In this edition
General Secretary's Letter
AGM Information
Meeting One Another INVITATION
Meeting one another:
Nina Wallace-Ockenden
The Redemption of Thinking:
Interview with De. Max Leyf by Tim Nadelle
Economics Conference update, newsletter & bookstore
RSCC job desciption
ASC Expands Fundraising Capacity by Accepting Donations of Securities
Trillium Waldorf School is raising up to $2 million in Community Bonds
Membership Update
Anthroposophy Worldwide #01/02, 2022
Events and information:
Invitation to 12-part course on meditation with Robert McKay
Anthroposophy CanadaWide: The spiritual Hierarchies with Grant Davies
RSCC Courses
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From the World Society
On Seeking Wholeness
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Dear Members and Friends of the Anthroposophical Society in Canada,
Touch the earth. What do you feel?
Press your ear to the winter-slumbering tree. What do you hear?
All about us nature seems entombed. Beneath her white mantle the earth herself is turned to stone. Trees present their skeletal forms. Frost encases the hope of dormant buds. Within the lake’s mud the seemingly lifeless frog is buried, the imperceptibly breathing bear lies prone in its den. At this point of winter’s deepest hold, life appears to have abandoned the earth.
Yet when we attend to this seeming absence, we can sense within this mid-winter dying the permeating presence of life’s promise. Penetrating into all that appears dead, the One prepares rebirth. Without discrimination the Bearer-of-Life is one with the earth’s whole mantle, slowly awakening life where its possibility rests. Warmth, invisibly presses into the tender roots of trees, engendering sap’s rising. The still bulb stirs, sending out its first tender shoot. The bear wakes. Life flows into the frog’s inert body. Wherever nature would open herself to new becoming, this Presence quickens life out of apparently dead substance, fulfilling promise.
All of nature calls us to perceive the wonder of this Awakening, permeating all substance, filling the world with an invisible light. We are accustomed to the soul joy of spring’s return. The scents of the earth’s first stirrings, the first bird’s call on its frozen branch, the first silver tone of snow’s melting, all touch the deep places in our own being. We too are silently warmed by the One who forever quickens life. We all too often lose sight of the relationship between these two, the life-bringer and the receivers of life.
The omnipresent Being of life permeates all, the magnitude of his presence so great that he becomes invisible to us. Yet we are deeply moved by each one that is ripe for this quickening into life. Each awakening, each opening to life moves us. It is the appearance of the blossom, the unfurling leaf, the bird’s song, the earth’s spring perfume that stirs us – awakens our own soul’s response. Yet, none of this could be without the ever present working of the Bringer of Life, Substance's Light. The passing of his hand moves us deeply, yet we do not perceive him. Nature’s song stirs us, yet we do not hear his voice.
This tension between what could be and what is, between the infinitude of the possible and the finiteness of what becomes manifest, confronts us with every new beginning, every birth. The immensity of the spirit’s possibility and its binding into substance fills us both with joy and sadness. To be human is to seek to be a bridge between these two. This is an ever-present challenge. It requires that we become increasingly familiar with the spiritual reality seeking its place among us, while cultivating an increasing awareness of what inhibits its ability to manifest itself. Spiritual impulses, the will of spiritual beings to manifest themselves, and the resistance that is created to these spiritual impulses, permeate our earthly lives.
With awe we are present before the birth of a child..............
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ANNUAL
Anthroposophical Society in Canada
CONFERENCE AND AGM
What does it mean to be human?
The approach of Ahriman impacts us. In what way do we as human beings experience this encounter? What does it ask of us at this time of curtailment of individual freedom?
This conference strives to underscore the necessity of having a conscious experience of Ahriman’s approach. Meeting it with sustaining individual strength enables a socially ennobling response.
So, what does it mean to be human now?
JUNE 24, 25 & 26
GLENCOLTON FARM
(North of Toronto)
We look forward to seeing you there.
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Meeting One Another
In the vastness that is Canada we celebrate those times when we can come together, to be with one another. The separation we have experienced over the past year has affected us deeply. We have longed to be with one another. This is our strength.
As we come closer to the point of renewal, of re-inauguration, at Christmas 2023 we seek to support this longing to meet each other month by month through the eNews. To make this possible an invitation is given to each of you to share your story.
How did you meet anthroposophy? What led you to join the Anthroposophical Society?
With 500 words, and a photo, share your journey with us. We all look forward to meeting you.
Thank you to members who have already sent in contributions.
Send your contribution to:
See below for this months contributions
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Nina Wallace-Ockenden performs Debussy |
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Meeting One Another
Nina Wallace-Ockenden – Mexico City
Speaking with Nina is a curious experience, for one finds that she was truly born an anthroposophist. She began this life in Hamburg, Germany, with an English mother and a German father. Her mother was an anthroposophist, but Nina believes that she, the daughter, in some sense brought her mother ‘back to’ anthroposophy. The mother read Reincarnation and Karma just before Nina was born. Nina indicated that as a young child she had an awareness of former lives, her own and perhaps those of others too.
