​St Michael is one of the principal angelic warriors, protector against the dark of the night and the Archangel who fought against Satan and his evil angels. As Michaelmas is the time that the darker nights and colder days begin – the edge into winter – the celebration of Michaelmas is associated with encouraging protection during these dark months. It was believed that negative forces were stronger in darkness and so families would require stronger defences during the later months of the year.

Traditionally, in the British Isles, a well fattened goose, fed on the stubble from the fields after the harvest, is eaten to protect against financial need in the family for the next year; and as the saying goes:

“Eat a goose on Michaelmas Day,
Want not for money all the year”.

Sometimes the day was also known as “Goose Day” and goose fairs were held. Even now, the famous Nottingham Goose Fair is still held on or around the 3rd of October. Part of the reason goose is eaten is that it was said that when Queen Elizabeth I heard of the defeat of the Armada, she was dining on goose and resolved to eat it on Michaelmas Day. Others followed suit. It could also have developed through the role of Michaelmas Day as the debts were due; tenants requiring a delay in payment may have tried to persuade their landlords with gifts of geese!

​Novalis Institute, originally known as Minnesota Foundations Studies, was born over twenty years ago when a group of people came together to deepen their understanding of Waldorf education and the life journey of human beings through the lens of Anthroposophy. 

Novalis Institute will come to a close in June 2022.

Novalis Institute was born as a collective adult education initiative. Since that time, Novalis has served as a vessel for study, conversation, artistic development, connection and growth for many individuals. Novalis courses have supported teachers, parents and community members in developing artistic capacities, exploring the role of meditative and reflective practices, delving into the texts of Rudolf Steiner, and gaining a deeper understanding of the natural stages of human development through the life cycle. 

Throughout the year ahead we will honor and celebrate our shared learning and the many wonderful meetings that have taken place between us over these years of adult education arising from the stream of Anthroposophy. In this final year of study, we invite you to join us for several artistic and biography offerings (in virtual space) and an in-person St. John’s Festival in June 2022.

Our current board of trustees - Karyn Penn, Marti Stewart, Carolyn Laine, Donna Webb and Linda Bergh - are making plans for the final Hoorah! Please join us this year to celebrate learning and the ever present opportunity to open to the great unknown. 

In gratitude and service, The Novalis Institute Board of Trustees ----- more info 

Meadowlark Hearth Living Environment Foundation | 120024 Everett Drive, Scottsbluff, NE 69361

We invite you to join us as we explore big, essential questions together ... 

What is contemporary culture asking for now?
What are you being called to bring to the world?
How will Anthroposophia assist you in the task?

The Applied Anthroposophy Course (AAC) brings transformative online content to the alchemy of individual and group inner work. The mission is to explore the urgent issues of our time and awaken meaning through the lens of spiritual philosophy, inner reflection, and outer action. Visit appliedanthroposophy.org for more information!
 
Click Here to Register Now

MysTech is dedicated to driving positive change for our future by steering the role that technology will play in society and human evolution in the light of spiritual science. The past century has witnessed astonishing advances in technology that have impacted our day-to-day lives, health, and consciousness in profound and unexpected ways. When we consider the impact of technology in the context of our evolution as both physical and spiritual beings, how might it contribute to our future? Will continued advances in technology be a benefit or a burden for the potential of humankind? How must we respond to modern technological developments in order to shape the future towards the good?

In this conference you will gain new insights about the mysteries of technology from the perspectives of spiritual science through the original research of our distinguished speakers across a broad range of fascinating topics. You will also gain a new appreciation for social three-folding, biodynamics,  eurythmy, and more, and learn how these methods and thought-forms can help us to meet the coming challenges of the modern age. More ... 

AHE Educational Support Program Cycle 13

Our 13th cycle of our three-year Educational Support Program will be held starting in October 2021 at the Hartsbrook School in Hadley, MA. Consider joining our cohort to learn how to serve children in today’s classrooms and group settings, and how to help parents support their children.

This is an in-depth, three year, part time training program that provides certification in Waldorf Educational Support work, enabling teachers and education consultants to address learning challenges such as comprehension and memory weaknesses, social challenges, and neuro-developmental hindrances that impact vision, auditory processing, executive function and motor skills. Learn strategies for the classroom to maximize students’ learning efficiency. AHE graduates work as teachers in the grades, early childhood, high school or as educational support/Extra Lesson teachers and education consultants in private practice.

Dates in year 1: Oct.7-10, 2021, April 20-24, 2022, July 11-22, 2022 
(Plus online sessions in between)
Location: Hartsbrook School, Hadley, MA

Themes throughout the training include sharpening our observation skills, the causes of challenging behaviors, bringing games and activities to strengthen the developmental path, and pedagogy to help children overcome obstacles in order to reach their full potential.

Alongside reviewing content in Waldorf Education from Dr. Rudolf Steiner and Dr. Karl König, we will experience the Extra Lesson, created by Waldorf teacher Audrey McAllen. In her work, based on her study of several key lectures from Rudolf Steiner, we find a deep exploration of why children struggle to be at home in their body, and how we can help them in classrooms, small groups and individual settings. These concepts are complemented by current neurological research on the developing child’s body/brain connection. 

Choose one or two years for teacher development or a three year program to be a certified specialist. 

