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WALDORF / STEINER 

NEWS ARCHIVE

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April, 2018.

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This site supplements Waldorf Watch.

To go to Waldorf Watch itself, please click here:

Waldorf Watch.

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The news items below are presented in reverse chronological order — newest first, oldest last.

Please excuse a certain amount of repetition in the contents of this archive. Items that now appear close together on the screen may have originally been separated by intervals of several days.

Many of the items in this archive generalize about Waldorf schools, describing them as Rudolf Steiner and leading Waldorf representatives have said they should be and as evidence shows they often are today. Not all Waldorf schools, Waldorf charter schools, and Waldorf-inspired schools conform to this model precisely. To evaluate an individual school, you should carefully examine its stated purposes, its practices (which may or may not be consistent with its stated purposes), and the composition of its faculty.

— Roger Rawlings

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April 30, 2018

◊ READINGS ◊

WALDORF FACULTY MEETINGS: 

GATHERINGS OF A CULT? 

Faculty meetings at Waldorf schools often include activities that would be never occur in faculty meetings at other types of schools. Here’s an example from a recent Waldorf publication, addressed to Waldorf teachers. The author says that in their meetings, Waldorf teachers should study Rudolf Steiner's lectures about certain mystical subjects: 

“[T]here is…an aspect of [ourselves] that is always in communication with the hierarchies. [1] This can express itself in different ways. How can we meet our different children [2] in their different development? … We can become masters of the physical body, of physical development. [3] But we can also be experts of destiny. [4] For ten or fifteen minutes in each faculty meeting we should read lectures [by Steiner] on reincarnation and karma.… [5]” — Michaela Glöckler, “From Unborness to I-Consciousness”, in THE JOURNEY OF THE “I” INTO LIFE (Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, 2012), p. 29. 

Only in Waldorf schools would teachers take time during faculty meetings to read lectures by Rudolf Steiner about reincarnation and karma (or, probably, about anything else). 

Waldorf faculty meetings often have the trappings and tenor of church services — the religion involved being Anthroposophy. [6] Here are relevant excerpts from another recent Waldorf publication: 

“Of Meetings and Learnings 

“Rudolf Steiner expected great things of Waldorf teachers, and the school meetings were to be the place from which these great things would receive their inspiration … The outline below is of the possible form which a pedagogical meeting [7] might take…. 

“• Opening Verse [8] … • Singing or Eurythmy [9] … • [R]eview of festivals [10] … • [S]tudy for a festival [11] … • A song or simple Eurythmy to close and/or • A verse. [12]” — A HANDBOOK FOR WALDORF TEACHERS, compiled by Kevin Avison (Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship, 2011), pp. 46-47. 

Not all Waldorf teachers are devout Anthroposophists. Sometimes a Waldorf school is unable to hire a devout Anthroposophist to teach a certain subject or class, so it hires an outsider instead. This has given rise to some shocked reports from these outsiders. Here is one: 

“[A] former Waldorf instructor [has said]: ‘I heard in a faculty meeting that there were many important souls waiting to reincarnate in this century and that they would only be able to do so if there were enough Waldorf schools. [13] By the end of the year I taught there I was completely convinced that Waldorf constituted a cultlike religious movement which concealed its true nature from prospective parents.’” — Meagan Francis, ”What’s Waldorf?” (SALON, 5-26-2004). 

Calling Waldorf a cult is a bit harsh. But it is not far from the mark.

Waldorf Watch Footnotes:

[1] In Anthroposophy, the term “hierarchies” is often used as a synonym for “gods.” Steiner taught that there are nine ranks of gods, and these ranks are subdivided into three categories that he called hierarchies. [See "Polytheism".]

Many Waldorf teachers think they work in communication with, and in serve to, the gods. [See, e.g., “Serving the Gods”.] From some perspectives, this belief may be deemed worrisomely delusional. 

[2] The “children” are the teachers’ students. It is typical for Waldorf teachers to think of their students as their children. Steiner encouraged Waldorf teachers to consider themselves surrogate parents for their students, surrogates who must counteract the unfortunate effects that mere biological parents may inflicted on kids. 

“You [Waldorf teachers] will have to take over children for their education and instruction — children who will have received already (as you must remember) the education, or mis-education given them by their parents." — Rudolf Steiner, THE STUDY OF MAN (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), p. 16. 

[3] Waldorf teachers strive to "become masters of the physical body" this through study of Steiner’s description of the human constitution. This description provides the basis for Waldorf pedagogy. [See “Oh Humanity”.] 

[4] I.e., experts of karma. Belief in reincarnation and karma are central to the Waldorf belief system. [See “Reincarnation” and “Karma”.] 

[5] The “reading” would be aloud, and it might be followed by discussion. 

[6] See “Is Anthroposophy a Religion?” The answer, in brief, is yes.

[7] I.e., a meeting focused on teaching — a faculty meeting. 

[8] The “verses” recited in Waldorf schools are usually prayers, especially prayers written by Rudolf Steiner. [See “Prayers”.] 

[9] The songs sung in Waldorf schools are often hymns. [Again, see “Prayers” ] 

Eurythmy is a form of temple dancing developed by Steiner. [See “Eurythmy”.] During the eurythmic potion of a faculty meeting, Waldorf teachers would rise from their chairs and perform various dance movements, possibly while circling the room. 

[10] The festivals staged in Waldorf schools are based on various religious holidays. They are, in effect, religious observances. [See “Magical Arts”.] Planning for and staging these observances often consumes a major part of the school year. [See the section “The School’s ‘Celebrations’” in “My Life Among the Anthroposophists”.] 

[11] I.e., preparation for the next festival in the annual rotation of such events. 

[12] I.e., a closing prayer. 

[13] The “important souls” would reincarnate as Waldorf teachers or students. Thus, enough Waldorf schools must be opened to create enough slots for all of these important returning souls. (Unimportant souls can presumably incarnate elsewhere.) 

— R.R.

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April 28, 2018

TROUBLES AT KINGS LANGLEY —

WORSE THAN THOUGHT?

UK education authorities have ordered the Rudolf Steiner School in Kings Langley to close. Despite the school's efforts to save itself, the problems there apparently continue with little sign of relief. Here are excerpts from a news item in  The Hemel Gazette [Johnson Publishing, UK], interspersed with a few comments from Waldorf Watch: 

£750k shortfall, 3 sets of lawyers, 

and a wall of silence from 

Rudolf Steiner School in Kings Langley

by Ben Raza

A private school which has been threatened with closure by the government has had to ask parents for money.

It is understood the funds are required in order to remain open next year.

Rudolf Steiner School in Kings Langley is appealing for cash donations, loans, or for parents to pay their yearly fees early.

And they are also asking if parents can offer other help, such as voluntary work to help with legal advice, financial work, fundraising, or “educational leadership”.

The school is said to be hoping to raise £750,000 from parents, who were asked for the donations in a meeting on Wednesday April 18.

Officials at the school are evidently keeping mum. Interim principal Tim Byford recently agreed to an interview with the Gazette, but then he backed out.  

[Mr. Bydford] instead emailed a statement which praised the “beautiful singing” of staff at last week’s meeting.

It said: “We had a massive turn out by parents, staff and RSSKL [Rudolf  Steiner School Kings Langley] Association members at the whole school meeting. The meeting opened with some beautiful singing by staff.”

The £9,875-a-year school which has been threatened with closure by the government declined to answer questions from the Gazette this week.

One of the primary defensive efforts being taken by the school is to load up with lawyers. The school is reported to have hired three legals teams to help in its effort to reverse the government’s closure order. 

Three separate legal firms have been employed by the school, including the firm which represented Princess Diana in her divorce from the Prince of Wales, in their efforts to stay open…. 

By some indications, the problems at the school may be worse than previous news accounts indicated. 

The latest inspection report from Ofsted [Office for Standards in Education] has now been released, and is worse than previously thought.

Two weeks ago the Gazette reported on the latest visit from the school inspection body, which took place in February. At the time that report was not publicly available, but it was believed that only safeguarding was criticised.

However, it is now clear that Ofsted also stated standards were not met in ‘Quality of education’, and in ‘Quality of leadership in and management of schools’.

About quality of education, the report says: “Not all teachers planned lessons in line with leaders’ expectations. For example, they did not consider carefully enough the needs of pupils who have additional learning needs. 

“Work was frequently unchallenging and teachers’ assessment of the progress made by pupils was still in its infancy.”

[4/28/2018    https://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/news/750k-shortfall-3-sets-of-lawyers-and-a-wall-of-silence-from-rudolf-steiner-school-in-kings-langley-1-8478872   This story originally appeared on April 27.]

For prior coverage of the situation the Rudolf Steiner School in Kings Langley, see, e.g., Waldorf Watch news accounts from April 19 and April 14, 2018.

For an overview of academic standards at Steiner or Waldorf schools, see "Academic Standards at Waldorf". Having their eyes on the spirit realm, Steiner / Waldorf teachers often give low priority to education in the normal sense — that is, they downplay knowledge and brainwork. Thus, for instance:

• “The success of Waldorf Education...can be measured in the life force attained. Not acquisition of knowledge and qualifications, but the life force is the ultimate goal of this school.” — Anthroposophist Peter Selg, THE ESSENCE OF WALDORF EDUCATION (SteinerBooks, 2010)‚ p. 30.

• “[T]he purpose of [Waldorf] education is to help the individual fulfill his karma.” — Waldorf teacher Roy Wilkinson, THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF STEINER EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), p. 52.

• “A Waldorf school is...an organization that seeks to allow the spiritual impulses of our time to manifest on earth in order to transform society ... [I]t strives to bring the soul-spiritual into the realm of human life.” — Waldorf teacher Roberto Trostli, “On Earth as It Is in Heaven”, Research Bulletin, Vol. 16 (Waldorf Research Institute), Fall 2011, pp. 21-24.

Overall, Waldorf schooling stands in opposition to "fact-based [i.e., knowledge-based] education." — Waldorf teacher Jack Petrash, UNDERSTANDING WALDORF EDUCATION (Gryphon House, 2002), p. 26.

Evidently RSSKL has decided to fight the education authorities in court rather than take the opportunity to make genuine improvements in the school's practices. This strategy may seal the school's fate. But, then, making real improvements might require the school to adopt (or pretend to adopt) a philosophy of education that would violate basic Anthroposophical dogma. 

— R.R.

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April 27, 2018

A STEINER SCHOOL ON THE 

NEW OFSTED WARNING LIST

The United Kingdom's Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) has sent out a new batch of warnings to private schools that have been found deficit in various ways. A Steiner school in London is included on the list. 

Whereas a Steiner school in Kings Langley has been treatened with closure by Ofsted, the situation in the London school seems less dire — the problems there would seem to be fairly easy to rectify.

From Schools Week [UK]:

Safeguarding, fire safety and segregation: 

Ofsted releases 28 new private school warning notices 

[by] Alix Robertson, Pippa Allen-Kinross/

The government has published the latest batch of warning notices issued to underperforming private schools…. 

The latest round covers 28 schools from around the country which were issued with notices in November 2017, reflecting the government’s recent push to take a tougher line with failing private schools…. 

[An] investigation uncovered 110 statutory improvement notices handed to private schools over a 16-month period. It also revealed that during that time, private schools had breached the minimum independent school regulations 410 times…. 

The bad, the worse, and the ugly

…The London Steiner School lacked suitable drinking water facilities and had not ensured all staff preparing food must were trained in food hygiene. 

[4/27/2018     https://schoolsweek.co.uk/safeguarding-fire-safety-and-segregation-ofsted-releases-28-new-private-school-warning-notices/] 

For information about the difficulties at the Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley, see, e.g., Waldorf Watch news accounts from April 19 and April 14, 2018.

The problems at that school have not yet been resolved, although the Steiner Waldorf movement is evidently making a concerted effort to save what has been one of their flagship schools. See, e.g., a report last September at the Quackometer Blog: "The Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley’s Fight For Existence":

"...To show that the school is committed to change, it is taking on a new headmaster, probably from another Steiner School, and appointing new trustees. All this change should have been done months ago after the first inspection failures and now looks like shutting the barn door a little too late. But the future of the Steiner movement in education in the UK is at stake here."

[9/5/2017   http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2017/09/the-rudolf-steiner-school-kings-langleys-fight-for-existence.html]

Steiner or Waldorf schools sometimes overlook basic safety measures — their focus is on other, "higher" issues, specifically the spiritual beliefs of their faith, Anthroposophy. In these schools, there is often belief that students will be adequately protected by their guardian angels — teachers and school staff needn't be overly concerned. Also, there is a presumption that the students should enact their karmas — teachers and staff should not, as a rule, interfere. If a child's destiny is to undergo certain trials in this life (such as becoming ill), the experience will accrue to the child's longterm benefit. [See, e.g., "Serving the Gods", "Slaps", and "Karma".]

But practical considerations, specifically keeping a Waldorf or Steiner school in operation, can force the school's hand.

— R.R.

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April 26, 2018

◊ READINGS ◊

ASTROLOGICAL GROWTH PATTERNS:

WALDORF EDUCATION

SteinerBooks, 2009

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Waldorf education is structured around Rudolf Steiner’s clairvoyant “discovery” that human beings develop on a fixed schedule of seven-year-long phases. This concept is sometimes called Steiner’s most important educational insight. [See “Most Significant”.]

Steiner said that the three seven-year-long phases occurring during childhood entail the birth of a child’s four bodies. The physical body is born at the moment of physical emergence upon the Earth. Seven years later, a second “birth” occurs: The child’s “etheric body” (an envelope of formative life forces) is born. After seven more years have gone by, at age 14, a third birth occurs: The child’s “astral body” (an envelope of soul forces) is born. Later yet, at the end of childhood — at age 21 — the “I” or “ego body” (one’s spiritual ego, one’s divine selfhood) is born. [See "Incarnation".]

