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…
PHYSIOGNOMY OF MOVEMENT
All human movement has as its golden heart the Etheric Body.
However, to understand the Mystery of Kinesis, we have to go back beyond the birth of the etheric, to Ancient Saturn – a realm of stillness. Here the Physical body, in its spiritual ‘blueprint’ stage at least, was created; Old Saturn being a vital foundation for the movement to come in the net planetary manvantara, that of Ancient Sun.
On Old Sun there was movement all right, similar to what we see in plants today, the perpetual rhythmic movement of growth, of sap flow. Hence rhythm was the underlying factor in all Sun movement; one based on gaseous or airy principles.
With the birth of Ancient Moon, freedom of movement, pure ‘animation’, one based on attraction and repulsion (or sympathy and antipathy) came into being. The laws governing this were based on those of the liquid element. This was much the same as we observe in the animal world today: though on Old Moon it was only man who was doing the moving.
So, we arrive on Earth, and with mineralization a new plateau (so to speak) of movement was broached; one of clear consciousness; rather than mere restrictive rhythm or instinctive impulse. An animal cannot objectively decide to move or not; being ruled rather by a stimulus of some kind – but man can. Indeed, as the five great Earth epochs unfolded, from ancient Polaria to today’s Arya, he elevated his independent movement onto an ever-higher plane, one of culture, rather than mere survival. All peoples over the eons have embraced a cultural movement tradition of some kind.
This can be seen in the natural 3-fold division of that agreeable peripatetic triune of activities, sport, dance and eurythmy, representing body, soul, and spirit respectively. Sport (and games) calls mainly on either bodyforces; dance cannot be truly called an art unless it inspires the ether-soul to awaken; and eurythmy, a movement art primarily of the future, invokes the ether-spirit into man’s movement world. On earth we continuously recapitulate earlier conditions; just like those little wooden Russian dolls that, being identical except for size, fit snugly into one another. In our scenario, the tiniest ‘doll’ represents the first four years of life.
Here the baby is an Ancient Saturn being hence movement is rudimentary only. The task of the first year of life is rather to stand, to achieve a state of equilibrium; of upright ‘stillness’.
With the second year the child walks, fitting into the ambient movement dynamics of its earthly home. This whole movement development is assisted by the Nine Choirs of Angels, who dispense their blessings on the growing child one year at a time over nine years from birth: with one ministering angelic host each year.
The Angeloi, Moon spirits who bequeath the Guardian Angel to the individual of life, are the child’s special, if invisible, companions in the first year. IN the second, it is the Archangels, the Christian interpretation of the old Greco-Roman Mercury beings; those moving, quicksilver hosts themselves Walking for the child in the second year leads naturally over to talking in the third – and to thinking in the fourth. This sacred 4-fold developmental principle – to sand, walk, talk, and think – continues throughout life, with the latter faculty always being dependent on the former (thinking on speech, for instance). How important it is, therefore, not to interfere in this world-wise process; say by thoughtlessly assisting an infant to stand, or walk, or talk – or think even!
All tasks mastered by the child itself builds inner strength: for example, we weaken him for life by putting him in some obscene patented ‘walkmobile’; or later by providing formal (‘thinking’) education before his seventh years. So, this first four-year development ‘doll’ fits neatly into a larger one, that which takes us through the four cardinal phases of life.
From 0 to 7 we re-live, in a larger time frame, the development of the first year. The seven years of infancy are generically under the aegis of the Moon-Angel beings. Here the child learns primarily to ‘stand’ in life; to experience the first expression of the “I”, in fact.
However, from 7 to 14 we are truly Mercury-Archangel inspired – as at no other period in our long sojourn on earth! In this happy period the child runs, skips, climbs and swims across its sunny world. This stage corresponds to the second – Mercury – year when the child learnt to walk.
This light-filled ‘movement’ seven-year period leads naturally on to adolescence, the third stage, 14 to 21: here the most important development imperative is to talk – and talk, and talk!
This teen gabfest continues whether on the phone all night, fervently discussing issues in the mall, or just nattering the hours away in the back of a car: anywhere – as long as it’s away from prying adults! Ironically, this garrulous seven years paves the way to a wholesome thinking life in adulthood.
So it is that healthy infants stand the stand, children walk the walk, adolescents talk the talk – and of course adults think the thought!
Knowing this, we can pinpoint the developmental baulks in people with certain pathological conditions by observing whether they do nothing else but, say, site (or ‘stand’), neither moving, talking, or thinking (of anything in particular). These desolate souls – often in mental institutions – have retreated to the safe haven of infancy.
