Micha-elic Education and Curriculum

Micha-elic education is based on the work and indications of Rudolf Steiner. Named for the the spirit of the present age, our Micha-elic curriculum was specifically developed by John Miles, after decades of Waldorf training, experience, and research, to be particularly relevant and meaningful for the people of this present time.

Steiner’s indications are a source of life. Micha-elic education is just one river in the ‘water cycle.’ This means that it is not exclusive but one part of a greater whole. In other words, Michael is not the only river on the planet bringing sustenance from the spirit to the earth. The teaching and expounding of others may be of like value.

• Teachers must process Steiner’s ideas through their own understanding, feeling, and deeds. They must make the ideas in anthroposophy their own and be able to explain and defend what they have worked through for themselves. What is important is what they themselves believe, think, and know, without depending on an external authority; such as “Der Doktor hat gesagt.” Individual humans need to precisely identify with what they are propounding.

• This inner work develops in us what is ultimately most important; who a teacher is, rather than what a teacher thinks or knows.

• Each teacher must find their own way to bring the spirit into the world by adapting Steiner’s indications to the children they have in their care.

• Micha-elic education is based on giving children and adults what is appropriate for their current needs to the fullest extent of the teacher's ability and understanding.

• Micha-elic education is based on the idea that educators, to the fullest extent of their abilities and understanding, should provide children and adults with what is most appropriate at that moment for their current needs.

• Teachers must maintain a living connection with the Soul and Spirit by working in freedom to educate children so that the children in their future adult life can develop an inner sincerity which will enable them to form judgments through logical thought, artistic endeavor, and strength of will.

• Individuals and communities must develop a consciousness of working with the third hierarchy [Angels, Archangels and Archai] by having earnest conversations and by understanding each other’s biographies. The main tasks of the third Hierarchy can be simply understood as: Angels – the individual guides for each human self through their incarnations; Archangels - the spiritual impulses of each group of human beings, large and small; and Archai – the spirits of each time period, each age.

• People at the present time view things in a materialistically logical manner, especially in the Western hemisphere. We therefore must re-interpret our thinking life with an abundance of feeling and will and base our education on the whole human being. Higher education must now be thoroughly steeped with feelings and willing deeds; head-only knowledge is arid and lifeless. Now is the time to change and put humanity at the center of the world, rather than material innovation, efficiency, or accumulation.

• Our teaching examples and analogies must be organic. The world is a living, breathing organism of body, soul, and spirit. It is an organic whole, and only from there can we analyse it. It is not a static item built out of parts. All analogies should be organic if they are to be living! Steiner explained that the world is not made out of dead parts, magically brought to life, but the physical world and mankind are offshoots of the spiritual world with specific developmental tasks.​

• Teachers who work with Steiner’s indications must work with the sleep life and breathing. Working with the sleep life involves using the natural three-day rhythm. The first day, giving imaginations for students to take in to their sleep life to work with their angel. The second day, recalling – discovering what work with the angel was done, and then developing that, often through performance or visual arts. The third day, imprinting the lessons learned through engaging the will. Breathing involves lifting the ego in and out in the learning process, taking in information and experiences and then having time to digest them.