Basel, Switzerland / Copenhagen, Denmark. 2025 is the 100th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s death. How does he live on in specific individuals? Vera Koppehel, eurythmist and lecturer in applied eurythmy, gives her answers.
Which sentence by Rudolf Steiner particularly moved you, and why?
“On the sixth day of creation, the human appeared physically on earth, but not materially.” (GA 122, freely quoted). Short statement—powerful context. This topic of evolutionary development refreshes and catches me again and again. In 2009, I developed a program for the Darwin Year, and another one was developed in 2010. Eurythmy gives me the opportunity to dive into the mysteries of creation and to experience and apply them more concretely in areas such as education and therapeutic diagnostics.
How do people around you recognize that you are interested in Rudolf Steiner?
I would have to think about how people don’t recognize it.
Where did anthroposophy irritate you?
In life’s divergences (“VerZWEIGungsleben”).
In which human encounter did you come close to Rudolf Steiner?
In 2005, I unexpectedly met Nelson Mandela in Norway. At that moment I experienced that it is possible for people to transform hatred into love and that becoming aware of the spiritual being in us can become a reality.
For which life issues is anthroposophy particularly important to you?
For spirituality and health.
What spiritual tool would you like to add to anthroposophy?
With the Section for Joie de Vivre and Cultural Optimism.
How has anthroposophy changed your life?
Through eurythmy, every day anew.
If anthroposophy were a mythical creature, what would it look like?
Like a sphinx in the tree of life—well rooted, widely winged and with the sun as its heart.
More ArteVera
Translation Charles Cross
Image Vera Koppehel, Photo: Charlotte Fischer
