Peter Stebbing, ed. & trans., The Goetheanum Cupola Motifs of Rudolf Steiner: Paintings by Gerard Wagner. Great Barrington, Mass.: SteinerBooks, 2011. 246 pages, 208 illustrations.

Gerard Wagner’s paintings of Rudolf Stiener's Goetheanum cupola sketches bring these works to a wide audience that would otherwise have little access to or knowledge of those representations of Steiner's artistic spiritual vision contained in the first Goetheanum and lost to the fire that destroyed that great building. Wagner re-created those archetypal motifs in new ways over a period of decades. They constitute an artistic high point of Wagner's work as a whole, but they cannot be separated from the Goetheanum itself, nor can they be fully understood except in the context of anthroposophic spiritual science. In this sense, The Goetheanum Cupola Motifs of Rudolf Steiner points to the historic and spiritual importance of the first Goetheanum building. Rudolf Steiner's lecture on October 25, 1914, and his lecture on the paintings of the small cupola on January 25, 1920, are published in English here for the first, along with color photographs from 1922. Also included are the little-known colored etchings of the Goetheanum window motifs made by by Assya Turgenieff with Rudolf Steiner, as well as other centrally important contributions to an understanding of this new direction in art. Though the main emphasis is on visual examples, the book achieves something more than simply cataloging these works of art. The book conveys, too, a sense of the artistic process itself. Thus, Gerard Wagner's observations here have a special relevance. In addition to the two lectures by Rudolf Steiner and the paintings by Gerard Wagner—in full color—The Goetheanum Cupola Motifs of Rudolf Steiner presents essays from Peter Stebbing, Louise Clason, Assya Turgenieff, and Gerard Wagner. 

CONTENTS:
Foreword by Sergei O. Prokofieff
Preface
The Renewal of the Artistic Principle / Rudolf Steiner
Goethe and the Goetheanum / Rudolf Steiner
The Artists Who Originally Worked on Painting the Cupolas of the First Goetheanum / Peter Stebbing
Recollections of the Years of Painting in the Small Cupola of the First Goetheanum / Louise Clason

I. THE MOTIFS OF THE LARGE CUPOLA
The Large Cupola Sketch-Motifs of Rudolf Steiner
Large Cupola Studies of Gerard Wagner
A Further Development of the Large Cupola Motifs / Peter Stebbing

II. THE MOTIFS OF THE SMALL CUPOLA
The Paintings of the Small Cupola / Rudolf Steiner
Small Cupola Studies of Gerard Wagner
The Question of the North Side: "Counter Colors" or "Complementary Colors"? / Peter Stebbing

III. THE COLORED GLASS WINDOW MOTIFS
Indications of Rudolf Steiner for Engraving the Window Motifs / Assya Turgenieff
On the Windows of the First Goetheanum / Rudolf Steiner
The Red Window Middle Motif Metamorphosed (Paintings of Gerard Wagner)

APPENDIX
A Path of Practice in Painting / Gerard Wagner
Biographical Sketches
About the Painter Gerard Wagner / Peter Stebbing


Reviews: “I found The Goetheanum Cupola Motifs of Rudolf Steiner excellent with regard to content, as well as the layout and the quality of the pictures. One can only wish this book many readers, and that by means of it they will be able to comprehend more profoundly the magnitude of what Rudolf Steiner accomplished in the field of the visual arts—as also what his pupil, the unique artist Gerard Wagner, has achieved in continuing this impulse. Particularly impressive, above all, is Wagner's steadfast loyalty to the art impulse of Rudolf Steiner, combined with his own sovereign and independent work on the basic motifs, which are wonderfully documented in this book.”—Sergei O. Prokofieff

Sergei O. Prokofieff (1954-2014) was born in Moscow, where he studied fine arts and painting at the Moscow School of Art. At an early age he encountered the work of Rudolf Steiner and quickly realized that his life would be dedicated to the Christian path of esoteric knowledge. He wrote his first book, Rudolf Steiner and the Founding of the New Mysteries, while living in Soviet Russia, and it was published in English in 1994. After the fall of Communism, he helped establish the Anthroposophical Society in Russia. In 2001, he became a member of the Executive Council of the General Anthroposophical Society at the Goetheanum in Switzerland. More than 30 of his books have been translated into English. Sergei Prokofieff passed away in Dornach, Switzerland.

