by Susannah Light
David Ward and I have initiated a community here in Costa Rica, on eleven acres of land. We’ve named it “Garden Village.” There is a spiritual vortex here that we honor highly and have chosen this as home, not primarily for ourselves, but home for this New Day of consciousness. We hold the vision, which is already beginning to manifest, of a place where enlightened friends can dwell together in peaceful, purposeful living, calling to remembrance essences of the original Garden of Eden.
We have recognized the sacred nature of this property, for me, since my family first moved to this area in 2001, and for David, since the year of the Mayan Calendar completion when he spent several months meditating and forging a connection with the land here. David wrote to me once while he was down here (I still lived in Colorado) saying, “Your family didn’t buy a farm down here, you bought a National Park!” My family owns an additional ninety acres of land next to our eleven.
David and Susannah with interns
Our project here is a non-profit, supported in part by donations to the Ashland School of Environmental Technology. Garden Village is home to School of Sacred Earth Technology which features David’s Strawjet building technology, among other environmental and permaculture emphasis. Some of these endeavors are yet to manifest in their totality, so we could say it is a work in progress. We have been very encouraged by the response from our young volunteers and many others who have already come to visit and contribute their gifts.
Susannah and Jess build a lasagna-style garden bed
Our home sits amid the garden which I and others have planted. It is a wonder and a delight to live in a garden overflowing with rich colors, food and flavors. At present our home is rustic and somewhat temporary. Little by little more is added to it as David and I give it our wholehearted devotion. See photo gallery. April 2014 marks one year since we have moved onto the property, camping without facilities, in those humble beginning times, but with all the joy and exhilaration of ushering in a new era in the cosmic evolution.
Appreciating lunch at the river
Garden Village is based on the work of its founders, David and Susannah, as well as their associates who spent many years following a quest of discovering how to heal the wounded heart of Earth. Key to this effort has been traveling to hundreds of locations throughout North, Central, and South America where they performed ceremonies of invoking and communing with the unique aspect of the Earth Spirit present in those places.
In 2011, David and Susannah spent several weeks of deep integration work with the spirit of the land as it comes to focus in Costa Rica, and received a vision from the Earth Being of a village where acknowledging Earth as a sacred partner, in a setting where people could gather and commune, would be a central component to everyday life.
“In purchasing the property we are aware that we are freeing the spirit of the land from the ownership of her by humans,” says David, “something that we see as akin to the emancipation of the slaves at the time of the Civil War. The land has been abused and we have ceremonies where we acknowledge the abuse and find ways to shift the pain into joy. We also plant trees and other plants to help restore her beauty.”