Waldorf students are led 

to produce striking art.

Visitors are often impressed, 

and parents are often proud.

[Waldorf artwork courtesy of 

People for Legal and Nonsectarian Schools.]

Under the guidance of their teachers, Waldorf students produce large numbers of watercolor paintings. Sometimes these paintings are representational in a reasonably normal way, presenting images of such things as moons, stars, flowers, trees, and the like. However, Waldorf watercolor painting is often "wet-on-wet": The students use large, wetted brushes to apply watery paint onto wetted paper.  This technique makes ordinary representations difficult if not impossible to achieve, because the paint tends to flow and spread out of control. Consequently, the results often look abstract. In fact, the results come close to approximating Steiner's description of the spirit realm: a place of colors and tones without definitive lines or clear-cut shapes. The second of the three paintings above is perhaps a good example. Here's another:

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Waldorf art also includes other distinctive styles. These, too, tend to have suggestive spiritualistic import. There is, for instance, so-called "shaded drawing."

This is an example of a shaded drawing of an angel. 

The short parallel lines that combine to represent 

a figure are open to surrounding space, 

suggesting the interpenetration of the material and the spiritual

 (or the lower spiritual and the higher). 

[R. R. copy, 2009, based on a work by Assia Turgenieff 

reproduced in ART INSPIRED BY RUDOLF STEINER 

(Mercury Arts Publications, 1987), p. 187.]

"[Shaded[ drawing [is a] technique taught in Waldorf schools in which the picture is built up by drawing short, slanting lines ... [It evokes] creative, dynamic forces at work in nature." — Waldorf teacher Henk van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2011), p. 98.

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Another characteristic Waldorf technique consists of "veil painting," in which a layer of color is applied to the page and allowed to dry before another layer is applied, overlapping but usually slightly to the side. Gradually, as more and more layers are added, an effect of veils in produced.

The effect can be that of looking through a series of veils at something (implicitly the spirit world) beyond.

[R. R. emulation.]

"Veil Painting is a way of using watercolor special to Waldorf Schools, and to artists inspired by Rudolf Steiner's writing and painting. In Waldorf High Schools, Veil Painting is part of the 10th Grade curriculum ... In this method, water colors are thinned down to a very light value 7 or 8 on a photographers' scale, and wet colors are applied one at a time only over dry colors." — D. A. Dozier, "What Is Veil Painting?", http://davedozier60659.tripod.com/id24.html]

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Young Waldorf students are often required to practice a peculiar type of "drawing" that consists of repeatedly sketching simple geometric patterns. The technique is often called "form drawing."

Elementary form drawing.

[FORMENZEICHNEN: 

Die Entwicklung des Formensinns in der Erziehung 

(Freies Geistesleben, 1992).]

Like most Waldorf activities, form drawing — also called dynamic drawing — is meant to direct students toward the spirit realm. 

“One of the many unique features of the Waldorf-Steiner Schools is the subject known as Form Drawing. Taught in Classes 1 through 5, but ideally going right through to Class 12, Form Drawing is introduced in such a way as to show the young child that all shapes in the world are derived from the two-fold alphabet of form: straightness and roundness ... [As a Greek philosopher said,] the shaping power of linear design...is the recaptured memory of the invisible ideas of the soul ... [It] awakens the spirit, purifies understanding, and brings the formative element, which is part of our being, to light ... It rouses the soul from sleep and impels it towards the spirit. It makes us a true human being, allows us to behold the spirit and guides us towards the gods.” — Waldorf teacher Van James, LANGUAGE OF THE LINE: a Reinvented Art-form of the Waldorf Schools (https://www.waldorflibrary.org/images/stories/Journal_Articles/NZJournalvanjames.pdf).

The shapes drawn, freehand, are not ordinary geometric figures, but they derive from geometry and are meant to have the esoteric effects of geometry. 

"[Form drawing is] a subject taught in all years of the Waldorf curriculum ... In a non-intellectual way...pupils engage creatively with geometrical forms and patterns ... The eventual shapes on paper...[represent] the formative forces of nature." — Waldorf teacher Henk van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2011), pp. 33-34.

The ultimate purpose of Waldorf form drawing, startling to outsiders, is to foster the development of clairvoyance. 

"Basic geometric concepts awaken clairvoyant abilities.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE FOURTH DIMENSION: Sacred Geometry, Alchemy, and Mathematics (Anthroposophic Press, 2001), p. 92. 

This is what lies behind the suggestion that form drawing "allows us to behold the spirit and guides us towards the gods." In Anthroposophical belief, we "behold the spirit," and find the gods, through the use of clairvoyance. [See "Clairvoyant Vision".]

Form drawing ranks alongside eurythmy as a distinctly Anthroposophical activity near the spiritual center of Waldorf education. Thus, describing the subjects his students will study in the forthcoming year, a Waldorf teacher wrote to the students' parents: 

“In some respects, Form Drawing is the most important subject that your child will study this year.” — Waldorf teacher Eugene Schwartz. [See "The Waldorf Curriculum".]

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FESTIVALS

Various forms of art are often given prominence during the seasonal festivals celebrated at Waldorf schools. These festivals — which may seem lovely and harmless, at least initially — are actually disguised occult ceremonies. Here’s what a leading Anthroposophist has said, beginning with the festival of Michaelmas, which may be celebrated at Waldorf schools as a “fall festival.” (To follow the quotation, you need to know that Steiner said the Earth is alive, and it breathes; also, Michael is an Archangel and Ahriman is a demon; and the elemental world is the basis of physical reality.) 

“Through finding the right way to celebrate Michaelmas (traditionally September 29) we may awaken new human forces needed to create completely open community [sic], grounded in spiritual reality. It was clear to Steiner that much depends on our awakening to such new festivals ... If, in our social life, we can learn to accompany the out-breath of the earth in spring and summer...then with Michael’s help in autumn we can accompany the elemental world’s withdrawal into itself during the winter’s death and darkness. The evil, estranging ahrimanic powers [i.e., Ahriman's minions] that seek to possess the earth...must now be transformed and illumined from within at Christmas ... Steiner shows how this new understanding of the yearly festivals prepares us for our current historical transition.” [1]

In other words, the festivals are intended to promote our evolution to the next stage of spiritual development as foreseen by Steiner.

What is the “new understanding” of the festivals? To get a glimpse, you need to dig into Steiner’s theology. Here’s a glimpse of a glimpse. Bear in mind that Steiner’s teachings are complex and tricky, so take the following as only a introduction to the mysteries of festival celebration. Still, in a general sort of way, here’s what’s happening. [2] I’ll concentrate on Michaelmas. Other Waldorf festivals reflect similar occult teachings.

Michael is an Archangel, as I've said. Michael currently rules over us. You see, we are currently in the Anglo-Germanic age, which began in 1413 CE and extends to 3573 CE. A crucial task during this period is to advance human consciousness to an “objective” appreciation of all phenomena, so that spiritual truths can be apprehended “objectively” through the “consciousness soul.” (Steiner taught that not only do we have both spirits and souls, but we have various sorts of souls. The consciousness soul — which incarnates at about age 42 — is influenced by gods called Spirits of Wisdom, so it has ties to the sphere of Jupiter.)

The current historical age began under Samuel, the Archangel of Mars. His reign as Time Archangel — most of it occurring in the previous historical age — was turbulent, with Christendom splintering under the assaults of Mongols, the Renaissance, and growing nationalism. The compensation for all this was that the consciousness soul awakened, to be strengthened under succeeding Archangels.

Gabriel, Archangel of the Moon, took over in 1471 CE. Under him, natural science became dominant, humans became increasingly materialistic and skeptical, and ancient Egyptian impulses pervaded society. Socialism and democracy reared their heads. On the up side, German philosophy reached great heights of wisdom during this time, although it was generally ignored. One pivotal development under Gabriel was that people learned they could disbelieve spiritual truths — a necessary step so that we could later freely choose to affirm spirituality. 

