart will become an or#an o'nowled#e " the brain o the chest+bein#. *e also &redicted that in the uture man willly. Those who don)t com&ly with Steiner)s way, who do not develo& their 7, will bedestined to lie in his eccentric hell, when durin# Ku&iter, they will become subordinatenature s&irits. Steiner, 19b, &. ;06

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7n the late 1500s and early 100s, in =ermany, Steiner and many others who undertoo'occult uests, were ins&ired by the wor's o =oethe, who euated Christ with the Sun./urin# this &eriod, there was a &ush by vol'isch movements to return to =ermany)s rootso neo&a#an sun worshi& " re&lacin# Christ worshi& " in order to restore the trueTeutonic reli#ion o the ancient %ryans see Noll, 196. Steiner)s enli#htenmentincor&orated a Sun trinity that consists o the &hysical Sun, the second Sun, and mostim&ortantly, the irst Sun. La##ard bein#s that should have evolved into s&irits o wisdom,but instead remained behind, live and wor' on the &hysical Sun. !ithin solar lares,la##ard an#elic bein#s rom Steiner)s %ncient Sun &eriod which are in act ahrimanicbein#s reside Vreede, 2001, &. 416. 7n the corona, la##ard an#elic bein#s, that remainedbehind rom Steiner)s Dld 8oon condition, dwell. !ithin suns&ots the la##ard s&irits o&ersonality e(ist, archai who com&leted their human sta#e on Steiner)s ancient Saturn &.416. %ll the bein#s that live on the &hysical Sun studied by science must all be re#ardedas havin# remained behindA &. 416. !ithin the human chest there e(ists a second Sun,dwellin# &lace o the s&irits o Maweh @lohim, who breathed breath into the human bein#.These bein#s cause the circulation o the blood. 7n the blood, in rhythm, in &ulsebeat, the

second sun dwells within us &. 426. %nd last but not least, the irst and hi#hest Sun is theSun o Christ. The Christ Sun has united itsel with the @arth &. 436.

8any &eo&le &artici&atin# in !aldor schools do not 'now much, i anythin#, about theesoteric subte(t. <ollowers o Steiner oten claim that %nthro&oso&hy is not a reli#ion butrather a &hiloso&hy, and Steiner was a scientist, artist, educator, and &hiloso&her. Reli#ionscholars, however, have classiied %nthro&oso&hy as a reli#ion and Steiner)s doctrinecertainly meets criteria or bein# classiied as such? it includes worshi& o Christ the Sun:ein# as well as archan#el 8ichael who is the messen#er o the Sun and o the Christthere is belie in various su&ernatural bein#s such as an#els and demons, as well as

#nomes, syl&hs, salamanders, and undines which are elemental s&irits that dwell inearth, air, ire and water there is a destiny o ollowers and assurance o eternal lie in theorm o reincarnation a &ath to ollow to #ain &sychic si#ht in order to see s&iritual bein#sthat surround man'ind, use o rituals, the &romise o a #ood reincarnation in Steiner)s&ro&hetic uture i one develo&s one)s 7. <ollowers stand to inherit the earth and all it willyield. %s in any reli#ion, there are local communities o li'e+minded believers.

$oubles!ea% # Our Personal E&!erience

Mou are either in or out, esoterically inormed or uninormed. 8y husband and 7 were nots&iritual see'ers &re+!aldor and remain so &ost+!aldor. 7n the &ersonal essay thatollows, 7 shall attem&t to tell our story? how 7 the reethin'er one who does not acce&t thebelie in bein#s concealed behind the material world6 ound mysel &ro&&in# u& a reli#iousmovement without my 'nowled#e. *ow 7, who values lie as e(tremely &recious because itis most li'ely inite, ound mysel, alon# with my husband and dau#hter, &artici&atin# in areli#ious movement that embraces reincarnation as a main doctrinal tenet " but onlylearnin# this ater we let

Loo'in# bac' rom a more inormed &ers&ective, no lon#er livin# in an esoteric 'nowled#e

void, there seem to be several actors that contributed to our conusion about themovement. The irst has to do with how the #rou& &resented itsel and our &assiveacce&tance o the #rou&)s &resentation o inormation. !e did not actively see' out ourown inormation or our own understandin# o Rudol Steiner until ater we let and be#ansearchin# or reasons or the &eculiar e(&eriences and &ractices that we had encountered

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in the #rou&. The !aldor school did not &resent itsel as &art o a reli#ious movement but,instead, claimed to be a scientiic, art+based, nonsectarian school, havin# a multiculturalem&hasis incor&oratin# stories and estivals rom around the world as well as havin# anenvironmental ocus. !e believed !aldor)s claim, because Steiner was &ortrayed as ascientist, educator, and &hiloso&her. !e had never heard o Rudol Steiner beore loo'in#into !aldor, and we assumed that he was as advertised. 7nitially, it never dawned on usthat he was a reli#ious leader and that !aldor would be a hub or the dissemination o his

belies. @ven durin# our time in !aldor, Steiner was never reerred to as a mystic,mysta#o#ue, Rosicrucian, Theoso&hist, reli#ious leader, reli#ious educator, occultist, #uru,esoteric, or clairvoyant, etc. !ords that would normally hel& an uninormed &erson #arnera better sense o the movement as a reli#ious &henomenon were not em&loyed. Jse othese sorts o words would automatically &lace !aldor in a clearer conte(t or theuninormed, but they were missin# at our e(+school.

7n the occult tradition, the #rou& also used veiled vocabulary devised by Steiner " i.e., theuse o words havin# alternate meanin#s to the deinitions we were amiliar with which are#enerally acce&ted by mainstream society. <or e(am&le, &sychic si#ht was termed

ima#ination by Steiner. /evelo&in# ima#ination, which youd e(&ect at an art+basedschool, really meant develo&in# &sychic si#ht. @ven the word art ta'es on a dierentmeanin# with acuired esoteric 'nowled#e. %rt becomes The %rt o ma#ic6. Theseculari-ation o reli#ious words became an eective tool or hidin# the esoteric core romus as uninormed &arents. Sermon became lecture, occultist became scientist,&rayer became verse, Steiner)s scheme o reincarnation " the true nature o manP "became child develo&ment model, nature altar became nature table, &enta#rambecame star, reli#ion became science, and sectarian became nonsectarian. %nother word with dual meanin#s, materialistic, was also used ubiuitously at our school.7ts deinition within !aldor culture was non+s&iritual " very dierent rom myunderstandin# o the term in those days, i.e., see'in# wealth, #oods, comort and&leasure. The word reincarnation was never used in our &resence at the school and wasnot mentioned in brochures we read or meetin#s we attended, des&ite the act thatreincarnation is a main doctrinal tenet o %nthro&oso&hy crucial to Steiner)s childdevelo&ment model, his &ro&hetic uture, and !aldor)s curriculum and &eda#o#y. 7n act,we only learned about the im&ortance o reincarnation in !aldor ater we let the schooland 7 be#an readin# Steiner)s sermons. %lthou#h, in &assin# conversation, a devout %nthro&oso&hist teacher, while &ic'in# u& her dau#hter rom our house, did let it sli& thatSteiner is e(&ected to reincarnate in a #reen, hilly &lace in North %merica, &ossibly the

area where our e(+school is located. This &u--lin# comment was added to my mental list o!aldor &eculiarities and concerns. 7t was another &iece o the &u--le that eventually led tomy awa'enin#. 7 have since discovered that some %nthro&oso&hists involved with theschools s&eculate on whether or not a child mi#ht be the reincarnation o Steiner6 7 laterlearned rom an %nthro&oso&hist that words such as occultist or mystic are consideredlabelin# and name callin# althou#h believers have no &roblem usin# such wordsamon#st themselves, and Steiner utili-ed them as well6.

The third actor contributin# to our conusion about !aldor bein# nonsectarian has to dowith our education. Neither my husband, nor 7, nor our child, had a bac'#round in occultism

&rior to $oinin#. !e 'new little about Theoso&hy, and we did not have a detailed #ras& oturn+o+the+last+century =erman history or Renaissance history that mi#ht have madethin#s clearer. 8y amily and other esoteric+illiterate members o the #rou& served as aneective veil o normalcy, contributin# to the #eneral conusion that runs ram&ant in!aldor.

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7t has lon# been customary or the %nthro&oso&hical movement to oer only the outerorm o %nthro&oso&hy to &arents not in the 'now, as relected in the ollowin# collectiono uotes by %nthro&oso&hists. % &ress a#ent or %nthro&oso&hy says?

The tas' that needs to be lovin#ly ta'en u&, says :ar'o, is utterly concrete? convey

inormation, su&&ly visible im&ressions e.#., the bread ba'ed by children at a school, or a

tour o the to& loor o the =oetheanum6, or tell sim&le human stories. %nthro&oso&hy

needs to be dealt with as a &henomenon. The &ress a#ent has to convey the outer

a&&earance o thin#s rather than the essential core. % dee& esoteric bac'#round is

necessary to ma'e the essential core com&rehensible. Kun#el B Stoc'mar, 2000, &. 126

 % si(ty+year veteran o %nthro&oso&hy " teacher, writer, and lecturer, Roy !il'inson "states?

7t has been 'nown or &arents to say that they li'e the school, but wish it were divorcedrom certain cra-y ideas which they may have #arnered, or which a teacher may have

e(&ressed. The !aldor school and the cra-y ideas are, however, inse&arable. !aldor

schools would not e(ist i they were not related to these ideas. !il'inson, 1, &. 1;6

 %nother well+'nown !aldor educator writes?

