Anthroposophical Society in Australia

Heart in the Radiance of Stars
2023-07-28 - 2023-07-30 | School of Arts, 1 Old Pacific Hwy,, Burringbar, NSW, Australia
The Etheric Heart – An Organ of Spiritual Perception

Presenters: Gillian Rogers, Irmhild Kleinhenz, Iris Curteis
Many of us feel a genuine need to find innovative ways of being, to cultivate courage and a deeper perception and understanding of the interconnectedness of life in all its visible and invisible forms.
With presentations born out of genuine insight, a wealth of practice-based knowledge and creative activities we will explore heart thinking and the development and evolution of the Etheric Heart.
Our intention is to provide you with tools and practices that enable you to find greater strength, clarity and humanity to meet these challenges. Using storytelling, shared research, visual and meditative exercises, and conversations we will deepen your appreciation and understanding of the transformative capacity of the heart as an instrument for spiritual perception and heightened social consciousness.
We will offer our work in a process of Collaborative Knowledge Building, Creative Exercises, Contemplation and Conversation.
Watch a video on the theme here

Where
School of Arts, 1 Old Pacific Hwy, Burringbar, NSW
Cost
Rates: Bare Bones $250; Early Bird $300; Full $350 (further options see booking page)
Bookings
Book here
Bookings close: 20 July
For more information
Inquiries: Iris Curteis

Photo credit: Pillars of Creation Nebula

What is a lived experience? A deep dive into phenomenology
2023-09-27 18:30 - 20:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online
The Stream of Life Research Studio presents
A webinar on the activity of experiencing
as central to phenomenological practice

What does it really mean ‘to experience’ something? To ‘have an experience’? And is it different from a ‘lived experience’? We hear this phrase often these days, but is ‘an experience’ different to ‘a lived one’? How important is it to a fulfilled life to be able to live deeply into our experiences, as we are living them?
Let’s clarify!
Phenomenology has been described as the study of the lived experience, as it is lived. In this webinar, we will take a deep dive into the nature of experiencing in the context of phenomenological practice. We will share different ways for learning to ‘capture ourselves in the act’ of experiencing and for recollecting such experiences afterwards so that they both enrich our quality of life and our professional practice.Our study theme will be the work of Arthur Zajonc on meditation and phenomenology.
This webinar is the fifth in our series, What is phenomenology?
Join us again! or join us for the first time. All welcome!
Cost
$20 donation or whatever you can afford to support us.
A reading from Arthur Zajonc’s work will be sent after booking.
Bookings
Book here!
How to join the webinar
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

About the Stream of Life Research Studio
The focus of the studio is the study and understanding of the dynamic activity of the etheric or life forces in cosmos, nature and human being. We see phenomenology as central to this study.
Different members have different areas of expertise – spirituality, creativity, cognition, medical/therapeutic – but all are working out of Anthroposophy and use phenomenology as their primary research methodology, in an approach that stretches beyond the world of natural science into the arts, humanities and human sciences.
Founding Members

Dr Fiona Campbell is a researcher, lecturer, visual artist and arts educator. She has an ongoing project called Where Do New Ideas Come From? which investigates and promotes dynamic, enlivened thinking practices, offers arts-based seminars and workshops and lectures on consciousness studies. You can read more about her work here.

Dr Jude Samson, whose life quest is knowing how the world works, explores how the spiritual and physical work in union with each other, and provides opportunities for people to share in his knowledge and guidance. You can read more about Jude here.

Practical and spiritual aspects of dying and death care - a holistic palliative care workshop
2023-09-30 09:00 - 2023-10-01 17:00 | Harmony Centre, 11 Beresford St, Mittagong, NSW, 2575
The Anthroposophical Palliative Care Circle presents

A weekend practice-based workshop considering death from a deeper aspect than is the norm today.
The inner life of soul and spirit are explained in their role in this transition and in addition, the nursing care of the physical body is considered prior to and after death. We look also in a healthy way, at the possibility of accompanying the human being during this process while full consciousness is carried around the sacredness of this mysterious threshold.
Aim of the workshop: to empower families and communities to take death care back into their own hands, highlighting the three-day, post death, care vigil in the home.
Morning and afternoon tea will be provided and lunches will be self catered.
Date

