Anthroposophical Society in Australia

What is Phenomenology? Further investigations
2023-02-15 18:30 - 20:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Stream of Life Research Studio presents
Further investigations into the nature and practice of phenomenology

This webinar is the 2nd in our series and a follow-up to our first dialogue (16 November 2022). You are invited to join us again!
The aim of these webinars is to provide an interdisciplinary view of how different fields/disciplines understand phenomenology, whose approach they use e.g. Goethean, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Zajonc etc. and how they implement their approach in their professional practice.
Tell me more about phenomenology
Phenomenology is essentially the study of the structures of consciousness, though it is better known as the study of the lived experience. It concerns how a phenomenon is experienced, as it is experienced, and aims to describe those experiences, rather than theorise or explain them. Moreover, in studying the experience, phenomenology opens the way to understanding our consciousness of that experience. In turn, this can change our way of seeing the world (Campbell 2018*).
Goethean Science is phenomenological in approach, and is well known in anthroposophical circles as a qualitative approach to the natural sciences. But phenomenology as a methodology for wider anthroposophic-based application is becoming increasingly popular in our circles in the sphere of the arts and human sciences.
Phenomenology can be a philosophy, a research methodology, or a practice – or all three. It can take different forms in different fields and even within the same field/discipline, depending on whose philosophical foundations you are applying.
Sounds complex but fascinating? Then come along and find out more.
Program
Three researcher/practitioners share their experiences: Joanna Jaaniste (Dramatherapy), Bronwen Haralambous (Education) and Lisa Devine (Counselling and Theology)
Each presenter describes their understanding through the lens of these four key characteristics and how it impacts their professional practice or way of seeing the world through the lens of these four questions:

An open attitude: how do I see with “new eyes”?
Dwelling: how do I immerse myself into the object, how do I engage with the experience, the information?
Disclosure: how can I reveal the essence of the phenomenon in question?
Description: sharing my experiences of working phenomenologically. How do I do this?

A short introduction to some common tools/methods used in phenomenological research will be overviewed.
Q&A session to follow
When will this webinar take place?
6.30 pm AEDT/5.30 pm AEST Wednesday 15th February 2023 online.
Please note: the webinar is not being recorded.
Cost
$20 donation or whatever you can afford to support us.
Registration
To register
How to join the webinar
After registration, participants will be sent the Zoom link by email two (2) days beforehand, and then again one (1) hour beforehand.
Please login for the webinar via your Zoom app and not via Eventbrite.
For more information
Please contact Fiona Campbell or Martin Samson

*Fiona Campbell (2018), ‘Flow, resistance and thinking : a phenomenological study of creativity‘ Doctoral thesis, UTS Digital Thesis Collection.

What is Phenomenology? And how do I begin?
2023-03-29 18:30 - 20:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Stream of Life Research Studio presents
A webinar on how to practice phenomenology in the workplace

This webinar is the 3rd in our series and a follow-up to our first two dialogues (16 November 2022 and 15 February 2023). You are invited to join us again!
This series of webinars aims is to provide an interdisciplinary view of how different professions understand and implement phenomenology, including how this form of research supports professional practice. Through sharing our collective experience of working phenomenologically, we address the questions: what is phenomenology? and how do I practice it?
Are you interested in learning how to work phenomenologically?
In our first two webinars, we have heard from a range of practitioners and researchers how they approach phenomenology in their professional practice and some techniques they use. Now, in this third and final webinar, we introduce how to begin working phenomenologically yourself.
Program
Firstly, Robin Steele will be presenting her hermeneutic research into therapeutic change through psychophonetics.
Then, an open discussion on how to take the first steps in developing a phenomenological method for researching spiritual science.
Participants are invited to submit their questions in advance to the organisers to help facilitate the discussion.
For both parts of the program, we will be using this framework:

An open attitude: how do I see with “new eyes”?
Dwelling: how do I immerse myself into the object, how do I engage with the experience, the information?
Disclosure: how can I reveal the essence of the phenomenon in question?
Description: sharing my experiences of working phenomenologically. How do I do this?

A practice-based workshop is planned for 13 May in Sydney and potentially early Spring -TBA
When will this webinar take place?
6.30 pm AEDT/5.30 pm AEST Wednesday 29th March 2023 online.
Cost
$20 donation or whatever you can afford to support us.
Registration
To register
How to join the webinar
After registration, participants will be sent the Zoom link by email two (2) days beforehand, and then again one (1) hour beforehand.
Please login for the webinar via your Zoom app and not via Eventbrite.
For more information
Please contact Fiona Campbell or Martin Samson

Phenomenology is essentially the study of the structures of consciousness, though it is better known as the study of the lived experience.

It concerns how a phenomenon is experienced, as it is experienced, and aims to describe those experiences, rather than theorise or explain them. Moreover, in studying the experience, phenomenology opens the way to understanding our consciousness of that experience. In turn, this can change our way of seeing the world (Campbell 2018*).

*Fiona Campbell (2018), ‘Flow, resistance and thinking : a phenomenological study of creativity‘ Doctoral thesis, UTS Digital Thesis Collection.

Anthroposophical Society in Australia 2023 AGM
2023-04-29 15:45 - 17:45 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
The ASinA’s 2023 Annual General Meeting will be held from 3.45pm-5.45pm, beginning at 3.45 with Rod Tomlinson speaking of Communal Inner Striving and Anthroposophy.
Official AGM Business 4.30pm-5.45pm, on Saturday, 29 April, 2023

Online access: Zoom Broadcast from Kingston, Tasmania. The Zoom link has been sent to members.
Venue: Room 1A, Adult Education Building, Hutchins Street, Kingston, Tasmania.

