With Laurie Portocarrero
March 13-16
The Christian Community
Fair Oaks, CA

Anthroposophy in the Bay Area & Beyond
Connecting Seekers across Northern California
By Mark Zweifel
By Mark Zweifel
By Mark Zweifel
By Mark Zweifel
A Zoom presentation
February 25 7 PM PT
Hosted by the Faust Branch

Robert McKay, a longtime student of Rudolf Steiner’s work, met anthroposophy at the age of 17. He is a member of the Toronto Branch of the Anthroposophical Society in Canada, and is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Rudolf Steiner College Canada. He provides lectures and workshops on anthroposophical meditation and other topics. He is a member of the School of Spiritual Science Section for the Literary Arts and Humanities. Robert works in healthcare management.
Thank you for your support.
Your admission fees pay for honoraria for our speakers.
Admission for Faust Branch Members $5
For Non-members $10
Supporting Members and Donors, no fee
You may pay using the donate button on our website faustbranch.org
Or By Check to Sacramento Faust Branch
(mail to Treasurer, Carol Nordaas, 7620 Woodglen Dr, Fair Oaks, CA 95628)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89344942665?pwd=Po5LIMPVgoCkaaYk7gaSpYLxwg3gkC.1
Meeting ID: 893 4494 2665
Passcode: 198379
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,89344942665#,,,,*198379# US (San Jose)
+16694449171,,89344942665#,,,,*198379# US
By Mark Zweifel

No Freedom is complete without Financial Freedom
2nd Sundays at The Plant Cafe
2335 3rd Street
San Francisco
RSVP required: medicalfreedomsf@sonic.net
By Mark Zweifel
Entrepreneurship, skills and play
2nd Sundays at The Plant Organic Cafe
2335 3rd Street
San Francisco
RSVP required: email medicalfreedomsf@sonic.net
By Mark Zweifel
Sebastien and Liilth Dupuis, Joleen and Isaiah Spratt
Eurythmy Performance
A Star in the Jaws of the Clouds
Friday, January 23, 7:00 PM
Paloma Hall
4096 Fairway Drive, Soquel
This Eurythmy performance leads the audience on a journey from the everyday self to the higher person that slumbers within each one of us. Modern and Classical poetry and music depict how to confront what hinders us from unfolding our higher selves.
Poets and composers include: Annie Lighthart, Juan Ramon Jimenez, Diane Robitelle, Victor Hugo, Rudolf Steiner, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Sergei Rachmaninoff, J.S. Bach, Alberto Ginastera.
Tickets are $30. Any donation to support Eurythmy in Argentina will be accepted for entry.
By Mark Zweifel
A Salon with Penelope Baring
Tuesday, January 27, 7:00 PM
Paloma Hall
4096 Fairway Drive, Soquel
Penlope Baring will continue this topic as she has brought to us previously, speaking for about twenty minutes, with the aim of bringing us further along from the last time that we addressed the theme of evil. This may begin by going over some old ground, but we will deepen the exploration based on further indications from Rudolf Steiner.
Then – salon and conversation. We will begin with an element of art. We will make paper, with chalk or pencils – colors – available, so that each person may digest the content on their own.
Within our conversation we may have occasion to share some of the artistic results.
Penelope Baring was born in Nova Scotia. After five years of university, she lived and worked in Camphil in different parts of the United States, Ireland and India. She has served on both the Eastern Regional and National Councils of the Anthroposophical Society, the Asia-Pacific Initiative Group, and the Collegium of the School for Spiritual Science in North America. She has also taught Anthroposophy, lectured, and led workshops for the past forty years. Cofounder and Vice President of the Camphill Academy. She is presently semi-retired but is still teaching and mentoring.
We request our usual donation of $20
or $10 for current paid branch members.
By Mark Zweifel
January 28 at 7 pm Pacific Time
Please join us on Zoom for a Roundtable Discussion:
“Harvard Divinity School “100 Years Rudolf Steiner”
Conference with conference presenters and attendees:
Bruce Donehower, Thom Schaefer,
Liz Beaven, and Marion Donehower.
No charge – Donations Welcome
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89344942665?pwd=Po5LIMPVgoCkaaYk7gaSpYLxwg3gkC.1
Meeting ID: 893 4494 2665
Passcode: 198379
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,89344942665#,,,,*198379# US (San Jose)
+16694449171,,89344942665#,,,,*198379# US
Sponsored by The Sacramento Faust Branch
By Mark Zweifel
We are living in the time Rudolf Steiner foresaw—an era where the line between the human being and the machine is becoming increasingly blurred.
How do we maintain our spiritual integrity in the face of “mechanical occultism”? What is the true nature of electricity, light, and the “Ahrimanic double” that seeks to interpenetrate our lives?
These are not just philosophical questions; they are the defining challenges of our age.
The MysTech Winter 2026 Study Courses are starting now. These free study groups (you only need the guidebook) offer a rare space to explore these deep questions with a community of like-minded seekers.
Whether you are new to these concepts or deepening your study of the “Mysteries of Evil,” there is a group for you.
Here is the new schedule for the upcoming term:
First Course (Mechanical Occultism & The Future)
Host: Lindsey | Wed @ 8:00 pm ET
Second Course (Michael, Ahriman & The Nature of Thought)
Host: Cheryl | Thu @ 3:00 pm ET
Third Course (The Eighth Sphere & Moral Worlds)
Host: Lawrence | Thu @ 1:30 pm ET
Fourth Course (Dangers of Mechanical Occultism)
Host: Andrew | Mon @ 8:30 pm ET
Destiny of the Human Body
Host: Colin | Sun @ 6:30 pm BT (UK)
Refined Breathing (NZ/Aus)
Host: Herman | Tue @ 3:30 am ET / 7:30 pm NZ
Refined Breathing (US/EU)
Host: Andrew | Wed @ 2:30 pm ET
Mysteries of Evil Vol 1
Host: Mark | Tue @ 8:30 pm ET
Mysteries of Evil Vol 2
Host: Malana Maher | Wed @ 6:00 pm ET
Light & Electricity
Host: Mark | Thu @ 8:30 pm ET
Social Threefolding
Self Study
How to Join:
Each course is free to attend. You simply need to purchase the study guidebook and sign up to receive the Zoom link.
By Mark Zweifel