The cycle of seven-year-long phases continues well into adulthood, Steiner taught — we are "born" over and over, even after becoming adults. [See “What We’re Made Of”.] According to Steiner, the process of incarnating fully as a human being on Earth involves moving through a fixed sequence of astrological influences beaming down from the planets overhead.

Here is how the matter is summarized in an Anthroposophical publication released during the 21st century:

“Spiritual sight [i.e., clairvoyance] reveals…that the incarnating human being experiences manifold births … [E]very seven years after physical birth a supersensible [i.e., supernatural] aspect of the individual’s being is ‘born’ … These births…follow planetary laws, under the successive rulership of these seven planetary spheres: the three inner planets, Moon, Mercury, Venus; the central Sun (three-times seven years); and the three outer planets, Mars Jupiter, Saturn.” — Beredene Jocelyn, CITIZENS OF THE COSMOS (SteinerBooks, 2009), p. 39.

Several parts of this passage deserve comment. Note that, in Anthroposophy as in classical astrology, there are seven “planets” in our solar system. These seven include the Sun and Moon. Of course, in reality, neither the Sun nor the Moon is a planet. And, in reality, the solar system contains eight planets (or nine if we count Pluto). The real planets are, counting outward, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (and, perhaps, Pluto). Steiner ended his census of the solar system with Saturn, which he called the outermost planet. He denied that Uranus and Neptune are really members of the solar system — and, despite his “clairvoyance,” he overlooked the icy world called Pluto, which was not discovered until after his death.*

Our focus here should be on the three “inner planets” that, according to Anthroposophical belief, rule childhood. These are the planets of greatest importance in the astrological beliefs that govern Waldorf schooling. Thus, in CITIZENS OF THE COSMOS, Beredene Jocelyn tells us of the “Moon Cycle” (ages zero to seven), followed by the “Mercury Cycle” (ages seven to 14), and the “Venus Cycle” (ages 14 to 21). Here are a few excerpts from her descriptions:

“THE MOON CYCLE … [T]he first year after [physical] birth is the Moon year of the Moon cycle, thus doubly under the Moon’s influence … With the Moon, Queen of the Night, we associate sleep and dreams … [T]he young child…[is a] moon-reflector … [P]arents and the people surrounding him [i.e., the child] should be as a sun to him.” — pp. 30-31.

“THE MERCURY CYCLE … The second period of seven years, the Mercury cycle, covers the time between…the ‘birth’ of the etheric body at seven, and the astral body at fourteen … Mercury is a planet that deals with dualities, with contrasts … The child soul [at this age] delights in experiencing contrasting rhythms … Contrasts and alternations increase the flexibility, mobility, and adaptability of the soul.” — pp. 38-43.

“THE VENUS CYCLE … In the Moon cycle from birth to 7, growth forces proceeded primarily from the head, and in the Mercury cycle, 7-14, from the rhythmic system [i.e., heart, lungs, and esophagus]. In the Venus cycle, they extend further downward to the metabolic-limb-reproductive system … At puberty, on entering the Venus cycle, a new power of love is born … With his own independent astral body he [i.e., the child] advances from generalized to individualized feelings … Intellect alone, not balanced by feeling and will, does not lead to truly constructive action.” — pp. 50-54.

Again, we should comment on at least a few of the falsehoods woven through this Anthroposophical account. Just as astrology is nonsense — just as there is no Moon cycle, Mercury cycle, or Venus cycle ruling a child’s growth — in the same way, there is no “rhythmic system” or “metabolic-limb-reproductive system” in the human constitution. These are occult fantasies promoted by Rudolf Steiner.

An educational system built on such falsehoods must inevitably run astray. We can see one indication of this in Jocelyn’s derogation of intellect, which she derived from Steiner’s teachings about the brain and intellect. No one can deny that feelings and love are extremely important, but we should likewise insist that the brain and intellect are extremely important. But Waldorf education is wary of the brain and its uses. Indeed, Steiner taught that the brain is a highly unreliable organ. He directed Waldorf education away from brainwork. He said the following, for instance:

“[T]he brain and nerve system have nothing at all to do with actual cognition.” — Rudolf Steiner, FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE — The Foundations of Waldorf Education (SteinerBooks, 1996), p. 60.

“Actual cognition,” Steiner taught, is clairvoyance — which he said is seated not in the brain but in nonphysical “organs of clairvoyance.” These are additional falsehoods present at the base of Waldorf education. Clairvoyance is a fantasy at best, a delusion are worst. [See "Clairvoyance".]

As for the use of the brain, Steiner made such comments as this:

“The intellect destroys or hinders.” — Rudolf Steiner, WALDORF EDUCATION AND ANTHROPOSOPHY, Vol. 1 (Anthroposophic Press, 1995), p. 233. [See “Steiner’s Specific”.]

Steiner conceded that the brain has some slight value. He said that after a child has been thoroughly indoctrinated in the occult fantasies of Anthroposophy (these are my words, not his), it may be safe — during the “Venus cycle” — to encourage the child to start thinking, a little. But only a little, mind you. [See, e.g., “Thinking” and “Thinking Cap”.] This is why Jocelyn insists that intellect must be "balanced by feeling and will." Steiner said that intellect used by itself brings us within the clutches of the terrible demon Ahriman.

"Intellectuality flows forth from Ahriman as a cold and frosty, soulless cosmic impulse.” — Rudolf Steiner,  ANTHROPOSOPHICAL LEADING THOUGHTS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 98. [See "Ahriman".]

Jocelyn and Steiner give us a lot to mull over as we consider the falsehoods on which Waldorf education has been erected. Astrology. Mystical cycles. Etheric bodies. Astral bodies. Ego bodies. The rhythmic system. The metabolic-limb-reproductive system. Aversion to thought. Ahriman.

No rational system of education can be erected on the basis of such fictions. But, then, Waldorf education does not aim to be rational.

"You will injure children if you educate them rationally.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE, p. 61.

* Astronomers have identified additional Pluto-like planets beyond the orbit of Pluto. The full census of our solar system is not yet complete. With each new discovery, Steiner's miniature seven-planet vision is proven more and more false.

— R.R.

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April 25, 2018

A STEINER SCHOOL

SATISFIES AN INSPECTOR

From The Hereford Times [Hereford, UK]:

Steiner school keeps good Ofsted rating

[by] Rebecca Cain

A STEINER school in Much Dewchurch has maintained its good Ofsted [Office for Standards in Education] rating.

An Ofsted Inspector visited Hereford Steiner Academy in March for a short inspection after the school was judged to be good in July 2013.

The inspector said the school continued to be good and said "leaders seek continuously to make the school the best it can be”….

In 2008, the school became the first Steiner Waldorf school in the UK to become a state-funded academy.

The inspector said leaders have worked with the local authority to review the strength of the school’s safeguarding arrangements and the policy now fully reflects current government guidance.

Ms Hayes said weaknesses in the system remain which, while these do not put pupils at risk, mean that essential information is not readily available to those who may need it.

[4/25/2018      http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/16182156.Steiner_school_keeps_good_Ofsted_rating/]

Waldorf Watch Response:

While one major Steiner school in the UK has made news by failing to satisfy Ofsted safeguarding standards [see, e.g., Waldorf Watch news accounts from April 19 and April 14], the Hereford Steiner Academy apparently demonstrates that passing Ofsted inspections need not be an insuperable barrier. Much depends, of course, on the thoroughness of the inspection in each case.

Whether Steiner or Waldorf schools should accept state funding and submit to state-defined standards has been a controversial issue within the Steiner/Waldorf movement. Some proponents of the movement fear that the unique characteristics of Steiner education will be eroded in the effort to satisfy educational authorities. Becoming a "free school" in the UK or a "charter school" in the USA may mean submitting to standards and rules that would undermine the Steiner approach.

Any inspection or even visit by outsiders can be a cause for worry within the Steiner/Waldorf movement. The problem has been felt within the movement from the beginning. At the first Waldorf school, founder Rudolf Steiner sweated out various inspections. As he said during one faculty meeting:

"Yesterday, I was sitting on pins and needles worrying that the visitors would think the history class was too religious. We should not allow the history class to be too religiously oriented. That is why we have a religion class. The visitors seem to have been very well-meaning people. Nevertheless, had they noticed that, they could easily have categorized the Waldorf School as being too anthroposophical and of bringing that into the classroom.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 655.

Steiner often claimed that the Waldorf school did not teach the students Anthroposophy, and this claim is often repeated by spokespeople for the movement today, applying it to Steiner and Waldorf schools generally. But Rudolf Steiner's words, above, do not actually support this denial. Steiner was not worried that the visitors would see that a Waldorf history class was imbued with Anthroposophy; he worried that they would think it was imbued with too much Anthroposophy. This is quite different. Steiner was implicitly acknowledging that classes in a Waldorf school will be Anthroposophical to at least some degree.

On other occasions, Steiner was even more open (with his teachers, in a meeting closed to outsiders) about the importance of Anthroposophy in Waldorf education. Thus, for instance, he said this:

“The older students often mentioned that we emphasize that the Waldorf School is not to be an anthroposophical school. That is one of the questions we need to handle very seriously. You need to make the children aware that they are receiving the objective truth, and if this occasionally appears anthroposophical, it is not anthroposophy that is at fault. Things are that way because anthroposophy has something to say about objective truth. It is the material that causes what is said to be anthroposophical. We certainly may not go to the other extreme, where people would say that anthroposophy may not be brought into the school. Anthroposophy will be in the school when it is objectively justified, that is, when it is called for by the material itself.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 495.

Anthroposophy "will be in the school," Steiner says. When will it be present? "[W]hen it is called for by the material itself.” In other words, whenever Anthroposophists think their belief system has something "objective" to say about any given subject, then Anthroposophy will be brought into the classroom. And, given that Anthroposophists think their belief system contains the ultimate truth about all subjects, this means Anthroposophy will be brought into the classroom on a regular basis. [Concerning the universal applicability of Anthroposophy, see, e.g., "Everything".] Of course, not all Waldorf teachers are Anthroposophists, but a great many are, and Steiner said that they all should be:

"As Waldorf teachers, we must be true anthroposophists in the deepest sense of the word in our innermost feeling.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 118.

Steiner did not require Waldorf teachers to leave Anthroposophy at the door before entering the classroom. Instead, he instructed them to frame Anthroposphy in terms children can understand. So, for instance, he said the following to one Waldorf teacher:

“The problem you have is that you have not always followed the directive to bring what you know anthroposophically into a form you can present to little children. You have lectured the children about anthroposophy when you told them about your subject. You did not transform anthroposophy into a child’s level.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, pp. 402-403.

Anthroposophy is present in any genuine Steiner or Waldorf school — that is, it is present in any school that follows Rudolf Steiner's directives. Anthroposophy is brought into the Steiner/Waldorf classroom "when it is objectively justified." It is brought into the classroom in "a form you can present to little children," a form that transforms "anthroposophy into a child’s level.” Anthroposophy may be toned down; it may even be hidden from prying eyes. But it will be present. "We certainly may not go to the other extreme, where people would say that anthroposophy may not be brought into the school. Anthroposophy will be in the school...."

The pervasive presence of an occult belief system in Steiner/Waldorf schools may, indeed, cause difficulties during inspections and visits by outsiders. 

As for Ofsted safeguarding requirements, these are hardly onerous. Here is how they are summarized in an official Ofsted document:

"Ofsted uses definitions of the term ‘safeguarding’ from statutory guidance.

"Safeguarding children is defined in Working together to safeguard children as:

"• protecting children from maltreatment

"• preventing impairment of children’s health or development

"• ensuring that children are growing up in circumstances consistent with the provision of safe and effective care

"• taking action to enable all children to have the best outcomes" — Guidance, OFSTED SAFEGUARDING POLICY, updated 8 March 2018.

We should hope that any school, Steiner or otherwise, would be able to meet these minimal, clearly sensible standards. The question regarding Steiner/Waldorf schools becomes whether any of the doctrines or practices of Anthroposophy are injurious, or whether the general effort to lure kids toward Anthroposophy may injure them. [For more on these matters, see, e.g., "Slaps", "Extremity", "Indoctrination", and "Who Gets Hurt".]

— R.R.

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April 23, 2018

THE DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED

AND STEINER

From The Washington Post:

In a country that often isolates the disabled, 

this village offers a sense of community

By Mary Gelman

In Russia, people with developmental disabilities usually live isolated lives, unable to study, work or socialize ... Few services are available for them....

But there is a place where everything is different.

Svetlana Village is an unusual community...where about 40 people live ... About half of the residents are disabled, and the other half are volunteers, living and working together in a relationship that resembles a large extended family….

The community is part of the worldwide Camphill Movement, which emphasizes developing potential through community, arts and working on the land. It was started in...1939 by Karl König, an Austrian doctor ... He was inspired by the spiritually oriented philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian...who started the first Waldorf School.

Today, there are 100 Camphill communities in 20 countries.

[4/23/2018   https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2018/04/23/in-a-country-that-often-isolates-the-disabled-this-village-offers-a-sense-of-community/?utm_term=.2f5759df2d8c]

Waldorf Watch Response:

The Camphill movement is one of the outreach arms of Anthroposophy. Depending on one's perspective, Camphill is either a shining example of Anthroposophical altruism, or it is a particularly worrisome misapplication of Rudolf Steiner's occult belief system.

Steiner sometimes indicated that he and his followers could do little to assist developmentally disabled individuals. At the first Waldorf school, he told the teachers that one student in particular was beyond their aid. The little girl in question, he said, was not really a human being. 

“That little girl L.K. in the first grade must have something really very wrong inside. There is not much we can do. Such cases are increasing in which children are born with a human form, but are not really human beings in relation to their highest I [i.e., the highest portion of the human spiritual ego] ... Quite a number of people have been born since the [the 1890s] without an I, that is, they are not reincarnated, but are human forms filled with a sort of natural demon ... [T]hey are human beings only in regard to their form. We cannot, however, create a school for demons.”  — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 649.

On other occasions, Steiner resorted to astrology and other forms of superstition for guidance in the diagnosis and care of afflicted children.

“By looking at what the horoscope shows we can see what is really the matter [with a child].

“Take first this horoscope (of the elder sister). It will probably have struck you that you find here in this region, Uranus together with Venus and Mars. You will not really need to carry your considerations any further than this triangle....

“Now let us turn to the horoscope of the young child. Again, here are Venus and Uranus and Mars near together, the three of them covering between them no more than this section of the heavens ... On this second horoscope, Mars, Venus and Uranus are in close proximity, exactly as before; but when we examine more nearly the position of Mars, we find it is not, as before, in complete opposition to the Moon ... [Etc.]” — Rudolf Steiner, CURATIVE EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1972), lecture 11, GA 317.

Concepts such as these — demons in human form, the study of horoscopes — suggest the limitations often found in Camphill communities. Modern psychiatric therapies are largely spurned at these communities. The disabled residents and their caregivers are thought to be bound to one another by karma. Therapy entails acceptance of karma and enactment of religious observances, including pagan festivals. In general, no cures for psychological impairments are sought — these are accepted as necessary stages in the cycle of reincarnation.

◊ "Most of the [caregivers] are a committed core ... [M]any belong to the General Anthroposophical Society and the School of Spiritual Science … Anthroposophy’s teachings stress that individuals who become closely involved with each other have karmic ties that reach back into past incarnations … The Camphill communities’ stable rhythm of life is marked by an almost medieval sense of the seasons. Christian saints’ days, as well as pagan festivals such as May Day, are celebrated.” — Geoffery Ahern, "Five Karmas, or Anthroposophy in Great Britain". [See "Waldorf Now". For information on the General Anthroposophical Society and the School of Spiritual Science, see The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.]

◊ "Every Friday night, members of the Camphill gathered to read the Gospels and discuss them, and then they performed a ritual sharing of bread and salt. On Sunday morning, another ritual took place, which I knew to be based on the Anthroposophic worship Rudolf Steiner established for the children of Anthroposophists at the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart ... Within this Camphill, the leaders adopted a resolutely hostile attitude toward psychology and psychoanalysis, which they saw as incarnations of evil. 'There are no psychologists here!' the main leader proudly repeated, although many patients there had significant psychological disorders that should have received skilled care. 'We are all therapists!' he stated, when I expressed misgivings. It becomes clear why he took this line when you read the harsh criticism that Rudolf Steiner directed at psychoanalysis. Even Jung found no favor in his eyes, since Jung failed to open himself to the 'spiritual wisdom' of Anthroposophy." — Grégoire Perra, "My Life Among the Anthroposophsists". [For more on "Anthroposophic worship...established...at the first Waldorf school", see "Waldorf Worship".]

◊ "In small [Camphill] communities, such as farms, people with developmental difficulties...work, learn and live together ... Disabilities are not treated as illnesses ... [It is believed that] impairments in one incarnation may be a way to acquire strength for a succeeding one." — Henk van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z (Sophia Books, Rudolf Steiner Press, 2011), p. 111. 

The Anthroposophical attitude toward disabilities severely limits that scope of the "therapy" offered in Camphill communities. The goal of treatment at Camphill is often to accept various limiting conditions, not to cure or significantly ameliorate them. The disabled may be accorded greater human dignity at Camphill than they have usually known elsewhere, and this is surely to the good. But, on the other hand, they may often be denied proper medical care at Camphill, with the result that their conditions may be prolonged or even worsened.

The same problem extends to other medical conditions endured by other residents in these communities: Cures may not be sought, or the approaches adopted may exclude the benefits of genuine medical care. Anthroposophical couples residing at Camphill communities raise their children there, largely isolated from the world outside. Most of these children have no developmental disabilities, but they may suffer nonetheless from Anthroposophy's aversion to modern medical practices. See, for instance, the memoir of Robert Smith-Hald, who was raised in two Camphill communities: "Growing Up Being made Sick by Anthroposophy".

"[Anthroposophists] believe that sickness is the soul incarnating, and also that it has to do with karma. They don’t believe in inoculations, so I had all the child diseases going around, some twice.” — Robert Smith-Hald. [See "Steiner's Quackery".]

Like other Anthroposophical endeavors, Camphill communities are well-intended. But whether they actually achieve beneficial results is, to put the matter mildly, doubtful.

— R.R.

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April 21, 2018

BUTTERFLIES, FIRE SPIRTS,

AND ASTROLOGY 

From The Auburn Journal [California, USA]:

Mass planting to help butterflies

MEADOW VISTA — Live Oak Waldorf School’s fourth-grade planned to begin a mass planting of milkweed Tuesday on campus to support the local butterfly habitat. The school is participating in the Schoolyard Habitat Program through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Sarah Dunbar is the fourth-grade teacher and guiding force behind the endeavor.

“I thought of this in second grade when pondering how to engage our class and school in an environmental service project that could bring to life some of our science and geography curricula,” Dunbar said....

Live Oak Waldorf School will be one of several California schools participating in the Schoolyard Habitat Program....

[4/21/2018   http://www.auburnjournal.com/article/4/18/18/mass-planting-help-butterflies    This story originally appeared on April 18.]

Waldorf Watch Response:

Waldorf schools generally embrace green values. They promote environmental sensitivity among their students, and they frequently encourage the students to participate in ecologically beneficial projects.

All of this is good; all of it deserves commendation.

 If we look more deeply, we will find — as always concerning the Waldorf movement — strange esoteric doctrines propounded by the founder of Waldorf education, Rudolf Steiner. Whether Steiner's doctrines should affect our approval of the good ecological work undertaken at Waldorf schools is questionable. Indeed, whether any particular Waldorf teacher — such as Sarah Dunbar — knows what Steiner said about these things is, perhaps, not terribly important.

Still, consulting Steiner is alway helpful if we want to penetrate to the core of Waldorf beliefs and practices.

So, what did Steiner teach about butterflies?

As it turns out, Steiner had a lot to say about butterflies, especially in the set of lectures that has been published under the title MAN AS SYMPHONY OF THE CREATIVE WORLD (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1970).

Here are some excerpts taken from the chapter summaries given near the front of this book. (I have added footnotes that may prove instructive.)

The butterfly is a creation of the upper cosmic forces. [1] Its egg is under direct influence of the sun, the caterpillar [is under the influence] of Mars, the chrysalis [is under the influence] of Jupiter, and the freed butterfly [is under the influence of] Saturn. [2] … Influences of the lower planets — Moon, Venus, Mercury — supplant the upper planets which influence the butterfly. The butterfly is the freed plant, the plant [is] the fettered butterfly [3] … The butterfly continually gives spiritualized substance to the cosmos during life, not only, like the birds, at death. [4] Butterflies are creatures of light-ether, birds of warmth. [5] ... Both bird and butterfly overcome gravity, while bats are subject to it. [6] … Fire spirits complete butterflies in their bodily nature. [7] … The sylphs carry the astrality of dying birds to the hierarchies. [8] The fire beings do the same with the gleaming of the warmth ether on the butterflies' wings. [9]

— Contents page, MAN AS SYMPHONY OF THE CREATIVE WORLD (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1970).

Waldorf Watch Footnotes:

[1] Steiner taught that virtually all earthly phenomena are suffused by the effects of cosmic forces, both low (coming from the nearest planets) and high (coming from more distant planets and from the stars).

[2] In a word, such beliefs arise from astrology. Astrological concepts are woven throughout Waldorf thinking. [See, e.g., “Waldorf Astrology”.] Here, Steiner traces the development of a butterfly from egg to mature insect, telling what star or planet directly influences each developmental stage.

[3] I.e., in a spiritual sense, a butterfly is a flower that has been freed to fly, while a flower is a butterfly that has been fettered to the Earth.

[4] I.e., butterflies and birds embody cosmic forces, which they receive from the planets and stars, and which they reflect back into the cosmos. Birds release their cosmic forces only after they die, but butterflies do this during their lives as well as after their deaths.

[5] Steiner taught that the cosmos is filled by several types of “ether,” including “light ether” and “warmth ether.” [See the entry for “ether” in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.] Butterflies embody light ether, while birds embody warmth ether.

[6] Steiner taught that gravity is a lowly — virtually illusory — force. [See the entry for “gravity” in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.] Pure creatures such as butterflies and birds are not subject to gravity. But ugly bats, as lowlier creatures, are subject to gravity.

[7] Steiner taught that there are four primary types of “nature spirits” dwelling within the four “elements” of nature. Gnomes dwell in earth, sylphs in the air, undines in water, and fire spirits in fire. [See "Neutered Nature".] Here Steiner says that butterflies have a special relationship with fire spirits.

[8] I.e,, sylphs carry the “astral” or star-related essence of birds back into the cosmos when birds die. (This is how birds send their forces back into the cosmos. See footnote 4, above.)

[9] I.e., fire spirits carry back into the cosmos the “warmth ether” that is incorporated in the gleaming wings of butterflies. (Like other Steiner doctrines, this is a pretty thought. Whether it has any actual meaning is a different question.)

— R.R.

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April 19, 2018

FURTHER COVERAGE OF 

THREATENED SCHOOL CLOSURE    

From The Watford Observer [UK]:

Rudolf Steiner School in Kings Langley 

fails Ofsted safeguarding inspection

[by] Nathan Louis

A troubled private school which has been threatened with closure has failed its latest Ofsted [Office for Standards in Education] inspection.

Rudolf Steiner School in Kings Langley has “put children at risk” by not vetting the teachers properly and accepting sub-standard applications.

The Department of Education is considering removing the school from the Register of Independent Schools, which would force it to close for good.

The latest inspection, held in February, found the school had failed its safeguarding requirements again, despite passing them at its last monitoring inspection.

Teachers "do not consider the needs of the pupils and do not always act in the best interest of the pupils"....

[4/19/2018   http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/16170883.Private_school__which_could_close__fails_latest_Ofsted_inspection/]

Waldorf Watch Response:

We have been following the situation at the Rudolf Steiner School in Kings Langley for some time; we have seen several previous news reports about the problems there.

The school has taken various measures, such as hiring high-powered legal representation, but so far it seems unable to meet Ofsted's standards for student safety.

Waldorf or Steiner schools generally have a reputation for providing safe havens in which students are sheltered from many of the problematic conditions found — or allegedly found — in the outside world. And yet, over the years, many reports have emerged from these schools indicating dysfunctions of various sorts that impinge of student welfare. [See, e.g., "Slaps" and "Extremity".]

Sometimes the problems become so severe, the schools cease operations. New Waldorf schools are opened almost every year in countries around the world; but at least some of these schools fail. [See, e.g., "Failure".]

One former Waldorf teacher has written that systemic problems within Waldorf schools often result from the blurring of lines within the schools:

A Confusion of Roles

When I worked in one of these schools, I myself was quickly caught up in the whirlwind in which all lines of separation are erased. Very soon, our colleagues become a kind of family, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers. Students become for us both our children and our friends and associates. There reigns a sort of permanent "incestuous" atmosphere that can go haywire very quickly for everyone. A mantra recited by the teaching community at some faculty meetings reflects this total confusion of identities: 

Me in the community,

And the community in me. 

Far from being a saying designed to encourage healthy collegial solidarity, these words rather reflect the total confusion of identities prevailing in the Waldorf school system. Nobody there knows who he is or what exactly his role is. This confusion between an educational institution and a family structure is reflected in the language used in schools, where students must call the teachers who oversee their individual work at the end of schooling (the masterpiece) their "godfathers" and "godmothers." Hierarchy officially is absent from the schools (since the teaching community is supposed to be self-organizing), but this produces power games and other profoundly unhealthy influences. Also, it is not surprising that this nebulous dissolution of personalities and responsibilities gives rise to accounts of illicit relations between teachers and students. It is what often happens. When the leaders of a Waldorf school gain knowledge of misconduct, they often respond by using it as leverage to control colleagues. I twice heard the stories of colleagues who were directed to one of the members of the College of Teachers (steering committee) of the school, to whom they confessed grave professional misconduct in their dealings with students (the teacher dating a student since she was in Third). No reprimand resulted, but they knew that the leaders of the school now possessed their secret and could use it against them if necessary. Criminal behavior by teachers was accepted within the pupil-teacher organization of the school, and it became leverage for the leaders. For what could be more intimidating than a fault that the leaders know about but choose to "keep under the table"?

— Grégoire Perra. "The Anthroposophical Indoctrination of Students in Steiner-Waldorf Schools". [See "He Went to Waldorf".]

Whether Perra's comments apply to the situation at Kings Langley remains to be seen. We will follow future news reports.

It would seem that the school in Kings Langley should be able to resolve its difficulties, at least sufficiently to satisfy the Ofsted inspectors. But so far, this does not seem to be the case.

— R.R.

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April 18, 2018

THE MESSIANIC IMPULSE 

BEHIND WALDORF SCHOOLS    

From Folha de S.Paulo [Sao Paulo, Brazil]:

Waldorf Pedagogy Expands 

and Opens First College in Brazil

[by] LAURA MATTOS

Swimming against the current of schools which have been increasingly using computers, tablets and smartphones in education, Waldorf's pedagogy values crafts, movement, and student's contact with nature, and it is now expanding with the opening of the first Waldorf college in Brazil.

Authorized by the Ministry of the Education at the end of 2017, Rudolf Steiner College started its activities in February and it will hold an event to mark the opening next Thursday [April 19].

It offers a pedagogy course and in addition to traditional education, it teaches the Waldorf methodology....

Those who complete the course will be able to teach in any school. This is, by the way, the intention of the group responsible for designing the course's structure.

"It will be excellent to create a dialogue with different educational lines. We wish that the majority of teachers who graduate here work especially in non-Waldorf schools, particularly public schools", states Melanie Mangels Guerra, 54, college dean....

[4/18/2018   http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/business/2018/04/1965350-waldorf-pedagogy-expands-and-opens-first-college-in-brazil.shtml]

Waldorf Watch Response:

Efforts to spread Waldorf education far and wide continue apace. Rudolf Steiner's followers tend to be devout apostles who consider themselves to be on a divine mission to save humanity. A messianic impulse runs deep among Anthroposophists, including many Waldorf teachers. [See, e.g., "Mission".]