E%Fs &racticed in the C.7.%., there is a need to 'now element in the discourse+dynamics,

even in a school The Rece&tionist does not need to 'now o the arcane s&iritualbac'#round o #eolo#y teachin# in Class . !hitehead, 13, & 196

 %nd another e(am&le?

E8Fatters &ertainin# to the use o certain te(tual material thou#hts, uotations, verses, etc.6

which is available to the !aldor school teacher as an aid or his &ractical and inner

develo&ment as a teacher, are another e(am&le where a sae#uard is needed rom

indiscriminate sharin#. Leist, 15;, &. 196

 %n %nthro&oso&hist in the Netherlands writes?

 %nthro&oso&hy has always been valued in the cultural lie o the Netherlands. 7ts

contribution to education, health, care o the handica&&ed, a#riculture, architecture, and

other areas o society is widely reco#ni-ed and res&ected, oten without 'nowled#e o the

&hiloso&hical ideas behind it. The latter was not necessary and still is not necessary. !hat

matters most or society is the active wor' or the #ood o humanity anthro&oso&hy doesnot have to be sold. /unselman, 2000, &. 36

Not all %nthro&oso&hists deny that !aldor is a reli#ious school or wish to hide this act.@u#ene Schwart-, once director o !aldor teacher trainin# at Sunbrid#e Colle#e, S&rin#

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Valley, New Mor', made the ollowin# remar's about the !aldor controversy, e(cer&tedrom his tal' #iven on November 13, 1, at a conerence to which he invited !aldorcritic /an /u#an to s&ea'. % transcri&t o the tal', Waldorf Education 4 'or 5ur Times 5r

 gainst Them, can be ound in the articles section on htt&?HHwww.waldorcritics.or# ?

7 thin' we owe it to our &arents to let them 'now that the child is #oin# to #o throu#h one

reli#ious e(&erience ater another. %nd i any o the teacher trainees in the room eel that

7)m not sayin# that clearly enou#h to you, well here it is #uys, i 7 haven)t said it to you a

hundred times already? when we deny that !aldor schools are #ivin# children reli#ious

e(&eriences, we are denyin# the whole basis o !aldor education. &ara#ra&h 216

To deny the reli#ious basis o !aldor education " 7 would say it a#ain " to satisy &ublic

school su&erintendents, or a tal' show host, or a news&a&er re&orter is very, very wron#.

 %nd the !aldor leadershi&, 7 would say is walin# on this matter. 7 would say we are

reli#ious schools. Reli#ious schools &lus reli#ious schools with a dierence reli#ious

schools li#ht " whatever you want to call it. &ara#ra&h 236

The time has come or us to sto& &ussyootin# around EtheoriesF that will sound too stran#e

i we tell &arents what we are really doin#. /on)t say 7 didn)t tell you #uys " ten years a#o

Sto& &ussyootin# around. Tell everybody what we are about. The day they wal' into the

school, let them 'now then. &ara#ra&h 296

7 we are really to be a movement or cultural renewal, it is our res&onsibility to share with

the &arents those elements o %nthro&oso&hy which will hel& them understand their

children and athom the mysterious ways in which we wor'. Mes, we are #ivin# the children

a version o %nthro&oso&hy in the classroom whether we mean to or not, it)s there.

&ara#ra&h 26 Schwart-, 1, November 13, retrieved

romhtt&?HHwww.waldorcritics.or# 6.

Schwart- later wrote to /an /u#an to say that he was ired rom Sunbrid#e ater #ivin# hiss&eech and was demoted to !aldor teacher.

The school)s boo'let that we, as &ros&ective &arents, had received in the mail, "0udolfSteiner Waldorf Education,"  had the mystic)s name embla-oned in lar#e iery red %nthro+ont on a lamin# yellow cover. %mon# Steiner)s ollowers, even ty&eace was &rescribedby the master or the movement literature. Steiner)s name was, however, meanin#less tous at the time, because we were i#norant o Rudol Steiner and %nthro&oso&hy. >ublishedby The Robinswood >ress in Stourbrid#e @n#land, the brochure did not mention

%nthro&oso&hy once. Nor was there any mention o the school)s reli#ious ailiation ore(&lanation o the s&iritual or esoteric basis o !aldor. 7n retros&ect, 7 reco#ni-e the realmeanin# o a !aldor student)s &aintin#, de&ictin# the %nthro&oso&hic icon o the Sunand rainbow, &ictured in the boo'let. The e(&lanation, a veiled reerence to cosmic bein#s

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and reincarnation, states % ; year old e(&lores the world o color, one o the many )worlds)to be discovered when children enter school. Steiner schools ellowshi&, 15, &.16

 %lthou#h %nthro&oso&hy was not mentioned in the brochure, and is not yet a householdword in %merica, within days o our involvement with !aldor we be#an to hear this word.Li'e others who also inadvertently stumbled into an %nthro&oso&hic reality by choosin# anart+based, nonsectarian school or their children, 7, too, wondered why &eo&le couldn)t&ronounce the word anthro&olo#y.

@arly on in my career as !aldor mom, beore we had a com&uter and access to the7nternet, 7 had consulted my !ebster)s New !orld /ictionary but ound no mention o theword. 7 also as'ed a teacher what %nthro&oso&hy was and he said, the study o man "which really didn)t hel& my understandin# very much. The word %nthro&oso&hy was otenused as a sim&le e(&lanation or answer to a uestion or e(am&le, a teacher mi#ht haveres&onded to a &u--led &arent)s uestion, 7n %nthro&oso&hy, we do it this way.Sometimes %nthro&oso&hy was e(&lained as Steiner)s &hiloso&hy. So or years westru##led alon#, tryin# to unction in a !aldor reality without understandin# that their

worldview is ideolo#ically at odds with ours. There we were, a amily o reethin'ers,unwittin#ly strivin# to usher in Steiner)s esoteric &ro&hesies, initiatin# our dau#hter in an %nthro&oso&hic mystery school, volunteerin# and donatin# to the cause, all in the name oeducation.

Volunteerism was reuired o all &arents. 8y many hours, however, never seemed tosatisy the aculty because 7 naturally wor'ed rom my non+%nthro&oso&hic &ers&ective,oblivious o Steiner)s esoteric doctrine, while %nthro&oso&hists ollowed the dictates o theirworldview, because?

The &erson in whom anthro&oso&hical wisdom a&&ears must be com&letely unim&ortant

com&ared to this wisdom the &erson as such does not matter at all. 7t is only essential that

this &erson has develo&ed so ar that his or her &ersonal li'es, disli'es, and o&inions do

not taint the anthro&oso&hical wisdom Steiner, 10, &. 1;6.

This caused in me a mountin# sense o their dee& in#ratitude.

Dn several occasions, 7 had wondered i !aldor was a new reli#ious movement because

my amily had e(&erienced &eculiarities arisin# rom the &eda#o#y. :ecause my concernswere always alleviated by other #rou& members some with and some without esoteric'nowled#e6, with whom we had become riends, 7 tended to i#nore my mountin# conusionand rustration. !e were &er&etually con#ratulated or choosin# !aldor or our dau#hter)seducation, and other schoolin# systems were &ut down with re#ularity. !aldor was thebest education available and all children in the world should have the &rivile#e o attendin#such schools, so we believed.

Dverhearin# some !aldorers discussin# the seatin# arran#ement o a class, where dar'haired children were to sit by the windows to absorb li#ht, 7 &aused, wonderin# what is

#oin# onU 7n another surrealistic !aldor moment there was tal' o switchin# let+handedchildren over to the ri#ht hand. !asn)t this &ractice rowned u&on nowU !hen 7 learnedthat blac' and brown crayons were not &ermitted in the 'inder#artens, 7 as'ed mydau#hter)s teacher how it would be &ossible or %rican %mericans to draw themselves.The teacher told me that she would show the child how to smud#e their color rom an

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assortment o other colors. 7 remar'ed that it seemed racist. !hat was #oin# onU 7 laterlearned rom readin# Steiner that blac' is the s&iritual ima#e o the lieless and that dar's'in is a si#n o s&iritual ineriority. Dnce 7 was assured that %nthro&oso&hy was so new,but in the uture all schools would im&lement such educational advancements. %lthou#hsome &eo&le at the school seemed to be so well+meanin#, 'ind, so earnest in theirstrivin#s, and so devoted to oerin# the best education &ossible to children, somethin#was o and, li'e others at the school, 7 couldn)t uite &ut my in#er on it.

7n winter 2001+2002, lon# ater we)d let the school, an attem&t was made to answer otheruestionin# &arents tryin# to athom %nthro&oso&hy and the school)s connection to it.Teacher 8. Garlstad tried to soothe concerns in an article, /leasant 0idge and

 nthroposoph# , &ublished in the school)s &a&er )67 . 8a'in# reerence to Steiner)steachin#s, she admits in so many words that %nthro&oso&hy is an e#re#ore " the ma#icterm or the collective ener#y or #rou& soul believed to be created by a #rou& wor'in# onthe &hysical &lane. This bein# is su&&osedly su&&orted and enlivened by hi#h s&iritualbein#s that su&&ort the #rou&)s activities " thou#h the avera#e &erson would not #ras&this. She also reco#ni-es that Steiner describes %nthro&oso&hy as a &ath o

'nowled#e,one way or the s&iritual in the human bein# to ind its way to the s&iritual inthe universe, but she doesn)t #ive details about Steiner)s &ath, such as his colormeditations, and ails to e(&lain that the &ath, when &racticed, su&&osedly ma'es the s&iritworld active and visible in the &hysical realm. She believes that %nthro&oso&hy is neitherreli#ious nor secular, because it transcends reli#ion and eitherHor cate#ories andreassures &arents that teachers and sta don)t have to be %nthro&oso&hists, but are onlyas'ed to be o&en to %nthro&oso&hy, and to wor' rom that &ers&ective. Sadly, oncea#ain, she &er&etuates the myth that !aldor is nonsectarian, that %nthro&oso&hy is&hiloso&hy, scientiic and not reli#ious, and that bein# s&iritual is somethin# other thanbein# reli#ious. She clearly states that !aldor diers rom other educational systemsbecause it ac'nowled#es a s&iritual basis to our lives and includes develo&ment o thes&iritual side o our bein#, notin# that this is what ma'es %nthro&oso&hy a&&ear as i itwere a reli#ion. 8s. Garlstad also tal's about the uture?

