AGM 2019 – 3/23/2019

March 28, 2019

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF
THE ANTHROPOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN NORTH CAROLINA
RUDOLF STEINER BRANCH–NC
MARCH 23, 2019

WELCOME – Kathleen Wright, President

PRESENT

Robert Mays, Suzanne Mays, Eve Olive, Viorica Comaniciu, Judy Frey, Ron Evans, Leni Covington, Allen Barenholtz, Joanna Carey, Russell Arnold, Martha Kelder, Ben Bingham, Kathleen Wright

OPENING VERSE

“The American Verse” by Rudolf Steiner
May our feeling reach
To our heart’s inmost core
And seek to unite in love
With human beings of like aims
With those spirits, who full of grace
Look down on our earnest heartfelt striving,
Sending strength out of regions of Light,
Bringing Light into our Love.

REMEMBERING THE DEAD

Those who died this year: Laura Shmania on July 22, 2018 and Marie Smith on December 23, 2018. We also recalled members who have died in the past 25 years. We recited the Verse for the Dead by Adam Bittleston.

REPORTS

The following reports were read. Full copies of the reports follow these Minutes:

- The Work of the RSB-NC Branch this past year – written and read by Kathleen Wright
- Treasurer’s Report – read by Robert Mays in the absence of Treasurer Kelly Calegar.
- School of Spiritual Science – written and read by Judy Frey
- Festivals – written and read by Joanna Carey; those present helped add details.
- Study Groups – Joanna Carey reported on the Reading for the Dead Study Group; Kathleen Wright reported on the Rose Cross Study Group
- Biodynamics – Jon Lyerly’s report was read by Kathleen Wright
- Eurythmy Classes and Performances – Christina Beck’s report was read by Kathleen Wright
- Emerson Waldorf School – Viorica Comaniciu read her report.
- Raleigh Oak Charter School – This report was written and read by Kathleen Wright
- Christian Community – Kathleen Wright read the report she had written.
- Outreach – Eve Olive read her report about the work she has done all over the US and Scotland and Ireland reading her poetry and sharing stories dealing with the theme of Incarnation.

Personal Initiatives – Joanna Carey reported on her Singing and Music initiatives; Kathleen Wright read short reports on a number of people in our community who are doing initiatives that impact the public-at-large as well as our branch. These included: Martha Kelder, Lynn Jericho, Karen Rivers, Suzanne and Robert Mays; Ben and Jenny Bingham, and Edward Schuldt.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Allen Barenholtz reported on his upcoming Projective Geometry Course; Kathleen Wright reported on upcoming local events; Joanna Carey reported on the upcoming sale of the Ecoheal property, which she feels would be a good place for us to purchase.

VOTE

Robert Mays explained the procedure for voting. Treasurer Kelly Calegar is up for re-election. After members voted, Robert and Viorica Comaniciu counted the votes. Members took a short break for refreshments while votes were counted. Kelly received more than a majority of the votes cast and was re-elected.

SHORT DISCUSSION

On topics for future Branch Meetings – It was decided that we will discuss the possibility of once again seeing if there is interest in buying a Branch home, and the question – do we wish to do this in collaboration with the Christian Community?

CLOSING VERSE

“Membership Verse”
by Rex Raab
Of all the works of art the master wrought,
The one that moves me most is one that he
created out of sheer humanity.
A living vessel for the word he taught,
A sword to fight the battle that he fought.
This work of art is a Society,
whose membership is striving to be free,
whose soul is what you will, not what you ought.
It is a garden that needs constant tilling
with strong devotion and with self-made tools.
The rhythms of the seasons are its rules.
A future age can reap –
if you are willing to be the seed –
of a crop that never ends,”
He said, “The sun is shining, my dear friends.”

