There are three choices for Foundation Studies Encounter Programs in 2018-2019 -- Wednesday mornings or Saturday mornings in Thornhill or Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings downtown at the Waldorf Academy, 250 Madison Ave, Toronto.
The downtown course involves coming to both the Thursday evening and the Saturday morning sessions, whilie in Thornhill, you choose either Wednesday or Satuday mornings, whichever suits you best.
Rudolf Steiner Centre Toronto facilitates cultural renewal. We offer workshops and trainings in Waldorf Teacher Education, Remedial Education, Foundation Studies in Anthroposophy, Biodynamic Agriculture and the Arts. Here research into the spiritual nature of the human being brings practical insights for work, play and community.
Waldorf Teacher Education
Foundation Studies in Anthroposophy
We offer internationally accredited programs for Waldorf teacher education. Focus on early childhood, grades, high school or specialty subjects. Click here for Waldorf Teacher Education
This is the followup to our earlier post about Gene's crossing of the threshold on August 3rd, 2018 .
Arrangements have now been made for a gathering in tribute to Gene Campbell and her work on Saturday September 8th, 2018. The event will take place from 4-6 pm in the music...
Arrangements have now been made for a gathering in tribute to Gene Campbell and her work on Saturday September 8th, 2018. The event will take place from 4-6 pm in the music room at the Toronto Waldorf School, at 9100 Bathurst Street in Thornhill, and will be followed by refreshments. Everyone is welcome!
Hopefully by then, the summer bridge construction will be finished and the normal Bathurst St. entrance to the Toronto Waldorf School will have been re-opened. Over the summer that entrance has been closed and all traffic to the school has been re-routed to a second new entrace at the back of the campus, off Bathurst Glen Drive.
Photo from May 2010 when Gene was at the RSCT for the Teacher Education Program Graduation Ceremony. It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Gene Campbell. A reoccurrence of cancer led to its spreading rapidly and Gene died in hospital on Friday, August...
Photo from May 2010 when Gene was at the RSCT for the Teacher Education Program Graduation Ceremony.
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Gene Campbell. A reoccurrence of cancer led to its spreading rapidly and Gene died in hospital on Friday, August 3. Our thoughts and feelings are with Gene and her family. A gathering to pay tribute to Gene will be arranged to take place at the Rudolf Steiner Centre Toronto at the beginning of September. We will inform you of the day and time once they are known.
Gene Campbell designed and led the RSCT's Foundation Studies in Anthroposophy Distance Learning program. Before that she was involved in bringing Waldorf to homeschoolers through her Chiron initiative, and through programs at the RSCT.
James Brian
Executive Director
Rudolf Steiner Centre Toronto
August 14th Update: A Gathering has now been planned to honour Gene Campbell and her work:
At the end of Friday morning's Indigenous Waldorf Week session, James Brian presented a certificate of affiliation to representatives of the Everlasting Tree School, on behalf of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA). This confirms the school's status with AWSNA as a regisitered initiative. L-R in...
At the end of Friday morning's Indigenous Waldorf Week session, James Brian presented a certificate of affiliation to representatives of the Everlasting Tree School, on behalf of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA). This confirms the school's status with AWSNA as a regisitered initiative. L-R in photo: Chandra Maracle, James Brian, Amy Bomberry, Kathy Smith, and Sean Thompson.
The end of a thing is always the hardest part. Being in such close contact with folks, learning, thinking, growing and changing with people is a process that is never direct, always dynamic, and fluid. So it is always hard when it comes to an end, because it feels scary and empty. Now that a teacher is not nearby to direct us, where should we go? What will be do? The sense of community that was build might feel like it is gone. What is powerful about this week is the sense of mission and commitment going forward. So many powerful ideas were presented to us and so many tools were given as a way to further our own investigations.
In fact, what may be an even bigger gift than the information about Haudenosaunee language, culture and history given to us, is that we now have a powerful framework by which to learn about all indigenous languages, cultures and histories. If we borrow from the Thanksgiving Address shared by Sean Thompson on the very first day, we now have a way to envision a path forward. We know then, that every culture has words, phrases and beliefs about what it means to approach the world and make sense of it. From the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, we know that there are words and phrases to represent winds, birds, animals, people, trees, plants and relationships. Knowing the word is not sufficient, however. One must learn the meaning, the significance and the symbolism of each one.
Thus, we can begin a study of the language, history or culture of the peoples around us by attempting to learn more of their worldview, their knowledge, and the way they understand knowledge. And what we immediately must see is the complexity of the worldview. It is in this complexity that we must enter, and learn from, with the greatest respect.
The Danger of a Single Story
In her TedTalk “The Danger of a Single Story” Chimamanda Adiche describes the challenge of overcoming our biases and stereotypes when we observe others. She reminds all of us that every single person is a complex and complicated individual with amazing experiences and unique perspectives. There is a danger in operating solely from a belief in a single way a person is or can be. Assuming that anyone can only be one way reduces their complexity, and takes away a part of their humanity.
As we learned this week it is absolutely essential that we carefully study, and work to understand the experiences of Indigenous folks around us. We cannot reduce people to simple stereotypes, to single stories, but rather, we must learn of the complexity of their experience, and appreciate this. In this way, we can come to truly appreciate a group of people.
