Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2003, Page 137
that live on the physical Sun studied by science ―must all be regarded as having ‗remained
behind‘‖ (p. 41). Within the human chest there exists a second Sun, dwelling place of the
spirits of Yaweh Elohim, who breathed breath into the human being. These beings cause the
circulation of the blood. ―In the blood, in rhythm, in pulsebeat, the second sun dwells within
us‖ (p. 42). And last but not least, ―the first and highest Sun is the Sun of Christ.‖ ―The
Christ Sun has united itself with the Earth‖ (p. 43).
Many people participating in Waldorf schools do not know much, if anything, about the
esoteric subtext. Followers of Steiner often claim that Anthroposophy is not a religion but
rather a philosophy, and Steiner was a scientist, artist, educator and philosopher. Religion
scholars, however, have classified Anthroposophy as a religion and Steiner‘s doctrine
certainly meets criteria for being classified as such: it includes worship of Christ the Sun
Being as well as archangel Michael who is the messenger of the Sun and of the Christ there
is belief in various supernatural beings such as angels and demons, as well as gnomes,
sylphs, salamanders, and undines which are ―elemental‖ spirits that dwell in earth, air, fire
and water there is a destiny of followers and assurance of eternal life in the form of
reincarnation a path to follow to gain psychic sight in order to see spiritual beings that
surround mankind, use of rituals, the promise of a good reincarnation in Steiner‘s prophetic
future if one develops one‘s ―I.‖ Followers stand to inherit the earth and ―all it will yield‖. As
in any religion, there are local communities of like-minded believers.
Doublespeak—Our Personal Experience
You are either in or out, esoterically informed or uninformed. My husband and I were not
spiritual seekers pre-Waldorf and remain so post-Waldorf. In the personal essay that
follows, I shall attempt to tell our story: how I the Freethinker, (one who does not accept
the belief in beings concealed behind the material world) found myself propping up a
religious movement without my knowledge. How I, who values life as extremely precious
because it is most likely finite, found myself, along with my husband and daughter,
participating in a religious movement that embraces reincarnation as a main doctrinal
tenet—but only learning this after we left!
Looking back from a more informed perspective, no longer living in an esoteric knowledge
void, there seem to be several factors that contributed to our confusion about the
movement. The first has to do with how the group presented itself and our passive
acceptance of the group‘s presentation of information. We did not actively seek out our own
information or our own understanding of Rudolf Steiner until after we left and began
searching for reasons for the peculiar experiences and practices that we had encountered in
the group. The Waldorf school did not present itself as a religious movement but, instead,
claimed to be a scientific, art-based, nonsectarian school, having a multicultural emphasis
incorporating stories and festivals from around the world as well as having an
environmental focus. We believed Waldorf‘s claim, because Steiner was portrayed as a
scientist, educator, and philosopher. We had never heard of Rudolf Steiner before looking
into Waldorf, and assumed that he was as advertised. Initially, it never dawned on us that
he was a religious leader and that Waldorf would be a hub for the dissemination of his
beliefs. Even during our time in Waldorf, Steiner was never referred to as a mystic,
mystagogue, Rosicrucian, Theosophist, religious leader, religious educator, occultist, guru,
esoteric, or clairvoyant, etc. Words that would normally help an uninformed person garner a
better sense of the movement as a religious phenomenon were not employed. Use of these
sorts of words would automatically place Waldorf in a clearer context for the uninformed,
but they were missing at our ex-school.
In the occult tradition, the group also used veiled vocabulary devised by Steiner i.e., the
use of words having alternate meanings to the definitions we were familiar with which are
generally accepted by mainstream society. For example, ―psychic sight‖ was termed
that live on the physical Sun studied by science ―must all be regarded as having ‗remained
behind‘‖ (p. 41). Within the human chest there exists a second Sun, dwelling place of the
spirits of Yaweh Elohim, who breathed breath into the human being. These beings cause the
circulation of the blood. ―In the blood, in rhythm, in pulsebeat, the second sun dwells within
us‖ (p. 42). And last but not least, ―the first and highest Sun is the Sun of Christ.‖ ―The
Christ Sun has united itself with the Earth‖ (p. 43).
Many people participating in Waldorf schools do not know much, if anything, about the
esoteric subtext. Followers of Steiner often claim that Anthroposophy is not a religion but
rather a philosophy, and Steiner was a scientist, artist, educator and philosopher. Religion
scholars, however, have classified Anthroposophy as a religion and Steiner‘s doctrine
certainly meets criteria for being classified as such: it includes worship of Christ the Sun
Being as well as archangel Michael who is the messenger of the Sun and of the Christ there
is belief in various supernatural beings such as angels and demons, as well as gnomes,
sylphs, salamanders, and undines which are ―elemental‖ spirits that dwell in earth, air, fire
and water there is a destiny of followers and assurance of eternal life in the form of
reincarnation a path to follow to gain psychic sight in order to see spiritual beings that
surround mankind, use of rituals, the promise of a good reincarnation in Steiner‘s prophetic
future if one develops one‘s ―I.‖ Followers stand to inherit the earth and ―all it will yield‖. As
in any religion, there are local communities of like-minded believers.
Doublespeak—Our Personal Experience
You are either in or out, esoterically informed or uninformed. My husband and I were not
spiritual seekers pre-Waldorf and remain so post-Waldorf. In the personal essay that
follows, I shall attempt to tell our story: how I the Freethinker, (one who does not accept
the belief in beings concealed behind the material world) found myself propping up a
religious movement without my knowledge. How I, who values life as extremely precious
because it is most likely finite, found myself, along with my husband and daughter,
participating in a religious movement that embraces reincarnation as a main doctrinal
tenet—but only learning this after we left!
Looking back from a more informed perspective, no longer living in an esoteric knowledge
void, there seem to be several factors that contributed to our confusion about the
movement. The first has to do with how the group presented itself and our passive
acceptance of the group‘s presentation of information. We did not actively seek out our own
information or our own understanding of Rudolf Steiner until after we left and began
searching for reasons for the peculiar experiences and practices that we had encountered in
the group. The Waldorf school did not present itself as a religious movement but, instead,
claimed to be a scientific, art-based, nonsectarian school, having a multicultural emphasis
incorporating stories and festivals from around the world as well as having an
environmental focus. We believed Waldorf‘s claim, because Steiner was portrayed as a
scientist, educator, and philosopher. We had never heard of Rudolf Steiner before looking
into Waldorf, and assumed that he was as advertised. Initially, it never dawned on us that
he was a religious leader and that Waldorf would be a hub for the dissemination of his
beliefs. Even during our time in Waldorf, Steiner was never referred to as a mystic,
mystagogue, Rosicrucian, Theosophist, religious leader, religious educator, occultist, guru,
esoteric, or clairvoyant, etc. Words that would normally help an uninformed person garner a
better sense of the movement as a religious phenomenon were not employed. Use of these
sorts of words would automatically place Waldorf in a clearer context for the uninformed,
but they were missing at our ex-school.
In the occult tradition, the group also used veiled vocabulary devised by Steiner i.e., the
use of words having alternate meanings to the definitions we were familiar with which are
generally accepted by mainstream society. For example, ―psychic sight‖ was termed