This impulse may be watered down, and Waldorf methods may be moderated, when the Waldorf movement needs to seek governmental approval in various countries. But the fervor of Steiner's followers tends to remain undiminished, even when efforts are made to hide this fervor from outsiders. [See, e.g.,"Spiritual Agenda", "Soul School", and "Secrets".]

Anthroposophy is a revolutionary movement that seeks to remake all human institutions in conformity with Rudolf Steiner's spiritual vision. And Waldorf schools play a key role in this effort. Thus, on occasion, Waldorf spokespersons make admissions such as this:

“A Waldorf school is...an organization that seeks to allow the spiritual impulses of our time to manifest on earth in order to transform society.” — Waldorf teacher Roberto Trostli, “On Earth as It Is in Heaven”, Research Bulletin, Vol. 16 (Waldorf Research Institute), Fall 2011, pp. 21-24.

Waldorf schools aim to "transform society." The transformation sought is the universal triumph of Anthroposophy.

Rudolf Steiner clearly stated that the thinking on which Waldorf education is founded consists of a vast array of interconnected occult teachings. [See, e.g., "Oh Humanity - The Key to Waldorf".] When a news item fails to reflect this clearly, you should realize that you are being given only a superficial account. Saying, for instance, that "Waldorf's pedagogy values crafts, movement, and student's contact with nature" tells us almost nothing germane about core Waldorf beliefs and purposes. 

What are those beliefs and purposes? Waldorf representatives usually try to conceal them from the uninitiated, but occasionally they let the veil drop. On those occasions, they reveal such things as the following:

Waldorf schools are essentially religious institutions devoted to the spiritual beliefs of Anthroposophy. [1] Waldorf schools try to provide homes on Earth for the gods. [2] Waldorf schools base much on their work on the twin concepts of reincarnation and karma. [3] The Waldorf conception of childhood entails the gradual incarnation of three invisible bodies; this is, in a sense, the central focus of Waldorf education. [4] Waldorf schools do not aim to provide a good education, as this concept is usually understood; they want to infuse students with "life force," they do not emphasize the acquisition of knowledge. [5] Overall, Waldorf education is an enactment of the occult beliefs that constitute Anthroposophy. [6]

Waldorf education does indeed swim "against the current" of schools that emphasize modern knowledge and modern educational practices, including use of computers. Although they are sometimes mistakenly described as progressive, in fact Waldorf schools actually embody an anti-progressive, virtually medieval worldview.

[For more on these matters, see, e.g., "Here's the Answer", "Incarnation", "Schools as Churches", and "Square One".]

[1] Relevant quotations include these:

◊ "[I]n a broad and universal way, the Waldorf school is essentially religious.” — Waldorf teacher Jack Petrash, UNDERSTANDING WALDORF EDUCATION  (Nova Institute, 2002), p. 134. 

◊ "[The] special contribution, the unique substance, mission, and intention of the independent Waldorf School, is the spiritual-scientific view of human nature [i.e., Anthroposophy].” — Anthroposophist Peter Selg, THE ESSENCE OF WALDORF EDUCATION (SteinerBooks, 2010)‚ p. 4. 

◊ "Waldorf teachers must be anthroposophists first and teachers second." — Waldorf teacher Gilbert Childs, STEINER EDUCATION IN THEORY AND PRACTICE (Floris Books, 1991), p. 166.

[2] “Waldorf education strives to create a place in which the highest beings [i.e., gods], including the Christ, can find their home....” — Waldorf teacher Joan Almon, WHAT IS A WALDORF KINDERGARTEN? (SteinerBooks, 2007), p. 53.

[3]  Relevant quotations include these:

◊ “[Waldorf] education is essentially grounded on the recognition of the child as a spiritual being, with a varying number of incarnations behind him, who is returning at birth into the physical world.” — Anthroposophist Stewart C. Easton, MAN AND WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1989), pp. 388-389. 

◊ “[T]he purpose of [Waldorf] education is to help the individual fulfill his karma.” — Waldorf teacher Roy Wilkinson, THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF STEINER EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), p. 52.

[4] "Waldorf education is based upon the recognition that the four bodies of the human being [the physical, etheric, astral, and ego bodies] develop and mature at different times.” — Waldorf teacher Roberto Trostli, RHYTHMS OF LEARNING: What Waldorf Education Offers Children, Parents & Teachers (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), pp. 4-5.

[5] “The success of Waldorf Education...can be measured in the life force attained. Not acquisition of knowledge and qualifications, but the life force is the ultimate goal of this school.” — Anthroposophist Peter Selg, THE ESSENCE OF WALDORF EDUCATION (SteinerBooks, 2010)‚ p. 30.

[6]  "Waldorf education is a form of practical anthroposophy...." — Waldorf teacher Keith Francis, THE EDUCATION OF A WALDORF TEACHER (iUniverse, 2004), p. xii.

— R.R.

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April 17, 2018

ANCIENT FALSEHOOD 

AS AN EDUCATIONAL APPROACH   

Currently featured at the Online Waldorf Library:

Waldorf Publications, 2018

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From the publisher:

The Four Temperaments

[by] Helmut Eller & Cynthia Eller 

$29.00

Here is a thorough investigation of these unusual pedagogical tools used by Waldorf teachers around the world: The Four Temperaments. Both teachers and parents will delight in understanding the different characteristics of each temperament and how these play into the development of every child (and every grownup, too). Used as a tool for understanding rather than for categorizing, the temperaments can be magical in their power to help a child to be seen and understood by the adults who care for them.These may sound a bit archaic, but Helmut Eller, from years of classroom experience in Waldorf teaching in Germany, brings them solidly into the twenty-first century! They are an abandoned ideal that needs re-implementing as they provide a wealth of help in finding a way to the heart and enthusiasm of every youngster. A good read with light-hearted goodwill in it for taking these temperaments as the artistic resources they are.

Waldorf Publications

ISBN: 978-1943582181  

228 pages

7 X 9 inches

[4/17/2018   https://www.waldorfpublications.org/collections/frontpage/products/the-four-temperaments]

Waldorf Watch Response:

The concept of the four temperaments does indeed "sound a bit archaic," and it has indeed been generally "abandoned" — for good reason.

Some ancient Greek physicians believed that human beings could be classified according to a simplistic four-part scheme. They thought that every human is either phlegmatic, choleric, sanguine, or melancholic. These dispositions result from the predominance, in different people's bodies, of different bodily fluids: phlegm, yellow bile, blood, or black bile. A person who is primarily affected by phlegm is consequently phlegmatic (slow, dull, impassive), while one who is primarily influenced yellow bile is choleric (short-tempered, easily angered), and so forth. [See "Humouresque".]

This simplistic, false scheme may have seemed plausible two millennia ago, but it has long since been set aside almost everywhere in the modern world — except in Waldorf schools. Waldorf thinking tends to be backward, and this is a prime example. The beliefs on which Waldorf stands generally embrace ancient ignorance, mistaking it for wisdom, while rejecting modern scientific knowledge, mistaking it for impious ignorance. [See, e.g., "The Ancients" and "Science".]

The blurb quoted above says that the concept of the four temperaments is used in Waldorf schools as "a tool for understanding rather than for categorizing." This is severely misleading. An ancient, false theory does not provide any true "understanding." Moreover, Waldorf teachers do indeed tend to "categorize" (pigeonhole, stereotype) students according to the kids' supposed "temperaments." Even seating arrangements in Waldorf classrooms often divide kids into the four temperamental categories:

"[T]he children should be seated according to their temperaments. It will be found, for instance, that the phlegmatics get so bored with one another that they wake up; the cholerics will calm one another down since no-one [sic] will be allowed to be the leader ... The cholerics, best able to cope with any disturbance, should perhaps have a place near the door and the sanguines will not really mind where they. The center might be a good place for them.” — Waldorf teacher Roy Wilkinson, THE TEMPERAMENTS IN EDUCATION (Wilkinson, 1983), pp. 9-10. 

Class assignments in Waldorf schools are often keyed to the kids' supposed temperaments. According to the Waldorf approach, kids of various temperaments have different interests and skills, different capacities, different body types, and even different auras. Here is a quick summary of the Waldorf view on these matters, drawn from various Anthroposophical sources:

Phlegmatics:  They generally have dark coloring, wispy hair, sleepy eyes; they dress conservatively; they need carefully defined assignments with clear paths to solution; in math, they are adept at addition; they are good stewards; they make good pianists; the pictures they draw are often bland and apparently unfinished; they should sit near windows or in the back of the classroom; if they need punishment, it should be meted out immediately; their auras are often green. 

Cholerics:  They are husky, upright, with darting eyes; they prefer unusual, individualized costumes; they need challenging assignments; they are good at division; they are natural leaders; they have a feeling for percussion instruments; the pictures they create often depict crises such as volcanic eruptions; they should often sit near the door; if they need punishment, it should be postponed until their anger has subsided; their auras are often red. 

Sanguines:  They are well-proportioned, slender, with dancing eyes; their dress is colorful and stylish; they need varied, quickly completed assignments; they are adept at multiplication; they are typified by movie stars; they are attracted to brass and reed instruments; the pictures they draw are bright and full of movement; they can sit anywhere, but the center of the room is often appropriate; they rarely need punishment — a word of caution may be sufficient; their auras are often yellow. 

Melancholics:  They are usually thin, stooped, with mournful eyes; they dress in drab and dark colors; they should be given assignments that are sorrowful but, in the end, encouraging; they are good at subtraction; they have an affinity for stringed instruments; they may become thinkers or philosophers; the pictures they draw are bold but too busy; they should sit apart, in quiet corners; if they need punishment, it should be administered sympathetically but firmly; their auras tend to be blue. 

It would be hard to come up with a method of "understanding" children that would be more divorced from reality. The "unusual pedagogical tools used by Waldorf teachers around the world: The Four Temperaments" are both false and potentially quite harmful. Stereotyping children is always wrong, and doing so on the basis of a false, ancient typology is doubly wrong. Moreover, it violates the claim Waldorf schools often make, that they honor the individuality of each child. 

Today's children certainly deserve better than the "magical" concept of the four temperaments.

[For more on these matters, see "Temperaments".]

— R.R.

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April 15, 2018

ASTROLOGY, SUPERSTITION, 

AND SNACKS   

From The European Scientist:

Biodynamics; a very strange concept.

By Jean-Charles Estoppey

These days biodynamic agriculture is often assumed to be a standard of excellence in agriculture or viticulture, although it widely misunderstood by the general public, who presume it to be a category of organic farming. However, while the aims may be similar, the differences on a theoretical level are fundamental, and surprising to say the least!

Biodynamics, derived from anthroposophy, is a kind of occultism, supposed to harness “cosmic” and “terrestrial” forces that can be activated or controlled by herbal preparations.…

These “forces” supposedly can influence biological matter based on the constellations or the movements of the planets, according to theories similar to those of astrology….

This is a long way from classic organic farming which has nothing esoteric about it....

The founder of this theory, known as biodynamics since the 1930s, was Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian occult philosopher, who, in 1924, shortly before his death, invented it out of thin air in his study, without ever having contact with the business of agriculture and with no training in the field….

The idea of herbal preparations that could influence terrestrial and cosmic “forces” were born out of R. Seiner’s pure intuition, without any factual justification ever being claimed or produced by him or anyone else….

The main criticism of the philosophy of anthroposophy which biodynamics springs from is that the theory is based only on the “intuition” of its founder: maintaining a position opposed to scientific rationality, he always avoided having to prove his claims, which thus boiled down to certitudes which have to be taken on faith alone.…

[8/15/2018     https://www.europeanscientist.com/en/features/biodynamics-a-very-strange-concept/   This story originally appeared on April 13.] 

Waldorf Watch Response:

Alongside Waldorf education and Anthroposophical medicine, biodynamic agriculture is one of Rudolf Steiner's chief "achievements." Unfortunately, it stands upon ignorance and superstition — or, specifically, astrology and magic. [See "Biodynamics".]

Waldorf schools often have biodynamic gardens on their grounds. Students and teachers typically work in these gardens, producing biodynamic vegetables that are served in Waldorf meals and snacks. 

Steiner intended biodynamics to be an integral part of Waldorf schooling:

◊ "[G]arden work should be an obligatory addition to the lessons." — Rudolf Steiner, quoted by Rudolf Krause in GARDENING CLASSES AT THE WALDORF SCHOOLS (Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Association, 1992), p. 2.

◊ Perhaps a better translation: "The gardening class is an obligatory part of the education." — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 65.

Belief in the efficacy of astrology and magic is linked to other mystical beliefs found both in biodynamics and in Waldorf schooling. Thus, Steiner associated plant growth with the activity of gnomes:

“The plant gathers the secrets of the universe, sinks them into the ground, and the gnomes take these secrets into themselves from what seeps down spiritually to them through the plants. And because the gnomes, particularly from autumn on and through the winter, in their wanderings through ore and rock bear with them what has filtered down to them through the plants, they become those beings within the earth which, as they wander, carry the ideas of the whole universe streaming throughout the earth. We look forth into the wide world. The world is built from universal spirit; it is an embodiment of universal ideas, of universal spirit. The gnomes receive through the plants, which to them are the same as rays of light are to us, the ideas of the universe, and within the earth carry them in full consciousness from metal to metal, from rock to rock.” — Rudolf Steiner, AGRICULTURE (Sophia Books, Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 154.

Foods produced by biodynamic methods are probably as wholeseome, generally, as foods produced by conventional organic methods. In this sense, biodynamics is less potentially harmful than Waldorf education and/or Anthroposophical medicine. But as a species of foolishness, biodynamics should nonetheless be rejected.

