Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 129
the environment. Scholars may also discover that Anthroposophy motivates all Waldorf
classroom activity and that, for those ―in the know,‖ the pedagogy and curriculum serves as
an Anthroposophic mystery initiation for both teacher and pupils. Because of this,
Anthroposophists are drawn to Waldorf Schools. Scholars might see that Anthroposophical
beliefs are the reasons for some of the more unusual practices, as well as the sometimes
humorous, but too-often tragic, scenarios that surface when the esoterically uninformed
flutter with the moths drawn to the light.
Anthroposophy–Doctrine of the Group
Sects drawn to occult illumination much like what would today be termed ―New Age,‖ were
already firmly entrenched in the America of the nineteenth century. After a period of
spiritual experimentation, the Theosophical Society, founded in 1875 by Helena P.
Blavatsky, emerged in New York City. Theosophy spawned spiritual progenies such as I Am,
most modern Gnostic sects, modern astrology, as well as Anthroposophy. These spiritual
movements ―integrated spiritualist ideas with a great deal of Hindu and Buddhist thought,
including the theories of karma and reincarnation‖ and popularized Hermetic teachings in
America. ―Theosophy enjoyed a global boom by the early 1880s‖ and had an enormous
impact on all subsequent occult movements (Jenkins, 2000, p. 41) including
Anthroposophy.
Rudolf Steiner was a white magician and one of the most knowledgeable occultists of his
time (Merkur, 1993, p. 61). He saw the universe as a vast, living being, inhabited by a
multitude of spiritual beings at various stages of development, whose forces create the
physical world. He was a macro-microcosmic thinker, and the old hermetic axiom once
embraced by alchemists—‖As above, so below‖—is essential to Steiner‘s Anthroposophical
perspective. This fundamental tenet of magic is a radical divergence from contemporary
scientific thinking. Otherwise stated as ―the universe a vast human being, the individual a
small universe‖, this maxim of ―truth‖ was originally adopted by occult thinkers free from
the restraints imposed by scientific models of the universe and the Darwinian theory of
human evolution. Although the attitude is viewed as erroneous by modern science, magic
expert Michael Greer writes, in Circles of Power, that throughout history people have
persisted in viewing the interaction between consciousness and matter as a reality
independent of the mind. He adds that there are still those who embrace this principle of
macrocosm (great universe) and microcosm (little universe) as a more useful model for
experience than the scientific belief system accepted in American culture (Greer, 1997, pp.
13-14). They follow in a long succession, embracing this construct previously widely
disseminated by Cabalists, Hermeticists, Gnostics, Neoplatonists and Rosicrucians as they
exerted influence for centuries. ―As above, so below‖ appropriates continuity with the past,
right to the present day, in the eclectic teachings revered by the disciples of the Austrian
mystagogue of the last century, who borrowed extensively, from this esoteric tradition, to
concoct his own belief system—Anthroposophy.
Steiner is reputed to have said that Elizabeth Vreede ―understood his work more deeply
than anyone else‖ (Vreede, 2001, back cover). Once appointed the head of the
Mathematical-Astronomical Section of the School of Spiritual Science by Steiner himself,
Vreede reiterated Steiner‘s belief that stars are the discarded physical bodies and external
forms of divine, spiritual beings ―members of a ‗spiritual colony‘ that, although invisible,
works directly into the material realm … [H]uman souls are fellow members in this
community of spirits in the life between death and rebirth‖ (Vreede, p. 284). In her book
Anthroposophy and Astrology, Vreede gives a summary of the Anthroposophic macro-
microcosmic world view. After explaining Steiner‘s concept that plants on earth correspond
to the living mirrored image of the beings of the star world and describing plants as beings
with self-consciousness in a group soul which exists ―as the offspring of the spirits of
wisdom‖ (p. 286), she writes:
the environment. Scholars may also discover that Anthroposophy motivates all Waldorf
classroom activity and that, for those ―in the know,‖ the pedagogy and curriculum serves as
an Anthroposophic mystery initiation for both teacher and pupils. Because of this,
Anthroposophists are drawn to Waldorf Schools. Scholars might see that Anthroposophical
beliefs are the reasons for some of the more unusual practices, as well as the sometimes
humorous, but too-often tragic, scenarios that surface when the esoterically uninformed
flutter with the moths drawn to the light.
Anthroposophy–Doctrine of the Group
Sects drawn to occult illumination much like what would today be termed ―New Age,‖ were
already firmly entrenched in the America of the nineteenth century. After a period of
spiritual experimentation, the Theosophical Society, founded in 1875 by Helena P.
Blavatsky, emerged in New York City. Theosophy spawned spiritual progenies such as I Am,
most modern Gnostic sects, modern astrology, as well as Anthroposophy. These spiritual
movements ―integrated spiritualist ideas with a great deal of Hindu and Buddhist thought,
including the theories of karma and reincarnation‖ and popularized Hermetic teachings in
America. ―Theosophy enjoyed a global boom by the early 1880s‖ and had an enormous
impact on all subsequent occult movements (Jenkins, 2000, p. 41) including
Anthroposophy.
Rudolf Steiner was a white magician and one of the most knowledgeable occultists of his
time (Merkur, 1993, p. 61). He saw the universe as a vast, living being, inhabited by a
multitude of spiritual beings at various stages of development, whose forces create the
physical world. He was a macro-microcosmic thinker, and the old hermetic axiom once
embraced by alchemists—‖As above, so below‖—is essential to Steiner‘s Anthroposophical
perspective. This fundamental tenet of magic is a radical divergence from contemporary
scientific thinking. Otherwise stated as ―the universe a vast human being, the individual a
small universe‖, this maxim of ―truth‖ was originally adopted by occult thinkers free from
the restraints imposed by scientific models of the universe and the Darwinian theory of
human evolution. Although the attitude is viewed as erroneous by modern science, magic
expert Michael Greer writes, in Circles of Power, that throughout history people have
persisted in viewing the interaction between consciousness and matter as a reality
independent of the mind. He adds that there are still those who embrace this principle of
macrocosm (great universe) and microcosm (little universe) as a more useful model for
experience than the scientific belief system accepted in American culture (Greer, 1997, pp.
13-14). They follow in a long succession, embracing this construct previously widely
disseminated by Cabalists, Hermeticists, Gnostics, Neoplatonists and Rosicrucians as they
exerted influence for centuries. ―As above, so below‖ appropriates continuity with the past,
right to the present day, in the eclectic teachings revered by the disciples of the Austrian
mystagogue of the last century, who borrowed extensively, from this esoteric tradition, to
concoct his own belief system—Anthroposophy.
Steiner is reputed to have said that Elizabeth Vreede ―understood his work more deeply
than anyone else‖ (Vreede, 2001, back cover). Once appointed the head of the
Mathematical-Astronomical Section of the School of Spiritual Science by Steiner himself,
Vreede reiterated Steiner‘s belief that stars are the discarded physical bodies and external
forms of divine, spiritual beings ―members of a ‗spiritual colony‘ that, although invisible,
works directly into the material realm … [H]uman souls are fellow members in this
community of spirits in the life between death and rebirth‖ (Vreede, p. 284). In her book
Anthroposophy and Astrology, Vreede gives a summary of the Anthroposophic macro-
microcosmic world view. After explaining Steiner‘s concept that plants on earth correspond
to the living mirrored image of the beings of the star world and describing plants as beings
with self-consciousness in a group soul which exists ―as the offspring of the spirits of
wisdom‖ (p. 286), she writes:
