In the run-up to Michaelmas 2025, Marion von der Wense presented her idea of the free soul calendar1 at the Rudolf Steiner House in Hamburg. Here she reports on it.
Somewhat excitedly, I drove half an hour into the city, early as usual, so that I could prepare the room in peace. Hours later, I drove home, fulfilled and happy. It was an evening full of good encounters. In preparing, I had defined five quality criteria for a meeting space: conscious self-perception, community of development, community of perceptive encounter, no development without personal effort, and awakening and becoming. So I began by asking what makes a good meeting space between two people.
What is my self-perception when I enter a “horizontal” encounter? Do I notice when I am being manipulative, when I am acting on my own will? Do I allow the other person freedom and take them seriously as an independent human being? What does being a community of development mean? We share what is in our hearts, inspire each other, reflect each other appreciatively, and perhaps rub each other up the wrong way. How intimate is a community of encounter that is aware of itself? I express myself in the spoken word, not only in what I say but also in everything that lives in my words. If I awaken in the other person, that is a stroke of luck, and my becoming is nourished. And of course, without personal effort, there can be no development, especially in those moments when we rub each other up the wrong way. Thus, we set up the “horizontal” space for encounter and resonance in a “vertical” space for encounter.
After some deliberation, the name Wortwesenwerderaum [word-being-becoming space] came to me. With my words, I connect my being with the being of the world. The five quality criteria apply here as well. With what self-perception do I live into a “vertical” encounter? Do I take myself seriously as a participating being in the world of spirit, of consciousness? How earnestly do I take myself as a co-creator, even in the fate of the angels? Can I comprehend my word, with which I turn to the angels, as part of the essence of the world logos?
The Spoken Word
What aspects of myself am I concerned with in a community of development, in the vertical realm of becoming? I want to become—in my developing consciousness—in relation to the eternal within me, to my destiny, to my possibilities and life impulses, in free responsibility, and in reliable connectedness. How can I perceive vertical encounters? Every person answers this question differently. Perhaps through stimulation of my thoughts: it thinks within me, intuitions come to me, inner light, and strength. I may develop trust in existence and certainties of the heart. Or I may perceive my spiritual being through substantial consciousness formation. Or or or …. . However I perceive connection, spiritually inspired activity always expresses itself within me. The macro-logos speaks, and I am always what’s meant—in my struggle and my becoming. The range of interpretations of the word Logos spans over 40 translations. Faust’s struggle with how to successfully translate the prologue of the Gospel of John is only one. But the basic definition of Logos is always “the spoken word.” The origin of the word is the activity of “speaking, saying.” So it goes without saying that there can be no development in the vertical realm of words without personal effort, and that it is a matter of awakening and becoming.
In a community of encounter, how is my word perceived in the sphere of the angels? In the word, force, meaning, and air condense into a resonant word-being. Individual, trustworthy tones are perceived in the spheres above us. This is where the question of self-perception becomes significant again. Am I a good, trustworthy space “down here?”
Michaelic Impulse
How can I enliven the individual word-being-becoming-space in my word, as part of a trustworthy resonance space? As myself, in absolute freedom and responsibility—as an avowal to Christ within me. An assertion, clothed in the creative micro-logos, to the logos of all beginnings, and accompanying all other paths or inner work, in whatever form they take. Enriching community. That is a Michaelic impulse.
It is also a matter of individual freedom to give special meaning to the seasons. In “my” soul calendar, a new week begins on September 29—not because I have set it up that way, but because it follows on from the beginning of the calendar on January 6. This week, I give it special meaning, in the Michaelic sense. I will begin doing this on September 29. Creating a soul calendar in our own words is not something that should be approached lightly. The “correct” grammar is of essential importance for the process of becoming. It also makes sense to consciously open and close the individual word-being-becoming-space, for example, with a hand gesture. Above all, it is important to be in a good inner state. Because life takes you at your word. Literally.
More This idea will be discussed again at the Rudolf Steiner House in Hamburg, on January 16, 2026. For more information, visit marionvonderwense@gmx.net
Translation Laura Liska
Photo Jeremy Thomas
Footnotes
- See “Renewal in the Feminine” in the Goetheanum Weekly, 3-4/2025, on the idea of a free soul calendar in self-created words in 28-day cycles, based on the fourfold primordial rhythm of life.
only a German person could formulate such a ‘conscious’ process “that makes sense to consciously open and close the individual word-being-becoming-space, for example, with a hand gesture.” For me this represents a Germanic version of what Eckhardt Tolle describes as “being conscious of your own noise” as it leaves your mouth or is received by your ear.