Journal for Star Wisdom 2012

William Bento, PhD, worked in the field of human development for more than thirty years. He was a recognized pioneer and a published author in psychosophy (soul wisdom) and astrosophy (star wisdom), and traveled extensively as a speaker, teacher, and consultant. Dr. Bento was the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, California, and worked as a transpersonal clinical psychologist at the Center for Living Health in Gold River, California. He also guided social therapy seminars for Camphill Communities for more than twenty years. Dr. Bento was also the author of Holy Nights Journal and Meditation Cards & Booklet on the Eightfold Path and a frequent contributor to Journal for Star Wisdom. He died June 5, 2015.

Daniel Andreev (1906-1959) was born in Berlin. His father was the well-known Russian writer Leonid Andreev. His mother Alexandra Veligorsky died during childbirth. Daniel's father, overcome with grief, gave up Andreev to Alexandra's sister Elizabeth Dobrov, who lived in Moscow. It was a critical event in Daniel Andreev's life, for in contrast to many of the Russian intelligentsia at the time, the maintained its Russian Orthodox faith. Daniel's childhood included contact with persons as his godfather Maxim Gorky. Daniel was conscripted as a noncombatant in the Soviet Army in 1942, and after the war he returned to writing fiction and poetry. Daniel Andreev was arrested in 1947, along with his wife and many of his relatives and friends, and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison, while his wife received twenty-five years of labor camp. All of previous writing was destroyed. With the rise of Khrushchev, Andreev's case was reviwed and his sentence reduced to ten years. He was released to his waiting wife in 1957, his health ruined following a heart attack in prison. While in prison, he had written the first drafts of The Rose of the World and Russian Gods (a collection of poetry), as well as The Iron Mystery, a play in verse. Andreev spent the last two years of his life finishing his work on these works. Andreev's wife Alla, realizing the negative reception the books would get from the Soviet authorities, hid them until the mid-seventies, but didn't publish them until Gorbachev and glasnost. The first edition of The Rose of the World (100,000 copies) quickly sold out, and since then several editions have been equally popular in Russia.

David Tresemer, PhD, has a doctorate in psychology, and is associate professor of psychology at Rudolf Steiner College for the certificate program in Counseling Psychology, with concentration in Anthroposophic Psychology. He has written in many areas, ranging from The Scythe Book: Mowing Hay, Cutting Weeds, and Harvesting Small Grains with Hand Tools to a book about mythic theater, War in Heaven: Accessing Myth Through Drama, and a book on astrology-seen-intelligently, Star Wisdom and Rudolf Steiner: A Life Seen through the Oracle of the Solar Cross, as well as The Venus Eclipse of the Sun. David's has also written numerous articles on the connection of celestial events to human experience.

Wain Farrants discovered astrology (both tropical and sidereal) and Anthroposophy during his first years at the University of Toronto. After completing a BSc in psychology and mathematics, he spent more than three years teaching math at a secondary school in Mochudi, Botswana. Later, he traveled to England, where he became a biodynamic gardener in a Camphill Community for disabled adults in the North York Moors National Park. After a few years there, he assumed responsibility for the Botton Village Bookshop. He edited and coedited numerous books by Karl König, Peter Roth, Baruch Urieli, Peter Tradowsky, and Andrea Damico Gibson, and contributed a number of articles to the Christian Star Calendar. He also had considerable experience of a wide variety of orthodox, complementary medical, and alternative therapies. Wain died January 19, 2014, at the age of 65.

Richard Tarnas is a professor of philosophy and cultural history at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS, )San Francisco, and the founding director of its graduate program in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness. He also lectures on archetypal studies and depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara. A graduate of Harvard and a former director of programs at Esalen Institute, he is the author of The Passion of the Western Mind, a history of the Western worldview from the ancient Greeks to the postmodern culture, which became both a bestseller and a required text in many universities. His most recent book, Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View, received the Book of the Year Prize from the Scientific and Medical Network in the UK.