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Inspirations of Mani for the Future of Christianity and the Redemption of Evil

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Troubadours and Cathars of the Languedoc. Through glimpses from a study-tour to the Pyrenees and a Concert with Eurythmy. Part 1: The Troubadours

 October 17
3 pm ET – 2 pm CT – 1 pm MT – Noon PT – 8 pm UK – 9 pm CET

Carol Holmsen

Description: Zoom talk with PowerPoint about the Troubadours and Cathars of the medieval Languedoc with illustrations, pictures and musical clips. Facts and romanticized fiction. Why a presentation about the troubadours and the Cathars in a webinar series about Manichaeism? Who were the Troubadours and the Cathars? What was Courtly Love? Examples of several Troubadour songs. What were Cathar beliefs? Were they connected with Manichaeism? What was the Albigensian Crusade which led to the demise of the Cathars and the decline of the Troubadours?

This presentation is seen through the “lens” of a Concert with Eurythmy of Troubadour Music with a section on their neighbors and contemporaries, the Cathars, as well as through glimpses from a study-tour to the Pyrenees with Roland van Vliet in 2015. The 1987 series of Concerts with Eurythmy about the Troubadours and Cathars in Languedoc in the 1200’s was held in Norway. In the first part of this presentation, an attempt will be made to take a deep dive through immersion into the poetry and music of the Troubadours and the framework of ideas behind them. In the second part of this presentation, the story of the Cathars, who they were, what they believed, how they lived and their tragic end will be presented.

Bio: Carol Holmsen has worked in the teaching and health fields and has a background in eurythmy, curative eurythmy, nursing, rhythmical massage, homeopathy, English and literature. Author, translator, sheep-keeper of Old Norwegian short-tailed sheep, and a weaver.

Presentations are free, but a $15 suggested donation per presentation or $150 for the entire webinar will help to support this program and provide for a speaker honorarium.  

Please type “Webinar on Mani” or presenter’s name
 on the first line of your payment application.
 
To make your payment, please, follow the link DONATE

Or use Zelle to threefoldmankind@gmail.com

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81259450439

Meeting ID: 812 5945 0439

One tap mobile

+13126266799,,81259450439# US (Chicago) +13092053325,,81259450439# US

Inspirations of Mani for the Future of Christianity and the Redemption of Evil

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Manichean Impulse of Alanus ab Insulis of the School of Chartres and Cathars in Relation to the Future of the Earth

 October 10
3 pm ET – 2 pm CT – 1 pm MT – Noon PT – 8 pm UK – 9 pm CET

Frans Luthers

Description: Did something of the Manichean impulse flow into the mission of the School of Chartres and from there to the Cathars? Alanus ab Insulis was a famous teacher in the school of Chartres. He wrote an important book The Anti- Claudian on the Nature of the world and humanity. He was in contact with the Cathers in the South of France and had discussions with them on good and evil the world and in humanity. Frans will show how this has a great actuality around our opinion on the earth, climate change and the role of humanity.

Bio: Frans Lutters (MA) has been a Waldorf teacher in the Netherlands for forty years. He is the author of over 15 books of which 7 are also in English; such as Who Is Harry Potter?; The Grail Mystery and the Seven Liberal Arts; and An Exploration into the Destiny of the Waldorf School Movement. He is worldwide known as a lecturer and author.  

Presentations are free, but a $15 suggested donation per presentation or $150 for the entire webinar will help to support this program and provide for a speaker honorarium.  

Please type “Webinar on Mani” or presenter’s name
 on the first line of your payment application.
 
To make your payment, please, follow the link DONATE

Or use Zelle to threefoldmankind@gmail.com

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81259450439

Meeting ID: 812 5945 0439

One tap mobile

+13126266799,,81259450439# US (Chicago) +13092053325,,81259450439# US

From Refugee to Community – Friday Program

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Friday, October 9, 7:00 PM
Paloma Hall 
4096 Fairway Drive, Soquel

Welcome and Introduction

Coleman Lyles 

Remembering Carlo Pietzner

David Schwartz 

Community Leading Thought* Revised by Carlo Pietzner

Eurythmy by Sol Metamorfloses** 

Words on, ‘….and from the night, Kaspar’, play by Carlo Piertzner

Penelope Baring 

Kaspar’s Dream/Imagination, Scene 6

Speech and Eurythmy 

The Chapel of William Tell by Franz Liszt

Eurythmy 

Carlo and The Children’s Village

Speaker 

Bramble Picking by Carlo Pietzner

Eurythmy 

Lyre Piece

Camphill Community Lyre Ensemble 

Closing

* The Community Leading Thought is taken from a Lecture Rudolf Steiner gave on the destiny of the Knights Templar on September 25th, 1916. Carlo’s revision is a creative adaptation for Eurythmy. It is noteworthy that September 25th is Karl Koenig’s birthday. 

