Two months after Rudolf Steiner

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1 General Anthroposophical Society Anthroposophy Worldwide 11/15 30 October 2015 Anthroposophy Worldwide 11/2015 Anthroposophical Society 1 The Goetheanum as Michael s castle of peace 6 Annual theme: a contribution by Stefano Gasperi 11 Membership News Goetheanum 2 Goetheanum Publishing: New design School of Spiritual Science 2 Social Sciences Section: Goals of the leading team 3 Medical Section: 2015 Annual Conference The dignity of the Human Body 4 Section for Agriculture: 2016 Annual conference: Our Earth a Global Garden? Anthroposophy Worldwide 8 Israel: Journey to ancient Christianity 9 Germany: Communication conference öffentlich wirken 10 Great Britain: New forms of learning at Emerson College Forum 10 Research question: Contemporary boundary experiences and the capacity for imagination Feature 12 Salumed: From pharmacy to publishing company Anthroposophical Society Goetheanum Michael s castle of peace On 30 July, during the conference about the Nordic countries at the Goetheanum, Seija Zimmermann mentioned that Rudolf Steiner had once referred to the Goetheanum as Michael s castle. In addition to that, Frau Zimmermann suggested, the Goetheanum could also be seen as a castle of peace. Two months after Rudolf Steiner died on 30 March 1925, Ita Wegman wrote in the Anthroposophical Newssheet 18/1925 that the Goetheanum was connected with the Michaelic impulses, that it had to be a Michaelic Castle, a place where the pupils of Michael come together in order to hear his message. It had to be like a castle so as to defend itself against the opposing powers. At the same time it had to be artistic and beautiful. These were instructions given by the archangel Michael. Two years later, Ita Wegman used this designation again at an informal gathering of the International Summer School in Scotland from 24 July to 5 August Marie Steiner and Maria Roeschl also referred to the Goetheanum as a castle. Meeting of inner and outer worlds How do the Goetheanum s tasks present themselves to us today? Rudolf Steiner often used the ancient Greek exhortation Know yourself. In his lecture cycle The Mission of the Folk Souls (GA 121) he developed this motif further, on 7 June 1910, as words of the future : Know yourselves as folk souls. Today we still belong to particular cultures or regions. What has shaped us through them needs to be transformed. This need is made particularly apparent at the moment by the mass migrations and their causes. The Mediterranean Sea has become an enormous grave. Young Africans want to emigrate to Great Britain via Calais. These are signs of the important Michaelic impulses: the Goetheanum task we are facing in Central Europe. In our anthroposophical work we can ask ourselves whether we truly comprehend the situation of the refugees. Has the one anything to do with the other? Or are they two entirely different matters? I don t want to give an answer to this question because the answer lies in each of us. We are called upon to live in the qualities of our souls the sentient, rational and consciousness souls as well as in the world around us. It only seems as if the news we hear are somewhere outside us. We each of us have the task today to take in the current events we hear about and to open our souls so that something new can arise. These inner forces and qualities we share with all human beings. By opening ourselves and speaking about these qualities, we realize what lives in our own soul: something highly individual that can still only develop in communion with others. Making this possible is the impulse of peace that lives in the Goetheanum as the castle of Michael. Seija Zimmermann, Goetheanum Leadership Photo: Heike Sommer

2 2 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/15 Goetheanum Goetheanum Publishing New design For the second time running titles published by the Verlag am Goetheanum have won the award of the German Book Art Foundation (Stiftung Buchkunst) for the most beautiful book of the year. The Verlag is now planning to bring out two of its classics in revised and newly designed editions. Paul Schatz s book on architecture and eversion (Architektur und Umstülpung) is one of the 25 most beautiful German books of 2014, followed in 2015 by Ars Herbaria, Karin Mecozzi s publication on medicinal plants. Above all, the jury praised the harmony of content and design: The doublepage photographs illustrate that these are not only medicinal plants but living beings that have a purpose of their own. Linda Thomas has revised and updated her book about cleaning, Putzen lieben?! (English title: Why Cleaning has Meaning). The fourth German edition reflects this even in the layout. Wolfgang Held s Sternkalender has also been revised: more systematically than before and including month and year charts, it guides us through the heavenly events month by month. The author of Ars Herbaria has contributed four seasonal nature moods to the Sternkalender 2016/2017 including illustrations of the thawing snow and the equinox. Sebastian Jüngel Anthroposophy Worldwide appears ten times a year, is distributed by the national Anthroposophical Societies, and appears as a supplement to the weekly Das Goetheanum Publisher: General Anthroposophical Society, represented by Justus Wittich Editors: Sebastian Jüngel (responsible for this edition), Michael Kranawetvogl (responsible for the Spanish edition), Margot M. Saar (responsible for this English edition). Address: Wochenschrift Das Goetheanum, Postfach, 4143 Dornach, Switzerland, Fax , info@dasgoetheanum.ch Correspondents/news agency: Jürgen Vater (Schweden), News Network Anthroposophy (NNA). We expressly wish for active support and collaboration. Subscriptions: To receive Anthroposophy Worldwide please apply to the Anthroposophical Society in your country. Alternatively, individual subscriptions are available at CHF 30.- (EUR/US$ 20.-) per year. An version is available to members of the Anthroposophical Society only at General Anthroposophical Society, Dornach, Switzerland school of spiritual science The Social Sciences Section: Goals of the section leaders Because the social questions are becoming ever more urgent Paul Mackay announced in Anthroposophy Worldwide 10/2015 that from 1 October 2015 he will lead the section together with Gerald Häfner. The reason he gave was the need to strengthen Rudolf Steiner s social impulse. The extension is to be financed by people and institutions that strongly believe in this initiative and are therefore prepared to support it. Paul Mackay suggested Gerald Häfner as co-leader of his Section because he sees him as someone who is clearly connected with Rudolf Steiner s social impulse. In 2019 this impulse will be a hundred years old. With this in mind, Paul Mackay and Gerald Häfner want to call on all those who are committed to developing solutions for burning social problems. Gerald Häfner knows from experience that in politics many and complex decisions have to be made in much too short a time and that this often does not give the decision-makers the time to pause and think more deeply and to shape the future rather than just react. For precisely this reason it was so important to work on necessary long-term developments in the social life. And to this the Social Sciences Section hopes to make essential contributions. Paul Mackay and Gerald Häfner hope that their new social ideas and impulses will find resonance with governments and parliaments as well as within the civil society. Directives deriving from Rudolf Steiner s work Seizing the social impulse: Paul Mackay and Gerald Häfner Gerald Häfner thinks that the Section needs to become active at a time when unresolved social questions are becoming ever more urgent. This great and necessary task needs support and asks for the collaboration of diverse forces and skills in the section leadership, he says. Paul Mackay and Gerald Häfner will not split the Section work between them according to their range of duties. Instead they will work closely together and also decide together on important issues. Gerald Häfner regards the contents of Rudolf Steiner s social scientific writings and lectures and the steps Steiner took in the attempt to put his ideas into practice as directives for the development of the social life in all its nuances. He thinks that these indications are like a