Rudol Steiner reuently described %nthro&oso&hy as a livin#, s&iritual bein#. The word

bein# can also be translated as orce. 7t)s im&ortant or &eo&le to thin' o this s&iritual

bein# or orce in a way that eels ree and allows them to decide or themselves i this is

somethin# that resonates with their own &erce&tions o the world. 7n %nthro&oso&hical

Leadin# Thou#hts 1246, Steiner described %nthro&oso&hy as a &ath o 'nowled#e, as

one way or the S&iritual in the human bein# to ind its way to the S&iritual in the Jniverse

Garlstad, 2001+2002, &. 26.

...%t our school, aculty and sta are as'ed to be o&en to the ideas o %nthro&oso&hy, not

to be anthro&oso&hists. That means to be willin# to loo' at, and at times have lively debate

about, the educational ideas that have arisen out o Steiner)s relationshi& to

 %nthro&oso&hy. These ideas are the &hiloso&hical not reli#ious6 oundation u&on which

the &eda#o#ical wor' o !aldor schools is based. Tal'in# about %nthro&oso&hy as a

&hiloso&hy and not a reli#ion may be inter&reted as doubles&ea', but the s&iritual realm is

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about much more than reli#ious do#ma. !hat draws many &eo&le to !aldor education is

the dee& s&iritual oundation that encoura#es us to &ut aside any do#matic belies we have

about the s&iritual world and come to a new study o the s&iritual world based on a 20th

century EsicF scientiic outloo' Garlstad, 2001+2002, &. 26.

...%nthro&oso&hy is neither reli#ious nor secular. 7t is a s&iritual 7dea tryin# to ind a new&lace in our thin'in# that transcends eitherHor cate#ories. There is an im&ortant dierence

between an %nthro&oso&hical a&&roach to education and other a&&roaches.

 %nthro&oso&hy ac'nowled#es a s&iritual basis to our lives and includes develo&ment o the

s&iritual side o our bein# as an im&ortant &art o the curriculum. This ma'es it a&&ear as i

it were a reli#ion. Rather it is a new way o loo'in# at the world. Several hundred years

rom now, the idea that our lives have s&iritual dimension may be easily incor&orated into

everyday, &ublic discourse without reerence to any s&eciic reli#ion, or to %nthro&oso&hyGarlstad, 2001+2002, &&. 2+36.

Mears earlier, when 7 had as'ed a !aldor teacher what %nthro&oso&hy is, the answer 7 #otwas the study o man.P 7 would have &reerred a more honest a&&roach, an o&en dialo#ueabout the very real dierences that e(ist in a !aldor reality. :etter yet, 7 wish the brochure7)d received in the mail as a &ros&ective &arent, all those years a#o, had inormed me thatSteiner)s esoteric reli#ion is undamental to !aldor education and that reincarnation is amain tenet o the school)s &eda#o#y and curriculum. This 'ind o inormation would haves&ared my amily a lot o bewilderment, #rie, and inconvenience.

'Art'

*avin# been as'ed to hold a und+raiser or the school, 7 &lanned an art com&etition. Thewinnin# &u&il)s wor' would be &rinted on T+shirts to be sold to raise money. 7 received a&hone call, then a visit. The &hone call inormed me that com&etition was not &ermitted atthe school. Not discoura#ed, and su&&ortive o the idea o a non+com&etitive environment,7 su##ested that instead T+shirts be &rinted with a &attern o tiny &ortraits contributed by allthe children attendin# the school. These &ortraits would be uic'ly drawn by &u&ils withblac' mar'ers on small &ieces o &a&er, then arran#ed and sil'+screened on shirts. Then 7learned that mar'ers were not &ermitted at the school. %ssumin# that this was anenvironmental concern, which 7 a&&lauded, 7 recommended dar' &encils be substituted.Then 7 learned that &encils were not &ermitted in the 'inder#arten and that youn# childrenshould not draw linearly *ow odd this seemed to me 7 was amiliar with the wor' o RhodaGello## and *oward =ardner who have documented the innate ability o childrenuniversally to e(&ress themselves with lines. %lso, the Canadian scientist /r. KohnGennedy has shown that children born blind draw linearly. %s a youn# child 7 had

&artici&ated in my mother)s studio art classes and had never been &revented rom drawin#lines. 7 closely watched my own dau#hter)s linear e(&ressions unold ater #ivin# her a&encil at a very early a#e " savin# every drawin#, &lannin# to document one child)sartistic e(&ressions and &ro#ression throu#h childhood. !as not !aldor art+basedU !hywas line+ma'in# in the early #rades tabooU

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!hen the re&resentative rom the school who had &honed me arrived at my house she toldme that !aldor is not an art school, that there is no art or art room in !aldor and that thewet+on+wet &aintin#s made by &u&ils were somethin# else " but what were they, i not artU!hy had 7 moved across states ater #raduatin# rom the School o the %rt 7nstitute oChica#o and #ivin# birth to our dau#hter in Dhio, to #ive my child what we were led tobelieve was an art+based, &ro#ressive, nonsectarian !aldor educationU The reality wasslowly sin'in# in " !aldor did not oer the 'ind o art 7 had e(&ected. There was no reeartistic e(&ression. Ty&ical children)s drawin#s were missin# rom the classrooms. 7 said tothe visitor, !aldor is li'e a cult " you all ollow Steiner, he is your #uru. 7 have never eltso o&&ressed, this is li'e a reli#ion. 7 was ri#ht, but 7 did not 'now that 7 was ri#ht. Thevisitor assured me that this was not so and that she had never elt so ree. 7 had noin'lin# at that time that thousands o Steiner)s sermons had been &ublished and distributedby devotees rom within the closed world o %nthro&oso&hy. 7n those days 7 had notentered the occult world consciously, 7 was in an inormation void tryin# to unction in an %nthro&oso&hic environment without any 'nowled#e o the occult subte(t. 7 still believedthat Steiner was as advertised " a scientist, educator, and &hiloso&her " instead o an

occultist, mysta#o#ue, and %nthro&oso&hist. Lon# ater we let !aldor, as 7 sited throu#hsermon ater sermon, 7 came across the ollowin# hint as to why youn# reincarnatin#&u&ils mi#ht be &revented rom usin# lines, and instead, e(&osed to color?

Mou see, when the soul arrives on earth in order to enter its body, it has come down rom

s&irit+soul worlds in which there are no s&acial orms. Thus the soul 'nows s&acial orms

only ater its bodily e(&erience, only while the ater+eects o s&ace still lin#er on. :ut

thou#h the world rom which the soul descends has no s&acial orms or lines, it does have

color intensities, color ualities Steiner, 14, & 236.

7n 'inder#arten, my dau#hter &ainted sheets o wet watercolor &a&er that had the cornersrounded o. %t irst, only sin#le colors o yellow or blue were used. 7 thou#ht this was oddand wondered why the children didn)t &aint ima#es. 7 as'ed the teacher why they were onlyallowed one color and what the &ur&ose or these &aintin#s was. She said it was Steiner)scolor theory and that the children were develo&in# their ima#ination. %ter leavin# theschool, 7 learned rom %nthro&oso&hist %udrey 8c%llen that?

The colours which the child uses or the e(&ression o the harmonious connection with hisbody beore the chan#e o teeth are blue and yellow out o these colours the soul weaves

its connection with the hereditary body and transorms it 8c%llen, 159, &. 446.

7n other words, &aintin# a sheet o wet watercolor &a&er with yellow or with blue hel&s thereincarnatin# soul connect with the &hysical body. Later 7 noticed that children were&aintin# discs o color surrounded by a counter color " or e(am&le, a blue discsurrounded by red, or vise versa. Mears later 7 was to learn that Steiner also oered hisadult &u&ils meditative e(ercises that resembled my dau#hter)s disc &aintin#s. /isci&les

were to &erorm the ollowin# e(ercise seven times in the mornin#s?

Conce&t o a blue circular disc with red surroundin#. Then transormation into a red dis'

with blue surround. Reconversion into the ori#inal state.

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/o this seven consecutive times.

Conceive throu#h inner observation how the thin'in# thereby becomes mobile and ree in

itsel and ultimately is raised to a condition ree rom the body Steiner, 155b, &. 1;6.

The more 7 studied Rosicrucianism, Theoso&hy, and %nthro&oso&hy, the more 7 be#an tosee the discs as &lanets or suns. 7 now thin' o the !aldor color e(ercises in terms omandalas and talismans. %ter discoverin# Theoso&hist %nnie :esant)s and Charles !.Leadbeater)s boo', Thoughtforms, &ublished the year beore Steiner became =eneralSecretary o Theoso&hy in %ustria and =ermany, 7 be#an to understand that these ty&es oabstractions o the s&iritual world were in vo#ue durin# Steiner)s day and inluenced him.Dn my dau#hter)s rounded &a&ers she also &ainted ima#es o suns and rainbows that 7later understood to be %nthro&oso&hical icons. 7 have since learned rom Chassidic RabbiMonassan =ershom that the !aldor &aintin#s re&resent the creative ener#y o hi#her

s&iritual worlds.