30th September-1st October 2023
Saturday 9am-5pm & Sunday 9am-3pm

Venue
Harmony Centre, Mittagong NSW
Cost
We are pleased to offer flexible pricing for this enriching event. Please choose from the options at the checkout on the booking site.
Bookings
Book here
For more information
Please download the flyer for program and presenter details
Enquiries: email Rosi for details.
Join our mailing list!
For future news and events

About the presenters
The Palliative Care Circle is an emerging initiative to establish holistic palliative care services and education in Australia.
Members of the Palliative Care Circle have their spiritual home in Anthroposophy and work in various professional modalities at the threshold of death. This circle forms a source from which they draw, and to which they contribute, through regular meetings for study and sharing. Their collective work supports each individual’s work, deepening and refining understanding of care at the threshold of death. This understanding informs their practice.
Members of the Circle, which includes nurses, doctors, priests, counsellors, naturopaths, death doulas, art and massage therapists, can provide a range of death care services in the home., working as individuals and in teams, professionally and voluntarily.

Image credit: The Swan, The SUW Series, Group IX, No.12, Hilma af Klint, courtesy of Fine Art America

Finding new eyes for the world, seeking new ways of knowing
2023-10-25 18:30 - 20:00 | Online
The Stream of Life Research Studio presents
A 2nd webinar on the activity of experiencing
as central to phenomenological practice

How do I see with ‘new eyes’? How do I overcome my existing preconceptions and put aside my existing knowledge when encountering the world? “Every way of knowing becomes a way of living” says Parker Palmer. Every new perception or new insight becomes part of our way of engaging with the world. Thus is a process of transformation enacted through learning to see with new eyes, hear with new ears.
This practice-based webinar is the 6th in our ongoing study of the nature and practice of phenomenology. Following on from the last webinar, we continue to closely examine the act of experiencing itself. We will also work with the afterimage of an experience and how this strengthens our capacity for seeing with new eyes.
There will also be a short case study from a guest speaker, tba

Interested to find out more? Join us and share in the conversation.
This webinar is the 6th in our series, What is phenomenology?
Join us again! or join us for the first time. All welcome!

Cost
$20 donation or whatever you can afford to support us.

Bookings
Book here!
How to join the webinar
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 download the flyer

About the Stream of Life Research Studio
The focus of the studio is the study and understanding of the dynamic activity of the etheric or life forces in cosmos, nature and human being. We see phenomenology as central to this study.
Different members have different areas of expertise – spirituality, creativity, cognition, medical/therapeutic – but all are working out of Anthroposophy and use phenomenology as their primary research methodology, in an approach that stretches beyond the world of natural science into the arts, humanities and human sciences.
Founding Members

Dr Fiona Campbell is a researcher, lecturer, visual artist and arts educator. She has an ongoing project called Where Do New Ideas Come From? which investigates and promotes dynamic, enlivened thinking practices, offers arts-based seminars and workshops and lectures on consciousness studies. You can read more about her work here.

Dr Jude Samson, whose life quest is knowing how the world works, explores how the spiritual and physical work in union with each other, and provides opportunities for people to share in his knowledge and guidance. You can read more about Jude here.

Now the ears of my ears awake
And now the eyes of my eyes are opened.
excerpt from thank you god for most this amazing by e.e. cummings

After the afterimage: what comes next?
2023-11-22 18:30 - 20:15 | Online
The Stream of Life Research Studio presents
A 3rd webinar on the activity of experiencing
Working further with Zajonc’s cognitive breathing exercise.

Our exploration of the lived experience has been a process of learning how to immerse ourselves more deeply in our experiencing. Now we are working with the afterimage of the experience – but what happens when we let go of afterimage? Does this lead us closer to becoming the Other or is it a distraction?
Our 7th and final webinar for the year continues working with Zajonc’s cognitive breathing exercise and where that takes us with the phenomenological process. We will then recap what we have learned from this process with contributions from our regular participants.
Preparatory reading: Creatures that don’t conform

Interested to find out more? Join us and share in the conversation.
This webinar is the 7th in our series, What is phenomenology?
Join us again! or join us for the first time. All welcome!

