SPOTLIGHT ON ANTHROPOSOPHY

by Sharon Lombard Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003

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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 identi yin# Steiner)s macro+microcosmic worldview and racist under&innin#s. She ,uestions why some !aldor ers o ten 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 that some 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 worldconception 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#.

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." 0Steiner, 1234, &. 536

% riend o mine who hel&ed start a !aldor School li'ed to say, .7 you turn on the &orch li#hts the moths will come.. 7 would add that an assortment o other insects mi#ht also a&&ear, not necessarily see'in# the li#ht. 8y riend is alludin# to !aldor schools bein# a ma#net or %nthro&oso&hists and Steiner en orcers, 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, or our dau#hter, when we moved to !isconsin so that our child mi#ht attend a !aldor school. 7ronically, we were drawn to the lame a ter a conscientious search or a &ro#ressive, nonsectarian education system with an em&hasis on creativity, art, and #lobal diversity. 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 ourselves immersed in %nthro&oso&hy, what we e(&erienced, and how traumatic circumstances led to our climactic e(it. 7t also shares what my later e(tensive readin# and research revealed concernin# the ounder o !aldor education, his doctrine, which im&acts all as&ects o ollower)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 1229 " survive and in luence contem&orary occult e(&erience in %merica. They are &er&etuated throu#h a schismatic branch o Theoso&hy which Steiner e(&anded to accommodate his worldview and entitled .%nthro&oso&hy.. The most success ul vehicle or the dissemination o %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# o Steiner or his reli#ion, %nthro&oso&hy. The !aldor School 8ovement is su&er icially &erceived as a trendy, alternative education system because it is &romoted as nonsectarian, art+based, multicultural, scienti ic, 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 a s&iritually com&lete Rosicrucian &ath which will #uide &u&ils to hi#her worlds throu#h an esoteric trainin#, and althou#h this &rinci&le o initiation is adhered to by !aldor Schools, it is accom&lished o ten without &artici&ants) understandin# or sanction. :orn on 2; <ebruary 1531, in Croatia, Steiner #rew u& in Neud or l near the %ustro+ *un#arian border where his ather wor'ed as a tele#ra&h o&erator or the %ustrian Railway. %s a child, Rudol Steiner believed he saw the a&&arition o an aunt who had

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 li e to hel& me as much as you can,. be ore vanishin# into the stove 0!ilson, 125;, &. 1;06. %s a #rown man he disclosed that a ter seein# this #host he was clairvoyant, able to see the s&irit world and communicate with the dead. !hile a student, Steiner &ublished &hiloso&hical studies and edited =oethe)s wor's. These " es&ecially =oethe)s mystical writin#s " remained in luential throu#hout his li e. *e believed that =oethe had come into contact with a Rosicrucian source and had e(&erienced a .lo ty 7nitiation. 0Steiner, 1251b, &. 26. Similarly, he was to embrace the mysticism associated with the Rosicrucian tradition or all o his adult li e, eventually &romotin# %nthro&oso&hy as a s&iritually com&lete Rosicrucianism. 7n 1554, Steiner became tutor to the our sons o >auline and Ladislas S&echt in Vienna? one o the children su ered 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 concentration and learnin# ability could be im&roved i the boy were &re&ared to receive the instruction 0!ashin#ton, 1229, &. 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 o esoteric ideas was out o the ,uestion. %nd the s&iritual orces standin# behind me #ave me only one &iece o advice? )@verythin# in the #uise o 7dealistic &hiloso&hyA. 0Steiner B von Sievers, 1255, &. 116. 7n 152; 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# the ma#a-ine into esoteric &aths? =ently and slowly 7 #uided it into esoteric &aths, care ully but clearly, by writin# an essay or the 190th anniversary o =oethe)s birth? C=oethe)s Secret Revelation,. which merely re&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#." 0Steiner B von Sievers, 1255, &. 146 *e married %nna @unic'e in 1522 and the ollowin# year he was as'ed to #ive lectures to the members o the :erlin Theoso&hical Society. Con idently, at the a#e o orty, he &resented himsel as a 8aster, in accordance with his occult belie s that teachin# at a youn#er a#e was in error. Steiner met %nnie :esant while attendin# the Theoso&hical Con#ress o 1202 in London. Dn Dctober 20, 1202, Steiner became =eneral Secretary o 8adame :lavats'y)s Theoso&hical Society, which was at that time under the leadershi& o Col. *enry Dlcott as :lavats'y had died. Steiner led the =erman and %ustrian branches o Theoso&hy or ten years. 0%nnie :esant was to re&lace Dlcott in 120;6. Collin !ilson commented 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

seemed to acce&t 8adame :lavats'y)s basic teachin# that the &resent human race is the i th .root race. 0the 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. 0!ilson, 125;, &&. 13;+1356 7n 1204 the 8aster moved out o %nna @unic'e)s house and into the :erlin Theoso&hical head,uarters where the occultist 8arie von Sievers lived. She became Steiner)s adorin# and devoted disci&le, hel&in# him or#ani-e his li e and attendin# his lectures. *is wi e %nna @unic'e died in 1211, and Steiner eventually married 8arie von Sievers in 1214. %ll his adult li e 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 Glein and <ran- *artman, who initiated Steiner into the .:rothers o Li#ht and the Rosicrucian 7lluminati. 0Gin#, 12;0, &. 2036. *e also bou#ht a membershi& in .8em&his+8israim. rom Theodore Reuss in 1209 0Goeni#, htt&?HHwww.cyberlin'.chHI'oeni#Hsteiner.htm &ara#ra&h 56, 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 0Goeni#, &ara#ra&h 1;6. The mysta#o#ue created an .@soteric School. that held closed meetin#s and utili-ed some 8asonic rituals. 7n 1221 the .@soteric School. was trans ormed into the .<ree Jniversity or *ermeticism. 0Goeni#, &ara#ra&h 326. Steiner borrowed e(tensively rom :lavats'y)s doctrine and too' rom the <rench occulist @li&has Levi)s /o#ma and Ritual o *i#h 8a#ic 0Goeni#, &ara#ra&h 496. Steiner)s %&ocaly&tic Seals are almost identical to Levi)s seals &ictured in the boo'. Steiner ins&ired others, li'e 8a( *eindel, to ound the Rosicrucian <ellowshi& in Dceanside, Cali ornia 0Ken'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 read the %'ashic record to obtain in ormation and channel Larathustra. The %'ashic Record is believed to be an invisible chronicle that records every word s&o'en and deed &er ormed by man'ind since the be#innin# o time. Dccult believers say this record can be ound in the ether and read by clairvoyants. Steiner tau#ht believers how to read to the dead and to meditate on the deceased)s handwritin# in order to communicate with those that have died. *e lectured &ro usely on to&ics such as reincarnation, hy&notism, occult science, Rosicrucianism, Theoso&hy, mystery centers o the middle a#es, astral bodies, #nomes as li e orms, an#els, 'arma, Christian mysticism, how to see s&iritual bein#s, modern initiation, %tlantis, Lemuria, etc. Steiner)s sermons, settin# out his occult teachin#s, were recorded 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 sur ace o the vast body o tenets that he im&arted to his ollowers. /urin# his time as =eneral Secretary o the Theoso&hical Society, Steiner built Rosicrucian Tem&les. Dne lay beneath the Stutt#art *ouse, althou#h many o his ollowers who met u&stairs 'new nothin# o its e(istence. 7n 1212, a ter a doctrinal ri t with %nnie :esant over her claim that Kiddu Grishnamurti was a reincarnation o Christ, the charismatic &ro&het insti#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 order to be ree rom :esant)s theolo#ical restraints and im&ositions. Steiner and some ollowers moved to /ornach, Swit-erland, to build their uto&ia which included an enormous mystical

tem&le 'nown as the =oetheanum. The ori#inal intricately carved and &ainted wooden buildin# burned down durin# Steiner)s day but was re&laced by a subse,uent tem&le desi#ned by Steiner and constructed out o concrete. The second =oetheanum remains the world head,uarters and s&iritual center or %nthro&oso&hy today. Steiner also develo&ed a s&iritual medicine system based on his .S&iritual Science. which incor&orates alchemical, astrolo#ical, Cabalistic, and other ma#ical conce&ts. *is views on illness are unorthodo( when com&ared to contem&orary scienti ic medicine, but they are still u&held and &romoted by his ollowers. <or e(am&le, Steiner viewed certain bacilli as .nothin# else than &hysically embodied demons #enerated by lies,. 0Steiner, 1251b, &. 326 and he claimed that certain children with learnin# disabilities are not really human but inhabited 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 re,uently 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 di erent 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#ht ully shoc'ed when 7 had to say that a ,uite amous university &ro essor 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. 0Steiner, 1253, &&. 33+3;6 @rrors resultin# rom devotion to the dar' #od, %hriman, will be &unished in the orm o diseases in a ollowin# li etime. Too much se( and desire or sensual &leasure in a &ast li e will be &aid bac' with a case o &neumonia in the ne(t li e. Garma will &unish sel ishness with malaria. /evelo&in# healin# orces and overcomin# diseases enables the human to evolve 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 inter ere with 'armic com&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

orced to see' another way or 'armic com&ensation either in this or in another incarnation. 0Steiner, 1229a, &. 1446 Steiner tau#ht that be ore the a#e o nine children, #enerally, should be bro'en o le t+ handedness. Some !aldor teachers attem&t to chan#e children)s dominant hand in order to hel& them in uture incarnations? The &henomenon o le t+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 li e, 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# li e with an intense wea'ness 0Steiner, 1223 lecture, htt&?HHwww.bobnancy.comHretrieved 8arch 3, 2003. Clic' on .!aldor . then .develo&in# child., then .Le t+handed Cross+dominance,. scroll to 8ay 29, 1223 lecture6. Steiner)s alchemy attem&ts to heal all the members com&risin# the human bein#, which includes his conce&t o man as havin# an astral, etheric, .7. and &hysical body. %n im&ortant com&onent o his healin# art is Curative @urythmy. 7t is a ma#ic based system o an#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 sacri iced at certain times o the year and their body &arts used or ma#ical &ur&oses. >rimary 8oon orces 0bein#s6 are believed to come to rest in horns. 7n one ritual resh dun# is stu ed 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&eci ic manner or a s&eci ic time. Rotation must be ast to cause a vorte( and the direction o the stirrin# chan#ed once or twice a minute. This substance, 'nown as &re&aration 900, is diluted with water and s&rayed over ields. :iodynamic &ractitioners claim this ty&e o armin# &roduces more nutritious ood. % #rou& o New Lealand :iodynamic a&ostates believe that cow horns on livin# cows act as antenna attractin# world etheric and world astral orces, while deer radiate orces outwards throu#h their antlers 0%t'inson, htt&?HHrimu.orcon.net.n-H#arudaHboo'sHcowhorns.html , &.16. 7n 1212, drawin# on his li e)s wor' as a mysta#o#ue, Steiner develo&ed !aldor education based on %nthro&oso&hy and his e(&ertise on mystery schools. Steiner died in 1229, be ore the Na-is came to &ower in 1233. !aldor schools remained o&en in Na-i =ermany or years due to the amiable relationshi& between some %nthro&oso&hists, !aldor leadershi&, and the new rulers in =ermany. The schools received criticism rom some &arty members or not bein# strin#ently Na-iN they were however de ended 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 a ter he lew to :ritain that the last !aldor school was closed in =ermany in 1241 0Leschins'y, 1253, &. 2996.