Michael became Spirit of the Age in 1841 CE, and he assumed his 350-year incumbency as Time Archangel in 1879. His main task is to bring “spiritual science” (Anthroposophy) to the fore, spreading Steinerism everywhere, thus opening humanity for the “Christ impulse.” Michael’s task isn’t easy — he is opposed by the arch-demons Lucifer and Ahriman. Fortunately, Michael (Archangel of the Sun, hence Christ’s countenance) is a warrior, so the prospects for victory seem good. Ahriman will manifest in the West, just as Lucifer manifested previously in the East. Western civilization will lead to the destruction of the Earth, but that will enable properly evolved humans to pass on to their next, higher evolutionary stage. 

Michaelmas is the celebration of this Archangel's annual combat with the devil. 

“Because the Earth is a mirror of the cosmos in the summer, it is also opaque in its inner nature, impermeable by cosmic influences and therefore, during the summer time, impermeable to the Christ Impulse. At this time the Christ Impulse has to live in the [Earth’s] exhaled breath. The Ahrimanic forces, however, establish themselves firmly in this Earth which has become impervious to the Christ Impulse ... [F]rom spiritual heights there comes to the aid of the descending human soul the force of Michael, who, while the Earth’s breath is flowing back into the Earth itself, contends with the Dragon, Ahriman.” [3]

This is the sort of thinking that lies behind many, if not all, innocent-seeming festivals at Waldorf schools. The primary festivals Steiner discusses in THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING [4] are Michaelmas (autumn), Christmas (midwinter), and Easter (spring). Ostensibly, these are Christian observances, but as we have seen with Michaelmas, the Anthroposophical teachings related to these observances stray far from the Bible. Some festivals at some Waldorf schools may be free of occult purpose, but others have distinct religious significance — and the religion is not Christianity, per se. It is Anthroposophy.

— Roger Rawlings

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[1] Waldorf teacher and headmaster Henry Barnes, A LIFE FOR THE SPIRIT: Rudolf Steiner in the Crosscurrents of Our Time (Anthroposophic Press, 1997), pp. 185-186.

Full disclosure: I knew Henry Barnes, slightly. He headed up the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City during the years when I was a student at the Waldorf School in Garden City, New York.

[2] For concise Anthroposophical summaries of human history, past and future, see Richard Seddon, THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY AND THE EARTH AS FORESEEN BY RUDOLF STEINER (Temple Lodge Publishing, 2002) and Stewart C. Easton, MAN AND WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1989). My summary, here, draws on their summaries.

[3] Rudolf Steiner, THE CYCLE OF THE YEAR AS BREATHING PROCESS OF THE EARTH (Anthroposophic Press, 1984), p. 11.

[4] Rudolf Steiner, THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR MEANING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998).

Here is advice given to Waldorf teachers by one of their own:

“Sometimes we find ourselves doing things in the kindergarten that seem very religious, and we must realize that we are doing these things for ourselves, as adults. We are reminding ourselves of the background of the festivals and their religious content....

"In preparing for a festival, study a lecture on that festival very carefully [i.e., a lecture by Steiner]. When you are carrying the festival inwardly, you do not have to do so much outwardly with the children.... 

“If it lives in the teacher, the festival may become more elaborate. It will not hurt the children as long as you do not explain."

 —Waldorf teacher Elisabeth Moore-Haas, 

“The Religion of the Young Child”, 

WORKING WITH THE ANGELS: 

The Young Child and the Spiritual World

(Waldorf Early Childhood Association 

of North America, 2004), pp. 63-64. 

For more on seasonal and religious festivals 

at Waldorf schools, see

Michaelmas : banners and drums in autumn

Christmas : winter, Waldorf-style

Easter : celebrating the spring

Martinmas : the Perzmartl and lanterns

"Rudolf Steiner [taught] about music and its effect upon life after death ... 'We furnish a possibility that the human entity will be better formed in its next life if, during that time after death when it still has its astral body, it can have many recollections of things musical.' Considerations such as this open up completely new dimensions of preventive medicine. During the school years, children can learn to incarnate themselves, with all that they bring along in the way of karmic burdens and strengths out of previous lives. At the same time, a ground is laid in the child for the possibility to prepare worthily for the great crossing of the other threshold — death. With this background, celebrations of the annual festivals in the school, the enormous efforts that are made in practicing for a concert of the preparation of a theater presentation are seen in quite a new light." — Anthroposophist Michaela Glöckler, EDUCATION AS PREVENTIVE MEDICINE (Rudolf Steiner College Press, 2002), pp. 112-113.

FROM THE WALDORF WATCH NEWS

1.

"The Eugene Waldorf School [Oregon, USA] will present an outdoor medieval play at 11:15 a.m. Thursday. Grades one through eight will perform a pageant with gnomes, farmers, villagers, royalty, St. George and a dragon. The play celebrates Michaelmas, which takes place near the autumnal equinox. Bring a picnic for after the play." 

[9-26-2011  http://www.registerguard.com/web/newslocalnews/26908940-41/eugene-call-library-springfield-www.html.csp.]

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Waldorf Watch Response:

Waldorf schools use colorful events like this to recruit new families and to charm the parents of current students. Such festivals can be fun. But they are also significant in ways that may not be immediately apparent. Michaelmas is a religious holiday, the celebration of the archangel Michael. In Waldorf belief, Michael is the warrior-god who oversees the current stage of human evolution — as the Eugene Waldorf School says, he is the "time-spirit of this epoch." [See "Michael".] From the Waldorf perspective, a play about Michael's earthly representative slaying a dragon (the embodiment of demonic evil) is not merely a play — it is an enactment of Waldorf religious belief. If a Waldorf school presents itself as a nondenominational institution, you might ask why it celebrates Michaelmas. ("Founded in Europe in 1919, Waldorf Education now includes schools on every continent and has grown to become the world's largest independent, nondenominational school system...." http://www.eugenewaldorf.org/ourschool/philosophy/.)

Things get stranger the more you inquire. According to Rudolf Steiner, beings such as gnomes ("a pageant with gnomes...") really exist. Gnomes are "nature spirits" who live underground. [See "Gnomes".] In the Waldorf belief system, there are several other kinds of nature spirits, including sylphs (who live in the air), undines (who live in water), and "salamanders" (who live in fire). I kid you not. [See "Neutered Nature".] Michael represents one of the high spiritual powers recognized in the Waldorf religion, and nature spirits represent lowly semi-spiritual powers recognized in the same belief system, called Anthroposophy. Waldorf schools exist to promote Anthroposophy. They usually go about this task quietly, indirectly, subtly. But go about it they do. [See "Here's the Answer" and "Spiritual Agenda".]

Much of what I have said here seems ridiculous. It is  ridiculous. But I have not invented these things. They are beliefs that genuinely lurk below the colorful, pleasing surface of Waldorf schooling. [See, e.g., "Magical Arts - A Look at Festivals" and "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"]

◊

Here is more on the Waldorf celebration of Michaelmas, this time discussed by the Washington Waldorf School (Maryland, USA). Michaelmas is only one of many festivals and similar events celebrated at Waldorf schools, but it makes a particularly good example of the reasoning that lies behind such celebrations.

"Michaelmas is not an invention of Rudolf Steiner. It is already there in the old church calendar, marking the fall equinox on September 29. It celebrates a battle between the hosts of angels in which the archangel Michael leas [sic] the good forces against the dark forces and casts the dragon out of heaven and onto the earth. The children, in fact, rarely hear this particular story, which occurs briefly in the Revelation of St. John. But what they do hear is a reiteration of its underlying theme in stories, drama, poetry, music, painting, and drawing. 

