Why are there so many gnome dolls, statuettes, paintings, and drawings in Waldorf schools? Gnomes seem sweet and cuddly. Parents like them. Kids like them. For this reason, they give Waldorf schools a sweet and cuddly way to nudge students toward accepting Anthroposophical beliefs. You see, Rudolf Steiner taught that gnomes really exist. The gnome dolls, statuettes, etc., represent invisible beings that Anthroposophists believe in and that they want you (or at least your child) to believe in. If Waldorf teachers put images of pagan gods in their classrooms, or images of Ahriman, or depictions of wars between good gods and bad gods, parents might raise some questions. But gnomes? Who's gonna object to some sweet li'l gnomes in a sweet li'l ol' Waldorf classroom?

(The gnomes Steiner described are anything but sweet and cuddly, though. But, hush!)

Here is some Steiner gnome lore for you to contemplate:




“Gnomes are...unable to grasp how there can be anything but an ineffectual relationship with [human beings].” — Rudolf Steiner, CHANCE, PROVIDENCE, AND NECESSITY (SteinerBooks, 1988), p. 95.

"Take the gnomes ... [T]hey are, so to say, in the world which borders on human consciousness; they are already beyond the threshold. Ordinary consciousness is protected from seeing these beings, for the fact is that these beings are not all benevolent ... [I]n the moment when man breaks through into the world wherein they live and are active, he finds there not only the well-disposed beings but the malevolent ones as well ... The main difference between the ill-disposed beings and the well-disposed is that the latter are always drawn more to the plant and mineral kingdoms, whereas the ill-disposed are drawn to the animal and human kingdoms ... Now someone might say: Why then are these malevolent gnomes [allowed to be] there, if they engender parasites? Well, if they were not there, man would never be able to develop within himself the force to evolve the structure of his brain." — Rudolf Steiner, MAN AS SYMPHONY OF THE CREATIVE WORD (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1970), lecture 8, GA 230.

Let's pause for a moment to consider again why these not-very-nice creatures are present, in representational form, 

in Waldorf classrooms. Here are statements by two women who have seen gnomes 

(i.e., gnome statuettes or figures) in Waldorf schools:

"The presence of stuffed-fabric gnomes in Waldorf kindergartens strikes some parents as charming or even humorous. The gnomes are not only physically present: they often appear in stories the teachers tell, and the children are encouraged to draw gnomes. But the gnomes' role is more complicated than this. I urge prospective Waldorf parents to see past the charm-facade provided by the gnomes. The gnomes sell the school incredibly well, and that is one of their main functions. They literally sell like hot cakes at school fairs or craft shows, and they 'sell' the school by dulling parental reasoning abilities. Parents fall 'in love' with the gnomes, along with the knitted bunnies and ponies and flowing silks and homey 'just like grandma's' atmosphere of the kindergartens.

"I urge prospective or current Waldorf kindergarten parents to visit a classroom and observe just how (or whether) the children actually relate to or interact with the gnomes in the classroom. The gnomes aren't cuddly. They aren't friendly. They're actually just a little bit threatening. Gnomes in Waldorf lore are not quite sympathetic to humans — they're tricky and conniving, not exactly smart but crafty, resentful, frankly a little on the mean and stupid side. Gnomes aren't friends or playmates for children — they're often just odd, grimacing presences on the shelf. Watch in the classroom and see — do the children play with them? Do they talk to them? Do they appear to view the gnomes affectionately? Do the gnomes have names, personalities, do the children tell stories about the gnomes? Watch and see.

"Gnomes are something that Waldorf schools can hook onto in popular culture, from suburban lawn ornaments to familiar fairy tales, and insinuate a message about 'nature spirits' that is meant to prepare children to be receptive to a wide variety of related beliefs about the 'spiritual hierarchies' as outlined by Rudolf Steiner. Nature spirits are at or near the bottom of a very complex hierarchy, going up through various rankings of angels and archangels to the Christian seraphim, cherubim etc. (in other terminology 'thrones' and 'dominions,' etc. God, however, is curiously rarely spoken of). Of course, angels are also often spoken of and painted or drawn in Waldorf. I think gnomes get more systematic emphasis because talk of angels is too blatantly religious, parents will wonder if their child comes home always talking about angels, whereas gnomes can be treated as simply creatures from children's stories or fairy tales, and of course most Waldorf schools deny to parents that the curriculum is religious." — Diana Winters

A conventional image of gnomes
[public domain].