Cost
$20 donation or whatever you can afford to support our administration and recording costs.

Bookings
Book here!
How to join the webinar
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

About the Stream of Life Research Studio
The focus of the studio is the study and understanding of the dynamic activity of the etheric or life forces in cosmos, nature and human being. We see phenomenology as central to this study.
Different members have different areas of expertise – spirituality, creativity, cognition, medical/therapeutic – but all are working out of Anthroposophy and use phenomenology as their primary research methodology, in an approach that stretches beyond the world of natural science into the arts, humanities and human sciences.
Founding Members

Dr Fiona Campbell is a researcher, lecturer, visual artist and arts educator. She has an ongoing project called Where Do New Ideas Come From? which investigates and promotes dynamic, enlivened thinking practices, offers arts-based seminars and workshops and lectures on consciousness studies. You can read more about her work here.

Dr Jude Samson, whose life quest is knowing how the world works, explores how the spiritual and physical work in union with each other, and provides opportunities for people to share in his knowledge and guidance. You can read more about Jude here.

Now the ears of my ears awake
And now the eyes of my eyes are opened.
excerpt from thank you god for most this amazing by e.e. cummings

Breathing through the Night
2023-11-25 10:00 - 2023-11-26 16:00 | Armidale, 2350
A Soul-building Art Intensive
With artist Fiona Campbell
This therapeutic painting intensive brings the health-giving forces of the harmonious breath into our souls and bodies through painting through the cycle of the night.
We breathe in colour and then breathe out its complementary in a transforming process that enlivens both our life body and our soul. In this way, we bring our innermost being into connection with the world and nature, moving gently between the two in harmonious rhythm.
What will we do?
Based on a classic exercise called Painting as an Exercise for Breathing from the Hauschka therapy school, we will paint the cycle of light and darkness from sunset to sunrise using colour, accompanied by poetry. On Saturday, we use wet-on-wet painting, then prepare a stretched board for veiling the final stage, the sunrise, on Sunday morning.
This workshop is an immersive experience designed to work deeply into our fourfold being.
Who is it for?
Anyone in need of soul nourishment as we approach the end of another (for many) difficult year. The exercise supports our mental health and physical well-being by harmonising the breath, easing our tensions and bringing our polarities into balance. You do not need to be an experienced painter to benefit from this workshop.
When
10.00am – 12.30 pm, then 1.30-4.00 pm, 25 November, 2023
10.00 am – 12 pm, 26 November 2023
Where: Armidale NSW
Please register as early as you can for this and we will advise you on the venue, which will be determined by the number of participants…..one side of Armidale or the other, depending!
Cost
Full workshop: $225
Saturday only: $165
Concession: $180
What to bring
We will supply paints, paper, boards, water jars and brushes. If you have any brushes please bring them, otherwise everything should be there for you.
How to register
Heather or phone/text 0408 020508
Chris or phone/text 0431 459 109
Payment details, and any further information will be sent on registration.
Please register by FRIDAY 10 NOVEMBER, so we can book the appropriate venue and order your art supplies.

About the Presenter
Fiona Campbell PhD is a visual artist, muralist, researcher, lecturer and arts educator. She trained in the anthroposophic approach to the arts at Tobias School of Art and Transpersonal Therapy, first as an artist, then as a therapist.
As Painted Space, Fiona has been a professional artist at for more than 30 years and regularly offers masterclasses in wet-on-dry painting, pastel drawing, therapeutic painting and art contemplations for festivals. She is a member of the Stream of Life Research Studio where her focus is phenomenology, and she is creative consultant for the multimedia Parsifal Project. Since 1994, she has regularly lectured on evolving consciousness and art at Sydney Rudolf Steiner College. She also has a Diploma in Waldorf Education (Emerson College)
Fiona has been involved in Anthroposophy for over 40 years and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience about the core principles and practice of Steiner’s work to her classes.