REPORTS

The Work of the Board This year (2018-2019)

During this past year, which we regard as the time from the last Board meeting in 2018 up until the present, the Board has worked on a number of things:

We employed Anne Nicholson to reconstruct our anthropsophync.org website and we are very pleased with the job she did. Robert Mays has installed a video of how to add items to the website, which we hope people will learn in order to post their own announcements and calendar events. We also welcome pictures of events and festivals to put on the website. If you have not already explored the new website, please do.
We have been in touch with the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago where Linda Folsom’s bequest to our branch was sent in error. They had already spent the money by the time we became aware of the error, but they have faithfully been sending us monthly installments with a little interest.
The Board has worked out regulations regarding event and festival sponsorship by our Board, as well as criteria for receiving a scholarship from the Board to attend conferences. Last year scholarships were awarded to two people. We invite members to apply.
Kelly Calegar and Roger Schultz formed an ad hoc committee for Festivals. The original intention was for them to work in collaboration with Joanna Carey. That has sometimes been the case and at others, the two planning groups have worked independently (e.g. We had two Michaelmas celebrations; each was well-attended and offered very different content.) That is fine with the Board as we welcome individual initiatives. A festival is something that can be celebrated all season long.
Since it was mostly Kelly and Roger who planned St. John’s last year along with a few parents at EWS, we will report on that: Joanna has written about the other Festivals that were held. The St. John Festival was celebrated at Infinity Farm. The attendance was excellent – at least 40 people were in attendance. There was a great potluck. A sharing of art, music and story -telling was given by a duo known as the Troubadours. There was boat-making and launching of the boats for the children, Eurythmy led by Kelly Calegar, and words about St. John’s by Steiner given by Kelly Calegar and of course the finale of the bonfire with singing. Many wonderful photos of the event were photographed by Roger and are on the website for you to see. The one disappointment with the festival is that we had hoped there would be more mingling and sharing between the Waldorf community and our branch members. The two groups divided themselves physically and each seemed focused on different activities, e.g. Kelly’s talk about St. John was attended by branch members only. No parents were visible. When she led the Eurythmy. It was virtually all members. The parents sat on the sidelines and a few appeared to making fun of us. While the Troubadours were performing a parent came up to us and said that he thought we should get on with the program, that the children had come to the festival “for the boats, not for this”. The Board spends more money on St. John’s than any other festival as we had hoped it would be a good Outreach activity as well as a good will offering to the school community, but for years now, we have found that the majority of attendees appear to be people who have no interest in Anthroposophy or St. John. They simply want a fun picnic, bonfire and boat launching. The Board is currently questioning the value of this format of the Festival for the future. We welcome your input. Perhaps it could be a subject for a Branch meeting discussion.
So far, two branch meetings have been held this year – one in the late Spring with Jenny Bingham giving us a wonderful biography of Daniel Dunlop, one of Steiner’s favorite followers. Last month Kathleen Wright gave a talk about the year 1919 in the life of Rudolf Steiner. Two more branch meetings have been planned for this the year – one next week featuring Edward Schuldt and one in May with Joanna Carey (more details about these will come during the announcement portion of our meeting.)
The one conference we did sponsor this past year was an Astrosophy workshop with Mary Stewart Adams in April with Eurythmy by Corinne Horan. The program was attended by close to 30 people.
Our event schedule in the Fall was rather slow. Part of it was due to the fact that I (Kathleen Wright) was severely ill. The other problem was that we had two cancellations of planned events – a Eurythmy performance by Amaranth Eurythmy, which has now been tentatively re-scheduled for March 6, 7 and 8^th 2020 and a Anthroposophical Medical Conference with Ross Rentea, which we are still negotiating for the Fall of this year.
I (Kathleen) have been participating in quarterly phone calls with branch leaders in America sponsored by the national Anthroposophical Society. The last one I participated in was this past Wednesday. I will report on the latest news they shared during the announcement part of this meeting. At our next phone conference I have been asked to report on what is happening here in the Triangle and that is one reason I am so glad to hear all the reports that we are about to hear.
We are saddened that no one volunteered to run for office on the Board this year, and hope that we can expand membership during the coming year. Currently we have four members and that is too low a number, plus we have no one to break a tie should we be deadlocked on an issue that requires voting. We hope you will re-consider for next year. I hope that at our Branch meetings we can discuss matters affecting the community so that we can arrive at more informed decisions.

Treasurer’s Report

Click to see the Treasurer’s Report.