Peter Stebbing was born in Copenhagen in 1941 and attended Waldorf schools before studying art in Brighton and London. He moved to the U.S. and graduated from Cornell University with an M.F.A. in painting. Following his first teaching stint at the University of Kansas, Peter began teaching color courses at the City University of New York in 1970. Having begun investigations into Goethe’s color theory, he visited the Gerard Wagner painting school in Dornach, Switzerland. There he began training with Wagner, who asked him to teach in the school. Peter later established a painting school at the Threefold Educational Foundation in Spring Valley, New York. For the past thirty years, he has taught introductory courses in Goethe’s color theory with experiments in England, Germany, Switzerland, and the U.S. Since 1992, Peter has been director of the Arteum Painting School in Dornach, Switzerland, and has held a number of exhibitions of his work in Europe and North America.

Gerard Wagner (1906–1999) was born in Germany and grew up in England. He began his vocation as an artist by learning from an English plein air painter before starting formal studies at the Royal College of Art in London. Beginning in 1926, he took up the challenge of a new direction in painting as initiated by Rudolf Steiner, which became the essence of his life’s work for more than seventy years. Through his efforts to grasp the secrets of Steiner’s training sketches for painters, Wagner succeeded in disclosing their metamorphic character and, from this, was able to develop a systematic approach to painting. Elisabeth Wagner-Koch, whom Gerard later married, became his first student in 1950, and together they established The Painting School at the Goetheanum, of which he remained the principle teacher until his death in Arlesheim,Switzerland. Rudolf Steiner’s indications for an art of the future remained the impulse for Wagner’s research and artistic activity throughout his life. The fruits of his research are a unique method of teaching and his archive of paintings, which continue to be a source of inspiration for the school. Wagner’s wife Elisabeth cares for the archive of about 4,000 paintings.  More ...

According to Rudolf Steiner the Kali Yuga lasted from about 3000 BC until 1899 AD. The term derives from Hinduism. During this era humankind gradually lost contact with the spiritual world. This was necessary to allow a sense of separate individuality and self-reliance to evolve.

The Michael Age commenced in 1879 and Steiner spoke of this age in the following way: “In the last third of the nineteenth century, the Spiritual Being we call Michael became the ruler, as it were, of everything of a spiritual character in human events on earth. … Michael is the active being, the being who, as it were, pulses through our breath, our veins, our nerves, to the end that we may actively develop all that belongs to our full humanity in connection with the cosmos. What stands before us as a challenge from Michael is that we become active in our very thoughts, working out our view of the world through our own inner activity. We belong truly to the Michael Age only when we do not sit down inactively and seek to let enlightenment come to us from within and from without. We must cooperate actively in what the world offers us by way of experiences and opportunities for observation.” 

The indications by Steiner regarding the Kali Yuga are interestingly more on the mysterious side. The source often referred to are the following lectures by Steiner. Other sources (including non-Anthroposophical sources) for instance Wikipedia and Britannica, refer to the Kali Yuga, commonly agreeing on the start of the Kali Yuga to be around 3100 BC, while the end of the Kali Yuga is stated to be in a far off future of thousands and thousands of years from now, while Steiner's position appears to be that the end of the Kali Yuga was indeed in the recent past namely in the year 1899 ...


The End of the Dark Age - A lecture by Rudolf Steiner (Vienna, June 11, 1922 / GA 211)

Mankind unfolded its intellectual life in the course of many centuries. This intellectual life gradually led it away from spirituality. The intellect itself is spirit, but its content is no longer a spiritual content. Indeed, the intellect is spiritual, but it seeks as its content external Nature, the external life of Nature. Hence the intellect is spirit, but it fills itself with something which cannot appear to it as spiritual. The great tragedy, the modern tragedy of the world, is that man may look into himself and that he must say to himself: When I am intellectually active, I am spiritually active, but at the same time my intellect, which is pure spirit, cannot absorb in a direct way the spiritual. I fill the spirit in me only with things pertaining to Nature.

This is what devastates and rends the human soul to-day. Even though we do not wish to admit this torn and devastated condition, it nevertheless exists in the spiritual regions of the human soul and constitutes the fundamental evil and the fundamental tragedy of our age.

If we wish to express in habitual terms what I have explained to you just now, we must draw attention to all the spiritual powers that are still active in the whole life of Nature; they enter into us because we fill our own spirit with the life of Nature, and we may designate these powers as the Ahrimanic powers.

Our intellect is thus exposed to the great danger of falling a prey to the Ahrimanic powers. During the past centuries, when the intellect was still unfolding and still possessed the inheritance of an old spiritual life, these Ahrimanic powers did not have that great influence on man which they have now. The life of Nature is apparently spread out round about us; but this is only apparent: for Ahriman lives in Nature. And by absorbing Nature, by believing that it is only controlled by neutral laws of Nature, we really absorb spiritual powers, even though we are not aware of this; we absorb Ahrimanic spiritual powers, who took over a special task in cosmic life, in the whole evolution of the world.