Festival of Change
2023-05-20 15:00 - 16:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Introduction to Social Sculpture Zoom

In this free zoom session we will offer concise descriptions of what we will individually and collectively present during a 5-day Festival of Change & provide ample time for Q&A.

Presenters
Irmhild Kleinhenz – Functional Threefoldness within the Human Body
Hamish Mackay – Economy Life
Gillian Rogers – Social Rights Life
Iris Curteis – Spiritual Cultural Life

Contact

Contact Iris Curteis

Book here

Meeting ID: 881 7770 7254
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Three Sisters of the Threshold - Death, Sleep and Meditation
2023-06-25 19:00 - 2023-07-02 20:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
A mid-winter series of contemplations
on aspects of death and the threshold

Learning what to expect when we cross the threshold of death. How sleep and meditation prepare us for the journey in the spiritual world.
This is a 45 minute contemplation taking place each day from 7.00 pm -7.45 pm AEST (with fifteen minutes conversation at the end of each evening.)
In each session there will be a 45 minute consideration of the themes, which will complement each other and set a mood of soul for participants to work with over the ensuing night and day. The final minutes of the session will be for any further considerations and nuances that will help grow the work over the mid-winter season to prepare our inner transformation to the threshold. The hope is that each day will have the nurturing aspect of a retreat for resetting our soul for the rest of the year.
When
Eight Days: Sunday 25 June 2023 – Sunday 02 July 2023 (Inclusive)
Cost
Recommended Donation: $55 for the eight presentations.
To register
Register here!
Once registered the recurring zoom link will be sent out two days, two hours and ten minutes before the first session. The same link will be used every day.
Please login via your Zoom app. You will also receive a link to the archive folder for viewing the recording. Please use this as a study resource and do not share it with others.
Recommended reading
The Imaginative Life Tableau
For more information
Enquiries directed to Martin Samson

Picture credit: Pity by William Blake (1795)

Anthroposophical Professional Development Initiative
2023-08-01 - 2023-11-21 | Online
Introducing a new online course
For terms 3 & 4, 2023
What is the Anthroposophical World View?
The aim of these two blocks of lectures and workshops is to present an overview of what is often experienced as an overwhelmingly large and complex body of knowledge, particularly for student teachers and other professionals working in anthroposophically-based groups and organisations.

A closer understanding of how spirit and matter permeate each other lies at the very heart of any truly monistic world view, such as the one Rudolf Steiner gave to the world. It is out of this very understanding that Anthroposophy can be concretely applied in so many practical fields of life.
Lecture series

Term 4 Lecture Series II: An Introduction to Rudolf Steiner’s Cosmology
Download the lecture program

Full course program
Three Worlds – 4 Ethers : Connecting Spirit and Matter
Block 1 (Term 3) explores the links between the physical, astral and spiritual worlds and how nature and the human being are placed within this multi-tiered reality. This also includes the Manifestation process by which spirit incarnates into physical form and substance via the medium of the 4 Ethers, which form the bridge between spirit and matter.

Steiner’s Cosmology: The Cosmic Mission of Humanity and Earth
Block II (Term 4) explores the larger Chronological context, which leads us to the question of humanity’s cosmic origins and future destiny. Where did humanity come from? Where are we going? What is our cosmic purpose and mission on Earth and within the larger spiritual universe? Rudolf Steiner’s surprising answers can throw a profound light on such questions, including the problem of good and evil, human freedom and the longer-term consequences of the seeds we are planting right now, both as individuals and collectively as a humanity. The cosmological picture also provides a context to the currently raging, worldwide battle between Good and Evil and can help us face this battle with renewed confidence and strength in our humanity.

Download the program here.
Cost
Please check the program flyer for fees
Enrolment
Download the enrolment form
For more information

For a 15-minute video introduction
Contact Johannes on: +61 (0) 414 724 587

You and I are we - questions of community
2023-09-01 18:00 - 2023-09-03 22:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Newcastle Waldorf School, 30 Reservoir Rd, Glendale, NSW, 2285, Australia
Hosted by the Oceanic Youth Circle

It is with pleasure that the Oceanic Youth Circle announces its very first conference. Our youth initiative began about a year ago, meeting fortnightly over Zoom, and studying anthroposophy together.
Who is it for?
Consider this a call to anyone who is young (18-35), working in Anthroposophy, or just interested in Anthroposophy to come together for a weekend of learning and connection.

We have three amazing guest speakers, Dr Richard Drexel, Dr Helen Proctor, and Nathaniel Williams PhD. Dr Richard and Dr Helen are both anthroposophic doctors, visiting from New Zealand. Nathaniel Williams is the head of the Youth Section at the Goetheanum in Switzerland.
Our theme You and I are we – questions of community arose from an impulse we collectively share. Spiritually navigating the last three years has been no easy task for anyone, however, the challenges those times brought have given birth to new impulses of change. It is this theme that we would like to explore together.
Venue
Newcastle Waldorf School
30 Reservoir Rd, Glendale NSW 2285, Australia
Date
Fri 1st Sep 2023, 6:00 pm – Sun 3rd Sep 2023, 10:00 pm AEST
Cost
$140 for the weekend, which includes lunch and dinner. There is also accommodation available, just reach out and we can organise something. If you are experiencing finical difficulty, please reach out as we can help with the cost. We don’t want finances to be a barrier for anyone.
Registration
For tickets
Program
Draft Program
Spread the word!
Please feel free to share this announcement with your friends, colleagues, and anyone who might be interested in joining this unique gathering of young anthroposophists. Together, we can create a vibrant and supportive community, empowering each other to explore anthroposophy’s wisdom and apply it in our lives.
We hope to see you at the conference, so that we can embark on this journey together during these challenging times of change. If you have any questions at all, send us an email at youthsectionoceania@gmail.com
Warm regards,
The Oceanic Youth Circle

Twelve Days of Christmas – Holy Nights Contemplations
2023-12-25 19:00 - 2024-01-05 20:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
The Creation of the Etheric Heart and the Future of Humanity
and
The Cosmic Communion of the Human Being

Daily Contemplation and Conversational Deepening Online with Jude (Martin) Neeme-Samson and Craig Logan

In each session, there will be three fifteen-minute considerations of the two themes, which will complement each other and set a mood of soul for participants to work with over the ensuing night and day.
Each day will have the nurturing aspect of a retreat for our soul and our spiritual work in the coming year.