School of Spiritual Science Report – Judy Frey

Many of you here are members both of the Anthroposophical Society and the School of Spiritual Science. For those of you who are not members of the School a few words from Rudolf Steiner about its intent are appropriate. In the middle of January, 1924, right after the Christmas Conference in which the General Anthroposophical Society was founded, Rudolf Steiner made the following remarks about the School of Spiritual Science:

In the first place there must of course be those who can search out spiritual knowledge in order that it may then be imparted. It requires however a very special Karma to possess and immediately use spiritual vision without having first carefully studied and learned of the results of spiritual research as expressed in ideas. It is nevertheless the case that generally speaking one can examine and understand what is presented as knowledge and ideas of the Spirit without having to rely on authority. It is the intention that one should in the first place, as a member of the Anthroposophical Society, pursue the study of Anthroposophy with all the consequences it entails for the several departments of life. Afterwards one should pass on to the esoteric. And the three Classes of the School of Spiritual Science which are now added to the General Anthroposophical Society will have as their task throughout to present the esoteric aspect.

It will be necessary for us to place the School of Spiritual Science and its activity before the world, to place it before the world in such a way that it demonstrates how it is able to fructify individual areas of civilization, knowledge, the arts and so forth.. The goal of the Anthroposophical Society will be to support the furthering of research in spiritual realms; that of the School of Spiritual Science will be this research itself.

We see this “fructifying in knowledge” and the arts brought into realization in the work done by Robert and Suzanne Mays in the areas of consciousness and Near Death Experiences, Sandy LaGrega in working with home funerals, in Eve Olive’s poetry initiatives, Joanna Carey’s offerings in music and festivals, Christina Beck’s eurythmy classes and performances, Edward Schuldt’s informative talks, Kathleen Wright’s outreach and talks, Kelly Calegar’s star studies and festival work, Ben Bingham’s business initiatives in infusing morality into the tricky workings of money, Jenny Bingham’s work with the threshold of death, and Martha Kelder’s art and music initiatives.

The remarks above by Rudolf Steiner clearly explain that the School of Spiritual Science is not a secret organization, but an open one. Members of the Anthroposophical Society may apply for membership because, as stated by Dr. Steiner above, it is expected that they should “pass on to the esoteric”. The only three requirement are firstly, that the content of the School must be kept in the hands of the members so that they are not watered down, misquoted or treated without the reverence they should and do inspire if one is open to them rightly. Secondly, that the students must recognize the authority of the Vorstand. And thirdly that the members “hold themselves out as Anthroposophists,” that is: upholding the Society, working in its initiatives where they can and striving to live according to Anthroposophical principles. Another, more loosely held requirement is that members of the Society must have held their membership for at least two years before applying. This is to insure they have time to study the spiritual revelations that forms the body of knowledge of our Society in order to develop an educated and heart felt desire for School membership. It is not a rigid dogma, nor is there a dogma about any special diet or drink.

The School of Spiritual Science is for you. It has been established out of the Spiritual World, under the leadership of Michael, as a path of deepening the esoteric life with feeling, developing a higher level of thinking than the merely intellectual, and putting devotion into the will forces in order to both attend the monthly meetings and engage the meditative life at home. Although this School is meant for you, it is up to YOU to ask the questions concerning membership from Ben, Suzanne or myself because only you know if you are ready to “pass on to the esoteric.” Our local School meets on the second Sunday of the month from September to May.

Festival Life

Each year our branch observes all of the major festivals and some of the minor ones. These include: Michaelmas, All Souls’ Day, Advent, the Holy Nights, Holy Week, Easter, Whitsun and St. John’s Day.

