By Mary Fonte, Chaplain and AAP Graduate

I’ve heard many times people say that autumn is their favorite season.  Why is this? 

Witnessing the earth’s changing colors of greens to gold, crimson and chartreuse, while anticipating the warmth of a comfortable hearth does enkindle a fondness for the season. Most significant is the light. Moving lower in the sky from summer’s heights, the sun seems to get more personal and notice me.  The light is clearer, stronger, and deeper. 

Every year I mourn summer’s end. As beautiful as fall is, I know that it also brings trials. The days will become shorter, the air colder, and more energy will be needed to accomplish tasks. It is the beginning of another cycle of community life, in education, business and politics, where routines resume. It is a time to set intentions and focus my activities. 

Spiritually, I wonder, what grade am I in? I think of this time of year as the start of another school year… a spiritual one. I’m not sure what grade I’m in, and I know it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that I show up and start where I am. 

Attending to and deepening one’s relationship with one’s self is an essential value in the study and practice of anthroposophical psychology.  For me, this includes daily meditation, gardening, a movement and gesture practice, journaling, reciting mantras, and reading inspired texts. The nightly “backward looking” practice helps me catch surprise glimpses of myself that occurred during the day that I would not otherwise notice. 

As the equinox approaches (September 22 this year) and I embody the balance of light and dark within my own being of body-soul-spirit, I FEEL MYSELF. It’s this sense of “I”, no matter how faint or distant, that makes this the favorite season! No matter how far along one is, it is this feeling, this “I-ness” that yearns to grow and to know it self more. Autumn is the season when I reset my intentions for deeper self-care and inner work. 

The excitement of the season does wane, as I encounter those parts of myself that are challenging to see and work with. The “backward looking” practice involves strengthening my “I” to observe all the parts of myself with a neutral self-interest, and developing compassion, love and forgiveness. 

When I was a kid growing up Catholic, my mom had a statue of St Michael victoriously standing upon a serpent. I understood that figure of St Michael to represent good over evil. Michael, an Archangel, is a significant and high spiritual being who has taken upon himself the important task to help humanity choose the higher path. The festival of Michaelmas reminds us that we will be challenged through our fears and that we also have help from the spiritual world, and the ability to overcome. 

I wonder if that light in autumn that seems to see me, is Michael staying watch with me, as I try to stay present in my practice of self-vigiling. I also know that this turning point of light that marks Michaelmas, is also the early beginning of preparation for the very special spiritual event that soon will follow, the mystery of Christmas and the winter solstice. 

As a movement gesture, I begin with eyes gazing up and out, (towards summer’s heights) arms and fingers out-stretched. Feet and legs planted on the earth in a wide stance. Slowly, my arms and hands release and move downward, and my eyes gaze forward. My feet move closer together; I stand upright in balance, (gesturing the equinox). Slowly, my arms and hands continue downward into a cradling gesture as my feet come together and I curl myself within. I wait in darkness and silence. After some time in the solstice gesture, there is a small movement, a dawning. Slowly my limbs unfurl opening towards the outside. Finding balance again, in the equinox gesture this time starting from within.  Moving outwards reaching towards summer’s heights, once again. 

Michaelmas is a beginning, and yet it is also a turning point in light in the ongoing cycle of becoming myself. 

Thank you!

Mary Fonte

Mary Fonte is a graduate of the first US Anthroposophic Psychology cohort, and also completed the 1-year Personality and Personality Disorder program. She has an MA in Philosophy, Cosmology & Consciousness and works as a Chaplain and Bereavement Counselor in hospice, serving those at end of life and their families. She lives in the Outer Sunset in San Francisco, CA.

2018 International Federation of Anthroposophic Psychotherapy Associations (IFAPA) Conference

Every two years for the last six years, delegates from national Anthroposophic psychotherapy associations gather at a “Train the Trainers” conference to share wisdom about how to teach and nurture Anthroposophic Psychotherapy across the world.  These meetings were initiated by Ad and Henrietta Dekkers, of the Netherlands, who have been foundational members in spreading the art and nature of Anthroposophic Psychotherapy worldwide.  Recently, an international board has taken over the preparation of the conferences and the organizational operations.  We met at the bucolic Emerson College in southern England.