8y mind raced bac' to my irst im&ression o the children)s artwor' at the !aldor school in

8innea&olis. Nobody was drawin# houses, horses, cars and truc's " the usual thin#s

children ma'e in &rimary school art class. 7nstead, the walls were covered with artwor' that

was literally u--y around the ed#es, without clearly deined orms and boundaries. To me,

all the children)s &aintin#s loo'ed ali'e. 7 saw no individuality in them at all. So what was

#oin# on hereU 7 later s&o'e at the =oetheanum, the %nthro&oso&hist headuarters in

/ornach Swit-erland, where 7 saw the artwor' on the walls was also done in the same

abstract swirls o &astel colors. This, 7 was told, is because the &aintin#s re&resent the

creative ener#y o hi#her s&iritual worlds. Clearly the %nthro&oso&hists have been

conditioned rom childhood to see these swirlin# colors as re&resentin# somethin#

s&iritual. =ershom, 1;, 8ay, htt&?HHwww.&inenet.comHIroosterHmulti.html brain &a#e 6.

Steiner tau#ht that color is the livin# or#an o s&iritual bein#s and that color can heal " aconce&t 7 was not amiliar with until readin# about %nthro&oso&hy and consultin# other

occult sources. Steiner said that bein#s come to earth on the win#s o color. !ith myacuired 'nowled#e, 7 now can #ras& why an %nthro&oso&hic doctor advised us to #ive ourchild red, yellow, and oran#e crayons with which to color. !aldor &ro&onent 8ary C.Richards wrote, %rt is tau#ht, not to ma'e children into artists, but to e(&ose them to thehealin# inluence o color Richards, 150, &. 26.

!aldor)s meticulous adherence to s&eciic wall colors o classrooms, &er Steiner)sinstructions, is related to color devotion. The reason or use o color in !aldor ta'es onnew meanin# ater discoverin# the ollowin# sermon by Steiner to his disci&les #iven

u&stairs at the Stutt#art *ouse below which lay the red and blue Rosicrucian tem&le6?

Mou will best reali-e the si#niicance o colour i we describe how it aects the occultist. <or

this it is necessary that a &erson should ree himsel com&letely rom everythin# else and

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devote himsel to the &articular colour, immerse himsel in it. 7 the &erson devotin# himsel

to the colour which covers these &hysically dense walls were one who had made certain

occult &ro#ress, it would come about that ater a &eriod o this com&lete devotion the walls

would disa&&ear rom his clairvoyant vision the consciousness that the walls shut o the

outer world would vanish. Now, what a&&ears irst is not merely that he sees the

nei#hborin# houses outside, that the walls become li'e #lass, but in the s&here whicho&ens u& there is a world o &urely s&iritual &henomena s&iritual acts and s&iritual i#ures

become visible. !e need only relect that behind everythin# around us &hysically there are

s&iritual bein#s and acts ... The worlds which surround us s&iritually are o many 'inds,

many dierent 'inds o elementary bein#s are around us. These are not enclosed in bo(es

or in such a state that they live in various houses ... :ut they cannot all be seen in the

same way accordin# to the ca&acity o clairvoyant vision, there may be visible and

invisible bein#s in the same s&ace. !hat s&iritual bein#s become visible in any &articularinstance de&ends on the colour to which we devote ourselves. 7n a red room, other bein#s

become visible than in a blue room, when one &enetrates to them by means o colour. !e

may now as'? what ha&&ens i one is not clairvoyantU That which the clairvoyant does

consciously is done unconsciously by the etheric body o a &erson not clairvoyantly trained

it enters a certain relationshi& with the same bein#s. <letcher, 15;, &. 96

7n other words, devote yoursel to color and you will see throu#h the walls and see the

s&iritual bein#s that surround man'ind in the nei#hborhood. !hich bein#s are seen willde&end on the color the &erson devotes himsel to. %ter discoverin# Steiner)s colored&lanetary seals, 7 deduced that Sun corres&onds to white or #old, Saturn to blue, 8oon tovioletHor silver, 8ars to red, 8ercury to yellow, Ku&iter to oran#e, and Venus to #reen.:ehind the &lanets are s&iritual bein#s. Steiner instructed that &aint should be made o&lant material, and the %nthro&oso&hic com&any, Stoc'mar, &roduces the only brand o&aint used in !aldor schools. This &aint must be sus&ended in water in order or it to havea trans&arent uality and shine with its own li#ht. >u&ils in !aldor a&&ly this &aint to wet&a&er with rounded corners. !e 'now that out o the &lantsA world o color the activities othe &lanets s&ea', &lacin# themselves in a way beore the wor'in#s o the stars Vreede,

2001, &. 25;6. 7 irst truly understood my dau#hter)s &aintin#s as talismans and mandalasater delvin# into Rosicrucian based ma#ic boo's or the irst time in my lie. 7t was therethat 7 irst learned about color rom an occult &ers&ective.

T%L7S8%N %n ob$ect stone, metal, &a&er, etc.6 which is meant to attract, channel, or act

as a battery or some ty&e o orce or ener#y in order to &erorm a s&eciic unction

!hitcomb, 1, & 9436.

Com&lementary colors, when &laced side by side, are said to attract the ener#iesassociated with the colors and can act as attractors or %'ashic currents !hitcomb, 1,&. 24 and =reer, 1;, &. 56. 7 also learned that heavy watercolor &a&er is commonlyused in the ma#ic world to ma'e healin# talismans because &a&er and luid condenserscan hold etheric char#es =reer, 1;, &&. 222+2236. 7 be#an to see the rationale behind

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my dau#hter)s &iles o wet+on+wet color+washed watercolor &a&ers. 7 inally understood thatcolors were thou#ht eicacious or healin# in Steiner)s world because color is the or#an othe s&iritual world.

Some e(+!aldor &arents have re&orted that their children have been wra&&ed in coloredsil' and made to &aint &a&er with color or healin# &ur&oses. Steiner tau#ht that ouretheric body may be assisted by s&iritual bein#s by usin# corres&ondin# colour <letcher,15;, &. 96, and he said?

 % nervous, that is to say e(citable child should be treated dierently as re#ards

environment rom one who is uiet and lethar#ic. @verythin# comes into consideration,

rom the colour o the room and various ob$ects that are #enerally around the child, to the

colour o the clothes in which he is dressed ... %n e(citable child should be surrounded by

and dressed in red and reddish+yellow colours, whereas or a lethar#ic child one should

have recourse to the blue or bluish+#reen shades o colour. <or the im&ortant thin# is the

com&lementary colour, which is created within the child. 7n the case o red it is #reen, and

in the case o blue oran#e+yellow. 8uller, 15;, &&. ;+56.

Steiner warned and advised?

To deli#ht in art that is materialistic increases the diiculties o the Gamaloca state,

whereas deli#ht in s&iritual art li#htens them. @very noble, s&iritual deli#ht shortens the

time in Gamaloca. %lready durin# earthly lie we must brea' ourselves o &leasures and

desires which can be satisied only by the &hysical instrument Steiner, 151b, &. 396.

7n irst #rade, %nthro&oso&hic drawin#s were co&ied by &u&ils rom the teacher)s drawin#son the board. They used lar#e beeswa( bloc' crayons also &roduced by the %nthro&oso&hic com&any Stoc'mar. The crayons hel&ed to &revent line+ma'in#. <u--yima#es o aceless #nomes minin# in metal mines and aceless humans with an#elsstandin# behind them, be#an to a&&ear. 7 was assured that !aldor was $ust teachin#children stories rom around the world. %ter leavin#, and ater s&endin# countless hoursstudyin# Steiner)s sermons, the &ictures in my dau#hter)s lesson boo's too' on new

meanin#. 7 saw stars as &enta#rams. 7 understood an ima#e o microcosmic man when 7saw him. 7 'new what ima#es o the Sun re&resented. 7 be#an to match Steiner)s adultteachin#s to the &u&ils) wor'. !hen 7 saw my child)s drawin# o #nomes minin# in a metalmine 7 reco#ni-ed Steiner)s %nthro&oso&hic conte(t. Steiner tau#ht that #nomes actuallye(ist and can be ound in metal mines

7 should li'e to relate uite sim&ly and &lainly how such bein#s show themselves to

clairvoyant si#ht. There are bein#s that can be seen with clairvoyant vision at many s&ots

in the de&ths o the earth, es&ecially &laces little touched by livin# #rowths, &laces, or

instance, in a mine which have always been o a mineral nature. 7 you di# into the metallic

or stony #round you ind bein#s which maniest at irst in remar'able ashion + it is as i

somethin# were to scatter us. They seem able to crouch close to#ether in vast numbers,

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and when the earth is laid o&en they a&&ear to burst asunder. The im&ortant &oint is that

they do not ly a&art into a certain number but that in their own bodily nature they become

lar#er. @ven when they reach their #reatest si-e, they are still always small creatures in

com&arison with human bein#s. The enli#htened man 'nows nothin# o them. >eo&le,

however, who have &reserved a certain nature+sense, i.e. the old clairvoyant orces which

everyone once &ossessed and which had to be lost with the acuisition o ob$ectiveconsciousness, could tell you all sorts o thin#s about such bein#s. 8any names have

been #iven to them, such as #oblins, #nomes and so orth...Their nature &rom&ts them to

&lay all sorts o tric's on man, as every miner can tell you who has still &reserved

somethin# o a healthy nature sense " not so much the miners in coal mines as those in

metal mines. Steiner, 19b, &. 36

7 now com&rehend that the %nthro&oso&hical conce&t o art is very dierent rom mine. 7

have a com&letely dierent understandin# o what !aldorers mean when they say theydevelo& ima#ination " they mean they develo& &sychic si#ht. %nd by art, they mean The %rt o ma#ic6. Steiner said 7 you brin# children as many livin# &ictures as &ossible, i youeducate them by s&ea'in# in &ictures, then you sow the seed or a continuous retention oo(y#en or continuous develo&ment, because you direct the children toward the uture,toward lie ater death Steiner, 1, &. 26. @ven an innocuous &icture o a butterly hasa dee&er meanin# when you come across Steiner)s e(&lanation or this lesson, a child)sirst %nthro&oso&hic introduction to reincarnation?

