Anthroposophy in the Bay Area & Beyond

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The Question of Evil

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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.

Roundtable Discussion: Harvard Divinity School “100 Years Rudolf Steiner”

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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

https://www.faustbranch.org/

Werbeck Singing Course 2026

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With Christiaan Boele

 

ART BY CLARA SCHAAREMAN | CLARASCHAAREMAN.COM

2026 COURSE offerings:

. FOUNDATIONAL TRAINING COURSES 1 & 2

FEB 13, 14, 15
SAN FRANCISCO WALDORF HIGH SCHOOL

. FOUNDATIONAL TRAINING COURSE 3

FEB 19, 20, 21, 22
WILDCAT CANYON COMMUNITY SCHOOL, EL SOBRANTE

. SINGING WORKSHOPS @ BACWTT CONFERENCE

FEB 15, 16, 17
SAN FRANCISCO WALDORF HIGH SCHOOL

. NORTHERN CA WERBECK CHOIR

FEB 27, 28, MARCH 1 (WITH PERFORMANCE) MARIN WALDORF SCHOOL, SAN RAFAEL

for more information and registration please visit WWW.CHRISTIAANBOELE.COM

The Machine, the soul, and 2026

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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.

Click here to view full course descriptions and register.

BACWTT Annual Appeal 2025-2026

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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

Use This Link to Give Using Our Online Donation Form

Use This Link to Give Through the PayPal Giving Fund

The Incarnation of the Logos

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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

logos_poster-lettersize

San Francisco Waldorf High School

470 West Portal Avenue,
San Francisco, CA 94127

Suggested Donation $15 – $20

Get your ticket here

Incarnation of the Logos

An Epic Tale of Christ's Coming to Earth

$
Note that the payment processing 'appears' to be slow. Please check the email address you provide for confirmation of your donation.

Or donate at the door.

Support Regenerative Farming and Education

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Three Springs Community Farm, Biodynamic Educational Farm in Bodega, Sonoma County, California

Three Springs Community Farm is a classroom without walls, where regenerative agriculture and nature connection ignite true learning and empowerment.

Your gift today provides hands-on experiences for our children that foster future leaders for a resilient planet.

We need your help to reach our goal of raising $25,000 by December 31st. 

Your gift will close the funding gap—ensuring no school is turned away and allowing us to confirm essential school visits for 2026.

Invest in Our Growth, Invest in Their Future
We have made great progress this year in expanding programming for these powerful learning moments:

Growing our Campus: We secured a $100,000 matching grant to build out a K-12 Educational Campground, allowing us to host more school groups and families throughout the year.

Training Future Stewards: Our young adult farmer intern program is fully enrolled, training the next leaders in regenerative agriculture.

Expanding Access: We are expanding our CSA reach in 2026 and launching new adult workshops to share biodynamic practices with the wider community.

With your continued support, we have a chance to ensure this land continues to flourish and grow for the future.

DONATE HERE

THREE SPRINGS COMMUNITY FARM FOUNDATION GuideStar Profile
Three Springs Community Farm Foundation, PO Box 44, Bodega, CA 94922, USA

 Baumheier Conference 

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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!

Register Here

The Shepherds Play

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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

The Four Elements:A Scientific/Spiritual Perspective

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Millefolium Cultural Program: Armand Ruby

The Four Elements:
A Scientific/Spiritual Perspective 

Saturday, December 6, 12:30 PM  
Blossoms Farm,
2033 San Juan Road,
Aromas CA 95004 

The four classical elements – Earth, Water, Air, Fire – represent a set of principles that apply widely throughout Earth’s planetary system, AKA Gaia: the Earth as a living organism. 

These principles are living at the macrocosmic level: in Earth’s geology, oceans, atmosphere and energy sources; and at the microcosmic level: in the atoms that are fundamental to the composition of all biological life and in the substances needed to sustain life. At both scales, macro and micro, the four elements intermingle in interesting ways that we will touch on. 

The “four elements” are commonly understood to represent aspects of – and be integral to – life on Earth: they’re present throughout the natural world, and they can be seen as having a correspondence to the kingdoms of Nature. 

From an anthroposophical viewpoint, these four principles also are exemplified in the human being as a spiritual/physical organism; this more comprehensive, spiritually-oriented fourfold composition can then also be related back to life on Earth more broadly. 

This presentation draws upon modern scientific understanding, as well as the anthroposophical (spiritual scientific) teachings of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of biodynamic agriculture. 