treasure that has not been raised yet and that only few people are aware of, despite the fact that most of them are highly relevant today. Paul Mackay underlines that We want to do all we can to seize this impulse in a new way. And that needs to happen now. Paul Mackay is sure that the extended leadership of the section can be financed through sponsorships. I trust that people and institutions will realize and support what impulses go out from our School of Spiritual Science in the service of society as a whole. Looking at the importance of the tasks that lie ahead Paul Mackay says, We have great staying power. Plants also need time to germinate in the earth and to grow and thrive. This extension is an open-ended initiative that is based on trust and presence of mind. Learning from practitioners Photo: Sebastian Jüngel Even before Gerald Häfner was appointed, the Section team initiated a series of further training courses led by experienced practitioners. On 10 December, for instance, as part of the seminar Law as art, Otto Schily will speak about the foundations of law. Otto Schily was German minister of the interior from 1998 to The seminar Business management is self-management on 4 February 2016, will open with a lecture by Götz Rehn, founder and CEO of the German organic supermarket chain alnatura. Sebastian Jüngel For information on the series of further training courses Social Art in the professional life: experience and practice visit sozial.goetheanum.org

3 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/15 3 school of spiritual science Medical Section: Annual Conference The Dignity of the Human Body So we can follow our destiny This year s annual conference of the Medical Section, held at the Goetheanum from 17 to 20 September 2016, was about external applications such as baths, washings, compresses, poultices, Rhythmical Einreibungen (a form of rhythmical body oiling) and massage. The rich programme featured work groups, demonstrations, lectures and research reports, of which only a few examples can be given here. Anthroposophic medicine in practice: external applications In nursing, love radiates out through the external applications. For this to happen, carers and therapists need to have a sense for the dignity of the human body. Anthroposophic medicine, when presented by the representatives of external applications, has a loving face that is not usually so directly apparent at medical conferences, says Michaela Glöckler, leader of the Medical Section. Blessing the body At the conference therapeutic methods such as the Pentagram Einreibung were demonstrated. When nursing specialist Rolf Heine once wanted to give a patient a whole body Einreibung but realized that she would not have coped with such a long treatment, he wondered what he could do that was similarly effective but would take less time. This led him to develop a method whereby he starts the treatment from the forehead, moves on to the right foot, then to the left arm, to the right arm and to the left foot, and then back again to the forehead and to the heart. Those who observed this application thought it was like a blessing of the body. It follows the five main etheric streams whilst supporting the whole organism. It gives orientation, gives an aim to the I and has an incarnating effect. Using the Tao sound board, Monica Bisseg ger illustrated that patients who receive this therapy don t only listen with their ears but with their whole body. There is structure and harmony in sounds. The sounds lighten up the patient s soul life and stream through her body. This is experienced as beneficial, by cancer patients for instance. The I can take control again. While playing on an instrument enhances our relationship with our body the instruments are derived from the human body patients listen passively with the soundboard. This has an effect, however, on the higher members of the human organization and invites them to reconnect with the body (more) harmoniously. Jacqueline Goldberg and Monika Härtner demonstrated how the therapist who administers a resonating foot washing fills her hand again and again with water and lets it flow over the patient s foot being inwardly imbued with a sense of This is my gift to you. The water s warmth and sound address various senses in the patient. This therapy, which concludes with a foot oiling, has been used successfully, for instance with ADHD children. The human being and the cosmos Peter Selg explained how the view of the human body has changed over the past centuries. The art of healing has become a physics and chemistry of organisms with the aim of optimizing the body. Photo: Heike Sommer But in today s medicine the question as to the human dignity and self-determination also comes to the surface. The therapy derived from this approach is a question to the patient and offers a way of healing to which the organism responds with its own forces of recovery. The physical body can find a way to the hierarchies and create circumstances that allow the Christ to work within us. Michaela Glöckler showed how everything in our body is a reflection of the zodiac. Life pulsates in us in accordance with planetary rhythms. At the same time the body remains flexible for individual influences. We have the capacity to go beyond that which is given to us by nature and work consciously on ourselves with the virtues which are connected with the zodiac. Eurythmy therapist Irene Pouwelse and chemist Hans Pouwelse presented these relationships even more concretely: in hydrogen they identified the quality of buoyancy (fire substance) which they related to Leo s power of enthusiasm. In medicine this corresponds to the use of etheric oils and seeds. Oxygen as the bearer of life (life substance) leads us to the etheric water quality of Aquarius, to bodily wellbeing and the sound M. Carbon with its formative forces reflects the organising and structuring qualities of Scorpio. And nitrogen as movement substance leads us to the soul quality of Taurus and the air sound R. Need for research Studies are underway to prove the effectiveness of external applications, but research is made difficult by the fact that external applications are strongly individualized while standardization is the golden rule of scientific research. The mathematician Klas Diederich spoke about the use of medicinal plants such as putting on a cap with fresh larch needles in order to improve a patient s presence. Diederich encouraged his listeners to allow themselves to be moved by the world s formative forces and to continue to foster and develop the knowledge we have of the effect of medicinal plants. The human body needs to be enlivened and a balance established between hardening and dissolving influences. Then it can remain susceptible to the spirit and we will be able to follow and shape our destiny. Gabriela Jüngel, Dornach (CH)

4 4 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/15 school of spiritual science Section for Agriculture: Annual Conference: Our Earth a Global Garden? Can you be interested in me? The next annual conference of the Section for Agriculture in February 2016 will not only be for specialists in the field but for anyone with an interest in gardening whether they come from Steiner Waldorf Schools, other anthroposophical institutions or as private individuals. The grounds look refreshed after some gentle rainfall. In the Section for Agriculture one of the Section leaders, Jean-Michel Florin, his colleague from the Arts Section, Marianne Schubert, and Jörg Mensens from the Goetheanum s gardening department explain the thinking behind the next Agricultural Conference at the Goetheanum. It turns out soon that each of the people present, the writer included, has their own private garden. Sebastian Jüngel: The conference title Our Earth A Global Garden? seems to refer to a locus amoenus, a pleasant place. Or is it an allusion to the Garden of Eden? Marianne Schubert: Gardens are often seen in connection with the Garden of Eden or paradise - with peace and harmony in other words. We use the word garden to designate a protected, enclosed space, a hortus conclusus: an image for shelter, beauty and cultivation. When we think of the medieval cloister gardens, there is an additional spiritual aspect: this is where people prayed and worked and where they conducted research. The conference title wants to call attention to the fact that