ETFhe &resentation o livin# &ictures, or as we mi#ht say o symbols, to the mind, is

im&ortant or the &eriod between the chan#e o teeth and &uberty. 7t is im&ortant that the

secrets o Nature, the laws o lie, be tau#ht to the boy or #irl, not in dry intellectual

conce&ts, but as ar as &ossible in symbols. >arables o the s&iritual conne(ions o thin#s

should be brou#ht beore the soul o the child in such a manner that behind the &arables

he divines and eels, rather than #ras&s intellectually, the underlyin# law in all

e(istence....%n e(am&le may serve to ma'e this clear. Let us ima#ine that we want to tell a

child o the immortality o the soul, o the comin# orth o the soul rom the body. The way

to do this is to use a com&arison, such or e(am&le as the com&arison o the butterly

comin# orth rom the chrysalis. %s the butterly soars u& rom the chrysalis, so ater death

the soul o man rom the house o the body. No man will ri#htly #ras& the act in intellectual

conce&ts, who has not irst received it in such a &icture. % child who has e(&erienced this,

will a&&roach the sub$ect with an alto#ether dierent mood o soul, when later it is tau#ht

him in the orm o intellectual conce&ts. 7t is indeed a very serious matter or any man, i he

was not irst enabled to a&&roach the &roblems o e(istence with his eelin#. Thus it is

essential that the educator have at his dis&osal &arables or all the laws o Nature and

secrets o the world. Richards, 150, &. 996

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child said, Mou mean we)re &rayin#, and 7 said yes, we)re &rayin#. Schwart-, 1,

November 13, &ara#ra&h 1;6.

Teachers not as o&en as @u#ene Schwart- are im&osin# worshi& o Steiner)s Sun :ein#on children without &arental sanction. %s my dau#hter)s &arent, 7 was unaware o this&rayer durin# our !aldor ha-e. 7 did not 'now that this &rayer was bein# &rayed eachmornin# by my dau#hter at her nonsectarian school. 7 learned about it ater leavin#, when

in my research 7 came u&on this?

The sun, with lovin# li#ht,

8a'es bri#ht or me each day.

The soul, with s&irit &ower,

=ives stren#th unto my limbs.

7n sunli#ht, shinin# clear,

7 reverence, D =od,The stren#th o human'ind

!hich thou so #raciously

*as &lanted in my soul,

That 7 with all my mi#ht

8ay love to wor' and learn.

<rom thee come li#ht and stren#th

To thee rise love and than's.

Students recite the words clearly. Ne(t, with accom&anyin# hand movements, studentssin# another son#. Then they snu the candle with #reat attention and ritual. Jhrmacher,11, &&. 105+106

>robably, because the &rayer was called the mornin# verse, it didn)t re#ister that the daybe#an with &rayer. %lso, my youn# child never mentioned it. Now 7 'now more aboutmystery reli#ions and more o the history o vol'isch #rou&s in =ermany durin# the late

1500s to early 100s and their desire to return to neo&a#an Sun worshi& " the truereli#ion o the %ryans. %t the time, 7 was unamiliar with Steiner)s conce&t o a threeoldSun and the %ryan Christ. 7 also 'new nothin# about the im&ortance o establishin# a dailyritual o Sun adoration or the ma#ician in trainin#.

'$ance'

Li'e many occultists beore and since, Steiner also devised a ma#ic system he dubbed his@urythmy. @urythmy was &assed o in !aldor as a orm o dance and that)s what webelieved it to be. !hen my dau#hter was sic', the aculty too' an interest and su##ested

that my dau#hter do eurythmy e(ercises which could hel& her. !e a#reed and the ne(tthin# we 'new our dau#hter came home absolutely urious, be##in# us to tell the@urythmist to sto& humiliatin# her. %ccordin# to our child, the @urythmist too' her out oclass, into a room, and told her not to be araid because she had hel&ed many &eo&le.Then she dra&ed my dau#hter in sil' and s&o'e as i she was &rayin#. !e wrote a letter

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as'in# the @urythmist to sto& the e(ercises. Later, 7 learned rom another e(+!aldorer thather child had ta'en Thera&eutic @urythmy because she was bein# bullied by anotherchild. This mother had received @urythmy re&orts rom the @urythmist and sent me co&ies. %t irst 7 could not com&rehend them. 7t was only ater delvin# into Rosicrucianism,Cabalism, and other ma#ic that they be#an to ma'e any sense. <rom =olden /awn7nitiation boo's 7 learned that the *ebrew :eth or : means house, value 2. :eth is thesymbol o all habitations and rece&tacles, o anythin# that contains. 7t is virile and &aternal

a #ly&h o active and interior action Cicero, 15, &. ;46. 7n The Uni!ersal 1uman 7stumbled across a uote rom Steiner sayin# when the *ebrews wrote, or e(am&le, whatcorres&onds to our :, they always elt somethin# li'e a &icture o outer conditions,somethin# that ormed a warm hutli'e enclosure. The letter : always evo'ed the ima#e osomethin# that can enclose a bein# li'e a house 10, &. 936. 7nch by inch 7 becamemore amiliar with the conce&ts o ma#ic, so that when 7 read the re&orts a#ain, 7reco#ni-ed the meanin# o this?

The inal e(ercise in the session was a story about a :i# :rown :ear. The sound and

movement she &racticed was o course the :. Dten it is the case with individuals whohave a &erectionist nature that they are uite sensitive to what is around them. The :

e(ercise hel&s to build a &rotective sheath around a &erson which both sustains what is

within and &rotects rom what is without. >uttin# the sound on a s&iral urther enhances this

&rotective uality Vir#inia @ta)s Therapeutic Eur#thm# 0eport, Kanuary + <ebruary 16.

The @urythmy re&orts were a total o si( &a#es and document use o other ritual ma#ic&ractices li'e tracin# a ive+&ointed &enta#ram, use o co&&er rods i.e., ma#ic wands thatsu&&osedly channel orces, and vibration o vowels which are thou#ht to connect &atientsto s&iritual bein#s that wor' inside o them. 7n %nthro&oso&hy, s&eech sounds as well asmusic relect the !ord and, conseuently, are in a ormative relationshi& to the or#ans othe &hysical body. 7n cases o s&eciic illnesses, thereore, the or#an aected can bereached by the reiterated &ractice o s&eciic s&eech sounds and rhythms Rae,*ardwood, B Lund#ren, 1;4, &. 26. This is why the child was made to &ractice the : inthe orm o :i# :rown :ear. :ecause some &eo&le believe that =od created the world bys&ea'in# it into e(istence, words and letters are believed to be very &owerul ma#ic. Thisaccounts or the warnin#, :ut such e(ercises, li'e medicines, should be irst &rescribed bya &hysician E%nthro&oso&hical doctorF beore they are carried out by a curative eurythmist

Rae et al, 1;4, &. 26. :oth the eurythmist and the %nthro&oso&hical doctor must behi#hly trained in Steiner)s ma#ical arts beore o&eratin# their ma#ic.

:rian Vic'ers &oints out in the boo' Dccult and Scientific Mentalities in the 0enaissance that the occult tradition does not reco#ni-e the distinction between words and thin#s orbetween literal and meta&horical lan#ua#e, as clearly distin#uished in the contem&oraryscientiic tradition.

!ords are treated as i they are euivalent to thin#s and can be substituted or them.

8ani&ulate the one and you can mani&ulate the other. %nalo#ies, instead o bein#, as theyare in the scientiic tradition, e(&lanatory devices subordinate to ar#ument and &roo, or

heuristic tools to ma'e models that can be tested, corrected, and abandoned i necessary,

are, instead, modes o conceivin# relationshi&s in the universe that reiy, ri#idiy, and

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ultimately come to dominate thou#ht. Dne no lon#er uses analo#ies? Dne is used by them.

They become the only way in which one can thin' or e(&erience the world Vic'ers, 154,

&. 96.

Steiner)s cosmic dance would connect the &u&il to the s&iritual world because it was achannel throu#h which the s&irit would reveal itsel to human consciousness, a &ath o

e(&erience to the -odiacal si#ns >owell B !orber#, 2002, &. 326. %nd as Steiner claimed,7n causin# &eo&le to do @urythmy we lin' them directly with the su&ersensible worldSteiner, 1;0, &. ;16. This modern orm o tem&le dance is based on Steiner)s conce&t ocosmic &rinci&les that he claimed underlie the &ower o s&eech and music. :y mirrorin# theheavenly world u&on earth, @urythmy su&&osedly reveals the mysteries o the stars. %central #oal o this &ractice is to ind a livin# relationshi& to the starry heavens, es&eciallyto the s&iritual realm o the si#ns or constellations o the -odiac >owell B !orber#, 2002,&. 326. 7t is a &ath throu#h which man may a#ain ind a way to that sel+'nowled#e whichis also a 'nowled#e o the universe Rae et al., 1;4, &. 2;6. @urythmy will brin# the&owers o the soul into the &ro&er relationshi& with the human body and will stren#then the

earthly and cosmic orces, enablin# man to reali-e his 7. Li'e the ancient Cabalists andRenaissance ma#icians o the &ast, )Steiner re#arded the human body as the creation othe cosmic !ord. 8an is a microcosm s&o'en rom the macrocosm Rae et al., 1;4, &.26. <or words are ormP, asserts %nthro&oso&hist 8ar$orie S&oc', %ll thin#s were madeby him the !ord that was =od6. %s we contem&late the world o nature which that !ordmade, we ind in it our elements? solids, liuids, #ases, warmth " elements rediscoveredin the small microcosmic words human voices utterP S&oc', 150, &&. 3+3;6. !ithcorres&ondences to the odiac, with words and letters o &ower, lines o orce,numerolo#y, symbols, si#ils, breath wor', #estures, tones, colors, and co&&er wands,Steiner &romised to connect man to the macrocosm via @urythmy, enablin# him toe(&erience it in a cosmic way.

