{"id":73654,"date":"2026-07-13T10:58:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T08:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/?p=73654"},"modified":"2026-07-13T10:58:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T08:58:39","slug":"elisabeth-vreede","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/elisabeth-vreede\/","title":{"rendered":"Elisabeth Vreede"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the first leader of the Mathematical-Astronomical Section at the Goetheanum, Elisabeth Vreede played a decisive role in shaping its development and work. She possessed clarity, warmth, and the rare ability to support others in their research.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cTo understand human life by drawing from the universe through living knowledge\u2014that is what is intended by contemporary spiritual science,\u201d stated Rudolf Steiner,<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and he gave the responsibility for leading the Mathematical-Astronomical Section of the School for Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum to Elisabeth Vreede (1879-1943), a mathematician and astronomer from the Netherlands. \u201cAnthroposophy is a path of knowledge that would guide the spiritual in the human being to the spiritual in the universe,\u201d wrote Rudolf Steiner in his first anthroposophical \u201cleading thought\u201d (February 17, 1924).<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> At the Christmas Conference of 1923\u201324, Steiner emphasized the need to develop \u201ca Section for mathematical and astronomical perspectives,\u201d since, (as he\u2019d said years earlier) \u201castronomical science is, indeed, the one that has the best opportunity of being led back to spirituality.\u201d<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> He entrusted this Section to the highly gifted specialist Vreede, who had come from The Hague in the Netherlands. Her department was at the heart of what Steiner intended with the founding of the Dornach School of Spiritual Science and was in the best of hands. A tribute to Vreede reads: \u201cHer thinking-force had something Jupiter-like and all-encompassing about it. When she lectured or led the Class, her forehead shone like a star. Her way of thinking enabled her to grasp immediately what Rudolf Steiner had presented and, despite her deepest reverence for him, to form her own independent judgment, just as he had hoped the members would do.\u201d<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike other Section leaders, when Steiner introduced Vreede at the Christmas Conference as Section leader and a member of the Executive Council of the Anthroposophical Society he highlighted not only her outstanding professional expertise, but also her special social skills. From her \u201cadvice and help\u201d flowed \u201ceverywhere\u201d \u201cwhenever one needed to know something in the fields of mathematics and astronomy.\u201d<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Vreede truly possessed rare qualities of selfless devotion. Despite her keen intelligence, phenomenal memory, and outstanding expertise, which enabled her to work independently, she took a practical interest in the studies, research, and concerns of others, including her first section colleagues Ernst Bindel, Hermann von Baravalle, Ernst M\u00fcller, Willi Sucher, and George Adams. \u201cShe welcomed others, accepted them as equals, and would never have made them feel her superiority.\u201d<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vreede possessed an innate clarity, overview, objectivity, warmth, and a great sense of humor, which she once described as \u201cthe liberating element in the spiritual life.\u201d<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span> She did not like to be in the spotlight and worked modestly in the background. At the same time, she was able to speak impressively and convincingly on fundamental mathematical and astronomical questions before large audiences, and she authored profound works. Beginning in 1927, many activities took place in the vicinity of her observatory, which were closely coordinated with her like-minded colleague Lili Kolisko (1889\u20131976)<\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and, in some cases, carried out jointly with Kolisko. Together, they endeavored, as far as possible, to carry out the research projects announced by Steiner in the 1924 Agricultural Course in Koberwitz. Vreede also traveled with Kolisko. For example, in June 1936, they went to Turkey to study a total solar eclipse from the summit of a high, extinct volcano, Uluda\u011f.<\/span>9<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Member Participation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In 1937 Vreede wrote in a retrospective on her work for the School of Spiritual Science which had fallen victim to the destructive events within the Anthroposophical Society in 1935: \u201c[The Section] had to be built up from the very beginning. In this work, I always tried to look everywhere, wherever the seeds of a spiritualized mathematics or astronomy might be found. Together with all those striving in this field, I sought to establish a connection with the Goetheanum and the Mathematical-Astronomical Section. In 1926, I was able to publish [Rudolf Steiner\u2019s] course The Relationship of Astronomy to the Various Natural Scientific Fields<\/em>.