"Michaelmas is the time of the year when we experience death in nature and approach of great outer darkness as the sun withdraws [sic] in both time and strength. It is a time of the year to be inspired to mobilize our own inner resources against those forces which seek to overwhelm us in the course of the working year. In summer we usually feel a little lazy and enjoy taking it easy. In autumn we often feel inspired to new heights of energy. By spring we are tired and need a boost from outside, and spring grants it. But in autumn we look straight into the coming darkness." [9-28-2011  http://www.washingtonwaldorf.org/Michaelmas.pdf.]

The Washington Waldorf School is more upfront about its mystical views than are many other Waldorf or Steiner schools. Still, the Washington account of Michaelmas omits a lot. Michaelmas at Waldorf schools honors the Archangel of the Sun, Michael, who is the champion of the Sun God, aka Christ. According to Waldorf belief, Michael helps the Sun God ward off the evil effects of two mighty demons, Lucifer and Ahriman. Lucifer threatens humanity with false spirituality, Ahriman threatens humanity with materialism, including the use of intellect (i.e., the rational brain, a material organ). 

"Michael stands in this activity between the Luciferic World-picture and the Ahrimanic World-intellect." — Rudolf Steiner. [See "Michael". Also see "Sun God", "Lucifer", and "Ahriman".] 

One problem Waldorf schools must grapple with is that — awkwardly for "educational" institutions — they distrust the use of the brain. [See, e.g., "Steiner's Specific — Thinking Without Our Brains" and "Materialism U."]

Waldorf students who absorb their teachers' understanding of the events, beings, and concepts depicted in Waldorf festivals and other celebrations — these students are absorbing Anthroposophy. [For other reports on Michaelmas at Waldorf schools, see several stories at the Waldorf Watch Annex. There you will also find indications of the ways Waldorf schools impress their doctrines on students through "underlying themes in stories, drama, poetry, music, painting, and drawing."]

Waldorf beliefs are extremely strange. But don't be misled. Anthroposophists serving as Waldorf faculty members genuinely embrace these beliefs, and they genuinely want their students to embrace them also, sooner or later. [See, e.g., "Is Anthroposophy a Religion?"]

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2.

[This Waldorf Life.]

“One Alamo woman hopes to open a Waldorf school in San Ramon [Texas, USA], bringing this experiental [sic] learning style to the Tri-Valley.  Dana Jain, a longtime Waldorf teacher, Luna Loca restaurant owner and resident of Alamo since 2002, is in the early planning stages of opening a Waldorf school in the location previously occupied by Mudd's restaurant. Jain has organized a Wednesday evening candle-lit 'Spiral of Light' ceremony, to help acquaint parents with Waldorf education ... The Spiral of Light activity typically occurs in a Waldorf first grade and appealed to Jain when she discovered the Waldorf method in 1974. Children will walk a short spiral of branches toward a central light. At the center, the children will light a candle, and return outward through the spiral, leaving a candle along the path making the spiral increasingly lit with each child's journey.” 

[12-6-2010   http://danville.patch.com/articles/alamo-woman-shares-her-passion-for-waldorf-education-with-the-community]

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Waldorf Watch Response:

How can you tell what really goes on inside a Waldorf school? There are websites devoted to praising Waldorf education, and there are sites that denounce Waldorf education. Who is telling the truth?

You can try to glean clues here and there. Note, for instance, that Dana Jain wants to attract families by staging a “ceremony” that certainly seems to have religious or mystical overtones. So we may infer that Waldorf schools are, despite their denials, religious. And we might even form an impression that the religion in Waldorf schools is Anthroposophy. 

But can’t we find stronger evidence, giving a clearer understanding of the Waldorf movement? Certainly. Some Waldorf teachers openly acknowledge that Waldorf schools are religious [see, e.g., “Waldorf Now”], and the training Waldorf teachers receive is clearly based on Rudolf Steiner’s occultism [see “Teacher Training”]. Waldorf advocates have many reasons for withholding the truth from outsiders [see “Secrets”], but it is often possible to penetrate their denials and misstatements [see, e.g., “Clues"].

The Spiral of Light ceremony is actually an Advent observance, disguised slightly so as not to offend non-Christian families. (Advent is the celebration of the coming or second coming of Christ.) All the festivals at Waldorf schools are, at root, religious. 

"At the request of non-Christian families, some schools have given their Festival celebrations and pageants more generic names, so that Michaelmas becomes the Fall Festival and the Advent Garden is called the Spiral of Light. In situations where it is not possible to soften or eliminate the 'Christian message,' e.g. a performance of the Shepherds’ Play, parents may keep children home on the day of its performance ... On both the macrocosmic and microcosmic levels we ignore the world of nature at our peril. The Christian Festivals and their renewal and expansion as described by Steiner, provide a vital and comforting space in which children and adults alike can renew and expand their relationship with the earth and its relationship with the sun, moon, and stars." — Waldorf teacher Eugene Schwartz, http://knol.google.com/k/anthroposophy-and-waldorf-education-do-the-festivals-have-a-future#.

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“A horde of fourth grade berserkers rise from the darkness of the hall to stamp onto the stage ... [The child who plays the Norse god] Thor, though one of the smallest in the class, has an enormous voice to match the famous Thor’s Hammer ... The bit where Thor...knocks the taunting warriors off their benches in well choreographed waves of destruction, is particularly impressive ... [E]ach festival is embedded in a cycle of festivals which...express the inner mood of the spiritual calendar ... [F]estivals are also linked to the intuitive realm of the future. In an age in which traditional forms of ritual and community are fading, the Steiner Waldorf Schools strive to cultivate a new, free consciousness of time, human development and community.” 

— Waldorf teachers Christopher Clouder and Martyn Rawson, WALDORF EDUCATION - Rudolf Steiner’s Ideas in Practice (Floris Books, 2003), pp. 12-18.  

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Waldorf Watch Response:

The festivals at Waldorf schools are meant to be attractive and celebratory. Often they are used as PR devices, charming parents and attracting new families to the fold. (Violence is sometimes depicted — the myths celebrated in Waldorf schools are often very violent — but only in "choreographed" form.)

The festivals are, at root, religious observances. On p. 41 of their book, Clouder and Rawson include a photo of a Whitsun festival at a Waldorf school (Whitsunday, or Pentecost, celebrates the descent from Heaven of the Holy Spirit). Many Waldorf festivals have an apparently Christian character, but the roots of the festivals run back to pagan beliefs — as is suggested by the enactment of Thor’s adventures.

"A Whitsun festival in the kindergarten."

[color added]

The “cycle” observed is that of the seasons as understood by the ancients. The “inner mood of the spiritual calendar” embodies the occult or hidden significance of the cycle. The “intuitive realm of the future” is a reference to clairvoyance and to the future states of humanity Rudolf Steiner has described using his claimed clairvoyant powers — a future in which intuition or clairvoyance will be widespread, Anthroposophists believe. 

The “new, free consciousness” that Waldorf schools attempt to cultivate is the imaginative, intuitive, clairvoyant consciousness needed to follow Steiner into the new age. The “human development” mentioned is the spiritual evolution of humanity that is the core aim of Anthroposophy. Waldorf schools are wedded to the aims of Anthroposophy.

As always at Waldorf schools, there is more (and less) going on than meets the eye. Note that the goals of Waldorf schools have little to do with education as it is usually understood — that is, the development of the brain and the acquisition of real knowledge about the real world. Instead, almost everything done at Waldorf schools is guided by Rudolf Steiner’s occult teachings. But it is generally done in stealth, in secrecy. (Go back to the quotation higher on this page: Perform religious rites. But hush. "It will not hurt the children as long as you do not explain." Won't it hurt them, or possibly help them, or certainly make an impression on them? Isn't the silent enactment of religious ceremonies in fact a powerful tool for affecting the hearts and minds of students?)