When we speak of the task of these spiritual powers, some people are easily inclined to say: But why does the divine guidance of the world admit these powers? — To this we must reply: All that exists in the earthly sphere may be grasped with the ordinary understanding; but when it is a question of grasping in a spiritual-scientific way that which transcends the earth, we must do this through spiritual vision (Anschauung).

Consequently we must say: These powers exist, — but the way in which they are connected with the divine-spiritual powers pertaining to man, can only be grasped in the course of long epochs; indeed, the powers belonging to the super-human sphere are perhaps quite inaccessible to the human understanding. We can therefore only say: These powers exist, they show themselves to those who have spiritual knowledge.

The tasks of the Ahrimanic beings is the following: To prevent the earth from continuing to develop as it should develop in accordance with the intentions of the divine-spiritual powers with whom man is connected from the very outset, inasmuch as he is a human soul. (You will find all these things mentioned in my “Occult Science”). In my “Occult Science” I have spoken of the future development of the earth, of the Jupiter and Venus phases of evolution: The aim of the Ahrimanic powers is to prevent this course of development.

Their aim is to harden and freeze up the earth, to shape it in such a way that, together with the earth, man remains an earthbound creature. He becomes hardened, as it were, within earthly substance and continues to live in the future ages of the world as a kind of statue of his past. These powers thus pursue definite aims, which undoubtedly appear as part of their own individual striving.

The earth could not reach its goal if the Ahrimanic powers were to gain the victory, if man were alienated from his beginnings, from the powers who supported him at the beginning of his evolution. Outwardly, the human being would develop in a way entirely in keeping with the earthly sphere, but by suppressing his innate disposition, which must lead him beyond the earth.

The Ahrimanic powers could not touch man while the intellect was still rooted in the spiritual through an old inheritance, as was the case during the past three or four centuries. But this has changed since the beginning of the 20th century. The ancient Indian wisdom knew this, and fixed the end of the 19th century as the end of the “Dark Age,” of Kali-Yuga. Thus it had an intimation of a new age. This new age was to indicate that from the beginning of the 20th century, our deepest concern should no longer be that of clinging to an old spiritual inheritance, but of absorbing the new light, the pure light, in our earthly life. ...


The Mission of Folk-Souls - A lecture by Rudolf Steiner (June 17, 1910)

... Spiritual research at the present time shows us that after Kali Yuga had run its course, which lasted for five thousand years (from about 3100 B.C. to 1899 A.D.), new capacities begin to develop in man. These will at first appear in single individuals, in a few especially gifted ones only. It will come about, for instance, that persons will be able, through the natural evolution of their capacities, to see something of what is announced only by Anthroposophy, by spiritual research.

We are told that in future persons in whom the organs of the etheric body are developed will be found in increasing numbers, and will attain to clairvoyance, which can to-day be acquired only by training. And why will this be so? What will the etheric body possess for the perception of those few? There will be people who will receive impressions of which I should like to describe one to you. A man will do something in the external world and will then feel himself impelled to observe something. A sort of dream-picture will come before his eyes which at first he will not understand. But if he has heard something about Karma, of how everything in the world takes place in accordance with law, he will then learn to understand, little by little, that what he has seen is the karmic counterpart of his actions in the etheric world. Thus gradually the first elements of future capacities are being formed.

Those persons who receive a stimulus from Anthroposophy will, (from the middle of the twentieth century on), gradually experience a renewal of that which St. Paul saw in etheric clairvoyance as a mystery to come, the ‘Mystery of the Living Christ’. There will be a new manifestation of Christ, a manifestation which must come when human capacities so develop in the natural course, that the Christ can be seen in that world in which He always was, and in which since the Mystery of Golgotha He is to be found by Initiates. Humanity is growing into that world in order to be able to perceive from the physical plane that which could formerly only be seen from higher planes in the Mystery Schools.

The Mystery-training will nevertheless not become superfluous. It always presents things in a different way from what they are presented to the untrained soul. But that which is given in the Mystery-training will, by the transformation of the physical human body, show the Mystery of the Living Christ in a new way, as it can be seen perceptively from the physical plane, as it will be seen in the etheric, at first by a few and afterwards by more and more persons, in the course of the next three thousand years. That which St. Paul saw as the living Christ Who is to be found in the etheric world since the event of Golgotha, will be seen by an ever increasing number of people.

