September 11 th, 2004:
So, this is my chance to share my dreams and plans, and the things that I’m passionate about. Read at your own risk and if you don’t like what you’re reading, well, go elsewhere.
About 10-15 years ago, I started to think very seriously about what it was that I wanted to do with my life after I retired from the job I currently had. I’ve had to live so many years, not being able to truly “be in” the spiritual lifestyle that I wanted, and I really felt the need to create a space where my spirituality, and my love for my Goddess could be completely integrated into every facet of my life. About the same time, I also started to come to the realization that the traditional American family model (nuclear family) just wasn’t ever going to work for me.
I started doing a lot of researching and gathering of information, identifying and refining the types of things that I wanted to include in this dream vision of my “life to be.” Some of the core values that I established at that time were: Spirituality underlying everything; open-mindedness, and living with an open heart; a permanent temple for my Goddess; intentional family; intentional community; providing a space for those who needed to heal; permaculture; living lightly on the land; creating a space that was not just functional, but artistic as well; expense sharing among the members of the household. With all of this in mind, I started looking across the United States for the best place to establish my household. About 7 years ago, I picked the Pacific Northwest. There are just so many things about this region that come together to support what I want to surround myself with. There is a sense of environmental responsibility here, a support of spirituality, however you choose to express it, a true feel of community, and many other reasons. It took my “playing office politics” for about 3 years, but I managed to get moved out here in the summer of 2003.
In 2002, I had already started trying to put together an intentional family. Chris (bless his heart), agreed to move from Seattle to North Carolina, where we lived for a bit over a year. With a lot of good luck and planning we managed to get the family moved back out to Washington State after our time in North Carolina was over. In the spring of 2003, Chris & I cleared out of our house in North Carolina, and started the trek to the west coast. We found a house, located outside of Yelm, WA (I know, I know, where the heck is Yelm???), got Angel moved up from Vancouver, and started trying to learn how to live together as an intentional family. We’ve gone through a lot of rocky points. Lots of growth and learning for all of us. I had a really hard time, “sharing power” at first. (Okay, honestly, I still have difficulties with that, but I acknowledge it, and I keep trying to work through it.) We’ve gotten better at identifying the things that are “must haves” for our family… things that we each have to have in our lives.. and things that really aren’t that important.
As I write this (September 11 th, 2004), I’m looking ahead to the coming year. We will be buying a house; Angel will be leaving us, to return to Oregon to live with her best friend; and Chris, Raven & I, are growing stronger and closer with each passing week. We’re all very eager to get into a space that we own. To put down roots, and establish things that we will be able to watch grow through the coming years.
Our long-term vision is to establish a spiritual healing center. We will have organic gardens, and hopefully a greenhouse, where we will be able to grow much of our own produce. We will build at least one cabin on our property, to serve as a “spiritual bed & breakfast retreat”, where people can come and stay when they need a still space to be. We’re going to get a larger hot tub, and we will build a nice-sized bonfire pit. We’ll have a separate arts & crafts studio, as well as space for welding and woodworking. We hope to be able to host circles at the full moons, as well as the Sabbats. And, of course, we will build a permenant temple for the Goddess & God. Nothing elaborate, just a small structure where we can maintain a designated healing alter. In all of this, we hope to be able to follow as closely as possible the principles of permaculture, we will use recycled materials as much as possible, and where we can, lower our impact on the land.
This is my dream and vision, and the time is fast approaching, when it will come even more into reality.
October 29th, 2005:
Just a brief update: We bought a house on 2.6 acres of land in March of this year. We have come up with a 5 year building plan, and are already starting to turn this into a wonderful space to be. As I look around, I can see what is here, and see what will be as a vision laid over the top. It's a beautiful thing to watch my dreams becoming reality. If you want to read more about what we're building here; you can check the other sections of the website, or read the Household Live Journal Account.
Peace!
Out.