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Michaelmas Celebration – October 2 – 3-5 pm – SF Waldorf Highschool

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“We must learn, on the anthroposophical path, to start with knowledge, then lift our-selves to the level of artistry, and to end in the warmth of reverent feeling.”

Rudolf Steiner, Awakening to Community, January 30, 1923

You are invited to an in-person Michaelmas Celebration,

to join others in the impulse of Anthroposophy

When:  October 2nd from 3pm to 5pm

Where:  The San Francisco Waldorf High School

470 W. Portal Avenue

San Francisco

In this time of transition, of a new beginning, and the after-Covid era, lets come together in spiritual purpose and warmth of community.

We will share Inspiration, Eurythmy, Poetry, Conversation, and Food.

Please RSVP to [email protected] to help us plan accordingly. Hope to see you then!

Ways to Social Healing
Invitation to Fall 2022 Courses in San Rafael, CA

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(Price Update)

Dear Friends,

You are invited to attend two courses that will take place this fall in San Rafael, CA, a Preparatory Course for Spiritual Awakening from September 15-18 and Intensive Course 1: Awakening to the Supersensible and Elemental World, from October 7-10.

In 2020-2021 a range of spiritual-scientific methods were introduced as a series of one preparatory course followed by seven progressive courses. The courses share a common theme of finding Ways to Social Healing. Participants will be introduced to reliable and practical methods to find one’s tasks in different life situations and to bring more harmony and meaning to one’s life. The methods expand on those based on Rudolf Steiner’s How to Know Higher Worlds and are a well-developed process of concentration, observation, and imagination.

Please RSVP via the Contact page at https://social-healing.org/contact/. Checks can be made out to “Max Gunther.” If you cannot afford the course fees, please contact us.

Dietlind Kionke-Thoemmes & Max Gunther
Preparatory Course for Spiritual Awakening
Thursday, September 15-Sunday, September 18
Thursday: 3:30 pm-7 pm
Friday-Sunday: 10 am-7 pm
Location: 108 Greenwood Avenue, San Rafael, CA
Fee for First-Time Participants: $275-355 (Sliding Scale)
Fee for Repeat Participants: $175
RSVP at https://social-healing.org/contact/
First-time participants are required to attend all units

This is a 3½ day course in practicing meditative methods leading to a deeper understanding of other beings through empathy, finding one’s own higher I, perceiving and fulfilling one’s karmic tasks.

We will practice these seven steps:

  1. Separation: Learning to detach from one’s subjective perspective
  2. Logic of the Heart: Learning to order one’s feelings and uncovering one’s sense for truth
  3. Practicing Empathy
  4. Dialog with spiritual beings
  5. Meeting one’s higher self
  6. Manifesting free impulses (the Zodiac meditation)
  7. Bringing it all together

Intensive Course 1

In this 3½ day course we will learn and practice methods to awakening to the supersensible and elemental world. Prerequisites: Participation in the preparatory course or equivalent experience. Attendance required for all units.


Looking Forward to Winter 2023
Intensive Course 2:
The Purification of the Soul
February 2023, dates to be announced
Open to all participants of Intensive Course 1

New Courses for Awakening to the Supersensible World

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Dear Friends,

You are invited to attend two courses that will take place this fall in San Rafael, CA, a Preparatory Course for Spiritual Awakening from September 15-18, 2022 and Intensive Course 1: Awakening to the Supersensible and Elemental World, from October 7-10, 2022.

In 2020-2021, Armen Tougu, a Christian Community priest based in Stuttgart, Germany, introduced a range of spiritual-scientific methods in a series of one preparatory course followed by seven progressive courses. The courses share a common theme of finding Ways to Social Healing. Participants will be introduced to reliable and practical methods to find one’s tasks in different life situations and to bring more harmony and meaning to one’s life. The methods expand on those based on Rudolf Steiner’s How to Know Higher Worlds and are a well-developed process of concentration, observation, and imagination.

Preparatory Course for Spiritual Awakening
Thursday, September 15-Sunday, September 18
Thursday: 3:30 pm-7 pm
Friday-Sunday: 10 am-7 pm
Location: 108 Greenwood Avenue, San Rafael, CA
Fee for First-Time Participants: $350-$450 (Sliding Scale)
Fee for Repeat Participants: $175
RSVP here: https://social-healing.org/contact/
First-time participants are required to attend all units

This is a 3½ day course in practicing meditative methods leading to a deeper understanding of other beings through empathy, finding one’s own higher I, perceiving and fulfilling one’s karmic tasks. We will practice these seven steps:

Separation: Learning to detach from one’s subjective perspective
Logic of the Heart: Learning to order one’s feelings and uncovering one’s sense for truth
Practicing Empathy
Dialog with spiritual beings
Meeting one’s higher self
Manifesting free impulses (the Zodiac meditation)
Bringing it all together


Intensive Course 1:
Awakening to the Supersensible and Elemental world
Friday, October 7-Monday, October 10
Friday: 3:30-7 pm
Saturday-Monday 10am-7pm
Location: 108 Greenwood Avenue, San Rafael, CA
Fee for First-Time Participants: $350-$450 (Sliding Scale)
Fee for Repeat Participants: $250
RSVP here: https://social-healing.org/contact/

In this 3½ day course we will learn and practice methods to awakening to the supersensible and elemental world. Prerequisites: Participation in the preparatory course or equivalent experience. Attendance required for all units.

