"A human being can fall ill. He gets pleurisy. What does it mean when we say he gets pleurisy? It means there is too much of the luciferic element in him [i.e., he is too much under the influence of Lucifer] ... [T]he luciferic element is too powerful and the ahrimanic too weak [i.e., he is too much under the influence of Lucifer and too little under the influence of the Zoroastrian demon, Ahriman]. I have to add something ahrimanic to balance it out ... Birch wood [sic] grows actively in the spring ... [T]he bark has excellent powers of growth. I kill these by making the birch wood into charcoal ... I made it into birch charcoal, something ahrimanic. And I then make the birch charcoal into a powder and give this to the person who has too much of the luciferic element in him with his pleurisy." 

— Rudolf Steiner, FROM LIMESTONE TO LUCIFER 

(Rudolf Steiner Press, 1999), pp. 203-204. 

[R.R. sketch, 2009, based on Fig. 28, p. 204. 

The scales show the need to balance Lucifer's influence with Ahriman's influence.]

It's hard to top what we've already seen. Still, here is an interesting passage. During one of his lectures, Steiner brought a boy with learning disabilities onto the lecture platform; he used the boy to illustrate some of his medical concepts. Steiner focused particularly on the shape of the boy's head. He said the boy could have been helped by eurythmy, a form of dance Steiner himself invented:

"And now, if you will begin to observe the child for yourselves — (to the boy) Come here a minute! — you will find many things to notice. Let me draw your attention, first of all, to the strongly developed lower half of the face. Look at the shape of the nose and the mouth. The mouth is always a little open. With this symptom is connected also the peculiar formation of the teeth. It is important to note these things, for they are unquestionably bound up with the whole soul-and-spirit constitution of the child ... The formation you see here in the jaws — the jaws belong, of course, to the limb system — should be completely taken into the head system. But in this case the head system is not strong enough to bring the limb system fully into itself; consequently, external forces work too powerfully upon this limb-system. Look at a well-formed human being, where the lower part of the head is in harmony with the rest of the head ... In the child before us...the arms, and also the legs, have not the proportions they would have if they were brought into right relation with the upper part of the body, but have grown too big ...

"Observe now how the head is narrow here (in front) on both sides, and pressed back; so we have in this boy the symptom of narrow-headedness, a sign that the intellectual system is but little permeated with will [i.e., will power]. This part (at the back) expresses strong permeation by the will. The front part of the head is accessible only to external influences that come via sense-perception, whereas the back part of the head is accessible to all manner of influences from without [i.e., from the outside]. You have therefore here a beginning of what manifests so strikingly in the arms and legs; the brain enlarges and spreads out at the back of the head ...

"Here (in the front) as we remarked, the head is pressed together. In all probability this points back to a purely mechanical injury, either at birth or during pregnancy, a mechanical injury in which we can see nothing else than a working of karma, for it can have no connection with the forces of heredity ... 

"The entire system of the breath is very little under control, and breathing tends to become disturbed and uneasy. This is connected with the whole way in which the lower jaw is formed ... Consequently, the boy is unable to develop within him the right and necessary quantity of carbonic acid; he is deficient in carbonic acid ... What ought to happen is that gradually, in the course of life, the whole system of movement in man should become a servant of the intellectual system. (To the boy) Stand still a minute! And now come here to me and do this! (Dr. Steiner makes a movement with his arm as if to take hold of something; the boy does not make the movement.) Never mind! We mustn't force him. Do you see? It is difficult for him to do anything; he has not the power to exercise the right control over his metabolism-and-limbs system ...

"What would have been the right educational treatment for this child in very early years? Obviously a special effort should have been made to begin with Curative Eurythmy even before he was able to walk, simply moving his limbs oneself in eurythmic movements. If this had been done, then the movements carried out in this way in the limbs would have been reflected in the nerves-and-senses organism, and since at that early age everything, is still supple in the child, the form of the head could actually have grown wider ...." 

— Rudolf Steiner, CURATIVE EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1972), 

lecture 6, GA 317. 

I have excerpted from a long passage. You can find the entire text at http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/19240701p01.html. 

As perhaps should be obvious, Dr. Steiner had no medical degree; his doctorate was in philosophy. (And whether he merited that honor is questionable. [See "Doctor Steiner".])

From OpenWaldorf, dealing with "health and safety" at Waldorf schools:

Strong Anti-Immunization Preference

While there may not be an official position on immunization at Waldorf, there does seem to be a strong cultural anti-immunization preference among thought-leaders in the Waldorf community. This preference can be traced back to Steiner himself, who believed that immunization interferes with karmic development and the cycles of reincarnation. Steiner says:

We also understand why, among the best minds of our period, there exists a kind of aversion to vaccination... This would constitute the indispensable counterpart without which we are performing only half our task. We are merely accomplishing something to which the person in question will himself have to produce a counterpart in a later incarnation. If we destroy the susceptibility to smallpox, we are concentrating only on the external side of karmic activity.

Steiner, Rudolf. Manifestations of Karma, Lecture 8

Many respected Waldorf leaders share this view today. For example, in the article "Childhood Illness: Waldorf View," childhood disease is described as a "rite of passage" of childhood. The article suggests that when a child endures measles it is "as though he or she has had a form of ritual experience."

"At the higher emotional and mental levels, negative forces such as greed and selfishness have also been expelled. So a child who has measles is afterwards less self-centered and more openhearted, and often more able to express his or her individuality. The personality becomes rounder and fuller, and more joyful and contented, as a step towards maturity and adulthood."

"Childhood Illness: Waldorf View"

So, if you are concerned about a self-centered or restless child, perhaps you might consider exposing them to measles. Complications may arise, but it suggests that:

Serious complications in childhood illness which produce permanent damage or even death are probably deeply founded in the destiny of the person concerned.

"Childhood Illness: Waldorf View"

So, don't be alarmed if your child dies from a preventable disease because he/she is not immunized, it was probably their destiny. It clearly wasn't their destiny to be immunized.

[accessed 9-15-2017  http://www.openwaldorf.com/health.html.]

Here are items from the Waldorf Watch News:

I.

Currently available from Waldorf Books

[http://www.waldorfbooks.com/healing-arts/cancer-recovery]:

Mistletoe Therapy for Cancer

Prevention, Treatment and Healing

Dr. Johannes Wilkens, Gert Böhm

Translated by Peter Clemm

[Floris Books, 2010]

Softbound

$30.00

"...Mistletoe Therapy for Cancer presents, for the first time, an important reference for practitioners on the characteristics of each type of mistletoe and the kinds of cancers they are best suited to treat. Thirteen host trees are described, covering aspects from mythology and botany to homeopathy and flower essences. The authors pull the various characteristics together, providing a unique guide to the different types of mistletoe and which patients might benefit most from the individual varieties. The results will be useful not only in treating cancer, but also in prevention."

