auteurs & autrices
Philip Thatcher
Philip Thatcher is the author of the Raven trilogy: The Eye of the Crow; The Mirror of the Moon; The Mask of the Sun. Born in Reno, Nevada, he resides in North Vancouver. He has taught English, history, and theater for many years at the Vancouver Waldorf High School and has worked as an adult educator at the West Coast Institute for Studies in Anthroposophy.
Elisabeth Wagner-Koch
Elisabeth Wagner-Koch, born in 1923 in Gut Wickerhausen, Solling, Germany, obtained her Abitur in 1942 - 1943 - 1950. She studied and worked as a sculptor, participated in exhibitions, and won awards in youth competitions from 1950 to 1955. She received training in painting with Gerard Wagner in Dornach, Switzerland, in 1956, as well as training in eurythmy and curative eurythmy. Since 1960, she has worked in collaboration with Gerard Wagner, establishing and leading the Painting School at the Goetheanum, and teaching at the Rudolf Steiner Teacher Training in Dornach from 1960 to 1999.
Bernard Lievegoed
Bernard Lievegoed was a distinguished physician, educator, and industrial psychologist. For his book Man on the Threshold, Professor Lievegoed was awarded the Golden Quill literary award of the Netherlands Publishers' Association..He is known for three important initiatives. The establishment of the Zonnehuis as a remedial pedagogical institute in 1931; He founded the NPI, which pioneered new approaches to business management. The establishment of the Vrije Hogeschool [VH] for training, research and study skills - primarily in the form of a propaedeutic year, in 1971. He died in 1992.
Dr. Phil. Robin Schmidt
Dr. phil. Robin Schmidt is a professor of philosophy and ethics/religions/community at the University of Teacher Education FHNW (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland). He conducts research and publishes articles on philosophical and pedagogical issues related to digital transformation. He is the author of the school program "Digital Media and Computer Science Education" for Waldorf/Steiner schools in Switzerland.
Christine Gruwez
Christine Gruwez (b. 1942) studied philosophy and linguistics at the KU Leuven, the Catholic University in Louvain, Belgium. She met Anthroposophy through the Waldorf school in Antwerp, which her four children attended, and where she taught from 1976 to 1986. Christine has led seminars and conferences in England, In Europe , the USA , and in Japan. One of her life’s research question is: How can we actualize what historical Manichaeism has initiated in human history? Christine has followed the history of Mani and his communities throughout the Far and Near East. Her book, Walking with Your Time: A Manichaean Journey, addresses ways to become a contemporary human individual and the question of good and evil in our time.
Chantal Lapointe
For over 25 years, Chantal Lapointe has been interested in Waldorf pedagogy and the anthroposophy on which it is based. In 1997, with a group of parents, she co-founded the Roselière Waldorf school, which her 3 children attended. In 2002, she co-founded the Institut Pégase, which offers teacher training in Waldorf pedagogy, of which she is still an administrator and for which she is responsible for preparing programs, supervising students in the completion of their end-of-training dissertation and where she also teaches some foundation courses. In 2017, she obtained her doctorate in philosophy (Ph.D.), with a thesis on Waldorf pedagogy and Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy of freedom (thesis title: Les conditions de possibilité d’une éducation vers la liberté, l’approche pédagogique de Rudolf Steiner). She participates in and leads study groups on various subjects related to Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy and Waldorf pedagogy.
Christiane Haid
Christiane Haid, Ph.D., was born in 1965 and studied German literature, history, art, and educational sciences in Freiburg and Hamburg. She worked as a research assistant at the Friedrich von Hardenberg Institute for Cultural Studies, focusing on the history of anthroposophy in the 20th century. In 2001, she became a collaborator in the Fine Arts Section, and in 2006 she conducted cultural research at the Albert Steffen Foundation in Dornach, Switzerland. In 2009, she became the head of the publishing house at the Goetheanum. She completed her Ph.D. in literary studies at the University of Basel in 2012. Since 2012, she has been responsible for the Fine Arts Section and the Literature Section at the Goetheanum. In 2019, she became the program director of the publishing house at the Goetheanum. Her current research topics include the humanization of the human being through literature, AI, and transhumanism.