!aldor @ducation is a #ood e(am&le o an im&osed alternate reality with an anti+cult bac'lash ormed in o&&osition to the schools. The sociolo#ist, &sychiatrist, and others interested in investi#atin# cultic studies mi#ht ind the schools and controversy to be o interest. Lamentably, critical research on %nthro&oso&hy and !aldor &ublished in @n#lish is lac'in#. 8ost boo's about Steiner, %nthro&oso&hy, and !aldor are &ublished rom within the enclosed world o %nthro&oso&hy. Contributin# di iculties or the researcher are the secretive, hierarchical, occult tradition rom which Steiner emer#ed, and editorial deletions and revisionism in the &ublications o his recorded lectures by disci&les. Those who study !aldor mi#ht ind that many involved in the schools have absolutely no com&rehension o the subte(t in ormin# !aldor education and that the unin ormed &eo&le tend to .normali-e. the environment. Scholars may also discover that %nthro&oso&hy motivates all !aldor classroom activity and that, or those .in the 'now,. the &eda#o#y and 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 belie s are the reasons or some o the more unusual &ractices, as well as the sometimes humorous, but too+o ten tra#ic, scenarios that sur ace when the esoterically unin ormed lutter with the moths drawn to the li#ht.

Ant ro!oso! " # $octrine of t e Grou!

Sects drawn to occult illumination much li'e what would today be termed .New %#e. were already irmly entrenched in the %merica o the nineteenth century. % ter a &eriod o s&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 :uddhist thou#ht, includin# the theories o 'arma and reincarnation. and &o&ulari-ed *ermetic teachin#s in %merica. .Theoso&hy en$oyed a #lobal boom by the early 1550s. and had an enormous im&act on all subse,uent occult movements 0Ken'ins, 2000, &. 416 includin# %nthro&oso&hy. Rudol Steiner was a white ma#ician and one o the most 'nowled#eable occultists o his time 08er'ur, 1223, &. 316. *e saw the universe as a vast, livin# bein#, inhabited by a multitude 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 once embraced 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#ence rom contem&orary scienti ic thin'in#. Dtherwise stated as .the universe a vast human bein#, the individual a small universe., this ma(im o .truth. was ori#inally ado&ted by occult thin'ers ree rom the restraints im&osed by scienti ic models o the universe and the /arwinian theory o human evolution. %lthou#h the attitude is viewed as erroneous by modern science, ma#ic e(&ert 8ichael =reer writes, in .ircles of /ower, that throu#hout history &eo&le have &ersisted in viewin# the interaction between consciousness and matter as a reality inde&endent o the mind. *e adds that there are still those who embrace this &rinci&le o macrocosm 0#reat universe6 and microcosm 0little universe6 as a more use ul model or e(&erience than the scienti ic belie system acce&ted in %merican culture 0=reer, 122;, &&. 13+146. They ollow in a lon# succession, embracin# this construct &reviously widely disseminated by Cabalists, *ermeticists, =nostics, Neo&latonists and Rosicrucians as they e(erted in luence or centuries. .%s above, so below. a&&ro&riates continuity with

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 esoteric tradition, 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&ly than anyone else. 0Vreede, 2001, bac' cover6. Dnce a&&ointed the head o the 8athematical+%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(ternal orms o divine, s&iritual bein#sN .members o a )s&iritual colony) that, althou#h invisible, wor's directly into the material realm ... E*Fuman souls are ellow members in this community o s&irits in the li e between death and rebirth. 0Vreede, &. 2546. 7n her boo',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&ond to the livin# mirrored ima#e o the bein#s o the star world and describin# &lants as bein#s with sel +consciousness in a #rou& soul which e(ists .as the o s&rin# o the s&irits o wisdom. 0&. 2536, 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, $ust as we also bear in our head an ima#e o the entire stellar universe. %#ain we ind the human bein# as the synthesis, the &er ect embodiment o the entire cosmos. 0Vreede, 2001, &. 25;6 7n other words, a tuli& is created by a certain #rou& o s&iritual bein#s) orces, while the lily is created by another #rou& o bein#s, whereas, animals #et their orm rom the #ods o the Lodiac. %ll bein#s in the cosmos ma'e u& man. 8an is the world and the world is man. 8acro+microcosmic thin'ers &erceive the world rom inside and outside o their bodies, rather than ob$ectively rom within their s'ulls. Their world is animistic, teemin# with s&iritual bein#s whose &owers create and re#ulate the &hysical world. 7n 8arch 1210, 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, in the brain, men are mirror+ima#es o the activities and bein#s o the macrocosm. 0Steiner, 1235, &. 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&iritual bein#s in the cosmos. 7n !aldor education, Steiner)s .True Nature o 8an. " more commonly 'nown by the unin ormed as his .child develo&ment model. " is based on his conce&t o man as &hysical, etheric, astral, and .7.. 7t is e(tremely hel& ul to be amiliar with Steiner)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 etheric body enters 0si#naled by #rowth o secondary teeth6, and delayin# intellectual thin'in# until a ter the a#e o ourteen when the astral body su&&osedly incarnates. %ccordin# to Steiner, these s&iritual bodies incarnate in seven+year increments, a ter birth, as the &hysical body #rows. They are believed to leave the &hysical body a ter death and reincarnate a ter a &eriod o cosmic e(istence s&ent with s&iritual bein#s in the universe. The &hysical body is the hereditary body o lesh and bones. :ein#s in the cosmos cause the &hysical body to

#row as well as hold it to#ether. :ein#s that live in the chest move the blood as the heart is not a &um&. >lants, minerals, man, and animals have &hysical bodies. The etheric body incarnates around the a#e o seven. .7t is visible to the seer and has a&&ro(imately the same orm as the &hysical body. 7t is a body o orces. 0Steiner, 1251b, &.226. .% whole &eo&le. 0ethnic and .racial. #rou&s6 share the rudiments o a common etheric body 0Steiner, 1251b, &. 4;6. The etheric body in the male is emale, and visa versa. 7t a&&ears as .a orm o li#ht e(tendin# everywhere, but only sli#htly, beyond the orm o the &hysical body. 0Steiner, 1251b, &. 236. The loosenin# o baby teeth and #rowth o secondary teeth is a si#n that the etheric body is incarnatin#. The etheric body never leaves the &hysical body until death, .e(ce&t durin# certain states o 7nitiation. 0Steiner, 1251b, &. 336. 7t loosens i a &erson #ets a ri#ht or snee-es. 7 a body &art alls aslee& and tin#les it is because the etheric body tem&orarily has le t that &art o the &hysical body. .7 a hand, or instance, has #one to slee&, the seer can &erceive the etheric &art o the hand &rotrudin# li'e a #loveN &arts o the etheric brain also &rotrude when a man is in a state o hy&nosis. 0Steiner, 1251b, &. 346. 8an, &lants, and animals have etheric bodies. *umans and animals have astral bodies that bear eelin#s such as sorrow or $oy. The astral body whirls about in s&ace see'in# the a&&ro&riate &arents or the reincarnation &rocess. To a .seer,. it resembles a bell+sha&e o&enin# downwards 0Steiner, 1251b, &. 436. .% whole &eo&le. share a common astral body that .lives within a 'ind o astral cloud and is the body o the <ol'+S&irit. 0Steiner, 1251b, &. 4;6. 7t is released into the &hysical body between ourteen to twenty+one years o a#e. Steiner tau#ht that all human astral bodies leave the &hysical body durin# slee&. They .wind their way, in s&iral orm, out o the &hysical body. into the cosmic community o s&iritual bein#s, returnin# to the &hysical body u&on wa'in# 0Steiner, 1292, &.1046. !hile united with &lanetary bein#s, the astral body drin's the orces o bein#s associated with 8ercury, 8ars, Ku&iter, Venus, Sun, etc. These &lanetary bein#s #ive the astral body what it needs to e(ist. /urin# slee&, the astral body is in .union with the starry world, the astral world. 0&. 1096 and returns to the microcosm when the &erson wa'es. S&iritually advanced man has an individual .7. body. This se&arates him rom animals and lower humanity, ma'in# him divine. The .7. leaves the &hysical body and accom&anies the astral body durin# slee&. The .7. is the body that can be trained to remember &ast lives in =reece and %tlantis, etc. The s&iritually advanced will develo& .7)s. that can remember &ast lives, and, a ter death, this body will be able to locate those that it wor'ed with durin# a &revious li e on @arth. .The anthro&oso&hical movement is to hel& and #uide &eo&le to remember in the ri#ht way. 0Steiner, 1220, &. 146. %nthro&oso&hists who have develo&ed their .7)s. reincarnate in core #rou&s that have been s&read around the #lobe and will instruct others who have not develo&ed their .7)s. in what they may .thin', eel, will and do.. The .earth and all it can yield will belon# to those. who develo& their .7)s. 0&&. 23+246. Dne o the more in luential yet eccentric medieval alchemists to embrace the micro+ macrocosmic theory o ancient =reece was >aracelsus 01423+19416. *is writin#s have e(erted an in luence or centuries ri#ht u& to modern branches o Theoso&hy and %nthro&oso&hy 0Roob, 122;, &. 196. Claimin# to have visited with ma#icians in @#y&t and %rabia, he is said to have traveled to 7ndia be ore settlin# in :asle, Swit-erland, where he tau#ht medicine at the university and develo&ed his version o alchemy which incor&orated Cabala, astral ma#ic, and Christian mysticism. %ll Cabalistic si#ns, accordin# to >aracelsus, could be reduced to two " the macrocosm and the microcosm. *e tau#ht that the si#n o the macrocosm is a si(+&ointed starN the sacred symbol o Solomon)s Seal. The

