Toolkit for Start-up

The main purpose of this toolkit is to provide guidance and encouragement to people who want to establish a new Branch or Group of the Anthroposophical Society in Canada in their community. It gives an overview of the society, explains the requirements for establishing a new Branch or Group and provides examples and suggestions for activities Branches and Groups can undertake. There are a few requirements for founding and administering a Branch or Group of the Society. There are a wide range of options for what activities Branches or Groups can take on. Branch or Group life can be a creative, enjoyable process and offers great opportunities for local, social initiative.

Why Do You Become A Member?

  • "I met Anthroposophy 42 years ago in Kelowna, B.C. It was as though a door opened and brilliant light flooded around me. I soon recognized that Rudolf Steiner was my teacher and that Anthroposophy would be my guide and path through life."

    Edna Cox, Port Alberni, BC

  • "I felt starved at university, and the Society activities provided much-needed nourishment."

    Mark McAlister Thornhill, ON

  • "It’s right for me to help keep anthroposophy alive!"

    Suzanne Routhier, PQ

  • "I became a member as a free gesture to uphold and support the spiritual work of Anthroposophy. I was an eurythmy student in England, and felt inspired by the older generation, John Davy, who had just passed away and Eileen Hutchins and others and wanted to be part of this community too!"

    Margaret Osmond, NS

  • "I joined the Anthroposophical Society, first in the UK , when I was a student at Emerson College. It seemed to me then in 1967, and has done ever since, that this deed is both a modest gesture of support for the significant work at the Goetheanum and the least one can do to honour the karmic privilege of having anthroposophy in one's life."

    Diana Hughes Richmond Hill, ON

  • "I wished to express my gratitude to those who brought this wonderful gift to my attention."

    David Charles Adams Cowichan Bay, BC

  • "I became a member to support the work of Rudolf Steiner and anthroposophy in the world."

    Barbarah Nicoll, Glade, BC

  • "Since I was born into an anthroposophical environment I've always been familiar with the most important aspects of it. But I only joined the Society after anthroposophy started to make sense. My wife, who came to anthroposophy through me, was also keen that we should join the Society."

    Chris Wilson, Woodstock, ON

  • "I always had an inner feeling that there was another world we have come from."

    Hans-J.Rosch Lucan, ON

  • "I was already committed to anthroposophy. I wanted to support work being done."

    Judy King, Baddeck, NS

  • "While a student at Emerson College, Foundation Year in the 1970s. I decided to apply for membership in the Society. Adam Bittleston was my study group leader and he encouraged me to do so. I have valued being a Canadian member of the society since then."

    Henriette van Hees from Edmonton, AB

  • "When I joined I was living in an anthroposophically remote area of Canada and was looking to keep my anthroposophical connection alive. I was also ready to make a commitment to the Society and anthroposophy."

    Kate Reynolds, Gabriola Island, BC

  • "I was encouraged by Paul Décarie after a year of participation in the study group."

    Roger Laplante, Montreal, PQ

  • "I was inspired by Rudolf Steiner's philosophy and the various initiatives that have a foundation in anthroposophy (TWS, Arscura School for Living Art, Hesperus Village, etc)."

    Vibeke Ball, Richmond Hill, ON

  • "I wanted to be part of, and support, an organization that is spreading the spiritual truths so desperately needed in our society."

    Gregory W Moore Edmonton, Alberta, AB

  • "I wanted to find a home for my belief in reincarnation."

    Reinhard Rosch, Ottawa, ON

  • "To contribute to anthroposophic impulses."

    CoCo Verspoor, Richmond Hill, ON

  • "To follow and be cued in, as to what’s happening within the Canadian anthroposophical movement. To support (financially) the Canadian scene and also worldwide."

    John Vanden Heuvel, Victoria, BC

  • "I began studying Steiner a few years ago. I did the first part of the Anthroposophy course with Hamo, and I made a trip to the Goetheanum. It then came to me that I wanted/needed to make a more formal commitment to the organization."

    Alexandra MacKinnon, Ottawa, ON

  • "For the moral support of being identified and included in the anthroposophical community."

    MaryAnne Causyn, Ottawa, ON