08 Sep Michael Group (ON)
– by Mark McAlister
INVITATION – All members and friends are invited to the Arscura Opening for a Michaelmas celebration. Wednesday September 29, 7-9pm at 901 Rutherford Rd. in Thornhill.
ANOTHER INVITATION – The Michael Group will resume its regular meeting on Tuesday October 5 at 8pm in our Library at Hesperus. For details, please contact Mark McAlister (905-883-3409), Heidi Vukovich (905-927-2286) or Antje Ghaznavi (905-893-0507)
SOME BACKGROUND – In my (somewhat personal) reflections about the Michael Group, I found it helpful to look at 33-year periods.
1942-1975: The “Toronto Group of the Anthroposophical Society” began its work in March, 1942. Work intensified in the 1950s with the incorporation of the Anthroposophical Society in Canada and the formation of the “Michael Group”. Members of the Michael Group not only cultivated the esoteric substance of Anthroposophy, but organized many public events and outreach activities. When I joined the Society in 1974, I really felt I was joining “something”. The “living being of Anthroposophia” was somehow tangible.
1975 – 2008. Not long after I joined, Elizabeth Lebret decided to start a study group in Thornhill. The Michael Group was never officially closed, and there were many attempts to re-form and re-structure it. (The current Michael Group was constituted in Thornhill in 1991.) However, I felt that Anthroposophia began to withdraw at the time when Elizabeth withdrew. Still, I felt that Anthroposophia was appearing in other places, in the founding of initiatives such as the Toronto Waldorf School, Rudolf Steiner Centre, and Hesperus, for example. However, we have not been conscientious in our relationship with her, and it seems that she is withdrawing again.
2008 – :When I started working in the Library in 2008, I felt that, although Anthroposophia has been withdrawing, she has not given up totally on us. She is waiting for us to bring new questions to her. What questions would we like to ask her?
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