Also available from the same source:

Iscador: Mistletoe and Cancer Therapy

Christine Murphy, Editor

[Lantern Books, 2001]

Softbound

$20.00

"Iscador has been known for its therapeutic benefits for over eighty years. As early as 1917, Rudolf Steiner suggested using injections of mistletoe extract for the treatment of cancer ... In Iscador - Mistletoe and [sic] Cancer Therapy, Christine Murphy gathers together some of the work of doctors and clinicians who have been using Iscador today ... This is the first and only book to date that really explores this topic. It does so in a thorough yet easy-to-understand way that is truly empowering. Highly recommended!"

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

Woe betide.

Rudolf Steiner made enormous claims for mistletoe, including the claim that it is a cure for cancer. Most of the responsibility for the use (or misuse) of mistletoe in cancer treatment rests with him. [See QuackWatch.] 

Steiner’s interest in mistletoe derived, in part, from his conviction that the plant is not of this Earth. 

“[M]istletoe does not belong to our earth, it is alien.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN (Anthroposophic Press, 1993), p. 99. 

In Norse myths, mistletoe is used to kill Baldur, the God of Light. [See “The Gods”.] From this, Steiner extrapolated the notion that mistletoe can kill cancer. Anthroposophical doctors today often prescribe a concoction called Iscador for cancer patients — it consists largely of mistletoe.

Scientists try to keep open minds, and thus there are ongoing efforts to verify the claims made for mistletoe in cancer treatment. For the most part, however, the results have been nil. The American Cancer Society, for instance, concludes this:

“Available evidence from well-designed clinical trials does not support claims that mistletoe can improve length or quality of life.” [American Cancer Society.]

Turning to "Anthroposophical medicine," as is often done in and around Waldorf schools, can be a life-threatening error.

II.

◊ “[Science] sees the heart as a pump that pumps blood through the body. Now there is nothing more absurd than believing this....” — Rudolf Steiner, PSYCHOANALYSIS AND SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1990), p. 126. 

◊ “[T]he heart is indeed a sense organ for perceiving the blood’s movement, not a pump as physicists [sic] claim; the coursing of blood is brought about by our spirituality and vitality.” — Rudolf Steiner, AT HOME IN THE UNIVERSE (SteinerBooks, 2000), p. 84.

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

Rudolf Steiner made a great many absurd statements. These rank among the most absurd. Yet today Waldorf teachers and their representatives still try to justify Steiner’s absurdities — which they embrace as profound wisdom. 

In 2002, The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America published THE DYNAMIC HEART AND CIRCULATION. The editor, Craig Holdrege, says he “conceived the book from a teacher’s perspective.” [p. vi] What he means, clearly, is a Waldorf teacher’s perspective. And what sorts of statements speak to the Waldorf teacher’s perspective? Statements such as this: 

“The prevailing view in conventional science and medicine is that the heart serves as a pump ... But this model cannot explain many phenomena ... The function of the heart, with regard to the blood returning in the veins, is to regulate resistance ... [T]he force that drives the blood into the heart is not the force of the heart’s pumping action....” [pp. 74-75] 

The book offers ingenious arguments to counter “the prevailing view in conventional science and medicine,” and there are shreds of truth on many of the book’s pages. But the overall project is irretrievably mistaken. The book’s goal is to contrive arguments, by hook and by crook, to show that Steiner was right and science is wrong. Consider this carefully, parents. Ask yourself whether you want Steiner’s fervent followers — people who reject reality and who rationalize mystical nonsense — to “educate” your children. Into what dim vistas might they lead your young ones?

(The arguments made in the book are subtle and complex. To some degree, they change Steiner’s meaning in the process of trying to defend that meaning, a dubious approach at best. Essentially, the authors share Steiner’s revulsion at a simple, mechanistic description of the human constitution, and in this they have a point. The heart is not a simple mechanical pump; it is unlike, say, a bicycle pump. The circulation of the blood is affected by various internal biological factors, including the intricacies of the vascular system. In the end, however, the authors are led astray by their determination to affirm an esoteric vision. Calling the heart a pump may be, at some level, merely a metaphor. But calling the heart the seat of love and wisdom is an even more misleading metaphor — a common one, but a mistaken one. The truth, ultimately, is that the heart does pump blood, and no amount of obfuscation and argumentation can change this. A central characteristic of mystical thought is the refusal to face facts squarely. Mystics prefer their fantasies to reality; they feel ennobled and elevated by their presumed possession of superior, secret knowledge. They feel a warm glow in the very woolliness of their thinking. As a result, they wander into — and get lost within — the fogs that they themselves generate.)

III.

JANUARY 25, 2020

ANTHROPOSOPHIC MEDICINE: 

NOT A LAUGHING MATTER 

"I believe that most doctors striving for elimination of childhood illnesses are convinced that they do a great service ... [But] childhood illnesses should be treated in the proper way, by supporting the illness...not fighting the illness ... We should consider [childhood illnesses] as the greatest blessings, because through them man is able to strengthen his personal form...enabling him to incarnate better." 

— Waldorf teacher and doctor L.F.C. Mees, BLESSED BY ILLNESS 

(Anthroposophic Press, 1998), p. 192.

◊

Waldorf Watch Response:

Anthroposophical medicine — a form of alternative medicine [1] — is often practiced in and around Waldorf schools [2]. Stemming from Rudolf Steiner's occult preachments, Anthroposophic medicine often veers from good practice and, indeed, good sense [3].

Here are a few samples of Steiner's medical wisdom:

◊ Imaginary bodies: “With pneumonia, the cause is always in the astral body [a nonphysical body that incarnates at the time of puberty]; pneumonia can occur in no other way.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE TEMPLE LEGEND (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1997), p. 60.

◊ Astrological influences: “We must ask ourselves: In what constellation were we living when in the nineties [i.e., 1890s] the present influenza epidemic appeared in its benign form? In what cosmic constellation are we living at the present moment? By virtue of what cosmic rhythm does the influenza epidemic of the nineties appear in a more acute form today?" — Rudolf Steiner, FROM SYMPTOM TO REALITY IN MODERN HISTORY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1976), p. 89.

◊ Numerology: "Five is the number of evil ... When, one day, medicine will make use of this, it will be able to influence beneficially the course of illness. Part of the treatment would be to study the illness in its development on the first and fifth days after its onset, on the separate days at the fifth hour past midnight, and again during the fifth week. Thus it is always the number five that determines when the physician can best intervene." — Rudolf Steiner, OCCULT SIGNS AND SYMBOLS (Anthroposophic Press, 1974), p. 42.

◊ Phrenology: “When a person becomes afflicted with shrunken kidneys, which can occur when the kidneys' activity is deficient, you can see an indentation here on the head ... You can see in every person who has kidney disease this indentation in the head." — Rudolf Steiner, FROM COMETS TO COCAINE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2001), p. 241.

◊ Think your way to stronger bones: “The ashes that a thought leaves [4] strengthen bones, and so people with rickets do better if they think abstractly.” — Rudolf Steiner, FROM THE CONTENT OF ESOTERIC CLASSES (transcript, Rudolf Steiner Archive), GA 266, 3-14-08. (If that statement doesn't suit you, try this: “Rickets in children can be improved through appropriate geometric study." — Rudolf Steiner, ESOTERIC LESSONS 1904-1909 (SteinerBooks, 2007), p. 291. [5])

And so on.

