Becoming Aware of the Etheric

Plants strive from the dark, dense depths of earth toward the light, space, and heights of the heavens. Human beings strive to bring the light, clarity, and heights of knowledge into the dark, dense, depths of the earth. We will focus on 4 observation exercises of comparing raw iron ore with steel, raw clay with fired brick, glacier water from before the time of Galileo with city drinking water, and a seed with a man-made imitation that looks the same. With these observations we will seek to build a brief outline of the sequence of living thought growing light into the darkness of the earth.

Manny spent 25 years as president of his family's consulting firm working as mechanical designer, construction manager, and service engineer of the world's first superconducting cyclotron for producing a neutron beam for cancer therapy at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University and later at the Detroit Medical Center. For the last 19 years, he has been mechanical designer, construction manager, and service engineer in the medical physics department of the University of Alberta and Alberta Health Services for the world's first MRI guided linear x-ray accelerator for cancer therapy.

While the digital deluge sweeps through our daily life, what is the current equivalent of Noah's Ark? Is there a way we can learn how to build that boat, precisely by learning the laws of the domain that are used to unleash the flood? A study of the behavior of electricity and magnetism can itself, with proper insight, light the way towards strengthening and en-freeing our thinking process.

Gopi Krishna Vijaya is from Bangalore, India. He has completed his undergraduate physics training from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, and his PhD in Physics (Solar Energy) from the University of Houston in 2014. He is currently engaged in the study of the Reciprocal System of Physics — a way to inculcate Goethean thought into modern physics — in Salt Lake City, USA.

Fear feeds Ahriman. Are we enmeshed in fear? Courage is needed to cross the threshold. Becoming a soul of consciousness is our destiny for this Age. Our etheric body is loosening from the physical body. What happens to me (and to us) as a result of this loosening? How can I live a healthy and properly evolving life among all the ahrimanic influences?

Andrew Linnell is co-founder of MysTech, an organization seeking to realize Rudolf Steiner's indications on Mechanical Occultism. He retired from a 42-year career in the computer industry in 2013 wherein he had worked as CTO and VP for various companies. He serves as president of the Boston branch of the Anthroposophical Society and is a member of the Natural Science Section. He is the author of two children's books, three art history books, and nine MysTech study guidebooks.

Our present Fifth Post-Atlantean Epoch is already showing signs of a gradual transition to the "Jupiter Epoch" when human etheric bodies will be the "lowest" stage of our ongoing incarnations. Inessa will outline the metamorphosis of living etheric forces through preceding post-Atlantic epochs and signs of their gradual qualitative decline and explain how we are now actually co-creating the future Jupiter moral-etheric environment.

Inessa Burdich is a Spiritual Science researcher and a therapeutic consultant for individuals and organizations. She is a Trustee for a Rudolf Steiner research and educational trust dedicated to supporting individuals with special needs and leads courses in Anthroposophical meditation and supersensible perception. After graduating as a physicist, she embarked on an international business career spanning two decades. In 2018, she founded Spiritual Science Research.

In the First Class Lessons of the Higher School of Spiritual Science, we first encounter three beasts in our thinking, feeling and will. Rudolf Steiner calls them "enemies of the knowledge" of the present, which are of an ahrimanic nature. He shows how this spirit of science should be transformed with the help of Goethe's worldview in order to reach the spiritual world.

Vesna has a Master of Pharmacy with anthroposophical specialization. Despite being co-Leader of the Natural Science Section at the Goetheanum, she is a plant lover and a Demeter farmer in Slovenia. She is involved in various research projects of Goethean plant knowledge for pharmacy and medicine. Currently, she is working on a PhD on the topic of the rising picture method.

This presentation will approach the theme of this year's MysTech conference from recent experiences at performances and workshops that were part of The New Pegasus Project. With four unique new instruments designed by Nathaniel Williams — Light Horses — light, shapes, and colors are created in real time on a screen by four Light Horse Players, accompanied by an ensemble of singers.

Nathaniel Williams is the current leader of the Youth Section at the Goetheanum. He studied visual art and marionette theatre in Basel, and was the co-founder of Free Columbia with Laura Summer. He also received a PhD in Political Theory from the University of Albany. In recent years one of his focuses has been developing screen art projects with young people.

We will look at the elements of today, as they are organized in the Periodic Table, and see how they contain traces of previous planetary stages of the earth (Saturn, Sun and Moon stages). We will also consider how sub-nature is represented in these elements.

Howard is a long-term Anthroposophist and a Class Holder in the School of Spiritual Science. He has a PhD in chemistry and did some of the early research into "liquid crystals". He has also worked in Germany on the "Drop-Picture Method" of Theodore Schwenk. He founded the Science Group of the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain.

The assaults of technology on the human being are manifold: on how we think, make meaning, and distinguish truth from lies. Both our will and consciousness processes are in danger of becoming increasingly passive. In contrast, the movement practice of eurythmy gives us the key to identify and counteract all of these. With only 15–30 minutes of eurythmy a day, you can counteract many of the difficulties presented by technology.

Cynthia Hoven is an early pioneer of Eurythmy Online, breaking through the digital barriers to enable anyone, anywhere to build their own Personal Eurythmy Practice. She has spent a lifetime as a workshop leader, therapeutic eurythmist, performer, and lecturer. She lives in California and has traveled to 50 states and to 50 countries.

In this lecture I will discuss and describe some of the time-irregularities and differences in the etheric world contra the physical (elemental) world. Without this insight it will be difficult to understand how to use the elemental forces in performing many things, among other the development of the three occultisms.