When

25 December 2023 – 5 January 2024
7.00 pm – 8.00 pm Sydney time

Bookings
Book here

Once you are registered the Zoom link will be sent two days (23/12/23) before we start. The session will start 7:05 pm and it is recommended that you join the link a few minutes early. The link will be open from 6.55pm. The link is the same one for each session.
For more information
Download the flyer or contact Jude Samson-Neeme

Feature image: The Sistine Madonna, Raphael circa 1512 and circa 151

A Virtuous Journey: Living with the 12 Virtues as a Cycle of the Year
2024-03-21 19:00 - 2024-12-22 20:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Exploring the Virtues
Working with the 12 monthly virtues as an exploration, contemplation and mediation

Rudolf Steiner gave twelve virtues to be worked on for each zodiac. Whilst we have this list from Steiner, he gave very little else directly.
This course takes up his introduction. It will explore each of the virtues more deeply, and what they mean in relation to the zodiac over the cycle of a year. We will be working with a discourse, a contemplative practice of verse and Heart Awareness to bring the virtues to life exploring both the practical and spiritual aspects of each of the virtues.
Find out more
Download the program
When is it?
Starts March 21 with Aries as the theme. The paper and contemplation will be emailed on the 21st of each month related to the virtue and the corresponding zodiac sign. and we will meet online (via zoom) at 7pm AEDT for 1 hour on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month to explore,
Cost
$240 for the year donation suggested.
You can register directly or organize an alternative payment schedule for this upcoming course by emailing me here.
Bookings
Buy tickets

Course leaders
Jude Samson and Craig Logan.
Download the flyer or contact Jude for more information

Breathing Out The Winter: A Therapeutic Intensive
2024-07-27 14:00 - 2024-07-28 17:00 (Australia/Adelaide) | Online
Painted Space Studio
presents

An Art Intensive For Nourishing The Soul Forces

Let’s prepare ourselves Spring!
This intensive therapeutic painting workshop brings the health-giving forces of the harmonious breath into our souls and bodies as we breathe out the Winter and breathe in the renewed life coming towards us.

Late Winter can be a difficult time: Nature’s death shudder is still with us, but already signs of hope and new growth are appearing in the earth. By preparing our souls for the burgeoning forces of Spring, we nurture the new forces arising in our inmost being and bring them into harmonious rhythm with Nature’s rhythms.

Based on a classic Hauschka therapy exercise Painting as an Exercise for Breathing, this online workshop is an immersive experience using wet-on-wet painting or pastels and is for anyone in need of soul nourishment.

Online guided exercises and contemplation interspersed with working quietly in the comfort of your home with the company of an Australia-wide community.

Why join the live class? Benefits of live participation
When you paint with others, at the same time as them, even though it is in a virtual environment, you are creating community. Think of it as a group of people coming together with the specific intention to build substance, to create something together, to bring something into the world that benefits both ourselves yet also puts positive, creative forces into the world. And we create within a divine-spiritual community. Divine beings look over our shoulders; we create in their company and in the company of like-minded others.The gift is in the giving, in the doing, as much as in the product.
Who is it for?
Beginners welcome! You do not need to be an experienced artist to benefit from this workshop. Participants are guided through the experience with demonstrations.
When

2-5pm ACST, 27-28 July 2024
Cost
$190 AUD/$134 USD including recordings
Bookings
Book here

You will be sent the payment details and a list of suggested materials after payment.

The Zoom link is sent one (1) day before the workshop.
For more information
Please contact Fiona Campbell at Painted Space

Feature image: excerpt of painting of the cycle of the plant, Weleda Calendar 2000 © Alexander Winter

Working with Steiner's Nature Mood Sketches
2024-08-31 15:00 - 2024-11-23 17:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Painted Space Studio
presents
The Seven School (Friedwart) Sketches series

This fortnightly online course introduces you to Rudolf Steiner’s approach to painting and his understanding of how the formative forces shape and move the world around us through his own pastel sketches. The course uses the wet-on-dry veiling technique or pastels, if preferred.
The Seven School (or Friedwart) Sketches were first given to Waldorf teachers as part of Steiner’s new impulse for understanding both Art and Nature, to help students explore invisible yet objective laws of Nature. The series leads us from the archetypal nature moods of sunrise and sunset through the four elements to the human world, culminating in a Madonna and Child motif.
What are the Training Sketches?
Theses sketches are part of a comprehensive portfolio known as the Training Sketches for the Artists. Along with The Nine Training Sketches (Nature Moods) and the Goetheanum epochs motifs, they form an important part of this portfolio.
But these sketches are not images of external natural events; they refer to acts that are effective in nature and human, says Christiane Haid, head of the Visual Arts Section at the Goetheanum. She believes that working with the creative forces in and around us can become the starting point for facing tasks in healing the world.
Who is this course for?

For Steiner teachers, artists, art therapists and art students seeking to understand how the formative forces work in Nature and Human.

For anyone interested in the foundations of the anthroposophic approach to art, colour and painting. You do not need to be an experienced artist to enjoy this course.