This year the Association for Anthroposophic Psychology (AAP) has been recognized by IFAPA as a member organization.  AAP has developed independently of the many other national organizations which developed under the caretaking of Ad and Henrietta Dekkers. Because of this, IFAPA is interested in learning more about what AAP is up to. 

This year’s conference saw participants from many countries including: Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Israel, India, and America.  Each evening, we received an update about the progress and activities in each country.  It is quite stunning to witness and realize the living growth of Anthroposophic Psychotherapy across the world!  Several countries have well-established associations with annual conferences, ongoing training, interdisciplinary clinics, and active professional communities.  The number of professionals writing and sharing papers is growing considerably.  As an association, IFAPA is hoping to help clarify the larger question of “What is Anthroposophic Psychotherapy,” so that this modality can achieve greater acceptance and understanding worldwide. 

 IFAPA has recently been recognized by IKAM (the International Coordination for Anthroposophic Medicine) as a member organization.  https://medsektion-goetheanum.org/en/anthroposophic-medicine/ikam/. IKAM has been invited by the World Health Organization (WHO) to apply for Anthroposophic Medicine to be recognized as one of several Alternative Medicines, alongside Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic Medicine, for example.  An important reason is that Anthroposophic Medicine includes a view of the human being (whereas homeopathy by itself does not encompass this thoroughly, for example).  Members of IKAM and IFAPA will be working hard in the next two years to develop a foundational understanding of essential components of Anthroposophical therapeutics, in order to present a complete application to WHO which includes all of the various Anthroposophic therapies.  As part of this initiative, IKAM has identified five core areas for further research and elaboration, one of which includes the mental health areas of sleep disturbances, anxiety, depression, and PTSD (trauma) in Care Group III.  To find out more, see https://medsektion-goetheanum.org/en/anthroposophic-medicine/care-areas/

The IFAPA conference daily schedule included singing, text study, exercises promoting understanding of Anthroposophic Psychotherapy, thematic groups, IFAPA organizational updates, eurythmy, and national updates.  The text study proved very powerful for many participants.  The opportunity to work deeply with a Steiner text on the inner development and healing of the human being with a group of professional colleagues was quite a special experience!  For example, we had the opportunity in my group to discuss how the “fire trial” manifests in clients, and whether we can differentiate an esoteric trial from a trial of life.  The Dekkers brought several exercises on the theme of the intergenerational transmission of trauma (including historical context) and possibilities for transgenerational understanding.  David Tresemer brought an exercise, “Mind the Gap,” relating to all the various moments of transition or gaps in consciousness that occur, for example, between impulse or thought and action in addictive processes.  This was very well received by the participants.  Thematic groups included: treatment of children ad adolescents, pathologies of the time spirit: anxiety and depression, research and publications, and teaching methods in a post-graduate training program.  One core theme involved learning to distinguish what is happening for clients regarding the integration or lack thereof of the four sheaths:  physical, etheric, astral, and I, and exploring relevant therapeutic possibilities.

Participants who have attended three Train the Trainers conferences have been invited to write a paper on the general theme of “How and What to Teach in Anthroposophic Psychotherapy: Opportunities and Difficulties.”  Those who complete this final requirement successfully will be certified as teachers of Anthroposophic Psychotherapy by IFAPA.  Engagement with IFAPA and IKAM is an important component in helping foster the development and recognition of Anthroposophic Psychology in North America.

As part of our continued international interest in collaboration, AAP intends to invite Ad and Henriette Dekkers to experience an AAP seminar.  A longer-term goal is to have AAP trainings (likely with an additional component) recognized as satisfying the requirements for recognition from IKAM and the Medical Section as a training providing international qualification as a certified Anthroposophic Psychotherapist