For information about fees and registration, visit our website www.healingeducation.org or email Connie Helms at registrar@healingeducation.org

The Earthship Academy is a complete program where you will have classes in the morning (theory) and practice (hands on) on Earthship construction sites in the afternoon. During 4 weeks, you will get trained with the Michael Reynolds’ crew and amazing instructors on how to build Earthships and live self sufficiently. We do not require previous experience and we are open to everyone that wishes to learn.

We still have available spots for the September and October 2021 sessions, and we just opened 2022 registration!

Come be part of our community, and meet like minded people! More ...

This program is a part-time training, and an opportunity to dive more deeply into Eurythmy. With our multi-faceted curriculum, we will lay a broad foundation for this art form. To enhance and deepen our experience of Eurythmy, our guest teachers will cover the basics in anatomy, painting, music theory, creative speech and geometric form. After completing this first level course, you will be eligible to continue your training in a full-time accredited program.
By recognizing the need for Eurythmy and eurythmists in the world, this new initiative exists to provide a way for people to embark on a path of Eurythmy. Pacific Eurythmy will lay a broad foundation focusing on the guidelines created by the Section of the Performing Arts in Dornach, Switzerland. 

Students may seamlessly move on to the final years of training once they are ready. The multi-faceted curriculum brings various subjects in addition to music and speech Eurythmy with guest teachers in subjects such as anatomy and embryology, painting, music theory, creative speech and projective geometry. We will bring this by teaching with warmth, integrity and a commitment to collaboration between our students and teachers.

Learn more at pacificeurythmy.com

The paper titled Anthroposophy and Racism (see below) addresses accusations of racism aimed at Rudolf Steiner and anthroposophy. Gerald Häfner, Constanza Kaliks, Peter Selg and Justus Wittich provide an outline of the anthroposophical position during the emergence and implementation of National Socialism in Germany. There were vehement journalistic and even actual attacks on Rudolf Steiner from “nationalist, right-wing, racist and anti-Semitic groups”. After the war, the accusations came from the political left and focused on “converging content and ideology” (key word: eco-fascism) and alleged cooperation with the Nazis. The paper rejects these allegations: they do not arise from an interest in knowledge because existing statements and monographs on the question were not consulted. The conclusion the paper arrives at is that of the “strategic management of opinions and indignation”.

Individual autonomy and self-efficacy
While Rudolf Steiner mentioned biological, ethnic and cultural influences on humanity, his main concern was with “the individuality’s autonomy and self-efficacy” and its capacity to “transcend and transform biological, cultural and social premises and conditions”. In 2000, a commission around the human rights expert Ted van Baarda (NL) identified individual passages in Rudolf Steiner’s work that are considered racist today, but did not find any evidence of racist disparagement of others or of systemic racism.

The authors of the paper also look critically at the Anthroposophical Society and at where it appears very inward-oriented. They also honour the not to be underestimated achievement of members in the face of “challenging circumstances and immense opposition”. The practice of anthroposophy is based on cosmopolitan and social commitment.


Anthroposophy and Racism

​The question of how Rudolf Steiner, anthroposophists and anthroposophical institutions deal with issues of racism and racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance is a very legitimate one following a ‘genocidal’ century and in view of the extreme inequalities in the world today. Racism, racial discrimination, disrespect and moreover, the exploitation and destruction of livelihoods and lives of others are huge challenges of our present time. It is therefore important and right to question what position anthroposophists take on this.

Nevertheless, it cannot be overlooked that the question of the anthroposophical position has been raised in public for many decades – and increasingly so recently – not out of an interest in knowledge. It is often part of polemic discourse, a defamation of Rudolf Steiner, anthroposophical institutions and Anthroposophy itself. That the accusation of racism is asserted as a ‘morally irrefutable argument’ (Ballard) has long been recognized. By associating Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophy or anthroposophical initiatives with it, they become socially stigmatized and marginalized. Differentiated position statements and a variety of carefully prepared articles, studies and books from the anthroposophical perspective have not changed this situation to date, nor do they gain nearly the same publicity and dissemination as the sweeping accusations do.

All this has caused considerable frustration, even among people who are in principle interested in or sympathetic to anthroposophical activities, as well as among the members of the Anthroposophical Society itself. In view of this situation, we decided to write a contribution that seeks to address the overall question – substantiating both content and strategy. In the following discourse, we develop in sketch form, historical and ideological contexts, which seem to us to be of importance for the individual assessment of the accusations made. Moreover, we outline the tasks and challenges of the Anthroposophical Society and anthroposophical institutions in a world marked by injustice and discrimination. Resolute rejection of untruthful statements and insinuations within the journalistic debate is both meaningful and necessary; however, the self-critical scrutinization of our own attitude to the extent of injustice in the world – as well as our own contribution to the overcoming of it – seems to us to be of equal importance. In our view, only through both can a development towards the future emerge, within the anthroposophical context as well.

More ...

If you are not already a member of the World Association of Puppetry, now is a great time to join! Our fees are on a sliding scale so you can pay what you can (if anything). 

• Membership to the World Association of Puppetry & Storytelling Arts benefits include: 
• Access to ALL conference and workshop recordings from the Summer Conference
• Great education events like our annual summer conference
• Video archives
• Ongoing research
• Annual journals
• Networking possibilities with other puppeteers and storytellers from around the world
• Discounts for annual conferences and festivals
• A calendar of events, etc.
• And much more!