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“This notion, that imagination is the heart of learning, animates the entire arc of Waldorf teaching.” — Todd Oppenheimer, “Schooling the Imagination”, THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY, September, 1999.

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Waldorf Watch Response:

Waldorf schools emphasize imagination. They display “imaginative” art and they encourage “imaginative” play. What they don’t usually spell out is the reason for this emphasis. In the Waldorf belief system, imagination is the first stage on the path toward clairvoyance. The stages are imagination, inspiration, and intuition. According to beliefs held deeply by Rudolf Steiner's followers, these stages should lead to full-fledged clairvoyance, and, ultimately, “exact” clairvoyance. [1] Steiner claimed to use exact clairvoyance. (Hence, very few of his teachings can be disputed, since he knew the exact Truth.) The forms of imagination, etc., attainable now by Waldorf students pale in comparison to the perfected forms that can be attained by initiates and that all humanity will attain in the future, according to Steiner. 

These stages are spiritual — they are not seated in the brain but in invisible spiritual “organs.” The brain is held in low esteem at typical Waldorf schools. The use of the brain — in particular, disciplined, rational use of the brain, that is, intellect — is faulty, Steiner taught. At most, the brain can tell us about the physical plane of existence — the lowest and least important plane. For higher cognition, we have to turn to clairvoyance and its precursors. In stressing imagination, etc., true-blue Waldorf teachers attempt to deflect students from rationality, thereby opening the portals to the worlds beyond our own.

Believe it or not, what I have described just now is one of the central (but generally concealed) pillars of Waldorf belief. We have this on the highest authority. Consider the following: 

“These things can, of course, be truly observed only when we press forward to the mode of cognition I described previously as the first stage of exact clairvoyance, imaginative knowledge. The abstract, intellectual knowledge of the human being that is common today does not lead to this other knowledge. Thought must come to life from within, and become imaginative, so that through thought as such, one can really understand. Nothing can be truly understood through intellectual thinking; its objects all remain external.”  — Rudolf Steiner, A MODERN ART OF EDUCATION, Foundations of Waldorf Education (Anthroposophic Press, 2004),  p. 60.

Steiner was emphatic: 

“The artistic element, then, begins to be the guide to the first stage of exact clairvoyance — that of imagination.”  — Rudolf Steiner, A MODERN ART OF EDUCATION, p. 64.

And he laid out the succeeding stages. Concerning the second stage, he said:

“If one goes beyond imagination and reaches the second stage of exact clairvoyance (described in greater detail in my books), one attains inspiration — perception of independent spirit, no longer connected to the physical body.” — Rudolf Steiner, A MODERN ART OF EDUCATION, p. 66. [2]

We could trace this further, but since Steiner wanted you to search out (and, presumably, buy) his books, perhaps we shouldn’t. So round up his books and settle down for a good read. Particularly interesting are the books in the series Foundations of Waldorf Education. Waldorf teachers study these books intently. Before sending a child to a Waldorf school, perhaps you should, too.

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[1] These terms merge and mingle, and various Anthroposophical accounts conflict with one another to various degrees. Imagination, inspiration, and intuition may be considered precursors to clairvoyance, or at a higher level they may be deemed actual forms of clairvoyance. In its latter guise, intuition is often deemed to be full-blown clairvoyance, which when perfected becomes exact clairvoyance. Steiner said clairvoyance is exact when it is disciplined and precise, as he claimed his was. If the goal of mental and spiritual training is to attain exact clairvoyance, then disciplined imagination, inspiration, and intuition can be considered stages of exact clairvoyance — which is how Steiner describes them in statements we will consider here.

Things get muddier when we consider the sorts of "imagination," etc., stressed by Waldorf schools for the students. The kids are not taught the techniques of exact clairvoyance or, indeed, any form of clairvoyance, defined literally. But they are shepherded onto a path that is supposed to lead to clairvoyance eventually. Note that the Steiner statements we are considering come from a book about education.

[2] Here, Steiner identifies imagination as an actual form of clairvoyance; indeed, he calls it a very high form of clairvoyance, a "stage of exact clairvoyance."

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5.

Here are descriptions of Waldorf 

teacher-training courses offered by 

the Center for Anthroposophy 

(Wilton, New Hampshire), 

downloaded 11-12-2011. 

These are courses that people take 

in order to become Waldorf teachers

or to make progress in the profession:

“Esoteric Science - This course examines the esoteric history of the human being ... Students should leave the course with a basic understanding of the spiritual scientific approach to the evolution of human consciousness. In addition, we will examine tools to spiritual self-development as outlined by Rudolf Steiner ... The evolution of the earth and solar system in relationship to spiritual beings (Old Saturn, Sun, Moon, and Earth; stages of Earth evolution through Atlantis)....” [http://www.centerforanthroposophy.org/programs/high-school-teacher-education/courses/second-year/foundation-courses/esoteric-science-hs-216/]

“Arts/Art History - ... Art becomes the mediator between the physical, etheric, astral bodies, and incoming ego ... Art classes have the subtle task of touching the high school student’s sacred dreams. They can help set in motion impulses that stir the unfolding of individual destiny....” [http://www.centerforanthroposophy.org/programs/high-school-teacher-education/courses/third-year/subject-seminars/artsart-history-hs-328/]

“Music in the Light of Anthroposophy - ...This course addresses all those who want to deepen their understanding of music as an empowering soul-spiritual source ... [W]e will explore the different elements of music, discovering how melody, harmony, and rhythm are musical expressions of our threefold nature ... We will explore the intervals — in nature, in movement, and through artistic activity — and learn how they are connected to our own evolutionary path: specifically, how this process of incarnation corresponds to the developmental stages of the child....” 

[http://www.centerforanthroposophy.org/programs/renewal-courses/week-one-june-26-july-1/music-in-the-light-of-anthroposophy/]

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

The Waldorf belief system is built on the "esoteric" or "occult" wisdom supposedly produced through clairvoyance, chiefly through the clairvoyance of Rudolf Steiner. 

◊ The "esoteric history of the human being" is central to this wisdom — the universe centers on us and exists for us, according to Steiner's teachings. 

◊ "Spiritual science" is Anthroposophy; Steiner also called it occult science. Today his followers sometimes try to avoid the word "occult," using "esoteric" or other euphemisms instead. 

◊ The "evolution of human consciousness" is the central narrative of Anthroposophy. We are evolving from a very dim spiritual awareness to an ultimate, divine awareness. 

◊ "Spiritual self-development" is the application of Anthroposophy to cultivate clairvoyance and then to rise to higher levels of evolution. 

◊ The "spiritual beings" referred to here are gods. Anthroposophy is polytheistic. 

◊ "Old Saturn," etc., are planetary stages of our evolution. We began on Old Saturn and will evolve to Future Vulcan — and beyond. 

◊ In Waldorf belief, we lived on Atlantis before our present stage of Earthly existence. 

◊ The etheric, astral, and ego bodies are invisible bodies that incarnate during childhood (the ego body marking the transition to adulthood). 

◊ In Waldorf belief, each child has an individual destiny or karma. In addition to helping children incarnate their invisible bodies, Waldorf teachers try to help them with their karmas. 

◊ Art classes (like everything else at Waldorf schools) have spiritual purposes, such as touching on children's "sacred dreams." 

◊ The "spirit-soul" is the human spiritual identity consisting of two separate but united essences, the spirit and the soul. (We take one with us through all our incarnations while the other exists during only one incarnation.) 

◊ Our "threefold nature" is body, soul, and spirit. (Steiner also described us as fourfold, sevenfold, ninefold, and twelvefold beings.) 

◊ The "developmental stages of the child" are three stages at the end of which invisible bodies incarnate (the etheric body at age seven, the astral body at age 14, and the ego body at age 21).

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6.

Here is a description of a course

to be offered at 

the Great Lakes Waldorf Institute, 

a Waldorf teacher-training institution.