microcosm, a ive+&ointed star or &enta#ram, re&resented man and all occult orces. These si#ns had ma#ical &ower over su&ernatural bein#s. 0S&ence, 1223, &. 29; B &. 2;36. 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 lecture recorded in cha&ter ive he claimed that once, while on a s&iritual $ourney in the s&irit world, he became aware o a lonely occult school in Central @uro&e that im&arted the .over&owerin#. and #reat wisdom o the meditation 'nown as Solomon)s Gey. %ccordin# to him, this wisdom #oes ri#ht bac' in history throu#h the 8iddle %#es to %ristotle in =reece? the tradition ori#inated in %sia and %le(ander the =reat brou#ht it to =reece via 8acedonia. This symbol &layed a ma$or role in the Central @uro&ean mystery school that Steiner clairvoyantly discovered while in the s&iritual world. Su&&osedly, the master o the occult school would instruct &u&ils to ma'e a star with their bodies by standin# with their eet a&art and their arms stretched out above. :y assumin# this &osition the &u&ils .became conscious that they really do e(ist. 0Steiner, 1239, &.346. % ter dee& meditation the &u&ils learned that they could write themselves into s&ace and eel the very marrow in their bones. They went so ar inside o themselves that they le t their bodies and they learned to 'now the lines o orce that the #ods had drawn to establish and ound the world 0&. 3;6. *avin# discovered the &aths to the #ods throu#h 8an and by &lacin# themselves in the s&irit+bein# o man, the &u&ils learned to loo' bac' into &ast %tlantean times and even urther 0&. 356. .The teacher would say to the &u&il? .:ehold, 8an is a 8icrocosmN he imitates in his or#anism what #oes on in the #reat Jniverse. 0&.326. This conce&t o man as &enta#ram was a avorite to&ic o study or medieval wi-ards and alchemists. The ima#e is ound in numerous Renaissance ma#ic te(tboo's and alchemical sources. 7t rea&&ears in Steiner)s %nthro&oso&hical teachin# today, and, remar'ably, in the lesson boo's and classroom rituals o !aldor &u&ils. /urin# the Renaissance, in luential ma#icians such as %#ri&&a o Nettesheim 01453+19336 and 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#ic 0Mates, 12;2, &. 1026 and his wor' was well 'nown by Steiner who described him in the boo' M#sticism and Modern Thought. %#ri&&a)s Christian, Cabalistic, alchemical, and ma#ical &hiloso&hy is very close to the Rosicrucianism e(&ressed in the Rosicrucian 8ani estos associated with the mythical Christian Rosen'reut-, and it was a ma$or source or most Renaissance ma#icians) wor'. 8any te(ts were &ublished about the #reat macrocosm 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 at the 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. 0Clulee, 1255, &. 1426. 7n a lecture entitled The 0elationship of Man to the Sun, Steiner reca&itulated his own doctrine by tellin# his audience that %#ri&&a 'new .,uite well that in the several &lanets o our system are s&iritual :ein#s o s&eci ic character and 'ind. 0Steiner, 1239, &. 426. *e went 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 star or &lanet,. rule .its movements in the Jniverse. and .hold sway indeed over its whole activity.. The 7ntelli#ence o the .@arth Star. was man himsel . 8an had been #iven .the tas' to re#ulate and rule the @arth by the !orld+S&irit.. .Throu#h what he is, throu#h the orces and &owers he bears within his bein#, 8an #ives to @arth the im&ulse or her

movement round the Sun, or her movement alto#ether in cosmic s&ace.. 8an is .Lord o the @arth. 0Steiner, 1239, &&. 90+916. 7n turn, %#ri&&a)s ma#ical universe had been in luenced by the doctrines o the le#endary *ermes Trisme#istus " Cthe &atriarch o natural mysticism and alchemyP " 0Roob, 122;, &. 56, which claimed that man was the ima#e o =od and #i ted with omni&otence. Li'e %#ri&&a and earlier ma#icians, Steiner was also to systemi-e the in luence o the &lanets, numbers, *ebrew words, the Lodiac, an#els and other su&ernatural bein#s, relatin# their connection to s&eci ic or#ans o man. %&&earin# throu#hout Steiner)s doctrine are re erences to his trinity o %hriman, Luci er, and what he calls .the Christ S&irit.. Two thousand years a#o, the Christ " who e(isted in the Sun " came to @arth and inhabited Kesus) body or a &eriod o three years? this Christ s&irit had also inhabited other #reat s&iritual leaders o human 'ind such as Larathustra. Luci er had a human incarnation about 9000 years a#o in China, and %hriman incarnated in the !est in 1225. Steiner)s &ath o initiation enables disci&les to remember &ast lives and #ain the ability to reco#ni-e ellow believers in uture reincarnations. This ability to remember &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 be crucial 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. 0Steiner, 1220, &&. 22+236 !ith the hel& o the %'ashic record and his &ro essed clairvoyant abilities, he laid out the evolution 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 <i th @&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 reincarnate to#ether in .core #rou&s. to instruct others in what to .thin', eel, will and do,. and that they will 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. There ore, we should not re#ard the anthro&oso&hical movement and s&iritual li e as mere theory but rather as somethin# that is #iven to us now to &re&are what is necessary or the uture o humanity. 0Steiner, 1220, &. 246

Steiner)s lectures are &e&&ered with racism and anti+Semitism. *is racist doctrine is similar to 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 des Ersten Welt%rieges 012;4, =% 1;4b6. Dn the 7nternet discussion #rou&, waldor + criticsQto&ica.comStaudenmaier translated some =erman Steiner te(t into @n#lish 0see &osts rom Se&tember 2002 titled .s'in color and s&irit. archived at htt&?HHwww.waldor critics.or#HactiveHarchives.html 6. *e concludes that Steiner acce&ted as obvious the basic Theoso&hical notion that intelli#ence and beauty are correlated with .racial 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 that Steiner subscribes to .esoteric /arwinism. in which in erior .races. o his li etime were believed by him to be descendants o the earlier Lemurian and %tlantean root races which were devolvin# &hysically and s&iritually toward an animal state. 7n contrast, the i th root race, the %ryans, continued evolvin# u&wards, towards universal humanity. <ollowers will be saved rom Steiner)s &ro&hetic, a&ocaly&tic .!ar o %ll %#ainst %ll. " when white humanity 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 i th 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&letion o the #reat battles between white and colored human'ind. <uture events are re,uently re lected in &rior events. Mou see, we stand be ore 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. 0Steiner, 12;4, &. 35, translated by >. Staudenmaier6. 7n a 1219 sermon in Stutt#art, Steiner said that advanced s&irituality is tied to e(ternal s'in color 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 i th cultural e&och, which has been &re&ared by the our other cultural e&ochs. %nd our tas' must be to ac,uaint 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

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. 0Steiner, 12;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. 0Steiner, 1251a, &. 536 Steiner)s doctrine o .esoteric /arwinism. was stee&ed in :lavats'y)s basic theoso&hical teachin#sN .sava#es. are considered de#enerate remnants o older racial orms devolvin# into a&es. % year be ore he died he was still &reachin# the same sermon? E!Fe are not $usti ied 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 &er ect. The only su&eriority we have over them is that, while startin# rom the same conditions, we did not de#enerate as they did. 7 mi#ht there ore 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. 0Steiner, 125;, &.1236 7n 1204, 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 %tlantean lood. Steiner)s clairvoyant &owers enabled him to see ar bac' in time, be ore the be#innin# o the world, lon# be ore that mar'ed by historians and scientists. *is &sychic abilities enabled him to describe %tlantis in elaborate detail, when humans still had ma#ical &owers and could li t their hands above &lants to ma'e them #row ra&idly, and when man drove 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&iritual state and hi#her sta#es o evolution with more .beauti ul bodies,. they &hysically and s&iritually re#ressed. Steiner and other Theoso&hists asserted that these .lower races. were devolvin# toward an animal state, while the i th 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 the restraints o the &hysical body in his uture Vulcan &hase o cosmic evolution.

%nthro&oso&hists continue to u&hold Steiner)s racist teachin#s claimin# that there is .no ,uestion o a racial doctrine.. This is documented in an article entitled 2o 3uestion of a 0acial octrine, utch 0eport is 0ead#, &ublished in the ma#a-ine about li e in the %nthro&oso&hical Society, ,nthroposoph# Worldwide, No. 4, 8ay 2000, &a#e 3. The article records that on %&ril <ool)s day, 2000, the .%nthro&oso&hy and the Ruestion o Race Commission. " a &anel o %nthro&oso&hists a&&ointed to study and re&ort on whether or not 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 0see van :aarda, et al, 2000 or source o the re&ort in /utch6. The ma#a-ine article states that the /utch re&ort .con irmed the indin#s o its 1225 interim re&ort that Rudol Steiner)s com&lete wor's contain neither a racial doctrine nor racist comments.. Critics o %nthro&oso&hy who have studied Steiner)s doctrine and the /utch re&ort observed that notably racist wor's were not included in the study and that some 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 that .would be ille#al in the Netherlands i &roclaimed &ublicly by anyone today.. The Commission recommended that .these si(teen ,uotes, as well as si(ty+seven, easily misunderstood 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 o stereoty&es in ethnolo#y lessons.. Some %nthro&oso&hists in @uro&e have &laced ads in ma$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 o the 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 but rather the e ect o such remar's on the &ublic.. The re&ort was to .identi y the acts in order to develo& a strate#y or dealin# with attac's,. because, as van :aarde em&hasi-ed, .!e cannot a ord to lose.. >resumably he means that initiates are obli#ated to &roselyti-e Steiner)s racist doctrine or society)s redem&tion and the ul illment o his &ro&hecies. >eter Staudenmaier studied the /utch re&ort and commented on the Commission)s statement? .The Commission con irmed the indin#s o its 1225 interim re&ort, that Rudol Steiner)s com&lete wor's contain neither a racial doctrine nor racist comments.. Dn /ecember 12, 2002, in a &ost to waldor criticsQto&ica.com entitled .7t ta'es an e(&ert. Staudenmaier wrote? This is what %nthro&oso&hists are as'ed to believe. Since nobody ac,uainted 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 mani est 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 in ormed 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

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. 0Staudenmaier, 2002, /ecember 12, htt&?HHwww.waldor critics.or#HactiveHarchives.html search archive6. Steiner)s hierarchical scheme o human evolution is subtly incor&orated into the !aldor curriculum. %s &art o their .history. lessons, &u&ils learn ancient 7ndian reli#ious stories as well as >ersian, @#y&tian+Chaldean, =reco+Roman, and =ermanic+Nordic myths which are meant to $o# &ast li e memories. Jnin ormed &arents mi#ht inter&ret the lessons as .multiculturalism.N in reality, however, &u&ils are bein# &assed throu#h a covert mystery initiation, corres&ondin# to Steiner)s doctrine o the s&iritual evolution o the %ryan. Steiner believed that 8anu saved an .advanced. #rou& o &eo&le rom the %tlantis lood, #uidin# them to 7ndia. They evolved .u&wards. a ter a >ersian initiation, @#y&tian initiation, etc., and accordin# to Steiner, will continue to evolve .hi#her. durin# his &redicted uture &eriods o @arth. The ollowin# e(am&le rom a !aldor &u&il)s main lesson boo' re lects how %nthro&oso&hic myth+ma'in# is woven into the curriculum? The Kourney rom %tlantis to 7ndia Thousands o years a#o there was a vast continent named %tlantis. The &eo&le used their ma#ic or evil and #reedy &ur&oses. Dn %tlantis there was a wise man called 8anu. =reat love lived with 8anu. D ten he would s&end time alone thin'in# with his heart about =od. Dne day when 8anu was sittin# by a &ond he saw a small ish that needed hel&. %s the ish #rew, 8anu continued to hel& the ish. !hen the ish was as bi# as a whale he told 8anu that the #reat rains were comin# to wash away evil in the world. 8anu built an %r' and illed it with &lants and 'ind &eo&le. The hu#e ish &ulled the %r' to the Northern 8ountains o 7ndia. The &eo&le were over$oyed at the si#ht o the rainbow and or the irst time they saw the bri#ht blue s'iesS 0>ersonal collection6. Steiner &ro&hesied that the &ure and advanced will evolve into various orms on their way to becomin# &ure s&irit, ree rom the restraints o the &hysical body. These uture evolutions o man include a &lant+li'e body durin# Ku&iter and a bee+li'e state when @arth becomes Venus. :y the Vulcan &eriod, man)s &resent or#ans o re&roduction will atro&hy and the s&iritually advanced will instead have a hi#hly evolved laryn( as an or#an o re#enerationN man will #ive birth by s&ea'in# another into e(istence. 7n other words, in uture, 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 will ly. Those who don)t com&ly with Steiner)s way, who do not develo& their .7., will be destined to li e in his eccentric hell, when durin# Ku&iter, they will become .subordinate nature s&irits.. 0Steiner, 1229b, &. ;06