the earth today is the opposite of such an harmonious, peaceful place large areas of the earth have been devastated. Fostering relationships Jörg Mensens: Gardening includes establishing a personal contact between human beings and places in nature. This is an aspect that is getting increasingly lost with farming becoming ever more anonymous and mechanized. Jean-Michel Florin: This is what the term Anthropocene refers to. It signifies that, within a few decades, human beings have changed the earth more than nature has done in the course of millennia. I am not only talking about interventions such as mining, river damming and carbon dioxide. The natives of Amazonia, for instance, have cultivated the forests like gardens and increased their biodiversity in the process. Jüngel: What has this got to do with gardens? Florin: The word garden is not only used for vegetable plots or allotments. Gardening means transforming a place into an organism. In a garden, a multitude of relationships are being created so as to increase its fertility and to invite animals such as insects, squirrels and birds to settle there. Over and above that, gardens are also places of nurture, beauty and meaning. Mensens: Gardens are after our skin, clothes and houses our fourth protective membrane. Jüngel: When is a garden useful? When beautiful? When kitschy? Schubert: Someone who sees her garden as an extended living space and cultivates it accordingly, sees a meaning in it and that is as good a reason as any. The exploitation of the earth with giant machines is the counter-image of the garden as a living organism. The earth as a global garden means all kinds of places, even a balcony with flower and herb pots. Florin: People used to work with living beings (plants, animals and others) when they tended their gardens. This collaboration between man and nature has generated our beautiful, productive cultivated landscapes. Farmers and gardeners have created something that is beautiful and useful at the same time. With humanity s emancipation from nature, this was reduced to the role of an object: farming was only appreciated for its usefulness (mass production) and parks or allotments were established for weekend pursuits and relaxation. I personally prefer it when the vegetables one grows in the garden are not only useful but also beautiful, and if the gardener enjoys growing them. Creating new homes Jüngel: Urban gardening is a new concept. Is it just a fashion or a serious new approach? Schubert: It is a serious new approach. And it is healing in many ways, especially in the barrenness of our cities. The healing aspect also shows in the fact that gardens have always been places of encounter. When two women in Cairo planted tea in boxes on a roof terrace they brought the house Communal gardening: a project of Urban Agriculture in Basel/ community together on the roof. In Berlin, for instance, we have the Prinzessinnengarten (Princess Gardens): an intercultural café with a concept of plants in movable plastic containers that can be transported anywhere they may be needed. In this way, a concrete surrounding can temporarily be turned into a flower garden at any time. Florin: In Paris, a nurse created a garden in the grounds of a major hospital, La Pitié Sal pêtrière. It was originally conceived as a place where patients could go for recreation but has attracted more and more doctors and therapists as well. It s called hortitherapy today. Schubert: A film about Rosa Luxemburg shows how important the prison garden was for her when she was jailed. I am sure we could do a lot of good if we made gardens available for the refugees who have to create new homes for themselves. Mensens: as they did for Polish workers 150 years ago in Germany s Ruhr Area. Provision Jüngel: What about the social aspect? Florin: During the economic crisis in Argentina in the year 2000 many people lost their jobs. Violent protests flared up. Antonio Lattuca he will speak about his work at the conference encouraged people in Rosario to set up communal gardens. He turned their anger into productivity. Within fifteen years, more than 20 hectares of wasteland have been cultivated. Or in North England, where women in a poor industrial town

5 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/15 5 CH with high unemployment rates began to grow vegetables in public spaces: anyone can go there and help themselves. The incredible edible movement is becoming widespread in many countries now, also in Alsace where I live. Mensens: In Switzerland that is not so easy to imagine because people have so much to eat. Schubert: While in a small town on the Rhine the financial crisis had the effect that the town park was turned into a vegetable garden where people can just go and harvest. Healthy towns polluted countryside Jüngel: Are there any boundaries? Thirty years ago people in Berlin used mostly coal for heating. Today there are other kinds of pollution. Mensens: Today the towns are cleaner than the countryside around them Schubert: where there is acid rain and the soil is contaminated with chemicals. Mensens: It has been possible to prove that honey produced in a city such a Berlin is less polluted than honey from rural areas. The biodiversity is also greater in cities than in the country. Jüngel: How is it with cities like Beijing? Florin: There are no unpolluted spaces left. Even on Corsica the soil is still severely contaminated by Chernobyl fallout. Schubert: In the large Asian cities it has become particularly apparent how serious the situation is. In one of his recent lectures Claus Otto Scharmer put it quite strongly Photo: Thomas Alfoeldi, FIbL when he said, We have steered our planet into a wall. Florin: And yet: Toronto for instance has plans to produce ten per cent of its food through urban gardening. This is only possible because, like in Rosario, the soil has been decontaminated. Jüngel: But urban gardening alone will hardly be able to save the planet. What is the task of agriculture? Mensens: As well as production, the task will be to look after the beauty and wellbeing of a place. And I do not exclude Demeter farmers from this obligation. I know a Demeter wine grower whose farmyard is mostly covered in concrete and surrounded by a Thuja hedge. Schubert: We also need to bear in mind that organic farmers today are often on the breadline because they are producing healthy food. Florin: We certainly want to encourage farmers to look at their farms with new eyes. We practise this during the agricultural weeks of the Section for Agriculture: how does one feel in different places in nature? Schubert: In Norway there is a model farm, Aukrust, where aesthetics play an essential part. Mensens: and a Demeter farm in the Black Forest received an award this year for its beautiful meadows. Florin: In France an association was founded with the intention to cultivate the communal land around the farms. They integrated trees in a way that a park landscape was created. And they hold cultural events there such as story-telling or guided nature walks. Christian responsibility for nature Schubert: The Agricultural Conference is an event of the School of Spiritual Science and as such it also refers us, in addition to the aspects already mentioned, to the involvement of elementary and spiritual beings. For these beings it is necessary to create places where they feel invited to help maintain the earth as a place to live. Florin: And for this no farm or garden is needed either. Every relationship we form creates a new connection. And that is important for us human beings for yet another reason: we somehow all feel that we are homeless. By working on a plot of land and that does not have to be on home soil we connect with our environment in a different way. Mensens: The German writer Heinrich Böll spoke of a second expulsion from Paradise through agriculture and industry. We are called upon today to create and establish something new. The biblical mission to subdue the earth means that we need to take responsibility and ask ourselves, What do animals need a butterfly like the Large Blue for instance? Jüngel: What does the Goetheanum do actively in this respect? Florin: For me the Goetheanum Park is a good example. It combines a diverse number of functions such as farming, parkland, vegetable and flower gardens. But none of them is just added on: they penetrate each other and in doing so