where I am now and do not have to go through decades of trials and lack of respect. We don’t have time to waste. We have to get going.” If one can imagine three hundred and fifty people being so inspired, then one can grasp that something real happened. Participants were changed through their experience over the nine days together. The karma and biography of the Anthroposophical Society itself has been affected. The results in our various personal lives and our
communities will be seen over the coming months, but there’s no doubt that the anthroposophical movement has been quickened.
The Mystery Drama Conference: Personal Impressions
them, and then as five presenters out of their own experience and study of the dramas perceived them. The titles of the lectures in sequence may give some idea of the point of departure of each speaker: • “Who is Johannes Really? – An Open Question” Virginia Sease • “Initiation, Inner Healing and the Transformation of Memory” (Capesius) David Schwartz • “Getting to Know Maria” Sherry Wildfeuer • “The Being of Strader” Stephen Usher.
by Virginia Sease In August 2013 it was possible for me to attend the performance of The Soul’s Awakening, Rudolf Steiner’s fourth Mystery Drama, directed by Barbara Renold and performed in Spring Valley in the auditorium of the Green Meadow Waldorf School under the aegis of the Threefold Education Foundation. It proved to be a most rewarding experience from many aspects. At the time I heard a faint whisper that maybe in August 2014 it would be possible to perform all four Mystery Dramas in sequence, which had never occurred before in English translation. Immediately I reserved the first weeks in August in case the whisper would develop into an announcement which soon happened to the great appreciation and joy of all who could attend this most special event. The following comments represent merely a few of the many deep impressions which I received and which I would like to share with the members of the Anthroposophical Society in America in which I have been privileged to participate as a member since 1959.
Lori Barian is a teacher, administrator, and trainer of teachers. She was editor of the Central Region’s newsletter The Correspondence and represented the region for several years on the General Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. She lives in Wisconsin.
The fifth presenter, Daniel Hafner, accepted the task to hold a lecture on each of the four evenings when there had not been a performance and also to speak on the last morning of the conference. In Daniel’s evening talks he not only brought important connections to light between the characters and their karmic challenges based on their reincarnations but also the relationship in many dimensions to the deepest core of the Anthroposophical Society both at Rudolf Steiner’s time and in its reality and significant potential for today and the future. The themes of his evening lectures were:
The Structure of the Conference A Conference core group consisting of Barbara Renold, Rafael Manaças, Marian León, Abigail Dancey, Franz Eilers, and Virginia Hermann worked together consistently throughout many months with Barbara Renold to form a conference which could integrate the performances with karmic insights into the lifestream of the characters as Rudolf Steiner described Among the excellent speakers, Daniel Hafner gave thoughtful and witty insights before each play’s performance. fall-winter issue 2014-2015
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