7n the late 1500s and early 1200s, in =ermany, Steiner and many others who undertoo' occult ,uests, were ins&ired by the wor's o =oethe, who e,uated Christ with the Sun. /urin# this &eriod, there was a &ush by vol'isch movements to return to =ermany)s roots o neo&a#an sun worshi& " re&lacin# Christ worshi& " in order to restore the .true. Teutonic reli#ion o the ancient %ryans 0see Noll, 12296. Steiner)s enli#htenment incor&orated a Sun trinity that consists o the &hysical Sun, the second Sun, and most im&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 ahrimanic bein#s. reside 0Vreede, 2001, &. 416. 7n the corona, la##ard an#elic bein#s, that remained behind 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 0&. 416. %ll the bein#s that live on the &hysical Sun studied by science .must all be re#arded as havin# Tremained behindA. 0&. 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. 0&. 426. %nd last but not least, .the irst and hi#hest Sun is the Sun o Christ.. .The Christ Sun has united itsel with the @arth. 0&. 436. 8any &eo&le &artici&atin# in !aldor schools do not 'now much, i anythin#, about the esoteric subte(t. <ollowers o Steiner o ten claim that %nthro&oso&hy is not a reli#ion but rather a &hiloso&hy, and Steiner was a scientist, artist, educator, and &hiloso&her. Reli#ion scholars, however, have classi ied %nthro&oso&hy as a reli#ion and Steiner)s doctrine certainly meets criteria or bein# classi ied 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 ChristN there 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 in earth, air, ire and waterN there is a destiny o ollowers and assurance o eternal li e in the orm o reincarnationN a &ath to ollow to #ain &sychic si#ht in order to see s&iritual bein#s that 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 will yield.. %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 in ormed or unin ormed. 8y husband and 7 were not s&iritual see'ers &re+!aldor and remain so &ost+!aldor . 7n the &ersonal essay that ollows, 7 shall attem&t to tell our story? how 7 the reethin'er 0one who does not acce&t the belie in bein#s concealed behind the material world6 ound mysel &ro&&in# u& a reli#ious movement without my 'nowled#e. *ow 7, who values li e as e(tremely &recious because it is most li'ely inite, ound mysel , alon# with my husband and dau#hter, &artici&atin# in a reli#ious movement that embraces reincarnation as a main doctrinal tenet " but only learnin# this a ter we le tS Loo'in# bac' rom a more in ormed &ers&ective, no lon#er livin# in an esoteric 'nowled#e void, there seem to be several actors that contributed to our con usion about the movement. The irst has to do with how the #rou& &resented itsel and our &assive acce&tance o the #rou&)s &resentation o in ormation. !e did not actively see' out our own in ormation or our own understandin# o Rudol Steiner until a ter we le t and be#an searchin# or reasons or the &eculiar e(&eriences and &ractices that we had encountered

in the #rou&. The !aldor school did not &resent itsel as &art o a reli#ious movement but, instead, claimed to be a scienti ic, art+based, nonsectarian school, havin# a multicultural em&hasis incor&oratin# stories and estivals rom around the world as well as havin# an environmental ocus. !e believed !aldor )s claim, because Steiner was &ortrayed as a scientist, educator, and &hiloso&her. !e had never heard o Rudol Steiner be ore loo'in# into !aldor , and we assumed that he was as advertised. 7nitially, it never dawned on us that he was a reli#ious leader and that !aldor would be a hub or the dissemination o his belie s. @ven durin# our time in !aldor , Steiner was never re erred 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 unin ormed &erson #arner a better sense o the movement as a reli#ious &henomenon were not em&loyed. Jse o these sorts o words would automatically &lace !aldor in a clearer conte(t or the unin ormed, but they were missin# at our e(+school. 7n the occult tradition, the #rou& also used veiled vocabulary devised by Steiner " i.e., the use o words havin# alternate meanin#s to the de initions 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 you.d e(&ect at an art+based school, really meant develo&in# .&sychic si#ht.. @ven the word .art. ta'es on a di erent meanin# with ac,uired esoteric 'nowled#e. .%rt. becomes .The %rt. 0o ma#ic6. The seculari-ation o reli#ious words became an e ective tool or hidin# the esoteric core rom us as unin ormed &arents. .Sermon. became .lecture,. .occultist. became .scientist,. .&rayer. became .verse,. Steiner)s scheme o reincarnation " Cthe true nature o manP " became .child develo&ment model,. .nature altar. became .nature table,. .&enta#ram. became .star,. .reli#ion. became .science,. and .sectarian. became .nonsectarian.. %nother word with dual meanin#s, .materialistic,. was also used ubi,uitously at our school. 7ts de inition within !aldor culture was .non+s&iritual. " very di erent rom my understandin# o the term in those days, i.e., .see'in# wealth, #oods, com ort and &leasure.. The word .reincarnation. was never used in our &resence at the school and was not mentioned in brochures we read or meetin#s we attended, des&ite the act that reincarnation is a main doctrinal tenet o %nthro&oso&hy crucial to Steiner)s .child develo&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 a ter we le t the school and 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& that Steiner 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 to my awa'enin#. 07 have since discovered that some %nthro&oso&hists involved with the schools s&eculate on whether or not a child mi#ht be the reincarnation o SteinerS6 7 later learned rom an %nthro&oso&hist that words such as .occultist. or .mystic. are considered .labelin# and name callin#. 0althou#h believers have no &roblem usin# such words amon#st themselves, and Steiner utili-ed them as well6. The third actor contributin# to our con usion about !aldor bein# .nonsectarian. has to do with 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& o turn+o +the+last+century =erman history or Renaissance history that mi#ht have made thin#s clearer. 8y amily and other esoteric+illiterate members o the #rou& served as an e ective veil o .normalcy,. contributin# to the #eneral con usion that runs ram&ant in !aldor .

7t has lon# been customary or the %nthro&oso&hical movement to o er only the .outer orm. o %nthro&oso&hy to &arents not .in the 'now,. as re lected in the ollowin# collection o ,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 in ormation, su&&ly visible im&ressions 0e.#., 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. 0Kun#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 divorced rom 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. 0!il'inson, 1223, &. 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 schoolS The Rece&tionist does not .need to 'now. o the arcane s&iritual bac'#round o #eolo#y teachin# in Class 3. 0!hitehead, 1223, & 196 %nd another e(am&le? E8Fatters &ertainin# to the use o certain te(tual material 0thou#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 sa e#uard is needed rom indiscriminate sharin#. 0Leist, 125;, &. 196 %n %nthro&oso&hist in the Netherlands writes? %nthro&oso&hy has always been valued in the cultural li e 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, o ten 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 humanityN anthro&oso&hy does not have to be .sold.. 0/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#

Valley, New Mor', made the ollowin# remar's about the !aldor controversy, e(cer&ted rom his tal' #iven on November 13, 1222, at a con erence to which he invited !aldor critic /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.waldor critics.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 a ter 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. 0&ara#ra&h 216 To deny the reli#ious basis o !aldor education " 7 would say it a#ain " to satis y &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 wa lin# on this matter. 7 would say we are reli#ious schools. Reli#ious schools &lusN reli#ious schools with a di erenceN reli#ious schools li#ht " whatever you want to call it. 0&ara#ra&h 236 The time has come or us to sto& &ussy ootin# 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#oS Sto& &ussy ootin# around. Tell everybody what we are about. The day they wal' into the school, let them 'now then. 0&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 classroomN whether we mean to or not, it)s there. 0&ara#ra&h 236 0Schwart-, 1222, November 13, retrieved romhtt&?HHwww.waldor critics.or# 6. Schwart- later wrote to /an /u#an to say that he was ired rom Sunbrid#e a ter #ivin# his s&eech and was demoted to !aldor teacher. The school)s boo'let that we, as &ros&ective &arents, had received in the mail, "0udolf Steiner 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&e ace was &rescribed by the master or the movement literature. Steiner)s name was, however, meanin#less to us at the time, because we were i#norant o Rudol Steiner and %nthro&oso&hy. >ublished by 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 a iliation or e(&lanation o the .s&iritual. or esoteric basis o !aldor . 7n retros&ect, 7 reco#ni-e the real meanin# o a !aldor student)s .&aintin#,. de&ictin# the %nthro&oso&hic icon o the Sun and rainbow, &ictured in the boo'let. The e(&lanation, a veiled re erence to cosmic bein#s

and reincarnation, states .% ; year old e(&lores the world o color, one o the many )worlds) to be discovered when children enter school.. 0Steiner schools ellowshi&, 1252, &.16 %lthou#h .%nthro&oso&hy. was not mentioned in the brochure, and is not yet a household word 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# an art+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, be ore we had a com&uter and access to the 7nternet, 7 had consulted my !ebster)s New !orld /ictionary but ound no mention o the word. 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 o ten used as a sim&le e(&lanation or answer to a ,uestionN or e(am&le, a teacher mi#ht have res&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 we stru##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 o .education.. Volunteerism was re,uired o all &arents. 8y many hours, however, never seemed to satis y 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 their worldview, because? The &erson in whom anthro&oso&hical wisdom a&&ears must be com&letely unim&ortant com&ared to this wisdomN 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 0Steiner, 1220, &. 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 concerns were always alleviated by other #rou& members 0some with and some without esoteric 'nowled#e6, with whom we had become riends, 7 tended to i#nore my mountin# con usion and rustration. !e were &er&etually con#ratulated or choosin# !aldor or our dau#hter)s education, and other schoolin# systems were &ut down with re#ularity. !aldor was the best education available and all children in the world should have the &rivile#e o attendin# such schools, so we believed. Dverhearin# some !aldor ers 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# le t+handed children over to the ri#ht hand. !asn)t this &ractice rowned u&on nowU !hen 7 learned that blac' and brown crayons were not &ermitted in the 'inder#artens, 7 as'ed my dau#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

assortment o other colors. 7 remar'ed that it seemed racist. !hat was #oin# onU 7 later learned rom readin# Steiner that .blac' is the s&iritual ima#e o the li eless. and that dar' s'in is a si#n o s&iritual in eriority. Dnce 7 was assured that %nthro&oso&hy was .so new,. but in the uture all schools would im&lement such educational advancements. %lthou#h some &eo&le at the school seemed to be so well+meanin#, 'ind, so earnest in their .strivin#s., and so devoted to o erin# 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# a ter we)d le t the school, an attem&t was made to answer other ,uestionin# &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# re erence to Steiner)s teachin#s, she admits in so many words that %nthro&oso&hy is an .e#re#ore. " the ma#ic term or the collective ener#y or #rou& soul believed to be created by a #rou& wor'in# on the &hysical &lane. This bein# is su&&osedly su&&orted and enlivened by hi#h s&iritual bein#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 in the universe,. but she doesn)t #ive details about Steiner)s &ath, such as his color meditations, and ails to e(&lain that the &ath, when &racticed, su&&osedly ma'es the s&irit world active and visible in the &hysical realm. She believes that .%nthro&oso&hy is neither reli#ious nor secular,. because it transcends reli#ion and .eitherHor cate#ories. and reassures &arents that teachers and sta don)t have to be %nthro&oso&hists, but are only as'ed to be .o&en. to %nthro&oso&hy, and to wor' rom that &ers&ective. Sadly, once a#ain, she &er&etuates the myth that !aldor is nonsectarian, that %nthro&oso&hy is &hiloso&hy, scienti ic and .not reli#ious,. and that bein# s&iritual is somethin# other than bein# reli#ious. She clearly states that !aldor di ers rom other educational systems because it .ac'nowled#es a s&iritual basis to our lives and includes develo&ment o the s&iritual side o our bein#,. notin# that this is what ma'es %nthro&oso&hy .a&&ear as i it were a reli#ion.. 8s. Garlstad also tal's about the uture? Rudol Steiner re,uently 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 012246, 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 0Garlstad, 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 0not 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