they form a unit. Elsewhere the land is often split into functional zones: for working, living, shopping and for leisure. It becomes more and more fragmented the opposite of a garden. Guardians of the land Jüngel: What does the biodynamic element add to all this? Florin: That the farm is an organism and an individuality at the same time. The genius loci must be able to express itself and that is possible if the beings mentioned can create the right atmosphere. Mensens: This individuality is not my own, not at all, but it emerges from the partnership between a place and its essence in a dialogical process. The individuality shows itself in the practical activity and through the biodynamic preparations. An openness for cosmic influences is created. Florin: This brings us back to our initial motif: beauty, radiance and order are concepts that we associate with the cosmos. They are the qualities we need to bring back to our gardens today. We have destroyed the former cosmic order of nature. By extinguishing animal and plant species we have disrupted ecological chains and that has created a fertile soil for new diseases, for instance. We now need to consciously create a new order, or in other words, to prepare for the cosmic earth. Nature asks constantly Can you be interested in me? It is no longer enough to place an area under conservation. Conservation is no longer enough: nature needs to be nurtured so that it, also, can develop. Mensens: We have to become guardians of the land. Conference: Earth a Global Garden? 3 to 6 February 2016 (registration open from December 2015),

6 6 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/15 Anthroposophical Society Theme of the year 2015/16 A new communion with the world Stefano Gasperi approaches the General Anthroposophical Society s annual theme by looking at the division that arises between the human being and the world and their reunion. His contemplations are based on Rudolf Steiner s verse Know yourself and your Self becomes the world; know the world and the world will become your Self. The whole drama of humankind is presented in the form of images in Genesis 3:4-7. There we read, And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. The human being as a wound Human beings did not stay as the Gods had conceived them. For human emancipation that is the gaining of freedom and self-awareness to become possible, the universal golden harmony had to be lost. The eyes are opened we begin to be sensory beings. We are ashamed because we experience ourselves as naked. It is the shame of the nakedness of existence. We are naked and the world is naked; and now that the senses are opened the world for the first time stands before us as an object. Our senses are witnesses of this division between ourselves and the world; they are an expression of a pathological process but also of our possible future healing. We stand silent before the world, which is now a riddle for us, as we are, too. A familiar motif appears: the human being as a wound. In medicine a wound is defined as an injury to living tissue, as a disruption of continuity. What used to be one is split in two. What needs to be done if a wound is to heal? We first have to bring the two sides together and unite them by suturing them. The actual healing comes from the tissue s immanent forces, however. As human beings we all have this wound. The motif appears in the Amfortas theme of Richard Wagner s opera Parsifal: One weapon alone will serve: only the spear that struck you heals the wound. It is our task to heal this wound from out of the depth of our being. We must again become one with the world. The abyss of freedom With this separation and the descent into matter we fall ever more deeply into the abyss: the existentialists speak of the abyss of freedom and at the same time of the necessary development of egotism. We can also look at this descent into materialism and egotism as an essential pathological process. The ascent would be a sublime healing process in which we educate ourselves to become selfless and to develop love out of freedom. Here we must build a bridge across the abyss. We need the active help of Michael and the Christ impulse if we are to leap across this gulf of non-existence in relation to the cosmos, Rudolf Steiner wrote in his Anthroposophical Leading Thoughts (GA 26, Leading Thought 164). One week before the First Goetheanum fell victim to the flames Rudolf Steiner spoke with Ita Wegman about the fact that the members of the Anthroposophical Society did not have the courage to say yes to the spirit (cf. Peter Selg: Rudolf Steiner). Then came the Christmas Conference of 1923/1924 und with it the remarkable concept of the beginning of the turning point of time and worlds. How is this to be understood today? What is this new beginning that is connected with another turning point in time? The Mystery of Golgotha can be seen as a wonderful universal healing process: What was sunk into the earth and into humanity as the power of Christ s sacrifice can only now with the new reign of Michael after the end of the Kali Yuga and in the era of the consciousness soul be freely taken hold of and realized by each individual human being thanks to Rudolf Steiner s sacrifice at the Christmas Conference of 1923/1924. The human being with the serpent in its shadow This is the important task that Rudolf Steiner has entrusted to us and the Anthroposophical Society: the main task of anthroposophy would be to heal today s civilization through the forces of resurrection. At the end of the Christmas Conference Rudolf Steiner said in his farewell speech to the members Take with you your warm hearts in order to do strong and healing work in the world (GA 260, lecture of 1 January 1924) A bridge to the world How can we achieve this? What are the forces we need in order to build a new bridge to the world? Rudolf Steiner compares the way Michael works to a parabola: one arm represents the descent into egotism (the first revelation of Michael), the other the ascent as a result of the word becoming flesh and the flesh becoming spirit. We must develop the power of love. Michael goes lovingly through the world, with all the earnestness of his nature, attitude and actions. If we follow him, we will nurture our love to the world around us. And our love must first be directed to the world around us since otherwise it will become self-love (GA 26, The World Thoughts in the Working of Michael and in the Working of Ahriman). Love is the opposite of separation. Love is always inclusive. Love is an attitude, an orientation of character that determines the relation of the person to the world as a whole, not towards one object of love, wrote Erich Fromm in The Art of Loving. MCS

7 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/15 7 The four stages of love In the Leading Thoughts Rudolf Steiner describes this descent: The divine spirit appears in the cosmos in four stages: 1 through its own original being; 2 through the manifestation of this being; 3 through the effect of this being withdrawing from revelation; 4 through the work when no longer the divine itself but only its forms are present in the outwardly apparent universe (GA 26, Leading Thought 112). In his wonderful essay The Pillar and Ground of the Truth Pavel Florensky speaks in the eleventh letter (Friendship) most profoundly about love and mentions four stages of love that were known to the ancient Greeks already and that can be deepened now and realized in the future, through the Christ impulse. These four stages educate us towards selflessness; they teach us about love from its first sensory manifestation to its highest spiritualization: Eros, Storge, Philia and Agape. So there are four stages for the fall into egotism and four stages for re-ascending through love: four stages of illness and four stages of healing. Internalizing the reality We take the ascending path through the moral power of love when, in selfknowledge, we heal and overcome this wound the division into object and subject, into I and world in the process of cognition. Taking the Christian path means internalizing the reality: one can MCS The human being after Golgotha say that we devour the world. Paracelsus highest aim was not only to heal the sick but to explore the mystery of becoming human. All natural things, Paracelsus wrote in The Lord s Supper, were human flesh in mysterio and