News archive

Biodynamic preparations promote microorganisms in the soil >>> Jürgen Fritz‘ model explains statistically significant results

19 June 2025 16:43

The use of specific preparations is a central part of biodynamics, but until recently there had been no scientific explanation for the way they work. Jürgen Fritz, agronomist at Kassel University, Germany, presents a model for the effectiveness of biodynamic preparations in ‘Living Farms’, a journal published by the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum in Switzerland.

Laughter reduces tension – and promotes socialising

10 June 2025 11:33

The new issue of ‘red nose’ #9 shows why laughter is the best medicine, what part clowning plays in this through all ages of people. And why it is more about the universality of being human than about personal or cultural differences in humour.

“Agriculture needs cooperation” >>> Section for Agriculture champions sustainable farming

2 June 2025 14:44

Agriculture is under pressure due to climate change, monocultures and soil erosion. Fields are devastated by wars and the earth is poisoned by weapons. Fertile soil is being lost and deserts are spreading. Many farms are struggling to survive. With its action plan for 2025 to 2027, the Goetheanum‘s Section for Agriculture wishes to encourage a sustainable approach to farming.

Over 1000 titles >>> Merger of publishers Rudolf Steiner Verlag and Verlag am Goetheanum

22 May 2025 17:55

On 8 May, the publishing company Philosophisch-Anthroposophische Verlage was entered in the Swiss commercial register. The publishers Rudolf Steiner Verlag and Verlag am Goetheanum have merged under this name.

Science of effective spirit >>> Book on Rudolf Steiner‘s approaches and concerns

14 April 2025 10:26

Rudolf Steiner was the originator of pioneering achievements such as Waldorf Education, biodynamic farming and Anthroposophic Medicine. His scientific approach is not as well known. In his book ‘Rudolf Steiner und die Anthroposophie’, Peter Selg describes a man with a social impulse that includes the effectiveness of spiritual forces.

Experiencing farming with active senses >>> The Goetheanum‘s Section for Agriculture passes on biodynamic farming modules to Heliopolis University

2 April 2025 11:23

After six years of development and testing, the Section for Agriculture at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, has handed over study modules on biodynamic farming to Heliopolis University in Cairo, Egypt, as part of a degree programme in organic agricultural science.

Effective in the face of resistance >>> Tributes to Rudolf Steiner on the 100th anniversary of his death

22 March 2025 15:58

Waldorf schools and kindergartens, biodynamic farming and Anthroposophical Medicine are rooted in the anthroposophical approach developed by Rudolf Steiner. But the effectiveness of his work was not to be taken for granted, as events organized at and around the Goetheanum for the 100th anniversary of his death on 30 March will illustrate.

Making history >>> Documentation on Goetheanum ‘Parsifal’ production

4 March 2025 11:27

The staging of Richard Wagner’s opera ‘Parsifal’ at the Goetheanum under director Jasmin Solfaghari has made history by including eurythmy. It also brought together art and science. The book on ‘Parsifal’ at the Goetheanum offers multiple glimpses, personal and professional, into this complex undertaking, a cooperation of Schott Music and Pamy Media Productions.

“Rediscover what life truly is” >>> Sustainable growing methods such as biodynamics are successful around the world

20 December 2024 11:05

The smallholder farmers of indigenous cultures seek to live in harmony with the earth. Biodynamic farming is for them a way of bringing together tradition and innovation to achieve a unity of earth, humans and cosmos.

Bridging between guidelines and the art of medicine >>> Podcast on therapeutic intuition by the Medical Section at the Goetheanum

12 December 2024 15:23

What remains when all the knowledge from guidelines and textbooks does not suit the individual patients one meets as a physician or therapist? Erik Baars pursues this question in conversation with Julia Demming from the Medical Section at the Goetheanum. Erik Baars is professor of Anthroposophic Medicine at the University of Applied Sciences in Leiden (NL).

 We need laughter in order to develop

11 December 2024 18:00

We need laughter, we need self-distance in order to develop. Since if we think we are doing everything right, there will be no development. And nothing to laugh about. Or even more so?

Exploited in building up the Nazi state >>> Study of anthroposophic physicians during the Nazi period

31 October 2024 10:23

Anthroposophic physicians largely resisted Nazi ideology, particularly in terms of content, but some individuals accepted the system in the hope of gaining advantages for Anthroposophic Medicine. These are the findings of the study ‘Anthroposophy and National Socialism. The Anthroposophical Physicians’ by Peter Selg, Susanne H. Gross and Matthias Mochner.