Labyrinth

The first structure created here was our outdoor labyrinth. Two generous women came here to lead a workshop for Lesbian Couples. They had a labyrinth on their land and could “see” one at Hope Springs. They offered to sponsor a weekend workshop led by Marty Cain that would teach a small group of women how to create a labyrinth in collaboration with the land and spirits of the land.

Marty and 12 women came to Hope Springs the weekend of April 15th, 2000. We learned about dousing and being in relationship with the land and were led to a place in our lower meadow which became the center of the labyrinth. Using our dowsing rods to increase our awareness of what the land wanted, we continued to ask how many circuits, how wide the path and what stones wanted to be part of the structure.

Many have walked this labyrinth over the years and enough people have reported seeing their grandparents in the meadow while they walk this path that I think of it as our ancestral labyrinth, our house of air.

Studio

For years I had been picturing a circular meeting space and in 2000 we decided it was time to expand and create a building with a large open space, bedrooms and bathrooms. Again, I doused to find out where the spirits of the land wanted this structure. I also spent time praying on this spot and asking forgiveness for the disruption of life necessary to create space for this new building.

I dreamed of a circular building and we chose an octagonal shape – approaching circle. I wanted this building to have a beautiful, large open space in the center. I pictured people dancing, doing yoga, sitting in circle…a space to encourage movement and community building. I wanted maximum space, light and air flow. This would be the space to dance under the sun and be held by the earth.

I knew this was our earth building. I have often said this building grew up out of the earth. The bedrooms are decorated in earth colors – named after our meadow, grasses, stones and soil. The color of the large central room is the color of pompous grass stems in May.

Spirit House

By 2003 we knew we wanted to build a meditation space. I still had my dream of a circular building with a fire pit in the center. With Spirit House, I was sure we could manifest this dream. We again doused for the location and found that the earth spirits led us to an old stump just off the back lawn. We would meet in circle and pray and do ritual for two years before Spirit House was complete. Again, before we broke ground, I asked for permission from the earth and forgiveness for the disruption of life.

Before we started construction, two artists offered to donate an art installation that depicts the circle of life, the phases of the moon. One of the artists collaborated with my partner, Al, and me to design this sacred space. Along with three local men who constructed this building, we conceived and birthed a simple, elegant, sacred space to sit under the moon and around the fire. Our house of water, a place of introspection. Spirit House is an intimate space to be alone or in group, to listen and to express, to learn from the elements and the heavens – a sweet and powerful place.

Spirit House has invited community to be a part of her birthing and to continue tending to her needs. When she was a bare bones building, people who came to Hope Springs wrote prayers and poems on her plywood underfloor, listed their genealogies on the studs, wrote the names of people who had passed and flowers on the bare boards of the walls and put a time capsule in her walls. Now groups and individuals volunteer to wash her walls and floors and clean the little tables in front of each piece of the art installation. She is well love and tended with care.

Farmhouse

The farmhouse was here when we arrived in 1995 – an old structure started in the 1920’s with one room, growing over the years with additions up and out. This was the only residential building available for our retreat center for the first five years.

A small group of us spent some time visioning what kind of an environment we wanted to create as we renewed this space. We decided we wanted to bring the “outside in” because we knew many of the workshops here would be inviting people to bring their “insides out”, to look deeply within themselves to see what they wanted to keep and what they wanted to transform.

We wanted to have this space feel homey, a bit like Grandma’s house, to have a fun feel. We decided the downstairs would be sunrise/sunset colors and the upstairs night sky. We also wanted to make sure that anyone coming to Hope Springs could see themselves so our pictures, fabric and art reflect world family.

This is the place we rekindle our spirit, the fire in us – the place we nourish our bodies.

Sacred Geometry

Once Spirit House, the last structure created, was complete, I could see the sacred geometry of these four structures. I could understand how important each was and that it was necessary that they be constructed and be placed where they were. We now have an energetic diamond, two triangles, meeting at their bases, that hold these sacred spaces.

Our air house in the east where we walk with our ancestors
Our fire house in the south where we nourish ourselves by the hearth
Our water house in the west where we sit under the moon and around the fire
Our earth house in the north where we dance under the sun

by Suzanne Stevens

Learn more about Powers of Place at www.collectivewisdominitiative.org/places.htm