Thoreau College is a microcollege in Viroqua, Wisconsin where artists and activists from ages 18 to 46 live and learn together in an intentional community. Thoreau College is working to create immersive, impactful, personalized higher education that is also financially accessible. More ... 

MOVING FORMS/DYNAMIC BALANCE (APRIL 9 2021 - JULY 3 2021) -- Richard Erdman, Michael Howard, Henry Klimovicz, Jason Middlebrook, Martina Angela Müller, George Quasha, Patrick Stolfo, Thorn Zay

This show draws together a selection of contemporary sculptures inspired by the transcendent power of elemental processes in nature and their gestural manifestations all around us, as well as inner processes of meditative investigations into the lawfulness of metamorphosis, of musical, planetary and cosmic influences as they play out in life on this earth. At the core of the creative process of these sculptures is the response by the artists to mighty displays of forces active in the geological, plant and fluid atmospheric world as well as reverberations of inner movements, contemplative journeys and how they are expressed in form. The viewer will encounter metamorphic sequences, the musical undulations of lines and shapes, the juxtaposition of the organic versus geometry, questioning, cautiously approaching form scripts of a search for the divine. 

All sculptures in this exhibit were created over the course of the last thirty years, most however are more recent. Metal, wood, stone, clay and cardboard are the main materials used by the artists. 

LIGHTFORMS GALLERY & ART CENTER -- 743 Columbia Street, Hudson, NY 12534 United States -- More ...

When the founders started Hawthorne Valley 50 years ago, they did so with a hope—a hope that this new project would turn into a place that would allow people, young and old, to reconnect with the natural world.

Henry and Christy Barnes, Fentress and Hede Gardner, Karl and Arvia Ege, Jeanne and Brownell Bergen, Harry and Almuth Kretz, and Thorn Zay were amongst a group of educators, gardeners, and artisans with various backgrounds who had been brought together by a shared appreciation for and dedication to the work of Rudolf Steiner through Waldorf Education and Biodynamic Agriculture. They had a vision which grew as they watched over half of American small farms close their doors from the 1940s to the 70s. Equally as concerning to them in their work as educators was seeing more and more children lose touch with the natural world as technology became a mainstay in people’s homes.

Their solution was to found what is now known as Hawthorne Valley, an association of initiatives that are both commercial and educational in nature. It was on February 11, 1971 that the founders first incorporated the nonprofit originally known as the Rudolf Steiner Educational and Farming Association and began raising funds to purchase land. Eighteen months later, after Fentress and Thorn visited over 70 farms, they closed on the purchase of the Curtis Vincent Farm in Harlemville. Just a few short months later, they welcomed the 12th grade class from the Rudolf Steiner School (RSS) in Manhattan to the valley for the very first Visiting Students Program. More ... 

Special Spring Sale ends May 15th

Wishing you all good things for Spring 2021, conscious of the many challenges the last year has brought to our members and families. Enjoy this special spring discount, and please share this email to help us reach as many families as possible. Our Special Spring Sale is for all purchases at WECAN Books through May 15th.

Use discount code SPRING2021 to save 20% today. Shop Now

***Registration Open Now*** Collaborative Summer Arts Conference (July 29 - August 1, 2021)

Periphery Within Center: Celebrating Diversity within the Universal All

• Storytelling and puppetry performances from around the world
• Puppet crafting workshops with master artisans
• Interest group discussion sessions
• "Seed Planting" for collaborative endeavors

Featuring Keynote Speaker Dr. Michaela Gloeckler presenting The Healing Dimensions of Puppetry and its Contribution to Human Development

Michaela Gloeckler, MD, paediatrician at the Community Hospital in Herdecke, Germany and medical adviser at the Rudolf Steiner School in Witten/Ruhr. From 1988 until 2016 Head of the Medical Section at the Goetheanum, School of Spiritual Science, Dornach, Switzerland. 

For more information or to register

“The Association for Anthroposophic Psychology is pleased to announce a five-part series: Shakespeare’s Macbeth: Illuminating the Challenge of Evil, presented online May 22, June 5 & 19, July 10 & 24. 


“Works of literature can take us most directly into the realm of the psyche, and Shakespeare’s plays offer nothing less than the deepest exploration into the mysteries of the human soul within the context of the True Image of what it is to be Human. The challenge of evil in Shakespeare’s Macbeth takes us immediately into the intensity of this darkest of areas, daring us to look squarely at its character and even its meaning as, with courage, we enter the encounter. 


“We are also led into further psychological fields: of sexuality, betrayal, illusion, power, guilt, isolation and abandonment, to mention some of the underlying motifs that come forward in the play. Importantly, however, we are led through deeper textual and psychological appreciations to discern how the guise of evil may become changed and alleviated through a careful approach to the play’s ‘Mystery’ content, one that touches secrets pertaining to the quest for Selfhood and Redemption. 