Formally, she met anthroposophy at age seven. She was taken by her mother to visit an elderly lady in Hamburg, a leader in the Society, who had a little apartment above Steiner House and the theatre there (a building purchased by the Society in the 1920s). Their hostess emerged and peered over the banister to wave them up the stairs. She was stooped and white-haired, and Nina imagined her as a ‘witch’. When they entered the living room, which was a wonderworld of many treasures such as amythest caves, suddenly the ‘witch’ became an ‘angel’. The mother was asked why Nina was not in the local Nienstedten Waldorf School. She had been on a waiting list for some time. A phone call was made, and space was found for her.
At thirteen Nina found herself drawn to the books on her mother’s shelf: Knowledge of Higher Worlds and its Attainment was the most appealing title, so she began there, followed at age fourteen by Karmic Relationships (for its ‘sensationalistic’ title). At sixteen she joined the Society and received a letter from the Secretary informing her that she was then the youngest member in the world. Why did she join then? She had seen in a document of her mother’s – perhaps a newsletter of some kind – that when Steiner re-founded the Society, he made a point of signing each membership card himself, as he wanted to express thereby his karmic connection with each person. Nina realised that she wanted to declare her karmic bond with Dr. Steiner.
I asked Nina, given that her classmates were interested in typical teenager activities, obsession with pop stars, movie actors etc., whether she ever felt lonely. In some ways yes, she said, given that when she joined a reading group at 16, those closest in age to her were in their late 60s. But she indicated that she had never felt spiritually alone...............
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An Interview by Tim Nadelle with Dr. Max Leyf, 30 December 2021 on his book:
The Redemption of Thinking
A Study in Truth, Meaning & the Evolution of Consciousness, with Special Reference to Johann von Goethe, Owen Barfield and Rudolf Steiner
If you love the Philosophy of Spiritual Activity, I heartily recommend you order (and read!) a copy of Max Leyf’s book, The Redemption of Thinking, published in 2020. I had the pleasure of interviewing Max during the Holy Nights of 2021-2022. (I provide a brief biography of Dr. Max Leyf below, at the end of the interview.)
The book, which was Max’s PhD thesis, unfolds in 4 sections, as follows:
i. The hard problem of consciousness
ii. The open secret: Goethe’s way of knowledge
iii. Barfield and the evolution of consciousness
iv. “Quid est Veritas” What is truth?
This is an important book, a book which reencounters many of the living ideas of the Philosophy of Spiritual Activity and the Riddles of Philosophy through a journey into the evolution of modern science. I feel, in a way, that Max has taken up the task of writing this telescopic book on behalf of all of us who love Anthroposophia and would see her take her rightful place of spiritual leadership among the great minds and transformative impulses of the day.
With adroit intellectual seacraft, Max navigates the scientific and philosophical writings of Bacon, Galileo, Descartes, Newton, Kant, Darwin and many other stormy waters. Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Goethe and Barfield provide the wind in his sails throughout; and he sweeps into port with Rudolf Steiner, which arrival, of course, signifies the commencement of a new journey.
Max goes on to provide a map for that new journey in Appendix D: Phenomenology of the Soul and the Transfiguration of Consciousness.
I was also able to watch and listen to a Zoom recording of Max’s defense of his dissertation. Here are comments on Max’s dissertation from several committee members from the California Institute of Integral Studies, who asked questions during the recording. Bear in mind these are not anthroposophists; they are simply contemporary thinkers, all PhDs, who were tasked with evaluating Max’s achievement.
“… an extraordinary work of genuine vision; also a work of erudition, of learning…” [Richard Tarnas]
“… a work of healing as well as a theoretical, analytical work…” [Matt Segall]
“… The insight that there’s a deep connection to the recovery of participatory knowing, not just theoretically but in an active fashion, as a way of response to the meaning crisis – I think that’s brilliant.” [John Vervaeke]
Oh and, by the way, as a kind of bonus for those who purchase the book, in Appendix B, Max provides his own translation of Rudolf Steiner’s Calendar of the Soul. Here is a link you can use to order Max’s book:
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Economics Conference Update
The work of the Economics Conference of the Goetheanum quietly continues. Covid has meant that in-person meetings, especially internationally, have been curtailed, although there have been actual meetings in San Francisco, Mexico, Ecuador and Argentina. In both North and Latin America, colleagues have also been meeting online or by phone on a regular basis.
The annual gatherings have been replaced for the time being by a quarterly internal publication, Towards 2022, now Towards 2023, which has enabled colleagues to share their news and thoughts in writing and where ‘in-house’ anthroposophical vocabulary can be used and Christological aspects of economics and finance considered, allowing the regular journal, Associate!, to be an external document. In this way, we have been able to deepen the roots of our understanding of threefold social life and associative economics, the better to inform our outer activities in academia, business settings, women empowering initiatives, monetary circles, and so on.
