Copyright Alan Whitehead & Earthschooling: No Part of this book, post, URL, or book excerpt may be shared with anyone who has not paid for these materials.
Alan speaks in a very symbolic and esoteric manner in some parts of his books. Although they can be read anthroposophically, passages speaking of Atlantis, archangels, gods, etc. do not need to be taken literarily to be meaningful. The more you read, the more you will realize he uses many different religions to express ideas in a symbolic manner and not in a religious manner. His writings are not religious. In some places his writings are meant to refer to religious events in a historical way. In some places he is using religious figures (from Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, Ancient Roman and Greek Religions, etc.) in a symbolic manner. However, at no point is he promoting a specific religion or speaking from a religious point of view.
I have kept the writing as close to one-hundred percent original so you will also find that he speaks of Australia often and some spelling or manners of speaking may be cultural. Any words I have changed are presented like this: <word>.
Also keep in mind that these books are written by a Waldorf teacher with decades of experience who also studied with a Steiner student himself, so he speaks to an audience that is dedicating their lives to the Waldorf method without exception.
Because of this, all of his views are not reflected in the Earthschooling curriculum and not all of them may be ones you want to embrace or are able to use. In all of Alan Whitehead’s writings the opinions are his own and may not align with Earthschooling or Waldorf Books. In some cases, we will be updating some of these chapters in the future with additional and/or updated information.
Ultimately, however, as I read through these passages I find I can distill wisdom from even those paragraphs that do not resonate with me.
We invite you to read with an open mind and heart and with eagerness to learn and discuss…
THE NUMBER SOUL – SOUL OF NUMBER
Form/Dynamic Drawing – Class 3 – Middle Lesson
The etheric body, like all other aspects of the human being, whether physical or psychic, evolves in the long term, and develops in the short – say, a single lifetime. It emerges from the chrysalis of the physical body in the 7th years, to unfold in 7 clear stages to the 14th. Much of the elementary school maths syllabus is tailored around the 7-fold life-body emancipation – especially Dynamic/Form Drawing.
Class 1 is that of the ‘spacial aspect of the etheric body’; the ‘dynamics’ of this are based on radialsymmetry. The equivalent unit to the one dealt with in this article is detailed in the companion volume, Journey to Numeria – as is the description of the 2nd year, Class 2, with its ‘timely aspect’; manifesting ideally as bilateral symmetry.
Finally we enter the garden of the 9-year-olds, Class 3, with their Pictorial Aspect of the Etheric Body; one based, not on space or time, but on Image – on asymmetry.
So the exercises in a Class 3 Dynamic/Form 3-week middle unit should complement this nascent pictorial (astral) faculty. Whence informed, the qualities remain with, and serve, their owner for life. It is important – especially in the 9th year – for this ‘picture/life’ being to enter into the arcane world of harmonious but opposite forms; integrated shapes; interrelated gestures; and pleasing color coordinates – the ‘pictorial’ yes?
Although this unit is essentially drawing, it is clearly of the nature of number, this is number in the form – and movement – of a rising wave, or the interleaved forms of a head of wheat. Number lives in the image as well as the color (strengths, etc.); therefore these are not ‘free’ drawings, rather an expressive but metrical precursor to geometry, introduced in Class 4.
Perhaps this is why Dynamic/Form Drawing presents so ably in the 2nd strand of the Numeracy middle lesson stream, that of Diagrammatic Number; that which, more than any other, expresses the Soul of Number. Here we find the more feeling-imbued child excelling in number expression for once.
Not that all mathematics doesn’t have soul; it does, expressing of the ‘4 bodies’, the astral (soul world) more than any other. But the soul woven into the concept of E=MC2 isn’t quite as accessible as in a beautifully-rendered drawing of a stylized number-imbued turtle, for instance.
Mind you, rendering at this tender age should not be labored or pedantic; children under 10 should be encouraged to express freely in color, movement or form. This ‘do it like this’ method, where the teacher coerces the children into following every stroke, is an abrogation of their artistic freedom. Rudolf Steiner warned that the children who learnt to draw too well, with exhaustive ‘detailing’, would lose their artistic fire, becoming indifferent, and incapable eve, of visual-art expression as adults.
Perhaps it has something to do with burn-out of the Will. So wha’t the will to do with drawing? A lot actually, especially number drawing. Maths, of the 12 Zodiacal Subjects, is that of Taurus (the astral constellation). The Quality of The Bull, as ascribed by Dr. Steiner, is that of Will.
The bull – or ‘cow’ as the Master often terms it – is also the symbol of Ancient Persia; the civilization of The 9. Hence it is the one which our 9-year-olds are recapitulating. Considerable number advances were made in astral Persia, especially those of a ‘pictorial’ nature. This can be seen even today in the marvelous mosaic embellishments of such wonders as the Blue Mosque of Isfahan in Iran. One could well take inspiration for a series of drawings from these plaster, paint, tile and tessellated masterpieces.
How beautifully they express those qualities of form, gesture, shape and color alluded to earlier – and they’re so intrinsically intelligent! The young ‘Persians’, 9-year-olds, will enter into the oft complex but always lovely design elements in a way which fires the creative soul as few number activities can – Persia means ‘fire’.