If, however, a person is a habitual mover, jogging twenty miles a day, irritatingly pacing up and down the backyard or living room, or is even an obsessive traveler, then they are psychically in, not infancy this time, but a perpetual ‘childhood’ state.
Then there’s the often good-hearted but aggravating person we cross the street to avoid – the compulsive talker! This verbal sausage machine will corner anyone, anywhere, in a café, or a corner, in a bus, and assail them with a stream of usually vapid gossip. This insensitive loquacity is an indication that they have remained at the psychological stage of a teenager. Not that our beloved teens are unstable or eccentric; to indulge in this kind of expression is both natural and wholesome for the. It is only when the adult nullifies thinking, of a more reflective kind at least, by constant mindless babbly that the symptoms present as pathological.
Rudolf Steiner thought so anyway (see ‘chatterbox’ quote earlier), on occasion speaking against the habit of those who annoyingly dominate the conversation, with rarely a thought for, or interest in, the other’s point of view. Or even if their victims have the time or energy to be so cornered! In fact, walking and talking seem to be paired for life; with fast walkers often also taking quickly; and of course, the reverse, the familiar dull monotone of lassitude.
Movement itself proceeds through four stages as well: the conscious ego conceives – makes a head-based decision; “I want a glass of water.”. This informs the dreamy, semi-conscious astral body, which in turn, from its metabolic dwelling place, wills the action – “I will get a glass of water.”.
The astral then communicates this imperative to the etheric body, in its rhythmic-kinetic mansion in the chest. The laws of movement, instilled way back on Old Sun, are then activated by this ‘life’ body.
“To get a glass of water I must (most of this is unconscious of course) first tension the calf muscles, then the ankles …”.
Finally, the etheric body activates the limbs-physical body, and movement becomes manifest as deed – “Here’s you glass of water.”.
Hence the ego-thought inspires the astral-will, which informs the etheric-movement, which accomplishes the physical-deed.
Hopefully, and most importantly, the original ego concept contains a moral dimension, whether neutral or active, elevating movement to a higher consciousness, as it does. What a better world it would be if, prior to initiating a deed, we could always remember to ask:
“Will my movements in the world aid the Spirits of Progress in their eternal tasks? Or will they degrade my character-development by being unwitting accomplices to the Spirits of Retardation?”
This moral essence should ideally underlie every movement we make on earth. As such, morality is not found in the ego-less animal movement world. In fact, the word ‘anima’, for the Latin, originally means breath; pointing again to the Mystery of Movement’s Ancient Sun, air-chest origins. Indeed, animals, under the beneficent guidance of their respective group souls, usually move perfectly – in their highly specialized way, of course. No human can run like a greyhound, swim like a fish – or fly like a bird! Strangely, humans can dream of expressing animal movement; two of my favorite nocturnal sojourns being leaping off a precipice and soaring like an eagle, and swimming, without needing to breathe, I a blue underwater garden!
As all higher animal’s heats (only latterly evolved creatures have them) are horizontally placed in their manifold breasts, they are condemned to travel across the earth only; true uprightness being the exclusive province of the human being. This is due to the human heart rather sitting in a vertical alignment – with the sun. Hence the primary inspiration for man’s movement is, in spiritual essence at least, perpendicular. Even so, he can perform virtually all terrestrial-bestial movements in principle, but of course less perfectly. This upright sun axis is the path of ego consciousness, that of the Self, indeed.
Even invisible supersensible elemental beings, like gnomes, sylphs and so on, are bereft of verticality. As Elemental-lovin’ Steiner folk say, man is merely an ‘elf’ with an S in front! This S is, however, the all-important ego factor in relation to the development of Self; being the Scorpio or St. John consonant – the Ego Gospel.
Man lives in a perennial cycle of life and death, or their equivalent, movement and thought. How a person moved in a previous life determines (among other things, like parental influence and karma) how one thinkstoday – which in turn influences the quality of how one will move in the next incarnation.
Dead, intellectual thought tends to produce, all other things being equal, robot-like movement. Conversely, a current sedentary, even slothful, kineticism will lead to lazy thinking in the next life.
Soul healers often take that great human therapy center, the etheric body, into account by externalizing psychic distress by having their patients move, often and intelligently. His is a direct contrast to others, who encourage rather the unhealthy stasis of navel gazing.
How better to take the suling – suicidal even – soul out for a game of tennis, or a walk in the wilderness (itself a great healing agent), or for a frolic in the surf. With physical illness the opposite more often pertains. Here the ‘life body’ works best in an ambience of stillness and quiet. This is the wise role played by sanatoria, those sun-drenched retreats situated in mountains or by hot springs. Here one is encouraged to remain still for hours on the sheltered verandah or in the healing waters. Fifty laps of the pool would usually be inimical to this stasis therapy.