[http://greatlakeswaldorf.org/edu-643-artistic-work-in-the-waldorf-school-iii-2-cr/]

“All full-time summer students 

should register for this course: EDU 643”

EDU 643 Artistic Work in the Waldorf School III – 2 cr.

Classes will consist of demonstrations and hands-on artistic work, including lessons in plant dying, pencil drawing and clay modeling, in relationship to the Waldorf Human and Animal, Botany, Human Anatomy and Physiology, Embryology, and Human Fertility main lesson blocks.

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

Waldorf schools are often quite attractive, filled with pleasing art. Some families pick Waldorf schools largely for this reason alone — the places just look so beautiful. (Waldorf teachers are almost always trained to create their own works of art, such as colorful chalk drawings on classroom chalkboards. Note that all of the regular students in the Great Lakes program are advised to take the hands-on arts class, the third in a series.)

You should realize, however, that the purpose of all this art is religious, and the religion involved is Anthroposophy. As Rudolf Steiner told Waldorf teachers,

"We must, in our lessons, see to it that the children experience the beautiful, artistic, and aesthetic conception of the world; and their ideas and mental pictures should be permeated by a religious/moral feeling. Such feelings, when they are cultivated throughout the elementary school years, will make all the difference during [later] years." — Rudolf Steiner, EDUCATION FOR ADOLESCENTS - Foundations of Waldorf Education X (Anthroposophic Press, 1996), pp. 77-78.

Steiner taught that art has occult spiritual effects. Spiritual beings descend to Earth through such vehicles as bright colors and musical tones, and our souls can ascend into the spirit realm through the same means. 

“This is what gives art its essential lustre: it transplants us here and now into the spiritual world.”  — Rudolf Steiner, quoted in THE GOETHEANUM: School of Spiritual Science (Philosophical-Anthroposophical Press, 1961), p. 25.

Steiner meant this quite literally; he was not speaking figuratively. He said that art creates direct links between the gods of the higher worlds and the human souls residing here below. He claimed that a unique Waldorf form of dance, eurythmy, has particularly strong spiritual effects. 

"Eurythmy shapes and moves the human organism in a way that furnishes direct external proof of our participation in the supersensible [i.e., invisible, spiritual] world. In having people do eurythmy, we link them directly to the supersensible world.” — Rudolf Steiner, ART AS SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 247.

Waldorf schools usually "have" all students "do eurythmy" — it is usually required. 

"Eurythmy is obligatory. The children must participate.  Those who do not participate in eurythmy will be removed from the school." — Rudolf Steiner, FACULTY MEETINGS WITH RUDOLF STEINER (Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 65.

Perhaps you love art, and perhaps you want your child to receive a religious education. That's fine. But before sending your child to a Waldorf school, make sure that your religious views are compatible with Anthroposophy. Consider, for instance, the following instruction that Steiner gave to Waldorf teachers: 

"When you know something of initiation [1], and are able to consciously observe what lays hold of the child’s body, it really is terrible to see how the child must find a way into all the complications of bones and ligaments that have to be formed. [2] It really is a tragic sight. The child knows nothing of this, for the Guardian of the Threshold [3] protects the child from any such knowledge. But teachers should be aware of it and look on with the deepest reverence ... [Y]ou should fill your hearts with this knowledge, and from this starting point undertake your work as educators." — Rudolf Steiner, THE KINGDOM OF CHILDHOOD - Foundations of Waldorf Education XXI (Anthroposophic Press, 1995), pp. 11-12.

If you don't believe in the things Anthroposophists believe in — such as the Guardian of the Threshold — you will not approve of the "starting point" of Waldorf education. Indeed, you may ultimately realize that you don't approve of very much at all that is basic to Waldorf education.

◊

[1] Occult initiation. [See "Inside Scoop".] Senior Waldorf teachers generally consider themselves to be occult initiates — that is, they believe that they possess secret spiritual wisdom that is hidden from the uninitiated, such as you and me. Are you comfortable with this?

[2] This is the process of earthly incarnation. [See "Incarnation".] In Anthroposophical belief, children are reincarnating beings who need help to properly develop their four bodies — the physical, etheric, astral, and ego bodies — here on Earth during their newest incarnations. Waldorf teachers think providing such help is one of their highest tasks — much higher than teaching the children ordinary academic subjects. Are you comfortable with this? Do you share these beliefs? [See "Academic Standards at Waldorf" and "Here's the Answer".]

[3] In Anthroposophical belief, entry to the spirit realm is blocked by a pair of spectral guardians. [See "Guardians".] We must satisfy their demands before being permitted access to the lands of the gods. Do you share this belief?

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7.

Featured at SteinerBooks 

as an "educational resource"

for Waldorf teachers:

FIVE PLAYS FOR WALDORF FESTIVALS,

by Richard Moore

(Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship, 2004).

"Richard Moore's collection of seasonal plays are [sic] suitable for classes 1 to 5 and feature original songs. They include two Christmas plays, an Easter play, a St John's festival play, and a Michaelmas play...."

[http://www.steinerbooks.org/detail.html?id=9781900169189]

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

Note that the "Waldorf festivals" are actually religious celebrations and the "seasonal plays" are actually religious pageants, centered on Christmas, Easter, the feast of St. John, and Michaelmas. (If you have any doubts about the religious nature of the publication in question, study the cover art.) This is appropriate because, although they generally deny it, Waldorf schools are in fact religious institutions. [See, e.g., "Schools as Churches".] The chief question that may come to most readers' minds is what sort of Christianity is observed in Waldorf schools, considering that they place such emphasis on Christian festivals. The answer is: no form of Christianity that you will find in any mainstream Christian denomination.

According to Anthroposophical doctrine, Christ is not the Son of God, in the usual sense. Instead, Christ is the Sun God, the god who has been recognized in other religions by such names as Hu, Baldur, or Ahura Mazda. Unlike real Christianity, Anthroposophy is polytheistic, recognizing a vast horde of gods. Among these is Christ, and Rudolf Steiner said that Christ (the Sun God) is very important to human evolution, but Christ is only one of the many, many gods. Moreover, according to Steiner, the Biblical account of the life of Christ Jesus is badly flawed. To know what really happened to Jesus, we need to turn from the four gospels of the New Testament and consult instead "the fifth gospel" — which, it so happens, was produced by Rudolf Steiner himself, relying on his marvelous powers of clairvoyance.

In reading Steiner's account, you will learn, for instance, that there were actually two Jesus children. One Jesus came from the line of Solomon, the other came from the line of Nathan. The former was actually the reincarnation of Zarathustra, while the latter was infused with the spirit of Buddha. The two Jesuses melded, and thus they became the host who was able to receive the incarnating Sun God, Christ, who inhabited the body of "Solomonic-Nathanic" Jesus for three years. [For more on such matters, see, e.g., "Was He Christian?", "Gnosis", "Rosy Cross", "Polytheism", and "Sun God".]

This is the sort "Christianity" that Rudolf Steiner's followers embrace and that they subtly offer to Waldorf students through "seasonal plays" during the "Waldorf festivals."

It is hard to believe that Rudolf Steiner's followers — including a great many Waldorf teachers — believe the things they believe. But they do.

◊

THE FIFTH GOSPEL - From the Akashic Record

Rudolf Steiner

(Rudolf Steiner Press, 2001).

Steiner claimed to learn the "truth" about Christ and the two Jesuses by using clairvoyance to study the Akashic Record, an invisible celestial storehouse of knowledge. The problem with this claim is that Steiner did not possess clairvoyance, since no one does, and the Akashic Record does not exist. [See "Clairvoyance" and "Akasha".] Otherwise, Steiner's story holds some points of interest.

◊

To examine the Waldorf view of Christmas,

please use this link: "Christmas".

And for Easter:

"Easter".

INDIVIDUALITY?