The manifestations of Christ will be ever higher and higher. That is the mystery of the evolution of Christ. At the time when the Mystery of Golgotha took place men were to comprehend everything from the physical plane; it was therefore necessary that they should also be able to see Christ on the physical plane, to have news of Him there, and to testify to His power on that plane. But mankind is intended to progress, it is organized for the development of higher powers, and anyone who can believe that the manifestation of Christ will be repeated in the same form which was necessary nineteen hundred years ago, knows nothing of the progress of humanity. It took place on the physical plane because at that time the forces of man were adjusted to the physical plane. But those forces will evolve, and hence, in the course of the next three thousand years, Christ will be able to speak more and more to the more highly developed human forces.

What I have just said is a truth which has for a long time been communicated to a few individuals from within the esoteric schools, a truth which to-day must be found especially in the domain of Anthroposophy, because Anthroposophy is to be the preparatory school for that which is to come. Humanity is now organized for liberty, for the personal recognition of that which is developing within it, and it might occur that those persons who will come forward as the first pioneers of the Christ-vision, will be shouted down as fools, that what they have to offer to mankind will not be listened to, and humanity might sink still further into materialism than it has already done and trample under foot that which could become the most wonderful manifestation for mankind. Everything that may happen in the future is to a certain extent subject to the will of humanity, so that men may also miss what is for their salvation. That is extremely important: Anthroposophy is a preparation for what is to be the new Christ-revelation.

Materialism may make a mistake in two different ways. One — which will probably be made by reason of the Western traditions — consists in considering as mere folly, as wild fantasy, everything that the first pioneers of the new Christ-revelation will announce in the twentieth century as the result of their own vision. Materialism has now invaded all domains. It is not only at home in the West but it has also taken hold of the East; there, however, it assumes another form. It may happen that oriental materialism may cause men to fail to recognize what is higher in a manifestation of Christ at a higher stage, and then will occur that which has so often been spoken of here, and will again and again be repeated, that materialistic thinking will transform the appearance of Christ into a materialistic view. ...

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland , the United Kingdom , and northern France , celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter. 
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To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona , the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

Thanks to the generous donors to our Biodynamic Scholarship Fund, we are excited to be able to offer many more scholarships to the Biodynamic Conference than ever before. We hope to be able to fully fund up to 200 participants for this dynamic and interactive online experience.

We encourage all those who need financial assistance to apply for a scholarship award — especially those who are new to biodynamic agriculture.

Priority is given to applicants who demonstrate a strong interest in learning about and pursuing biodynamic farming or gardening, including:

• Members of the Biodynamic Association (membership starts at only $5/year!)
• Black, Indigenous, and People of Color
• Trainees enrolled in the Biodynamic Farmer Foundation or Development Years
• Existing farmers

Early applications are encouraged! Scholarships will be awarded on a rolling basis through November 1.

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Presented by the Magical Puppet Tree

This is a tale of courage... a young child seeks to share the beauty of his garden with those who live in a land that has become dry, arid, and bereft of life. In order to do so, he must steer towards the light of his star despite hardship and stormy seas. Based on a Wynstones Michaelmas story with music from the Hebridean Islands. With: Janene Ping, Renannah Weinstein, Odin Esty, Somer Serpe, and Jen Zimberg. Video by Ragnar Freidank. More ...

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I can belong now to myself
And shining spread my inner light
Into the dark of space and time.
Toward sleep is urging all creation, 
But inmost soul must stay awake
And carry wakefully sun's glowing
Into the winter's icy flowing. 

Twenty-Fifth Week [September 22 -28] 
Rudolf Steiner, The Calendar of the Soul ​

Today, we celebrate the fall equinox. What are you doing to connect with this unique time of year? What are you observing as we move from one blessed season into another.

Here at the BDA we're celebrating in our own individual ways — whether it's enjoying fresh-roasted dandelion root tea, or recognizing and appreciating how life lives and moves inside of us. I would like to appreciate all members who participated in our most recent Biodynamics & Justice Salon II. We imagined how the biodynamic movement and our communities could manifest diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. With much gratitude, I'm moved to say we are manifesting this reality one day at a time by overcoming fear with confidence, investing in trust, and embracing readiness. I encourage any member who is still questioning how biodynamics and social justice fit together to take a moment to view this 2-minute video called Bridging & Breaking. Take from it what serves you and leave the rest. 

Next month, we are supporting and participating at the Anthroposophical Society's annual conference, Willing the Good: Love, Action, Healing. Our annual kick-off for the Biodynamic Scholarship Fund has also begun. We've got a good journey ahead of us to get to reach our $30,000 goal, which will allow 200+ aspiring farmers and gardeners who wish to learn more about biodynamics the opportunities to connect with some of our leading practitioners and best of all you! 

