Member Scilla enjoyed Robina McCurdy’s 2-day Sacred Space Design workshop held at Narara Ecovillage over the weekend of 28/29 April. She said: ‘It was a great success on many levels. We were inspired by glimpses of special places from around the world, learnt about how ‘attune’ to this particular piece of Earth and followed our leadings to work on a ‘concept design’ of specific areas at Narara in small groups’.
‘We sharpened our awareness of how the four elements can support different aspects of our wellbeing – and therefore guide the location and the aesthetic interplay of planting, structural design and spatial planning for buildings. We experimented with dowsing rods and pendulums which helped us affirm what was often already a ‘gut feeling’ about ‘what’ might work ‘where’’.
This was the first learning event held under the aegis of our new education foundation, Collective Know-How. We made a small profit, it encouraged interest from newcomers to Narara, re-kindled our commitment to Permaculture and was the catalyst for an exciting deepening of connection with the spirit and energy of ‘place’ in the beautiful valley which we are blessed to be calling ‘home’.
The timing of the workshop was also perfect. On the basis of the collaborative planning which emerged from listening deeply to the land and seeing it with ‘soft focus’, we have been invited to advocate for the intangible ‘spirit of place’ in the project briefing to consultants for Stage 2 development. This is such a gift which will ensure that the ‘heartbeat’ of this ancient place will still be heard, even when it is full of children!