During Holy Week 2018 we met each morning at 8:30 AM to read from Emil Bock’s rendition of the events of each day. We included improvisation music on the lyre and a verse to begin and end each morning. After reading we engaged in conversation.
Judy Frey hosted Holy Saturday with a dinner and talk. At sunrise she hosted an Easter Sunrise observation followed by an Easter breakfast, singing, a reading and conversation.
For Whitsun we gathered at the home of Edward Schuldt who gave a talk about Parzival and the Grail question.
St. John’s Day was hosted by the Kwapiens at their Infinity Farm. They had over 40 people in attendance with a huge Pot Luck feast, followed by boat-making and launching, a talk about St. John by Kelly Calegar, Eurythmy with Kelly, and a delightful session of stories and songs by the Troubadours. The evening ended with singing around the bonfire.
There were two Michaelmas festivals a week apart. The first was a two-day event with a catered lunch on Saturday. Friday evening Edward Schuldt gave a talk about the Beatitudes and Christina Beck did Eurythmy with us. On Saturday, we had a talk about the 4 aspects of evil by Karen Rivers; Lynn Jericho offered a Biography exercise; Joanna and Karen led us in Michaelmas songs. Lyre music began and ended each day.
The following week Kelly Calegar hosted a Michaelmas at her home where she gave a talk about Michaelmas. Sarah Putnam led us in activities with clay and Biography. Jon Lyerly led us in stirring the BD prep for the Fall.
Our All Souls Observance was at Eve Olive’s. Kathleen gave a talk about ways of staying in touch with the dead, based on the book Wonders at the Veil and on Albert Steffen’s studies. We had reminiscences about our branch members who have died. There was lyre music and discussion. We closed with a song to the dead.
We celebrated the four weeks of Advent at different members’ homes, although the second week we were invited by the EWS community to enjoy their Advent Spiral Garden, which we did. Each week we heard stories, sang a song, heard a talk by Kathleen Wright about the Four Sacrifices of the Christ and the Nathan Soul and their relation to the four kingdoms, the four bodies of the Human Being, the four virtues, the four challenges and so on. Joanna led us in an artistic experience related to each of the 4 kingdoms. We observed and wrote or drew about the kingdom of nature out of our own experiences and then shared our insights.
The Holy Nights were hosted by various people. The Madonna sequence was offered at the home of Eve Olive to a full house. Thank you to Marie Nordgren for her steady and faithful presence in moving the pictures. Joanna gave a preview of the meaning and purpose of the pictures in their sequence. The viewing was accompanied by lyre music based on zodiacal tones. Judy Frey offered a play she had written for her Holy Night called “Nathan the Wise”.
Leni Covington hosted on January 5 where we had a large crowd and celebrated Epiphany with a talk about the several events of that day. We had a King cake, a song and excellent discussion. Roger hosted 4 times. On January 6 Jon Lyerly had us spray the Three Kings Prep on the farm and each person got to take some home to spray on their own land.

Currently the Festivals group is working on preparations for Easter and Holy Week.

The Emerson Waldorf School Annual Report – March 22, 2019

Emerson Waldorf School has 251 students from nursery to high school. The Centennial Celebration of Waldorf Education asks us to review the principles at the heart of the Waldorf pedagogy centered on Rudolf Steiner’s picture of child development and to use this picture, along with our concentrated observation of each child to continue to develop a rich curriculum. In the faculty meetings, we are reviewing and discussing The Study of Man. In order to deepen the racial-cultural competency, we are also reading Waking up White by Debby Irving and I Am Still Here by Austin Channing Brown. This call to action acknowledges the power of educating our youth by promoting individual freedom, equality and brotherhood, and the peaceful coexistence of humanity as the starting point and objective of all activity.

The Waldorf 100 Celebration emphasizes conservation of the honeybee. Honeybees work collectively for the good of the hive. Their health is based on the health of the hive, not the individual bee. Our individual health and success rely heavily on the connections within our community and, consequently, between groups within the greater society. Through these connections, we intend to inspire curiosity and awareness of our diversity while celebrating the power of human connection — we are all one hive!

News from Inside the Hive:

This year we hosted the AWSNA Southeast Regional Conference as well as Teaching Sensible Science course led by Michael D’Aleo. Next year we will host a new study installment of “Foundation Studies.”
We strengthen our high school program by hiring our own full-time teachers: three teachers for the Math and Science Programs; two for teaching humanities; and one for teaching art.
The lower grades’ playground was upgraded with new swings and a tree house.
The school chose to strengthen the pedagogical leadership by building a section chair structure. (Lower school and high school have ½ chair. The lower school has a coordinator.)
The Emerson Waldorf School Students mailed 1,100 postcards – one postcard for every Waldorf school in the world.
EWS is part of the Bees and Trees projects. Gunter Hauk of Spikenard Farm visited our school twice this school year. A small bee team of volunteers was formed. The farm committee has a goal of becoming a biodynamically certified farm by the biodynamic association for Waldorf schools.
Our school farm has vegetables and eggs for sale. Soon honeybees will join the chickens, the goats and the bunny.
Carol Kubik and Kathleen Stone Michael retired at the end of last school year after many years of dedicated service.