◊

CHARLIE HEBDO is a popular and influential French satiric magazine [6]. In its current issue, the magazine aims its satirical fire at Anthroposophic medicine. Here are extended excerpts:

SCIENCE

Esotericism taught at Strasbourg University

By Antonio Fischetti

The University of Strasbourg provides training in Anthroposophic medicine. Based on esoteric, foggy concepts, this creed leads, among other things, to the treatment of cancer with injections of fermented mistletoe. [Such medicine is] a dangerous infiltration of occult spiritualism into what should be a temple of rational thought.

There are all sorts of weird ways to medicate yourself. Some people ingest granules derived from skunk bladder liquid; others prefer pumpkin poultices; still others prefer yogurt laced with bee sperm. We are accustomed to seeing pseudo-therapies of this kind pushed by more or less loony groups. But when such therapies are spread by public universities, the situation is much more worrisome. And yet, as part of its continuing education offerings, the University of Strasbourg offers courses in Anthroposophic medicine...

To shed some light on this dark tunnel, let's get to know Anthroposophy [7]. It is an esoteric and spiritual doctrine developed by the Austrian Rudolf Steiner at the beginning of the 20th century [8]. It claims to be a "wisdom of man" — the etymological meaning of the word — that is close to nature. But Anthroposophy is not only a theory, it also has very concrete applications, for example in education (with the famous Steiner schools, regularly singled out for their sectarian aberrations [9]) or agriculture (biodynamics, based on mysterious astrological influences [10]).

"Sickness is a blessing"

...[T]o penetrate Anthroposophical claptrap, let's listen to Grégoire Perra, one of the fiercest opponents of this movement. He knows what he's talking about, because his parents placed him in a Steiner school when he was a kid and he taught in one of these schools for a long time, before finally distancing himself from Anthroposophy. Since then, he has ferociously denounced this pseudo-wisdom (his denunciations led Anthroposophists to file several lawsuits against him, along with a smear campaign on social networks) [11]. In short, then, as reported by Grégoire Perra: "Anthroposophists say women should not cut their hair too short, as this would aggravate their aggressiveness. And freckles are a sign that you were an idiot in your previous life. And we shouldn't wash ourselves too much, since this would wear out our etheric powers [12]..."

What can Anthroposophical rantings produce in the medical field? As you might expect, conventional drugs are banned — not officially banned, but banned in practice. Patients who believe in Anthroposophical medicine often do not seek treatment, or they treat themselves. Anthroposophical doctors indeed believe in the forces of self-healing, which means disease should not be attacked in the classic sense, intervening to eliminate an illness.

In Anthroposophy, illness is seen as a divine endowment linked to karma [13]. If you fall ill, you should see the disease as a "blessing" that will help you to overcome your sins [14]. Preventing illness from expressing itself hinders the karmic process and increases your risk of having even more serious problems in a future life [15]. For Anthroposophists, continues Grégoire Perra, a disease allows "a form of improvement of one's deep being. The Anthroposophical doctor does not so much seek to cure his patient of his illnesses as to allow him a kind of salvation through the elevation of his soul."

Hence, it is not surprising that vaccination is unpopular in the Anthroposophical community. Officially, Anthroposophical doctors are not completely opposed vaccination, but Grégoire Perra pierces through this facade: "They say they are no longer opposed to vaccination, but in practice I have seen them make false vaccination certificates [16]." By the same logic, antibiotics are also banned, because they would hinder karma, and "as far as possible, surgery should also be avoided". Anthroposophical doctors, however, may practice homeopathy [17]...

Mistletoe to cure cancer

Grégoire Perra suffered from bruxism, a disorder that causes grinding of the teeth during sleep: "I went to see an Anthroposophical dentist, and he told me to massage my calves every night, because teeth are reincarnations of the feet and legs." During his years in Anthrosophy, Grégoire Perra saw all sorts of crazy prescriptions being made. For example, one doctor "told a person suffering from severe depression to eat salads specially crushed with a machine from Germany"... Or another doctor who, in order to treat a child with a severe ear infection, told him to "put fried onions in his ear".

For more serious cases, such as cancer, Anthroposophists have a miracle cure: mistletoe. To be precise, they rely on extracts of fermented white mistletoe that are injected near tumours. Why mistletoe? ... In Anthroposophical belief...the human being has a "physical body" — that's fine — but above that, an "etheric body" associated with the plant kingdom... and also "astral body" associated with the animal kingdom ... And mistletoe is both a vegetable being and an animal being...which is why it would help to fight cancer [18] ... Here we are confronted with full-out occult nonsense...

[T]he problem with this kind of therapy is that it often diverts patients from real treatments. "In addition to" quickly becomes "instead of" ... [S]ays Grégoire Perra: "When they are criticized, Anthroposophical doctors say that they only provide a complement [to conventional medicine]. But with their patients, they may suggest that Anthroposophical treatments can be enough..."

[M]edicine...must follow a rational approach based on solid evidence. The fact that a university offers courses in Anthroposophic medicine causes the line between reason and magical thinking to blur. There is no need for this, especially in the present context, when rational thinking is increasingly under attack from obscurantist delusions.

[1/25/2020    https://charliehebdo.fr/2020/01/sciences/esoterisme-enseigne-fac-strasbourg/    This article originally appeared on January 24. Translated by Roger Rawlings, leaning heavily on DeepL Translator.]

◊

Footnotes for this Item

[1] Alternative medicine is often dubbed "so-called alternative medicine," a tag that yields the acronym "SCAM". [See, e.g., "2010-2019, a decade in so-called alternative medicine (SCAM)", Skeptics Amalgamated.]

[2] See, e.g., A WALDORF GUIDE TO CHILDREN'S HEALTH (Floris Books, 2018).

[3] See "Steiner's Quackery".

[4] I.e., the physical residue produced by a thought. (But here's a thought: What Steiner says here is pure bunk.)

[5] Steiner had great faith in geometry. Thus, for instance: 

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

[6] See, e.g., "Charlie Hebdo".

[7] See "Anthroposophy" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE) — scroll down.

[8] See "What a Guy".

[9] See "Waldorf schools" in the BWSE. Also see, e.g., "He Went to Waldorf".

[10] See "Biodynamics - Or Fill Those Cow Horns".

[11] See "My Life Among the Anthroposophists".

[12] See "etheric force(s)", "etheric man", "etheric senses", etc., in the BWSE.

[13/ Belief in karma is integral to Anthroposophy. [See "Karma".]

[14] For Steiner's teachings on sin, see "Sin".

[15] Belief in reincarnation is integral to Anthroposophy. [See "Reincarnation".] Steiner taught that if you do not undergo a needed disease in one life, you will need to undergo it — or something similar, possibly worse — in a future life. [See "Steiner's Quackery".]

[16] I.e., when vaccinations are required, Perra alleges, Anthroposophical doctors may refuse to comply. Instead, they may issue false documentation indicating that a patient has been vaccinated when, in fact, s/he has not.