This course is a core course of the Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul training.
When is it?
3pm-5pm Saturdays AEST, 31 August-23 November 2024
Seven two-hour fortnightly sessions. Participants are expected to do some homework between classes. Edited recordings of the sessions are available post-class but live participation is preferred, unless your time zone makes this impossible.
Cost
$300 AUD/$205 USD
$305 AUD for PD certificate
Video recording included in the fee, available for private study.

Book here!

How to join the workshops
The Zoom link, payment details, a list of materials and suggested readings will be sent to you after booking.

Other Painted Space Studio workshop courses

For more information

Contact

‘…and in the creations of the artist t here will appear to us
the traces of his soul experience in the cosmos‘

Steiner

Feature image: Sunlit Tree by a Waterfall No. 6 © Fiona Campbell

A Conversation With Your Garden: Plant Observation And Drawing
2024-09-11 17:00 - 2024-11-20 18:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Painted Space Studio
presents
A Series of Workshops on Goethean Observation and Nature Moods

Let’s prepare ourselves Spring!
Spring is the ideal time of year to turn our eyes to Nature and learn her secrets through Goethean observation, drawing and reflection. Spending time up close with Nature in the garden, a park, a local nature reserve or even just with a few pot plants on your balcony is both energising and healing.
(Of course, any time of the year in Nature is good, but Spring and Autumn have particular qualities of change and transformation especially suited to drawing and observation.)
What will we do?
Through the six online workshops, learn to see anew the wonder of your own garden. Each workshop leads us through a process of becoming ‘at home’ with Nature, from quiet contemplation, careful observation, and mood immersion, to sketching, colour work and reflection.
Learn the core stages of a phenomenological process and practice the different drawing/sketching techniques to take us through this process. Techniques include charcoal, pencil, paint and pastel. Participants keep a visual diary to document their discoveries and observations.
By getting up close with our garden in this way, the world around us becomes more alive – living and becoming.
What is Goethean phenomenology?
Goethean phenomenology (also known as Goethean observation) helps us develops new eyes for the world around us. It offers us another way of being in the world, one that brings us into a more participatory connection with Nature and ourselves. We learn to step into the world and feel at home with it.
Who is it for?

For Steiner teachers, artists, art therapists and art students seeking to understand how the formative forces work in Nature
For anyone interested in knowing more about Goethean phenomenology and how to practice it.

Suitable for all levels. You do not need to be an experienced artist to enjoy these workshops.
Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.
When is it on?
5.00pm-6.30pm AEST, 11 September to 20 November 2024
How do I book?

Book here
Please complete the online form to book for this series of workshops. You will be sent the payment details and a list of suggested materials and readings after booking.
The Zoom link is sent one (1) day before the workshop begins.
More information
Find out more about this course and others from Painted Space or contact Fiona Campbell.

Oh, I who wish to grow, I look out, and inside me the tree grows.
Rainer Maria Rilke

Feature image: Ethereal Space of Plant Growth, Plate I, The Plant between Sun and Earth © Olive Whicher

Supporting Patients with COVID
2024-12-15 18:30 - 20:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
For Anthroposophic Practitioners and Students

Twelve Days of Christmas – Holy Nights Contemplations
2024-12-25 19:00 - 2025-01-05 20:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
The Women and Men in the Life of Christ:
A New Archetype of the Zodiac and Planets
With Jude Neeme-Samson
Daily Contemplation and Conversational Deepening

In each session, there will be three fifteen-minute considerations of the two themes, which will complement each other and set a mood of soul for participants to work with over the ensuing night and day.
Each day will have the nurturing aspect of a retreat for our soul and our spiritual work in the coming year.
Jude will begin the first fifteen minutes session with the esoteric development of the zodiac and planets in the cycle of the year.
Then we will explore what the twelve disciples in the Gospel narratives represent as archetypes of the zodiac stars in their task in guiding the Christ in experiencing Human life.
In the third quarter of the hour we will explore the women disciples in the Gospel narrative and their role as representatives of the 7/12 planets in guiding Christ into the experience the life forces of humanity.
The final fifteen minutes will be quietly contemplating artistic works of the day’s content that will help grow the work over the Christmas season in preparation for the coming year.
Once you are registered the Zoom link will be sent two days (23/12/24) before we start. The session will start 7:05 pm and it is recommended that you join the link a few minutes early. The link will be open from 6.55pm. The link is the same one for each session.
If there is enough interest there will also be an event on Epiphany, January 6th to bring the process to completion.
Download as flyer
When
7.00 pm – 8.00 pm AEDT
25 December 2024 – 5 January 2025
Cost
Recommended donation $70
To book
Book here
The contemplations will be recorded for people who have registered but can’t participate in person. They can be accessed and watched later. The link to the viewing folder will be sent out with the zoom link.

Feature image: Fifth apocalyptic seal: The unveiled Isis courtesy of Anthrowiki

Living Into The Becoming World
2025-02-12 19:00 - 20:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Painted Space Studio
A Lecture on Rudolf Steiner’s Artistic Impulse For The Future
with Fiona Campbell
Thursday, 13th February 2025 7.00 PM – 8:15 PM ACDT

How art can be a schooling path for the ordering & strengthening of the soul
A pictorial presentation on how Rudolf Steiner’s extensive portfolio of training sketches, motifs, watercolours and blackboard drawings are a gift to all artists seeking an ever-renewing source of creativity. How working with Steiner’s images can help us shift from our habitual ways of seeing the world as form and ‘breathe’ into the becoming and dying away world of Human in Cosmos.
This webinar is the third in the series on Art as a Spiritual Practice.
Watch the first lecture in this series!
Cost
$20 donation or whatever you can afford to support this initiative.
A video recording wiill be available for three months after the event.
How to join the webinar
Book here
Participants will be sent the Zoom link by email two (2) days beforehand, and then again one (1) hour beforehand.
Please login for the webinar via your Zoom app and not via Eventbrite.
For more information
Contact the organiser.

