Early Life and Education

Elisabeth Vreede was born in The Hague, Holland, on 16 July 1879. She was the second child of her father, a lawyer, and her mother, who was devoted to charitable work. A sensitive person from a young age, Elisabeth later played a significant role in the Anthroposophical life in Holland.

Growing up, Elisabeth came into contact with Theosophy through her parents. She developed an early interest in the starry sky, and while learning French, she read the works of Camille Flammarion, a French astronomer and author. Flammarion, with his scientific background, approached spiritism and reincarnation from the viewpoint of the scientific method, writing that the search for truth should be conducted impartially, without relying on religious belief.

At the University of Leyden, Elisabeth studied mathematics, astronomy, Sanskrit, and philosophy, particularly Hegel. She was also actively involved in student life, founding a boat club and serving as a council member of the student union. During this period, she balanced both her academic interests and her social activities.

Meeting Rudolf Steiner and Early Engagement with Anthroposophy

Elisabeth Vreede’s first meeting with Rudolf Steiner occurred in 1903 at the Theosophical Congress in London, where Steiner made a significant impression on her. A year later, in 1904, she attended the Congress of the Federation of European Sections of the Theosophical Society in Amsterdam, where Steiner gave a lecture on "Mathematics and Occultism." The following European Congress in 1906 saw Steiner give a cycle of 18 lectures.

Academic and Professional Work

After receiving her diploma in 1906, Elisabeth worked as a mathematics instructor at a girls' school until 1910. From 1910 onwards, she lived in Berlin, working on her dissertation and occasionally serving as a secretary for Rudolf Steiner. In April 1914, she moved to Dornach to assist in the construction of the first Goetheanum, often found carving wood at the site.

Work During World War I

During the War years (1916/17), Elisabeth left Dornach to work in Berlin, collaborating with Elisabeth Rotten, a Quaker peace activist, to care for prisoners of war. She was deeply aware of the suffering and challenges faced by her contemporaries.

Post-War Contributions to Anthroposophy

After the War, Rudolf Steiner developed his idea of the threefold social order, which Elisabeth embraced. She was the first to bring this concept to England. Around 1918, she began to construct the library and archive at the Goetheanum, using her personal funds to purchase lecture transcripts as soon as they were typed.

In 1920, Elisabeth moved to Arlesheim, Switzerland, where she built a small house for herself, the second house for which Steiner had provided a model in 1919. In 1924, she was appointed by Steiner to head the Mathematical-Astronomical Section of the School of Spiritual Science within the Anthroposophical Society, a position she held until 1935.

Expulsion from the Anthroposophical Society

In 1935, internal divisions within the Anthroposophical Society led to Elisabeth’s expulsion from the executive council. Her section was passed to other leadership, and she was excluded from the observatory and archives she had helped assemble. Steiner is reputed to have said that Elisabeth Vreede understood his work more deeply than anyone else.

Contributions to Anthroposophy and Astrology

In 1926, Elisabeth delivered a lecture titled The World of the Stars and Human Destiny, which was later published in The Anthroposophical Movement. In this lecture, she discussed the appropriate use of astrology, emphasizing its social rather than individualistic purposes. She explained that in true astrology, the focus should be on the universally human aspects, not the satisfaction of individual egoism:

“You will now understand to what purpose we have a horoscope, and that it is not there in the first instance for our own sake. You will understand that when a horoscope is made for a person’s satisfaction, there is always a certain amount of egoism connected with it; for he does not possess it for this purpose! And if you take the passages in our literature where Dr. Steiner speaks about Astrology (there are passages in many of the cycles and lectures) you will find how he emphasizes again and again that Astrology must be something social, which pays no attention to the individual but has social aims. In a true Astrology only what is universally human is considered and not the satisfaction of the egoism of the human being. By considering it egoistically, that deed of Michael is undone whereby other beings ought to be saved from plunging into the abyss.”

“When Dr. Steiner asked the position of the stars at the moment of a birth, it was always with reference to children who lacked one or other of the forces just described. It was then possible to learn from it which of these forces was not there in the right sense; thus it could be gathered what this human soul lacked before birth. And then it might be possible under certain circumstances to find a cure. Here we see how the matter is carried away from what is egoistic and into the social, when such abnormal children may in this way find a cure, which otherwise might perhaps not be possible. But in those children in whom certain forces were not brought in at birth these influences remain present…Thus we see how Astrology can be used when it is kept in Michael’s sense, and not in the sense in which it is so often practiced today.”

In 1928, Elisabeth invited Willi Sucher to Dornach to collaborate on historical asterograms, a part of his research into the death charts of historical figures. She continued her work on special needs children’s charts in England and Scotland in the late 1930s and 40s.

Commemoration of Rudolf Steiner and Other Anthroposophists

On the anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s death, Elisabeth spoke to the circle of friends and coworkers in the clinic, commemorating not just Steiner but also leading Anthroposophists, many of whom were no longer well-known. She spoke with devotion about Edith Maryon, Alice Sauerwein, Count Keyserlingk, Louis Werbeck, Caroline von Heydebrand, and Eugen Kolisko.

Final Years and Death

In early May 1943, Elisabeth gave a lecture on the 400th anniversary of the death of Copernicus, despite her increasing frailty. Just days later, on 6 May, she was forced to bed. After receiving devoted care from Frl. Schunemann, Elisabeth passed away on 31 August 1943 in Ascona.

Legacy and Reinstatement

In 2018, the Anthroposophical Society, during its Annual General Meeting, officially reinstated Dr. Elisabeth Vreede and Dr. Ita Wegman, recognizing the wrong that had been done to them with their expulsion in 1935.