A Grand Metamorphosis

Peter Selg studied medicine in Witten-Herdecke, Zurich, and Berlin and, until 2000, worked as the head physician of the juvenile psychiatry department of Herdecke Hospital in Germany. Dr. Selg is director of the Ita Wegman Institute for Basic Research into Anthroposophy (Arlesheim, Switzerland), professor of medicine at the Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences (Germany), and co-leader of the General Anthroposophical Section at the Goetheanum. He is the author of numerous books on Rudolf Steiner, anthroposophy, medical ethics, and the development of culture and consciousness. Rudolf Grosse (1905-1994) was born in Hegau, Germany. He was a Waldorf teacher and board member of the General Anthroposophical Society, as well as head of the section for the spiritual striving of young people and the pedagogical section at the Goetheanum. Eugen Kolisko (1893-1939) was an Austrian-German physician and educator who was born in Vienna. He studied medicine at the University of Vienna, and in 1917 became a lecturer of medical chemistry. Kolisko was introduced to Anthroposophy by his classmate Walter Johannes Stein and in 1914 began to attended lectures given by Rudolf Steiner. He became a member of the Anthroposophical Society, and in 1920 was invited as an instructor to the new Waldorf School at Stuttgart established by Emil Molt. Kolisko specialized in preventative medicine, and at the Waldorf school he worked with teachers to create a curriculum focused on the spiritual and physical development of the students. He was instrumental in developing artistic therapies such as anthroposophic music therapy and eurythmy. During the 1930s, he left the Waldorf school in Stuttgart owing to the political situation in Germany, moving to England in 1936, where he established a private educational institute. Kolisko died of cardiac failure near London on November 29, 1939. Eugen Kolisko was the author of several written works in both German and English. Dr. Ita Wegman (1876-1943) was born in the Dutch East Indies. She trained in gymnastics and massage and later in medicine.. She became a close student of Rudolf Steiner, who encouraged her to acquire a medical degree. She later founded the Institute of Clinical Medicine in Arlesheim, Switzerland, where she developed a medical practice based on principles of spiritual science. She was made leader of the Medical Section of the Anthroposophical Society in 1923 and, during her last years, devoted herself to work in the clinic, where she died. Margot M. Saar has a university degree in Applied Linguistics and Translating. She also studied Waldorf Education in Germany and Philosophy of Mind in the UK. She taught in Steiner Schools in Britain for 20 years and is an experienced translator and interpreter in specialty fields (education, medicine, philosophy, anthroposophy, homeopathy, anthroposophic medicine, general science). Margot has translated numerous books for SteinerBooks, including Peter Selg’s 7-volume biography of Rudolf Steiner.