Steiner's followers take his word on most subjects, including the subject of gnomes.

Anthroposophists and Waldorf teachers today generally agree that gnomes do exist.

Here are a pair of statements, for instance, from Stewart C. Easton,

who served as General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society of America.

"Very far back in time all human beings were what we should today call ‘clairvoyant’, that is to say, it was possible for them actually to perceive spiritual beings who are invisible to most of us today. Until quite recently this faculty was common enough, and even now it has not entirely disappeared in some remote areas. It was possible, for example, to see various elemental beings which have been called gnomes, trolls, sylphs, naiads, elves, fairies, and the like. Such beings certainly exist even if the ordinary person can no longer see them." — Stewart C. Easton, THE WAY OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Rudolf Steiner Press, 1985), p. 37.

"The invisible elemental beings could be perceived until recent times by many people, and they have passed into the folklore of every country. They were given names, which we shall also use here. The gnomes or goblins are the beings of the earth who work with the roots of plants and have a special affinity for the metals of the earth. The undines are water beings...they work with the leafy part of the plants. The sylphs live in the airy-warmth element, and it is their task to bring light down to the plants. Lastly, there are the salamanders of fire-beings who bring warmth into the blossoms and make possible the formation of a seed...." — Stewart C. Easton, MAN AND WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF ANTHROPOSOPHY (Anthroposophic Press, 1989), p. 286.

For a few sample statements by other Anthroposophists — including Waldorf teachers —

about gnomes, please keep reading.

But first, more from the Master:

"It is true that the beings which we call gnomes and goblins have a physical body, but they do not possess what in man we call the ego. The gnomes have the physical body as their highest principle, but they have three principles below the physical body. That makes their bodies far less visible than the physical body of man." — Rudolf Steiner, THE INFLUENCE OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS ON MAN (Anthroposophic Press, 1961), lecture 8, GA 102.

"Each year the moon is actually nearer the earth [sic; this is flat wrong - RR]. One recognizes this from the ever more vigorous play of the moon-forces in the gnome-world during the time of the new moon [sic — hard to argue with this, however]. And to this coming nearer of the moon the attentiveness of these goblins is quite specially directed; for it is in producing results from the way in which the moon affects them that they see their chief mission in the universe. They await with intense expectation the epoch when the moon will again unite with the earth... [sic; don't hold you breaths, gnomes]." — Rudolf Steiner, MAN AS SYMPHONY OF THE CREATIVE WORD, lecture 9.

"We gaze down into the depths of the earth not to seek there below for abstract ideas about some kind of mechanical laws of nature, but to behold the roving, wandering gnomes, which are the light-filled preservers of world-understanding within the earth ... The gnomes laugh us to scorn on account of the groping, struggling understanding with which we manage to grasp one thing or another, whereas they have no need at all to make use of thought. They have direct perception of what is comprehensible in the world; and they are particularly ironical when they notice the efforts people have to make to come to this or that conclusion ... People are so stupid — say the gnomes — for they must first think things over ... [G]nomes become ironical to the point of ill manners if one speaks to them of logic ... Thus the gnomes, inside the earth, are actually the bearers of the ideas of the universe, of the world-all. But for the earth itself they have no liking at all. They bustle about in the earth with ideas of the universe, but they actually hate what is earthly." — 
Rudolf Steiner, MAN AS SYMPHONY OF THE CREATIVE WORD, lecture 7.

“[I]t is from this feeling of hatred, of antipathy towards the earthly, that the gnomes gain the power of driving the plants up from the earth. The antipathy causes the plant to have only its roots in the earth....” — Rudolf Steiner, AGRICULTURE (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2003), p. 155.

[R. R., 2009.]