<\/span>10<\/sup><\/a><\/span> In 1927, I began to disseminate basic astronomical concepts through circular letters.<\/span>11<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Over the course of five years, I worked through the field of astronomy and also provided an overview of astrology in the spiritual-scientific sense, to the best of my ability. These circulars were very well received. Although I advertised them only once in the [members\u2019] News Sheet<\/em>,<\/span>12<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and despite the fact that they were completely ignored at every general assembly or on other occasions, they had reached a circulation of over 1,000 subscribers simply through word-of-mouth recommendations from the original recipients, to which must be added approximately 200 more who had subscribed to the English translation. I published astrological letters in 1934\u201335 together with Willi Sucher.<\/span>13<\/sup><\/a><\/span> And many other things as well.\u201d Among these \u201cother things\u201d were her \u201cmathematical shipments,\u201d in which Elisabeth Vreede also published important excerpts from Steiner\u2019s lectures and his answers to questions.<\/span>14<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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Elisabeth Vreede<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The Stars<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From 1929 until her death, she also published the Sternenkalender<\/em> [Star calendar], which was intended especially for farmers. At the end of her introduction to the first edition she wrote, \u201cWhoever has studied Rudolf Steiner\u2019s spiritual-scientific cosmology, as set forth, for example, in his Occult Science<\/em>, will know how the Earth, with everything on it, arose from the \u2018Heavens,\u2019 and how stars and planets are not distant worlds far removed from human perception but are directly connected to us and the other kingdoms of nature. It is not only warmth and light that the sun bestows upon the Earth; rather, from the entire periphery, all the way up to the stars, those forces flow to the Earth that bring about growth and flourishing, formation and blooming, sprouting and budding. Etheric formative forces, astral rhythms of movement, and spiritual impulses stream down from the universe to the Earth. When the Moon shines over the quiet fields, when Venus glows as the evening star, or when Saturn radiates its pale red light, they point to forces at work between heaven and Earth, forces whose specific details human beings must know and experience. Agriculturists in particular, who follow the tracks laid out by Rudolf Steiner, can develop a sense for these effects. For the great teacher of humanity has pointed them to the cosmic source that pours forth fruitfully over the Earth, without which not a single seed could germinate nor a single stalk sprout. And he related this source to the being of Christ. Christ descended from the heavens to the Earth; during the holy days of Holy Week, he poured his essence into the Earth, and since that Easter, the Earth has been his body, from which the grain sprouts to become bread for humankind.\u201d<\/span>15<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vreede\u2019s Star Calendar<\/em> year ran from Easter to Easter and linked the natural cycle of renewal throughout the year with the spiritual reality of Christ\u2019s Resurrection, just as did Steiner\u2019s Calendar of the Soul 1912\/13<\/em>. In her foreword to the 1930\/31 Star Calendar<\/em>, she wrote, \u201cEaster should be for us the true feast of the Resurrection, from which new forces are drawn into the old world, a turning point in the course of the year whose significance can be compared only to that of Christmas.\u201d The Star Calendar<\/em> was published with a beautiful, colorful cover; Vreede also published a rotating star chart. She moved into the Section room in early 1928 (in the nearly completed Second Goetheanum), inaugurated it at Easter, and had it painted etheric pink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Translation <\/strong>Joshua Kelberman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the first leader of the Mathematical-Astronomical Section at the Goetheanum, Elisabeth Vreede played a decisive role in shaping its development and work. She possessed clarity, warmth, and the rare ability to support others in their research. \u201cTo understand human life by drawing from the universe through living knowledge\u2014that is what is intended by contemporary spiritual science,\u201d stated Rudolf Steiner, and he gave the responsibility for leading the Mathematical-Astronomical Section of the School for Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9186,"featured_media":73446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8788,8846,8844],"tags":[11822,11823,8814],"class_list":["post-73654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay-en","category-history","category-math-astronomy","tag-ausgabe-29-30-2026-en","tag-english-issue-31-32-2026","tag-musings"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9186"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73654"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73677,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73654\/revisions\/73677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}