4 Elements Presentation – Armand RubyArmand Ruby was educated at Cornell University (B.A., Biology; Ecology Concentration) and University of CT (M.S., Ecology), as well as informally in anthroposophical and biodynamic study groups, courses and lectures at Rudolf Steiner College and elsewhere. 

He has had a long (>40 year) career as an environmental scientist, specializing in freshwater surface water quality. He has for decades also been a supporter of biodynamic agriculture and practitioner of biodynamic gardening, and is an anthroposophist of long standing. 

He is also a musician, composer, playwright and aspiring filmmaker of musical films focused on topics of social and cultural relevance.

$30.00 donation to support Millefolium, the non-profit organization associated with Blossoms Farm. Pay at the door or online: add the talk to the cart at: 4 Elements Presentation – Armand Ruby

100 Years Rudolf Steiner Conference

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at the Harvard Divinity School – online participation

Harvard’s Program for the Evolution of Spirituality is delighted to host this special conference at Harvard Divinity School on December 15 and 16,  online and in person. In person registration is at capacity and no longer possible, however, online registration is still available:

Register here for free online participation of the 100 Years Rudolf Steiner Conference .

….The centennial of Steiner’s death in 1925 offers a perfect opportunity for scholars, practitioners in areas of “applied anthroposophy,” such as Steiner education and biodynamic agriculture, and interested members of the public to come together to debate major issues. Our conference goal is to offer new perspectives on Steiner and critical approaches to his legacy, which has been extremely fruitful in multiple fields, from education and organic farming to modern art and architecture. By bringing together a diverse range of scholars and researchers, we hope to shed new light on this legacy and provide a forum to explore complex issues.

Conference Homepage

The Spiritual World in the Eyes of Rudolf Steiner

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Karthik Bala

Tuesday, December 2
6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
550 Laguna Street, San Francisco

RSVP Required – follow ‘register’ link

“Rudolf Steiner is an incredible philosopher and mystic with an immense body of work and a highly original thought. 

His work touches an all areas of human life, from politics, to agriculture, to education, medicine, energy work, poetry, science, and much more. He offers perspectives on the grandest cosmic mysteries to the most mundane of life’s questions (e.g: do journalists benefit more from coffee or tea?).

I think he’s severely underrated and more people need to be exposed to him. In this talk I will discuss some of the ideas that really struck me.”

Some possible topics:

  • ​Simple exercises to maintain discernment when things get weird 
  • ​Moral imagination and the moral world hidden in nature 
  • ​How we can discover ourselves through the careful observation of plants 
  • ​Ahriman and Lucifer: the two tempters of our time 
  • ​Angels and elementals beings: guardian angels, nation-angels, the spirit of our age, apartment spirits, elementals 
  • ​Eurythmy: the living reality of phonemes and how we can express them in movement 

​About me: I used to work in tech but I got Steiner-pilled so hard I now spend all my time studying his works. 

Schedule:
6:30 – 6:45 – Settling in and snack
6:45 – 8 – Talk and Q&A
8 – 8:30 – Mingling, Informal discussions, and follow-up plans

PLEASE RSVP (REQUIRED)

follow register link

The Mystery Dramas

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The Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Branch
of the Anthroposophical Society
is pleased to present:

Coleman Lyles

The Mystery Dramas

Tuesday, November 18, 7:00 PM  

Paloma Hall
4096 Fairway Drive, Soquel

Once again Coleman leads us further into insight into the Mystery Dramas. The evening will be sure to include interaction, anecdotes from Coleman’s own work with the Mystery Dramas, and insights that help us look ahead to Spring when we will be visited (again) by Laurie Portocarrero. 

The ultimate Mystery Drama is life itself. In this regard every branch meeting is a scene from an ongoing play conceived before we were born. This reality, arising out of the karmic ground of previous earth existence, finds artistic expression in Rudolf Steiner’s four Mystery Dramas written between 1910-1914. 

It is sure to fun, illuminating and social.

We request our usual donation of $20

or $10 for current paid branch members.

The Seven Planetary Seals and their Metamorphosis – Brian Gray – Zoom Talk

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November 19 – 7 PM Pacific Time

Admission  – $10 non-members, $5 regular members,
Supporting members no fee.

No one turned away for lack of funds.
Fees may be paid in advance via PayPal at 
faustbranch.org and clicking “donation”,
or by check to Sacramento Faust Branch,
mailed to Treasurer Carol Nordaas,
7620 Woodglen Drive, 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

Join instructions
https://us02web.zoom.us/meetings/89344942665/invitations?signature=9Rxj3YKxy-390m0I1oX240VrdbZWZFxwvuIxfJ4NuzA