“And so we picture, from below upwards, in bluish, blackish shades the force of gravity, to which an upward impulse is given by the gnomes; and flitting all around the plant...the undine* power that blends and disperses substances as the plant grows upwards. From above downwards, from the sylphs, light is made to leave its imprint in the plant and molds and creates the form which descends as an ideal form and is taken up by the material womb of the earth; moreover fire spirits flit around the plant and concentrate cosmic warmth in tiny seed points. This is sent down to the gnomes together with the seed power, so that down there they can cause the plants to arise out of fire and life."  — Rudolf Steiner, HARMONY OF THE CREATIVE WORD (Rudolf Steiner Press, 2001), pp. 125-126.





Here is a rather lengthy excerpt from MAN AS SYMPHONY OF THE CREATIVE WORD, lecture 8.

"It is the gnomes which, in a spiritual way, make good in the world what the lower orders of the animals up to the amphibians lack. This applies also to the fishes, which have only indications of the skeleton.***** These lower animal orders only become complete, as it were, through the fact that gnomes exist.








* Gnomes are one of the four major types of "nature spirits" or "elemental beings" — that is, invisible beings that dwell within physical nature. Waldorf teachers generally accept Steiner's doctrine that there are really only for elements: earth, air, fire, and water. (Science, by contrast, has so far identified 118 elements. See., e.g., Clinging to ancient superstition, Waldorf teachers generally accept Steiner's doctrine that four elemental beings dwell within the four elements. These elemental beings are gnomes, sylphs, salamanders,** and undines.

** Not the newtlike amphibians that really exist, but the legendary lizards that live inside fire. "A fourth species are the Salamanders which form, so to say, the youngest generation in the ranks of elemental beings. They nevertheless exist in large numbers. To a great extent they owe their existence to a process of separating off from animal group souls [i.e., the souls shared by animal species]***. These beings too seek opportunities for finding nourishment, and they find it in particular where not quite normal relations sometimes exist between the human and the animal kingdoms. Those who know something about these things**** are aware that elemental beings — and definitely good beings — develop through the intimate relationship of the rider and his steed. Through the warm connection of certain men with animal groups, feelings, thoughts and impulses arise which provide good nourishment for these elemental beings of a Salamander nature. That can be particularly observed in the united life of the shepherd and his flock, in the case of herdsmen in general who live in close connection with their animals. Certain Salamander-like elemental beings can find their nourishment in the feelings which develop through this intimacy between man and beast, and they remain where this food is to be found. They are quite shrewd too, full of a natural wisdom." — Rudolf Steiner, THE INFLUENCE OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS ON MAN (Anthroposophic Press, 1961), lecture 9, GA 102.

*** Steiner taught that whereas each human has a soul, animals only have tiny portions of souls. Thus, for instance, all dogs share a single soul. The entire canine species possesses one soul, and each dog possesses only a tiny portion of this soul. (If there are ten million dogs in the world, then each dog has one ten-millionths of a soul.)

**** That is, clairvoyants such as Steiner. (Steiner never hesitated to say that he knew best about everything.)

***** Steiner's statements are jam-packed with factual errors. [See "Steiner's Blunders".] This is a minor sample. Fishes do not have "indications" of skeletons — that is, they do not have vague, primordial precursors of skeletons. They have skeletons.

When Steiner graduated from college, and later when he earned a Ph.D., he presumably had some factual information at his command. But later yet, when he elected to become an occultist, he elected to become a functional ignoramus. And, indeed, most of the statements he made thereafter reflect a shocking degree of ignorance. Case in point? Gnomes. Gnomes do not exist. Yet here we are discussing Steiner's teachings about gnomes.

For more on these and related matters,

see "Neutered Nature" and "Beings".

Descriptions of gnomes given in Anthroposophical publications are often couched in terms that might be used in class, telling gnomes stories to children. 

But these descriptions are often accurate statements of Anthroposophical beliefs.

A gnome — detail from a painting by Ingrid Gibb

in Marjorie Spock's


“Since gnomes and human beings are alike earthbound creatures, we will probably find gnomes — or cobolds, or goblins, as they are sometimes also called — the fairy race closest to our understanding... [G]nomes live down below the surface of our planet, where roots take an anchor-hold on earth ... Gnomes are immensely clever Little People ... Gnomes are the only beings in the world who never sleep. This is because they are afraid to do so. They believe that any slackening of attention forebodes double tragedy: the dissolution of their bodies (which they rightly or wrongly feel must be held together by sheer concentration) and the frightful disgrace of being ignorant of what goes on ... There could be no such things as plant or tree roots if there were no gnomes to tend their development. Gnomes are at work all through the year marshalling nutrients around them and wielding magnetic forces to draw them down to a firm grounding in the earth.” — Marjorie Spock, FAIRY WORLDS AND WORKERS - A Natural History of Fairyland (Anthroposophic Press, 1980), pp. 11-12.