Willem Zeylmans
Born in the Netherlands in 1893, Willem Zeylmans van Emmichoven was an original pioneer of Anthroposophy, the spiritual science established by Rudolf Steiner. As the General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in the Netherlands, he worked closely with Steiner. A physician and founder of the Rudolf Steiner Clinic in Scheveningen, Netherlands, he also conducted significant research on the influence of colors, the psychology of peoples and nations, as well as individual human psychology.
Monica Gold
Monica Gold was born in Germany in 1935. She attended a Waldorf school and throughout her life, she trained as a secretary, Waldorf teacher, and anthroposophic art therapist. She taught for 10 years at Iowa State University in the United States and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of British Columbia. Monica discovered the writings of Rudolf Steiner at the age of eighteen and dedicated her lifelong work to teaching children, youth, and adults in Canada and Russia. In March 2016, she launched a spiritual initiative, The Circle of Light, which brought her back to working internationally. Together with Giselher Weber, she has edited various books and videos over the past decade. Monica lives in Vancouver; she is the mother of three daughters and has five grandchildren.
Heinz Zimmermann
Heinz Zimmermann, the former director of the Pedagogical Section at the Goetheanum in Dornach, passed away in 2011. Even after his retirement, he remained a highly sought-after advisor within the Waldorf school movement, delivering countless lectures, writing books on conversation and community-building, and advising Waldorf colleges worldwide. Prior to this, the philology doctor had turned down an academic career to become a teacher of German and art history at the Rudolf Steiner School in Basel.
Audrey McAllen
Audrey McAllen was born and raised in England. She began her career teaching at a boarding school in Winchester. At the age of 21, Audrey began her Waldorf training and took courses related to children with special needs at Sunfield School. Her early studies were based on Rudolf Steiner’s 1909 lectures - Psychology of Body, Soul and Spirit. This led her to a deeper observation of children’s movements in relation to development, learning and consciousness. Audrey worked as a teacher at Michael Hall School, Forest Row, Sussex, England for 10 years. In 1961, while living in Gloucester, she was asked by Dr. Norbert Glass, School Physician at Wynstone School, to work with a pupil who was having difficulties at school. Working with Dr. Glass and his colleagues at the school, Audrey embarked on a lifelong effort to further her studies of Waldorf-Steiner pedagogy. This effort culminated in the publication of The Extra Lesson in 1974. Her association with the neuropsychology and sensory integration of American neurologist and occupational therapist Dr. Jean Ayres confirmed her research. Along the way, she met many people who inspired and encouraged her work as she lectured extensively in the USA, Europe and New Zealand.
Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner was born on February 27, 1861 in Kraljevec (Kingdom of Hungary). He studied at the Vienna University of Technology and received his doctorate from the University of Rostock with a thesis on epistemology that ended with the sentence: “The most important problem of all human thought is this: to understand man as a free personality based on himself.” Against this background, he worked as a Goethe publisher in Weimar and as an editor, private teacher and lecturer in Berlin. At the age of 18, Rudolf Steiner began studying at the Technical University in Vienna. There he initially studied biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics. However, his inner questions focused on the nature of man and he devoted himself increasingly to philosophy. The phenomenon of “I-consciousness” became one of his central studies. At the age of 29, Rudolf Steiner became a member of staff at the Goethe-Schiller Archive in Weimar. In addition to Goethe’s scientific writings, he publishes the complete edition of Schopenhauer and Jean Paul (published by Cotta), writes four books, including; “The Philosophy of Freedom”; and begins his lecturing activities. He meets personalities such as Ernst Haeckel, Hermann Grimm and Friedrich Nietzsche. During his time in Berlin, he worked as editor of the Magazin für Literatur and as a teacher at the Arbeiter-Bildungsschule. He became chairman of the circle “Die Kommenden”, in which he met weekly with the contemporary art and cultural scene. His lectures in theosophical circles formed the basis for his Anthroposophical Society, founded in 1913. The move to Dornach, Switzerland and the construction of the Goetheanum marked the beginning of anthroposophy’s visibility in the world. Steiner revolutionized many areas of life and put new things on their feet. He gave new impulses to education, medicine, agriculture, art, religion, economy and politics, which continue to have an impact today.
Adapted from Rudolf Steiner Archiv