[For more about biodynamic agriculture, see the section on this subject at the website of People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools: http://www.waldorfcritics.org/articles.html#biodynamic. For an introduction to Anthroposophical medicine, see "Steiner's Quackery". For more on gnomes and other "nature spirits", see "Gnomes" and "Neutered Nature". For Anthroposophical attitudes toward real science — as opposed to occult "spiritual science" — see "Science".]

— R.R.

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April 14, 2018

STEINER SCHOOL 

STILL UNDER CLOSURE ORDER   

A leading Waldorf school in the U.K. is apparently still in danger of being closed by education authorities. A new inspection has confirmed previous findings that the school fails to adequately safeguard its students.

From The Hemel Gazette [Johnson Publishing, UK]:

Hertfordshire private school 

fails Ofsted safeguarding test 

- again

by Ben Raza

A troubled private school which is threatened with closure has failed its safeguarding requirements again.

Rudolf Steiner School in Kings Langley had another visit by Ofsted [Office for Standards in Education] inspectors in February, and was found to have not fulfilled its safeguarding requirements. 

Parents have now been asked to come to a meeting at the school next week, where they will discuss how [the school] will move forward. 

Interim principal Tim Byford said: “This has clearly been a step backwards, which we’re very disappointed about....”  

Mr Byford did not want to go into details about what would be discussed [at the meeting], but said that the school would be making “significant decisions” in the coming weeks and wanted parents, staff and school association members “to be of one mind”....

And Mr Byford confirmed that the school was looking again at its legal representation. 

Rudolf Steiner Kings Langley is currently being represented in its efforts to stay open by Mishcon de Reya, the prestigious London firm which represented Princess Diana during her divorce from the Prince of Wales.... 

An Ofsted spokesman said the report from February’s monitoring visit will be published once the school half-term is over. 

>Issues at the £9,250-a-year Rudolf Steiner School date back to March 2016, when the School Inspection Service made an emergency inspection following complaints from a number of parents. 

Ofsted then became involved, finding the school to be ‘Inadequate’, with ‘serious weaknesses’. 

And last August the Secretary of State for Education said she intended to remove Rudolf Steiner School from the Register of Independent Schools — effectively forcing the school to close.

The school is now appealing that decision.... 

[downloaded 8/14/2018    https://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/news/hertfordshire-private-school-fails-ofsted-safeguarding-test-again-1-8456711   This story originally appeared on April 12.]

Here here excerpts from a previous news article dealing with the situation at The Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley:

Telegraph News

Exclusive: Top Steiner school ordered to close 

by Government over child safety fears

[by] Camilla Turner, education editor

Britain’s flagship Steiner school has been ordered to close amid fears over child safety, The Sunday Telegraph has learned.

The Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley had already been banned by the Department for Education (DfE) from admitting any new pupils, following a series of damning Ofsted inspections which uncovered a raft of safeguarding failings.

It comes after Denis McCarthy, a senior staff member who was also a leading figure in the UK’s Steiner school movement, was sacked from the school for gross misconduct.

“He was a senior figure in anthroposophy,” a source close to the school told The Sunday Telegraph. “He was the most powerful person in the school, he had a large following.

“The school did everything that they could to protect him: minimising or dismissing concerns, and deleting safeguarding emails."

The development raises questions about the 34 other Steiner schools in the UK and Ireland, which includes four state funded Steiner academies....

The Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley charges up to £9,570-a-year in fees and is set on ten acres of grounds on the site of a 13th-century Plantagenet royal palace in Hertfordshire.

The school has issued a public apology to children and their families for “real and serious failings going back several years”, acknowledging that it failed to act on “repeated concerns raised by parents” over safeguarding.

The school was notified in July of the Secretary of State for Education’s intention to remove it from the independent schools’ register, a decision which the school is now appealing.... 

[9-2-2017  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/02/exclusive-top-steiner-school-ordered-close-government-child/]

Waldorf Watch Response:

Waldorf schools often have difficulty meeting the ordinary standards set by education authorities for all the schools in their jurisdiction.

Waldorf schools exist to serve what they deem to be higher purposes — they have their focus on otherworldly, spiritual concerns. At least, this is the case in genuine Waldorf schools, schools that operate in accordance with the precepts and doctrines formulated by the founder of Waldorf education, Rudolf Steiner. [See, e.g., "Soul School" and "Spiritual Agenda".] From a Waldorf perspective, ordinary standards may seem irrelevant or even damaging. The schools may feel that such standards do not apply to them and must be actively resisted.

Many parents select Waldorf schools for their children because of the perception that Waldorf schools provide safe havens from the hurly-burly, materialistic, technology-dominated modern world. It is especially disappointing, then, when Waldorf schools fail to safeguard students adequately. And yet, over the years, there have been many reports of such failures in the Waldorf system. [See, e.g., "Slaps" and "Extremity".]

School inspectors often have difficulty evaluating Waldorf schools. Most Waldorf practices, including instructional methods, are unusual and difficult to assess. Moreover, an atmosphere of idealism and spirituality pervades many Waldorf schools, and there is usually a dazzling display of faculty- and student-created art in most classrooms and hallways. The schools seem high-minded, and they are often beautiful. Seeing beyond this surface sheen can be challenging.

Moreover, Waldorf schools have a long tradition of manipulating and misleading inspectors. Starting with Rudolf Steiner himself, Waldorf authorities have understood that they need to deflect the judgments of outsiders if they are to proceed with their own agenda. The schools have thus often been secretive and defensive. [See, e.g., "Secrets" and "Visits".] Inspectors who manage to persevere and reach objective conclusions about Waldorf schools deserve special commendation.

A former Waldorf teacher has given this account of efforts made by his colleagues to deceive school inspectors:

"[I]n these schools, misleading state officials is commonplace. For example, I witnessed that, when a teacher is scheduled to be inspected in class, s/he will commonly be replaced by another teacher who has the [necessary] skills or qualifications. Then the students are asked to 'play the game' when the inspector is present, and to act as if the teacher who conducts their class [this day] is their regular teacher. Similarly, it may happen that there are health and hygiene inspections. I remember one time when the inspectors had to check how the children ate in the canteen. However, in this school, the children did not eat in a canteen, but in classrooms with their teachers who watched them and made them recite their prayers before meals. For this inspection, the teachers were notified 24 hours in advance, so we organized three successive meal services in a canteen for the students, so that everything appeared normal. In the evening, during a faculty meeting, teachers congratulated themselves that their students had 'played the game.'" — Grégoire Perra, "He Went to Waldorf".

— Compilation and commentary by Roger Rawlings

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April 13, 2018

GODS, PLANETS, 

LUCIFER, AND RACES   

If you become interested in Waldorf schools, you should spend at least a little time studying the thinking that lies behind these schools. This thinking is Anthroposophy, the occult cosmological system — that is, the religion — created by Rudolf Steiner. Passages such as the following give you at least a glimpse of Anthroposophy.

The following is from one of the lectures featured today (April 13, 2018) at the Rudolf Steiner Archive & e.Lib.

[Steiner can be very hard to read. To assist newcomers to make sense of Steiner’s words, I have provided an interpretive paraphrase of Steiner's remarks. I have also provided some footnotes.]

In our present cycle of time there are Luciferic Spirits [1] in every category of the hierarchies. [2] Whereas the animal group-souls [3] are the normal and proper offspring of the Spirits of Motion [4], the Luciferic Spirits corresponding to the Spirits of Motion are those who resisted the normal path, and have remained in opposition to the normal Spirits of Motion. [5] These Luciferic Spirits of Motion are grouped on the various planets in relation with the earth, just as are the normal offspring of the Spirits of Motion. [6] They too, have their parts assigned to them, so to speak, and have their abode apportioned to them on the various planets. [7] Just as the group-souls of the animals dwell on the various planets, so also do certain Luciferic Spirits of Motion. [8] They have set themselves the task which really belongs to the Spirits of Motion; that of working formatively from the planets, so that groups of corresponding beings arise upon the earth. [9] ... [T]he Luciferic Beings of Motion work from the planets on to the earth to differentiate the human race, which was actually, in a certain sense, designed according to a single plan. [10] Whilst in the whole cosmic plan it was intended that a single human form was to arise throughout the earth, these Luciferic Spirits of Motion worked down from the various planets and differentiated the human form all over the earth in such a way that the forms of the chief individual human races were able to arise. [11]

— Rudolf Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN THE HEAVENLY BODIES AND IN THE KINGDOMS OF NATURE (Steiner Book Centre, 1981), lecture 9, GA 136.

[accessed 4/13/2018   http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/Dates/19120413p01.html] 

R.R. Interpretive Paraphrase:

In our present time, demons allied with Lucifer — Luciferic Spirits [1] — are spread throughout the ranks of the gods. [2] Spirits of Motion are the gods who properly create the group soul of animals [3], but today we find Luciferic Spirits standing at the same level as the Spirits of Motion [4]. These Luciferic Spirits of Motion oppose the actions of the normal Spirits of Motion; they oppose the proper course of evolution. [5] These Luciferic Spirits dwell on the various planets of our solar system, as do the offspring of the Spirits of Motion (i.e., the group souls of animals). [6] The Luciferic Spirits of Motion have their parts to play in the divine plan of the cosmos, and they have their assigned homes on the planets. [7] Just as the group souls of the animals dwell on the various planets, so also do certain Luciferic Spirits of Motion. [8] These Luciferic Spirits have taken upon themselves a job that really should belong to the normal Spirits of Motion — the Luciferic Spirits work from their locations on the planets to cause certain types of beings to be born upon the Earth and to develop there [9] ... The gods originally intended all human beings to be alike, molded according to a single plan — but the Luciferic Spirits of Motion have caused humanity to subdivide into differing races. [10] Whereas the divine cosmic plan had intended for just one type of human being to exist on the Earth at any given time, the Luciferic Spirits of Motion sent down their influences from the planets, causing different races to develop at different places upon the Earth. [11]

Waldorf Watch Footnotes:

[1] Steiner is speaking about minions of Lucifer; demons in the train of the arch-demon, Lucifer.

[2] I.e., every rank of god. Steiner taught that there are nine ranks of gods. The highest three ranks comprise the “first hierarchy,” the middle three ranks comprise the “second hierarchy,” and the lowest three ranks comprise the “third hierarchy.” Here, Steiner says that there are Luciferic Spirits spread throughout the ranks of gods.

[3] “Group souls,” according to Steiner, are souls shared by all members of a group such as a species or race. Animals lack individual souls, Steiner said, but each species of animal shares a group soul.

[4] Spirits of Motion, Steiner taught, are gods in the middle rank of the Second Hierarchy — that is, they are gods of the fifth rank overall. Here, Steiner says that the Spirits of Motion created the group souls of the animals.

[5] Normal gods, according to Steiner, are those who have evolved at the proper pace and in the proper way. (Steiner taught that gods evolve just as humans do.) Abnormal gods are those who have failed to evolve properly. The Luciferic Spirits have not only failed to evolve properly, but they have actively opposed proper spiritual evolution. This is what makes them demonic.

[6] Astrology is woven throughout Anthroposophy. Steiner taught that gods and demons dwell on the stars and planets, sending their influences down to us on the Earth.

[7] All gods and demons play their parts in cosmic evolution, Steiner taught. Seen in one way, then, even the demons are constructive or good. But, seen from another perspective, a clear distinction can be drawn between normal (“good”) spirits and abnormal (“evil”) spirits.

[8] Group souls are, in and of themselves, spiritual beings — they are, in a manner of speaking, gods. Here Steiner says that group souls dwell on the planets just as other spirits — such as Spirits of Motion — do. (The group souls work from the planets to create the various species of animals upon the Earth.) Steiner also indicates that the Luciferic Spirits on the planets are essentially "Luciferic Spirits of Motion" — i.e., they are Luciferic Spirits who stand at the same level as Spirits of Motion. These Luciferic Spirits act, in effect, as abnormal Spirits of Motion.

[9] I.e., the Luciferic Spirits usurp the proper activities of the normal Spirits of Motion — they send down influences from the planets affecting the types of human beings who exist upon the Earth.

[10] I.e., the Luciferic Spirits “differentiate” (divide) the human race, so that different races exist simultaneously upon the Earth. Originally, Steiner says, the gods intended for all humans to be the same (“the human race…was actually…designed according to a single plan”), but the Luciferic Spirits worked against this original plan — they divided humanity.

[11] The Luciferic Spirits, working from the planets, enabled differing races to arise. Note that on other occasions, Steiner said that Ahrimanic Spirits (minions of the arch-demon Ahriman) were also involved, and he made it clear that the activities of the two types of demons (summarized as Lucifer and Ahriman) were evil. If human evolution had proceeded correctly, Steiner said, all humans on the Earth at any one time would be the same. We would all start out together as members of a single primitive race, and then we would all reincarnate together as members of progressively higher and higher races. The existence of multiple races on the Earth at the same time — races standing at different levels of development — resulted from demonic interference, Steiner taught. Thus, for instance:

“Lucifer and Ahriman...fought against [the] harmonious tendency of development in the evolution of humanity, and they managed to change the whole process so that various developments were shifted and displaced. While there should have been basically only one form of human being...Lucifer and Ahriman preserved [earlier human types] ... Thus, forms that should have disappeared remained. Instead of racial diversities developing consecutively, older racial forms remained unchanged and newer ones began to evolve at the same time. Instead of the intended consecutive development of races, there was a coexistence of races. That is how it came about that physically different races inhabited the earth and are still there in our time although evolution should really have proceeded [correctly].” — Rudolf Steiner, THE UNIVERSAL HUMAN: THE EVOLUTION OF INDIVIDUALITY, Lectures from 1909-1916 (Anthroposophic Press, 1990), p. 75.

[For more on some of the matters touched on here, see, e.g., "Steiner's Racism", "Lucifer", "Astrology", "Evolution, Anyone?", and "Neutered Nature". Also see such entries in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia as "gods", "demons", "animals", "group souls", and "good and evil".]

— R.R.