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 belie s we have about the s&iritual world and come to a new study o the s&iritual world based on a 20th century EsicF scienti ic outloo' 0Garlstad, 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 di erence 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 re erence to any s&eci ic reli#ion, or to %nthro&oso&hy 0Garlstad, 2001+2002, &&. 2+36. Mears earlier, when 7 had as'ed a !aldor teacher what %nthro&oso&hy is, the answer 7 #ot was Cthe study o man.P 7 would have &re erred a more honest a&&roach, an o&en dialo#ue about the very real di erences that e(ist in a !aldor reality. :etter yet, 7 wish the brochure 7)d received in the mail as a &ros&ective &arent, all those years a#o, had in ormed me that Steiner)s esoteric reli#ion is undamental to !aldor education and that reincarnation is a main tenet o the school)s &eda#o#y and curriculum. This 'ind o in ormation would have s&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. The winnin# &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 in ormed me that com&etition was not &ermitted at the 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 all the children attendin# the school. These &ortraits would be ,uic'ly drawn by &u&ils with blac' mar'ers on small &ieces o &a&er, then arran#ed and sil'+screened on shirts. Then 7 learned that mar'ers were not &ermitted at the school. %ssumin# that this was an environmental 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# children should not draw linearlyS *ow odd this seemed to meS 7 was amiliar with the wor' o Rhoda Gello## and *oward =ardner who have documented the innate ability o children universally to e(&ress themselves with lines. %lso, the Canadian scientist /r. Kohn Gennedy 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 un old a ter #ivin# her a &encil at a very early a#e " savin# every drawin#, &lannin# to document one child)s artistic e(&ressions and &ro#ression throu#h childhood. !as not !aldor art+basedU !hy was line+ma'in# in the early #rades tabooU

!hen the re&resentative rom the school who had &honed me arrived at my house she told me that !aldor is not an art school, that there is no art or art room in !aldor and that the wet+on+wet &aintin#s made by &u&ils were somethin# else " but what were they, i not artU !hy had 7 moved across states a ter #raduatin# rom the School o the %rt 7nstitute o Chica#o and #ivin# birth to our dau#hter in Dhio, to #ive my child what we were led to believe was an art+based, &ro#ressive, nonsectarian !aldor educationU The reality was slowly sin'in# in " !aldor did not o er the 'ind o art 7 had e(&ected. There was no ree artistic e(&ression. Ty&ical children)s drawin#s were missin# rom the classrooms. 7 said to the visitor, .!aldor is li'e a cult " you all ollow Steiner, he is your #uru. 7 have never elt so o&&ressed, this is li'e a reli#ion.. 7 was ri#ht, but 7 did not 'now that 7 was ri#ht. The visitor assured me that this was not so and that she had .never elt so ree.. 7 had no in'lin# at that time that thousands o Steiner)s sermons had been &ublished and distributed by devotees rom within the closed world o %nthro&oso&hy. 7n those days 7 had not entered the occult world consciously, 7 was in an .in ormation void. tryin# to unction in an %nthro&oso&hic environment without any 'nowled#e o the occult subte(t. 7 still believed that Steiner was as advertised " a scientist, educator, and &hiloso&her " instead o an occultist, mysta#o#ue, and %nthro&oso&hist. Lon# a ter we le t !aldor , as 7 si ted throu#h sermon a ter 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 a ter its bodily e(&erience, only while the a ter+e ects 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 0Steiner, 1234, & 236. 7n 'inder#arten, my dau#hter &ainted sheets o wet watercolor &a&er that had the corners rounded o . %t irst, only sin#le colors o yellow or blue were used. 7 thou#ht this was odd and wondered why the children didn)t &aint ima#es. 7 as'ed the teacher why they were only allowed one color and what the &ur&ose or these .&aintin#s. was. She said it was Steiner)s .color theory. and that the children were develo&in# their .ima#ination.. % ter leavin# the school, 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 his body be ore the chan#e o teeth are blue and yellowN out o these colours the soul weaves its connection with the hereditary body and trans orms it 08c%llen, 1259, &. 446. 7n other words, &aintin# a sheet o wet watercolor &a&er with yellow or with blue hel&s the reincarnatin# 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 disc surrounded by red, or vise versa. Mears later 7 was to learn that Steiner also o ered his adult &u&ils meditative e(ercises that resembled my dau#hter)s disc &aintin#s. /isci&les were to &er orm the ollowin# e(ercise seven times in the mornin#s? Conce&t o a blue circular disc with red surroundin#. Then trans ormation into a red dis' with blue surround. Reconversion into the ori#inal state.

/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 0Steiner, 1255b, &. 1;6. The more 7 studied Rosicrucianism, Theoso&hy, and %nthro&oso&hy, the more 7 be#an to see the .discs. as &lanets or suns. 7 now thin' o the !aldor color e(ercises in terms o mandalas and talismans. % ter discoverin# Theoso&hist %nnie :esant)s and Charles !. Leadbeater)s boo', Thoughtforms, &ublished the year be ore Steiner became =eneral Secretary o Theoso&hy in %ustria and =ermany, 7 be#an to understand that these ty&es o abstractions o the s&iritual world were in vo#ue durin# Steiner)s day and in luenced him. Dn my dau#hter)s rounded &a&ers she also &ainted ima#es o suns and rainbows that 7 later understood to be %nthro&oso&hical icons. 7 have since learned rom Chassidic Rabbi Monassan =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 de ined 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 head,uarters 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. 0=ershom, 122;, 8ay, htt&?HHwww.&inenet.comHIroosterHmulti.html brain &a#e 36. Steiner tau#ht that color is the livin# or#an o s&iritual bein#s and that color can heal " a conce&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 my ac,uired 'nowled#e, 7 now can #ras& why an %nthro&oso&hic doctor advised us to #ive our child 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 the healin# in luence o color. 0Richards, 1250, &. 236. !aldor )s meticulous adherence to s&eci ic wall colors o classrooms, &er Steiner)s instructions, is related to color devotion. The reason or use o color in !aldor ta'es on new meanin# a ter discoverin# the ollowin# sermon by Steiner to his disci&les #iven u&stairs at the Stutt#art *ouse 0below which lay the red and blue Rosicrucian tem&le6? Mou will best reali-e the si#ni icance o colour i we describe how it a ects the occultist. <or this it is necessary that a &erson should ree himsel com&letely rom everythin# else and

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 a ter a &eriod o this com&lete devotion the walls would disa&&ear rom his clairvoyant visionN 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 which o&ens u& there is a world o &urely s&iritual &henomenaN s&iritual acts and s&iritual i#ures become visible. !e need only re lect 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 di erent '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 wayN 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 &articular instance 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 trainedN it enters a certain relationshi& with the same bein#s. 0<letcher, 125;, &. 296 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 will de&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 to violetHor 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 have a 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 o the &lanets s&ea', &lacin# themselves in a way be ore the wor'in#s o the stars. 0Vreede, 2001, &. 25;6. 7 irst truly understood my dau#hter)s &aintin#s as talismans and mandalas a ter delvin# into Rosicrucian based ma#ic boo's or the irst time in my li e. 7t was there that 7 irst learned about color rom an occult &ers&ective. T%L7S8%N %n ob$ect 0stone, 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 &er orm a s&eci ic unction 0!hitcomb, 1222, & 9436. Com&lementary colors, when &laced side by side, are said to attract the ener#ies associated with the colors and can act as attractors or %'ashic currents 0!hitcomb, 1222, &. 234 and =reer, 122;, &. 536. 7 also learned that heavy watercolor &a&er is commonly used in the ma#ic world to ma'e healin# talismans because &a&er and . luid condensers. can hold etheric char#es 0=reer, 122;, &&. 222+2236. 7 be#an to see the rationale behind

my dau#hter)s &iles o wet+on+wet color+washed watercolor &a&ers. 7 inally understood that colors were thou#ht e icacious or healin# in Steiner)s world because color is the or#an o the s&iritual world. Some e(+!aldor &arents have re&orted that their children have been wra&&ed in colored sil' and made to &aint &a&er with color or healin# &ur&oses. Steiner tau#ht that .our etheric body may be assisted by s&iritual bein#s by usin# corres&ondin# colour. 0<letcher, 125;, &. 296, and he said? % nervous, that is to say e(citable child should be treated di erently 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.. 08uller, 125;, &&. ;+56. Steiner warned and advised? To deli#ht in art that is materialistic increases the di iculties 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 li e we must brea' ourselves o &leasures and desires which can be satis ied only by the &hysical instrument 0Steiner, 1251b, &. 396. 7n irst #rade, %nthro&oso&hic drawin#s were co&ied by &u&ils rom the teacher)s drawin#s on 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--y ima#es o aceless #nomes minin# in metal mines and aceless humans with an#els standin# behind them, be#an to a&&ear. 7 was assured that !aldor was $ust teachin# children stories rom around the world. % ter leavin#, and a ter s&endin# countless hours studyin# 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 7 saw him. 7 'new what ima#es o the Sun re&resented. 7 be#an to match Steiner)s adult teachin#s to the &u&ils) wor'. !hen 7 saw my child)s drawin# o #nomes minin# in a metal mine 7 reco#ni-ed Steiner)s %nthro&oso&hic conte(t. Steiner tau#ht that #nomes actually e(ist and can be ound in metal minesS 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 mani est 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,

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 ac,uisition o ob$ective consciousness, 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. 0Steiner, 1229b, &. 336 7 now com&rehend that the %nthro&oso&hical conce&t o .art. is very di erent rom mine. 7 have a com&letely di erent understandin# o what !aldor ers mean when they say they develo& ima#ination " they mean they develo& &sychic si#ht. %nd by art, they mean .The %rt. 0o ma#ic6. Steiner said .7 you brin# children as many livin# &ictures as &ossible, i you educate them by s&ea'in# in &ictures, then you sow the seed or a continuous retention o o(y#en or continuous develo&ment, because you direct the children toward the uture, toward li e a ter death. 0Steiner, 1223, &. 326. @ven an innocuous &icture o a butter ly has a dee&er meanin# when you come across Steiner)s e(&lanation or this lesson, a child)s irst %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 li e, 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 be ore 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 butter ly comin# orth rom the chrysalis. %s the butter ly soars u& rom the chrysalis, so a ter 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 di erent 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. 0Richards, 1250, &. 996

8y e(amination and documentation o other !aldor &u&il)s lessons veri ies that they too co&ied %nthro&oso&hy+ or+$uniors o the board durin# class, and not only in &icture orm. Dne child wrote, .DJT D< *@%V@N 7NTD :7RT* <RD8 T*@ ST%RS TD T*@ @%RT* 7 *%V@ <LD!N.. %nother child transcribed, .7n Se&tember 8ichael is near, he will hel& us overcome all ear.. Met the schools re,uently deny that they teach %nthro&oso&hy to children. Recently, a orty+ei#ht &a#e ad or %nthro&oso&hy a&&eared in Jtne 8a#a-ine, entitled ",n Emerging .ulture, 0udolf Steiner8s .ontinuing -mpact in the World." The ad states? D&&onents o !aldor education, which is based on Steiner)s insi#hts into child develo&ment, e,uate the curriculum with anthro&oso&hy, which they claim to be a reli#ion. !aldor advocates res&ond that Rudol Steiner)s anthro&oso&hy is deteminedly EsicF nonreli#ious and isn)t tau#ht in !aldor schools anyway 0:am ord B Jtne. 2003, Kune, &. 11 advertisin# section s&onsored by Rudol Steiner <oundation and Jtne 8a#a-ine6. 7t rustrates me when &eo&le deny that %nthro&oso&hy is a reli#ion and that the schools don)t teach %nthro&oso&hy to children because the evidence su##ests otherwise. 8y dau#hter)s boo's show that indeed she was tau#ht %nthro&oso&hy, in &icture orm as well as in written orm. .The human bein# is li'e a little universe inside a bi# one. Sun, moon and stars ind their li'eness in mans head, trun' and limbs.N .The Syl&hs, Salamanders, =nomes and Jndines are the earth)s scribes.N .The body is the house o the s&iritN. etc. 7 you deconstruct the lessons, the curriculum, and the &eda#o#y, you cannot i#nore the act that !aldor is a mystery school, a ma#ical lod#e or $uniors.