Although they claim to respect the individuality of their students, Waldorf schools often require conformity and strict obedience. Here are some revealing photos of paintings created by Waldorf students. All of the children have created the same or similar images, copying work presented or created by their teachers. 

[Rudolf Steiner School, New York City, 2011,

Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm, 2011,

California Waldorf-inspired school, photo by Larry Dalton, 2005,

Halton Waldorf School, Ontario, Canada, 2011,

The Waldorf Academy, Toronto, Canada, 2010.]

Here is an excerpt from 

Sharon Lombard's essay 

"Spotlight on Anthroposophy"

[http://waldorfcritics.org/articles/lombard_sharon_csr0202j.htm].

Like many occultists before and since, Steiner also devised a magic system; he dubbed his Eurythmy. Eurythmy was passed off in Waldorf as "a form of dance" and that's what we believed it to be. When my daughter was sick, the faculty took an interest and suggested that my daughter do eurythmy exercises which could help her. We agreed and the next thing we knew our daughter came home absolutely furious, begging us to tell the Eurythmist to stop humiliating her. According to our child, the Eurythmist took her out of class, into a room, and told her not to be afraid because she had helped many people. Then she draped my daughter in silk and "spoke as if she was praying." We wrote a letter asking the Eurythmist to stop the exercises. Later, I learned from another ex-Waldorfer that her child had taken "Therapeutic Eurythmy" because she was being bullied by another child. This mother had received Eurythmy reports from the Eurythmist and sent me copies. At first I could not comprehend them. It was only after delving into Rosicrucianism, Cabalism, and other magic that they began to make any sense. From Golden Dawn Initiation books I learned that the Hebrew Beth or B means "house, value 2. Beth is the symbol of all habitations and receptacles, of anything that contains. It is virile and paternal; a glyph of active and interior action" (Cicero, 1998, p. 74). In The Universal Human I stumbled across a quote from Steiner saying “when the Hebrews wrote, for example, what corresponds to our B, they always felt something like a picture of outer conditions, something that formed a warm hutlike enclosure. The letter B always evoked the image of something that can enclose a being like a house" (1990, p. 53). Inch by inch I became more familiar with the concepts of magic, so that when I read the reports again, I recognized the meaning of this:

The final exercise in the session was a story about a Big Brown Bear. The sound and movement she practiced was of course the B. Often it is the case with individuals who have a perfectionist nature that they are quite sensitive to what is around them. The B exercise helps to build a protective sheath around a person which both sustains what is within and protects from what is without. Putting the sound on a spiral further enhances this protective quality (Virginia Efta's Therapeutic Eurythmy Report, January - February 1999).

The Eurythmy reports were a total of six pages and document use of other ritual magic practices like tracing a five-pointed pentagram, use of "copper rods" i.e., magic wands that supposedly channel forces, and vibration of vowels which are thought to connect patients to spiritual beings that work inside of them. In Anthroposophy, speech sounds as well as music reflect the Word and, consequently, "are in a formative relationship to the organs of the physical body. In cases of specific illnesses, therefore, the organ affected can be reached by the reiterated practice of specific speech sounds and rhythms" (Raffe, Hardwood, & Lundgren, 1974, p. 26). This is why the child was made to practice the B in the form of "Big Brown Bear." Because some people believe that God created the world by speaking it into existence, words and letters are believed to be very powerful magic. This accounts for the warning, "But such exercises, like medicines, should be first prescribed by a physician [Anthroposophical doctor] before they are carried out by a curative eurythmist" (Raffe et al, 1974, p. 26). Both the eurythmist and the Anthroposophical doctor must be highly trained in Steiner's magical arts before operating their magic.

Brian Vickers points out in the book Occult and Scientific Mentalities in the Renaissance that the occult tradition does not recognize the distinction between words and things or between literal and metaphorical language, as clearly distinguished in the contemporary scientific tradition.

Words are treated as if they are equivalent to things and can be substituted for them. Manipulate the one and you can manipulate the other. Analogies, instead of being, as they are in the scientific tradition, explanatory devices subordinate to argument and proof, or heuristic tools to make models that can be tested, corrected, and abandoned if necessary, are, instead, modes of conceiving relationships in the universe that reify, rigidify, and ultimately come to dominate thought. One no longer uses analogies: One is used by them. They become the only way in which one can think or experience the world (Vickers, 1984, p. 95).

Steiner's cosmic dance would connect the pupil to the spiritual world because it was a channel through which the spirit would reveal itself to human consciousness, "a path of experience to the zodiacal signs" (Powell & Worberg, 2002, p. 32). And as Steiner claimed, "In causing people to do Eurythmy we link them directly with the supersensible world" (Steiner, 1970, p. 71). This modern form of temple dance is based on Steiner's concept of cosmic principles that he claimed underlie the power of speech and music. By mirroring the heavenly world upon earth, Eurythmy supposedly reveals the mysteries of the stars. "A central goal of this practice is to find a living relationship to the starry heavens, especially to the spiritual realm of the signs or constellations of the zodiac" (Powell & Worberg, 2002, p. 32). "It is a path through which man may again find a way to that self-knowledge which is also a knowledge of the universe" (Raffe et al., 1974, p. 27). Eurythmy will bring the powers of the soul into the proper relationship with the human body and will strengthen the earthly and cosmic forces, enabling man to realize his "I." Like the ancient Cabalists and Renaissance magicians of the past, "'Steiner regarded the human body as the creation of the cosmic Word. Man is a microcosm spoken from the macrocosm" (Raffe et al., 1974, p. 26). “For words are form,” asserts Anthroposophist Marjorie Spock, “All things were made by him (the Word that was God). As we contemplate the world of nature which that Word made, we find in it four elements: solids, liquids, gases, warmth — elements rediscovered in the small microcosmic words human voices utter” (Spock, 1980, pp. 36-37). With correspondences to the Zodiac, with words and letters of power, lines of force, numerology, symbols, sigils, breath work, gestures, tones, colors, and copper wands, Steiner promised to connect man to the macrocosm via Eurythmy, enabling him to experience it in a cosmic way.

It is the arms which essentially lead man into this freedom, and which are the supreme instruments to reveal the life of the soul. From the horizontal, which they alone can properly express, they can reach upward into the sphere of lightness, and downward into the sphere of weight. Thus they relate man to the universe. (Raffe et al., 1974, p. 13).

And as Steiner points out, "The limbs are the part of the human body which more than any other part passes over into the life of the next incarnation. They are the part which points to the future, to what comes after death" (Steiner, 1970, p. 70). In her book entitled Eurythmy, Marjorie Spock noted the twelve basic consonants and their correspondences to the zodiac as follows: "Leo, T or D; Cancer, F; Gemini, H; Taurus, R; Aries, V; Pisces, N; Aquarius, M; Capricorn, L; Sagitarius, G; Scorpio, S; Libra, K; Virgo, B or P" (Spock, 1980, p. 78).

Musician Robert Smith-Hald 

was raised in isolated 

Anthroposophical compounds.

Here is an excerpt from his 

"Musical Biography"

[http://www.robertsmith-hald.com/biography.htm].

It is both amusing and sad,

giving an offbeat glimpse 

inside the world of Anthroposophy.

I am Robert Smith-Hald, born in West Chester County Pennsylvania, into a secluded, nearly self-sufficient religious community called Camphill. It is a world-wide organisation, based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner. There are now several Camphill places in the states. Back then there was Beaver Run, where I was born, and Copake Village in upstate New York.  Both started in the early sixties. As a family, we moved between the two.

...The glue of these types of communities is to lay down lots of taboos. The outside world is bad, henceforth: No TV, no candy, no junk food, no blue jeans, use candles rather than electric lights — and stay way from anything remotely connected to modern culture — and the worst: NO POP MUSIC, which includes rock, folk, blues, even most country music.  The only music allowed was classical.