therefore the supper was the universal healing ( we eat our way to eternal life ). How do we manage this? Rudolf Steiner gives us precise examples. In The World of the Senses and the World of the Spirit (GA 134) he shows us how we can communicate with the world again, how the cognitive process becomes a new connection, a new communion with the world. I and world are one again, knowledge becomes cult. This anthroposophical movement is no earthly service, this anthroposophical movement in its entirety and all it entails is a service to the Gods, or to God (GA 260, lecture given in the morning of 24 December 1923). This also happens in four stages and requires four moral qualities (GA 134): 1 The cleansing of our sense perceptions through amazement 2 The cleansing of our thinking through reverence and devotion to the truth 3 Feeling united in wisdom with the world s phenomena 4 Acquiescence to the course of the world Through devotion to the outside world empathic interest in the world and in others the will grows in us to become active in this world, to love and transform it. Then Rudolf Steiner s complete works will not only be the balm that brings relief to our bleeding wound, but it becomes a powerful tool that will help us do in the world at the right time what is right and necessary. This is true self-realization. We are what we are through the things we make our own. (Karl Jaspers) With this inner attitude we can become co-creators, assistants, of the higher hierarchies, and we can walk the path of Michael to the Logos. Rudolf Steiner said We must lose our earthly I in order to gain sight of our true I. [ ] The true I does not want to be sought out when it is to reveal itself; and it conceals itself when it is being sought. For it can only be found in love, and love is devoting one s own being to that of the other. The true I therefore has to be found in the same way another being is found. (GA 84) Stefano Gasperi, general secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in Italy DAS GOETHEANUM WOCHENSCHRIFT FÜR ANTHROPOSOPHIE The German-Language Weekly The World of Anthroposophy Now in Color I would like to subscribe to Das Goetheanum One year 130 Name Address (Including postal code) Country Date Signature Please send to: Wochenschrift Das Goetheanum Postfach, CH Dornach, Mail: abo@dasgoetheanum.ch Fax

8 8 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/15 anthroposophy worldwide Israel: Visiting ancient sites of Christianity Shining traces of Christ From 7 and 19 March 2015 a group of about 30 visited Israel-Palestine. Their aim was to conduct research into the generative forces at work there. The tour was guided by Antje and Dorian Schmidt and the Christian community priest Ingwer Momsen, and co-organized by Irmgard Wutte. The acts and suffering of the Jesus and Christ being: View of the Mount of Olives Two weeks before we set off, Jerusalem Sunday for Christians. was still covered in snow and we followed the media daily to find out about the political situation, which had just calmed down after a burst of hostile activities. We came with many questions, some of us with experience in meditation, but above all with the wish to encounter the Christian sites. Simultaneity in space and time In Israel we find simultaneously what is elsewhere separated by space and time. Whole eras of history have left their traces here, giving the country its particular character: pre-christian Judaism, Greeks, Romans, various Arabic cultures, crusaders and many other influences. We are also aware of the religions that are being practised here today and that inform everyday life. There are Ashkenazic and Sephardic, religious, non-religious (secular), orthodox, ultra-orthodox and a few Messianic Jews in Israel. The latter are Jews who have converted to Christianity. The Palestinians are partly Israeli, partly Palestinian, Muslim or Christian. The Christians can be differentiated according to their diverse interpretations and translations of the Bible into Coptic, Armenian, Ethiopian, Greek Orthodox, Roman Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant etc. There are three religious holidays in every week: Friday for Muslims, Saturday for Jews and The effects of Christ s deeds and suffering In the various parts of the country one can gain a different sense of time at the etheric level: present, past, future and the continuity of time can be experienced in different ways in different places. Sometimes it is noticeable how they interpenetrate each other. The human soul that asks about the effect of Christ s deeds will certainly be able to experience this anywhere, whether it is Europe, China or the Negev desert. But the degree of its incarnation in the various landscapes clearly varies. Sometimes one perceives it high up in the sky, as in Guangzhou (CN) or, differently again, in the Negev. Sometimes it appears as deeply woven into the breath of everyday life. In Germany, the forces of nature speak of the Christian events particularly at the festivals of the year and in everyday nature processes. In Israel, the effects of the deeds and suffering of the Jesus/Christ being are always actively present at the same time but not everywhere. It was very surprising and disappointing not to find them explicitly on the West coast of the country, in the Roman places and in modern Tel Aviv. In Israel one could celebrate birth, baptism, Easter, Ascension and Whitsun at the same time if one devoted oneself to the sites of the original events. Photo: Jörg Lindt This simultaneity and permanent actuality generate a great richness of forces. For the approach to life in this country this is a gift from heaven, but at the same time it constitutes an enormous challenge to one s conscious thinking and meditation. Everything seems more condensed, more intensive, more vibrant and less pensive. Despite the enormous tensions, wars, destructions and rebuilding that the earth has witnessed here, the traces of Christ s light remain indelible. Interest opens a new door There is one quality of the Christ force that is particularly apparent in Israel: it is easily overlooked if one does not seek for or focus one s attention on it! If we do this, however, it is as if a new door was opened. The force that bursts from this opening is so strong and radiant that one can hardly comprehend how one could ever have overlooked it. The key to this door lies clearly in the freedom and choice of the individual. The Christ being shines everywhere where Jesus once lived and walked, with such a power that it seems as if the sun had united with the earth. The different effect of the Christ force at the various sites is very interesting and quite noticeable. The question is whether it is worthwhile making the effort to try and describe these experiences in a way that is accessible to others or whether there is nothing that can replace the direct experience. It is not easy to describe how it shines differently at the place of the baptism, in the Coenaculum (site of the Last Supper), on Mount Tabor, in the Antonia Fortress, at the Sea of Galilee or in Nazareth. It needs us to become increasingly aware inwardly of our own differentiated physicality and it needs real deepening through study. The actions that transform the world and the spirit resonate in the lower members of our organization and there lies the possibility for us to attempt an understanding. Sharing these experiences is helpful and every beginning is an important step for one s own soul. Antje Schmidt, Jena (DE) Contact Antje Schmidt, melodie3@t-online. de, if you are interested in a Meditative week at the Sea of Galilee 2016 ; for the guided tour with research into the life forces 2017 (both trips are in the planning stage)