This passage was presumably written for adults ("double tragedy," "dissolution," "magnetic forces"...),

but few adults outside the Waldorf/Anthroposophical community could possibly take it seriously.

“[I]f God's is the world of creative power and ours the world of created objects, the fairy world is the land of life that lies between them, serving as the bridge for their interaction.”  — Bookstore at Rudolf Steiner College, quoting from the book’s introduction [].

Here is an Anthroposophical publication that more clearly is written in language appropriate for children.

Jacob Streit's LIPUTTO — Stories of Gnomes and Trolls,

cover art by Susanne A. Mitchell

“Liputto is a mountain flower-root gnome ... In the summer he helps the flowers grow and when they bloom he pulls the sunlight down through the roots into the  earth. That’s how there got to be sundrops in the earth ... Liputto and many ofther gnomes carried sundrops deeper into the earth and divided their rays ... Mother Earth needs many sundrops, so that in the spring everything can grow ... A gnome master told all this to Liputto: 'Blue flowers drip blue light into the deep, red flowers — red light....'” — Jacob Streit LIPUTTO — Stories of Gnomes and Trolls (Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, 1999), p. 15.

"These wonderful stories delight children of all ages with the humanity and grace of the gnomes". — Bookstore at Rudolf Steiner College [].

"A gnome master..."

"Children of all ages..."

The crucial point is that Steiner's followers believe in the literal existence

of gnomes and other invisible, mythical beings.

They believe that, as Steiner said, such beings can be seen 

through the use of clairvoyance.

Here is a statement by a Waldorf teacher who is the author

of numerous Waldorf teachers' guides:

"There are people who perceive beings in nature, in the earth, in the water, in the flowers and the trees. These nature spirits or elementals are known by other names, such as gnomes, undines, sylphs and salamanders. They are the 'little folk' of the Irish. Of people with such a faculty we say they are a little 'fey', i.e. they have some primitive form of spiritual vision [i.e., unschooled clairvoyance]. Bearing these matters in mind we can say that our normal consciousness of the world is partial. It can, of course, be developed, not only with respect to the material world but also beyond the immediate world of sense perception."  — Roy Wilkinson, RUDOLF STEINER - An Introduction to His Spiritual World-view, Anthroposophy (Temple Lodge Publications, 2005), p. 184.

The world beyond sense perception is the supernatural realm,
the abode of beings such as gnomes.
Clairvoyants may be called "fey," but Anthroposophists 
accept their reports as truth.
Indeed, Anthroposophists strive to develop their own
powers of clairvoyance.

We can conclude with one more statement by Roy Wilkinson,

in which he makes clear that belief in nature spirits is woven into the central teachings

of the religion that is Anthroposophy.

"Once the earth was created, it required a sustaining and maintaining element. The active forces which gave the mineral its inner being, the plant its unique shape and movement, and each animal species its particular characteristic, stream down from the heavenly spheres, the dwelling places of the hierarchies [i.e., the gods], but for their work on earth the hierarchies have assistants. In the solid substance, in the rocks, in the metals are the so-called earth spirits [i.e., gnomes]. In the mist, cloud and spray are the water-spirits [undines] ... Around the blossom and fruit of the plant hover the beings of air [sylphs] while a fourth category [fire spirits] transmutes the warmth of the environment into the ripening forces. It is the co-operation of all the nature spirits which forms the etheric body of the earth and the nature spirits are helpers and offspring of the third hierarchy [of gods]." — Roy Wilkinson, THE HOSTS OF HEAVEN (Wilkinson, PRT Offset Limited, 1980), pp. 27-28.

— Compilation and commentary by Roger Rawlings



Ahriman : one bad dude

avatars : before James Cameron



guardians : of the threshold

Lucifer : good and bad...

Michael : and the dragon

planetary spirits : beneath our feet

Sun God : the Christ you didn't know

supermen : help from above