This is my first experience of pop music.  It is as follows.

It was high summer. We were three friends, 5 or 6 years old and on a “treasure hunt” in the periphery of the 400-acre estate on which Camphill Beaver Run rests. It was surrounded by thick forest, and what we would do is dare each other to go deeper, seeing who had the biggest balls. This year we got all the way to the other side, to the outside world. And there we found something fascinating, we found a small garbage dump! This was great fun for little boys ... [B]ut the most precious item we found that day was a white and red plastic wind-up gramophone record player with a fist-load of multicolored plastic singles. It was a toy really, but to us it was a genuine hi-fi marvel.  We took it back home through the forest ... It took a while, and quite some elbow grease until we got it cranked up and running, and put the first candy-red see-through single on. But it was worth it.  Out of the little crackly speaker came Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock”. This was the first time any of us had heard music like this and we were gripped by an uncontrollable excitement. We laughed and shouted.

...We were of course not alone, and our antics were soon discovered by our ill-tempered nanny ... She emerged from one of the houses sweating great beads of Nanny Juice, huffing and puffing and screaming hell and high water. (But of course not swearing, that would be forbidden too) ... There had been some masonry work being done earlier that week, and the tools were still there, among them a heavy-duty sledgehammer.  She grabbed this in stride.

...We formed a protective wall around the gramophone, nearly peeing ourselves with fear, praying she would stop. But she didn’t. She raised the sledgehammer high and it came crashing down, flicking my ear as it went whizzing by, grazing a shoulder here and there, and then totally annihilating the gramophone in a sickening crackling thud of jarring plastic compound, raining red and white plastic bits all over our little quivering heads ... [S]he pried open the storm cellar drain with a crowbar and stuffed the remains down the drain.  She put back the grid, picked up a pick–axe, and threatened us with sudden and certain death if we ever mentioned this episode to anyone. We were scared to death, and of course we didn’t breathe a word. 

The following article is a bit superficial 

and it generalizes a bit too much

(not all walls at all Waldorf schools 

are painted as the writer describes),

but it is informative nonetheless.

"A Colorful Education at Waldorf"

By Paris Achen

MAIL TRIBUNE, August 23, 2010

Oregon, USA

[http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100823/NEWS/8230316]

In Waldorf education, the color of the rainbow is [sic] a metaphor for the development of a child's mind, and the colors of Waldorf classroom walls follow that progression.

Each color of the rainbow affects a child's physiology and psychology, according to Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner, who developed the Waldorf concept in 1919.

That's why Steiner prescribed certain colors for certain grade levels, a color scheme Waldorf schools, such as Central Point's Madrone Trail Public Charter School, have been following for nearly a century.

Color is not the only feature that sets Waldorf classroom walls apart from other schools.

The walls are painted with a technique called "lazure," derived from the German word "lasur," which means glaze.

"They use a figure-8 motion with a watercolor pigment," said Allison Casenhiser, a third-grade teacher at Madrone Trail.

The color starts dark at the bottom of the wall and gets lighter at the top, giving the illusion of light and fluidity. Combined with the color, it has a powerful effect on physiology that one can feel upon entering one of the classrooms.

Each grade's classroom walls follow the colors of the rainbow, starting at the top of the rainbow in grade kindergarten with a rose hue. Waldorf education focuses on nature and allowing children to develop at their natural pace.

"Nothing is random," said Christine Crawley, a teacher at the Siskiyou School, a private Waldorf school in Ashland. "Things are done in Waldorf education because of certain observations (in nature and in child development), and it's like, 'Wow, that really matches the child at this age.' " In kindergarten, the color mimics the comfort of the womb, which is important to younger children, said Crawley.

That theme continues in the first grade with a lighter pink and in the second grade with a peach, where students' attitudes tend to be "peachy" and carefree, she said.

In the third grade, the walls turn golden.

The yellow color represents "the birth of the individual," Crawley said.

"They come into their own," she said. "They have the feeling of separation of others." In the fourth grade, the walls take on a yellow-green hue, signifying the students beginning to become more grounded on the earth, she said. In kind, Waldorf students in the fourth grade begin studying geography and local history, she said.

The sciences begin to emerge in the fifth grade, bringing a blue tinge to the green. Fifth-graders study things such as botany and Greek mythology.

"Blue is a mind color," Crawley said. "It's the color of the celestial realm." Hence, in sixth grade, where more higher thinking takes place, blue dominates the walls.

"They are going more in the sciences, physics, astrology and study of the Middle Ages," she said.

The color continues to darken as students enter the seventh and eighth grade until in the eighth grade, their walls are purple.

"It's the merging of the red and the blue," Crawley said. "They've come full circle."

For more on Waldorf beliefs concerning 

the spiritual power and meaning of colors, 

see "Mystical Colors".

MORE FROM THE WALDORF WATCH NEWS

(My comments repeat some points made previously.

Feel free to skip ahead as need be.)

1. 

From the San Francisco [USA] Classical Voice:

Where's Waldorf: Music at the Heart of Education Philosophy

By way of background, the first Waldorf School opened in 1919 in Stuttgart Germany, the creation of Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher strongly influenced by, among others, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The education is “alternative,” holistic, and despite a common misconception, not religious. The San Francisco Waldorf School started in 1979; the high school opened in 1997. Its overall philosophy, which increasingly has been picked up by other schools, is “Head, Heart, Hands.” The music curriculum, which is in the very nature of holistic education, is practice-based but includes a good deal of music theory. Each high school student is required to take four years of music. Students who don’t have a music background sing in the choir or play the guitar in beginner classes. There are also an orchestra, a jazz band, a choir, and various ensembles, including a drum ensemble.

“Our primary goal,” says [Waldorf teacher] David Weber, “is not to turn out musicians but to influence a student’s approach to life and their ability to make sound judgments through the artistic effects of music. We think that the study of music makes students much more well-rounded.”

[http://www.sfcv.org/article/wheres-waldorf-music-at-the-heart-of-education-philosophy]

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

All forms of art are important in Waldorf education. Rudolf Steiner, the "philosopher" who created Waldorf schooling, taught that spiritual beings are transported to the physical realm through musical tones and beautiful colors. And, Steiner, said, humans can be transported to the spirit realm in much the same way.

As for music: It is steeped in mystical power, according to Steiner. A Waldorf music class, like a painting class, is actually a cultic ritual — or so Steiner intended.

Steiner explained that composers get their musical ideas while asleep, during which time the higher parts of their beings leave their physical bodies and travel into the spirit world. 

“When a man falls asleep, his astral body [1] goes out from his physical body, his soul then lives in the devachanic world. [2] Its harmonies make an impression on his soul ... The composer...takes his model from the spiritual world. He has in himself harmonies which he translates into physical terms. That is the secret connection between the music which resounds in the physical world and the hearing of spiritual music during the night....[3]” — Rudolf Steiner, quoted in ART INSPIRED BY RUDOLF STEINER, John Fletcher (Mercury Arts Publications, 1987), p. 136. 

In essence, Steiner says that composers go to the spirit realm, hear melodies there, and then translate these melodies to forms we can hear with our physical ears. Music is thus inherently spiritual.

In Waldorf belief, people who play or listen to music are being lured toward occult spiritual experiences. 

“[O]n listening to music, [a person] has an inkling...of the spiritual world.” — ART INSPIRED BY RUDOLF STEINER, p. 136. 

Children in a Waldorf music class are actually being ushered toward esoteric mysteries. Steiner taught that musical tones operate much like colors, providing access to the spirit realm. Bear in mind that Steiner wasn’t speaking metaphorically — he meant this quite literally. A child listening to or making music is moved to the occult world of spirits. 

“The world of sound will deepen and enliven the life of the soul in a very similar way ... We shall experience the tone [i.e., a musical note] as an opening made by the gods from the spiritual world, and we shall climb through the tone into the spiritual world.” — Rudolf Steiner, UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN BEING (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1993), p. 162.