9 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/15 9 anthroposophy worldwide Germany: Communication Conference öffentlich wirken I don t speak for myself Around 200 people, participants and lecturers, met at the Rudolf Steiner School in Bochum (DE) for the third conference under the heading öffentlich wirken [ going public ]. In various set-ups they reflected not only on communication processes but experienced a variety of ways of communicating depending on the mode of presentation. Speakers like Sarah Wiener or like the politicians Gerald Häfner and Sven Giegold encouraged their listeners again and again to become active in society. If one did not agree with foods being designated untruthfully as natural or from free-range chickens, it was important to speak up, said Sarah Wiener. Where you put your foot down and say what you think, and where you represent your individuality, the whole machinery of DIN standards has no chance of establishing itself. Progress in society takes time, but it does happen, said the agricultural economist and board member of the GLS Trust Nikolai Fuchs. The precondition for this was that one was prepared to be open to diverse worlds whilst continuing to pursue one s own concerns. Using the conference venue as an example he illustrated how the relationship of anthroposophists to the world is changing. When he was a pupil here, he experienced the mood, en- Discussing the future of the media: Annette Bopp, Kerstin Hoffmann, Bernd Ziesemer and Florian Almost all speakers not only spoke hanced by the wall that separated the school about communication but made it from the road. We are here, and the world is possible for their audience to experience out there. The wall is no longer there. He recommended going a step further and bringing it. The TV chef and author Sarah Wiener, for instance, demonstrated her self-image of not being a marketing expert by Essential anthroposophical topics can also öffentlich wirken closer to the city. conducting a survey. She first asked who be communicated, Nicolai Fuchs pointed out. knew her (many) and then who knew her This can be more difficult in one s own context organic label (only a few). She summarized than at a Protestant church congress, like the what her label claims to achieve by saying one where he once spoke on Anthroposophy It couldn t be better. But still nobody and Agriculture in front of a full audience. knows it. It was arrogant to think that quality always wins [by itself]. Speaking so that others can understand Being curious about diverse worlds The use of language is central to communication. Nikolai Fuchs suggested that one should speak so that others can understand what one is talking about. Gerald Häfner said, I don t speak for myself! I know already what my concern is. Communication should be simple, lively and modest ( and not sound like proselytizing ) so that it is possible for something higher or deeper to shine through. Wolfgang Held, editor and communications officer at the Goetheanum, pointed out that language enabled us to find the way to the other person. If we expressed interest, we would satisfy the other s longing to be perceived. Instead of false authenticity ( lies ) and idealisation, we needed truth and love. If we bring both together we become able to act. What people want is stones to build with rather than ready-made temples. Gerald Häfner said he had never met anyone whose actions were not driven by some kind of ideal. There can be a gulf, however, between a person s professional views and Photo: Bettina Engel-Albustin their private opinions. The representative of a corporation had once contradicted him vehemently during a panel discussion, but afterwards told him he wished him much success with his ideas, having had to argue the way he did as he was speaking on behalf of his company. The journalist Annette Bopp emphasized how important it was to discover new things instead of starting one s research with a judgement. The future of (good quality) print media also depended on the property situation, she said. Sven Giegold illustrated how much lobbying was also influenced by property. While he thinks that lobbying is a valid democratic instrument, he is also convinced that lobbying needs transparency and that the ability to see one s interests represented should not depend on money. My conclusion: it is important in today s societal discourse to learn to tell whether communication is independent, whether it serves advertising purposes or whether it is steered by agencies or interests that are possibly not even mentioned. Communication via the senses Valerie Andermann, who is in charge of PR at the Academy for Waldorf Education in Mannheim (DE), suggested that one should consider how preconceptions about Waldorf Education could be used in a productive way. During the discussion, the idea was applauded to pick up on such preconceived public images in a humorous way and transform them, because that signalized authority, as long as the pupils did not feel insulted by it and no false images were being generated. (The example mentioned was the often heard I can dance my name.) I learned from Sarah Wiener that communication also includes sense impressions. As a former, temporary, Waldorf pupil she mentioned the characteristic smell of organic cleaning agents, vegetables and wholefoods. The conference made it possible to experience communication in a variety of forms: biographical narratives, lectures, work groups, discussions and artistic contributions. Many references to Waldorf Education showed that it was quite strongly present. What was also noticeable was the subtle pride about having initiated or supported successful initiatives such as More Democracy or resistance against GM technology in agriculture. The conference opened up good insights into the present situation and developments of the anthroposophical movement. Sebastian Jüngel

10 10 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/15 anthroposophy worldwide Great Britain: Emerson College New forms for learning The new academic year at Emerson College has started with an autumn festival. With 70 students in new and existing courses, it has become lively again on the campus after the summer break. The courses on offer extend as far as China with a foundation course in anthroposophy. Anyone familiar with Emerson College will recall the beauty and tranquillity of the campus, based on the edge of the Ashdown Forest. There are always a range of sights and sounds to experience, and in autumn these include ripe red berries on laden branches, dew encrusted spider webs and falling leaves in shades of gold, bronze and red. At this time of year there is also a certain amount of anticipation in the air as we welcome students old and new to the College. New courses on campus Emerson College has always attracted students from around the globe and this year is no exception where, at the welcome meeting, no fewer than fifteen nationalities were represented. This year new courses on offer include Goetheanism, offered as a modular course enabling students to study flexibly, and our recently CACHE accredited Holistic Baby and Child Care course. The groundbreaking new course combines Steiner Waldorf with the Pikler approach to child development, play and care for children, with a birth to five emphasis. Successful completion of the course leads to a CACHE Level 3 Diploma in Holistic Baby and Childcare, and we are delighted to have a full cohort of twenty students. Meanwhile we continue to offer the enduring Visual Arts and Sculpture programme and, via our partners, courses in Storytelling, Clowning and Anthroposophic Psychotherapy. Our volunteer programme remains extremely popular and at this time of year we welcome new volunteers to assist us in the kitchen, garden and house. These roles are crucial in helping us run an efficient and welcoming college and, in return, offer a rich and positive experience not only of the College but of working and living within a community. The Living and Learning Community itself continues to grow as we welcome new residents to some of the dwellings on the campus. Whole community events give us an opportunity to spend time together and celebrate all that the College has to offer. Most recently students and residents gathered Autum works in the college garden to celebrate Michaelmas where, amongst other things, produce from our biodynamic garden, and honey harvested from our bee hives, was gathered and shared out. and as far away as China Our reach spreads globally as we launch a course Foundation Studies in Anthroposophy in China. Two 12 week programmes, spread over two years, will start this November and will provide a breadth of subjects and creative processes to deepen learning. We are pleased to have been invited to collaborate on this innovative programme with colleagues in Guangzhou and Zhengzhou in designing a programme with them. The lead tutors are George Perry, Steve Briault and Lauren Hudson (NZ) together with other contributors from the Emerson network. There is increasing interest in