Difficulties: This summer we had to accept the resignation of a teacher. In his place, Whitney MacDonald joined our faculty and reformed the class after a few students followed the old teacher.

The EWS 8^th grade will be performing Mary Zimmerman’s play, The Odyssey in the Brown Wing of EWS on March 28, 29 and 30.

Raleigh Oak Charter School, a Waldorf-inspired Charter School

ROCS, as its teachers and students call it, opened in August of this past year. It has 205 students in grades K-4. There are 4 kindergartens, 2 first, second and third grades and one fourth grade. There are three fully-trained Waldorf teachers. Former EWS teacher Shannon O’Connor teaches one of the first grades and there are two women from New Hampshire who were trained at Antioch: Heather Power and Anne Branzell. EWS’s Admissions Director, Raelee Peirce’s sister Robin will be teaching there next year. Larissa Oryshkevich, whose son Kyle was in Nancy Preitz and then Barbara Shell’s class, teaches Kindergarten there. Prior to that she had a Home Day Care that was Waldorf-inspired. A fellow classmate of Kyle’s from EWS (Lydia) is one of the Kindergarten teachers. The school already has a long waiting list for next year.

The school is located in the Six Forks area of Raleigh. It is housed in a former office building that has been renovated. The asphalt parking lot has been transformed into a lovely playground with natural surroundings. A number of people have helped mentor at the school such as Kathleen Stone-Michael and Stephen Sagarin. All of the teachers attended a week of instruction on the grade they were to teach at Sunbridge College. The startup funds paid for their education.

Things are going as well as can be expected. Some parents can’t understand why there are no computers, tablets, cell phones allowed nor TV character and Super-hero T shirts and lunch boxes. Larissa reported that most teachers, parents and students are very happy with the situation at ROCS.

Biodynamics Report 2019

The Biodynamic Group meets with Jon Lyerly to make the BD preps. Jon has about 30 people on his BD email list. This year Jon organized stirrings and sprayings at some of our festival events (Michaelmas, New Year’s Eve and Epiphany). Currently the group is planning events such as field trips and stargazing at Infinity Farm.

Jon’s mother, Joy Kwapien is in the process of selling the Infinity Farm. She has divided the land into three plots, one of which has already sold (the one where the old barn, greenhouse and growing fields are located). She is still trying to sell the largest section which includes the farmhouse and the largest pond.

Jon has decided to go back to school in the Fall. He plans to earn a master’s degree in Agricultural Research. He still practices Biodynamics on a small scale but does not plan to do large scale farming again. Rob and Cheri Bowers, owners of Whitted-Bowers Biodynamic Farm have also ceased their large scale production of farming. They have hired some people to help with their fruit trees, but they are working in other professions now.

Eurythmy Performances and Classes

Amaranth Eurythmy Theater is active presenting our program ” I go where I love…” Our next venue is Mettabee farm in Ghent, NY July 26th. Plans are underway for us to perform in Durham NC at The Fruit Theatre March 6/7/8/ 2020. This is a fairly daring outreach gesture on the part of the Branch and could introduce many new people to eurythmy/speech/drama just through the Venue alone. Marie Nordgren will be the local coordinator for this with others helping. The Branch is sponsoring. We will need to fund raise to augment the branch funds.

Please let Marie or Christina know if you would like to help with energy or a donation. More on this to come! See amarantheurythmytheater.org. The site is in process and will be updated soon [I hope] as we have hired someone to help with marketing.