Feature image: The Birds Fly Through Us, courtesy of Fiona Campbell

Spirit in Human, Human in Spirit: Investigations with Painting
2025-02-14 14:00 - 2025-05-09 16:00 (Australia/Sydney)
Painted Space Studio presents
A course in the spiritual/physical nature of the human being

“In the head the power of faith;
in the heart the might of love ;
in the full human being, all-sustaining hope.”
Rudolf Steiner

Rudolf Steiner’s picture imaginations arose from direct experiences of the spirit. He captured many of these pictures in his pastels sketches and paintings, called the Training Sketches for the Artist. He suggested that working artistically with these sketches would act as an impulse in us to find new directions for the future of art as a path for spiritual-scientific inquiry.
This online masterclass in painting over seven fortnightly sessions examines the human being in connection to the spirit from three different perspectives: the spiritual impulse in the human being, the human impulse in the spiritual world, and the threefold human being as spirit, soul and body.
We use three of Steiner’s training sketches as our starting point for this exploration.
What are Steiner’s Training Sketches?
The Training Sketches can be seen as ‘picture seeds’ and were given to the artists in answer to a request from the painter Henni Geck for a new impulse in art. Henni Geck (1884-1951) was the first painter to use these indications.
Who is the course for?

For Steiner teachers, artists, art therapists and art students seeking to understand the hidden forces of Cosmos and Nature.

Painting skills and understanding of core anthroposophic principles recommended to get the most out of this course.
Selected readings by Rudolf Steiner complement the practical work.
When is it?
14 February-9 May 2025, Fridays 2pm-4pm AEDT
Seven fortnightly classes plus recording
Cost
$280 AUD/$190 USD for ongoing participants
$290 for PD certificate or for new participants enrolling only in this course.
Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.
Book here!
You will be sent the payment details and a list of suggested materials and readings after booking.
The Zoom link is sent one (1) day before the workshop begins.
For more information
Contact Fiona Campbell

Feature image: The Threefold Human Being © Rudolf Steiner Verlag

The inner nature of colour: as pictorial, as luminous
2025-02-14 14:00 - 2025-05-10 16:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
A Painted Space Studio workshop

When we experience the life of colour,
we step out of our own skins and take part in cosmic life.
Rudolf Steiner

Colour as a way to the spirit
This online painting course offers the opportunity for a deeper experience and understanding of the inner nature of colour. Building on Goethe’s Theory of Colour, yet quite different from it, Rudolf Steiner shows us the world of colour as one might experience it in the soul world.
About Steiner’s colour circle
We work in conjunction with Rudolf Steiner’s colour circle and Colour lectures (CW 291, CW 275). In these lectures, Steiner describes the colours as having either a pictorial (image) and or a luminous (lustre) nature. We explore what this means for our understanding and experience of colour that has implications for how we perceive what we call ‘reality’.
In this approach, Steiner lays a foundation for a practical technique of working with colour that leads us to a new form of artistic creativity, a new way of understanding of colour, which is the central of the anthroposophic approach to painting.
Who is it for?

For artists, art therapists and art students looking to find a path of soul/spiritual development through the arts.
For anyone pursuing a deeper understanding of the anthroposophic approach to art, colour and painting.
For participants in the 2nd year of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul.

Desirable background:: experience of working with Goethe’s Theory of Colour.
Recommended: basic watercolour wet-on-dry or veiling skills (you can use wet-on-wet or pastel if preferred, but wet-on-dry watercolour painting is recommended).
Background readings: Steiner’s Colour lectures Part I: ‘The Nature of Colour’
When is it?
15 February-10 May 2025, Saturdays 3pm-5pm AEDT
Seven fortnightly classes plus recording
Cost
$300 AUD/$195 USD
$310 for PD certificate
Video recording and handouts included in the fee.

Book here!

The payment options, Zoom link, and list of materials will be sent after booking.
For more information
Contact Fiona Campbell
This course also a core component of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul. It follows on from Working with Colour Moods. Together, they are integral to the anthroposophic (Steiner) approach to colour and painting.

Feature image: Steiner’s Colour circle

Spiritual Food for BD Farmers and Home Gardeners
2025-03-13 19:00 - 2025-04-10 20:30 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Spirit in Matter

presents

5 Consecutive Lectures
Spiritual Food for
BD Farmers and Home Gardeners
All Welcome
with

Johannes Schuster

When
Starting 13th March, 7.00 pm – 8.30 pm AEDT
Cost
Join the Full Lecture Series: Early Bird Price: AUD$72 (Until February 20)
Regular price: AUD $97 | Couples: AUD $144 | Concession: AUD$72
Register for Free Lecture

Register for remaining Lectures

Find out more
Watch an introduction to the the theme

Visit the website or contact for more information.

Working with the Four Elements in Nature: Veil Painting Course
2025-06-07 15:00 - 2025-08-02 17:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
The basis of artistic creation is not what is,
but what might be; not the real, but the possible.