Anthroposophy in China, especially through the Waldorf School movement, and this is an exciting opportunity to contribute to a growing awareness and interest in new forms of adult education. Whilst much has changed in the world since the College was founded in 1962, we look forward to the coming months with cautious optimism as we adapt to meet new needs and innovate to create new forms and contexts for learning. Adeline Garman, Emerson College, Forest Row (GB) This contribution is the first in a series of occasional reports about life at Emerson College- Website: emerson.org.uk Photo: Emerson College forum Research question: Contemporary boundary experiences and the capacity for imagination An increasing number of people feel the need to get closer to the boundaries of perception and experience that are created by the sensory world. One phenomenon we observe particularly in the more recent past is that many modes of movement strive to overcome gravity; others are boundary and threshold experiences in outdoor experiential education, emergency education, in trauma or imagination therapies and in everyday fields of life. Inner pictures always play an important part. We try to still this hunger for pictures not least by consuming the digitalized picture worlds that glare at us from our computer and other flat screens. The effects of media technology and digitalization Computer and media technology have a great appeal and must certainly not only be seen as negative. In connection with the second crucifixion and the spiritual suffocating (GA 152, lecture of 2 May 1913) that happens presently in the realm of the life forces, but at a sub-sensory level, I would, however, like to call attention to three effects: 1) Any one-sided intellectual development may prevent social drives. Rudolf Steiner pointed out that the more human beings are able to master thinking the better they will be able again to see images, to have imaginations. And humanity needs imaginations because they make sure [ ] that the antisocial drives will develop into social drives. [ ] Abstract thinking [ ] has the effect that we listen to our own opinions only. (GA 190, lecture of 23 March 1919) 2) Our thinking forces are refined forces of growth. In the brain blood is transformed into cerebrospinal fluid, which underlies our breathing rhythm. Our basis for abstract thinking is the nerve, our basis for living thinking is the cerebrospinal fluid. Anthroposophical insight reveals that

11 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/15 11 remembering is inner perception within a temporal etheric structure. Media technology and the ubiquitous digitalization seem to generate forces that bind our life forces to the nervous system. 3) When we sit in front of a screen we also experience how we separate ourselves off from the three spatial dimensions. The left-right dimension is concentrated in front into one point or innumerable points on the screen and lets us forget what is behind us. Slowly, our feet turn cold and our head becomes too warm. Our breathing becomes shallow, our movements are reduced to a minimum, the will is paralyzed and the nervous system over-engaged. Eventually, we experience a lack of imagination and a hunger for images that we continue to try and still by consuming more pictures. In doing so, we delegate our powers of recollection to gigantic servers. The gradual loss of memory forces has long manifested in the many forms of dementia. The appearance of the etheric As a means of entering into, or waking up in, the etheric in a mobile and perceptive way, we can try to inwardly overcome the three-dimensional space. Rudolf Steiner suggested we should imagine a plane that can move. Now imagine a sentiment as a sentient being at an angle to it pushing along a two-dimensional plane. [ ] This areal being [ ] is on one side not enclosed but totally open [ ]; you cannot avoid it. It comes towards you. It is a being of light and this light being is nothing other than the openness that extends in one direction. [ ] [To Moses, when he received the Ten Commandments, this being] appeared like a figure deprived of the third spatial dimension; its effects were felt in the dimensions of feeling and of time. (GA 324a, 7 June 1905) The observer of eurythmy in particular can perceive the etheric when the movement in space and time is abstracted as if it were concentrated into a moving two-dimensional picture. In this respect eurythmy is a two-dimensional art, an art of imagination. Eurythmy can never present itself and is therefore in the sense of Not I but the being of eurythmy, the archetype of sounds, individualizes through me a deeply Christian form of movement, a presence that disappears again in each moment of sensory life and cannot really be physically preserved or saved to memory. In order to do justice to the new creation of eurythmy the three elements of the plastic arts (volume, area, edge) need to be extended by the laws of another dimension: the fourth dimension as a plane with the projection of time; the fifth dimension as a line with the projection of feeling; the sixth dimension as a point with the projection of consciousness (GA 324a, lecture of 7 June 1905; GA 82, lecture of 8 April 1922). The eurythmy figures are an example of this. Developing the gift of God Our physical body is the conclusion of the work of gods and the starting point of our work as human beings. When we received our soul forces of thinking, feeling and will, spiritual powers were still present. Now we are called upon to think, speak and act with these gifts responsibly so that not only the subsensory but also the suprasensory part of us can realize itself in the sensory world. What is particular and unique about eurythmy is that through it the logos powers can be taken hold of autonomously, actively and deliberately and flow effectively into the earthly three-dimensional space where they can support us. There will be an opportunity to share such experiences in the context of eurythmy therapy during the professional development seminar on 4 and 5 December 2015 at the Goetheanum. Kaspar Zett, Dornach (CH) Kaspar Zett is leader of the eurythmy therapy training at the Goetheanum. These are excerpts from a longer essay. For the full version please contact kaspar. zett@gmail.com Anthroposophical Society We have been informed that the following 37 members have crossed the threshold of death. In their remembrance we are providing this information for their friends. The Membership Office at the Goetheanum Dina Solotinskaja Riga (LV) 8 September 2013 Albert Siegfried Wilmington/DE (US) 6 January 2014 Ursula Lehnhardt Ghent/NY (US) 30 December 2014 Julian Howard Pinole/CA (US) 22 May 2015 Betty Patsenka Shelton/CT (US) 24 May 2015 Anthony Jacobs Forest Row (GB) 9 June 2015 Mary Schiller Santa Barbara/CA (US) 14 June 2015 Wladimir Solotinskij Riga (LV) 17 Juni 2015 Elisabeth Volz Murrhardt (DE) 27 June 2015 Mary Snow Edinburgh (GB) 3 July 2015 Amélie Rinck Kassel (DE) 1 August 2015 Maria de Rodriguez Ciudadela (AR) 4 August 2015 Johanna Mierl Salzburg (AT) 16 August 2015 Malcolm Nicholson Bangor (IE) 18 August 2015 Ingeborg Möllenhoff Hameln (DE) 21 August 2015 Heidrun Hacker Schwäbisch Gmünd (DE) 28 August 2015 Dorothée von Bonin Worb (CH) 31 August 2015 Claus Ruoff Heidenheim (DE) 5 September 2015 Cornell Senekal Barrydale (ZA) 6 September 2015 Wolfgang Jacobi Marburg (DE) 7 September 2015 Paul Baerens Meerbusch (DE) 8 September 2015 June Mahon Auckland (NZ) 8 September 2015 Norbert Hoffmann Ilkley (GB) 10 September 2015 Michael Pax Kyrkslätt (FI) 10 September 2015 Margret Sulzer Flims-Dorf (CH) 10 September 2015 Albert Sachenbacher München (DE) 14 September 2015 Christopher Lewers Wilnsford (GB) 15 September 2015 Margarete Wolter Braunschweig (DE) 15 September 2015 Brigitta Kliemand Kassel (DE) 16 September 2015 Louise Schipper Constantia (ZA) 16 September 2015 Hendrik Van Landeghem Den Haag (NL) 17 September 2015 Ivo Bindelli Püttlingen (DE) 18 September 2015 Terence Goodfellow London (GB) 18 September 2015 Angelika Moslé Kassel (DE) 18 September 2015 Erdmute Mückley Bad Pyrmont (DE) 20 September 2015 Roland Aegler Arlesheim (CH) 22 September 2015 Gisela Fichtner Witten (DE) im September 2015 From 8 September to 5 October 2015 the Society welcomed 96 new members. 36 are no longer registered as members (resignations, lost, and corrections by country Societies).

