Hello friends,
As winter draws us inward, we stand at the threshold of light and darkness, warmth and cold, contemplating our own inner balance. This is the season for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere to cultivate our inner warmth and light on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level. In this Holiday 2025 Newsletter, we explore some of the ways we can do this through winter rituals, by supporting our physical body with fevers, and by embracing biodynamic farming and community.
Our featured article, “The Light Within”, invites us to cultivate the emotional and spiritual warmth through winter rituals and ceremonies both on an individual level and within our family and community. As seen through the fresh eyes of a young person, this brings incredible hope and inspiration that is essential for today’s times.
This is the time of year when we catch more colds and flu-like illnesses. Our physical body has the built-in wisdom of dealing with the “cold” by generating warmth through fever in order to bring about detoxification, strength and balance. We bring you three articles that highlight this inner ability and offer you multiple resources to help you honor and support this capacity. We can further balance our inner physical and energetic warmth through the use of the Yarrow and Lemon compresses highlighted.
Health in Action features the Three Springs Community Farm: biodynamic farming infused with spiritual care to nurture biodiversity, education, and resilient health. They model for us how when warmth is nurtured in the soil, education and community, the outcomes nourish us physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Finally, may the poems we bring you foster inspiration for your own inner contemplation and spiritual warmth. May this time of year nurture your body, soul and spirit and may the light and warmth inside you grow and touch all those you meet.
Warmly,
Daciana Iancu, M.D., on behalf of the FHC Team
In this edition:
Opening Poem: To Know the Dark
by Wendell Berry
The Light Within
by Maya Jacobs
Fever as Medicine
by Mark Hancock, M.D.
How to Manage Childhood Fevers at Home
by Daciana Iancu, M.D.
Understanding Infection: Not a Battle, But a Housecleaning
by Philip Incao, M.D.
Health in Action: Three Springs Community Farm
by Willow Summer
Calendar of the Soul: Winter
Additional Resources
Upcoming Live Webinar
Special Offer For Waldorf Communities
Opening Poem: To Know the Dark
by Wendell Berry
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
The Light Within
by Maya Jacobs
Maya Jacobs is 18 years old and a senior in high school. This article is part of her Sterling Scholar project. Maya and her twin brother, Ari, live with their mother (FHC co-founder, Amanda Jacobs-Bissonette) and step-father in a small town in the Utah desert, along with two dogs, two parakeets and three ducks. Maya and Ari attended a public Waldorf charter school in Colorado for kindergarten through 8th grade and have been enrolled in public high school since 9th grade. They’re looking forward to graduating this May and attending college together in Fall 2026.
Fever as Medicine
by Mark Hancock, M.D.
As the thermometer flashes 103.1F on my eleven year old daughter’s forehead, I realize that I have developed a different attitude to fever than is common today. She lies comfortable, warm in her bed. I know that the fever is helping her heal- the thought of giving a fever reducer does not cross my mind. Winter invites us to go inward. Days shorten, temperatures fall. Nature contracts life inward. The leaves fall and many animals go underground. Seeds await the spring. But beneath the frozen ground there is inner activity. Human beings are also drawn inward. In the winter we are drawn to gather ourselves physically, emotionally and spiritually. We are at the edge of light and darkness, warmth and cold. We can find and restore balance from within…
How to Manage Childhood Fevers at Home
by Daciana Iancu, MD
We often view warmth as a central element of health, and nowhere is this more evident than in a fever. Rather than a malfunction requiring immediate medical intervention, a rising temperature is often the immune system’s most capable response. It is a sign that the body is working hard. New perspectives in nursing and medicine are confirming what traditional wisdom has always known: fever is a ‘remodeling’ event. As caregivers committed to holistic health, our challenge is often resisting the external pressure to suppress symptoms, choosing instead to trust the body’s innate wisdom. Click below for a look inside your holistic ‘Fever Toolkit’:
Understanding Infection: Not a Battle, But a Housecleaning
by Philip Incao, M.D.
We’ve been taught to fear “the bug.” We view every fever as an invasion and every infection as a battle to be won with antibiotics. But what if our modern medical “war” on germs is actually sabotaging our health? Dr. Philip Incao challenges the “germs-as-predators” myth, suggesting that viruses and bacteria are often just opportunistic scavengers cleaning up our internal “trash.” In this provocative look at folk wisdom versus modern medicine, learn why a 104-degree fever might be the best thing for your immune system—and why suppressing symptoms could be setting the stage for chronic disease. Stop fighting your body and start understanding its wisdom.
Health in Action: Three Springs Community Farm
by Willow Summer
Three Springs Community Farm is a Biodynamic educational farm nestled in Bodega, Sonoma County, California, dedicated to teaching children, farmers, gardeners, and land stewards innovative farming methods that boost biodiversity, sequester carbon, enhance climate resilience, and produce nutrient-rich food by infusing spiritual elements into land care and production. Founded in 2017 by Lew and Willow Summer, with vegetable production and internships launching in 2020, the farm draws on Willow’s extensive experience as a farmer since 2000 and a Waldorf teacher since 2009 to offer hands-on workshops for high schoolers and adults, school group visits and camping trips focused on outdoor education and nature connection, as well as residential internships providing 24 hours of weekly practical training alongside specialized sessions.
Calendar of the Soul: Winter
WINTER
To carry spirit light into world-winter night
My heart is ardently impelled,
That shining seeds of soul
Take root in grounds of worlds
And Word Divine through senses’ darkness
Resounds, transfiguring all life.
From: The Calendar of the Soul
Additional Resources
Yarrow Liver Compress
Lemon Fever Compress
Upcoming Webinars
A New Physiology of the Heart
by Dr. Branko Furst, MD
January 29, 2026 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm EST
At the turn of the 20th century, Rudolf Steiner presented a revolutionary model of heart physiology, contradicting the notion that the heart is a pressure propulsion pump! He further warned that this misconception would promote harmful consequences for human health and social life. Dr. Branko Furst has lectured and published widely on this subject. He will share his extensive expertise and research confirming Steiner’s groundbreaking discovery and present a new paradigm of the human heart and circulation. Further, he will discuss with us how the heart serves as a bridge between the spiritual and physical constitution of the human being, which has great significance for the future development of humanity.
Special Offer For Waldorf Communities
Empowering Teachers and Parents
to Nurture Healthy & Resilient Children
At the Foundation for Health Creation, we believe that healthy children thrive in healthy communities. Our mission is to empower teachers and parents with practical, holistic tools to foster well-being through wholesome nutrition, holistic approaches to learning, healthy environments, emotional resilience, and meaningful family and community connections.
Embrace a Path of Well-Being
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● Struggling with conflicting health advice for your children or students?
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● Seeking practical, holistic strategies to support well-being?
The Foundation for Health Creation offers guidance from compassionate health experts who understand your challenges. Access our free curated resources below to empower yourself with clear solutions for nurturing healthy and resilient children.
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