7t is the arms which essentially lead man into this reedom, and which are the su&reme

instruments to reveal the lie o the soul. <rom the hori-ontal, which they alone can

&ro&erly e(&ress, they can reach u&ward into the s&here o li#htness, and downward into

the s&here o wei#ht. Thus they relate man to the universe. Rae et al., 1;4, &. 136.

 %nd as Steiner &oints out, The limbs are the &art o the human body which more than any

other &art &asses over into the lie o the ne(t incarnation. They are the &art which &oints tothe uture, to what comes ater death Steiner, 1;0, &. ;06. 7n her boo' entitled Eur#thm# ,8ar$orie S&oc' noted the twelve basic consonants and their corres&ondences to the -odiacas ollows? Leo, T or / Cancer, < =emini, * Taurus, R %ries, V >isces, N %uarius, 8Ca&ricorn, L Sa#itarius, = Scor&io, S Libra, G Vir#o, : or > S&oc', 150, &. ;56.

The @urythmy %ssociation o North %merica)s ommemorati!e ssue 2ewsletter  ma'essome clear statements about how eurythmy its into !aldor lie?

@urythmy can contribute #reatly to the s&iritual lie o !aldor schools. D all the arts,eurythmy is an anthro&oso&hical art and has the #reatest &otential or transormation.

@urythmy is also a social art and has the ability to enliven and harmoni-e the lie orces. 7t

is hel&ul to set aside time or eurythmy beore meetin#s o teachers, &arents, and the

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board, or instance. <aculty and children can do eurythmy at school assemblies. >ublic

courses mi#ht be oered durin# main lesson time or evenin#s. The e(&erience o estival

oerin#s can be dee&ened with the inclusion o eurythmy wor's.... <riedman, 15H,

irst drat o #uidelines " retrieved 8arch 3, 2003 romwww.eana.or#HSJ88@R

201.&d  &. ;, last &ara#ra&h6.

7n the bac' o this 49+&a#e newsletter is somethin# called  0e!iew of a Stud#: Thenfluence of Eur#thm# on the )ife Span of Eur#thmists. The author o this review, Thomas>o&laws'i, states that a Chica#o &sycholo#ist named @arl D#letree, a lon#time admirer oeurythmy, was interested in how the &ractice o eurythmy would aect the lives o thosewho &ractice it. D#letree said since eurythmy enhances and acilitates the low o healin#orces, one could e(tra&olate that &roessional eurythmists would be healthier, relativelyree o diseases and in better &hysical and mental health than non+eurythmists>o&laws'i, a review o a study, retrieved rom www.eana.or#HSJ88@R201.&d  &.356.

*e a&&arently studied 211 %nthro&oso&hists " 10 o whom were eurythmists. *isindin#s? Non+eurythmists lived to an avera#e o 50.95 years and eurythmists lived anavera#e o ;3.2 years. >o&laws'i notes that not only do eurythmists not live much lon#erthan the avera#e " in act they seem to live si#niicantly shorter lives >o&laws'i, areview o a study, retrieved rom www.eana.or#HSJ88@R201.&d  &. 356. *e uotesRoy !il'inson who &ro&oses that the healin# eect o &racticin# eurythmy brin#s outsomethin# in the eurythmists which could maniest in a &ossible worst orm, addin#,There is also the uestion whether curative eurythmists donate some o their own stren#thwhich they do not recu&erate in suicient measure >o&laws'i, a review o a study,

retrieved rom www.eana.or#HSJ88@R201.&d  &. 356. Dther %nthro&oso&hic e(&ertsoer their theories about why eurythmists have a shorter lies&an, includin# the idea thateurythmy can cause disarray in eurythmists) orces. Retired !aldor teacher *ansValentien says this could ha&&en because eurythmists en#a#e their own lie orces to amuch #reater de#ree than is normal and, eventually, the disarray can lead tocancer>o&laws'i, a review o a study, retrieved 8arch 3, 2003 romwww.eana.or#HSJ88@R201.&d  &. 356.

'$octor'7n the early years o !aldor, 7 did not 'now that some airy tales bein# tau#ht were occult&arables. Nor had it dawned on me that the estivals celebrated throu#hout the schoolyear were in reality %nthro&oso&hic rituals devised by Steiner with dee& esoteric meanin#.Moun# !aldor children didn)t write anythin# down, but by third #rade my dau#hter wasbein# tau#ht violent *oly :ible Stories with an %nthro&oso&hic twist li'e the ollowin#reerence to 8ichael e(cer&ted rom one o her lessons entitled %braham and 7saac?

Soon ater they arrived to mount moria and made a small ire and lade his son a &on it and

raised his 'nie a bove his head and 7saac)s sole led rom his body and %braham was $ust

about to &lun# the 'nie in 7saac)s chest when 8iciel ste&t out o the clouds and said

%braham &ot down that 'nie you have &roovin yoursel werthy.

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7 became more and more concerned about the curriculum. !hat was #oin# onU !aldorersassured me that since Christianity is an inte#ral &art o %merican culture it was #ood orchildren to be amiliar with :ible stories. *owever, &art way throu#h the school year, wedecided to remove our dau#hter rom the overt reli#ious third #rade curriculum. 7nstead,she attended a little school in Kamaica or three months as we have amily ties there. !enoticed an im&rovement in our dau#hter)s demeanor and willin#ness to attend school. !ealso reali-ed that she was very behind the Kamaican &u&ils. !ithin months her readin# andwritin# #reatly im&roved and we all li'ed the new school very much. The school in #eneralseemed to be a ha&&ier and li#hter &lace. The Kamaican school closed or holidays, andwe returned to the Jnited States or the summer, &lannin# to reor#ani-e our lives, ma'ea&&ro&riate visa arran#ements, and move to Kamaica " we even &aid school ees to theKamaican school.

:ac' in !isconsin, school was windin# down or summer and since we)d already &aid!aldor)s ees or the ull year, we decided to &lace our child bac' in !aldor or theremainin# wee's so that she could reconnect with riends and ulill le#al attendance

reuirements. /urin# that brie &eriod she became de&ressed, standin# alone on the&lay#round. School closed and over the summer my dau#hter became uite ill, so wecancelled our Kamaican &lans, and &ut her bac' in !aldor that all. 8y husband believed itwas our best schoolin# o&tion in our rural location, thou#h 7 was not so certain.

/urin# the early maniestation o her illness, in the summer, ater the loss o the initial&ounds, we had sou#ht the hel& o a doctor " a riend and ellow !aldor &arent. *eassured us that our child was ine and $ust #rowin#. Time sli&&ed by, more wei#htdro&&ed, and on our ne(t visit blood tests were ordered to chec' vitals and or diabetes.Later, u&on visitin# our home, the !aldor+&arent+doctor advised us to #et comortable

with death. %t one &oint he recommended that we see' the hel& o a Chinese doctor whohad a medical de#ree rom China. Dn a subseuent visit to the !aldor+&arent+doctor)soice, he handed us over to a 'ind youn# homeo&athHdoctor with no e(&erienceconcernin# our child)s illness. The homeo&ath #ave my dau#hter a remedy and be#anmonitorin# her every cou&le o wee's durin# which time more and more wei#ht was lostand our situation became dire. 7n those days 7 believed that homeo&athy was science+based medicine and that we were in the best o care. %ll the doctors we saw had medicalde#rees. !hat 7 didn)t reali-e until later was that durin# our time in !aldor, while underthe inluence o !aldor educators and &ractitioners, our $ud#ment had become s'ewed.

!e)d become sus&icious and earul o the re#ular mainstream medical establishment,avoidin# it as we loundered with the advice o amiliar !aldor+ailiated+doctors only. %sour situation &ro#ressed or the worse, we also be#an to &hone hotlines and read boo's inan attem&t to learn more about our child)s illness. 8y husband met with the Chinese:uddhist doctor, recommended by our doctor riend, in another attem&t to secure medicalhel& or our child. The mon' advised my husband to &lace &hoto#ra&hs o his deceasedmother around the house and to s&ea' about his mother to our child. *e believed that myhusband)s mother)s s&irit mi#ht have entered our dau#hter wantin# attention. 7 thou#ht themon')s advice was bi-arre and continued to search or hel&, but not in the ri#ht &laces.

Dn Se&tember 2, 15, my husband and 7 waited or the %nthro&oso&hic doctor whoma'es his rounds in !aldor schools. <aculty members had su##ested we schedule ana&&ointment to meet with him, inormin# us that he was a medical doctor with credentialswho visits !aldor schools around the country. Trustin# the aculty and with #reatantici&ation, we ho&ed that he could hel& us with our &roblem.