[17] Steiner affirmed homeopathy in some, but by no means all, cases. 

"Many illnesses cannot be cured homeopathically, many must be cured allopathically. Remedies must be prepared differently ... [T]he allopath works principally on the stomach, intestines, kidneys; there he is successful. Homeopathy is successful when the source of the illness is in the head, as in influenza. Many illnesses have their origin in the head." — Rudolf Steiner, COSMIC WORKINGS IN EARTH AND MAN (Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., 1952), lecture 2 [https://wn.rsarchive.org/GA/GA0349/19230217p01.html].

In homeopathy, patients are treated with potions that are so extremely diluted that, physically, they are nothing but water. Precious few illnesses — in the head or elsewhere — can be cured with water alone.

Allopathy is essentially conventional medicine, using drugs that counteract a patient's symptoms. But, contrary to Steiner's assertions, allopathic doctors do not focus predominantly on ailments in the "stomach, intestines, kidneys." 

[18] Mistletoe's extraordinary properties may perhaps be attributed to its extraterrestrial origins.

“[M]istletoe does not belong to our earth, it is alien." — Rudolf Steiner, THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN (Anthroposophic Press, 1993), p. 99.

Mocking Steiner and his views, especially on such a vital matter as medicine, may be a mistake.

Then again, the world might have been spared a certain amount of misery if Steiner had been laughed off the stage each time he opened his mouth.

We should welcome illness. Illness, indeed, is a blessing. Or so Steiner led his followers to believe. 

"Here we have a secret karmic connection between illness and further development, for in reality illness is a process of further development. In order that the soul develops the power to form an organ in the way it needs, the unsuitable organ has to be destroyed and rebuilt again by the soul forces ... Strictly speaking all our strength was acquired by the overcoming of obstacles in previous incarnations. Our present capacities are the result of our illnesses in earlier lives ... We become capable of everything that we ourselves have taken through the process of destroying and rebuilding. This has been felt to be true by all those people who, in the various religions, have connected a very exalted being with this process of destroying and rebuilding. In the religious beliefs of the Indians ‘Shiva’ represents the ruling powers that destroy and then restore things to life again." 

— Rudolf Steiner, THE BEING OF MAN AND HIS FUTURE EVOLUTION

 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1981), "Illness and Karma", GA 107. 

Anthroposophical ethics, including medical ethics, are nuanced (not to say equivocal). Consider the issue of abortion. Abortion is often considered a matter of moral absolutes: A child has an absolute right to be born, or a woman has an absolute right to control her own body. Steiner said otherwise. Each case must be considered on its own merits, he taught. Just as some people may have the karma to contract fatal diseases, some embryos may have the karma to be aborted. Likewise, some women may have the karma to carry to term, while others may have the karma to undergo abortions. Indeed, according to Steiner, the people running the gravest karmic risks associated with abortions are the doctors who perform the procedures (although, by Steiner's logic, a doctor might have the karma to conduct an abortion...).

"Concerning a question about whether one is interfering with the karmas of mother and child if one saves the mother through an abortion, we can say that one can hardly speak of an intervention in their karmas, since both karmas will be directed into other channels for a short time but will soon be brought back into the right direction by the natural course of events. On the other hand, there is a strong intervention in the karma of the one who does the operation. And he has to ask himself whether he really wants to do something which brings him into karmic connections which would not have existed without the intervention. But questions of this kind depend upon the particular circumstances and cannot be answered in general, like many other things in purely psychological cultural life which constitute an intervention in karma and which can lead to serious and tragic conflicts in life." 

— Rudolf Steiner and Ita Wegman, COURSE FOR YOUNG DOCTORS 

(Mercury Press, 1994), first circular letter, answer to question 10.

But how can one learn the karma of an embryo, a pregnant woman, or a doctor? In reality, there is no way, so making case-by-case determinations as stipulated by Steiner is impossible. Karma is a fantasy, a false belief. Anyone who chooses a course of action based on karma is operating out of delusion, not knowledge.

"Treatment with modified virus vaccine is effective in the case of diphtheria, because the body is thus given a strong impulse to become active, but it has unfavorable aftereffects. Particularly if a child is treated with vaccine, it will later suffer a hardening of its organization. One therefore must strive actually to replace treatment with vaccine with that of bathing, especially in the case of diphtheria, which is based primarily on the defective activity of the skin. One can see how skin actually must receive special consideration. It is indeed true that diphtheria is more frequent now than in former times. Of course, one must consider centuries, not decades. According to all that is known of earlier ages, however — though many diseases naturally existed then that were much worse; people were afflicted with bubonic plague and cholera — diphtheria was more rare. This is connected with the fact that, in general, the European way of life increasingly leads in a direction in which the skin's activity is no longer supported. Certainly, people who have money bathe a lot, and so forth. The point, however, is what a person bathes in. Here you can see the ill effect of civilization in the fact that bald-headed people are much more numerous today than in former days. The growth of hair is also an outer activity. Just as plants grow from the soil, so the growth of hair is affected from outside. Not enough attention is paid today to the skin's activity. Do not assume that bathing with cold water, as practiced by Englishmen nowadays, has such good effects. What counts is what a person bathes in. Of course, it is also wrong for a person to cause too strong an activity of the skin by superfluous bathing. At any rate, in the case of diphtheria, one must try above all to bring about a proper activity of the skin.

"This is also connected with a factor that affects people's offspring. Take a mother or father whose skin is too sluggish and doesn't slough off easily enough. This is most difficult to determine and takes a very sensitive insight into human peculiarities. The average layman cannot easily judge whether or not a person has callous skin, but some people do possess a much tougher skin than others. This is difficult to determine, because the skin is actually transparent. As it sloughs off, it appears to be colored differently because of what is underneath. Our skin is really transparent. If the father has a skin that is much tougher than it should be, the activity of the bones is also influenced thereby. As you know from what I have recently explained, the production of the blood depends on the activity of the bones. If the father has such callous skin that it reminds you of hippopotamus hide, he will produce white corpuscles that are too weak. This, in turn, influences his sperm, and his children will be weak from the beginning. So, one can say that if the father is a 'hippopotamus,' it is possible for his children to be born with rickets — an English illness — for the children to be born weak and to be susceptible to tuberculosis. This is how these things are related."

 — Rudolf Steiner, HEALTH AND ILLNESS, Vol. 2 

(Anthroposophic Press, 1983), lecture 6, GA 348.

"Once I knew a man who had quite an unusual forehead. A Greek forehead is different. In Greek statues we find foreheads that slope backwards. This man actually had a pronounced bulge, and his forebrain was actually pushed out. I am convinced that this man, whose brain was pushed forward so much, possessed a particularly well-formed abdomen and never suffered from diarrhea or constipation ... [H]is powerful, protruding forehead never permitted disorders of the abdomen. You can see from this that a man's forehead is related in a remarkable way to his abdomen." 

— Rudolf Steiner, FROM COMETS TO COCAINE

 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2000), pp. 150-151. 