“The ‘architecture’ of this play, its geometrical and numerical structure, as elaborated in the lifelong research work of Sylvia Eckersley, creates in clear imaginative form a ‘temple space’ in which the drama of the play assumes its true proportions, drawing us into underlying themes and dynamics where intimate worlds of soul are illumined, distilled and transformed through new insight. 
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“We invite you to join this multidisciplinary exploration of the human soul via one of Shakespeare’s most profound Mystery Plays. This work is guided by core faculty of the Association for Anthroposophic Psychology (AAP): Roberta Nelson, PhD and James Dyson, MD, as well as by Alan Thewless (Waldorf teacher, astrosopher and curative educator) of both the Eckersley Shakespeare Trust and AAP.” Further details here, and registration.

By Jennifer Militzer-Kopperl, Renewal of Literacy

Rudolf Steiner said, “If you look without prejudice, every child is a riddle to be solved, particularly for educators” (2001, 123). Steiner is right—each child is a riddle, and none more challenging than the one who struggles to learn to read! There are many factors that can contribute to reading problems. They include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Weak phonemic awareness
• Movement challenges 
• Perceptual problems 
• Learning challenges (e.g., dyslexia)
• Etc.

Many require a specialist to diagnose and treat, but the first item is the class teacher’s responsibility to educate. 

What is Phonemic Awareness?

Phonemic awareness is the ability to discern the sounds (or phonemes) in words and manipulate them. For example, the word cat has three phonemes: /k/ /a/ /t/. If you take away the first phoneme (i.e., /k/), the word becomes at. 

The full development of phonemic awareness is not a natural part of child development—it requires education. 

Phonemic awareness starts to develop spontaneously in preschool and kindergarten children who are not dyslexic. These children start to recognize rhyming words and then start to create rhymes. However, the ability to recognize individual sounds in words and manipulate them requires education.  That is where teachers come in. 

by Marjorie Rehbach and Christine Nietert

An Illustrated Story for Young and Old

When the bright colors of spring failed to appear after winter one year, the fairies wanted to find them and bring them back to earth. How did they manage? Walking through the woods, one spring morning, the story of “A Maypole Dream” appeared, as a gift, to the author. It is a tale which brings gratitude for the nature spirits back into our celebrations of the miracles of the seasons. The book contains this story and beautiful illustrations, and can be enjoyed by young and old – all those who love the weaving colored ribbons of the Maypole dance! More ... 

May Day is a Northern Hemisphere festival (and is also called International Workers’ Day) and is celebrated in many Waldorf schools.  It is an ancient tradition of celebrating the arrival of summer. Known as Beltane in Celtic lands, and celebrated by the Romans recognizing the goddess Flora, May Day is a popular tradition. The May Pole Dance is a joyful experience, and often the center of the May Day celebration.  The May Pole often bears garlands and symbolizes the tree of life and growth of spring vegetation. This festival is celebrated as an entire school community. In most Waldorf schools, children from each grade take turns doing a May Pole dance. The patterns get more complicated as the children mature. Whole classes of children prepare “May Baskets,” hand-woven baskets of new spring flowers that are then hung on the fence posts or door handles or front steps of neighbors or loved ones to wish them a happy spring.

Throughout history cultures have employed rituals that reflect the patterns of nature and mark transitions for individuals or groups. All around the world in Waldorf schools the daily, weekly, and yearly rhythms infuse the life of the school. The purpose of each school's festival life is to bring the community together and enrich the soul of each individual. Some festivals are small events — the teacher and their class. Others are for the entire school, while others include the school’s greater community and neighbors.

By celebrating the passage of the seasons through art, music and story, we strengthen our connection to the rhythms of nature. Waldorf education was born in Western Europe at the beginning of the 20th century and therefore Waldorf schools typically follow the traditional festivals of Western, Christian culture. Recognizing that not all families share this background, Waldorf schools throughout the world strive to honor the diversity of cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds of the families within each community.

Wherever you are, whatever your climate, in salute to the steady and fragile rhythms of our mother, Earth, we wish you a happy, festive, ribbon-festooned, lively, raucous May Day! And a fertile new year of the Earth! More ...

The Waldorf Today jobs board is the largest Waldorf jobs board in the world. There were over 170 job listings in the past week on the Waldorf Today jobs board.
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We were so excited to find the International Waldorf Teacher Exchange, Employment & Volunteering page on facebook. It's an incredible resource for job listings all over the world. It's truly international. Visit it. Maybe you or a friend have an international adventure in your future. Good luck!