'(erse'
!hen Steiner develo&ed !aldor , he deliberately veiled %nthro&oso&hy by .or#anically. incor&oratin# it into the classroom. %nthro&oso&hy is ine(tricably intertwined with !aldor )s daily classroom activity and lessons. 7n 1220 he as'ed the irst !aldor teachers not to call a &rayer a &rayer but, rather, a verse? !e will also tal' about a &rayer. :ut there is $ust one thin# 7 should li'e to as' you. Mou 'now, with these thin#s the outer orm is o the utmost im&ortance. Never call the verse a )&rayer) but a )school o&enin# verse). /o see to it that &eo&le do not hear the e(&ression )&rayer) used by a teacher. This will #o a lon# way towards overcomin# the &re$udice that this is an anthro&oso&hical school. 0Steiner, 1253, &. 496 @u#ene Schwart- has also clari ied that the verse is a &rayer? 7 have a 2+year+old dau#hterN she)s in third #rade at =reen 8eadow !aldor school. %nd these are some o my e(&eriences. 7 'now every mornin# she says a verse, and, as /an E/u#anF &ointed out, it)s a verse that s&ea's to =od. 7 would call it a &rayer? that)s what 7 used to tell my class. Mou)re s&ea'in# a &rayer. 7 want you to stand still, 7 don)t want you to move around, 7 want you to really be res&ect ul because we)re tal'in# to =od now. %nd a

child said, .Mou mean we)re &rayin#., and 7 said yes, we)re &rayin#. 0Schwart-, 1222, 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 each mornin# by my dau#hter at her .nonsectarian. school. 7 learned about it a ter 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, students sin# another son#. Then they snu the candle with #reat attention and ritual. 0Jhrmacher, 1221, &&. 105+1026 >robably, because the &rayer was called the .mornin# verse,. it didn)t re#ister that the day be#an with &rayer. %lso, my youn# child never mentioned it. Now 7 'now more about mystery reli#ions and more o the history o vol'isch #rou&s in =ermany durin# the late 1500s to early 1200s and their desire to return to neo&a#an Sun worshi& " the .true. reli#ion o the %ryans. %t the time, 7 was un amiliar with Steiner)s conce&t o a .three old Sun. and the %ryan Christ. 7 also 'new nothin# about the im&ortance o establishin# a daily ritual o Sun adoration or the ma#ician in trainin#.

'$ance'
Li'e many occultists be ore and since, Steiner also devised a ma#ic systemN he dubbed his @urythmy. @urythmy was &assed o in !aldor as .a orm o dance. and that)s what we believed 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(t thin# 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 o class, into a room, and told her not to be a raid 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

as'in# the @urythmist to sto& the e(ercises. Later, 7 learned rom another e(+!aldor er that her child had ta'en .Thera&eutic @urythmy. because she was bein# bullied by another child. 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 a ter delvin# into Rosicrucianism, Cabalism, and other ma#ic that they be#an to ma'e any sense. <rom =olden /awn 7nitiation boo's 7 learned that the *ebrew :eth or : means .house, value 2. :eth is the symbol o all habitations and rece&tacles, o anythin# that contains. 7t is virile and &aternalN a #ly&h o active and interior action. 0Cicero, 1225, &. ;46. 7n The Uni!ersal 1uman 7 stumbled across a ,uote rom Steiner sayin# Cwhen the *ebrews wrote, or e(am&le, what corres&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 o somethin# that can enclose a bein# li'e a house. 01220, &. 936. 7nch by inch 7 became more amiliar with the conce&ts o ma#ic, so that when 7 read the re&orts a#ain, 7 reco#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 :. D ten it is the case with individuals who have a &er ectionist 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 0Vir#inia @ ta)s Therapeutic Eur#thm# 0eport, Kanuary + <ebruary 12226. 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 that su&&osedly channel orces, and vibration o vowels which are thou#ht to connect &atients to s&iritual bein#s that wor' inside o them. 7n %nthro&oso&hy, s&eech sounds as well as music re lect the !ord and, conse,uently, .are in a ormative relationshi& to the or#ans o the &hysical body. 7n cases o s&eci ic illnesses, there ore, the or#an a ected can be reached by the reiterated &ractice o s&eci ic s&eech sounds and rhythms. 0Ra e, *ardwood, B Lund#ren, 12;4, &. 236. This is why the child was made to &ractice the : in the orm o .:i# :rown :ear.. :ecause some &eo&le believe that =od created the world by s&ea'in# it into e(istence, words and letters are believed to be very &ower ul ma#ic. This accounts or the warnin#, .:ut such e(ercises, li'e medicines, should be irst &rescribed by a &hysician E%nthro&oso&hical doctorF be ore they are carried out by a curative eurythmist. 0Ra e et al, 12;4, &. 236. :oth the eurythmist and the %nthro&oso&hical doctor must be hi#hly trained in Steiner)s ma#ical arts be ore 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 or between literal and meta&horical lan#ua#e, as clearly distin#uished in the contem&orary scienti ic tradition. !ords are treated as i they are e,uivalent 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 they are in the scienti ic 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 rei y, ri#idi y, and

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 0Vic'ers, 1254, &. 296. Steiner)s cosmic dance would connect the &u&il to the s&iritual world because it was a channel throu#h which the s&irit would reveal itsel to human consciousness, .a &ath o e(&erience to the -odiacal si#ns. 0>owell B !orber#, 2002, &. 326. %nd as Steiner claimed, .7n causin# &eo&le to do @urythmy we lin' them directly with the su&ersensible world. 0Steiner, 12;0, &. ;16. This modern orm o tem&le dance is based on Steiner)s conce&t o cosmic &rinci&les that he claimed underlie the &ower o s&eech and music. :y mirrorin# the heavenly 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&ecially to the s&iritual realm o the si#ns or constellations o the -odiac. 0>owell B !orber#, 2002, &. 326. .7t is a &ath throu#h which man may a#ain ind a way to that sel +'nowled#e which is also a 'nowled#e o the universe. 0Ra e et al., 12;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 and Renaissance ma#icians o the &ast, .)Steiner re#arded the human body as the creation o the cosmic !ord. 8an is a microcosm s&o'en rom the macrocosm. 0Ra e et al., 12;4, &. 236. C<or words are ormP, asserts %nthro&oso&hist 8ar$orie S&oc', C%ll thin#s were made by him 0the !ord that was =od6. %s we contem&late the world o nature which that !ord made, we ind in it our elements? solids, li,uids, #ases, warmth " elements rediscovered in the small microcosmic words human voices utterP 0S&oc', 1250, &&. 33+3;6. !ith corres&ondences to the Lodiac, with words and letters o &ower, lines o orce, numerolo#y, symbols, si#ils, breath wor', #estures, tones, colors, and co&&er wands, Steiner &romised to connect man to the macrocosm via @urythmy, enablin# him to e(&erience it in a cosmic way. 7t is the arms which essentially lead man into this reedom, and which are the su&reme instruments to reveal the li e o the soul. <rom the hori-ontal, which they alone can &ro&erly e(&ress, they can reach u&ward into the s&here o li#htness, and downward into the s&here o wei#ht. Thus they relate man to the universe. 0Ra e et al., 12;4, &. 136. %nd as Steiner &oints out, .The limbs are the &art o the human body which more than any other &art &asses over into the li e o the ne(t incarnation. They are the &art which &oints to the uture, to what comes a ter death. 0Steiner, 12;0, &. ;06. 7n her boo' entitled Eur#thm#, 8ar$orie S&oc' noted the twelve basic consonants and their corres&ondences to the -odiac as ollows? .Leo, T or /N Cancer, <N =emini, *N Taurus, RN %ries, VN >isces, NN %,uarius, 8N Ca&ricorn, LN Sa#itarius, =N Scor&io, SN Libra, GN Vir#o, : or >. 0S&oc', 1250, &. ;56. The @urythmy %ssociation o North %merica)s .ommemorati!e -ssue 2ewsletter ma'es some clear statements about how eurythmy its into !aldor li e? @urythmy can contribute #reatly to the s&iritual li e o !aldor schools. D all the arts, eurythmy is an anthro&oso&hical art and has the #reatest &otential or trans ormation. @urythmy is also a social art and has the ability to enliven and harmoni-e the li e orces. 7t is hel& ul to set aside time or eurythmy be ore meetin#s o teachers, &arents, and the

board, or instance. <aculty and children can do eurythmy at school assemblies. >ublic courses mi#ht be o ered durin# main lesson time or evenin#s. The e(&erience o estival o erin#s can be dee&ened with the inclusion o eurythmy wor's.... 0<riedman, 1225H22, irst dra t o #uidelines " retrieved 8arch 3, 2003 romwww.eana.or#HSJ88@R V201222.&d &. ;, last &ara#ra&h6. 7n the bac' o this 49+&a#e newsletter is somethin# called , 0e!iew of a Stud#: The -nfluence 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 o eurythmy, was interested in how the &ractice o eurythmy would a ect the lives o those who &ractice it. D#letree said .since eurythmy enhances and acilitates the low o healin# orces, one could e(tra&olate that &ro essional eurythmists would be healthier, relatively ree o diseases and in better &hysical and mental health than non+eurythmists. 0>o&laws'i, a review o a study, retrieved rom www.eana.or#HSJ88@RV201222.&d &. 356. *e a&&arently studied 211 %nthro&oso&hists " 103 o whom were eurythmists. *is indin#s? Non+eurythmists lived to an avera#e o 50.95 years and eurythmists lived an avera#e o ;3.22 years. >o&laws'i notes that .not only do eurythmists not live much lon#er than the avera#e " in act they seem to live si#ni icantly shorter livesS. 0>o&laws'i, a review o a study, retrieved rom www.eana.or#HSJ88@RV201222.&d &. 356. *e ,uotes Roy !il'inson who &ro&oses that .the healin# e ect o &racticin# eurythmy brin#s out somethin# in the eurythmists which could mani est in a &ossible worst orm,. addin#, .There is also the ,uestion whether curative eurythmists donate some o their own stren#th which they do not recu&erate in su icient measure. 0>o&laws'i, a review o a study, retrieved rom www.eana.or#HSJ88@RV201222.&d &. 356. Dther %nthro&oso&hic e(&erts o er their theories about why eurythmists have a shorter li es&an, includin# the idea that eurythmy can cause .disarray. in eurythmists) . orces.. Retired !aldor teacher *ans Valentien says this could ha&&en because eurythmists en#a#e their .own li e orces to a much #reater de#ree than is normal. and, eventually, the disarray .can lead to cancer.0>o&laws'i, a review o a study, retrieved 8arch 3, 2003 rom www.eana.or#HSJ88@RV201222.&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 school year 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 was bein# tau#ht violent .*oly :ible Stories. with an %nthro&oso&hic twist li'e the ollowin# re erence to .8ichael. e(cer&ted rom one o her lessons entitled .%braham and 7saac.? Soon a ter they arrived to mount moria and made a small ire and lade his son a &on it and raised his 'ni e a bove his head and 7saac)s sole led rom his body and %braham was $ust about to &lun# the 'ni e in 7saac)s chest when 8iciel ste&t out o the clouds and said .%braham &ot down that 'ni e you have &roovin yoursel werthy..

