A Lifetime of Striving for Community

& Adventure, Joy, Celebration, Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Love

A candid interview with a one woman tour de force!

Join us for a lively interview with Nancy Jewel Poer, a pioneer in Waldorf education and home death work in America. Born and raised in California, she grew up with a love of the outdoors, especially horses. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in pre-veterinary medicine, where she was an all-round cowgirl in the rodeos.

In meeting Gordon, her pharmacist husband, they enjoyed a marriage of sixty-five years, focusing their life on family and her teaching career. After the death of their firstborn, they were blessed with six children, 14 grandchildren, and now 12 great-grandchildren. Her longing for motherhood, well fulfilled, led to a life’s work and a passionate commitment to supporting parents and families in raising confident, capable, freedom-loving children. Known for her practical humor, Nancy lectured across the country for years on parenting, Waldorf education, the spiritual America, home death work, the spiritual feminine, and more. Becoming a filmmaker in her 80s, she created The Sacred Incarnation Series, her legacy videos on her website (nancyjewelpoer.com) to give a deeper understanding of the sacred spiritual nature of the young child. She and Gordon, both pilots, shared a mutual love of flying, built their own airplane, and loved skydiving. For over thirty years, they created White Feather Ranch in the Sierra foothills together as a center for community celebrations and retreats, working with Native Americans to honor the sacred land, and promoting regenerative biodynamic ranching practices. She was a founding teacher at Cedar Springs Waldorf School. She still lives on the ranch, promoting retreat gatherings for concerned activists focused on healing the earth and humanity, and standing in consciousness of our mighty evolutionary times and the current battle for the freedom of body, soul, and spirit for all of us as individuals and creating healing communities for the future.

An artist and author of children’s books and “America 2022,” Nancy is a co-founder of Rudolf Steiner College, where she taught for forty years. Nationally recognized as a pioneer of the home death movement in America, she wrote a seminal book, “Living Into Dying,” and produced a national award-winning documentary film about her brother’s courageous death (available free on her website).

In this interview, Nancy will share her wisdom of embracing life in the midst of crisis, confronting our fears, and living in the moment. With her extensive end-of-life threshold experience and her own near-death adventures, she will offer spiritual perspectives on life and death and how these can help us navigate the current world crisis. Nancy’s inspiring messages remind us to focus on our deeper soul life, find joy in the gift of life, and take positive action for ourselves and our communities. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from a true missionary who has dedicated her life to children, families, community, Waldorf education, spiritual growth, freedom, and compassionate care.

Nancy Jewel Poer was born and raised in California, where she developed a deep love for horses and the outdoors. She pursued her passion for animals by graduating from the University of Arizona with hopes of becoming a veterinarian. However, her large family of six children—three sons and three daughters—became the creative center of her work, leading her to a profound involvement in Waldorf education. Nancy has taught in International Waldorf schools and is renowned across the United States for her lively lectures on various topics, including Waldorf education, parenting, child development, the spiritual feminine, and the mission of spiritual America. She felt a strong calling to threshold work, initially assisting with home births and then pioneering community support for home deaths, a mission she has dedicated over thirty-five years to, earning her recognition as a grandmother of the national home death movement.

Nancy has significantly contributed to end-of-life care, serving as a consumer advocate on California’s CARE committee and producing an award-winning documentary, “The Most Excellent Dying of Theodore Jack Heckelman.” Her classic book, “Living Into Dying: Spiritual and Practical Deathcare for Family and Community,” has empowered many to care for their loved ones at death. An artist and writer, she has published several children’s books and art prints. Nancy co-founded Rudolf Steiner College near Sacramento, where she taught for forty years, and began three Waldorf kindergartens, including Cedar Springs Waldorf School in Placerville, California. Living with her husband, Gordon, on White Feather Ranch in the Sierra foothills, they have built a life centered around sustainable organic agriculture, spiritual education, and community building, hosting school classes, women’s retreats, and conferences to pass on their knowledge and vision.

BOOKS BY NANCY JEWEL POER: https://rudolfsteinerbookstore.com/book-author/nancy-jewel-poer/

VISIT NANCY ON HER OWN WEBSITE: https://www.nancyjewelpoer.com/

WRITE TO NANCY: nancyjewelpoer [@] gmail.com

Just after finishing this interview, I realized I had not included two great American women who served the spiritual America and whose lives touched mine.

Peace Pilgrim courageously walked across this country for thirty years, bringing her incredible message of universal peace in the most universal way. She was beloved by people of every faith. I knew the Quaker couple, John and Ann Rush, who carried on her work, and I was able to help them bring the Peace Pilgrim Center to Placerville for four years. In my America course, they shared her story and her Peace Pilgrim jacket for a production there.

Granny “D,” inspired by Peace Pilgrim, walked across the U.S. for peace at the age of 90. I met, knew, and so admired her. These women stand for world patriotism of the highest order and the true spiritual America—lives dedicated to the good of all people.

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