[R.R. sketch, 2009, 

based on the sketch on p. 150.]

“Our brain would be a thoroughly unpractical instrument for understanding, if it were to work as physical brain alone. By means of occultism one can get an idea of how the brain would work if it had to depend on itself. In that case a man would be able to think only of what related to the inner requirements of his body. He would think, for example, 'Now I am hungry, now I am thirsty' ... Our brain however is continually infiltrated by the fine etheric streams which flow upwards from the heart. These etheric currents have direct relationship with a delicate and important organ of the brain, the so-called pineal gland. The fine, etheric currents...continually interpenetrate and lave [sic] the pineal gland, making it glow ... By way of our pineal gland, our ethertised blood system reacts directly upon the brain. You will find this subject more fully dealt with, when those lectures appear which I gave in Prague: 'Occult Physiology.'" 

— Rudolf Steiner, WONDERS OF THE WORLD 

(Kessinger; facsimile of 1929 edition), pp. 105-106.

[Rudolf Steiner Press, 2005.]

"This is altogether a remarkable connection: from the cosmic angle medicine is cosmic poetry. Indeed, many secrets of the world consist in the fact that something that is sick or that leads to sickness at one level is the highest, most perfect, is beautiful at another level." 

— Rudolf Steiner, BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS 1919-1924

 (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 129. 

Sounds sort of nice, but...

[R. R. sketch, 2009, 

based on Steiner's.] 

“One may now ask, what is to be one’s attitude towards cancer! We have seen how the etheric body is able to develop over-strong forces from itself in some particular organ. The centrifugal forces – that is, the forces that tend outwards into the Cosmos – become too powerful; the astral body and the Ego are too weak to counteract them. Spiritual knowledge now comes to one’s aid. One can now try either to make the astral body stronger, in which case one administers something from the plant kingdom, or one must restrain the etheric body, and in that case one makes use of the animal kingdom.

"Spiritual investigation has led to the adoption of the former course – that which relates to the astral body. In order to cure cancer, the forces of the astral body must be made stronger. And it may now be admitted that the remedy has really been discovered in the plant kingdom…The tree, which is rooted directly in the earth, makes use of the forces which it absorbs from the earth. The mistletoe, growing on the tree, uses what the tree gives it; the tree is, in a sense, the earth for the mistletoe. The mistletoe, therefore, brings about artificially that which, when it is not present, results in the 'swellings' which are due to a hypertrophy of the tree’s etheric organisation. The mistletoe takes away what the tree only gives up when it has too little physical substance, so that its etheric element is excessive. The excess of the etheric passes out of the tree into the mistletoe.

"When the mistletoe is prepared in such a way that this superabundant etheric quality which it has taken from the tree is administered to a person under certain conditions, by injection (and, since we are observing all these facts in a spiritual manner), we gain the following information: that the mistletoe, as an external substance, absorbs what is manifest in the human body as the rampant etheric forces in cancer.” 

— Rudolf Steiner, 

“An Outline of Anthroposophical Medical Research: 

Abridged Report of Two Lectures” 

(Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co., 1924), 

authorized translation.

“And so, gentlemen, if – for instance – a child is becoming weak in his head – inattentive, hyperactive – he will usually have a corresponding symptom: worms in his intestines. Worms develop easily in the intestines if the head forces are too weak, because the head does not then work down strongly enough into the rest of the body. Worms find no lodging in a human body if the head forces are working down strongly into the intestines. You can see how magnificently the human body is arranged! – everything is related. And if one’s child has worms, one should realize the child has become weak in his head. Also – whoever wants to be a teacher has to know these things – if there are persons who at a later age are weak-minded, one can be sure they have had worms when they were young.

“And so what must one do if one observes this in the child? The simplest remedy is to give him carrots to eat for a while – with his other food, of course; naturally, one couldn’t just feed him on carrots alone. Carrots are the root of the plant. They grow down in the earth and have a large quantity of minerals. They have the forces of the earth in them, and when they are taken into the stomach, they are able to work up through the blood into the head. Only substances rich in minerals are able to reach the head. Substances rich in minerals, root substances, give strength to a human being by way of the head. That is extraordinarily important. It is through carrots that the uppermost parts of the head become strong – which is precisely what the human being needs in order to be inwardly firm and vigorous, not soft.” 

— Rudolf Steiner, NUTRITION 

(Rudolf Steiner Press, 2008), pp. 104-105.

"In a human corpse there is a poison known as the virus of dead bodies. But in reality man has around him all the time a corpse that is producing poison. A corpse yields this particular virus and the physical body of a living man yields it too, but in the latter case the ether body, astral body and 'I' are at work. These higher members are occupied all the time with this nascent poison; they absorb it as sustenance. If the corpse did not contain poison the living human being would not, in the real sense, be man. You will realise from this that when a man dies, something must have gone away from him, namely, the super-sensible members of his being. When the super-sensible members have departed, the poison is no longer destroyed; it remains. If, therefore, people were able to think correctly about why corpse-virus arises, they would say: the physical body has always produced this poison; there is no possible reason why it should not do so, for as physical body it is the same, no matter whether the man is dead or alive. But the super-sensible man who needs the poison for sustenance, has departed, and therefore the poison remains. This indicates how the super-sensible man is incorporated in the physical, in the material man. Modern science, however, for lack of proper thinking, cannot grasp it." 

— Rudolf Steiner, COSMIC WORKINGS IN EARTH AND MAN 

(Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co,, 1952), lecture 6, GA 349-352.

From The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia:

bacilli - also see health; medicine

Disease-causing bacteria. According to Steiner, they are an Ahrimanic source of illness. [1] “[B]attles [between good and evil spirits] have recurred over and over again, but always on different issues. In the distant past, the crowd of ahrimanic spirits [2] were also cast down from the spiritual worlds into the earthly realm when they had lost such a battle. [3] You see, they would return to the attack again and again. After one of these battles, for example, the crowd of ahrimanic spirits populated the earth with the earthly life-forms which the medical profession now calls bacilli. Everything which has the power to act as a bacillus, everything in which bacilli are involved, is the result of crowds of ahrimanic spirits being cast down from heaven to earth at a time when the dragon [4] had been overcome. In the same way the ahrimanic, mephistophelean [5] way of thinking has spread since the late 1870s as the result of such a victory. [6] Thus we are able to say that tubercular and bacillary diseases come from a similar source as the materialism which has taken hold of human minds. [7]” 

— R. Steiner, THE FALL OF THE SPIRITS OF DARKNESS 

(Rudolf Steiner Press, 2008), p. 139. [8]

[1] Ahriman is an arch-demon, Steiner taught. [See "Ahriman".]

[2] I.e., minions of Ahriman; Ahriman's companion demons.

[3] I.e., at various times, after losing battles with the good gods, Ahrimanic demons have been cast out of the spirit realm down to the physical realm. [See, e.g., "Michael" and the entry for "1879" in this encyclopedia.]

[4] I.e., Ahriman.

[5] Steiner identified Ahriman with the demon Mephistopheles. [See the entry for "Mephistopheles" in this encyclopedia.]