“It Wasn’t False, But It Could Have Been a Little Bit Truer”
During the week, one of the most profound statements came during a story. When asked about a book on Haudenosaunee culture, Chandra Maracle assessed it, saying “it’s not false, but it could have been truer.” This line is crucial, in that it presents educators with a special challenge. It challenges us to work to understand the complexity of people, and to know more about their history, language and culture. It challenges us to continuously seek to learn and understand the cultures around us, to not reduce them to single stories for the sake of convenience or efficiency. The statement reminds us that we are constantly working to develop our knowledge, and that it is not an endpoint. Rather, it is a continuous path and destination. It is the continuous work of trying to learn about, and understand another culture’s worldview.
“There Needs to be Real Truth to Get Real Reconciliation”
All of this is to say that our learning and understanding this week is meant to serve as one step on our path. This week is not the end of what we are called upon to do. It is only the beginning of our task. This work represents the start of learning, engaging and developing our awareness around the experiences of the Indigenous people around us, as way to contribute to the one of the most important tasks of all: truth, reconciliation, and healing. In order to get to the reconciliation and healing, we must have the real truth, as Amy Bomberry said. It is in this work that healing can happen for all people.
It is in this task that we must make a commitment. It is central to the commitments we promise to hold, symbolized by the Wampum belt. It is central to the relationships we created this week. And in these relationships, the ending no longer has to be the hardest part, because we know it is only the first step of a greater work to be done.
Group photo of RSCT Indigenous Waldorf Week participants, under the pine tree in the TWS forest playground.
Today, we were given a profound gift by our Haudenosaunee teachers today that constituted a mental and spiritual reminder to all of us: we were gifted the reminder of our relationships to each other, and the work that must be done to keep them alive and healthy. We were reminded of the important historic ties we have towards each other, and the responsibility this places on us today as people, both Indigenous and others.
This reminder of relationship began today with our homework, where we discussed our own research on the Indigenous peoples on the lands where we come from. For me, this required a review of the Anishinaabe and Lakotah peoples of Minnesota. We were also asked to explore resources for learning about the peoples of our regions, and this showed me the various bookstores, galleries, the Minneapolis American Indian Center, and other spaces to learn about the experiences of these tribes.
From a practical standpoint, this useful for teachers to know, but it spoke much more deeply to the lesson we have been receiving all week long: of the need for us to learn about, and build relationships with the people around us. This lesson of relationship was then imparted deeply in the discussion of the Wampum belt history of the Haudenosaunee. What became evident was the deep, personal and powerful meaning these sacred symbols represent.
The Meaning of Law
Along with the profundity of relationships and responsibilities was considering the nature of law. In Western views, law often connotes restriction, confinement, or punishment. It was incredible to hear of the Wampum which represented the Great Law. While responsible for delineating behavior, the Great Law needs to be read with a different lens.
“Law” Sean Thompson told us, “is the great, large goodness and right-ness.” And fundamental to the large goodness and right-ness is the connection and relationships shared by people. Like the Wampum belt that represents it, it is the path, the way.
Passing around a wampum belt during Thursday's class.
Wampum Belts as Sacred Ties
In learning the history of the beads, belts, ties and colors, we learned of their significance as markers of relationship and responsibility. It was interesting to see and hear the stories of the various belts, and how they represented relationship between Haudenosaunee, members of the Six Nations, and to relationships with non-Natives, including the Dutch, French and British.
What is amazing about these representations is the significance of each color, each design, each bead, all of it. Each one represented a powerful reminder to parties connected to it of the supreme responsibility for maintaining the relationship it represented. This is not a call for perfect, pristine harmony and peace; it is a call to remember the connection forged by the relationship and value it. To think and consider the connection and relationship above anything that might be gained from desecrating the relationship.
And we were taught that, far from demonstrating a doctrine of separation, as in the one shown above, the belts demonstrate connection, friendship, and relationship. They a built in peace and reciprocity. They allow for, and even value, the diversity and difference in the lives of people, but still call on them to remember the connection, the relationship, and the respect.
An Invitation to Renew
While the Great Law implores us to build, cultivate and protect the relationships we share, these are not simple, or organic occurrences. The relationships we build must be taken care of. The require attention, care and conscious actions to keep healthy.
As we were told by Chandra Maracle, the single arrow can easily be broken, but the arrows bundled together are unbreakable. But the arrows must be kept together. And that means that the relationship must be looked after. It must be refreshed; it must be polished.
The most powerful symbol of this was shared with us at the end of our session, of the 50 Chiefs of the Confederacy, linking arms, around the great White Pine, to signify their connection and commitment to each other, and the protection of the Everlasting Tree.
This symbolizes, to me, a completely different view of humanity and reality; it symbolizes a deep, deep commitment to those who surround you, and a commitment to the connections we share. It symbolizes the need to view each other as legitimate people, with legitimate ideas and actions, and it symbolizes that I assume the same about you. It does not value supremacy, control or hierarchy. It values connection and togetherness. It reminds us that the Great Law is the Great Good. And that we must work together to acknowledge it, and each other.
It is part of the Original Instructions.
It is part of the Sacred Thing That Happened When We Were Given the Great Law.
It is a part of What We Must Remember.
It is part of What We Must Not Forget.
It is part of Living in the Shade of the Great Tree.
It is part of the Law That Is In The Seed.
(inspired by “The Law is in the Seed by Alex Jacobs).
This week has helped to inspire me to remember these connections, these relationships, and to work to keep them alive and strong.