All of this, by the way, has a bearing on whether or not Waldorf schools are religious. Steiner acknowledged that, in fact, in their own special way, they are. 

"You can feel from the whole mood and being of the Waldorf school that a Christian quality [4] pervades all the teaching and how religion is alive there." — Rudolf Steiner, THE SPIRITUAL GROUND OF EDUCATION - Foundations of Waldorf Education XV (Anthroposophic Press, 2004), p. 115.

Music may be, in some sense, the most potent of all the arts, having unique powers to sway and elevate human beings. When mystics speak of the music of the spheres, for instance, they suggest that music has special spiritual effects; music is woven into the very essence of the universe. As Steiner said, 

“[E]verything lives in music ... [T]he sun and the spheres speak in music." — Rudolf Steiner, FOUNDING A SCIENCE OF THE SPIRIT (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1999), p. 15.

But Is music actually at the "heart" of Waldorf education? Actually, no. Waldorf schools do not generally treat music as more important than the other arts. Many forms of art are emphasized in Waldorf schools, certainly including painting and drawing. But if any one art is deemed more important than others in the Waldorf universe, it is eurythmy, the spiritual form of dance instituted by Rudolf Steiner. [See "Eurythmy".]

To keep things in their proper context, however, we should acknowledge that Waldorf education is not fundamentally devoted to the arts generally nor to any one art in particular. Fundamentally, Waldorf education is devoted to a spiritual worldview: Anthroposophy. Everything in the Waldorf curriculum, including the arts, receives its ultimate rationale from Rudolf Steiner's occult teachings. From the true-blue Waldorf perspective, nothing else, in the end, really matters. Although the San Francisco Classical Voice accepts the standard Waldorf denial concerning religion ("the education is...not religious"), in fact everything at Waldorf is based on the Anthroposophical religion, and everything serves that religion. [See "Here's the Answer" and "Schools as Churches". For concise summaries of Waldorf views on art and beauty, see Waldorf Straight Talk: Art - Am I Missing Something? and Beauty - Why Is Waldorf Alluring?.]

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[1] In Waldorf belief, we have three invisible bodies in addition to our physical bodies. The astral body is the second of the three invisible bodies.

[2] That is, the spirit realm.

[3] Note Steiner’s use of the word “secret.” Occultism centers on secrets: knowledge that initiates have but the rest of us don’t. This is the basis of Steiner’s claim to being a spiritual guide: He possessed occult spiritual secrets. To a lesser extent, Waldorf teachers who are devoted to Steiner’s doctrines believe they share such secrets. And secrets don’t remain secret if they are revealed to others, for instance you and me.

[4] Religion is certainly alive in Waldorf education; but whether that religion is truly Christian is, at best, debatable. [See "Was He Christian?" and "Sun God".]

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March 10, 2018

SPRING, AND THE SUN GOD,

AT WALDORF  

Waldorf schools worldwide are generally preparing, now, for their annual spring festivals. Waldorf schools typically hold festivals celebrating each season of the year in its turn. At one level, these festivals are reenactments or revivals of ancient seasonal festivities. At another level — deeply connected to the first — they are religious observances.

Here is how Waldorf teacher Henk van Oort describes Easter in his disappointingly brief, but still informative, guide to the Anthroposophical worldview:

"Easter — festival related to springtime...when new life and growth appear in nature ... Anthroposophy also draws attention to the Resurrection of Christ in the ether body of the earth. The resurrected etheric Christ nurtures this resurgence of life, and can be experienced by those who develop their perceptions in a special way ... In the rhythm of the four seasons, spring is most suitable for celebrating this festival because it takes place when the planet is most receptive to Christ's life-giving forces." — Henk van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2011), p. 35.

As you may infer from this, an Easter observance at a Waldorf school is likely to be rather different from what you will find elsewhere. The Easter Bunny and Easter-egg hunts will likely be absent or downplayed, and even the apparently  Christian elements you will recognize may have a strange cast.

Van Oort tells us of the "etheric Christ." Who or what is this? To understand, you need to know that the Christ revered in Waldorf schools and other Anthroposophical institutions is not the Son of God as he is usually described in Christian churches. No, the Christ of Anthroposophy is a different being: He is the god who has ruled the Sun. He is, in brief, the Sun God — the same god worshipped under a plethora of strange names by many ancient peoples. Here is a statement offered by Anthroposophist Margaret Jonas:

“The rituals through which one can contact gods and goddesses of old offer a deep sense of satisfaction. However, times have changed, spiritual beings evolve also and are known by other names. Christ, the Sun God, who was known by earlier peoples under such names as Ahura Mazda, Hu or Balder, has now united himself with the earth and its future evolution.” — Margaret Jonas, Introduction to RUDOLF STEINER SPEAKS TO THE BRITISH (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998), p. 5.

Anthroposophists believe that the Sun God has descended to Earth on various occasions. Once, he came down and performed the activities attributed to Christ in the New Testament. After his Crucifixion, he arose from death and, leaving the effects of his blood in the Earth, departed. But recently, he came down to Earth again, in a manner of speaking. As van Oort says, Christ came down to the "ether body of the earth" — he descended into the supernatural region that, Anthroposophists believe, surrounds and infuses the physical Earth. This descent was Christ's "Second Coming." Mainstream Christians anticipate the Second Coming as a future event, but Anthroposophists believe it has already occurred. The Sun God dwells now in the etheric body of the Earth, according to Anthroposophical teachings. [For more on these and related matters, see "Christ Events", "Sun God", and "Was He Christian?"]

A spring festival or an Easter celebration at a Waldorf school is, at its most fundamental level, one of the Anthroposophical "rituals through which one can contact gods and goddesses of old," as Jonas puts it. Specifically, it is a ritual through which we can contact "the resurrected etheric Christ," as van Oort puts it.

If you attend a Waldorf spring festival, will you find any of these Anthroposophical beliefs openly professed? Probably not. Anthropophists think they possess secret spiritual wisdom that must be concealed from the uninitiated. To know or see what Anthroposophis think they know and see, you must have a special power of perception. You must become clairvoyant. This is what van Oort means when he says "The resurrected etheric Christ...can be experienced by those who develop their perceptions in a special way." The special way is the clairvoyant way. Belief in clairvoyance underlies almost everything in the Anthroposophical community, including Waldorf schools. [See "Clairvoyance", "Inside Scoop", and "The Waldorf Teacher's Consciousness".]

Much will probably be hidden from you, therefore, if you attend a Waldorf spring festival. But the occult doctrines we are discussing here are the sorts of things that lie below the surface of vernal observances in a Waldorf school. The main question is not whether you might discern these things on first acquaintance, but what effects these things may have on Waldorf students. Much will be hidden from the kids, too. But when the kids are led through a long sequence of Anthroposophical religious observances, season after season, year after year, the effects on them should gradually accumulate. The effects should produce a subtle conditioning process, a quiet form of indoctrination leading susceptible children toward the mysterious, mystical Anthroposophical vision. [See, e.g., "Indoctrination".]

"Festivals — like towers in a landscape, the annual festivals mark important moments in the calendar as observed in fields of work inspired by anthroposophy ... [The festivals] reflect cyclical spiritual events ... Celebrating the festivals enables human beings to get in touch with both nature and spirit ... [Festivals] offer an opportunity for us to develop greater awareness of the course and aim of human life on earth."  — Henk van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z, pp. 45-46.

Anthroposophists think that understanding the meaning of life ("the course and aim of human life") comes down to understanding or at least embracing Anthroposophy. (The roots of the odd word "Anthroposophy" are terms for human — Anthropo — wisdom — sophy.) The festivals represent one way Waldorf schools try to shepherd the people in their orbit toward the "wisdom" of the occult belief system known as Anthroposophy.

— R.R.