EARTH ETHERIC
Our speakers this term have been asked to consider the way etheric forces interact with the earth. 'Etheric' is part of the vocabulary of spiritual science. It refers to the invisible forces of life that hold the physical body together. The etheric forces are the creative forces that give shape and form to physical things. The etheric is also the realm of the imagination. An understanding of the etheric gives us insights into the forces that shape and form the earth. The beauty of landscapes suggests that something more than a physical mechanical process is at work.
Tuesdays at 7.30pm. Admission £3.50 (min) £1 concessions

22nd April - Chen Atid - Gaia Sophia

Can we understand and to see if it is possible to combine James Lovelock's 'Gaia Hypothesis' with Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy?

'For me, the personal revelation of Gaia came quite suddenly - like a flash of enlightenment. I was in a small room on the top floor of a building at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. It was the autumn of 1965... and I was talking with a colleague, Dian Hitchcock, about a paper we were preparing... It was at that moment that I glimpsed Gaia. An awesome thought came to me. The Earth's atmosphere was an extraordinary and unstable mixture of gases, yet I knew that it was constant in composition over quite long periods of time. Could it be that life on Earth not only made the atmosphere, but also regulated it - keeping it at a constant composition, and at a level favourable for organisms?' (James Lovelock).

'In the broader context ecology must also encompass a social dimension, making it a social ecology that considers questions such as right motivation to work' (Rudolf Steiner).

Chen Atid (BSc in Biology, MA in Ecology) has spent many years studying, teaching and researching Anthroposophy, seeking to combine Goethe's observational methods with those of spiritual science. A practical application of this has been his work with biodynamic seed production. His main aim is to find new ways of answering the existential questions of our time. He teaches on the Foundation Course at Emerson College.

29th April - Nick Thomas - The Etheric Dimension of the Earth

Is the Earth merely 'a floating lump of mud in the sky' or does it have other dimensions of existence? Can we take the Gaia Hypothesis and understand it more spiritually? This talk will explore the general nature of 'ether' in contrast to the physical and astral, and apply that to our Earth.

Nick Thomas was trained as an electrical engineer in the RAF. He has been interested in Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophy since his teens and lectures widely on many themes. Currently he is engaged in research to develop a new spiritually based scientific paradigm.

6 May - Sylvia Francke - Fingal's Cave and Rosslyn Chapel

Echoes of Paradise Lost and Intimations of the New Jerusalem. At Fingal's Cave on the Isle of Staffa to the west of the Scottish coast we find that, in comparing Rudolf Steiner's spiritual scientific research with the recent research of two twentieth century scientists, the basalt formations there can be seen to provide a direct link to the lost 'Paradise-state' of the Earth. In the strata below Rosslyn Chapel south of Edinburgh, ideal conditions have formed to provide a sacred place where 'etheric' forces, water and sound are blended together in the dimensions of a building which was intended to have the potential of forming a future Paradise: 'The New Jerusalem'.

Sylvia Francke is the author of 'The Tree of Life and the Holy Grail' (Temple Lodge Publishing) and a long term student of Rudolf Steiner.

13 May - Terry Goodfellow - In Klingsor's Realm: Reflections on the island of Sicily and the Holy Grail

This talk will consider the distinctive landscape and geology of this island, its possible association with the Grail sagas, and the way in which this may have influenced its distinctive culture both in the past and in the present.

Terry Goodfellow has worked at Rudolf Steiner House for a number of years and contributes regularly to New View magazine.

20 May - Brien Masters - The Action of the Elements in the Landscape

Without dumping our digital cameras, how can we find our way back (or forward) to the world of nature which the Romantic poets and others so richly celebrated? Open the shutter of our inner eye? Enter with widening consciousness the worlds of volcano and vine, rowan and rapids?

Currently Director of the London Waldorf Teacher Training Seminar, Brien Masters PhD is primarily an educationist. Biodynamic gardening, map reading, botany and geography are subjects that comprise the 'green' part of his teaching spectrum. The landscape-gestures, the plant life of the Earth, and the play of the elements are ubiquitous themes in the poetry he has written for use in the classroom and in other writings.

27 May - Marion Briggs - Developing Conscious Co-operation with the Forces of Nature

In the past there were individuals who knew how to work with the landscape in a way which enhanced its fertility and its sacred nature, from druids to medieval architects. That knowledge was lost, with consequences which play into the degradation of our environment. Now it is possible to reconnect with the more subtle forces which form landscape temples and sacred spaces to work with the Earth's healing power. Marion will explore this proposition in her talk, using the example of experiences from her journeys in Europe, including Croatia, Belgium and Switzerland.

Since 1997, Marion Briggs has travelled between sacred landscapes in Europe, working with others in healing the effects of war, trauma and the degradation of the environment.

3 June - Virginia Gilmer - The Human Being and the Elemental World. Finland and the Kalevala.

This is the title of a series of lectures in which Rudolf Steiner considers the working of the elemental world. Virginia had a powerful experience of the elemental world when working in Finland and will expand on this with reference to the Kalevala and to music, including that of Jean Sibelius.

Virginia Gilmer is a musician and composer with a deep connection to Rudolf Steiner's ideas.

10 June - Simon Sharp - Contemplating Landscape

How imaginations can be formed from the contemplation of landscape, looking particularly at the work of Turner. Is this type of imagination relevant to the artist today?

Simon Sharp is director of the Leonardo project at Uppingham School. He is joint author of 'Goethe and Palladio and the Discovery of Metamorphosis'.

17 June - David Lowe - Geosophy

Unlike the word 'etheric' which he uses all the time Rudolf Steiner rarely used the word 'Geosophy'. However there are many lectures where he seems to refer to it without actually using the words. Also you can find oblique references in writers such as Goethe and Ruskin to a similar idea although neither of them places it, as Steiner does, in the context of the changing forms of initiation.

David Lowe is a teacher and has lectured widely in the USA and the UK. He is joint author of 'Goethe and Palladio and the Discovery of Metamorphosis'.

24 June - Susanne Mainzer - 'He must Increase but I must Decrease'

On Midsummer Day we shall consider the life and mission of John the Baptist. We shall also explore some features of the geography of the Holy Land.

Susanne Mainzer's working life includes editing, library work and teaching and many years of editorial and administrative work for the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain. Susanne has a degree in History.