Rudolf Steiner, in The Aesthetics of Goethe’s Worldview

This online course uses the gestures of the material states of solid, fluid, gas, and heat (earth, water, air and warmth) to explore the hidden forces of Nature, and how they reveal themselves through the gestures and patterns through Nature’s imprint on the physical world around and in us.
What will I learn?
The course is an opportunity to develop your veil painting skills through developing brush mastery and enlivened perception of the world in and around us. After working with each different element, participants will create an artwork with a nature theme, bringing all four gestures together in one artwork.
Each element has a different gesture that characterises the phenomenal world of the etheric or life world. These gestures provide variations in veiling approaches that go beyond being mere ‘outer’ techniques and point to how the task of the artist is not to paint the visible, but reveal the invisible.
We use watercolour wet-on-dry painting, the preferred technique of any anthroposophic painting training. It is not an easy skill to develop but very satisfying to master.
You can read more about the anthroposophic approach and why we prefer watercolour over acrylics and oils in this short article.
Who is it for?

For anyone interested in learning the wet-on-dry watercolour technique.
For artists, art therapists and Steiner (Waldorf) teachers who want to deepen their understanding of colour (PD certificates available if requirements are met).

When is it?
3.00pm-5.00pm AEST fortnightly on Saturdays
7 June- 2 August 2025
Cost
$240 AUD/$160 USD
$250 for PD certificate
Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.

BOOK HERE

The payment options, Zoom link, and a list of materials will be sent to you after booking.
For more information
This course also a core component of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul. It provides the beginnings of a sound foundation in the anthroposophic (Steiner) approach to colour and painting.

Contact

Photo credit: Sunlit Tree By A Waterfall, I © Fiona Campbell

Working with Counter Images & Contradictions in the Soul
2025-06-14 15:00 - 2025-08-23 17:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
The first step (in developing spiritual senses and organs of activity) is to direct the soul’s attention toward certain processes in the world around us.
These processes are life.

Rudolf Steiner, in How To Know Higher Worlds

Imaginative exercises based on the preparatory exercises given by Steiner in How to Know Higher Worlds, using painting, drawing and meditation exercises.
This online course provides an artistic entry into his preparatory exercises for the development of spiritual faculties.working with polarities and the counter images of sunrise and moonrise, growing plant and dying plant. This is a path for the schooling of the soul for higher development and it uses two motifs from Steiner’s Nine Training Sketches for the Artist to guide us on this path.
Through exploration of counter-images and seeming contradictions of polarities, we can strengthen both our imaginative faculties and our life forces.
You don’t have to be an experienced artist to find this course enriching but you do need some knowledge of Steiner’s meditative path and be open to new ways of seeing the world.

Background information
With the increasing, encroaching of AI-generated images filling our screens, through film, tv and internet, the essential creativity that lives deep in the soul of every human being is under threat. AI-generated art is not creative. It does not arise out of human creativity but out of machines. Further, it undermines the very essence of what it means to be human.
In the face of this attack on our human-ness, we need to bring a counter-impulse by strengthening our capacity to work with imaginations that arise out of human spirituality and the spiritual in nature.
By working artistically and contemplatively with colour and the formative forces of life, we can nurture our uniquely human capacities to create, to think and to think creatively, We can counter this dehumanising force,
We need to enliven our imaginative faculties to counter the life-destroying forces bombarding us.
Who is it for?

For artists, art therapists and Waldorf teachers looking to find a path of soul/spiritual development through the arts.
For anyone seeking a non-intellectual pathway into Steiner’s meditative path.
For participants in the 2nd year of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul.

To get the most out of this course, it is anticipated participants will work on their own between the fortnightly sessions.
Recommended: familiarity with basic watercolour wet on wet, wet-on-dry or veiling skills (you can use pastel if preferred, but watercolour painting is recommended).
Background reading: Steiner’s How to Know Higher Worlds: A Modern Path of Initiation
When is it?
3PM-5PM AEST Saturdays, 14th June-23rd August 2025
Seven fortnightly classes plus recording
Cost
300 AUD/190 USD
$310 AUD for PD certificate (requires 70% attendance and all exercises submitted to Padlet).
Video recording available for three months included in the fee.

Book here!

How to join the workshop
The payment options, Zoom link, and list of materials will be sent after booking.
For more information
This course is a Painted Space Studio course. It is also a core component of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul.
Contact

Feature image: Counter Colours, Counter Forces exercise by Fiona Campbell

Working with Steiner’s Training Sketches for the Artists
2025-09-06 15:00 - 2025-11-29 17:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Introducing Steiner’s anthroposophic training path for painters
with Painted Space Studio

‘…and in the creations of the artist there will appear to us
the traces of his soul experience in the cosmos’

Steiner

The Nine Nature Moods or Training Sketches are the definitive foundation and starting point of Steiner’s impulse for the Arts. Given as ‘picture seeds’ to lead us into the future, they open the door to the new anthroposophic approach to painting.

This fortnightly online course introduces you to Rudolf Steiner’s approach to painting and his understanding of how the formative forces shape and move the world around us through his own pastel sketches. The course uses the wet-on-dry veiling technique but wet-on-wet or pastels are also possible if you prefer.

What will we do?

Starting with the sunrise, these sketches take us on an imaginative journey following the sun, moon and seasons as expressions of the spiritual laws in play between earth and cosmos. We work with each sketch creatively yet with careful attention to the forces they embody, first in pastel, then in watercolour to create a wonderful series of heavenly and earthly imaginations.

Who is it for?

For anyone interested learning about the core anthroposophic approach to art, colour and painting.

For Steiner teachers, artists, art therapists and art students seeking to develop their artistic practice.

This course is a core course of the Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul training. Beginners are welcome, but some watercolour painting experience is desirable. If preferred, you may choose to work with soft pastels only.

What is the importance of the Training Sketches?