[6] I.e., a victory by the good gods; it was a loss for the Ahrimanic demons. (The victory of the good gods expelled Ahrimanic/Mephistophelean powers from the spirit realm and inflicted them on the physical world. The spread of materialistic thinking was one consequence.)

[7] I.e., bacilli — as embodiments of Ahrimanic evil — cause illness (such as tuberculosis) in the human body as Ahrimanic spiritual influences cause illness (such as materialism) in the human mind.

[8] For more on Rudolf Steiner's medical teachings, see "Steiner's Quackery".

The chief astrological connections to the human body as conceived in Anthroposophy.

 See, e.g., Waldorf teacher Roy Wilkinson's THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF STEINER EDUCATION 

(Sophia Books, Rudolf Steiner Press, 1996), p. 48. 

[R.R. sketch]

Here are excerpts from the essay "anthroposophic medicine"

at The Skeptic's Dictionary by Robert Todd Carroll

http://www.skepdic.com/anthroposophicmedicine.html

Anthroposophic medicine (AM) is medicine that has been infused with the teachings of Rudolf Steiner.

...One kind of remedy frequently offered by AM is the homeopathic remedy, which is not surprising since classical homeopathy is rooted in vitalism, as is Steiner's philosophy. Like homeopathy, AM also features a highly individualized treatment of each patient. However, since Steiner believed in reincarnation, an AM doctor has to try to figure out "the particular state of soul and spirit" of the patient in regard to its many lives, past, present, and future.

...Steiner believed the model for the human body should be of a 3-part system: we takes things in, we put things out, and some things we keep constant by rhythm...Health is when these systems interact harmoniously. Illness is disharmony and treatment may include not only medicine but also art therapy (painting, modeling, music, singing and creative speech), eurythmy, and counseling. In addition to

...According to Steiner, a human being is "an eternal individuality." Because of the individualized nature of treatment, and for ethical reasons, AM doctors don't do double-blind controlled experiments. The fact that scientific testing of remedies is not done might explain some of the difficulty AM has in conforming to the law.

"Among the best known anthroposophic medicines are the mistletoe preparations for the treatment of cancer (Abnova viscum®, Helixor®, Iscador®, Iscucin®, Visorel®)." [William T. Jarvis,“ Anthroposophical Medicine”, 1997.[ Mistletoe was first proposed as a cancer treatment by Steiner in 1920. Steiner reasoned that since mistletoe is a botanical parasite, it would cure cancer, which he thought of as a parasite on human tissue and organs. However, despite this clever analogy, mistletoe is  listed by the American Cancer Society as a unproven cancer remedy. [Jarvis 1997].

...[A]ccording to Dr. Edzard Ernst, "some studies suggest that serious harm might be caused by mistletoe injections. Rather than suppressing cancer, mistletoe might promote tumour cell growth in some malignancies."

...[A]nthroposophic medicine is even more out of touch with modern, science-based medicine than homeopathy. AM not only thinks that the vital spirit plays a major role in health — a view it shares with homeopathy — but AM also brings into play other metaphysical entities it refers to variously as the etheric body, the astral body, and the ego. AM thinks the soul, the senses, and consciousness are beings that exist independently of the body and that such things as herbs and essential oils can bring these things into harmony with each other and with the physical body. AM is certainly in harmony with Steiner's basic approach to reality, which was to think he had special powers to see directly into occult realities without the bother of tests in experience or replication by others. When you believe you have clairvoyant powers, you don't feel the need to prove your claims the way other scientists do. Steiner approached medicine the same way he approached everything else from astrology to Atlantis to education to farming to metaphysics: He dictated his visions. Why anyone considers him a scientist is a great mystery. His notion of science as involving the explanation of how immaterial entities affect material entities is the very opposite of science.

For an exploration of karma,

please use this link: "Karma".

For Steiner's view on abnormality, 

please use this link: "Abnormal".

Quotations there also bear on quack medicine,

human freedom, the central position 

of humans in the cosmos,

and the temperaments of nations.

The following is excerpted from

"The Deadly Perils of Rejected Knowledge"

by Thomas R. DeGregori

at the American Council on Science and Health

[http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsID.412/healthissue_detail.asp]

To some, beliefs about alternative therapies may seem harmless, but there was a recent case in Germany in which two homeopathic doctors who opposed the MMR vaccine were reportedly responsible for a measles epidemic involving over 700 children, thirty of whom were hospitalized. There is fear that the rising infection rate could result in children dying needlessly.

A story in the London Times (March 6, 2002) by Alan Hall traces these practices to the Waldorf School, "which actively encourages people not to have their children vaccinated. Now we have an epidemic."

...In the United States, a Waldorf School is among those schools in Boulder, Colorado where children are not receiving their pertussis and other immunization — with fatal consequences both for those children and their younger siblings who have not yet been vaccinated. 

...[P]arents with infants who have not yet received their full complement of vaccinations might be wise to inquire of their New Age/alternative medicine friends whether their children have been immunized before allowing them to come over and visit.

The following is excerpted from 

"WHO's Strategy on Traditional and Complementary Medicine"

by T. P. C. Dorlo, W. Betz, and C. N. M. Renckens

in SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 39 No. 3

(May/June, 2015).

[I]t remains unclear what unproven alternative therapies such as homeopathy and anthroposophic medicine, essentially "quack" therapies that have been widely criticized, can add to regular medicine. In well-designed randomized clinical trials, the efficacy of CM [complementary medicine] therapies could not be established. More importantly, their underlying theories are incompatible with current scientific ideas at large, and thus there is no rationale for these therapies. They are not always harmless; at best they only delay any effective treatment and leave the patient with an absurd concept of pathophysiology and disease ... The anti-vaccination attitude among homeopaths, anthroposophists, and chiropractors points [to the ineffectiveness of CM in preventing disease and preserving health]. If any "complementary" therapy would be effective and exhibit therapeutic value, by the rules of evidence-based medicine, it would of course have been incorporated into regular medicine and the prefix "complementary" would no longer be adequate. 

Shots Summary: 

The Anthropop View: 

Natural things (including naturally occurring childhood diseases) are good or potentially good, 

whereas unnatural things (especially products of technology, such as vaccines) are bad or potentially bad.

Vaccination may interfere with karma, which can be a serious mistake. 

(It may prevent you have having a disease you need to undergo 

in order to discharge your karma.)

Vaccination will harm you if it is not supplemented by spiritual instruction 

(i.e., Anthroposophical indoctrination).* 

Vaccination will harm you severely if it is the sort of vaccine created 

by black magicians (in which case it will destroy your soul).

* Thus, Steiner’s teachings on these matters become a form of Anthroposophical recruitment.

The following item from the Waldorf Watch News

contains references to additional Anthroposophical

"medical" practices.

November 1, 2020

STEINER ED. AND HEALING - 

ON THE SUBJECT OF AUTISM

Rudolf Steiner's followers — that is to say, Anthroposophists [1] — believe that Waldorf education virtually ensures the health of its students [2]. Anthroposophists believe that students in Waldorf schools dwell within a protective, life-enhancing matrix of esoteric practices that promote the children's proper incarnation and development [3]. This is what Rudolf Steiner indicated, and Steiner's followers take his word for it.