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Sittin# at the school, waitin# or the %nthro&oso&hic doctor to arrive, did not stri'e me asodd. 7 did not wonder what ty&e o doctor we were about to meet with nor did it seemunusual that the school was &rovidin# a doctor in the irst &lace. !aldor was once a#ainour world. The small room attached to the sic'room was dra&ed with sil' scarves. 7remember eelin# that thin#s seemed orei#n to me that day. 7 had not s&ent much time atthe school in recent months because we)d been in Kamaica, &lus 7 was avoidin# the schoolas much as &ossible because, unli'e my husband, 7 had develo&ed a stron# aversion to it" even drivin# &ast the school made me eel ill. Lon# beore our dau#hter became sic',beore our brea' rom !aldor in third #rade, 7 had ound mysel cryin# about the school orreasons 7 did not understand and could not articulate " the school made me sad.

 % seemin#ly #entle and carin# man entered the small room and listened attentively as 7tearully disclosed my amily)s &redicament. Dur nine+year+old was #ravely ill, de&ressed,and had lost a lot o wei#ht, because she reused to eat. The %nthro&oso&hic doctor madea dia#nosis? my child had lost the will to live. *e announced one o the &otential cures "we were to #ive our dau#hter red, yellow, and oran#e crayons to color with 7 loo'ed at my

husband in disbelie. !hen the doctor instructed us to ma'e the si#n o a lame out o %urum cream over my child)s heart at bedtime, 7 was dumbounded 7 as'ed the doctor tore&eat himsel. 7ndeed, 7 had heard correctly. 7 was to ma'e a lame o %urum cream overher heart at bedtime. 8ystiied, 7 as'ed the doctor what the lame should loo' li'e and heshowed us with his hand. *e told us to a&&ly the #old cream rom below the heartu&wards, towards the s'y at bedtime. 7 was so baled by his instructions that he too' itu&on himsel to draw a small dia#ram o a torso on a &rescri&tion &ad sheet, with an arrowdemonstratin# the direction in which the #old lame was to be a&&lied. Some otherrecommendations were made then he su##ested we &urchase the medicines rom Jriel,#ivin# us Jriel)s tele&hone number. /urin# this encounter with the %nthro&oso&hic doctor, 7

had an e&i&hany o sorts. %ter &ayin# him his ee o W90, we let the school and 7 turned tomy husband and said with certainty, !e are in a real live cult

Soon ater our visit with the %nthro&oso&hic doctor, the woman homeo&athHdoctor that wewere seein# every two wee's inormed us that she would have to hos&itali-e our child. Thereality san' in. 7 reali-ed that the homeo&ath could not hel& us. !e had lost &recious time.!ith ear and tre&idation about the medical establishment instilled in us by !aldorers, wemade our way to a hos&ital our hours away in 7owa City. 7nsurance sent us bac' to ahos&ital in !isconsin " a mere orty minutes away rom our house. This hos&ital had an

e(&erienced, &roessional sta that hel&ed us. 7 shall always re#ret not #oin# there irst "beore my child reached a critical &oint. The new doctor told us that a child should neverlose wei#ht and that a dro& o a cou&le o &ounds would have caused her concern. 7 toldour thera&ist about the lame and the %nthro&oso&hic doctor, 7 also told her that !aldormade me eel sic'. She said that usually she would not advise a school chan#e durin#such circumstances, but that in our case she would recommend one. !e made ana&&ointment with the local &ublic school)s aculty des&ite our ear o &ublic school instilledin us by !aldor, the media, and childhood e(&eriences, and we enrolled our dau#hter in&ublic school. 8y amily ended u& havin# a &ositive e(&erience with that school. Recoverywas lon# and diicult, with reuent visits to the hos&ital over the ollowin# year, but my

dau#hter made &ro#ress and has ully recovered. She is a healthy, ha&&y teena#er now.:ut even with the e(&erience o bein# immersed in an alternate reality, we still did not havethe historic or esoteric inormation necessary to com&rehend and decode the %nthro&oso&hic doctor)s recommendations or some o our unusual !aldor e(&eriences.

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 %ter leavin# !aldor 7 be#an studyin# %nthro&oso&hy and related new reli#iousmovements and have been able to athom as&ects o the alchemical &rescri&tion we were#iven. 7 learned o a scul&ture desi#ned and carved by Rudol Steiner, with some hel& romhis disci&le @dith 8arion, who let the ma#ical Drder o the =olden /awn in @n#land towor' with Steiner at develo&in# his s&iritual art and @urythmy in /ornach, Swit-erland. Thescul&ture de&icts Steiner)s trinity o %hriman, Lucier, and Christ the Sun :ein# " the %ryan Christ. Carved over the Christ)s heart is a lame $ust li'e the one 7 was to rub on my

child)s heart at bedtime with #old cream. <urther readin# o Steiner)s The Uni!ersal 1umanbrou#ht to li#ht Steiner)s teachin#s o the Sun :ein#)s healin# &owers at sunset.

7t is thereore im&ortant that the deeds o Christ Kesus are always seen in relation to the

&hysical sun, which is the e(ternal e(&ression o the s&iritual world that is received at the

&oint where Christ)s &hysical body is wal'in# around. !hen Christ Kesus heals, or

instance, it is the sun orce that heals. *owever, the sun orce must be in the ri#ht &lace in

the heavens? That evenin#, at sundown, they brou#ht to him all who were sic' or

&ossessed with demons. 7t is im&ortant to indicate that this healin# &ower can low downonly when the e(ternal sun has set but still wor's s&iritually. Steiner, 10, &. 96

The alchemical instructions #iven to us by the %nthro&oso&hical doctor stated that %urum#oldHsun6 cream should be a&&lied in the sha&e o a lame over my sic' child)s heart atbedtime " sundown, when the Christ heals and casts out demons. % homeo&athic &a&er&ublished in 1omeopath# Times, November, 14 entitled Some )ight on the9Misunderstanding of urum Metallicum, by /r. Ra$esh Shah, reinorced the conce&t that#old should be &rescribed or the suicidal Shah, 14,

htt&?HHwww.indias&ace.comHhomoeo&athyHaurum.htm , &ara#ra&h 146.

Dther dee&er as&ects o the &rescri&tion have also revealed themselves with readin#.Lin'ed to the doctor)s instructions to a&&ly D(alis cream over abdomen is Steiner)sconce&t that human bein#s ma'e ormic acid rom o(alic acid. <ormic acid can be ound inhuman bein#s and insects, es&ecially concentrated in ants. *e tau#ht his ollowers that theormic acid ants secrete is very #ood medicine Steiner, 15a, &. 1446. *e believed thatthe air is ull o o(y#en, nitro#en, and ormic acid, which is intelli#ence, and it is morediicult to transmit a tele#ram in a re#ion where there are not ant colonies than it is in are#ion where they e(ist, because the electricity and the ma#netism needed or tele#ra&hy

de&end u&on ormic acid Steiner, 15a, &.1996. *e &reached?

7t is uniuely the case with a human bein# that throu#hout lie until death, a &erson

&ossesses the ca&acity to ma'e ormic acid rom o(alic acid. :ut then a human bein# loses

this ca&ability, and the &hysical body dies. Then the human soul has to wait beore once

a#ain receivin# a body, which in a child &ro&erly transorms o(alic acid into ormic acid.

7 you careully observe a dyin# individual, you)ll #et the eelin# that there is an eort on the

&art o this &erson, even in the &rocess o dyin#, to ind out whether the body is ca&able o

creatin# ormic acid. Then, at that &oint when the body is no lon#er ca&able o the tas',

death ta'es over. % human bein# #oes into the s&irit world and can)t endure any lon#er

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bein# in the body. !e say that a human bein# dies at a certain &oint in time, and ater a

lon# &eriod o time comes bac' in another body. 8eanwhile this &erson is in the s&irit world

Steiner, 15a, &&. 199+196.

*e tau#ht that you can #et o(alic acid rom wood sorrel or clover, and that i a &erson hasa &roblem with the liver or intestines, you have to #ive o(alic acid. The stran#e thin#,

however, is that the &erson to whom you #ive o(alic acid will, ater a certain amount otime, be#in to &roduce ormic acid within Steiner, 15a, &.14;6. !hen humans sto&ma'in# ormic acid rom o(alic acid, their &hysical bodies die and their s&irit bodies leave.Steiner e(&lains?

This is all due to ormic acid. !e also have understandin# and 'nowled#e within us

because we have ormic acid. <ormic acid would not e(ist i it weren)t or o(alic acid bein#

&resent beorehand.

These are the thin#s you be#in to understand only i you now as' yoursel what the

situation is with o(alic acid. Mou see, o(alic acid is &resent everywhere where there is lie.

!herever somethin# is alive, there is o(alic acid. :ut there is also an etheric body. Dne

unction that the etheric body carries out is that it immediately renews o(alic acid.

*owever, o(alic acid will never become ormic acid o a ty&e that a human or animal

or#anism can use unless the astral body transorms the o(alic acid into ormic acid. <or it

is a act that the ormic acid that is derived rom the &rocess in the retort is a ormic acid

that will be o no beneit to the human or animal body. Mou)ll be deceived i you believe that

it can really hel& at all, because in reality it is dead. The ormic acid created in humans and

by insects is alive, and a&&ears wherever sensations and eelin#s arise and the soul

element is &resent. % human bein# must develo& ormic acid within i such a &erson wants

to #enerate the soul element rom the basic level o lie &rocesses that e(ist in the lower

body, where o(alic acid &lays a very im&ortant role. Then the soul element lives in the

ormic acid o the breath and rises to the head, where it can continue to unction and

become eective. The soul element needs this &rocess that converts o(alic acid into ormic

acid within a human bein#. Steiner, 15a, &&. 191+1926

The doctor was attem&tin# to heal my dau#hter)s %nthro&oso&hic s&iritual bodies. :yrubbin# D(alis cream on her abdomen, she would develo& ormic acid within and have lie.7t)s the ormic acid that attracts and mobili-es soul and s&irit, otherwise the s&irit will #oaway Steiner, 15a, &. 1946.

