Author Biography | Linda Knodle: Celebrant and Educator

During these sixteen years, my focus was to bring my personal experiences of childhood, puberty and adolescence alongside my research and understanding of child development in order to meet the needs of students in my classroom. The foundation for this focus began with a two year teacher training at the Rudolf Steiner College in Orange Grove, CA. Subsequently, I took a class of students at first grade and taught them through eighth grade. I continued teaching in Waldorf middle schools substituting and bringing my Human Fertility curricula to the classroom.

During the 90’s, another theme centered on rites of passage for teens transitioning to adults in a welcoming community. My appreciation for the importance of community festivals and ceremony grew out of my early childhood experiences in the Roman Catholic Church, my participation in theatre production and my deep connection to indigenous cultures.

A turning point came in 1996, when I met Tamara Slayton while searching for a holistic approach to puberty and adolescence to bring to the Seattle Waldorf School and my own middle school students. She was a dynamic and inspiring teacher! The collegial relationship that Tamara and I shared until her death in June 2003 gave me the focus to do this destiny work. Our initial focus was meeting the needs of youth and supporting those adults, parents, teachers and professionals who worked with youth. A collaboration with Tamara, Anne-Marie Fryer and myself as contributor, editor and publisher resulted in the I Find My Star publication in 2003. Creating, self-publishing and teaching the Human Fertility and Middle School Issues curricula was the next step for me. Also, our individual work with the relationship of the physical and spiritual bodies of the feminine naturally led Tamara and I to explore our relationship with death. To work with this theme with another woman was powerful.

— Linda Knodle