‘Colours are the breath of the living soul’
Dr Margarethe Hauschka

Photo credits: courtesy of Fiona Campbell

12 Portals – A Life in 7 Year Cycles
2024-01-13 15:00 - 20:30 | Harmony Centre, 11 Beresford St, Mittagong, NSW, 2575
Word Sisters
presents

12 Portals – A Life in 7 Year Cycles
A Series of Workshops and Performances

When & Where
Saturday 13th January
Workshop 3-5 pm, Shared supper 6pm
Performance 7.00pm with shared supper 6pm
Harmony Centre Mittagong
11 Beresford St, Mittagong NSW
Tuesday 16th January
Tuesday Preview and Sharing 7 pm
Rudolf Steiner House, 307, Sussex Street, Sydney

Saturday 20th January
Rudolf Steiner House, 307, Sussex Street, Sydney

Cost
Saturday 13th
Entry by donation
Saturday 20th January
Workshop $25, $20 conc.
Performance $25, $20 conc.

Bookings
Contact: Renate 0408806468
Download the flyers

Mittagong Performance and Workshop
Sydney Performance and Workshop

About Word Sisters
Word Sisters have been creating as a collaborative community since 2017. We are four creative arts practitioners (performers, storytellers, workshop facilitators, poets, and writers) who have a common background in Anthroposophy. We initially met over 20 years ago exploring Steiner’s Speech and Drama methods through workshops in Western Australia. By combining Steiner’s Speech and Drama indications, eurythmy, creative writing and biography work, we devise performances and related workshops. A playful curiosity and phenomenological research approach has enabled us to craft and share two performance/workshop projects.
Dancing Backwards, performed at the ASinA Perth Conference in 2018, and the Adelaide Fringe in 2019; explored the impact of the planets as vowel qualities within our biographies; and 12 Portals, A Life in 7 Year Cycles, refined in Adelaide in 2022 with Dawn Langman, and performed in Perth, December 2022, and due to be shared in Sydney and Mittagong, January 2024. 12 Portals explores the impacts of the zodiac and consonants within life phases 0-84.
Word Sisters each contributes unique artistic strengths and for over five years have met regularly on Zoom. As three members live in Perth and one in Yamba, NSW, we manage our schedules to work physically together, usually in Perth, to develop works through embodied processes.

Read a review of their work

Word Sisters are:
Jenny Hill BA, Dip Ed, M Ed, Dip Speech and Drama, is a professional storyteller with extensive experience in performance, education and community projects. Her present focus is in providing professional development in early childhood education.
Dale Irving BA, Dip Ed, B Ed, M Ed, PhD, is a former public school drama teacher and arts’ educator, who now works with biography consultation after training with Karl-Heinz Finke. She presents courses for the Perth Rudolf Steiner College.
Renate Millonig Dip Speech & Drama (Harkness Studio), BA, Dip Ed, Grad Dip Public Health, Grad Dip Arts, extensive work as performer, director, speaker, trainer and workshop facilitator in mainstream and Steiner-related arts / education contexts.
Rosemary Stevens BA Hons, MA, DCA (PhD) is a published author who teaches creative and professional writing at Curtin University. Her involvement with anthroposophy began in the early 80s as a pioneer parent of the Perth Waldorf School, where she was playgroup leader in the foundational years.

Feature image:Homo signorum, Heinrich von Laufenberg, Regimen, ca. 1450/60

Working with Thresholds
2024-05-24 14:00 - 2024-08-23 16:00 | Online
A online masterclass in painting
with artist Fiona Campbell

Our human life moves and breathes between thresholds: macrocosm and microcosm, waking and sleeping, birth and death. This painting masterclass works with the thresholds in our lives and in nature, with special attention paid to the nature of polarities and the breathing impulse.
This content of this course is complemented with the study of selected lectures from Rudolf Steiner’s Macrocosm and Microcosm
Why painting?
Why study this subject through painting rather than meditation and study?
Understanding comes through the experiential rather than purely theoretical. This means that, rather than a study of texts followed by an illustrative artistic exercise, the study is the artistic exercise, it is the meditative practice, and the texts are complementary readings that inform and guide our practice.
This is a path of inner work through artistic practice.
Who is it for?

For artists, art therapists and students of Anthroposophy who want to deepen their understanding of Steiner’s macrocosm and microcosm model for human existence (PD certificates available).
For anyone interested in exploring the nature of thresholds through painting.