Locally Christina Beck teaches full time at EWS and teaches an adult class on Tuesday evenings plus adult workshops. Corinne Horan, Therapeutic Eurythmist, will be joining our community in the Fall for the school year. Corinne is in process training with Margrit Hitsch, in Russia. Now Corinne has been given the go ahead to begin her practice. She will complete her training in the summer of 2020. Margrit is recognized as a leader in the field of Therapeutic Eurythmy. Therapeutic Eurythmy will be available for children and adults here beginning Fall 2019. Christina can give Corinne’s contact info if anyone wants to explore this further now.

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY ANNUAL REPORT 2019

Our Christian Community Congregation here in NC is served by the Washington D.C. Congregation and has Rev. Carol Kelly as its priest. The Washington D.C. Church has been assigned a second priest, an Indian named Anand, but he has been unable to get a VISA for a while now. Our Carrying Group consists of: Buddy Smiley, Sarah Smiley, Lisa Stauffer, Martha Kelder, Diana Haynes, Robin Haynes and Kathleen Wright. While last year Rev. Kelly was only able to visit three times, this year we will have had 5 visits by the end of May. Attendance has been good at the Sunday Services. We average 25-35 people each time.

In November, Lisa Stauffer represented our group at the Annual CC Delegates meeting which was held in San Francisco, California. Diana Haynes is spending her second year auditing classes at the Christian Community Priest Training at the Seminary in Spring Valley, NY. Next year the Seminary will be moving to Toronto, so Diana will most likely not continue. Four of our RSB-NC members (Roger Schultz, Lisa Stauffer, Sarah and Buddy Smiley) are currently taking a Lay Course about the sacrament of Holy Orders, at the end of which three priests will be ordained. The Seminary offers several courses for the public each year and our Congregation just about always sends three or four people.

In May the sacrament of Confirmation will be given to 8 young teenagers. One is from our congregation; others are from Atlanta, Florida and Texas. The Confirmands and their families will all be coming here and there will be two special meals for the children – a catered rehearsal dinner and a Community Pot Luck after the event. This will happen the weekend of May 17-19 at the New Hope Camp facility.

Our CC Congregation was given a large bequest from Linda Folsom. A second payment was given to us this year after her estate was closed. The total amount we received was around $20,000. This brings our savings account up to around $43,100. It was announced this year that Rev. Craig Wiggins has been named a new Lenker for the Church. Our Church has a project to send books to the Anthroposophical Prison Outreach.

STUDY GROUPS

The Rose Cross Study Group 2019 Annual Report

The Rose Cross Study Group, which is the oldest Study Group in our branch meets on Thursday afternoons from 2:30 – 4:00 PM. Although Judy Frey is considered the leader of the group because she hosted for so many years, current hosts are Melanie Maupin and Suzanne Mays who alternate venues. The book we are currently reading is Nature Spirits by Rudolf Steiner. We have about 10 regular attendees and often have visitors. We welcome new members and visitors.

Reading For the Dead Study Group

We are continuing into our 9^th year, meeting on the 2^nd and 4^th Tuesday of each month. We are working chronologically on the many lectures Rudolf Steiner gave during his lifetime. Our current study is a series of lectures given over the year 1916 in various cities in Germany primarily. The book we are studying in titled: The Connection between the Living and the Dead. These lectures have been compiled by Christopher Bamford. There is a wonderful mood in these lectures. We begin and end with an improvisation on the lyre and a verse for the Dead. We also engage in rich conversation.

2019 Individual Initiatives and Outreach work (connecting with other Michaelic workers who are not Anthroposophists)

There are a number of individuals who work independently with the public, as well as with anthroposophical groups out of the inspiration of Anthroposophy:

