The Curriculum of the First Waldorf School

So I finished up the book this spring. Here’s what I said about it in the blurb:The original curriculum of the first Waldorf school as it existed in 1925 is laid out in this book. Newly translated with annotations, this edition is presented as a historical artifact for teachers and others looking to understand where the current approaches have evolved from. While not always directly applicable to 21st century schools,...

Vaccination in the Work of Rudolf Steiner

As the pandemic has progressed, the question of vaccination has become very relevant.  So I put together a book that includes everything Rudolf Steiner said about vaccines. It is called Vaccination in the Work of Rudolf Steiner. It is available directly from Aelzina Books, or on Amazon as a paperback or a Kindle...

Viral Illness in the Work of Rudolf Steiner

Inspired by the pandemic and the questions around it, I have put together a book that includes everything Rudolf Steiner said about infectious illnesses. It is called Viral Illness and Epidemics in the Work of Rudolf Steiner. It is available directly from Aelzina Books, or on Amazon as a paperback or a Kindle...

SARS-Cov-2 and Conspiracy Theories

SARS-Cov-2 is a novel virus, meaning that humans have never before encountered it. But it is also just one more in a pattern of pathogens that have, at a particular time, moved from the animal kingdom and spread widely among the human population, striking down some and passing over others. Given these facts—that it is new, and it is deadly—it is little wonder that all sorts of explanations are proffered. People do what...

Does Rudolf Steiner Believe in Viruses?

Here is a great example of why we have to be careful with Steiner quotes. This one is from GA 185, 3rd lecture (From Symptom to Reality in Modern History). “But bacilli, as such, are of course in no way connected with disease. In phenomena of this kind we must realize that just as behind the symptoms of history we are dealing with psychic and spiritual experiences, so too behind somatic symptoms we are dealing with...

Did Rudolf Steiner write the “We Must Eradic...

The following verse, usually attributed to Rudolf Steiner, has been has been very popular lately. Steiner wrote a lot of verses for many different purposes. But this one is not one one of them. The first part is a versification of a paragraph from a 1910 lecture. The second part is demonstrably pseudoepigraphical. More on that below. (For those wondering, pseudoepigraphical means “falsely attributed”; it is a...

What to make of Göbekli Tepe from an Anthroposophi...

Göbekli Tepe is an archaeological site in central Turkey with stone structures and carvings at least 11,000 years old. Mapping Steiner’s timeline to external history, to say nothing of geology, proves quite challenging. Everything back to the end of the 3rd post-atlantean epoch works quite well. Earlier than that gets progressively more challenging. The Theosophical tradition was quite big on exact dates and patterns,...

Hillary Clinton and the Question of Corruption

If you spend any amount of time around the right-wing media you will invariably hear throwaway phrases like, “Hillary Clinton – most corrupt politician ever”, or “Hillary Clinton’s extreme corruption”. But if you check her criminal record you will discover that she has never been indicted, much less charged or convicted, of any crime. What are we to make of this? Voices on the left will...

The Structural Problem with Heath Insurance

So here’s the dirty secret about health insurance companies: They don’t really care what the rules of the marketplace are. They are insurance pools. They will price their policies based on whatever it costs to pay out the claims and have a little left over. (Health insurance companies average about 5% profits, FWIW). Change the rules so the pools are full of sick people, and they will adjust prices upwards...