This course is supplementary to the Art as a Path of Schooling for the Soul training.
When is it?
2pm-4pm fortnightly on Fridays AEST
24 May-23 August 2024
How much does it cost?
$280 AUD/$190 USD
$300 for PD certificate or for new participants enrolling only in this course.
How do I register?
Register here
For more information
For more information about this course , please contact Fiona Campbell
For more information about Painted Space Studio courses in general, browse the courses on offer.

About Fiona Campbell
Fiona Campbell is a visual artist, researcher, lecturer and arts educator. She has an interdisciplinary PhD on creativity and cognition and has been a professional artist and arts educator for more than 30 years.
Under the name Painted Space, she runs a schooling course that combines inner work with visual arts training.
You can find out more about Fiona at Painted Space or listen to an ABC Soul Search interview with her about the anthroposophical approach to art.

Life Drawings Exhibition 22 February - 8 March
2025-02-22 - 2025-03-08 | Rudolf Steiner House, 307 Sussex Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000

Inscribing Signs with a Finger Dipped in Light...
2025-03-14 - 2025-11-01
Professional Education
Towards A Cultural-Spiritual Approach to Dying and Death
Our aim is to develop a sincere, earnest relationship with Death, an understanding of the individual path of dying, and the deep reverence and honouring of the actual, autonomous moment of death. Through Anthroposophy we can discover death is the most sacred moment in our life. Through this course, we develop with you Spiritual-Cultural approaches and creative processes that encourage you to contemplate dying and death in your own life, that enable you, as a Companion, to use this transformative knowledge and spiritual awareness autonomously and with integrity to support those journeying towards the threshold. We offer: a deep study of anthroposophy, visual art and sculpture, music, eurythmy and creative speech, poetry, creative writing, oral storytelling and folktale research. We all work out of our professional and personal insights and spiritual understanding and invite you to bring your own individual spirituality to the course content.
There is a further increasingly urgent concern we address: the way our fear of death and dying has separated us from life imbued with Spirit and pushed us deeper into materialism and consequently, onto a path of destruction we now know by the term of ‘omnicide’. Our course is shaped by our resolve to find new approaches to dying and death not only for our own sake, but for the sake of Earth’s healing and health, the sacred interconnectedness of life, and the evolution of humanity towards freedom and love.

Who is the course for?
This Schooling Course is a spiritual pathway to understand dying, death and rebirth. It is not a hands-on home care course as we feel these are offered by others with competence and commitment. What we offer is a process of inner development for those of you dedicated to accompanying the dying with your authentic spiritual insights through cultural and creative means. We recommend our Course if you wish to care for family and friends, your community, or consciously prepare yourself for death, are grieving a loved one, or seeking greater understanding of the journey beyond the threshold. Our Course equally provides personal and professional development if you seek greater emotional intelligence, self- awareness and lifelong learning in relation to your profession, for example: counsellors, health practitioners and therapists, carers, social- and support workers, educators, and those who wish to care for the newly deceased, such as funeral personnel and celebrants.
Course intention

To facilitate a process through which participants develop their own healthy and integrated relationship to dying and death
To educate and mentor participants who intend to become trusted Companions of the dying, and accompaniment of those who have crossed the threshold
To enable participants to offer, where appropriate, artistic and contemplative activity for, or with, the dying and their loved-ones as ways to experience threshold crossings

Find out more
Introductory video to the course
Prospectus
Please explore the prospectus and contact us with any questions. A detailed programme will be available ion application.
Please direct enrolment inquiries to Iris Curteis
Contact
Iris Curteis 0487 719 476

Feature Image: courtesy of Iris Curteis

Inaugural Conference of the Agriculture Section Branch in Australia
2025-06-06 - 2025-06-09 | Tombarra by the River, 579 Northangera Rd, Budawang, NSW, 2622, Australia
‘Researching the Essence of Biodynamics
– Its Role in the Future of Agriculture’
6th-9th June, 2025

The inaugural conference of the Agriculture Section Branch will be held on June 6-9, 2025 with the theme of ‘Researching the Essence of Biodynamics – Its Role in the Future of Agriculture‘. We are pleased to announce Terry Forman, Brian Keats and Ueli Hurter as keynote presenters.
The conference involves a blend of talks, group discussions, workshops, eurythmy and speech, meditations, biodynamic farm tours and future planning.
Download the flyer

Costs
$300 – will include all meals, with as much organic or biodynamic ingredients as possible.
For accommodation assistance, contact Nicchia 0448533616
Conference venue

Tombarra Centre, 579 Northangera Rd, Mongarlowe NSW 2622
Bookings
Book here

Find out more
For more information, email us or contact Mark Patton 0488 318 467.

