In 2006 a small school for anthroposophy was founded in Riga by Uldis Saveljevs (Council member of the Anthroposophical Society in Latvia) together with former Waldorf teacher Dainis Ozolins, physician Mara Meijere and eurythmy teacher Guna Donina. The first 14 students have now celebrated their graduation.
The festive granting of diplomas on May 23 began with a eurythmy performance under the direction of eu- rythmy teacher Guna Donina and a reading from Rudolf Steiner’s Calendar of the Soul. The students received their diplomas at the conclusion of a threeyear program of study.
Uldis Saveljevs, teacher at the School for Western Esotericism, told the audience about how this initiative arose. Some time earlier, the impulse for the school had been perceptible in the spiritual world, and thus it did not take too much effort to bring it to incarnation in the physical world. The school was founded in 2006 to meet the needs of young people and the Anthroposophical Society in Latvia for a deepened knowledge of anthroposophy. Since then the School for Western Esotericism has been offering its work to members of the Anthroposophical Society as well as to the general public.
Students Respond
However, the path that led to the school’s founding was not a simple one. During the late 1990s Saveljevs taught anthroposophy at the private Institute for Practical Psychology in Riga. He built his own anthroposophical department there; he reports that the Institute’s administration was supportive, as were the students. But his plans collapsed quickly when Latvia was about to enter the EU. An international commission from the EU looked at how the educational and training institutions in the Latvia conformed to the educational guidelines for the EU. The commission required that the Riga Institute close the anthroposophy department. So the Institute actually closed it in order to avoid losing state certification for all its degrees.
Called to a private school for various esoteric streams, Saveljevs had good success with his teaching. The students were enthusiastic about anthroposophy and urged him to found his own school. Working with Dainis Ozolins and Mara Meijere he brought the idea to fruition and found an appropriate place for it at the Science Academy in Riga. Today about 50 students of various ages study anthroposophy here–although there is an openness to other streams, anthroposophy is the only curriculum. The diploma is not recognized by the state.
Preparations for Next Year
The students attend the lectures and seminars one weekend a month. This rhythm was chosen because many of them have to travel from distant cities.
During the first year they take up the anthroposophical view of the human being; Steiner's Theosophy is their most important text during this year. During the second year they devote themselves principally to meditation, and to biography work in the third year. Founding member, Waldorf teacher, and physicist Ozolins introduces the Goethean approach to scientific research; Meijere, a physician, teaches introduction of anthroposophical medicine for laymen. Then there are form drawing, geometry, and eurythmy (Guna Donina). James Staley from Sacramento is the only one who does not teach in Latvian; the Waldorf teacher and former journalist with the Associated Press (USA) uses English for instruction in the history of consciousness, reincarnation, karma, and Rudolf Steiner’s biography.
To date, the school has had good success with guest lecturers like professor Dr. Inese Joksta and Dr. Klaus Dönges (Essen, Germany). The staff hopes to involve more foreign lecturers with the curriculum in the future.