7 became more and more concerned about the curriculum. !hat was #oin# onU !aldor ers assured me that since Christianity is an inte#ral &art o %merican culture it was #ood or children to be amiliar with :ible stories. *owever, &art way throu#h the school year, we decided 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. !e noticed an im&rovement in our dau#hter)s demeanor and willin#ness to attend school. !e also reali-ed that she was very behind the Kamaican &u&ils. !ithin months her readin# and writin# #reatly im&roved and we all li'ed the new school very much. The school in #eneral seemed to be a ha&&ier and .li#hter. &lace. The Kamaican school closed or holidays, and we returned to the Jnited States or the summer, &lannin# to reor#ani-e our lives, ma'e a&&ro&riate visa arran#ements, and move to Kamaica " we even &aid school ees to the Kamaican 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 the remainin# wee's so that she could reconnect with riends and ul ill le#al attendance re,uirements. /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 we cancelled our Kamaican &lans, and &ut her bac' in !aldor that all. 8y husband believed it was our best schoolin# o&tion in our rural location, thou#h 7 was not so certain. /urin# the early mani estation o her illness, in the summer, a ter the loss o the initial &ounds, we had sou#ht the hel& o a doctor " a riend and ellow !aldor &arent. *e assured us that our child was . ine. and .$ust #rowin#.. Time sli&&ed by, more wei#ht dro&&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 com ortable with death.. %t one &oint he recommended that we see' the hel& o a Chinese doctor who had a medical de#ree rom China. Dn a subse,uent visit to the !aldor +&arent+doctor)s o ice, he handed us over to a 'ind youn# homeo&athHdoctor with no e(&erience concernin# our child)s illness. The homeo&ath #ave my dau#hter a remedy and be#an monitorin# her every cou&le o wee's durin# which time more and more wei#ht was lost and 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 medical de#rees. !hat 7 didn)t reali-e until later was that durin# our time in !aldor , while under the in luence o !aldor educators and &ractitioners, our $ud#ment had become s'ewed. !e)d become sus&icious and ear ul o the re#ular mainstream medical establishment, avoidin# it as we loundered with the advice o amiliar !aldor +a iliated+doctors only. %s our situation &ro#ressed or the worse, we also be#an to &hone hotlines and read boo's in an 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 medical hel& or our child. The mon' advised my husband to &lace &hoto#ra&hs o his deceased mother around the house and to s&ea' about his mother to our child. *e believed that my husband)s mother)s s&irit mi#ht have entered our dau#hter wantin# attention. 7 thou#ht the mon')s advice was bi-arre and continued to search or hel&, but not in the ri#ht &laces. Dn Se&tember 23, 1225, my husband and 7 waited or the %nthro&oso&hic doctor who ma'es his rounds in !aldor schools. <aculty members had su##ested we schedule an a&&ointment to meet with him, in ormin# us that he was a medical doctor with credentials who visits !aldor schools around the country. Trustin# the aculty and with #reat antici&ation, we ho&ed that he could hel& us with our &roblem.

Sittin# at the school, waitin# or the %nthro&oso&hic doctor to arrive, did not stri'e me as odd. 7 did not wonder what ty&e o doctor we were about to meet withN nor did it seem unusual that the school was &rovidin# a doctor in the irst &lace. !aldor was once a#ain our world. The small room attached to the sic'room was dra&ed with sil' scarves. 7 remember eelin# that thin#s seemed orei#n to me that day. 7 had not s&ent much time at the school in recent months because we)d been in Kamaica, &lus 7 was avoidin# the school as 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# be ore our dau#hter became sic', be ore our brea' rom !aldor in third #rade, 7 had ound mysel cryin# about the school or reasons 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 7 tear ully disclosed my amily)s &redicament. Dur nine+year+old was #ravely ill, de&ressed, and had lost a lot o wei#ht, because she re used to eat. The %nthro&oso&hic doctor made a 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 withS 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 dumb oundedS 7 as'ed the doctor to re&eat himsel . 7ndeed, 7 had heard correctly. 7 was to ma'e a lame o %urum cream over her heart at bedtime. 8ysti ied, 7 as'ed the doctor what the lame should loo' li'e and he showed us with his hand. *e told us to a&&ly the #old cream rom below the heart u&wards, towards the s'y at bedtime. 7 was so ba led by his instructions that he too' it u&on himsel to draw a small dia#ram o a torso on a &rescri&tion &ad sheet, with an arrow demonstratin# the direction in which the #old lame was to be a&&lied. Some other recommendations 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 le t the school and 7 turned to my husband and said with certainty, .!e are in a real live cultS. Soon a ter our visit with the %nthro&oso&hic doctor, the woman homeo&athHdoctor that we were seein# every two wee's in ormed us that she would have to hos&itali-e our child. The reality 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 !aldor ers, we made our way to a hos&ital our hours away in 7owa City. 7nsurance sent us bac' to a hos&ital in !isconsin " a mere orty minutes away rom our house. This hos&ital had an e(&erienced, &ro essional sta that hel&ed us. 7 shall always re#ret not #oin# there irst " be ore my child reached a critical &oint. The new doctor told us that a child should never lose wei#ht and that a dro& o a cou&le o &ounds would have caused her concern. 7 told our thera&ist about the lame and the %nthro&oso&hic doctor, 7 also told her that !aldor made 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 an a&&ointment with the local &ublic school)s aculty des&ite our ear o &ublic school instilled in 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. Recovery was lon# and di icult, with re,uent 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 have the historic or esoteric in ormation necessary to com&rehend and decode the %nthro&oso&hic doctor)s recommendations or some o our unusual !aldor e(&eriences.

% ter leavin# !aldor 7 be#an studyin# %nthro&oso&hy and related new reli#ious movements 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& rom his disci&le @dith 8arion, who le t the ma#ical Drder o the =olden /awn in @n#land to wor' with Steiner at develo&in# his s&iritual art and @urythmy in /ornach, Swit-erland. The scul&ture de&icts Steiner)s trinity o %hriman, Luci er, and Christ the Sun :ein# " the %ryan Christ. Carved over .the Christ)s. heart is a lame $ust li'e the one 7 was to rub on my child)s heart at bedtime with #old cream. <urther readin# o Steiner)s The Uni!ersal 1uman brou#ht to li#ht Steiner)s teachin#s o the Sun :ein#)s healin# &owers at sunset. 7t is there ore im&ortant that the deeds o Christ Kesus are always seen in relation to the &hysical sun, which is the e(ternal e(&ression o the s&iritual world that is received at the &oint where Christ)s &hysical body is wal'in# around. !hen Christ Kesus heals, or instance, it is the sun orce that heals. *owever, the sun orce must be in the ri#ht &lace in the heavens? .That evenin#, at sundown, they brou#ht to him all who were sic' or &ossessed with demons.. 7t is im&ortant to indicate that this healin# &ower can low down only when the e(ternal sun has set but still wor's s&iritually. 0Steiner, 1220, &. 396 The alchemical instructions #iven to us by the %nthro&oso&hical doctor stated that %urum 0#oldHsun6 cream should be a&&lied in the sha&e o a lame over my sic' child)s heart at bedtime " sundown, when the Christ heals and casts out demons. % homeo&athic &a&er &ublished in 1omeopath# Times, November, 1224 entitled Some )ight on the 9Mis:understanding of ,urum Metallicum, by /r. Ra$esh Shah, rein orced the conce&t that #old should be &rescribed or the suicidal 0Shah, 1224, 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)s conce&t that human bein#s ma'e ormic acid rom o(alic acid. <ormic acid can be ound in human bein#s and insects, es&ecially concentrated in ants. *e tau#ht his ollowers that the ormic acid ants secrete is very #ood medicine 0Steiner, 1225a, &. 1446. *e believed that the air is ull o o(y#en, nitro#en, and ormic acid, which is intelli#ence, and it is .more di icult to transmit a tele#ram in a re#ion where there are not ant colonies than it is in a re#ion where they e(ist, because the electricity and the ma#netism needed or tele#ra&hy de&end u&on ormic acid. 0Steiner, 1225a, &.1996. *e &reached? 7t is uni,uely the case with a human bein# that throu#hout li e 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 be ore once a#ain receivin# a body, which in a child &ro&erly trans orms o(alic acid into ormic acid. 7 you care ully observe a dyin# individual, you)ll #et the eelin# that there is an e ort 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

bein# in the body. !e say that a human bein# dies at a certain &oint in time, and a ter a lon# &eriod o time comes bac' in another body. 8eanwhile this &erson is in the s&irit world 0Steiner, 1225a, &&. 199+1936. *e tau#ht that you can #et o(alic acid rom wood sorrel or clover, and that .i a &erson has a &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, a ter a certain amount o time, be#in to &roduce ormic acid withinS. 0Steiner, 1225a, &.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 be orehand. 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 li e. !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 trans orms 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 bene it 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 li e &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 e ective. The soul element needs this &rocess that converts o(alic acid into ormic acid within a human bein#. 0Steiner, 1225a, &&. 191+1926 The doctor was attem&tin# to heal my dau#hter)s %nthro&oso&hic s&iritual bodies. :y rubbin# D(alis cream on her abdomen, she would develo& ormic acid within and have li e. .7t)s the ormic acid that attracts and mobili-es soul and s&irit, otherwise the s&irit will #o away. 0Steiner, 1225a, &. 1946. Steiner a&&ears to have based his medicine on *ermetic ideas datin# bac' to the 1300s and be ore. @vidently, Rosicrucian doctors s&read their occult truths to the &eo&le at lar#e, E For 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

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 0Steiner, 1239, &. 216. The scholar =eo rey %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 synthesis stemmin# rom a blend o =nostic %le(andrian and %ristotelian thou#ht, @#y&tian technolo#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 with Ku&iter and ,uic'silver with 8ercury.. This .thin'in# was ma#ical? macrocosmic astrolo#ical in luences were all im&ortant. 0%hern, 1254, &. 1426. 7nterestin#ly, even be ore discoverin# other esoterically in ormed !aldor critics on the 7nternet and delvin# into Steiner)s doctrine, we were able to &in&oint our ne#ative e(&eriences in a letter. %bout three months a ter we le t !aldor , the develo&ment o icer as'ed us to en#a#e in an e(it interview. 7 told my husband that 7 would never sit be ore that aculty a#ain but a#reed to answer their ,uestions in letter orm. !hy had we removed our dau#hter rom !aldor U This is what we wrote? <ebruary 1;, 1222 !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 clari yin# 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 belie s 0as 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 o ten. *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 be ore or a ter 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&lete as we needed them to be. Than' you or the o&&ortunity to e(&ress our views in our de&arture.