Sunrise I, from the Nine Nature Moods series

You can see some interpretations of these sketches here.
These nine nature mood sketches are the starting place for anyone seeking to understand Steiner’s new impulse for the visual arts. But these sketches are not images of external natural events; they refer to acts that are effective in nature and human, says Christiane Haid, head of the Visual Arts Section at the Goetheanum. She believes that working with the creative forces in and around us can become the starting point for facing tasks in healing the world.
The nine sketches are part of a comprehensive 28 motif portfolio known as the Training Sketches for the Artists. Along with Steiner’s watercolours, The Seven School or Friedwart Sketches and many others (the Goetheanum epochs motifs are supplementary to the portfolio), they form the foundation of an anthroposophic art training in painting and drawing. Steiner first gave them to artist Henni Geck in 1922 for the new of painting, just as he earlier developed eurythmy as a new art of movement.

When is it?
3pm-5pm Saturdays AEST, 6 September – 29 November 2025
Seven two-hour fortnightly sessions. Participants are expected to do some homework between classes. Edited recordings of the sessions are available post-class but live participation is preferred to get the most out of the course, including individual feedback, unless your time zone makes this impossible.

Cost

$290 AUD/$190 USD
$300 AUD for PD certificate, conditions apply*
Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.

Book here!

The payment options, Zoom link, a list of materials and suggested readings will be sent to you after booking.

For more information

Contact

* PD (Pr0fessional development certificates) require 75% attendance and exercises on Padlet
Feature image: Moonrise (2022) © Fiona Campbell
Feature quote: from Artistic and Moral Experience, in Colour, Part III

Working with Composition: Bringing Ego Organisation into Painting
2025-09-13 15:00 - 2025-11-22 17:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
An exploration of the role of composition in painting in relation to the ego or “I”as the organiser of our soul life, through painting, drawing and art history observation. The health-giving effects of working consciously with the principles of the fourfold human being underpins this studio course.
What is composition?
Historically, artists have always drawn on the laws of perception to arrange the elements within a work of art, to create balance, focus, unity or harmony in the work. This need for the visual ordering of colour, line, form and space is essential to our feelings of connection to or our aesthetic enjoyment of a work of art. But why is this so?

Why do we experience harmonious peace in a Raphael Madonna yet also harmonious dynamism in a Turner stormy sea?

Do the elements of a work need to be arranged in a balanced compositional way to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye? Or can we also find satisfaction in chaos and unstructured movement? and what is happening within us when we experience this sense of enjoyment with a painting?
Simply, what is the role of our “I” when creating or contemplating an art work? How do bring presence to our paintings?
What will we do?
In this online course, we explore the principles of composition and learn how to leverage these principles to bring the multiple elements of our painting together into unified wholeness. We learn how perception influences our ego organisation and our experience of harmony and balance when viewing both the great masters and our own work.
First, we explore some classic laws of visual organisation, such as the rule of thirds and the golden ratio, by observing how these laws are inherent in famous artworks.
We then learn how these principles relate to the role of our ego as organiser of our soul forces; then how to apply such principles to our own work. Thus, the art work becomes a reflection of the activity of the ego on the fourfold human being, according to the anthroposophic approach to painting.
There is particular focus on the salutogenic effects of consciously working with ego organisation in painting.
Who is it for?
This is a Schooling course but you are welcome to join us!

For artists, art therapists and art students looking to find a path of soul/spiritual development through the arts.
For anyone interested in an artistic understanding of the role of our higher self or I in visual composition.

To get the most out of this course, it is anticipated participants will work on their own between the fortnightly sessions.
Required: some familiarity with the anthroposophic approach to art and basic painting technique. Watercolour veiling/wet-on-dry skills are preferred.
Please note: this is not a step-by-step instructional class so not advised for beginners in painting unless you are adventurous and self-motivated!
What dates are the classes?
3pm-5pm AEST Saturdays
13 September-6 December 2025
The workshops are recorded but live participation is preferred, unless your time zone makes this impossible.
How much does it cost?
$300 for PD or for new participants.
$280 for ongoing participants
Recordings available post-course for private study.
How do I book?
Book here
After registration, participants will be sent the payment details and a list of suggested readings and materials.
The Zoom workshop link is sent one (1) day before the class.
For more information
Please contact Fiona Campbell at Painted Space Studio

About the presenter
Fiona Campbell is the director of Painted Space Studio. She a researcher, lecturer, visual artist and arts educator. She has an interdisciplinary PhD on creativity and cognition and also trained as an art therapist.
She has special expertise in the anthroposophic approach to painting and has been teaching painting for 25 years.
Fiona is also a member of the Stream of Life Research Studio, where she focuses on her other two specialisations, phenomenology and creative cognition.
You can find out more about Fiona on her website or listen to a ABC Soul Search interview with her about the anthroposophical approach to art.

Feature image: Indigo and Umber Study I © Fiona Campbell 2000

Angels Watch Over Us: A Contemplation For Advent
2025-12-14 17:00 - 18:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Painted Space Studio

presents
An Advent contemplation to lead us into Christmas
on how the angelic orders have guided and protected us through the ages

How can we strengthen our connection with the spiritual beings around us?
Where do we most often encounter them in our earthly lives?
At a time when world and personal events can seem to overwhelm, we can remind outselves that we are in the special care of higher beings who accompany us throughout our earthly lives and beyond.
Through contemplating artwork and verse, we reflect upon how we humans have encountered and imagined the angelic orders above us through the ages, and why such imaginations are so important to our souls’ peace and strengthening.