** All eurythmy by Sol Metamorfloses, Santa Cruz’s local, internationally acclaimed eurythmy troupe.

From Refugee to Community and the Art of Social Transformation

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Community Bible Evening to Celebrate Karl Koenig

Saturday, October 10, 7:00 PM
Paloma Hall 
4096 Fairway Drive, Soquel

Welcome, Lyre, Candle Lighting and Opening Verse 

Eurythmy* for All 

Soul Calendar Verse for Karl Koenig’s Birthday 9/25/1902, #25**

Speech and Eurythmy 

Vignettes from Karl Koenig’s Early Life

Selected Speakers 

Bible Evening Historical and Spiritual Background

Coleman Lyles 

The Cosmic Communion***

Eurythmy 

Prelude in B minor by Bach

Eurythmy 

Knighthood of the Present Age by Karl Koenig

Eurythmy 

Karl Koenig and the Calendar of the Soul

speaker 

Soul Calendar Verse for Karl Koenig’s death day 3/27/66 # 51**

Speech and Eurythmy 

Lyre Piece, Closing Verse in Eurythmy, Extinguish Candle

*All eurythmy by Sol Metamorfloses Troupe, Santa Cruz’s local, internationally acclaimed eurythmy troop. 

**Verses 25 and 51 are two of the four that constitute the second cross of the Soul Calendar. In terms of the calendar year September 25th and March 27th are opposite each other. 

***The Cosmic Communion were the last word spoken by Rudolf Steiner in the first Goetheanum before it went up in flames on New Year Eve, 1922. A Moon Node later, eighteen year and seven months, the first Bible Evening was held in Camphill Scotland on August 30th, 1941. In the History of the Bible Evening Karl Koenig wrote, “The Bible Evening is the loving preparation of the human soul for the experience of the cosmic communion.”

Michaelmas Social – 2026

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Community Celebration

Sunday, October 18, 2.30 – 4.30 pm
Golden Gate Park – Mother’s Meadow

Sponsored by the San Francisco Bay Branch
and the Anthroposophical Society of America

Inspirations of Mani for the Future of Christianity and the Redemption of Evil

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Manicheism and Rosicrucianism: Their Kinship in the Past, Present, and Future

October 3
3 pm ET – 2 pm CT – 1 pm MT – Noon PT – 8 pm UK – 9 pm CET

Steve Roberts

Description: Rudolf Steiner consistently emphasized the future importance of the Manichean stream, yet dedicated only one single lecture to the subject. He also stated that the Manichean stream would become more important than the Rosicrucian stream, creating a new form into which future Christianity would “pour”. Stephen will examine these claims in the light of Dutch anthroposophist Bernard Lievegoed’s final writings, and then look at indications given by Steiner to his young pupil Ehrenfried Pfeiffer of early historical links between two young men personally initiated by Christ, namely Lazarus of the John Gospel, who became Christian Rosenkreutz and the ‘Youth of Nain’ of the Luke Gospel who became Mani. Reference is also made to research done by Walter Johannes Stein, also a pupil of Steiner.

Bio: Stephen Roberts (b. 1951 in New Zealand; resident in the U.K. since 1978) met anthroposophy in 1973 and has been involved with the work of Rudolf Steiner ever since – predominantly in curative education, book publishing, his own personal study, and writings/presentations. Steve has focused on the Grail, Knights Templar, Rosicrucianism and other Western Mystery traditions. On recovering from a critical health event in 2022, he was strongly drawn to both Manichaeism and Steiner’s cultic work, the Misraim-Dienst established in 1906 which has continued in an unbroken lineage to these times as the ‘Michael Service’ (Michael-Dienst). Stephen’s biography of English occultist Nevill Meakin (1876–1912), an early pupil of Rudolf Steiner and intimate friend of Edith Maryon, will be published by Holythorn Press (U.K.) in 2027.

Presentations are free, but a $15 suggested donation per presentation or $150 for the entire webinar will help to support this program and provide for a speaker honorarium.  

Please type “Webinar on Mani” or presenter’s name
 on the first line of your payment application.
 
To make your payment, please, follow the link DONATE

Or use Zelle to threefoldmankind@gmail.com

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81259450439

Meeting ID: 812 5945 0439

One tap mobile

+13126266799,,81259450439# US (Chicago) +13092053325,,81259450439# US

Michaelmas Social

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Community Celebration – all ages welcome!

Sunday, October 18,    2.30 – 4.30 pm
Golden Gate Park – Mother’s Meadow, 
MLK jr Drive,
San Francisco CA 94122

Interested in the work of Rudolf Steiner ?
Anthroposophy, Waldorf education, Three-folding … ?

Please join our Michaelmas Celebration for
conversation, social time, games, singing, drinks and snacks

Bring your questions, good cheers and chair or blanket to sit on 

The Philosophy of Freedom

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The Philosophy of Freedom

Presented by Brian Gray

The Philosophy of Freedom, also titled in other translations as Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path and The Philosophy of Spiritual Activity, is Rudolf Steiner’s foundational philosophical work.  Part One explores the basis for freedom in human thinking, gives an account of the relationship between knowledge and perception, and explores the reliability of thinking as a means to knowledge.  Part Two analyzes the conditions necessary for freedom of action and develops the moral philosophy Steiner describes as “ethical individualism”.

From the back cover of Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path:

Of all of his works, Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path is the one that Steiner himself believed would have the longest life and the greatest spiritual and cultural consequences.  It was written as a phenomenological account of the “results of observing the human soul according to the methods of natural science”.