Hot cider and cheers to enjoying the remainder of this special day.

Be safe and stay well,  


Tonya Taylor 
Member Services 
members@biodynamics.com 

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Some children and adolescents feel that the biological gender assigned to them does not express who they are. The Waldorf teacher and sculptor Christian Breme has studied the phenomenon of gender identity for many years, asking how Waldorf education can support these young people.

​Sebastian Jüngel Is the question of gender identity new or are we only just becoming aware of something that has been suppressed for a long time?

Christian Breme There certainly have always been children and adolescents whose gender identity differed, temporarily or permanently, from the one assigned to them. Today they express themselves more forcefully and demand to be recognized as who they deeply feel they are. They are often quite distressed.

Jüngel What does the fact that they feel so strongly tell us?

Breme It is rooted in a previously unknown authority of the soul over a body that is experienced as alien. We could call it an awakening that first manifests as a sense of not being at home in one’s body. Did we not notice it before? Maybe we had to first get to a point where we are able to look at the phenomenon without fear. We have to learn to support transgender children and their parents in unusual ways today. This confronts us with new pedagogical challenges.


Distracting from the ‘I’

Jüngel How significant is gender in your view on the path to one’s personal identity?

Breme The ‘I’ develops with what it connects to, as Rudolf Steiner pointed out in his book Theosophy (GA 9). My interests, my goals, my studies, my encounters, my work – they strengthen my ‘I’.

When we look at others we should therefore not focus on cultural aspects, family, gender etc., but on what they have decided to do and how they do it. We are still blinded by a person’s appearance, particularly their gender. It pushes itself to the fore and hides the active ‘I’. This deception occurs to a lesser degree when we look at children or elderly people. We can learn from this.

Jüngel How has this topic changed for you over the last decades?

Breme Studying the enigma of gender is part of pedagogical anthropology. How do boys and girls develop? What does puberty mean? I must admit that I neglected the question of homosexuality in the first years. I only learned gradually to perceive a latent homosexuality in older adolescents and to address questions regarding gender orientation in class when we learned about relationships. The question of gender identity became more central for me around five years ago when I visited other countries, and also through reading. This space is now filling with experience, with conversations and individual destinies. And with great amazement: in the end we are each entirely individual.


Cultural differences

Jüngel You have addressed this question with different cultures. What differences do you notice? Where do you see something universally human coming to expression?

Breme In 2013 I was invited by a number of Waldorf Schools in the US to speak about relationships. I visited a small school with five transgender children. That is normal today. In the upper grades of the large school in Austin, Texas, ‘gender issues’ were discussed in depth in the lessons – at a time when we hardly knew what that meant here in Europe.

In Shenzhen (CN), a city with twelve million people, I gave a workshop on sex education and relationships. In China it is generally very difficult to speak of our origin and sexuality because there is a traditional sensitivity and reluctance to unveil the mystery. Many people are also traumatized by the enforced abortions of the last thirty years. In the end it was possible to speak about special forms of sexual orientation and identity only when the topic was presented in an artistic, Goethean way.

Most recently I visited the Waldorf School in Samara (RU). The whole upper school came together. The students had only one question, “What is it with this gender movement? How can we understand gender identity? We are confronted with it in the media. Politicians call it destructive.” The young people were grateful for an approach that made such phenomena more accessible. Then I met the parents in the evening. Again, the same question was discussed vehemently. A doctor translated the outcome of the discussion for me: it is right, we should overcome gender in the future, but it is too early. Our ‘I’ is not strong enough yet.


Authentic ‘I’ awareness

Jüngel How do you think a spiritual community should deal with this question?

Breme Anthroposophy can explain these seemingly sudden and new possibilities at a deeper level. My book Matryoshka is an attempt at presenting ways towards understanding and resolving identity conflicts. As a knowledge-based community our working contexts offer us the space to practise authentic ‘I’ awareness and the unconditional acceptance of the other.

Jüngel Have you ever had a key experience in connection with this topic?

Breme I approach it as I do all problems that I care about: I build bridges. A key experience? All encounters I had with young people or adults in my sphere of life who struggled with their physical gender were moving: I was able to perceive the ‘I’ in its authenticity.

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Waldorfee is a bit of a play on words. Through the duration of 20 years as a classroom teacher, Jacquelynn caught herself using this informal term, “”Waldorfee”” to describe anything that fit into the Waldorf category. Given that Waldorf Education is primarily taught in schools offering a relatively consistent curriculum across the world, what we offer you is indeed “”Waldorfee””, which is our best endeavor to provide you with Waldorf-inspired elemental education in an online setting. More ...