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April 11, 2018

GNOMES AND OTHER ELEMENTALS 

SEEN CLAIRVOYANTLY   

Currently featured at the Rudolf Steiner Book Centre, Sydney, Australia:

Author(s)  STEINER, RUDOLF 

Title    Nature Spirits  Selected Lectures

Binding    Paperback

Publisher    Rudolf Steiner Press 

ISBN Number    185584530X / 9781855845305 

Seller    ID 14820

Based on knowledge attained through his highly-trained clairvoyance, Rudolf Steiner contends that folk traditions regarding nature spirits are based on spiritual reality. He describes how people possessed a natural spiritual vision in ancient times, enabling them to commune with nature spirits. These entities — which are also referred to as elemental beings — became immortalised as fairies and gnomes in myth, legend and children's stories. 

Today, says Steiner, the instinctive understanding that humanity once had for these elemental beings should be transformed into clear scientific knowledge. He even asserts that humanity will not be able to reconnect with the spiritual world if it cannot develop a new relationship to the elementals. The nature spirits themselves want to be of great assistance to us, acting as 'emissaries of higher divine spiritual beings'.

[When referring to this item please quote our ID 14820]

START  Rudolf  Steiner's  Books

Price = 39.95 AUD

[4/11/2018    http://www.rudolfsteinerbookcentre.com.au/si/14820.html]

Waldorf Watch Response:

For information about nature spirits, see "Neutered Nature". To investigate gnomes in particular (gnome figures and images are prominent in many Waldorf classrooms), see "Gnomes".

To consider nature spirits in the context of other extraordinary beings accepted as real in Anthroposophy, see "Beings".

The "higher divine spiritual beings" mentioned in the promotional matter for NATURE SPIRITS, above, are gods. Anthroposophists revere vast numbers of gods arrayed in nine ranks. The Waldorf religion, Anthroposophy, is polytheistic. For more on the gods as conceived in Anthroposophy, see "Polytheism".

The following is from The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia, written by Yrs. Trly. It may help clarify the nature of nature spirits.

nature spirits - also see elemental beings; fairies; fire spirits; gnomes; goblins; phantoms; salamanders; specters; sylphs; undines

In various traditions: incorporeal beings residing in nature or the elements. Steiner said such beings actually do exist within the forces of nature. They should be properly called elemental beings, Steiner taught, because they lack real spirit. They are potentially dangerous, hostile, or alienating; some are Ahrimanic; but often they are used for good by the good gods, and some are sweet. Nature spirits, generally, are the progeny of the Third Hierarchy, the lowest grouping of gods. [1] "[T]he offspring of the Third Hierarchy are the nature-spirits, while the offspring of the Second Hierarchy are the Group-souls ... [T]he Spirits of the Rotation of Time [are] the offspring of the beings of the First Hierarchy. [2]" — R. Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN THE HEAVENLY BODIES AND IN THE KINGDOMS OF NATURE (Steiner Book Center, 1981), lecture 2, GA 136.

The primary types of nature spirits are gnomes (who dwell in the ground), sylphs (who dwell in the air), salamanders or fire spirits (who dwell in fire), and undines (who dwell in water). [See "Neutered Nature".] They are generally invisible. ◊ "It is true that the beings which we call gnomes and goblins [3] have a physical body, but they do not possess what in man we call the ego [4] ... [T]heir bodies [are] far less visible than the physical body of man." — R. Steiner, THE INFLUENCE OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS ON MAN (Anthroposophic Press, 1961), lecture 8, GA 102. ◊ "I have told you that those beings which we call the nature-spirits of the water [undines], work especially in the budding and sprouting plant-world. Those which we may call the nature-spirits of the air [sylphs], play their part in late summer and autumn, when the plants prepare to fade and die ... The disposition that at one time the spirits of the water, and at another the spirits of the air should work in this or that region of the earth, changes according to the different regions of the earth. [5]" — R. Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL BEINGS IN THE HEAVENLY BODIES AND IN THE KINGDOMS OF NATURE (Steiner Book Centre, 1981), lecture 2, GA 136. ◊ "The sylphs experience their self, their ego, when they see the birds flying about. [6] The fire-spirits [7] have this experience, but to an intensified degree, in regard to...the insect-world [8] ... [T]he bee is everywhere accompanied by a fire-spirit which feels so closely related to it that, for spiritual vision [9], the bee is surrounded by an aura [10] which is actually a fire-spirit.” — R. Steiner, MAN AS SYMPHONY OF THE CREATIVE WORD (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1970), lecture 7, GA 230.

Below the main four types of nature spirits are various beings Steiner denominated as "subordinate nature spirits." If human beings degenerate, falling to lower and lower levels in succeeding incarnations, they may fall out of the human race and become subordinate nature spirits. This means loosing their human identities, their souls, and thus losing the ability to reincarnate further. "Such souls lose the possibility of incarnation and find no other opportunity ... [T]here are no more bodies bad enough [10] ... Beings that stay behind at such stages appear in a later epoch as subordinate nature spirits." — R. Steiner, NATURE SPIRITS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1995), p. 70.

Among the less pleasant nature spirits are beings we call specters, phantoms, and ghosts. Phantoms, for instance, are “beings which have been created in the physical body through the effect of lying and slander [12] ... Such beings...now flit and whirr about in our world and belong to a class that we call ‘phantoms.’ They form a certain group of elemental beings [i.e., nature spirits] related to our physical body and invisible to physical sight.” — Ibid., pp. 83-84.

[1] For an overview of the Hierarchies, see "Polytheism".

[2] See the entries in this encyclopedia for "group souls" and "Spirits of the Rotation of Time".

[3] "Goblin" is another name for gnomes, Steiner indicated. The immoral or at least amoral character of nature spirits is suggested by this alternate name.

[4] I.e., the "I" or spiritual ego. [See "Ego".]

[5] Steiner is here describing the effect of undines and sylphs on plants growing in the soil. Undines dwell in water and sylphs in air; but they become involved in natural processes within or around the soil (the home of gnomes) when water infuses the soil and is drawn up into plants, and when air delivers its forces to the soil and the plants growing in it.

[6] I.e., sylphs see reflections of themselves in flying birds.

[7] I.e., "salamanders." In ancient times, the amphibious animals called salamanders were thought to be fireproof. The "salamanders" discussed in Anthroposophy are different beings, not amphibians.

[8] I.e., fire spirits see reflections of themselves in insects.

[9] I.e., clairvoyance.

[10] See "Auras". (Steiner here says that fires spirits serve as the auras of bees. [For more on Steiner's teachings about bees, see "Bees".])

[11] I.e., as evolution proceeds, "lower" races will die out, Steiner taught. Thus, degenerating humans, falling to lower levels, will find no degenerate or "bad" human bodies available for them to reincarnate in. [See "Evolution, Anyone?"]

[12] I.e., when we use our physical bodies to lie or slander, we create subordinate nature spirits that, as "phantoms," dwell around the Earth.

— R.R.

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April 10, 2018

ANOTHER WALDORF SCHOOL  

ON THE BRINK? 

From News 10, KTVL [Oregon, USA]:

Medford Waldorf school given 

a deadline to make changes

by Kimberly Kolliner

Madrone Trail Public Charter School is under the microscope after not meeting several district expectations.

The Medford School District has given the school a 60-day notice to make significant changes to their school system.

The notice touches on three different shortcomings at Madrone Trail Public Charter School — academic performance, finances, and the overall management of the school.

District findings reveal madrone [sic] students are falling far below national test averages.

Faculty says it's because the Waldorf way emphasizes spiritual learning during the first few years of schooling....

[4/10/2018   http://ktvl.com/news/local/medford-waldorf-school-given-a-deadline-to-make-changes]

Waldorf Watch Response:

Waldorf schools fail far more often than proponents of Waldorf education like to admit. [See, e.g., "Failure".] Sometimes, when problems at the schools are identified early, corrective actions can be implemented in time to stave off collapse. But sometimes the challenge is too great. Waldorf schools often have problems on multiple fronts, making correction difficult if not impossible. The Waldorf school in Medford, Oregon, apparently faces multiple problems.

Academics are often a key shortcoming at Waldorf schools. Far too often, the schools have low academic standards. [See "Academic Standards at Waldorf".]

Financial problems and lax or chaotic management also frequently plague Waldorf schools. [See "Coming Undone".] 

The primary reason for such difficulties is that Waldorf schools typically have different priorities. They are, generally speaking, disguised religious institutions, devoted to the religion of Anthroposophy. [See, e.g., "Spiritual Agenda" and "Schools as Churches".] Waldorf spokespeople usually deny this, yet the truth is that Anthroposophical beliefs are subtly inserted into almost all classes and activities at Waldorf schools. [See "Sneaking It In".] Tellingly, the report about the Waldorf school in Medford indicated that "the Waldorf way emphasizes spiritual learning during the first few years of schooling." When a school is chiefly interested in otherworldly concerns, attention to real-world issues can often be wanting.

— R.R.

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In prior news coverage here, we have see indications of various problems at various Waldorf schools. Here are excerpts from a news item posted in September, 2017:

Telegraph News

Safeguarding fears mount over controversial Steiner schools

By Camilla Turner, education editor 

They are favoured by bohemian, middle-class parents, and boast countless celebrities, actors and musicians among their alumni.

But an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has revealed that the inspectors have raised concerns about safeguarding at almost half of Steiner schools in the country in the past four years. 

Several of the 22 independent Steiner schools — which charge up to £12,000 per year in fees — have faced regulatory action by the Department for Education (DfE), amid fears over child safety. 

An analysis of reports by the School Inspection Service, which is commissioned by the DfE to inspect Steiner schools, show that emergency inspections have been ordered at eight of the schools. 

It comes after Britain's flagship Steiner school was ordered to shut down, following a series of damning Ofsted [Office for Standards in Education] inspections which uncovered a raft of safeguarding failings....

[9-13-2017  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/02/exclusive-top-steiner-school-ordered-close-government-child/]

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April 9 2018

WALDORF AND  

THE FAR RIGHT 

A recent article in the German newspaper Taz has revived the long-simmering, contentious question of ties between the Anthroposophical movement and fascism. The article focuses on the managing director of a German Waldorf school who proved to be a member of a fascistic group, The Citizens of the Reich. [See https://www.taz.de/Rechtsdrehend-an-der-Waldorfschule/%215492905/.] A related item, an interview with a group of parents who sent their children to a different Waldorf school in Germany, is also relevant. [https://www.taz.de/Interview-Waldorf-Eltern-ueber-Nazilehrer/%215492923/.]

Some historians — most prominently, in the USA, Dr. Peter Staudenmaier (Marquette University) — have traced parallels between some elements of Anthroposophical thinking and the ideology of the far right. They have shown that certain prominent Anthroposophists have been members of fascist organizations. [See, e,g., "Sympathizers?"] To a significant extent, the ties between Anthroposophy and the far right center on similar racist beliefs, such as Steiner's contention that some races are higher than others, with white (Germanic) Europeans at the top. [See "Steiner's Racism".]

A discussion of the recent Taz articles is occurring now at the Waldorf Critics website. [It begins at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/waldorf-critics/conversations/messages/31765.] A response from Dr. Staudenmaier includes the following:

"I say this every time the subject comes up, but it bears repeating: It would be a very good thing if the steady accumulation of incidents like these [indicating far-right influences in Waldorf schools] would finally prompt an honest reckoning among Steiner's admirers. All it would take is the willingness of significant elements within the Waldorf movement to take a clear-eyed look at the movement's past and present." [https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/waldorf-critics/conversations/messages/31767.]

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April 8, 2018

LOSING ONE'S SOUL 

VIA VACCINATION 

From NJ.Com [New Jersey, USA]:

So what if we're going to hell. 

Vaccinate your kid / Editorial

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board

Believe it or not, all New Jersey currently requires of parents to get an exemption from vaccinations is a letter that mentions the word "religion" or "religious"....

But now Assemblyman Herb Conaway, an actual doctor, is seeking to narrow the state's religious exemption to require parents to submit a notarized statement explaining how letting their child be vaccinated would violate a religious tenet or practice.

In reality, almost no religions oppose vaccines. Even Jehovah's Witnesses, who refuse blood transfusions, no longer have any official position against this. Christian Scientists may be one of the only exceptions.

...Allowing parents to opt out of vaccines based on virtually any rationale poses a serious health risk. 

When unvaccinated kids are clustered together — say, at the $20,000-a-year Waldorf School of Princeton, which in a recent year had the most "religious" exemptions — they can spark outbreaks, like the measles that started at Disneyland in 2015 and spread to half a dozen states.

Our only quibble with this bill is that it doesn't go far enough. We should follow California, which since that measles outbreak has not allowed any nonmedical exemptions, period. Its vaccination rate has vastly improved.....

[8/6/2018   http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/04/so_what_if_were_going_to_hell_vaccinate_your_kid_e.html]

Waldorf Watch Response:

Waldorf schools have become notorious as centers of opposition to vaccination — which means they are potentially centers of contagion.

Waldorf schools do not generally have official anti-vaccination policies, but many teachers and parents at these schools are leery of modern medicine, in particular vaccines. Many of them are swayed, at least in part, by pronouncements made by Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the Waldorf movement. Steiner warned, for instance, that black magicians and other evildoers work to create medicines that deaden people to all things spiritual.

◊ “Endeavors to achieve this will be made by bringing out remedies to be administered by inoculation...only these inoculations will influence the human body in a way that will make it refuse to give a home to the spiritual inclinations of the soul.” — Rudolf Steiner, SECRET BROTHERHOODS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2004), pp. 90-91.

◊ "[Materialists] will look for the vaccine to make the body ‘healthy’, that is, make its constitution such that this body no longer talks of such rubbish as soul and spirit ... Materialistic physicians will be asked to drive the souls out of humanity.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FALL OF THE SPIRITS OF DARKNESS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1993), lecture 5, GA 177.

There may be rational reasons for questioning the safety and value of vaccines, but the underlying Waldorf reasons are something else. They arise from mystical nightmares that have no basis in reality. With their countercultural bias, and their aversion to modern technology, the people in and around Waldorf schools tend to turn their backs on modern, rational, scientific knowledge. 