The purportedly healthful practices found in Waldorf schools derive chiefly from Anthroposophical medicine — preventive and curative processes based on Rudolf Steiner's occult teachings [4]. The problem, however, is that Anthroposophical medicine often diverges far from established, fact-based medical procedures [5]. The value of Anthroposophical treatments for various abnormalities and illnesses is, to put the matter mildly, open to dispute.

A recent article in the French edition of Slate brings many of these issues to the fore in its discussion of the Anthroposophical approach to autism. Here are excerpts and a slew of explanatory footnotes:

Steiner's pedagogy [6] and Anthroposophy, 

an esoteric and dangerous vision of autism

[By] Laure Dasinieres

...Out of most people's view, Steiner's pedagogy gives a distorted and esoteric vision of autism, and it promotes treatments that are as useless as they are harmful.

According to Anthroposophical doctor Michael Allen, "Autism can be seen as an atypical process of incarnation ... The ego [7] does not sufficiently engage the lower parts of the body (the metabolism) ... The disturbed relationship of the ego results in a weakened etheric current [8] in the lower constitution, blocking a healthy relationship with the forces of the soul [9]. Thus, thought, feeling and will cannot be brought together."

Grégoire Perra, a former Anthroposophist and now one of the main critics of Anthroposophy in France [10], deciphers this nebulous discourse for us: "For Anthroposophists, autism can have several causes. Primarily, the condition results from an individual's karma [11]: The child was not able to incarnate completely. Therefore, the three poles of the human being (thought, feeling, will [12]) are not properly united. So the ego could not properly take possession of the body at birth."

Anthroposophists believe this faulty incarnation expresses itself organically: The child's brain continues to grow and tends to become too large, inducing deformations [13]...

But, why would these children...become autistic?

Alleged social causes

...According to traditional Anthroposophy, the child may have chosen to incarnate in autistic form to compensate for an error committed in a previous life [14] ... By "choosing" to be autistic, the child would then discharge a karmic debt [15]...

With regard to causes arising from life prior to birth, Grégoire Perra points out: "Anthroposophists consider that on the 15th day after conception, Lucifer and Ahriman [16] can enter the embryo and introduce hereditary defects linked to the original fault."

Another cause of autism, also of a karmic nature (i.e. wanted by the gods [17]), is external to the child. This may include damage to the brain or bowel during pregnancy or, later, vaccinations [18]. "Vaccines...block the child's mechanisms of consciousness," says Emmanuel Guizzo [an Anthroposophically inspired osteopath]...

This brings us to the so-called social causes of autism. Michael Allen sees autistic people as the "sacrificial mirrors" of our societies [19] ... The materialism of our times distracts us from our spiritual development ... He draws a parallel with autistic people who are, in his view, "disabled in a way that impedes their spiritual development." He goes on: "This is a sign of our times. The purpose of autism is to balance this excessive materialism. In this way, autism can be seen as both the result and the remedy of excessive materialism [20]."

An unfavorable practice

Given these multiple causes, how does Anthroposophic medicine propose to treat autistic children? For those who are cared for in the city, the presumed remedy...is provided by the so-called traditional Anthroposophical pharmacopoeia: algae medication [21], baths [22], injectable or drinkable arsenic solutions [23], and homeopathy [24]. All this is obviously without proven efficacy and carries the danger not only of side effects, but also of delaying genuine medical treatment...

We should be even more worried about the fate of children placed in institutes of curative education [25] or centers belonging to the Camphill movement [26]. Young patients there are constantly exposed to Anthroposophical doctrine. In addition to treatment with medicaments, eurythmy — a kind of esoteric dance or "movement art" [27] — is employed as an art therapy...

According to Steiner, eurythmy "strengthens the soul by bringing it alive to the spirit realm." There are also manual activities [28], recitations intended to structure time [29], and Bothmer gymnastics [30]: "This is a kind of exercise with falls, jumps, and figures supposed to remind the practitioner of his incarnation or his excarnation to prepare him for death," explains Gregoire Perra.

Children also have to attend Anthroposophical services [31] and meetings: "It doesn't matter if they don't understand, the idea is to address their spirit-self [32]. Hearing Anthroposophy, the words would enter into communion with their astral body [33] and enable them to heal themselves in a future life." Gregoire Perra is particularly concerned about the experience of these children in these centers: "There is little or no qualified medical supervision. There is no psychological care, there is no doctor on site. We know that there have been accidents and casualties [34]."

In 2015, the report to the [French] Prime Minister from the Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against Sectarian Aberrations (MIVILUDES [35]) identified Steiner pedagogy as one of the practices the Mission should address, and it indicated in a footnote that Steiner pedagogy shares beliefs in astrology [36] and esotericism [37] with the New Age movement [38].

The 2017 report of the same Mission added: "With regard to schools, the connection to the philosophy of the founder [i.e., Steiner] is not always made clear, and not all parents who enroll their child in a school comprehend all the theoretical foundations that are are implicit in the teaching provided."

Today, however, institutes of curative education and Camphill communities remain off the radar.

[11/1/2020   http://www.slate.fr/story/196546/pedagogie-steiner-anthroposophie-dangereuse-enfants-autisme-mouvement-camphill    This article originally appeared on October 30. Translation by Roger Rawlings, leaning heavily of DeeplL Translator and Google Translate.]

◊

Waldorf Watch Footnotes for this Item 

[1] See "Anthroposophy" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE) — scroll down to this entry.

[2] See, e.g., EDUCATION AS PREVENTIVE MEDICINE by Waldorf physician Michaela Glöckler (Rudolf Steiner College Press, 2002).

[3] For an overview of human incarnation, including the invisible bodies that Anthroposophists believe incarnate during childhood, see "Incarnation".

[4] Steiner identified himself as an occultist — that is, one who possesses hidden (mysterious, occult) knowledge. [See "Occultism".]

[5] See "Steiner's Quackery".

[6] That is, the teaching methods and philosophy propounded by Steiner. These are found primarily in Waldorf schools, otherwise known as Steiner schools.

[7] According to Anthroposophy, the "ego" is a spiritual member. A spark of divinity, it makes us truly human. [See "Ego".]

[8] See "etheric force(s)" in the BWSE — scroll down.

[9] Steiner taught that fully incarnated human beings have both souls (ethereal identities that change with each incarnation) and spirits (transcendent identities that are carried through all the lives an individual undergoes, alternating between the spirit realm and the physical realm).

[10] Perra was educated in Waldorf schools and later became a Waldorf teacher. Eventually he broke away, becoming a critic of both Waldorf education and Anthroposophy. [See "My Life Among the Anthroposophists".]

[11] Belief in karma is fundamental to Anthroposophy. [See "Karma".]

[12] See the entry for "thinking-feeling-willing" in the BWSE.

[13] Steiner drew a crucial distinction between various "constitutional types" of children based on the size of the children's heads. [See "constitutional types" in the BWSE.]