Martha Kelder offers water color painting classes for our community, as well as at Carol Woods Retirement Home for the elderly.
Lynn Jericho offers Festival classes online such as her “Imagine Self” series and does Counseling and Biography work for both Anthroposophists and the general public. She did some Biography work at our Michaelmas Festival this past year.
Edward Schuldt has offered classes for our Community and workshops at other groups such as in Chicago and Washington D.C. and Europe on his research on the Beatitudes and the Nine Interior Levels of the Earth. He will be speaking at our next branch meeting about research he has shared with others about the Maitreya Bodhisattva. He also wrote the introduction to a book he helped translate about the Maitreya Bodhisattva called The Lodge of the Bodhisattvas and The Question of the 20^th Century Bodhisattva by Filip Filipov and Preslav Pavlov.
Karen Rivers, co-founder of the Sophia Foundation, gives classes and workshops at her home and at ERUUF (the Eno River Unitarian Universalist Church) about various topics from Anthroposophy. She gives parenting classes to parents at the Waldorf School and conducts “Rosamira” Sunday services for children and their parents. During the summer she teaches about “The Seven Liberal Arts” at Chartres Cathedral in France.
Robert and Suzanne Mays are members of the IANDS (The International Association for Near Death Experiences). They have written articles, given talks in many parts of the country, have held monthly local study groups on the topic with guest speakers and videos, and are currently writing a book about Consciousness. If you do a google search on NDE research you will see a picture of Suzanne and Robert from a YouTube video: “NDE Research Panel – Next Directions in NDE Research”. The Mayses will be giving a talk at the Unity Center in Raleigh on April 6. They have also given talks for the Science Section in Spring Valley, NY. In August they will be giving a Zoom presentation about Prophetic Visions.
Jenny Bingham has been offering “Threshold services” for many years. These include helping people fill out the “Five Wishes” forms; as well as preparation for Home and Green funerals. Recently Jenny completed the Anthroposophical Psychology Training and is now a certified Counselor.
Ben Bingham has just completed his second book. The first book was entitled Making Money Matter. The new book is called Saving Money to Save the World. Ben says it is about “bringing virtue in Economics. Both books are about applying Threefold Social Order economic ideas into practical ways.
Joanna Carey writes of her initiative: I have begun to offer Werbeck Singing lessons again. The Ecoheal Center has graciously offered me space for the classes. During February and March we had a delightful group of women attending on Mondays from 6-8 pm.We learned and practiced various exercises for toning the voice and learned a bunch of fun and beautiful songs. I hope to offer this again at some point. This was strictly for women and it was a perfect situation for all. I am also currently offering a class for learning children’s songs. So far, no one from our community has come forward, but a number of international people have expressed interest in attending with their children. It will be offered on Wednesday afternoons during April. I will be attending a Werbeck Therapeutic Singing Retreat at the Kimberton Hills Camphill in PA in June. This will be followed by a Lyre Retreat at the same location. I will be presenting at both events and teaching an advanced class in lyre playing. I am grateful for all this and express my thanks to the Board for supporting us in these endeavors form time to time.
Eve Olive does Outreach Work with her presentation of “Cosmic Journey”: poems of Birth, Poems of Earth, and a Fairy Tale for our Time”. It is a series of original poems and a prose piece which picture the life of the Human Being in the Spiritual World before birth and on the earth. It is concerned with the destiny of the earth as well as with the destiny of us as individuals. This activity came not being through my desire to find a suitable way to being some of the wisdom of Anthroposophy to the wider public. About half the performances have been given to audiences already familiar with Rudolf Steiner’s work, but it is my hope that this activity will inspire others to recognize how, through the arts, one can bring ideas that may awaken in others a feeling for the spirit – all this without being dogmatic in any way or talking over people’s heads. A number of performances have been followed by writing workshops which have produced some beautiful work. There were 12 performances altogether last year (2018). For six of them I had Joanna Carey’s contribution with her beautiful lyre accompaniment. On my overseas presentations I had to be content with the tapping of a crystal glass or a bowl! However, in Glasgow, they did make the effort to find me an accompanist. Performances for the past year included:

- March 3 – Winter Park, FL at the 2018 Florida’s Anthropsophy/Waldorf Education’s 14^th Annual Conference – “Crossing Thresholds in Life and Death” with Lisa Romero.
- April 20 – Carol Woods Retirement Community, Chapel Hill, NC
- April 27 – Los Angeles, Ca – Elderberries Café Youth Group of the Anthroposophical Society (outreach to young people inspired by the work of Dottie Zold).
- April 28 – Los Angeles Branch Theatre in Pasadena.
- April 29 – San Diego Branch held at San Diego Waldorf School
- June 8 – Emerson Waldorf School, High School Students (last day of school)
- July 18 – Scotland, Glasgow Branch of the Anthroposophical Society
- July – Scottish Odyssey Tour (with Gillian Shoemaker)
- Sept. 1-23 – Ireland (Mystical Places Tour with Mindig Burgoyne), Northwest Ireland and Southern Ireland
- Oct. 14 – Theosophical Society in Raleigh, NC
- November 3 – Abundance, Pittsboro, NC at their ‘Day of the Dead” Festival