Animals and children, as usual, know these things without reading about them. A sick cat will creep under the house and sleep for three days. They even retire so much from the world that they forego all food and drink: very sensible really, as eating sets up slow but enervating peristalsis; a movement in its own right. This is usually the main reason many sick people don’t want to eat or drink.
In mental illness, the tortured soul’s need is rather to embrace the living, breathing world, to find its objective reflection outside – especially in movement.
One of the basic skills learned in eurythmy is three-fold walking.
Here the simple, usually semi-conscious, activity of walking is elevated into heightened awareness, hence artistry.
In ages hence, all advanced souls will walk in this beautiful, conscious three-fold way. But until then, individuals will insist on marching to a different drum from each other – seven drums in fact, determined by the seven main 7-year life periods.
The natural gait of children under seven is with the – Moon-influenced – toes turned sightly inwards; with ‘pigeon toes’ being the extreme. Cartoonists, those physiognomists supreme, almost always draw toddlers this way. If these conditions persist into later life, it becomes a sign of soul introversion. Generically speaking, the infant is naturally introverted or ‘shy’. Naturally out-turned toes are the mark of the extrovert; an example being old Chinese women hawking their ducks I a crowded, cacophonous market.
Children from seven to fourteen tend more towards tip-toe walking, seeking to align themselves with the Sun, with the forces of levity – a walk style often more dance-like. Alas, this highly agreeable, athletic in extreme, gait is deemed by Rudolf Steiner as ‘Luciferic’ when found in adults. He goes on to say that, due to a person’s inability to become grounded, s/he will be sadly able to achieve little of substance in life.
Activities like ballet and gymnastics take tip-toeing on board as a major movement feature, though as a conscious gait it doesn’t necessarily reflect on the character of its owner. Though it’s not surprising that adults who excel in these kinds of fields often look like 10-year-old children!
A new grace, a swinging walk often of considerable beauty, is typical of the 14 to 21s. They align, not so much to the ‘angle’ of childhood, but to the curve; that reflected in their own smooth marmoreal body and face development. Sensitivity to these seven movement types can often assist one in identifying the age of a person, even from a distance.
If adolescent walking is a slow dance, then the typical gait of the 21 to 42 adult is a continuous confirmation of ego confidence.
The spring-in-the-step bobbing jaunt of black-suited people hurrying to work reflects their proud selfhood. If they are not enjoying this healthy development stage, they might descent to the slouch, or other anti-upright perambulations. Thoroughbred horses, those ego representatives of the domestic animal world, are perennial high-steppers.
This ‘ego’ walk eventually give way to the weighted gravity of people in the most heavily-incarnated stage of human life, 42 to 49.
Here, if the individual permits it, the sold earth comes in contact with the walking man as never before. This in extreme is the hell-first march of the materialist; indeed, there is always a martial, authoritarianism in the step – so opposite from that of tip-toe, light-hearted children.
As the Rubicon into the next seven-year life phase, 49 to 56, is crossed, the now weighted feet tend to turn out, and we have the self-satisfied ‘manifest destiny’ walk of people who know they have eventually ‘made it’. Their careers have been largely fulfilled; their many impressive achievements recognized – their children have been successful fledge. In short, they have earned respect! As mentioned earlier, the ‘duck foot’ walk is one of extroversion, opposite from the essentially introverted infant.
Finally, we stand before the gloomy portal of ‘old age’ – 56 to 63. In fact, for the whole of one’s remaining life, the death forces will increasingly prevail. In movement these express as an osteoporotic stiff or ‘dray-foot’ walk, a glaring contrast to the high-stepping 21 to 42 adult. Dragging one’s feet, or other examples of lethargic mobility, is an intimation of death – which, happily, might be still some time off! Not for my grandmother though.
I remember staying at my grandparents’ house when I was vey young, and especially hearing the distinctive sound of Grandma shuffling down the hall in the wee small hours in her ill-fitting slippers. Poor old Ester Smith was dead within the year.
Another example where the Grim Reaper is in attendance is that of convicted criminals on their way to the gallows. They invariable drag their feet something shocking! Foot dray is a sign that the forces of the mineral earth are victorious; that the fire of the spirit is burning low. Or as one modern song lyric has it – “Your get up and go has got up and gone.”. And the feet draggers may well soon be ‘gone’; if not necessarily to their graves, then to a living death, a meaningless spiritless existence. Even many young people, denied access to higher values, fall into this death walk – thongs notwithstanding!