Looking forward to a further course in winter 2023

Intensive Course 2:
The Purification of the Soul
February 2023, dates to be announced
Open to all participants of Intensive Course 1

Please RSVP via the Contact page. Checks can be made out to “Max Gunther.” If you cannot afford the course fees, please contact us.

Dietlind Kionke-Thoemmes & Max Gunther

Three Springs Community Farm Community Supported Agriculture

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Greetings,

We are very happy to invite you to become a Farm Member with Three Springs Community Farm CSA for the 2022 season. We have a number of spots left to reach our goal of 80 Families. We are greatly in need of partnership with Anthroposophical friends in the Bay Area to create a thriving Farm Organism that can continue into the future!

If you are interested in CSA Membership, please click on this link to view more information and signup: 

https://forms.gle/rXCzVB4R9GXQd8QAA

Feel free to send an email to [email protected] or call 707-876-1860 or 510-409-3214 with questions.

About our Membership Program (CSA):

Our season begins in March and continues through early December of each year.

Our offerings are distributed on Wednesdays, through free choice members-only farmstand at Berkeley Rose Waldorf School and Golden Bridges School in the Excelsior (SF). We also deliver pre-packed share boxes to sites in Terra Linda, Pacific Heights and El Sobrante.

Products include:

  • Seasonal vegetables & herbs
  • Goat cheese (chevre cheese) & Goat milk Yogurt (Dairy herdshare)
  • Pork & goat meat a few times a year (8-10 packages of sausage, bacon, cuts & lard) (Meat herdshare)
  • Flower bouquets
  • Herb tea blends
  • Farm visits, events & camping for you and your guests at our beautiful 80 acre farm & ranch.

 We grow over 40 different vegetables each year.

Each week’s share includes the following categories:

  • Salad greens
  • Cooking greens
  • Root vegetables
  • Brassicas (Broccoli/cauli/cabbage)
  • Culinary herbs
  • Goat dairy products
  • Flower Bouquets (every other week)
  • Other vegetables, for example, snap peas, onions & garlic, tomatoes, corn, squash, cucumbers, potatoes, brussels sprouts, tea, meat, etc. come in their season.

Annual Membership Fees are sliding-scale, based on Steiner’s principles of Associative Economics. Prospective members receive the Farm budget and make a pledge that works for their family budget, taking the needs of the farm into consideration. If the budget is not met by all the pledges, we conduct additional pledge rounds until it is met. Payments may be made monthly, quarterly, or as one annual payment.

About Our Farm:

We are a (relatively) new Biodynamic farm and educational program in Bodega, Sonoma County. Since 2017 we have been welcoming urban Waldorf students to our farm for school group visits, as well as developing the infrastructure for our Membership CSA Program, and starting our Farm Apprenticeship Program to train the next generation of sustainable farmers. 2020 was our first full year of vegetable production. Your farmers are Willow (yours truly) & Lew Summer.

Our growing methods are Biodynamic and “beyond Organic”: we work with the material aspects of farming using organic practices, and also include the spiritual aspects of Biodynamic farming by applying the field sprays (horn manure, horn silica and equisetum); applying the compost preparations (nettles, yarrow, chamomile, dandelion, oak bark and valerian); and working with the Elemental Beings of earth, air, water & warmth; the Being of the Farm; the Being of the Earth; and the Spiritual Hierarchies as we move through the land.

Our regenerative practices help to draw carbon down into the soil from the air, where it is causing damage and changing our climate. Our farm is contributing to reducing climate change, and our Members are integral to this important climate action, creating a more livable planet for our children and future generations.

Please feel free to call us. And by all means arrange to pay a visit to the farm to assess whether Membership would be right for you at this time.

Warmly,

Farmer Willow

Festival & Study Committee Invitation

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Dear Friends,

At the end of November David Gershan sent out a note saying he wanted to move towards an Advent gathering on zoom, and was looking for new voices and new energy to bring that about.  I have no idea who or how many people he sent that message to, but apparently Katja Wishart and myself were the two people who responded.  As it turned out, the endeavor was postponed, and then with David’s death, it came to a halt.

David had a strong wish to develop connections among the Anthroposophical friends in the Bay Area, especially through study and festival celebrations.  Katja and I don’t have the experience or resources to carry this project, but we believe that if we reach out to you, friends of Anthroposophy in this area, we can find a small group to pull something together.

We have let time go by, so perhaps now the most reasonable target date would be St. John’s Day, June 24th.  St. John’s Day is not represented in the book “Festivals and their Meaning,”  but there are a few lectures by Steiner on St. John’s Tide in the Rudolf Steiner Archives.  A small group could gather, maybe even over zoom, and study some of those lectures and see what inspiration might come to us, in the way of artistic work, stories, music, what have you, aiming for a zoom gathering On June 24th.