Feature image: courtesy Simon Martin
Photo image: courtesy of Simon Martin

When Life Gives You Lemons
2025-11-13 - 2025-11-16 | Noosa Pengari School, 86 Nyell Road, Doonan, Qld, 4562
A medical initiative to develop a therapeutic care response to crisis

Feature image: courtesy of Pickpic

Flowform Workshop
2025-11-29 - 2025-12-07

Inscribing Signs with a Finger Dipped in Light 2026
2026-03-01 - 2026-11-30
Towards A Cultural-Spiritual Approach to Dying and Death
Once, we understood dying and death through imaginations, inspirations and intuitions. For many, this consciousness, understanding and reverence of dying and death, and life beyond the threshold, have been lost, silenced and ‘dropped’ from our individual and communal cultural-spiritual life.
By offering a deep study of Anthroposophy/Spiritual Science, our course provides a pathway towards understanding the significance of dying and death in the context of your own life.
If it is your intention is to become a Companion to the Dying, this step is a prerequisite, as it will give you the integrity, competence, transformative knowledge and awareness to support those journeying towards the threshold.
Our aim is to enable you to develop a sincere relationship with Death, an understanding of the individual path of dying and reincarnation, and reverence of the autonomous moment of death.
Our use of the arts and creative activities – visual art, sculpture, music [Music Thanatology], creative speech, poetry, creative writing, oral storytelling and folktale research, and eurythmy – will cultivate and integrate your perception of death as the most sacred, the most individual moment in life.
This insight allows us to develop with you spiritual-cultural approaches and creative processes you can apply with autonomy and integrity both as Companion to the Dying and your own life.
Download the course prospectus

When

Course duration: March – November 2026
Flyer
Please download the flyer and contact us with any questions.
Contact
Inscribing Signs, running successfully since 2024, welcomes your inquiries and expressions of interest for 2026.
Course Convenors
Irmhild Kleinhenz 0444 551 381
Iris Curteis 0487 719 476

In Cooperation With: The Section For Literary Arts & Humanities, The Section For Performing Arts, and The Collegium Of The School Of Spiritual Science,
Goetheanum, Dornach

Feature Image: courtesy of Iris Curteis

Emergence: Bringing Creative-Spiritual Impulses into Healing
2026-07-01 - 2026-07-05 | Gymea Eco Retreat & Spa, 128 Boonydoon Rd, Uki, NSW, 2428
Naturopathic Retreat & Conference

1st–5th July 2026

Immerse yourself in a five-day retreat designed for natural therapists seeking to deepen their practice.
This retreat offers a space to reflect, connect with like-minded colleagues and discover renewed inspiration for supporting a more conscious approach to illness and healing.

Download the flyer

Why you should attend
Many practitioners are finding the increasingly materialistic trend in natural therapies professions both unsatisfying and lacking in deeper inner work.
This five-day retreat and conference is designed for practitioners seeking to deepen their natural therapies practice and vocation. It will offer a space to reflect, connect with like-minded colleagues and discover renewed inspiration for supporting a more conscious approach to illness and healing.
Who this retreat is for?
We invite all professional practitioners of Naturopathy, Homoeopathy, Herbal medicine, Nutrition, Traditional and Integrative Medicine as well as practitioners and therapists who have a deep intuition for healing work.
Where is it?
Gymea Eco Retreat & Spa
128 Boonydoon Rd
Uki NSW 2428
Book here!
Find out more
The conference is hosted by the Anthroposophic Naturopaths Guild. For general enquiries, please contact Irmhild Kleinhenz, +61444 551 381 or visit the event website

Feature image: courtesy of Adobe Stock