This seminal work asserts that free spiritual activity – understood as the human ability to think and act independently of physical nature – is the suitable path for human beings today to gain true knowledge of themselves and of the universe.  This is not merely a philosophical volume, but rather a warm, heart-oriented guide to the practice and experience of living thinking.

Readers will not find abstract philosophy here, but a step-by-step account of how a person may come to experience living, intuitive thinking – “the conscious experience of a purely spiritual content”.

During the past hundred years since it was written, many have tried to discover this “new thinking” that could help us understand the various spiritual, ecological, social, political, and philosophical issues facing us.  But only Rudolf Steiner laid out a path that leads from ordinary thinking to the level of pure spiritual activity – intuitive thinking – in which we become co-creators and co-redeemers of the world.

“When, with the help of Steiner’s book, we recognize that thinking is an essentially spiritual activity, we discover that it can school us.  In that sense –Steiner’s sense – thinking is a spiritual path.”  (Gertrude Reif Hughes).

These lectures were presented in 2013 by Brian Gray, who at the time was the Director of the Foundation Program in Anthroposophy at Rudolf Steiner College, Fair Oaks, CA.

Course Details:

In this free 17-session video course, Brian presents an in-depth exploration of Rudolf Steiner’s fundamental work.

It was recorded and published in 2013 by Liane Brookhart (Liane’s Lens of Half Moon Bay, CA) and is offered free of charge.

Donations accepted.

Further Details and Registration:

Brian Gray is a musician, teacher, lecturer, and writer on many topics drawn from Anthroposophy – the work of Rudolf Steiner.  He loves to share research from the realms of star wisdom, biography, cosmology, Waldorf Education, sacred architecture, and esoteric Christianity.  Brian was core faculty at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, California from 1981-2016.  He also served as RSC’s Director of the Foundation Program from 1991-1998, and again from 2006-2016.

Brian earned a BA in Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.  Inspired in 1979 by René Querido – one of his master teachers at RSC – Brian completed a certificate in Waldorf Teacher Education in 1981.  Brian has helped lead tours through Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land, exploring sacred architecture, sacred sites, and Parzival’s quest for the Holy Grail.

Brian is a founding member of Wise Cosmos Educational Initiative, and is the President of the Board of Directors.

Eurythmy Performance

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Summerfield Waldorf School 7pm on Friday, October 16, 2027

Will the Future: a journey from the everyday self to the higher person that slumbers within. We must face and confront evil in our times to become free and Will the Future. Poets and composers include: Annie Lighthart, Juan Ramon Jimenez, Diane Robitelle, Victor Hugo, Rudolf Steiner, Sergei Rachmaninoff, J.S. Bach, Alberto Ginastera, Franz Liszt. This 70-minute performance is appropriate for all ages 5-105.

Sol Metamorfloses offers professional Eurythmy performances which enkindle the light within to metamorphose darkness, meeting the needs of our times.
Joleen Spratt, Lilith & Sebastien Dupuis (Eurythmy)
Isaiah Spratt (Piano, Speech)

How can the human heart remain alive in times of grief, violence and evil?

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A Free Range Anthroposophical Café Presentation

How can the human heart remain alive
in times of grief, violence and evil?

(Facing contemporary evil with Manichaean prayers in communion with the dead)

In moments of trauma, loss and crisis, prayers can seem powerless. Yet “Iron Swords Prayers,” received in the midst of the October 7th war, offer an unexpected way of facing evil without being swallowed by it. They are not prayers of escape, but of transformation: they do not ask us to deny evil, but to ask whether evil has a purpose in the development of mankind.The prayers do not require agreement. They require honesty: a willingness to stand still in the presence of suffering and consider that even here, freedom has not vanished. Every inward act of clarity, gratitude, forgiveness and compassion – and every quiet decision to remain human – contributes to a larger moral horizon. “Iron Swords Prayers” are an invitation into that horizon.

Tap to join the Café


Maureen Amelia, a curative Eurythmist, medical clown, storyteller and Enneagram journey therapist, and Eytan Bloch, a biographical counselor, listening circle (Council) facilitator and focusing teacher, have together accompanied the realization of “Ripples of the Heart” for the last 10 years through books, performances and workshop retreats. Their book,  Iron Swords Prayers is available via Amazon.

Here us an interview on this work:

WESTERN LIGHT – Autumn Issue

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Welcome to our Autumn Issue

The newsletter of the Western Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America

As summer fades and we “fill our breath with the waning burst of the sun,” as Gloria Jean Viglione says in her poem at the end of this issue, Western Light seeks to bring attention to what seeds are forming that may bring new life to humanity and to anthroposophy in the coming years.

You can help Western Light make visible the hope inherent in the anthroposophical movement. Submit your article ideas and other suggestions to the newsletter team via westernlightnewsletter@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!  And if you enjoy this issue, please forward it to your friends

In this Issue:

  • Mountain Medicine – Treading the Path of Light
  • If We Can Hope – MysTech on the Etheric
  • Nourishing Places
  • Lab of Collaboration

Read the Autumn Issue Here