Connecting Seekers across Northern California
Sunday, April 5, 6:30 AM
Capitola bluff (Jewelbox neighborhood), corner Prospect Ave and Opal St
We gather together to sing Easter/spring songs on the bluff overlooking Monterey Bay during Easter sunrise. All are welcome! Armand Ruby provides music and leading tones. Location: same as in recent years; aim your GPS for: 1375 Prospect Ave., Capitola, CA 95010 That spot has a nice southeasterly view, so weather permitting we will be able to see the sunrise, and there is plenty of free parking.
Jan-Willem Pieterse
Friday, April 10, 7:00PM
Resource Center for Nonviolence
612 Ocean St, Santa Cruz
Hearing comments about reading Steiner’s texts: “it’s difficult”, “it can hit you”, “needs to be read again”, taking delight in reading it for the umpf time shows the variety of intentions and experiences. Here and there Steiner himself describes the challenges facing smithing words that represent the underlying ideas. So, it is no wonder this induces a remoteness on that path from ideas to words, to text, to a new pair of eyes, through milling it over with new percepts ever trying to reach for these original ideas. And once the idea is reached, there is more, it needs to be placed such that its perspective finds a satisfiable viewpoint among the omni presence of others.
Steiner found a way such that each reader has the freedom to “read” original ideas again. Not so-much through facts, but let them move, puts them in perspective, addressing a listening individual. The original seed knows it has a future: to become a seed again be it after a full life. During this lecture we will work through a couple of examples by discovering geometry, inversions, enhancement and polarities. Just as a plant is composed of roots, leaves, flower and seed-power, the written text is re-created into a wholesome form. This active approach to find the original idea is then put in perspective. Every plant withers in the fall, likewise the newly discovered ideas find new life. It takes on a new form. Reading Steiner, can be difficult but never boring be it in the words, through the composition, from the ideas, fulfilling to the reader.
Jan-Willem grew up near Amsterdam. As a late bloomer he discovered his talent with fixing things, pursuing an EE degree which soon migrated into optical engineering. Balancing academic dryness, he explored esoteric interests and anthroposophy since ’78. Immigrated ‘temporarily’ to the US, San Jose in 1986. His current interests is in all kinds of transformations and inversion taking place around him.
We request our usual donation of $20 or $10 for current paid branch members.
An Evening on Spiritual Scientific Research:
Presentations by Six Branch Members
Tuesday, March 24, 7:00 PM
Resource Center for Nonviolence
612 Ocean St, Santa Cruz
It has occurred to Douglas Wylie and Jeanie Elliott that there may well be a lot more spiritual scientific research going on in our area than most of us are aware of, either in connection with specific Sections, or simply because individuals have been carrying questions and working with them. Many of us may not realize that we have been doing research because that sounds too high, too far beyond our capacities. But if we have learned anything from our studies of Rudolf Steiner, it is that each of us is a spiritual being with untapped capacities. Some of us have developed and followed exact, if changing and developing, research questions. Others of us have been quietly striving and living with questions we may not have considered as “research”.
The following members will present on their research topics:
Esther Centers: Intentional Movement And Children’s Learning
Delmar McComb: Bridging the Four Kingdoms and the Hierarchies: reflections on 35 years of Biodynamic gardening
Wanda Taylor:The Gospels
Steve Spitalny: The Sense of Life and the Modern World: a physiological basis for the lack of feeling of well-being
Carin Fortin:Understanding the Relationship Between Planets, Plants and the Human Body: farming with cosmic rhythms
Scott Olmsted:Meeting Children with an Open Question: the Waldorf approach.
Esther Centers recently finished a 24-year run as a Waldorf class teacher here in Santa Cruz and continues to support children as an educational support teacher.
Delmar McComb has been a student of Biodynamic Agriculture and Anthroposophy for over 30 years.
He is a co-owner of Blossom’s Farm, a Council Member of the Agriculture Section of North America, Delmar is an operatic tenor, having performed many leading roles with opera companies over the past 25 years.
Wanda Taylor is a mother and an anthroposophist. She loves spending time with her family, in nature, with her animals and her bees, playing volleyball and reading/studying books of many genres.
Stephen Spitalny has been part of the Santa Cruz Waldorf School since the mid ‘80’s and has been a practicing anthroposophist since then. He offers trainings, lectures, and workshops in many parts of the world.
Carin Fortin is an herb farmer, herbalist, teacher, and student of anthroposophy and biodynamics, and co-founder Blossom’s Farm. Carin currently serves as member of the circle of representatives of the AG Section at the Goetheanum and as the board president of the Biodynamic Association (BDA). Carin grew up in Switzerland and moved to the United States 28 years ago.
Scott Olmsted has been a student of Anthroposophy for over 35 years. He attended Rudolf Steiner College and earned a Waldorf Teaching Certificate in 1991. Currently a class teacher here in Santa Cruz, Scott is also able to eke out a little time for gardening and the wonderment of nature.
We request our usual donation of $20
or $10 for current paid branch members.
An Art History Presentation
with Andrew Linnell
March 18, 2026
7 PM Pacific Time
Although Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520) died on Good Friday at the age of only 37, his art works quickly became treasures. Why was this artist so gifted? The main theme of his paintings was Madonna and Child. Did these paintings speak to one another? Can we see the influence of Leonardo arising in Raphael after 1504? This presentation will explore many of his paintings and evidence of Leonardo’s influence.
Andrew Linnell is author of the book “The Hidden Heretic of the Renaissance: Leonardo” and “Why Leonardo Abandoned his Adoration.” A graduate of the University of Michigan (MSE ’73), his professional career was in the computer industry where he was a CTO and VP. He studied art history with William Mann at Emerson College, Sussex, England. He is a member of the Anthroposophical Society since 1979, president of the Boston Branch, and member of the Natural Science Section. He is co-founder of MysTech and operates thechristianmysteries.com.
Requested admission $10 You may pay using the donate button on our website
faustbranch.org
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89344942665?pwd=Po5LIMPVgoCkaaYk7gaSpYLxwg3gkC.1
Meeting ID: 893 4494 2665, Passcode: 198379
Sponsored by the Sacramento Faust Branch of the Anthroposophical Society in America