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Local:

Allen Barenholtz has announced that he will be offering a class in Projective Geometry, called: “Thinking Beyond Infinity: How to Span the Infinite and Return Safely”. The class will be held at the Ecoheal Center on Saturday mornings, beginning in two weeks and it will run from 6-8 weeks.
Next Sunday, March 31, 2019 we will have a Branch meeting at the Ecoheal Center. Our Guest Speaker is Edward Schuldt who will be speaking on “The Inner Search for the Maitreya Bodhisattva”. The talk will be followed by a discussion and refreshments.
On Tuesday, April 23, Brigida Baldzun will be presenting an interactive exploration of Therapeutic Eurythmy at the Ecoheal Center from 6-8 PM. The cost is $20. For adults; $10 For students.
Our final Branch meeting of the year will be on Saturday, May 4 with guest speaker Joanna Carey who will present an interactive Music Lesson involving anthroposophical indications about Music. We are currently searching for a venue. Any ideas? Please let Joanna or me know if you have a suggestion.

National:

The theme for this past year and for all the years leading up to 2023 will be “The Foundation Stone Meditation for the Future”. There are seven rhythms in the Foundation Stone Verse. Last year the first panel was studied; this past year (2018-2019) the second panel was studied. It is assumed that this Easter we will begin study of the third panel. Members are asked to work with it in whatever way they choose; a full explanation with suggestions is available on the anthroposophy.org website. There are a number of books that have been written about this mantra and a list of them is available on the Anthropsophy.org website.
The anthroposophy.org website has been renovated and it looks beautiful. Be sure to check it out. One new feature they have is a listing of all the branches and groups in the country with a list of the groups’ leaders and how to contact them. It is six pages long. Be patient if you are looking for our branch – we are on the last line of the last page!
The Annual General Meeting of the Anthroposophical Society will be held in Atlanta, Georgia October 11-13, 2019 with the day preceding it being a conference for Group Leaders. Kathleen Wright plans on attending this. The theme of this year’s conference is “Facing Each Other” and its artistic motif is the well-known optical illusion picture of two side view persons facing each other with a chalice formed in between their faces. The conference planners would like people to send them art work inspired from this picture that they can put on display. An example would be to put a collage on the chalice portion of the picture, or on the faces. A copy of the template is available from Angela Foster. Keynote speakers so far are Rev. Patrick Kennedy and Andrea de La Cruz, a woman from the Goetheanum who is a Leader of the Youth Section. The conference is still in the planning phase. There will be discussion groups at this conference and the planners are asking people to send in requests. A few suggestions thus far are: “Diversity” and “Steiner on Race”.
A “Zoom Study” is being offered by the Central Region on line. Steiner’s lecture “The Karma of the Anthroposophical Society” Chapter 1 is being offered on April 3 at 7:15 Central time. Marianne Fieber will be officiating. Up to 500 people may join this online Study. In May David Tressemer will be a guest on it.
An idea for enlivening activity in the Branch was suggested based on the experience of the Waldorf School in Atlanta: The students in a particular grade became pen pals with a Waldorf School in Dortmund , Germany. After corresponding for a while, the students became so fond of one another that they decided they wanted a visit, so the Atlanta students flew over to Germany, stayed at the homes of the German students , attended their classes for a week, went sightseeing together and they put on a concert together. It was an awesome experience for all. Why not us older folks in the branches do the same with our brothers and sister branches in Europe?
Jeff Poppen, better known as “The Barefoot Farmer” is a biodynamic farmer who is quite well-known in Tennessee. He has his own TV show on a local network there. Even though you can’t see his TV show in NC, you can view many videos about Jeff on YouTube. It is so good to hear that Steiner’s work is gaining popularity due to Social Media!