The 7-fold etheric body illuminates certain representative organs of the physical body on its inexorable, 7-year way. In Class 3, those life-body organs are the lungs; these are a perfect picture of harmonious asymmetry if ever there was one! It is this awakening of ‘lung consciousness’, especially as experienced in their form and movement, which leads children to enjoy the sou-called Mirror Pictures so popular in this Class 3 unit. One such might be a stylized Swan reflected in water; or a half-drawing of a leaping frog, where children complete the other side.
Struggling with these charming but intelligent images actually build lung health, through the stimulation of informed etheric activity in these, above all, ‘Life’ organs. This works wonderfully in eurythmy as well; the ‘harmonious 8’, a mirror-movement par excellence, is a particularly popular activity with Class 3 children – it is also known as the ‘lung’ form. The obliging – and imaginative – eurythmist can complement this unit by having the children experience more of these 2-dimensional forms in living space – on the air. All you have to do is ask!
As well as the drawings created by the teacher, the children should be encouraged to be inventive as well; designing their own mirror pictures of other asymmetrical patterns. This can be truly empowering, giving a sense of self-reliance too often absent from the pedagogue-dominated classroom – ‘Look, I made this penguin picture up all by myself!’ is a soul-healthy assertion indeed.
This asymmetry is also often built into the Class 3 room architecture; just as is bi-lateral symmetry a design feature of Class 2 – and radial symmetry in 1st Class.
Water, the astral element itself, is a good source for drawing ideas; a simple arching wave form is a perfect example of asymmetrical but complementary forms. These can be drawn as ‘progressives’, with wave over wave ——- each one larger than the previous This is much like those ‘oyster’ doodles (another good one). Perhaps Dynamic Drawing is only glorified doodling!
The children really like the ‘optical illusion’ drawing; you know the kind, where the steps (or boxes whatever) appear to go one way, but after adjusting your focus, they do the opposite. Beware the computer-designed illusion in the references you find on this kind of thing. Their laws are mechanical rather than artistic.
Another inspirational source is the world of art history. Ironically among the most mathematical drawings done were by a people who couldn’t count past 5 – the Australian Aborigines. 9-year-olds love doing those numerically calibrated but beautiful ‘x-ray’ pictures of animals – or just abstract patterns.
Other examples of artistic symmetry can be found in Celtic art, with its wonderful sea-spiral forms. Also have a look at other ancient-world expressions, like Mayan, Greek and Chinese. Like most subject well taught, this lesson is a feast of integration; the content embracing history; aesthetics; geography; science; architecture, and much more.
But back to the drawing designed by the teacher; one can take a simple form and construct a whole image out of it. For instance, the lemniscate – curve of the astral body! – can be the sole element (in various proportions and sizes) in a drawing of a cow’s head – the astral animal – or indeed its whole form. A meandering river form – astral again! – can be layered in such a way that it become a serpentine river dragon, drawn in accord with maths principles.
Form/Dynamic Drawing need not be restricted to this 3-week middle lesson; it can be employed in all kinds of decorative ways in main lesson books, set designs and other embellishments any time of the year. It is also instructive to explore the forms of the 4 Elements – square of the mineral; curve, liquid; angles, vaporous; and circles of warmth. These reflect in the temperaments of the child 0 and will be embraced by same); they are, in the same order – melancholic; phlegmatic; sanguine; and choleric.
Even animal forms – the astral kingdom – a perennial favorite drawing subject for this unit, expresses this incarnational 4-element mystery. ‘Mineral’ or squarish creatures might be: elephant; Llama; dog; spider; horse. Those with water forms: jellyfish; octopus; snake; seal; nautilus. The angulated ‘air’ animals could e: bat; fox; swift; moth; monkey. And finally the ‘warmth’ animals, those based on circular form. The circle is the timeless symbol of fire: bear; mouse; beetle; koala; hen!
Again to highlight some general principles in an appeal to the 4 Temperaments; the cholerics like strong colors – especially reds – with lots of dynamism in the drawing. This like-like actually creates the opposite in the soul; the choleric being calmed by the complementary image created by the red movement.
Sanguines like detailed and varied repetitive forms, like layered scallops. The movement element is not so filled with dynamism, but lightness, a kind of skipping gesture. The colors? Bright and cheerful, often in sunny pastel tones.
Phlegmatic children prefer a quieter palette, especially the cooler colors – the blue and green range. They prefer their drawing simple and self-evident, with a re-assuring level of predictability, often obtained by building a drawing up, one element at a time.
Finally the serious-souled melancholics; they love stasis, where the form, rather than the dynamic, is dominant —– the kind of geometry obtained by the straight line. Their color choice is the violet/brown (even black) range.
The melancholics, usually the most intelligent of children, admire the complexity of a drawing – the visual conundrums – with its interesting reversals of forms and colors. Oh how much these young ‘Persians’, no matter what the temperament, learn about their number world, both inner and outer, from these wonderful pictures – and how much fun they have learning it!
Leave a Reply