12 12 Anthroposophy Worldwide No. 11/15 Feature Salumed Publishing From pharmacy to publishing house Since 2012 the two pharmacists Hanna Wäckerle and Ulrich Meyer have been running Salumed, a publishing company for specialist books that focuses on complementary medicine and, in particular, Anthroposophic Medicine. Some titles, including a few standard works, are translated into other languages; others can be downloaded as pdf from the website, free of charge. Thorough readers: Hanna Wäckerle and Ulrich Meyer Ronald Richter: Your publishing company is situated in the grounds of the Community Hospital Havelhöhe in Berlin. How did it start? Ulrich Meyer: The company was originally in the Berlin district of Friedenau. The premises there were not ideal, however, neither was the environment, whereas here, we are close to the hospital and the specialist medical journal Merkurstab. Many of our authors visit or work at the Havelhöhe hospital. Various specialist disciplines Richter: You also work with the Medical Section at the Goetheanum. What does this cooperation look like? Meyer: Michaela Glöckler has written a number of prefaces for us, a short biography of Alla Selawry and a chapter for a book on geriatric medicine ( Geriatrie ). Our publications are introduced in the Newsletter of the Medical Section. In 2016, when Matthias Girke will become leader of the Medical Section at the Goetheanum, more perspectives may open up. Richter: What characterizes your product range? Meyer: We have books on all kinds of specialist disciplines including Matthias Girke s publication on internal medicine ( Innere Medizin ), which will come out in English next spring. The first half of this book, which comprises 1100 pages in total, has already been published in Portuguese. This was organized by the Brazilian Physicians Association. The second half will also soon come out. A Spanish translation is underway. Then there is Lüder Jachens work on dermatology for which an Italian edition is planned for In January 2016 we will publish Peter Selg s book on the mistletoe ( Mistel und Mensch ). Standard works Photo: Roland Richter Hanna Wäckerle: Reprints are our second mainstay. Gerbert Grohmann s book The Plant (original title: Die Pflanze ) is a standard reference work for physicians, pharmacists, biologists and teachers. The same is true for Alla Selawry s work on metal-function types ( Metall-Funktionstypen in Psycho-logie und Medizin ). We are planning to publish one anthroposophical textbook for each medical speciality. Richter: Do you have bestsellers? Wäckerle: Certainly Girke s Innere Medizin. Rolf Heine s book on anthroposophic nursing ( Anthroposophische Pflegepraxis ) is another standard work. Richter: Any flops? Meyer: Maybe the self-help books. This area is sufficiently covered by other anthroposophical publishers. There is no need to try and compete with one another. Richter: You offer free downloads of entire books on your website. How does that work financially? Meyer: We don t need to work for profit. Also, we want to contribute to the dissemination of anthroposophic medicine and pharmaceuticals, also of Goethean nature studies, although Goetheanism is not that much in demand among anthroposophists at the moment. Richter: Why is that? Meyer: The leading Goethean scientists are either retired or dead. Professor Wolfgang Schad from the Witten-Herdecke University is retired and the interest has generally shifted towards the research into the life forces; Dorian Schmidt, for instance. The Goethean path is laborious and not many are prepared to take it today. Richter: And the free downloads Wäckerle: They are mostly collectors items. One of them is Judith Kouematchoua Tchuitcheu s dissertation on the afterbirth. We were happy to make the pdf available in order to interest midwives in it too. Our company continues to be available for the online publication of special works. Restricted readership Richter: What is it like for a small specialist publisher in these digital times? Meyer: It is not the digitalization that is the problem, but rather the restricted readership. There are few specialist authors in anthroposophical circles and the editing costs are often enormous. In mainstream medicine it is important to publish as much as possible. In anthroposophical circles the public work happens mostly in seminars and congresses and putting things in writing is often a problem. Richter: Is this the reason for the international orientation of your company? Wäckerle: We issue licences to other countries, but others do the selling. In book production we concentrate primarily on the German market. Meyer: We would be happy to license Salumed books to more foreign publishers so that the anthroposophic specialist literature is available in the language of their country. It is interesting to observe how this works in the various countries, in Brazil, for instance: they have their own medical journal. Anthroposophic medicine is really flourishing there. Wäckerle: Or the Italians. They work out of the artistic impulse of anthroposophic medicine. Richter: You are pharmacists. What made you choose publishing? Meyer: I have always liked writing and reading and done both extensively. As a pupil I already published contributions in newspapers. So it was not such a big step for me. Hanna Wäckerle and I are both pharmacists. We can follow medical topics, but we take a step back and look at how comprehensible and plausible something is. Our authors are not always too happy about our thorough reading.