Mours sincerely, Sharon Lombard and XX.

)onclusion
Leavin# !aldor was a very di icult time or my amily. Dur world was turned u&side+down and inside+out. %lthou#h some &eo&le have &ositive e(&eriences with the schools, others have troublin# encounters with the movement. Mears a#o an e(+!aldor er 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# uncom ortable 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 di icult 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# 0.*eather., &rivate a( to /an /u#an, 8ay 5, 12236. Recently, !aldor &arent Nicole <oss re lected? 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 belie s 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 re,uirements 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 0<oss, 2003, 8arch, 13. ./ercedol. htt&?HHwww.waldor critics.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(+!aldor ers? 7 reali-ed today that we all are in mournin#. !e mourn the loss o what could, should have

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 own amily 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 0Jsher+>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 are involved in the movement you are either )in) or )out). 7 you do not es&ouse and adhere to the #rou&, then you are )out). 02002, Dctober, 21. .Lawsuits. + &rivate communication6. % ter be#innin# my study o %nthro&oso&hy, while emer#in# rom !aldor , 7 was cast into a state o #ra&&lin# with meta&hysical conce&ts li'e never be ore. 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)s illness. 7t was a &eriod o much sadness, con usion, and an#er. /iscoverin# !aldor )s subte(t orced me to con ront my own reality and rea irm my own &ers&ective on li e. Gnowled#e o %nthro&oso&hy enabled me to &ut !aldor into conte(t and to reco#ni-e its omni&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. 7 came to 'now that as an in idel, %nthro&oso&hy is incom&atible with my &erce&tion o reality, and, as an artist, it con licts with my vision o art. Steiner)s racist doctrine coincides with my e(&erience o %&artheid " the reason 7 le t my native South % rica. 7 went on to ta'e a cou&le o classes on cults and new reli#ious movements at the Jniversity o 8iami and have become ascinated with alternate realities and cultic studies. 7 now have a much better #ras& o belie s, believers, #rou&s, leaders, ollowers and my own &ersonal worldview. 7ronically, 7 had sent my dau#hter to !aldor to #et an education, when ultimately 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. 0Steiner, 1231, cha&ter X, &ara#ra&h 1, htt&?HHwnelib.comHSteinerHLecturesH>lacesH>arisH12030303&01.html 6. !hile Steiner)s .desire. inadvertently awa'ened me to the veiled esoteric base o !aldor schoolin#, it did not lead me to .see li'ewise.N to the contrary, it was .to ,uic'en. me to leave the #rou& and eventually become a !aldor critic. 8y research brou#ht to li#ht who the ounder o !aldor really was, how his doctrine stee&ed in the occult im&acts all as&ects o his ollowers) lives, and how to decode %nthro&oso&hic double+s&ea'. %

&luralistic society allows room or all, but !aldor needs to be more o&en in clari yin# its esoteric base. >ros&ective &arents are entitled to be in ormed o the concealed %nthro&oso&hic mission o this schoolin# system. Some may e(&erience the warmth o belon#in# as reedomN 7 was scorched by the harsh li#ht o %nthro&oso&hy. Mou are either a 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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Steiner, R. 012;06. %RT 7N T*@ L7=*T D< 8MST@RM !7S/D8. Lectures rom 1214+ 1223. 0K. Collis, Trans.6. London? Rudol Steiner >ress. Steiner, R. 012;46. /7@ =@7ST7=@N *7NT@R=RJN/@ /@S @RST@N !@LTGR7@=@S. Lectures rom 1214+1221. 0=% 1;4b6. /ornach, Swit-erland? Rudol Steiner Verla#. 0Staudenmaier, >., Trans. 2002, Se&tember 9. S'in color and s&irit. Retrieved 8arch 3, 2003 romhtt&?HHwww.waldor critics.or#HactiveHarchivesH!C%0212.html search &a#e6. Steiner, R. 012516. *@%LT* %N/ 7LLN@SS? Volume 7. Lectures rom 1222. 08. St. =oar, Trans.6. S&rin# Valley, New Mor'? %nthro&oso&hic >ress. Steiner, R. 012516. T*@DSD>*M D< T*@ RDS7CRJC7%N. Lectures rom 120;. 08. Cotterell B /. S. Dsmond, Trans.6. London? Rudol Steiner >ress. Steiner, R. 012536. CDN<@R@NC@S !7T* T*@ T@%C*@RS D< T*@ !%L/DR< SC*DDL 7N STJTT=%RT? Vol. 1? The irst and second years o the !aldor School. Lectures rom 1212+1220. <orest Row, J.G.? Steiner Schools <ellowshi& >ublications. Steiner, R. 0125;6. T*@ @VDLJT7DN D< T*@ @%RT* %N/ 8%N %N/ T*@ 7N<LJ@NC@ D< T*@ ST%RS. Lectures rom 1224. 0=. *ahn, Trans.6. *udson, New Mor'? %nthro&oso&hic >ress. Steiner, R. 012206. T*@ JN7V@RS%L *J8%N? T*@ @VDLJT7DN D< *J8%N7TM. Lectures rom 1202+1213. 0C. :am ord B S. *. Seiler, Trans. @d.6. J.S.%.? %nthro&oso&hic >ress, 7nc. Steiner, R. 012296. 8%N7<@ST%T7DNS D< G%R8%. Lectures rom 1210. 0*. *errmann+ /avey, Trans.6. London? Rudol Steiner >ress. Steiner, R. 012296. N%TJR@ S>7R7TS. Lectures rom 1205+1224. 0!. Jlrich Glun'er, Com&. B @d.6. London? Rudol Steiner >ress. Steiner, R. 012236. T*@ <DJN/%T7DNS D< *J8%N @X>@R7@NC@? <oundations o !aldor education. Lectures rom 1212. 0R. <. Lathe B N. >arsons !hitta'er, Trans.6. *udson, New Mor'? %nthro&oso&hic >ress. Steiner, R. 012256. :@@S. Lectures rom 1223. 0T. :raat-, Trans.6. *udson, New Mor'? %nthro&oso&hic >ress. Steiner, R. 012256. <RD8 T*@ *7STDRM %N/ CDNT@NTS D< T*@ <7RST S@CT7DN D< T*@ @SDT@R7C SC*DDL. Letters, documents, and lectures rom 1204+1214. 0*. !iesber#er, @d.N K. !ood, Trans.6. *udson, NM? %nthhro&oso&hic >ress. Steiner, R., B von Sivers, 8. 012556 CDRR@S>DN/@NC@ %N/ /DCJ8@NTS 1201+ 1229. 0C. B 7.von %rnim, Trans.6. New Mor'? %nthro&oso&hic >ressN London? Rudol Steiner >ress. Steiner schools ellowshi&. 012526. RJ/DL< ST@7N@R !%L/DR< @/JC%T7DN. EbrochureF The Robinswood >ress, Stourbrid#e, @n#land? !. %she, %. *all, C. 8arshall, :. 8asters. /. 8itchell, %. %uer, /. =erwin. North %merican editor? /avid 8itchell.

Jhrmacher, :. 012216. !%L/DR< SC*DDLS 8%RC*7N= RJ7@TLM JN*@%R/. 0/octoral /issertation, Stan ord Jniversity, 8ay, 12216. Submitted to the School o @ducation and the Committee on =raduate Studies o Stan ord Jniversity in &artial ul illment o the re,uirements or the /e#ree o /octor o >hiloso&hy. Jsher+>aulson, C. 02002, Dctober, 206. *ello rom Charmaine. Ruoted with &ermission rom &rivate online #rou&, waldor +survivors+onlyQyahoo#rou&s.com van :aarda, T. %., et al. 020006. %NTRD>DSD<7@ @N *@T VR%%=STJG V%N /@ R%SS@N E%NT*RD>DSD>*M %N/ T*@ R%C@ RJ@ST7DNF. Leist, The Netherlands? %ntro&oso ische Vereni#in# in Nederland. Vic'ers, :. 0@d.6. 012546. DCCJLT %N/ SC7@NT7<7C 8@NT%L7T7@S 7N T*@ R@N%7SS%NC@. Cambrid#e? Cambrid#e Jniversity >ress. Vreede, @. 020016. %NT*RD>DSD>*M %N/ %STRDLD=M? T*@ %STRDND87C%L L@TT@RS D< @L7L%:@T* VR@@/@. Letters rom 122;+30. =reat :arrin#ton, 8assachusetts? %nthro&oso&hic >ress. !ashin#ton, >. 012296. 8%/%8@ :L%V%TSGMAS :%:DDN? % *7STDRM D< T*@ 8MST7CS, 8@/7J8S, %N/ 87S<7TS !*D :RDJ=*T S>7R7TJ%L7S8 TD %8@R7C%. New Mor'? Schoc'en :oo's. !hitcomb, :. 012226. T*@ 8%=7C7%NAS CD8>%N7DN? % >R%CT7C%L B @NCMCLD>@/7C =J7/@ TD 8%=7C%L B R@L7=7DJS SM8:DL7S8. St. >aul, 8innesota? Llewellyn >ublications. !hitehead, %. 012236. % ST@7N@R >R78%RM SC*DDL? % CR@%T7V@ %>>RD%C*? % CD8>%N7DN VDLJ8@ TD? % ST@7N@R *7=* SC*DDLN % ST@7N@R *D8@SC*DDL. :runswic' *eads, %ustralia? =olden :eetle :oo's. !il'inson, R. 012236. T*@ S>7R7TJ%L :%S7S D< ST@7N@R @/JC%T7DN? T*@ !%L/DR< SC*DDL %>>RD%C*. London? So&hia :oo's, Rudol Steiner >ress. !ilson, C. 0125;6. %<T@RL7<@? %N 7NV@ST7=%T7DN D< T*@ @V7/@NC@ <DR L7<@ %<T@R /@%T*. =arden City, New Mor'? /ol&hin :oo', /oubleday B Com&any, 7nc. Mates, <. %. 012;26. T*@ RDS7CRJC7%N @NL7=*T@N8@NT. New Mor'HLondon? Routled#e. Lalews'i, C.L. 012206. *@R:S 7N 8%=7C? T@C*N7RJ@S <RD8 %NC7@NT *@R:%L LDR@. /orset, =reat :ritain? >rism Jnity. This &a&er includes e(cer&ts rom co&yri#hted wor's. %ll ri#hts remain with the ori#inal authors. @(cer&ts are re&roduced here or educational &ur&oses only. This material was ori#inally &re&ared or a &resentation at %<<)s annual con erence, Kune 14+19, 2002, at the Crowne >la-a *otel, Drlando 0<L6 %ir&ort.