The Lawrence Anthroposophical Study Group, Lawrence, Kansas.

By Rick Mitchell

In the summer of 1997 , I incorporated the Waldorf Association of Lawrence with the goal of establishing a Waldorf school and Biodynamic farm in Lawrence, Kansas. It took a few years to gather enough community support to make a school viable but by October of 2001, we reincorporated as The Waldorf Association of Lawrence (2.0) establishing a new school that was later named Prairie Moon Waldorf School. At the same time The Lawrence Anthroposophical Study Group was formed. Now in its 24th year, the school is well established, as is the study group, which has met monthly without interruption since October, 2001.

The study group has varied in size and composition over the years, reaching a maximum membership of fifteen at any given time and having a total of forty-four members since inception.

The group is organized around book study. We read slowly in order to maximize depth of discussions which link Rudolf Steiner’s work to other historical events and spirituality-related movements. Currently, we are reading Nature’s Open Secret , a collection of chapters in Steiner’s early book about Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

We invite new members to join at the beginning of a new book and ask that they commit to regular attendance for at least the period of that study. At the start of a new book, as a welcoming and orientation of new members, we read together Marjorie Spock’s “The Art of Goethean Conversation,” in order to set the tone for the kind of conversations we wish to have for the duration of the study. Though we do make time for socializing at the beginning and ending of each gathering, we preserve time for an “over the threshhold” (as described by Spock) conversation, and mark it with the lighting and extinguishing of a candle.

2001 - 2025

Mark Aaron Bev Harris

Ralph Bauer

Bob Brawley

Erik Buchholtz

Sophia Compton

Mike DeJongh

Mary Dixon

Vicki Douglas

Jill Draper

Carrie Easley

David Eichler

Kathy Farwell

Robin Goff

Lana Maree Haas

Dick Halford

Marty Haught

Juliana Haught

Becky Kasenberg

Jeff Kennedy

Shaffia Laue

Annie Lenz

Juda Lewis

Beth Anne Mansur

Lisa Meisinger

Rick Mitchell

John Regier

Shawna Saubers-Ristic

Susanne Schadde

Bret Schacht

Gwyn Schmidtberger

Andrea Simberg

Sandra (Mutrux) Stoner

Steve Sullivan

Barbara Thompson

Laurie Ward

Maureen Waters

Melissa Watson

Lori Werdin-Kennicott

Teresa Woods

Mary Veerkamp

Beth Cooper

Bekah Zachritz

Erin Zamrzla

For more information about The Lawrence Anthroposophical Study Group, contact Rick Mitchell through Prairie Moon Waldorf School https://www.prairiemoon.org/.

Continued from page 47 own ‘I’ with the ‘I’ of the world.

To truly think:

Address Given on Rudolf Steiner’s Death Day

Practice spirit-beholding , in quietness of thought, where the eternal aims of gods bestow world-being’s light upon your own ‘I’, for your free willing . 23

This impulse is an invitation to take the next step in our spiritual evolution, and to do so in community.

It is a description of the fertile soil into which the “Foundation Stone of Love” can find a resonance. The Foundation Stone was not laid into our hearts once and for all; we must continually cultivate the ground for it.

In Rudolf Steiner’s words:

“Your remaining test is to be that of your courage to bear witness to that voice which you are capable of hearing because of the inclination of your soul, because of the inclination of your heart.” 24

So could it be that this final impulse given by Rudolf Steiner has neither yet failed nor succeeded? Could it be that we still find ourselves in the midst of deciding how carefully we will tend our flame and embody this path of cultivating in community what Rudolf Steiner brought to earth?

In this process, we might perhaps come to sense that Rudolf Steiner is very much present and seeking to accompany our loneliness of soul.

Christmas Conference , p. 46.

11 For the quotations referring to the moon sphere, see T. O’Keefe, “The Anthroposophical Movement Seeks an Earthly Home,” in being human , issue of December 2023, p. 13.

12 Lecture of January 18, 1924 (GA 260a), in: The Constitution of the School of Spiritual Science (The Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain, 1964), p. 2. Supplemented by the translation in Prokofieff, May Human Beings Hear It! , p. 77.

13 Lecture of April 22, 1924 (GA 233a), in: Easter as a Chapter in the Mystery Wisdom of Man . Recently published under the title Rosicrucianism and Modern Initiation (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2020).

14 Ita Wegman; Esoteric Studies , p. 72. Lecture of October 4, 1925.

15 Ibid., p. 118. Lecture of February 27, 1931.

16 Ibid.

17 Foreword to The Christmas Conference (GA 260), p. 30. Cited in Prokofieff, May Human Beings Hear It! , p. 527.

18 Lecture of September 23, 1912 (GA 139, The Gospel of St. Mark). Cited in Sergei O. Prokofieff, Rudolf Steiner and the Founding of the New Mysteries (Temple Lodge, 1994), p. 315f.

19 Lecture of May 17, 1923 (GA 226, Man’s Being, His Destiny, and World Evolution). Cited in Prokofieff, Rudolf Steiner and the Founding of the New Mysteries , p. 316.

20 Ibid.

21 GA 260a, p. 381 in German. Cited in Prokofieff, May Human Beings Hear It !, p. 812.

22 Lecture of January 1, 1924, 8:30 pm (GA 260), in The Christmas Conference , p. 270.

23 Words from The Foundation Stone Meditation (contained in The Christmas Conference).

24 Lecture of January 1, 1924, 8:30 pm (GA 260), in The Christmas Conference , p. 269.

1 Ita Wegman; Esoteric Studies; The Michael Impulse (Temple Lodge, 1993/2013), p. 117. Lecture of February 27, 1931, “On Rudolf Steiner,” in London.

2 Ibid.

3 See Sergei O. Prokofieff, May Human Beings Hear It! (Temple Lodge, 2004), p. 61ff.

4 GA 260a, p. 335 in German. Cited in Prokofieff, May Human Beings Hear It! , p. 61f.

5 GA 260a, pp. 355 and 371 in German. Cited in Prokofieff, May Human Beings Hear It! , p. 65.

6 Lecture of December 25, 1923, 10am (GA 260), in The Christmas Conference (Anthroposophic Press, 1990), p. 73.

7 Ibid.

8 Lecture of April 22, 1924 (GA 233a), in: Easter as a Chapter in the Mystery Wisdom of Man . Recently published under the title Rosicrucianism and Modern Initiation (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2020).

9 Lecture of December 26, 1923, 10 am (GA 260), in: The Christmas Conference , p. 99.

10 Lecture of December 24, 1923, 11:15 am (GA 260), in: The

Marie Steiner Eurythmy as Visible Singing (Dornach, February 1924) Forward to First Edition, 1927