Three direct or affiliated websites now carry a substantial ‘literature’ comprising papers, articles, books and theses:
economics.goetheanum.org is the ‘mother’ site, and includes a special page focused on 2023. Dating from 2005, back issues of its journal, Associate!, are available at https://economics.goetheanum.org/publications/newsletters
associative-financial-literacy.com is a resource site for teachers generally where the purpose and teaching of bookkeeping is especially emphasised.
aeBookstore.com is an online bookstore with over 50 accessibly-priced publications.
2022 marks both the 21st anniversary of the Economics Conference and the centenary of Rudolf Steiner’s Economics Course. To mark these occasions, our overall theme this year is Threefold Society, Economy and Money, where the idea is to remind ourselves of how the threefold nature of society sits in the background of everything and that associative economics finds its most emphatic, but also most ecumenical, expression in the threefold structure of accounting. In that context, we are also focusing on two topics in particular: 'Money as bookkeeping' as the praxis of the Economics Course, and how the links between Steiner, Keynes and Dunlop enable Steiner’s work to take us beyond the currently prevailing ‘alliance’ between the market and the state.
Comments and enquiries are always welcome via economics@goetheanum.org
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Director of Waldorf Early Childhood Teacher Education
Category: Permanent, Full-Time • Location: Thornhill, Ontario • Salary Range: $65,000 to $80,000
Summary Description
The Director of Waldorf Early Childhood Teacher Education leads Rudolf Steiner College Canada’s (RSCC) Waldorf Early Childhood Teacher Education programs. Reporting to the RSCC executive director, this role embraces pedagogical responsibilities and program administration. The director is the lead instructor and organizer of the Waldorf Early Childhood Teacher Education one-year full-time program and the two part-time programs: the one-year Birth-to-Three program, and the two-year Birth-to-Seven program.
The director is responsible for the delivery and quality of programs including content provided by other faculty members and contributes actively to course design improvements. Beyond RSCC the director is an important participant in international discussions on early childhood teacher education and consults with early childhood education colleagues around the world: engaging in pedagogical research and representing RSCC at the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America (WECAN) and the International Association of Steiner/Waldorf Early Childhood Education (IASWECE).
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ASC Expands Fundraising Capacity by Accepting Donations of Securities |
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Trillium Waldorf School is raising up to $2 million in Community Bonds as part of our Trillium Rising Campaign to purchase our school building. |
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MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
NEW MEMBERS
Christina Amaral, Oakville, ON
Érélégna (Angie) Bernard, Gatineau, QC
Agata Glazar, Kimberley, ON
Liliane Paré, Plessisville, QC
TRANSFERRED IN
Julie Morris, Duncan, BC from USA
Welcome!
RESIGNED
Joseph Graf, Duncan, BC
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Anthroposphy Worldwide - 2022
If you would like to see the archive of past issues, go to: Archive
then, if required, enter password AWE-2018
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Editorial Notes
The eNews is published 10 times per year from September to June for members of the Anthroposophical Society In Canada.
Please send correspondence and articles in either Word doc or ipages without formatting except for paragraphs before the 15th of the month prior to publication. If you are including photographs please also attach a pdf showing placement. Articles over 1,500 words may be edited.
BACK ISSUES are available on our website:
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Contact Info
Anthroposophical Society in Canada
# 130A - 1 Hesperus Rd.
Thornhill, ON
L4J 0G9
Membership Administrator
Claudette Leblanc
416-892-3656 (Toronto area)
877-892-3656 (Freephone)
Communication Administrator
Jef Saunders
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INVITATION TO 12-PART COURSE ON MEDITATION
with Robert McKay
You are cordially invited to participate in a guided three month online (Zoom) course of study and practice on the anthroposophical meditative path. This online, participatory group-learning process is designed for people who are interested in developing toward the disciplined clairvoyance required to conduct research in the soul and spiritual worlds. The course will be of use to both individuals who are new to anthroposophical meditation and to those already engaged in an anthroposophical meditative practice.
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Anthroposophy CanadaWide
The Branch and Membership Development Mandate Group is inviting you to two Sunday afternoon Zoom presentations on
The Spiritual Hierarchies
with Grant Davis
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Sundays, March 20th and April 10th - 4 pm EST, 1 pm PST
Part 1: Who are the beings of the spiritual hierarchies?
How are Angels different from Archangels, Elohim, Seraphim? How can we have a connection with each of them and why does it matter?
Part 2: How did we get here and where are we going?
Where did these beings come from (and where did we come from)? Where are we all headed in the future?
Zoom info:
Grant Davis is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Hierarchies - parts 1 & 2
Time: Mar 20, 2022 - 04:00 PM EST (US and Canada)
and Apr 10, 2022 - 04:00 PM EST
Meeting ID: 890 1810 9987
Passcode: 886494
Grant Davis lives in Toronto. Trained as a scientist (40 years computer science) and educator, he is a long-time student of anthroposophy. He is a member of the First Class, co-founder of Toronto Branch and Anthroposophy in Toronto and Board member of Rudolf Steiner College Canada. Grant is also a Foundation Studies teacher (Ontario and Hanoi).
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