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The Four Temperaments:  

The meeting of the eternal and hereditary stream

We will look at the origin of the temperaments, Melancholic, Phlegmatic, Sanguine, and Choleric, and the way in which they incorporate the two streams of heredity and the eternal self. Arising in middle childhood, the temperaments give different characters a particular coloring and rich variation. They may also be the origins of many rich qualities including problematic elements which need to be developed in adulthood. In this workshop, we include the spirit or neutral mask as the central point between the extremes of the masks of the temperaments.

 

The Seven Planets:

Looking at the journey from pri-birth, through life and after death

In this workshop, we will explore the journey of the soul through the seven planetary spheres, through Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars to the Sun, and onto Venus, Mercury, and Moon to earthly incarnation. The seven planets are mirrored during our sojourn on the earth through our life phases, each seven-year cycle being governed by a particular planet. Then, after death, this journey is reversed as we pass through karmaloka in the sphere of the Moon, on to Mercury and Venus, and eventually out to Saturn, the gateway from the soul to the spirit world. The seven planets are part of the formation of the astral body which we all bring with us out of the soul spiritual world,of the planets, before birth. We will look at the particular predispositions arising from the planets that each of us has been endowed with and how we can best work with these.

 

Zodiac:

Womb of Personality

The beings of the Zodiac are the architects of the human personality, working right down into our physical bodies. Through working with the zodiac as a manifestation of personality between virtue and disorder, this workshop will explore the extremes between healthy functioning and the more challenging conditions of personality disorders. The embodiment through masks of the different signs of the zodiac is accompanied by exploring the three planes of space, the horizontal (forward and back), vertical (up and down), and sagittal (left and right), to access the particular nature of each type through movement. The temperaments and planets inform this investigation of the zodiac.

 

Encounters at the Threshold: 

Our Soul-Forces and the Three Beasts

In this workshop exploring the threshold between the physical sense-perceptible world and the invisible world of the spirit, we will look at how the forces of thinking, feeling, and willing, stream out of the cosmos and meet the physical brain, heart, and digestion. In my personal research, I have begun to experience the encounter of my physical self with the spiritual world of the soul forces. However, spiritual science has taught us that if we are to develop spiritually there is something we need to attend to first. 

 

We will be using masks and drama exercises, ritual and action methods to take us into an embodied experience of our soul forces, the three beasts, and the threshold between them. We will use masks of thinking, feeling, and willing, the three beasts of hatred, doubt, and fear, the guardian of the threshold, and the neutral mask to explore the space beyond personality.

 

Karma Drama:

exploring the human spirit incarnating into different personalities during different epochs of time.

Karma Drama uses exercises developed by Rudolf Steiner to look into our karma and past lives using action methods, including ritual and embodiment with masks.

Using Rudolf Steiner’s four-day and three-level karma exercises, and biographical karma exercises this workshop helps to identify our double and our angel as carriers of our pre-birth intentions and helps us remember past lives. When considering how we might need to compensate for deeds in past lives and prepare for future lives on earth, the question could arise: how can I take more responsibility for not creating chaos in relationships with others and the world?

 

 We will be using masks and drama exercises, ritual and action methods to take us into an embodied experience of past lives and the way they are affecting us now.

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Karma Masks:

Making and using a mask of a personality from one of your past lives

Following the research into past life personalities from the two previous workshops Crossing the Threshold and KarmaDrama, this third module workshop offers the opportunity to create a mask of a personality from a previous life you have researched. This work is deep and dramatic and offers the opportunity to embody this personality of a past life in a mask. This work then extends to using psychodramatic action methods and KarmaDrama processes to bring the mask alive and see through its eyes, and also see it from the outside. This enables a dialogue to open between you in your present life, and the personality you inhabited in a past life.

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This work will be ethically contained and managed with boundaries and support structures, including briefing and debriefing processes with the large group, smaller subgroups and one-to-one sessions.

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Responses to  Talks and Workshops

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He was able through his penetration of Anthroposophy,  his skill with masks, and his wonderful artistry to lead us on the human being's journey through these vast spiritual worlds... What a privilege to have had this inspirational and enlivening opportunity with Michael and we look forward to further valuable contributions from this exceptionally gifted human being. (Teachers at Centre for Creative Education)

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I loved the absolutely practical application and the fact that we walked from the spiritual to the physical world where we could really get into the atmosphere with Michael's help.   The temperaments become so alive with the masks and again the magical processes that happen around them.  Michael's energy, integrity, and passion are a gift to the whole process.  I am very grateful to have met Michael and to have been part of this process.  (Teachers in Khayelitsha township Cape Town)

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Fifty out of ten! Absolutely perfect. Fantastic attitude, understanding, care, kindness and humour. I felt absolutely safe and able to open up. Mike was always available and sincerely interested in us. (Prague, planets workshop)

 

Mike led with such a grace and elegance that sometimes I just stared in amazement. The human touch and kindness of his approach is admirable. (Prague, planet workshop)

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