For previous coverage of the issue of vaccinations at Waldorf schools, see, e.g., the item for November 2-3, 2017: "Waldorf and Contagion."

— R.R.

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April 6, 2018

LOSING ONE'S WAY 

IN THE WALDORF WAY 

From The Conway Daily Sun [New Hampshire, USA]:

The Waldorf Way: 

Should we keep children 

in a bubble of protection?

“Food for Thought — Media Exposure in Childhood" will be presented by Jackie Leafe, second- and third-grade teacher, at the Parent Association of the White Mountain Waldorf School on Saturday, April 14, at 10 a.m.

Come join us for an eye-opening exploration into how organic living systems are impacted by the introduction of modern technology.

Questions may arise such as: Should we keep children in a bubble of protection so as not to risk negatively affecting their young developing minds? Is it true that we must introduce them at a young age to “artificial intelligence” and early academics to build resiliency in a fast-paced world? What is our responsibility as parents, teachers and caregivers if not to educate ourselves in the consequences of choices we must make for our children?

The goal of this talk will be to lead the audience to discover the importance of a healthy balance. Human beings develop their capacities along a specific time-line....

[4/6/2018   https://www.conwaydailysun.com/community/education/the-waldorf-way-should-we-keep-children-in-a-bubble/article_9dd17f7e-38f7-11e8-8849-c3da1552de4e.html]

Waldorf Watch Response:

Attending such events at Waldorf schools can indeed be informative. It is usually best, however, to come prepared. Do a little homework first.

The announcement, above, alludes to several recurrent themes found in Waldorf education. Here is a brief primer on a few of them.

1. Technology

The Waldorf worldview entails a deep aversion to modern technology. How this aversion is played out varies from one Waldorf school to another. But it will be found in all real Waldorf schools — that is, all schools that are firmly based on Rudolf Steiner's teachings.

To delve into this matter, see, e.g., the Waldorf Watch news item for February 10, 2018: "Waldorf and Technology".

2. Media

Because of their aversion to modern technology — including computers and television — Waldorf schools usually have "media policies" under which they ask the parents of Waldorf students to restrict the kids' exposure to electronic media. Here is how this matter is discussed in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia:

media policies at Waldorf schools - also see Ahriman; computers; mechanization; technology; television

Many Waldorf schools have "media policies" under which parents agree to curtail their children's exposure to television, computers, cell phones, the Internet, and other electronic media or forms of electronic communication and entertainment. Sensible arguments can be made for limiting the amount of time children spend staring into electronic screens, but the Waldorf view is mystical rather than rational. The fundamental Waldorf objection to technological devices of all sorts is a fear of demons. Rudolf Steiner taught, and his followers believe, that technology provides the means for demons to incarnate on Earth. [See "Computers" and "Media Policies" at Waldorf Straight Talk.] Usually, however, Waldorf schools describe their media policies in calmer terms. Thus, for instance: "Why do we choose to protect our children from exposure to TV, videos, movies, computer games, gameboys, and other media? ... The Waldorf School is designed to nourish the feeling life of children and to strengthen the imagination [1] ... Students accustomed to passively receiving impressions have difficulty making the inner effort necessary to sustain imaginative thought ... Parents are especially asked to refrain, throughout the years at Summerfield (even in HIGH SCHOOL!), from any media exposure on a school night ... We encourage parents to....create a media-free lifestyle." —Summerfield Waldorf School, downloaded May 13, 2015.

The actual thinking behind Waldorf media policies is found in such works as THE COMPUTER AND THE INCARNATION OF AHRIMAN (Rudolf Steiner College Press), by David B. Black. [2] The author indicates that the development of computers has hastened the earthly arrival of the terrible demon Ahriman. [3] Steiner warned that the very use of electricity leads to a demonic society. "[E]lectric atoms are little demons of Evil ... [W]hen we listen to a modern physicist blandly explaining that Nature consists of electrons, we merely listen to him explaining that Nature really consists of little demons of Evil! And if we acknowledge Nature in this form, we raise Evil to the rank of the ruling world-divinity ... If we contemplate electricity today, we contemplate the images of a past moral reality that have turned into something evil." — R. Steiner, "Concerning Electricity" (General Anthroposophical Society, 1940), GA 220. Steiner's followers have heeded him on this matter. “The exploitation of electric forces — for example in information and computing technologies — spreads evil over the Earth in an immense spider's web. And fallen spirits of darkness [i.e., demons]...are active in this web.” — R. Seddon, THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM AND BEYOND (Temple Lodge Publishing, 1996), p. 24. To protect children, then, we need to shield them from electronic mechanisms.

[1] See the entry for "imagination" in this encyclopedia.

[2] See, e.g., "Spiders, Dragons and Foxes". 

[3] Ahriman is one of the two chief demons described in Anthroposophical texts. [See "Ahriman".]

3. Bubble of Protection

Children certainly need to be loved and protected. We should try to ensure that all children are safe and happy.

A major criticism of Waldorf schooling, however, is that it immerses children in a fantasy universe from which they may have great difficulty extricating themselves. The Waldorf belief system, Anthroposophy, is a fantastic amalgam of mystical fantasies — fantasies that are embraced as truths. So, for instance, Steiner and his followers believe in the actual existence of "nature spirits" such as gnomes, and they believe that myths (especially Norse myths) tell of the real activities of various gods (such as Odin, Thor, Freya). Waldorf schools lure children toward such beliefs. [See, e.g., "Neutered Nature", "Gnomes" and "The Gods — Norse Myths at Waldorf".]

4. Early Academics

Waldorf schools resist giving young students academic instruction. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are usually delayed far longer than at other types of schools. Rational arguments can be given for such an approach, but the Waldorf reasons tend to be rooted in mystical fantasies such as the ones we mentioned above. Specifically, Rudolf Steiner taught that young children will be damaged if they are given intellectually stimulating work until their "etheric bodies" have incarnated. [See "Incarnation".]

"You will injure children if you educate them rationally.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), p. 61.

Waldorf spokespeople usually argue that Waldorf students eventually catch up with — or even surpass — students are other schools. But this is unlikely. When intellectual work, including science, is finally introduced into the Waldorf curriculum, it tends to be compromised by the mystical inclinations that infuse all of Waldorf schooling. Thus, for instance, Waldorf tends to repudiate real science, preferring metaphysical "Goethean" science instead.  [See "Goethe" and "Steiner's 'Science'".]

5. Developmental Timeline

Waldorf education is structured around the fanciful description of childhood development given by Rudolf Steiner. Steiner taught a child is actually "born" four times, when the child's four bodies are incarnated one after the other. A child receives a physical body at the moment of physical birth, then s/he gets an "etheric" body around age seven, an "astral body" around age 14, and an "ego body" (or "ego" or "I") at the end of childhood, around age 21. [See the entries for "etheric body", etc., in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.] 

The proposition that children undergo a series of seven-year-long phases is sometimes called Steiner's greatest educational insight. [See "Most Significant".] But if we recognize that the etheric body, etc., are illusions, then this "insight" loses its claim to serious consideration. In fact, Steiner stressed various numbers such as seven and 12 because of their supposed spiritual or numerological importance. [See "Magic Numbers".]

Overall, Waldorf is based on Anthroposophy. If you cannot accept the mystical beliefs of Anthroposophy, Waldorf education will almost surely disappoint you, sooner or later.

Waldorf spokespeople will do their best to give cogent arguments in behalf of Waldorf schooling, and they will usually deny that Anthroposophy plays a major role at Waldorf. But you should be careful in evaluating such arguments. Steiner urged his followers to mislead outsiders whenever necessary. [See "Secrets".] In particular, he said that the ties between Waldorf and Anthroposophy should be downplayed or denied. For instance, he told teachers at the first Waldorf school the following:

“[W]e have to remember that an institution like the Independent Waldorf School with its anthroposophical character, has goals that, of course, coincide with anthroposophical desires. At the moment, though, if that connection were made official, people would break the Waldorf School’s neck." — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 705.

He told the teachers they should certainly embrace Anthroposophy, but they should do so quietly.

"As Waldorf teachers, we must be true anthroposophists in the deepest sense of the word in our innermost feeling.” — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER, p. 118. 

But hush!

— R.R.

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April 5, 2018

◊ READINGS ◊

NONESUCH 

DEVELOPMENTS 

Waldorf education hinges, to a large degree, on the description of child development given by Rudolf Steiner. According to this description, children mature in a more or less rigid sequence of bodily, psychological, and spiritual changes. Little allowance is made for individual variability between children. All kids of a given age are thought to stand at approximately the same level of development.

So, for instance, a Waldorf teachers’ association has put out a pamphlet that describes “the one-year-old child,” "the two-year-old child,” and so forth — as if all children in their first year, their second year, etc., develop in the same way at essentially the same speed.

Waldorf Early Education Association of North America

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.

The Waldorf conception of childhood development is fundamentally mystical. Based on Rudolf Steiner’s occult doctrines, it postulates stages of maturation that are little more than mystical fantasies. So, for instance, the seven-year-old child is thought to receive her/his “etheric body” — an invisible envelope of “life forces.” The etheric body is also sometimes called the “life body” or the “formative-forces body.” This body is the first of three invisible bodies that, according to Waldorf belief, incarnate during the first 21 years of life. [See “Incarnation”.]

Here is how the arrival of the etheric body is described in CHILD DEVELOPMENT: YEAR BY YEAR:

The Seven-Year-Old Transformation

…In Waldorf education we speak about the first seven years as the period of time during which the child "takes hold" of his or her physical body. This "taking hold of" gesture includes the change of teeth….

With the eruption of the child’s permanent teeth, some of the growth forces active in the first seven years, also called the life or etheric forces, are now available for creating on another level, in the area of imagination or mental images….

…Once the child has taken hold of his or her physical body and some of the growth forces are freed for other creative functions, the child has gained his or her own "protective garment," usually referred to as the life body or etheric body. Waldorf educators recognize this freeing of some of the creative forces…as a sign of the birth of the child’s own life body or etheric body....

— CHILD DEVELOPMENT: YEAR BY YEAR (Waldorf Early Education Association of North America, 2017), p. 18.

Before sending your child to a Waldorf school, make sure you understand — and can accept — the thinking on which the schools are based. If this thinking strikes you as false, you should look for a different kind of school.

[For more on the etheric body, see the entry for "etheric body" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia. The other invisible bodies that Waldorf teachers believe in are the "astral body," believed to incarnate around age 14, and the "ego body" (or "ego" or "I"), believed to incarnate around age 21. You might also look up the entries for these bodies in the Encyclopedia. As for the importance Waldorf teachers attach to children's teeth, see the entries for "baby teeth" and "teeth". Concerning "the area of imagination or mental images", see the entries for "imagination" and "clairvoyance". According to Steiner, imagination is a precursor to — or the initial stage of — clairvoyance.]

— R.R.

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April 4, 2018

WALDORF CLUES   

AND TIP-OFFS 

From The Mint Hill Times [North Carolina, USA]:

Wawa-Wasi Country Schoolhouse 

brings Waldorf education to Mint Hill

BY MARY BETH FOSTER

The grassroots Waldorf preschool located off Bartlett Road is grounded in the ideas of Austrian philosopher, social reformer and visionary Rudolf Steiner. Waldorf is a holistic educational approach based on the developmental stages of childhood with the goal of creating well-rounded, independent and free thinking individuals.

It’s an educational approach that founder Silvana Mitchell was well-acquainted with when she relocated to Charlotte over four years ago from Florida. Mitchell describes it as “heartbreaking” when she realized there were no Waldorf schools in Charlotte. “I say, OK, well, I have to start something,” she recalls.

“We started as a co-op,” says Mitchell. “I started this community, the Waldorf and the Wild Child Nature School, as a community offering, just a group that got together.” At the time, Mitchell was trying to raise awareness of the Waldorf methodology in the Charlotte area. Next fall, Mitchell will begin offering 2- 3- and 4-day preschool options for children ages 3-6....

[4/4/2018   https://www.minthilltimes.com/featured/wawa-wasi-country-schoolhouse-brings-waldorf-education-to-mint-hill/]

Waldorf Watch Response:

It is often difficult for reporters to gain extensive knowledge of Waldorf education before they write news items about it. They generally rely, in good faith, on what various Waldorf representatives tell them.

Waldorf representatives may (usually) try to tell the truth about their educational system, as they understand it. But their knowledge may not always be deep — in the glow of enthusiasm, they may believe their own best vision of Waldorf, without looking much deeper. And, then again, if they do possess deeper insights into Waldorf education, they may decide to conceal these insights from outsiders.

So how can you know if you are being given reliable, factual information about Waldorf?

One tip-off, often, concerns the way the founder of Waldorf education — Rudolf Steiner — is described. Steiner was a mystic, a self-described occultist, a professed clairvoyant. [1] All of his fundamental teachings come from his claimed use of clairvoyance. If you find Steiner being described in ways that conceal these facts (he was a "philosopher, a social reformer..."), your guard should go up.

Another indicator, often, can be found in the sheer wide-eyed zeal often reflected in presentations of Waldorf schooling. Consider some of the terms found in the item above. Waldorf is "holistic." It is "based on the developmental stages of childhood." It aims to create "free-thinking individuals." This all sounds wonderful. But what does it actually mean?

As we have discussed recently, Waldorf is "holistic" because it embraces Steiner's extremely elaborate, mystical conception of human nature. Humans have both spirits and souls, they have 12 senses, they have four bodies (three of which are invisible), etc. [2] An education based on this conception of human nature may be "holistic," but it also may be severely divorced from reality. And, indeed, the fundamental Waldorf precepts are fantastically unrealistic. [3]

What about "the developmental stages of childhood"? Primarily, at Waldorf schools, these stages concern our four bodies. We acquire our physical bodies, of course, when we are born. Waldorf doctrine adds that the "etheric body" incarnates around age seven, the "astral body" around age 14, and the "ego body" (or "ego" or "I") around age 21. [4] This fantasy guides most of what happens in Waldorf schooling: 

"Waldorf education is based upon the recognition that the four bodies of the human being develop and mature at different times.” — Waldorf teacher Roberto Trostli, RHYTHMS OF LEARNING: What Waldorf Education Offers Children, Parents & Teachers (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), pp. 4-5. 