Steiner a&&ears to have based his medicine on *ermetic ideas datin# bac' to the 100s

and beore. @vidently, Rosicrucian doctors s&read their occult truths to the &eo&le at lar#e,

EFor it was one o their undamental &rinci&les, that rom the small circles in which they

were united, Rosicrucians should #o out into the world " #enerally wor'in# " as doctors

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o medicine. :ut at the same time, while they &racticed medicine, they s&read 'nowled#e

o many thin#s in the wide circles into which they came Steiner, 19, &. 16.

The scholar =eorey %hern, who so ar has written the only critical, in+de&th boo' on %nthro&oso&hy &ublished in @n#lish, notes that Steiner acce&ted an alchemical synthesisstemmin# rom a blend o =nostic %le(andrian and %ristotelian thou#ht, @#y&tiantechnolo#y, and 8eso&otamian astrolo#y. Steiner believed that #old corres&onds with the

sun, silver with the moon, co&&er with Venus, lead with Saturn, iron with 8ars, tin withKu&iter and uic'silver with 8ercury. This thin'in# was ma#ical? macrocosmic astrolo#icalinluences were all im&ortant %hern, 154, &. 146.

7nterestin#ly, even beore discoverin# other esoterically inormed !aldor critics on the7nternet and delvin# into Steiner)s doctrine, we were able to &in&oint our ne#ativee(&eriences in a letter. %bout three months ater we let !aldor, the develo&ment oiceras'ed us to en#a#e in an e(it interview. 7 told my husband that 7 would never sit beore thataculty a#ain but a#reed to answer their uestions in letter orm. !hy had we removed our

dau#hter rom !aldorU This is what we wrote?

<ebruary 1;, 1

!e eel that a clearer distinction should be made to &ros&ective &arents on the sectarian

nature o >leasant Rid#e !aldor School. 7t would be hel&ul i the institution were more

res&onsible in clariyin# the mystic Christian character o the school. *ad we 'nown that

the curriculum and o&eration o the school were based e(clusively on Rudol Steiner)s

insi#ht, clairvoyance, aesthetics, eurocentricity, and reli#ious belies as inter&reted by his

disci&les6 >leasant Rid#e !aldor School would not have been our choice or X.

The lac' o enthusiasm and ins&iration that X demonstrated durin# her years at >leasant

Rid#e always concerned us. She elt unchallen#ed durin# her school day and e(&ressed it

oten. *er attitude and rustration &layed a role in our decision to ta'e X out o >leasant

Rid#e !aldor School. She is doin# very well at !estby @lementary School. *er demeanor

has im&roved, and she never cries beore or ater school, as she used to, but rather loo's

orward to her day.

Lac' o teacher control in X)s classroom at >leasant Rid#e !aldor School was also

troublesome to us. !e believe this &roblem too' away much o her &otential in her

education at >leasant Rid#e.

Dur communications with the aculty and sta in comin# to this decision were as com&leteas we needed them to be.

Than' you or the o&&ortunity to e(&ress our views in our de&arture.

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Mours sincerely,

Sharon Lombard and XX.

)onclusion

Leavin# !aldor was a very diicult time or my amily. Dur world was turned u&side+downand inside+out. %lthou#h some &eo&le have &ositive e(&eriences with the schools, othershave troublin# encounters with the movement. Mears a#o an e(+!aldorer observed?

7 thin' most &arents #et attached to their 'ids bein# in the !aldor schools and they $ust

want to loo' the other way when somethin# uncomortable comes u&. Dr, they view the

teachin# as somehow superior  because it is not o this materialistic world we live in.

@s&ecially when a &arent starts their child in the youn#er #rades. :y the time the child is in

the school or a number o years, the school has become somuch a &art o their identit#  

that they cannot ace the &ossibility o lettin# #o. 7t)s very subtle but one be#ins to eel it is

more and more diicult to relate to others outside the !aldor circle. @ventually 7 elt 7 was

livin# on some sort o %nthro&oso&hical island. This alienation, cou&led with my troublin#

uestions inally convinced me that somethin# was very wron# *eather, &rivate a( to

/an /u#an, 8ay 5, 16.

Recently, !aldor &arent Nicole <oss relected?

7 %nthro&oso&hy were only a church, our &aths would never cross, but %nthro&oso&hy

does not restrict itsel to its circle o True :elievers. 7nstead it sets u& schools where these

dis#uised belies are oisted u&on unsus&ectin# &arents whose o&inions can be

disre#arded because they don)t 'now the &ath. These &arents are e(&ected to ollow

un'nowin#ly the reuirements o a reli#ion which denies to them that it even e(ists, and

may be critici-ed in their i#norance or anthro&oso&hical incorrectness. No wonder so

many &arents initially eel bewildered and later an#ry or havin# been deceived <oss,

2003, 8arch, 1. /ercedol  htt&?HHwww.waldorcritics.or#HactiveHarchivesH!C%0212.html 6.

 %n e(+!aldor teacher who has recently iled suit a#ainst the New Mor' !aldor School or

racial discrimination, Charmai#ne Jsher+>aulson, e(&resses her eelin#s o loss on a

&rivate 7nternet orum o e(+!aldorers?

7 reali-ed today that we all are in mournin#. !e mourn the loss o what could, should have

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been. The sorrow, an#uish, and an#er that are laced within our words demonstrate the

sincerity o our as&irations or true community and our reaction to dece&tion.

7 believe that we will utili-e our stren#th, inte#rity, vision and ho&e towards true renewal.

The !aldor movement does not own beauty, art, son#s, and the idea o reverence or

the earth. These ideals belon# to us all and we will im&art these &rinci&les to our ownamily and community. <urthermore, we will im&art these thin#s to others in a way the

!aldor movement could never do. !e will im&art these thin#s with love. That is the thin#

that is missin# rom them, love Jsher+>aulson, 2002, Dctober, 20. *ello rom

Charmaine, waldor+survivors+onlyQyahoo#rou&s.com &rivate communication6.

Mou cannot love &eo&le i you are du&in# them. 8s. >aulson also writes? !hen you areinvolved in the movement you are either )in) or )out). 7 you do not es&ouse and adhere tothe #rou&, then you are )out) 2002, Dctober, 21. Lawsuits + &rivate communication6.

 %ter be#innin# my study o %nthro&oso&hy, while emer#in# rom !aldor, 7 was cast into astate o #ra&&lin# with meta&hysical conce&ts li'e never beore. 7 endured ni#htmares&rom&ted by the reali-ation that 7 had been du&ed and rom readin# Steiner)s bi-arre te(ts.7 a#oni-ed to discern what is real or unreal, while at the same time acin# my dau#hter)sillness. 7t was a &eriod o much sadness, conusion, and an#er. /iscoverin# !aldor)ssubte(t orced me to conront my own reality and reairm my own &ers&ective on lie.Gnowled#e o %nthro&oso&hy enabled me to &ut !aldor into conte(t and to reco#ni-e itsomni&resence in my dau#hter)s lesson boo's. :y readin# Steiner, 7 #ained an

understandin# o our e(&eriences as well as the words with which to s&ea' about them. 7came to 'now that as an inidel, %nthro&oso&hy is incom&atible with my &erce&tion oreality, and, as an artist, it conlicts with my vision o art. Steiner)s racist doctrine coincideswith my e(&erience o %&artheid " the reason 7 let my native South %rica. 7 went on tota'e a cou&le o classes on cults and new reli#ious movements at the Jniversity o 8iamiand have become ascinated with alternate realities and cultic studies. 7 now have a muchbetter #ras& o belies, believers, #rou&s, leaders, ollowers and my own &ersonalworldview. 7ronically, 7 had sent my dau#hter to !aldor to #et an education, whenultimately it was 7 who #ot the education.

Steiner  told his ollowers that an occultist will never dream o im&osin# do#mas, instead?

E*Fe is one who tells what he has seen and tested in the astral and s&iritual worlds or what

has been revealed to him by trustworthy and reliable teachers. *e does not desire to

convert but to uic'en in others the sense that has awa'ened in him and to enable them to

see li'ewise. Steiner, 11, cha&ter X, &ara#ra&h 1,

htt&?HHwnelib.comHSteinerHLecturesH>lacesH>arisH1000&01.html 6.

!hile Steiner)s desire inadvertently awa'ened me to the veiled esoteric base o !aldorschoolin#, it did not lead me to see li'ewise to the contrary, it was to uic'en me toleave the #rou& and eventually become a !aldor critic. 8y research brou#ht to li#ht whothe ounder o !aldor really was, how his doctrine stee&ed in the occult im&acts allas&ects o his ollowers) lives, and how to decode %nthro&oso&hic double+s&ea'. %

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&luralistic society allows room or all, but !aldor needs to be more o&en in clariyin# itsesoteric base. >ros&ective &arents are entitled to be inormed o the concealed %nthro&oso&hic mission o this schoolin# system. Some may e(&erience the warmth obelon#in# as reedom 7 was scorched by the harsh li#ht o %nthro&oso&hy. Mou are eithera moth drawn to the li#ht, or you are instead drawn to the &orch. %s a riend observed,Mou are drawn to !aldor not because o what it is, but because o what it is not.

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This &a&er includes e(cer&ts rom co&yri#hted wor's. %ll ri#hts remain with the ori#inalauthors. @(cer&ts are re&roduced here or educational &ur&oses only.


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