Are Thoresen is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine who has also studied anthroposophical medicine, homeopathy, acupuncture, osteopathy and agriculture. Since 1981 he has run a private holistic practice in Sandefjord, Norway. He has been a MysTech Conference speaker since 2018! He is the author of many books, including Spiritual Translocation: The Four Doors, Travels on the Northern Path of Initiation, Meeting Michael, and more.

This presentation will explore the phenomenon of Christ's appearance — not on the physical plane but in the realm of reality just beyond it, the etheric or life realm. We will look at decisive elements of Rudolf Steiner's research into this topic, elements of prophetic expectations present in the New Testament, and where this experience touches our human experience.

Patrick Kennedy has been a student of Anthroposophy for nearly 30 years, a member of the School for Spiritual Science, and a lifelong Waldorf student. Ordained in 2006, Patrick serves as a priest in the Christian Community and is a member of its world-wide Circle of Seven leadership. He is the author of From Disciples to Apostles and the producer of The Light in Every Thing podcast.

Rudolf Steiner made a few—but highly interesting—statements regarding the etheric heart. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, Paul Emberson, and others have continued this work. For some years now, there have been attempts to take up these impulses and apply them to social life. In this presentation, we explore the question of the social force that Rudolf Steiner discovered in the ‘Reverse Ritual’ (Umgekehrter Kultus). We also examine the ‘Apostle Principle’ and the initiative to revitalize the ‘Wachsmuth-Lerchenfeld groups.’

Dr. Michael Birnthaler — Waldorf teacher, university lecturer, author, founder of EOS-Erlebnispädagogik (experiential education), ‘world-walker,’ and director of various locations including Schloss Hohenfels.

Biodynamic breeding can become a promising, evolving and serious approach to working with and improving the performance and lives of our domesticated plants. It engages shifts in both human attitude and biological results.

Maize has been bred under biodynamic conditions for 38 years. Over time the plant’s biological intelligence, and ability to partner with its microbiome became enhanced. The plants became more vital, stress resistant, yield reliable, independent of fertilizers and more flexible in co-evolving their genome with their microbiome. The grain and plant body became more nutrient valuable in terms of trace mineral content, oil, protein and essential amino acids.

We will touch on how and where these plant-microbial partnerships seem to work, their heritability, and how they are affected by biodynamic soil and preparations. We will discuss where the work with maize and other crops is going commercially and research-wise. And we will reflect more broadly on cultivating breeder attitude, phenomenological experience, and building relationships with the plant/microbial world.

Walter Goldstein received his BSc in Botany at the University of Washington and a MSc and PhD in Agronomy at Washington State University. He first learned about biodynamics from Peter Dukich in California, worked with biodynamic farmer Michael Scully in Illinois, then studied biodynamics with Herbert Koepf, Bo Pettersson, and the phenomenological approach with Jochen Bockemuehl in Europe. He was Research Director at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute for 25 years and founded the Mandaamin Institute in 2011, located in SE Wisconsin. He owns a small farm with his wife. He has been engaged in studying effects of biodynamic preparations to understand their effects on multiple levels. Presently, he is actively engaged in breeding maize and as Executive Director with the Mandaamin Institute.

Life is not a substance but a force. And forces are invisible. But they have an effect on the visible substance in which they act. The substance is formed through the force. So, when you observe the substance, through thinking you can find the attributes of the force and through these, its essence.

Dr. von Boch was born in Canada. She met Anthroposophy at the beginning of her studies in psychology, then studied anthroposophical medicine in Germany. She worked for two Anthroposophical Rehabilitation Clinics and helped doctors to learn Anthroposophical Medicine in Asian and Slavic countries. She lives now in Switzerland and has a medical office nearby in Germany.

The reality of the Etheric is obvious. However, the principles underlying life are still to be clearly grasped. The development of etheric technology brings with it the necessity to understand the Etheric in concrete terms. Let us explore the etheric realm, the cosmic, earthly and human ether, and work out what needs and fields of application arise from this for the development of moral technology.

Born in Taunus, Germany, Jan-Gabriel knew at the age of 12 that he would become a pediatrician. After attending a Waldorf school, he studied medicine at the Charité in Berlin. In the field of technology, he set up a bicycle shop, started a forestry business and launched a start-up in natural language processing. Since 2020, Jan-Gabriel has been dedicating his work to the development of moral technology at strader.tech.

Steiner describes an overall developmental progression where life processes "descend" into sensory organs. Many aspects of the world now push us towards some sensory experiences being over-emphasized while others remain neglected. This has consequences for our perception of the etheric world, as well as higher spiritual capacities related to sense perception.

Adam Blanning MD is a co-leader of the Medical Section at the Goetheanum. He practices anthroposophic family medicine in Denver, Colorado, lectures and teaches nationally and internationally, and co-directs the postgraduate physician training programs for anthroposophic medicine in the U.S. Dr. Blanning is the author of Understanding Deeper Developmental Needs and Raising Sound Sleepers.

Rudolf Steiner often mentioned his Philosophy of Freedom in terms of an etheric thinking. In this presentation Mark will show examples of etheric movements living in Steiner’s writings. In addition, enhanced etheric meditations are shared which may serve individual study groups by providing a haven of pure thinking against media bombardment and programming.

Mark Riccio teaches the dynamic forms in Steiner’s basic books online (thenewthinkinginstitute.com) and writes articles on how a fresh understanding of Steiner’s etheric thinking can enhance our present-day understanding of Steiner’s work, including Waldorf education.

Mark attended the Anthroposophical Studien Seminar in Stuttgart with Frank Teichmann, studied with Florin Lowndes, and is currently working on providing accurate translations of Steiner’s books for the purpose of etheric study. The Logik of the Heart covers the basics of Steiner’s new thinking.