Please contact Katja or me if you would be interested in working on this.

Warm greetings,

Genie Sakaguchi

[email protected]

Katja Wishart

[email protected]

Revised Dates: Preparatory Course for Spiritual Awakening

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Revised Dates
May 12th – May 15th, 2022
108 Greenwood Ave, San Rafael

You are invited to a 3 ½ day course in practicing meditative methods leading to a deeper understanding of other beings through empathy, finding one’s own higher I, and perceiving and fulfilling one’s karmic tasks. We will practice these seven steps:

  1. Separation: Learning to detach from one’s subjective perspective
  2. Logic of the Heart: Learning to order one’s feelings and uncovering one’s sense for truth
  3. Practicing empathy
  4. Dialog with spiritual beings
  5. Meeting one’s higher self
  6. Manifesting free impulses (the zodiac meditation)
  7. Bringing it all together

These methods are a well-developed process of concentration, observation, and imagination, based on Rudolf Steiner’s How to Know Higher Worlds. They create the preconditions for having direct spiritual experiences. There are no prerequisites for this course, but all first-time participants are required to participate in full.
Revised dates: May 12th – May 15th, 2022
Schedule:
May 12th: 3:30p – 7p with one ½h break
May 13th: 10a – 7p with two ½h breaks morning and afternoon and a 2h lunch break
May 14th: 10a – 7p with two ½h breaks morning and afternoon and a 2h lunch break
May 15th: 10a – 7p with two ½h breaks morning and afternoon and a 2h lunch break
Location: 108 Greenwood Ave, San Rafael.
Cost: $275-$355 (sliding scale) for first-time participants. $175 if you repeat the course. If this is more than you can afford, please be in touch and we will find a solution.
Sign up here: [email protected]
Dietlind Kionke-Thoemmes & Max Gunther

Preparatory Course for Spiritual Awakening

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May 5th – May 8th, 2022, in San Rafael


You are invited to a 3 ½ day course in practicing meditative methods leading to a deeper understanding of other beings through empathy, finding one’s own higher I, and perceiving and fulfilling one’s karmic tasks.
We will practice these seven steps:

  • Separation: Learning to detach from one’s subjective perspective
  • Logic of the Heart: Learning to order one’s feelings and uncover one’s sense for truth
  • Practicing empathy
  • Dialog with spiritual beings
  • Meeting one’s higher self
  • Manifesting free impulses (the Zodiac meditation)
  • Bringing it all together

These methods are a well-developed process of concentration, observation, and imagination, based on Rudolf Steiner’s How to Know Higher Worlds. They create the preconditions for having direct spiritual experiences.
There are no prerequisites for this course, but all first-time participants are required to participate in full.
Dates: May 5th – May 8th, 2022
Schedule:
May 5th: 10a – 7p with two ½h breaks morning and afternoon and a 2h lunch break
May 6th: 10a – 7p with two ½h breaks morning and afternoon and a 2h lunch break
May 7th: 10a – 7p with two ½h breaks morning and afternoon and a 2h lunch break
May 8th: 3:30p – 7p with one ½h break
Location: 108 Greenwood Ave, San Rafael.
Cost: $275-$355 (sliding scale) for first-time participants. $175 if you repeat the course. If this is more than you can afford, please be in touch and we will find a solution.
Sign up here: [email protected]
Dietlind Kionke-Thoemmes & Max Gunther

Dr. David Gershan

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Dear Friends,

In the early hours of Monday, January 3rd, 2022, our dear Doctor David Gershan crossed the threshold unexpectedly at home.  He was found by a friend within hours.  

Due to the suddenness of his passing, his body will be examined to determine the cause.       

Although David’s physical body is unavailable for a vigil, we may help support and bring strength to the spiritual journey David has now embarked upon.  Our thoughts and prayers may help him best by being spoken aloud during these first few days after his death. 

David was passionate about practical applications of anthroposophy, and was active in Bay Area initiatives.  Five years ago, he spearheaded the efforts to bring Anthroposophists together for quarterly gatherings in San Francisco, and he was keen to help foster enhanced coordination between regional branches.  

A family and HIV primary care specialist, Dr. David Gershan had practiced medicine in Northern California since 1993. His former positions include Medical Director for the San Mateo County Mobile (Homeless) and STD Clinics. He also served as Civil Surgeon for U.S. Immigration medical examinations. Through the San Mateo County Health Department, Dr. David Gershan cared for patients infected with HIV. He also cared for patients at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco.  As a member of the clinical faculty at UCSF, Dr. Gershan contributed as an instructor and preceptor.

Dr. Gershan began his own medical studies as a pre-med student at the University of California, Berkeley. He continued his studies at St. George’s University School of Medicine and spent 12 months studying abroad in England. He completed his residency at the University of California, Irvine, Department of Family Medicine, after serving as an intern at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center. 

Beyond his professional duties, Dr. David Gershan participated as a cook for Open Hand, a charity focused on providing food for the very ill and enjoyed playing the cello.