[14] Closely tied to Anthroposophical belief in karma is belief in reincarnation. [See "Reincarnation".]

[15] I.e., if one has made errors during one life, s/he must pay or compensate for these errors in the next life.

[16] According to Anthroposophical doctrine, Lucifer and Ahriman are two arch-demons. [See "Lucifer" and "Ahriman".]

[17] Anthroposophy recognizes a great many gods. [See "Polytheism".]

[18] Steiner did not completely oppose vaccination as a preventative measure, but he discouraged it in most cases. Today, there is often a strong but unofficial anti-vaccine culture in and around Waldorf schools. [See "vaccination" in the BWSE.]

[19] I.e., autists reflect the faults of society as a whole, and their condition serves as a "sacrifice" which they make in order to promote the eventual rectification of society.

[20] I.e., autism — as a sacrifice — will help cure society of its materialism. (Autism may be seen as the payment of a karmic debt on behalf of the entire materialistic modern world.)

[21] E.g., 

"Rheumatoid arthritis is more common in northern latitudes, frequently with aggravation from cold and wet conditions. Light and warmth ameliorate the symptoms, indicating the ether qualities which these patients need. Algae in the cold waters of those regions have a good alpha linolenic acid content which relates very much to the warmth ether and are like a counter agent. Fish feeding on the algae are able to increase the degree of warmth and hence also the number of double bonds in their metabolism, thus producing substances that have therapeutic significance for rheumatic 'diseases of coldness.'" — Anthroposophical doctor Roman Huber, "Dietary aspects to the treatment of autoimmune diseases", DER MERKURSTAB, 2005, p. 30.

[22] These are usually mineral baths or immersions in other waters mixed with "curative" chemicals. E.g., 

"Anthroposophic medicine offers a variety of treatments, among others the oil-dispersion bath, developed in the 1930s by Werner Junge. Based on the phenomenon that oil and water do not mix and on recommendations of Rudolf Steiner, Junge developed a vortex mechanism which churns water and essential oils into a fine mist. The oil-covered droplets empty into a tub, where the patient immerses for 15–30 minutes." — Arndt Büssing, Dirk Cysarz, et al, "The oil-dispersion bath in anthroposophic medicine – an integrative review", PMC, US National Library of Medicine, Dec. 2008.

[23] E.g., 

"Our chief concern must be to see that the astral body receives the right form and configuration that will enable it to fit itself into the ether and physical bodies in a harmonious manner. To achieve this end, we always give arsenic baths — that is, we use arsenic externally; and occasionally we administer arsenic internally as well. The treatment has the effect of harmonising the relationships of astral body, ether body and physical body. Then, to ensure that the externally administered arsenic shall really strike home, we reinforce it by applying mustard compresses to the feet before and after the bath, using also grated horse-radish for this purpose." — Rudolf Steiner, CURATIVE EDUCATION (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1972), lecture 9, GA 317.

[24] Homeopathy is the practice of treating diseases by administering extremely diluted doses of substances that could cause those diseases. (The dilution may be so extreme that the resulting fluid is nothing but water.) Anthroposophical medicine includes homeopathic treatments. [See "Steiner's Quackery".] Today, homeopathy is generally dismissed as ineffective at best, dangerous at worst.

[25] These are Anthroposophical institutions that attempt to use intensified versions of Waldorf educational practices in order to cure illnesses.

[26] These are Anthroposophical residential communities where efforts are often made to treat individuals who exhibit various disabilities.

[27] See "Eurythmy".

[28] As at Waldorf schools, such activities generally include knitting, crocheting, woodworking, and other handcrafts. Steiner taught that manual activities like these have curative effects. Concerning knitting and crocheting, for instance, he said:

“Go into our needlework classes and handicraft classes at the Waldorf School, and you will find the boys knit and crochet as well as the girls ... This is not the result of any fad or whim, but happens deliberately in order to...permeate the fingers with soul. And to drive the soul into the fingers means to promote all the forces that go to build up sound teeth.” — Rudolf Steiner, THE RENEWAL OF EDUCATION (Anthroposophic Press, 2001), p. 10.

[29] These are often prayers or meditations written by Steiner. [See "Prayers" and "Power Words".] They presumably "structure time" by reorienting participants from ordinary existence to a focus on the eternal.

[30] Named for originator Graf von Bothmer, an Anthroposophist, Bothmer gymnastics is a non-athletic form of movement in which the practitioners "experience" the space around them. 

"Bothmer Gymnastics is intended to foster balance, not just physical balance but mental and spiritual balance too. It's sometimes associated with the phrase 'spatial dynamics' as it aims to help older children (and adults) explore the relationship between their body and its position in space." [http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=93199] 

As employed in Waldorf schools, such gymnastics are related to the practice of eurythmy. The distinction between these two disciplines is sometimes indistinct, but in general Bothmer gymnastics is a form of physical education (PE) whereas eurythmy is a form of art.

[31] These are often essentially Anthroposophical religious observances. [For the nature of such services, see, e.g., "Waldorf Worship".]

[32] Steiner taught that a completely incarnated human being has a physical nature, a soul nature, and a spirit nature. The spirit-self (or spirit self) is the first division of our spirit nature. [See "spirit self" in the BWSE.]

[33] According to Steiner, various invisible bodies incarnate during the first 21 years of life. The astral body is the second of these invisible bodies. [See "astral body" in the BWSE].

[34] For Perra's own experiences at a Camphill community, see the section "Camphill Summer" in the essay "My Life Among the Anthroposophists".

[35] 

"The MIVILUDES (a French acronym for Mission interministérielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les dérives sectaires, i.e. Interministerial Mission of Vigilance and Combat against Sectarian Aberrations) is a French government agency, created by Presidential decree in 2002. It is charged with observing and analyzing the phenomenon of sectarian movements (cults), coordinating the government response, informing the public about the risks arising from sectarian aberrations and facilitating the implementation of actions to aid the victims." — "MIVILUDES", WIKIPEDIA, accessed Nov. 1, 2020 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIVILUDES].

[36] See "Astrology" and "Star Power".

[37] See "esoteric, esotericism" in the BWSE.

[38] "[The] New Age movement...spread through the occult and metaphysical religious communities in the 1970s and ʾ80s. It looked forward to a 'New Age' of love and light and offered a foretaste of the coming era through personal transformation and healing. The movement’s strongest supporters were followers of modern esotericism, a religious perspective that is based on the acquisition of mystical knowledge and that has been popular in the West since the 2nd century AD, especially in the form of Gnosticism. Ancient Gnosticism was succeeded by various esoteric movements through the centuries, including Rosicrucianism in the 17th century and Freemasonry, theosophy, and ritual magic in the 19th and 20th centuries." — "New Age movement", ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, accessed Nov. 1, 2020 [https://www.britannica.com/topic/New-Age-movement]. 

The BRITANNICA locates the origins of the New Age movement in Theosophy. Anthroposophy is a direct outgrowth of Theosophy. [See "Basics".]

— R.R.

[R.R.]

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