Waldorf Education Needs Well-Prepared Teachers to Meet the
Challenges of Our Time.
BACWTT Annual Appeal 2025-2026
Dear Friend,
We have nearly reached our goal to meet the $20,000 matching donation by the end of this year. We need to raise less than $5,000 to achieve that match and then we will be over the halfway point towards our annual fundraising goal! If you haven’t donated yet, please consider doing so now.
Your donation directly supports the effort and commitment of our students. When you give to BACWTT, you make a direct impact on the educational experience we are able to provide and the quality of learning for many children in Waldorf classrooms.

Help us meet our matching donation by the end of the year!
We need to raise less than $5,000 before December 31st.
Every dollar you donate will be doubled till we meet our matching donation goal.
Donations received with matching donation by December 16th: $15,285

By supporting our students, you are shaping the future of Waldorf
education and the world!
Make your tax-deductible donation by using our website’s secure online donation form or through the PayPal Giving Fund. Or, if you prefer, please mail your check to:
BACWTT | P.O. Box 21265 | El Sobrante, CA 94820
By Mark Zweifel
An Epic Tale of Christ’s Coming to Earth
Performed by Glen Williamson
Thursday, December 18, 2025 – 7:00 PM
Please arrive early to allow enough time to settle in

San Francisco Waldorf High School
470 West Portal Avenue,
San Francisco, CA 94127
Suggested Donation $15 – $20
Get your ticket here
An Epic Tale of Christ's Coming to Earth
Or donate at the door.
By Mark Zweifel
Online Sunday, December 7, 2025
10AM – 1PM PT
The conference will envision a healthier society that contains three distinct parts. The independence of these parts—culture, state, and economy—is important so that the fundamental values of Freedom, Equality, and Brotherhood/Fellowship can operate in the domain where each belongs! Right now everything is enmeshed into one system which is dominated by the use of money as power; the result is that egotism dominates the Economy which then dominates the rest. Human beings created Money, we created the misuse of Money, and we created our current Economic structure. Thus we have the power to transform our relationships to them. We can create a structure that is in service to humanity and the earth, with Money and the Economy in their rightful places.
Citizens United in the United States magnified the misuse of money and political power. Given the tumultuous time we are in, we may be at a turning point now, before our situation becomes even more chaotic. This conference will help us see how each of us can strengthen that turn toward a healthier society. There will be substantive time for Q&A.
Our two featured speakers, Virginia Solomón, CEO of Common Cause, and Gerald Häfner, co-founder of Mehr Demokratie (More Democracy), are well-positioned to describe the next steps we need to take. A major first step is getting big money out of politics. Common Cause has decades of experience in that area, and we look forward to learning from them what has worked or not worked on the ground. Gerald Häfner is one of the world’s leading authorities on social threefolding which describes how the separation of culture, state, and the economy is based on and meets the needs of individual human beings.
This conference feels historic because it offers real hope in a fraught time. Every voice counts. Together we can move mountains. Please join us! Do feel free to extend this invitation to anyone you know who may also be interested.
Thanks for considering! We hope to see you on December 7!
By Mark Zweifel
Camphill Winter Fair
Sunday, December 7,
11:00 AM – 2:00 PM Paloma Hall
4096 Fairway Drive,
Soquel
Winter Craft Fair at Camphill with a small amount of outside vendors – food and drinks available
By Mark Zweifel
The Shepherds Play Players
The Shepherds Play
One Performance Only
Friday, December 12, 7:00 PM
Actor’s Theater 1001 Center St.
Santa Cruz
The Oberufer Shepherds play is a unique community Christmas event that has been performed every year since medieval times by people around the world. It takes the Christmas story from the point of view of the shepherds in a unique, humorous, and warm-hearted way, with amateur local actors and musicians. The special community feeling engendered by this event will be palpable to everyone.”City people today are hardly capable any longer of completely appreciating to its full depth what is connected with our annual festivals. It is hardly possible to feel that magic which passed like a spiritual breath through the souls, through the minds of those who believed that they were carrying Christ in their heart during the great festive events at Christmas or Easter. To feel this magic, which passed through humanity in these periods, like a spiritual breath, has become really quite difficult. … If we look at what ordinary people were able to feel when they were presented with the child in the manger…then we can say: such moods, such feelings should awaken in us when we look at what can be born in our soul.” ~ Rudolf Steiner, discussing the Oberufer play, Berlin, December 22, 1910
Download poster
$20, $40 for families