Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 111
The sun, with loving light,
Makes bright for me each day.
The soul, with spirit power,
Gives strength unto my limbs.
In sunlight, shining clear,
I reverence, O God,
The strength of humankind
Which thou so graciously
Has planted in my soul,
That I with all my might
May love to work and learn
From thee come light and strength
To thee rise love and thanks.
Students recite the words clearly. Next, with accompanying hand movements,
students sing another song. Then they snuff the candle with great attention
and ritual. (Uhrmacher, 1991, pp. 108-109)
In the first public Waldorf school in Milwaukee the wording was changed to make it seem
less religious:
The Sun with loving light
Makes bright for me each day
The light within myself
Gives strength unto my limbs
In sunlight, shining clear
I reverence the strength and power of humankind
That lives in you and me,
That I with all my might,
May love to work and learn.
To me comes strength and light,
From me rise love and thanks. (McDermott, 1995, p. 38)
This is still a prayer despite the removal of ―God.‖ ―Love and thanks‖ are due to some
person or deity the object seems obvious, the sun. In Anthroposophy, the ―Christ Spirit‖ is
a ―sun being.‖ It requires no great stretch to construe this prayer as being directed to
Steiner‘s version of Christ.
In Northern California, a public school teacher who had taken Waldorf teacher training got
permission from his school board to present ―a simple, multi-cultural study of stories from
six world religions.‖ In a Waldorf journal that he apparently figured his public school
colleagues wouldn‘t see, the teacher bragged to his Anthroposophical colleagues about how
he managed to stage a full-fledged Anthroposophical ritual in his public school classroom:
On the last day before vacation, I led the children in a Winter Solstice
Celebration. The room was cleared, except for a red covered table arranged
with a wreath of evergreen branches and mistletoe. A few sprigs of holly, with
its red berries, completed the circle which surrounded an angel holding a
lighted candle. A few crystals and some winter animals complemented the
arrangement. The children each had a candle and we spiraled into the center,
each lighting our candle. All the while we sang a simple solstice song that
goes, ―Down with Darkness, Up with Light.‖ The simplicity and magic of the
moment was very moving and powerful. Winter Solstice, with its obvious
astronomical importance, is the easiest aspect of the Christmas season to
emphasize in a public school. So, for a brief moment, we all felt like ancient
The sun, with loving light,
Makes bright for me each day.
The soul, with spirit power,
Gives strength unto my limbs.
In sunlight, shining clear,
I reverence, O God,
The strength of humankind
Which thou so graciously
Has planted in my soul,
That I with all my might
May love to work and learn
From thee come light and strength
To thee rise love and thanks.
Students recite the words clearly. Next, with accompanying hand movements,
students sing another song. Then they snuff the candle with great attention
and ritual. (Uhrmacher, 1991, pp. 108-109)
In the first public Waldorf school in Milwaukee the wording was changed to make it seem
less religious:
The Sun with loving light
Makes bright for me each day
The light within myself
Gives strength unto my limbs
In sunlight, shining clear
I reverence the strength and power of humankind
That lives in you and me,
That I with all my might,
May love to work and learn.
To me comes strength and light,
From me rise love and thanks. (McDermott, 1995, p. 38)
This is still a prayer despite the removal of ―God.‖ ―Love and thanks‖ are due to some
person or deity the object seems obvious, the sun. In Anthroposophy, the ―Christ Spirit‖ is
a ―sun being.‖ It requires no great stretch to construe this prayer as being directed to
Steiner‘s version of Christ.
In Northern California, a public school teacher who had taken Waldorf teacher training got
permission from his school board to present ―a simple, multi-cultural study of stories from
six world religions.‖ In a Waldorf journal that he apparently figured his public school
colleagues wouldn‘t see, the teacher bragged to his Anthroposophical colleagues about how
he managed to stage a full-fledged Anthroposophical ritual in his public school classroom:
On the last day before vacation, I led the children in a Winter Solstice
Celebration. The room was cleared, except for a red covered table arranged
with a wreath of evergreen branches and mistletoe. A few sprigs of holly, with
its red berries, completed the circle which surrounded an angel holding a
lighted candle. A few crystals and some winter animals complemented the
arrangement. The children each had a candle and we spiraled into the center,
each lighting our candle. All the while we sang a simple solstice song that
goes, ―Down with Darkness, Up with Light.‖ The simplicity and magic of the
moment was very moving and powerful. Winter Solstice, with its obvious
astronomical importance, is the easiest aspect of the Christmas season to
emphasize in a public school. So, for a brief moment, we all felt like ancient