Suggested reading
Our Spiritual Companions by Adam Bittleston
Cost
$20 donation or whatever you can afford to support this initiative.
When
5.00pm – 6.15 pm AEDT
14th December 2025
Bookings
Contact
Fiona Campbell

“See, I am sending an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.”
Exodus 23:20

Feature image: Angel s Watch Over Us ⓒ Fiona Campbell

The Twelve Days of Christmas: An online Holy Nights course
2025-12-25 19:00 - 2026-01-06 20:00 (Australia/Sydney)
CANCELLED
The Temple of Humanity on the Far Shore of Time
The work of the hierarchies in us through birth, death, destiny, sleep, and meditation.
A contemplation with Jude Neeme-Samson

When
25th December 2025 – 05th January 2026 (possible Epiphany event on January 6th).
This is a one hour contemplation each day from 7.00 pm – 8.00 pm AEDT
Program
In each session, there will be three fifteen-minute considerations of the themes, which will complement each other and set a mood of soul for participants to work with over the ensuing night and day.
Each day will have the nurturing aspect of a retreat for our soul and our spiritual work in the coming year.
Jude will begin the first fifteen minutes session with the esoteric understanding of the Temple of our Humanity on the Far Shore of Time as described by Rudolf Steiner and how it affects the development of our earthly bodies throughout our life.
In the second part we will explore the nature of sleep and meditation as they affect our journey to the temple in the life after death.
Then we will explore further developments of the Meditation ‘Wisdom Lives in the Light’ in relation to the threefold expression of our karma and spiritual development of our humanity
The final fifteen minutes we will work of the twelve day’s in a way that will help grow the work over the Christmas season in preparation for the coming year.
Cost
$70 AUD for the 12 nights.
Bookings
Book here
Once registered, the recurring zoom link will be sent out two days, two hours and ten minutes before the first session. The same link will be used every day.
Please login via your zoom app
You will also receive a link to the archive folder for viewing the recording. Please us this as a study resource and do not share it with others.
For more information
Enquiries: Jude

Feature image: An imaginative painting of Rudolf Steiner’s wooden sculpture The Representative of Man, by Gabriela de Carvalho.

Staying Connected Study Group
2026-02-16 19:00 - 20:30 (Australia/Sydney)
This fortnightly study group is based on Steiner’s collection of lectures in Staying Connected. In between, through a WhatsApp group, there will be support and encouragement to post poems, interesting relevant articles – or just to reach out and communicate and find support.

A Conversation With Your Garden (Autumn): Goethean Observation and Drawing
2026-02-25 17:30 - 2026-05-06 19:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
Painted Space Studio presents

Oh, I who wish to grow, I look out, and inside me the tree grows.
Rainer Maria Rilke 1914

Immersing ourselves in Nature as She turns inward …
Autumn is the wonderful time of year to turn our eyes to the changes Nature brings to the garden: the reds and golds of European trees, the bounty of fruits and late vegetables, all mixed in with the evergreens and native plants following their own local seasonal changes.
Whether you have your own garden or like to walk in a local park, a nature reserve or even just tend a few pot plants on your balcony, being with plants in their endless cycles of becoming and dying away is both energising and de-stressing for us. A health-giving counterblance to computer work!
Using Goethean phenomenology to guide us, these six online workshops will help you to become more ‘at home’ with nature.
The six workshops use mixed media and different drawing techniques to take us through this process. Techniques include charcoal, pencil, paint and pastel. Participants keep a visual diary to document their discoveries and observations.
What is Goethean phenomenology?
Goethean phenomenology (also known as Goethean observation) helps us develops fresh, new eyes for seeing and engaging with the world around us. It brings us into a more participatory connection with both nature and ourselves.
Who is it for?

For anyone interested in knowing more about Goethean phenomenology and how to practice it.
For nature lovers who would like to learn a non-confrontational way of drawing plants.
For Steiner teachers, artists, art therapists and art students seeking to understand how the formative forces work in Nature

Suitable for all levels. You do not need to be an experienced artist to enjoy these workshops. Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.
When is it?
5.30-7.00pm AEDT, 25 February-6 May 2026
Cost
$230 AUD
$240 AUD PD certificate (75% participation required).
Video recordings included in the fee, available for three months.
Bookings

You will be sent the payment details and a list of suggested materials and readings after booking.
The Zoom link is sent one (1) day before the workshop begins.
Contact

Feature image: Autumn Pastel © Fiona Campbell 1998

The Essence of Anthroposophic Art: Veiling the Colours
2026-02-28 15:00 - 2026-04-25 17:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Zoom online events, Australia
A Painted Space Studio workshop

If I delve deeper into the characters of the different colours, they show me their dynamic qualities. Out my experience, I can then let the colours guide me.

Beppe Assenza

This course introduces the iconic veil painting technique so closely identified with Rudolf Steiner’s artistic approach.
We delve into the language of colour using transparent surfaces of liquid colour in free compositions inspired by Beppe Assenza’s playful but meditative approach to painting.
This is the preferred technique of any anthroposophic painting training. It is not an easy skill to develop but very satisfying to master.
Rudolf Steiner developed this technique as a way of of interfacing with the spirit through painting.
You can read more about the anthroposophic approach and why we prefer watercolour over acrylics and oils in this short article.
Who is it for?

For anyone interested in learning the veiling (wet-on-dry) watercolour technique.
For artists, art therapists and Steiner (Waldorf) teachers who want to deepen their understanding of colour (PD certificates available).

When is it?
3.00 pm-5.00 pm AEDT, Saturdays, 28 February-25 April 2026
Five fortnightly sessions plus video recording
Cost
$240 AUD
$250 for PD certificate (75% attendance and participation required)
Video recordings included in the fee, available for private study.
The payment options, Zoom link, and a list of materials will be sent to you after booking.

BOOK HERE

For more information
This course is a core component of Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul. It is preceded by the introductory workshop, Working with Colour, Out of Colour. Together, they provide a sound foundation in the anthroposophic (Steiner) approach to colour and painting.

Contact

Feature image: New Life Emerges © Fiona Campbell 2010