Waldorf education is "based" on this belief. Let that sink in.

As for "freedom" — Rudolf Steiner wanted to help free his followers of their lowly, earthy, materialistic impulses. In this sense, Steiner created institutions — including the original Waldorf school — that prize freedom. But in the larger sense, freedom is alien to Steiner's institutions. Steiner taught there are really just two paths in life, the "white path" of truth and the "black path" of falsehood.  By truth, he meant is own teachings; by falsehood, he meant opposition to his teachings. If you don't follow Steiner's "white path," you will lose your soul. Really, you have only one good option in life: It is to follow Steiner. So much for freedom. [5]

When you read a glowing account about Waldorf education, you should entertain the possibility that you are being told the truth. But you should also be, perhaps more than a little bit, skeptical.

[For more on how to form an accurate view of Waldorf education, see, e.g., "Advice for Parents" and "Clues".]

"Wawa-Wasi" is not an Anthroposophical term. Wawa-Wasi Country School gives this definition on its website:

The word "Wawa-Wasi", comes from the Quechua dialect and it means Children's home. Wawa-Wasi is your child's home away from home! [http://www.wawawasiwaldorf.org/about.html]

[1] Steiner's most important book, summarizing his teachings, is OCCULT SCIENCE - AN OUTLINE. By "occult science," Steiner essentially meant the religion he created: Anthroposophy. [See "Occultism", "Everything", and "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?".] As for clairvoyance, Steiner claimed to possess an extremely high level of this fictitious psychic power, and he claimed he could teach his followers to attain a similar level. [See "Knowing the Worlds".] Many Waldorf teachers believe that they themselves are clairvoyant. [See "The Waldorf Teacher's Consciousness".] The problem with all this is that clairvoyance is an illusion. [See "Clairvoyance".]

[2] See the Waldorf Watch news item for March 23, 2018: "Hearts and Hands — And Heads?" Also see "Holistic Education".

[3] The chief text outlining the concepts behind Waldorf education is Steiner's book THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE. (It has also been published as STUDY OF MAN and A GENERAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE HUMAN BEING.) For a guided tour through the book, see "Oh Humanity".

[4] See "Incarnation". Concerning Steiner's notion that children develop through a series of seven-year-long phases, see "Most Significant".

[5] See "Freedom".

— R.R.

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April 3, 2018

DEATH, DYING, 

AND WORKING WTH THE DEAD 

An upcoming conference at the Sacremento Waldorf School [California, USA]:

The Sacred Gateway: 

Conscious Living, Conscious Dying, 

and the Journey Beyond

April 6, 7, 8 at the Sacramento Waldorf School 

in Fair Oaks, California REGISTER HERE!,

* Bring a new consciousness to your own life and death

* Support those who are crossing and who have crossed over

* Expand your practice and knowledge of working with the dying

Through interactive workshops, triad sharing, keynote discussions with Dennis Klocek, Sanford Miller, and Nancy Poer, and experiential activities, we will consciously explore the spiritual and practical aspect of human life and death....

Concurrent workshops: 

...Preparing for Conscious Dying with Linda Bergh & Sandra La Grega

   The Needs of the Dying with Alexandra Attie

   Momento Mori Ritual Preparation with Dennis Klocek

...Help In Dying From the Other Side with Rev. Sanford Miller & Rev. Craig Wiggins

...The Soul’s Journey between Death and Rebirth with Brian Gray

   Co-Creating with Loved Ones Across the Threshold with Lynn Stull

   Connecting With Our Loved Ones Through Nature and Art with Marianne Dietzel and Linda Bergh....

[4/3/2018   https://secure.anthroposophy.org/np/clients/anthroposophy/event.jsp?event=86&]

Waldorf Watch Response:

Death is, of course, an extremely important subject. All of us will die, sooner or later; and, generally speaking, all of us would prefer not to die. But if we must die, we would be glad to receive assurances, here and now, that death will hold no terrors. Perhaps after we die here, we will carry on somewhere else; perhaps we will have new, better lives, somewhere else; perhaps we will become newer, better versions of ourselves, in that better somewhere. Maybe death will prove to be a blessing.

Offering reassurances about death is one of the main purposes of religion, and the Waldorf religion — Anthroposophy — is no exception. According to Anthroposophical belief, death is merely a sort of illusion.

Anthroposophy incorporates spiritual beliefs drawn from many faiths. A key belief incorporated into Anthroposophy concerns reincarnation. Rudolf Steiner taught that each of us passes through a long, long series of lives, alternating between life down here in the physical realm and life up above in the spiritual realm. When you "die" down here, you are "born" up there. And vice versa. So you don't really die at all — you just keep passing back and forth between the two levels of existence. [See "Reincarnation".]

One pleasing corollary is this: All of your dead loved ones are still alive, up above. (A few of them may have already returned to new lives down here, but probably not — reincarnation is a long, slow process.) Your deceased loved ones are all still alive, so you needn't grieve for them. Someday, you will be reunited with them. And, in the meantime, they may be able to help you, sending you blessings from above. Likewise, you may be able to help them, now, by directing prayers and meditations toward them.

Receiving help from the dead, and giving help to the dead, are central undertakings for Anthroposophists. The point of reincarnation, Steiner taught, is for each soul to improve during the long sequence of lives. The purpose of existence is to rise to higher and higher levels of spirituality — we should "evolve" toward becoming divinities. [See the entry for "evolution of consciousness" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia.] Receiving and giving assistance in this evolutionary process constitutes a core component in the Anthroposophical conception of morality. [For more on Anthroposophical moral teachings, see "Morality" and "The Moral View".]

Several of the workshops planned for the upcoming conference hinge on the idea that the living and the dead can help each other: Help In Dying From the Other Side, for instance, and Co-Creating with Loved Ones Across the Threshold. Anthroposophists discuss these matters, and they pore over Rudolf Steiner's guidance on these issues, by reading such books as STAYING CONNECTED: How to Continue Your Relationships with Those Who Have Died (Anthroposophic Press, 1999) and THE DEAD ARE WITH US (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2006).

The conference at the Sacremento Waldorf School is intended for adults. But many Waldorf teachers think that they should, in a similar fashion, teach their students to work with the dead. A book put out by a Waldorf teachers' association has this very title: WORKING WITH THE DEAD (Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, 2003). In this book, Waldorf teachers are told they should lead children to "serve the dead" [p. 2]. One way to serve the dead is to recite spiritually potent verses aimed at them. Thus, for instance, the book contains verses containing lines such as these, meant to strengthen the dead:

"The love of my soul streams to you

The thoughts of my soul strive toward you

May they sustain you...."

— WORKING WITH THE DEAD, p. 13.

These are lovely sentiments. But you may want to ponder whether young children should be taught to pray, in words like these or in any other words, to the dead.

This question becomes even more pointed when we consider prayers such as the following, directed to "those who have taken their own lives":

"Your will as weak,

Strengthen your will...

May the truth in you

Dear friend

Be resurrected

Beyond the threshold

Despite the ruins

Of your self-destroyed house...."

— WORKING WITH THE DEAD, pp. 33-34.

[For previous coverage of Waldorf practices concerning the dead, see, e.g., "The Task of Anthroposophy", March 25, 2018.]

— R.R.

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April 1, 2018

WALDORF EASTER:

THE GODS, 

THE STARS, AND THE PLANETS

Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, 2008

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Today is Easter. Throughout Christendom, Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As celebrated within Anthroposophy — the religion pieced together by Rudolf Steiner — Easter has a different character. Anthroposophical Easter contains multiple pagan elements. Most strikingly, Anthroposophical Easter reveres the Sun God — the same god whom ancient peoples worshipped as Hu, or Apollo, or Baldr, etc. The Sun God is extremely important, Steiner said; but in another sense, the Sun God is just one of a wide panoply of gods. Steiner taught that there are nine ranks of gods. A chart in the book EASTER, published by an association of Waldorf teachers, lists these ranks:

"Names of the Hierarchies

"THIRD HIERARCHY (BELONGS TO THE HOLY SPIRIT)

9. Angeloi, Angels, Guardian Spirits of Humanity, Stimulators of Thought

8. Archangeloi, Archangels, Folk-Spirits, Spirits of Community, Stimulators of Speech

7. Archai, Primal Beginnings, Primal Creators, Time Spirits, Spirits of Personality, Stimulators of Will

◊

"SECOND HIERARCHY (BELONGS TO THE SON)

6. Exusiai, Creator Spirits, Spirits of Form, Revelations

(In Hebrew, the equivalent of Exusiai is Elohim)

5. Dynamis, Spirits of Motion, World Powers

4. Kyriotetes, Spirits of Wisdom, World Guides

◊

"FIRST HIERARCHY (BELONGS TO THE FATHER)

3. Thrones, Spirits of Will

2. Cherubim, Spirits of Harmony

1. Seraphim, Spirits of Love

◊

"THE GODHEAD: FATHER, SON, HOLY SPIRIT"

— EASTER 

(Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, 2008),

p. 23.

According to some esoteric traditions, there are nine ranks of angels who serve God. Steiner’s lineup of nine types of gods reflects this concept; indeed, among Steiner's followers, the ranks of gods are sometimes referred to as types of angels. But this is misleading. Steiner taught that the nine types of spirits are not mere heavenly attendants. They are gods in their own right — they are deities having their own spheres of authority and power.

The nine ranks of gods exist in conjunction with the Godhead, Steiner said. The Godhead — quite different from the one and only God of monotheism — is a sort of committee of three separate but cooperative gods:

"The highest Ruler of Saturn...appears to us as the Father God, and the highest Ruler of Sun, the Sun-God, as the Christ. Similarly the Ruler of the Moon stage of Earth appears to us as the Holy Spirit....” — Rudolf Steiner, ROSICRUCIAN WISDOM (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), p. 100.

Seen in a different light, Steiner indicated, the Godhead is a nebulous spiritual fountainhead, a divine impulse actuating the various gods of the cosmos — it is an ideal toward which the gods are evolving. [See "God".]

Here is a simplified version of the ranks of gods as conceived in Anthroposophy; this list gives the titles Steiner usually preferred. Reversing the order shown above, this list runs from the highest rank (Spirits of Love) to the lowest (Sons of Life).

1. Spirits of Love

2. Spirits of Harmony

3. Spirits of Will

4. Spirits of Wisdom

5. Spirits of Movement

6. Spirits of Form

7. Spirits of Personality

8. Fire Spirits 

9. Sons of Life 

The three highest ranks constitute what Steiner called the “First Hierarchy,” the middle three ranks constitute the “Second Hierarchy,” and the lowest three ranks constitute the “Third Hierarchy.”

Anthroposophical Easter differs from Christian Easter in another telling way. The Anthroposophical version of Easter is suffused with astrology. Consider the following poem:

"Easter

Offspring of all the Worlds! Thou in the form of light,

Firm framed by the Sun, with Luna’s might,

Endowed with sounding Mars’ life-stirring hymns,

And swift-winged Mercury’s motion in thy limbs,

Illumin’ed with royal Jupiter’s all-wiseness,

And grace-bestowing Venus’ loveliness —

That Saturn’s old-world-memoried devoutness

Unto the world of Space and Time thee hallow!”

— EASTER

(Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, 2008),

p. 15.

This “Easter” verse catalogues the astrological influence of all the planets recognized by Steiner as real members of the solar system. (Steiner taught that Uranus and Neptune are not really members of the solar system, and Pluto had not yet been discovered before Steiner died in 1925.) 

The verse is addressed to the “Offspring of all the Worlds” — incarnate souls who are the children of the planets and their powers. The roll of “worlds” begins with the Sun, as we would expect in an Anthroposophical Easter verse. But then it proceeds to the other potent orbs within the Sun’s line — the poem sketches the powers and activities of all seven planets of classical astrology. Thus, the verse speaks of “Luna’s might” — the powers of the Moon and its indwelling spirit. Next, we find reference to holy songs sung — or inspired — by Mars (“Mars’ life-stirring hymns”) and then a reference to the influence of Mercury in one's body (“swift-winged Mercury’s motion in thy limbs”). We learn that Jupiter is all-wise and Venus is truly lovely (“Jupiter’s all-wiseness” and “Venus’ loveliness”). Mighty Jupiter is the manliest of the planets (it is the king, “royal Jupiter”) — it sends forth knowledge (illumination). On the other hand Venus, the most feminine planet — the most lovely sphere — bestows grace. And Saturn? The ancients knew of Saturn’s devotion (“Saturn’s old-world-memoried devoutness”). Anthroposophy, preserving that memory, still affirms the hallowing (consecration) of the cosmos (“the world of Space and Time”) and the reciprocal hallowing (reverencing) of the “offspring of all the worlds.”

Most readers — especially Christians — are likely to be surprised to find polytheism and astrology woven into the observance of Easter. But these non-Christian conceptions are present in a Waldorf publication about Easter. They derive from Rudolf Steiner's teachings (as do ivrtually all things in the Waldorf worldvew). So, for instance:

◊ Monotheism is incorrect. “Monotheism or monism can only represent an ultimate ideal; it could never lead to a real understanding of the world, to a comprehensive, complete view of the world.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE MISSION OF THE FOLK SOULS (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005), p. 115. [See "Polytheism".]

◊ Astrology, rightly understood, is true. “[T]he old, real, and genuine Astrology expresses itself in the destinies of men.” — Rudolf Steiner, ROSICRUCIANISM AND MODERN INITIATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1965), lecture 3, GA 233a. [See “Astrology”.]

Polytheism. Astrology. Such beliefs are embedded in the Anthroposophical conception of Easter, which means they underlie the spring festivals held at Waldorf schools. 

Happy Easter.

— R.R.