Anthroposophical Society in Australia

Working with Thresholds
2024-05-24 14:00 - 2024-08-23 16:00 (Australia/Sydney) | 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