For some reason foot-dragging is particularly prevalent in teenage girls in Japan – as is the teen suicide rate! Their abominable education system could have a lot to answer for.
Actually, in this cross-age vein, anyone can defy their generic walk in any of the seven ways; it’s all to do with individual karma.
For instance, old people can be pigeon-toes; teenagers can remain on tip-toes; a primary child can have a lovely teen swing to their walk; an infant can unwittingly be high stepper; and a young adult can bring forward the heavy tread of the next stage.
These are, however, exceptions to the rule – in fact it is the exceptions that prove the rule! All seven walks, in moderation at least, are correct, providing a unique destiny configuration for every soul on earth. For instance, an army commander could hardly be expected to inspire the troops if he trissed around on his toes.
Conversely, a ballet dancer with a heavy tread could never achieve the grace and levity required to excel in his sublime art. However, the whole man is a combination of all seven, primarily during the appropriate life phases; but, as circumstance dictate, this can be at any time of life.
All these peripatetic experiences over time lead eventually to spiritually-imbued three-fold walking itself. Only here can our feet truly find our ordained karmic path. In relation to his question of karma, my esteemed physiognomy teacher long ago taught me that to have insight into a person’s former life, just watch them in their most unconscious, reflexive activity, walking – but only from that even more unconscious realm, the rear.
In a certain visionary state, an image of the circumstances of one of the person’s previous lives can become evident. One might be surprised to see an image of a Medieval sword-wielding knight emanating from a lowly council clerk! Like the psychiatrist’s couch of confidence, this voyeur’s knowledge is to be kept to oneself.
If the back view reveals the past, then a front view of someone waling indicates more their present, conscious, situation. A profile view points rather to their future; the hardest of all to perceive, whether in this life or beyond.
There is also a thinking-feeling-will aspect to human motility.
Thinking, as one would expect, expresses in the slow, angular, upright walk – or no walk at all, just standing! The Feeling walk is rather in the curve, the quicker ‘swing’, with the emphasis on leaning back – (often with the hands in the pockets). Will is the forward thrust and is the fastest walk of all.
In this case its owner presses eagerly toward the future. Of course, an individual can walk in any of the three, according to his/her soul activity at the time – which is telling in itself! Naturally all human perambulation infers an underlying will element.
All walks are dependent, to some degree at least, on foot shape, proportion, and construction. A long, narrow foot indicates mobile artistry. This is common in eurythmists, those eternally seeking levity. The opposite, a wide, short foot, maintains contact with the material earth, as seen in indigenous peoples throughout the world.
The feet are the nominal region of Pisces, with its – totally apt – Quality of Destiny. In truth, we walk our path in life, both physically and psychically. Not just individual, but collective karma can be unveiled in these deliberations: like the foot contrast between the sentient soul Egyptians and the rational soul Greeks. The first are, as depicted in their hieroglyphs, almost always flat-footed (like the stereotypical ‘flatfoot’ policeman, a modern sharp-eyed sentient soul exponent without peer). The Greeks, in contrast, are gymnastically high-arched. Small feet, as artificially aspired to by foot-bound Chinese women of yesteryear, are a sign of karmic cultivation – in their case, taken to an agonizing extreme! Large feet are more common in the culturally indigent (only few incarnations) peasantry: many sportspersons also have large feet.
“When an ancient Greek walked, he was conscious of each step; he was aware of the form of his leg. Whereas those of the Egypto-Chaldean had no feeling for form in walking but slouched along letting their arms hang loose. In Greece the whole man moved, in Rome he posed.” Rudolf Steiner, Arnheim, 1924
Left: primary-aged children live into their Mercury-ether world through angulation, while (center & Right) teenagers manifest their graceful Venus-astral movement curves.
FROM: Sacred Faces: A Study of the Human Being in Light of Steiner’s Spiritual Science
Four Kingdoms Companion volume to: Sacred Places Minerals & Land; Sacred Fauna Botany; Sacred Fauna Zoology
Important Earthschooling Notes
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.
END NOTE
Alan has presented dialogue in his writings in an expressive form, where he tries to capture the accent of the person he was with to give his writing more authenticity and to allow the reader to “be with him” in his experience. In no place in his writings is he using expressive language to make fun of or demean the speaker. So, as a person with a linguistics and anthropology degree I find this enriching and informative to me as the reader. Thus, we have made the decision to leave all expressive writing in its original form.
Thank you. I greatly appreciate how you left this in original form. It is a help and a pleasure learning from Mr Whiteheads stories!