Fairytale Group / Summer 2024

Back Porch Sculpture  “Sacramento Summer”  by Judith Spivak

The Section sponsors an ongoing Fairytale Group that meets twice a month (weather permitting) on the back porch overlooking the garden. Section member Marion Donehower, who is also a member of the Visual Arts Section, facilitates the Fairytale Group.

Here is Marion’s recent report.

This summer we are in the fourth year of the Section Fairytale Group. After four years of twice-monthly work together, we have a good understanding of many fairytales, especially the Grimms Fairytales. So, we are very ready to read Rudolf Steiner’s book The World of Fairytales. This little book contains mainly lectures from 1908 and 1913. In these lectures, Steiner develops his ideas and explanations about fairytales out of the fairytale examples that come from the area where he grew up.

In the lecture from 1908, Rudolf Steiner emphasized the character and quality of the time that we experience between sleeping and waking, waking and sleeping—that time when we visit the spiritual world and gather experiences.

Rudolf Steiner tells us that with all real fairytales, the starting point lies in ancient times in which there existed for all human beings a high degree of clairvoyance. Those who over long periods still retained such clairvoyance also had experiences during intermediate states between sleeping and waking—an experience of the spiritual world. In these intermediate states, it was a though a veil of the physical world were drawn aside. The spiritual world then became visible. Everything in the spiritual world then stood in a relationship to the human soul. When the outer senses fell silent, the soul came to life within.

In my own experience with these intermediate states, I have discovered over time and with observation the following experiences:

When I fall asleep, my thinking calms down. Inwardly I become very quiet. Daily events don’t seem important anymore; they vanish, as if in a cloud. My breath slowly gets calm and slow. The body gets heavy; however, at the same time lighter. This happens the closer we come to sleep, if our sleep life is healthy. It seems to be a magic time of harmony, as we transition to the spiritual world. I think this enables our decision making and in our creative thoughts and activities the next day.

Rudolf Steiner points out that even when the spiritual world feels foreign to us, we can enlighten ourselves when we are in such an intermediate state.

Steiner tells us that when someone can observe the intermediate state that the event is neither here nor there but everywhere. For that reason, the fairytale begins: Once upon a time. When was it? Where did it indeed happen. This is the appropriate beginning for a fairytale. And every fairytale should end thus: I once saw this, and if what took place there in the spiritual world has not ceased to exist, has not passed away, then it lives on to this day.

Every fairytale requires being told in this manner. In always beginning and ending in that way, we call forth the right feeling for what was told.

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The Fairytale Group meets twice a month during favorable weather on the back porch overlooking the garden or in the house. Marion Donehower facilitates the group. The group also produces performance videos with artists from other Sections of the School. For example: here is the video of the fairytale Jorinda and Joringel.

Performance Video by Fairytale Group. Artwork: Marion Donehower

7.11.24