MISSION
At Chrysalis, we intend to develop a model sustainable
community that operates first and foremost as a sanctuary,
a place of retreat and refuge, specifically focused on the
needs of cultural creatives, families, and children. We envision
a non-profit project founded on the principals of holistic
educational and healing practices, environmental stewardship, permaculture, and political
/social engagement. The needs of the seventh generation inform all our actions at
The Edge. It is our intention that this center will function as a
place for solace, refuge, and regeneration while providing a
thriving, luminous example of what it means to walk in beauty,
in harmonious relationship – with self, others, society, spirit,
and the Earth. VISION
We live in a time of unprecedented destruction, when all major
structures are being broken down and dissolved, and the planet
that sustains us is struggling and in desperate need of healing. Our children stand to inherit this mess we have created for them,
unless we begin to address these issues now, on their behalves. It will be their jobs to clean this up, no small task! It is our
intention at The Edge to create an “eye” - or peaceful center -
in the midst of this global storm now swirling all around us. We wish to reclaim our roots and our birthright in modeling a
new paradigm for living, based on ancient understandings about
the “web of life” and the interconnectedness of all life forms. Now is the time to band together again as tribe, to share
resources, and rebuild community in the truest sense of the word
– to re “commune” or connect, with each other and all things
living - and to model a more sustainable, loving, and peaceful
lifestyle for our young and the next generations to follow. Even the New Sciences are bringing us back around again to this
ancient understanding – that each individual being, and each
small action, has tremendous potential to affect the whole. We
wish to support our children, and each other, in moving into the revolutionary adventure of our times with the strongest network
of resources and wisdom humanly possible. We intend to do this by retraining our youth to: 1) be good earth
stewards; 2) look after each other as family; 3) activate fully
whatever they are most uniquely gifted to offer this collective
work; 4) heal whatever wounds they have inherited from their
individual lineages and the collective 5) respect and honor the
wisdom of their elders and the natural world with reverence and
gratitude. In this way we support these future generations in stepping all
the way into their light and lives as the Spiritual Warriors, Priests
and Priestesses needed to face the challenges of this time, and
to reestablish right relationship with the beautiful planet we are
bequeathing them. This is the underlying
sentiment that informs all facets of this project, ultimately - a
deep and abiding love of the Creation! As such, we wish to
reestablish and model a lifestyle for our children that properly
respects, honors and protects Gaia as precious and adored
Mother to us all. FOCAL POINTS
Roots and Wings: A Waldorf-Inspired Cooperative Playschool and
Nature Immersion Program
One project of Chrysalis is the establishment of a Waldorf-
Inspired cooperative playschool and nature immersion program
in which young children and their families will come together,
under the guidance of a fully-trained Master Waldorf Teacher, in
establishing an educational and social environment designed to
honor the unique flowering of each individual child. This project
is Waldorf-Inspired in that it fosters the innate creative, spiritual,
physical and intellectual capacities in young children. Roots and
Wings acknowledges the unique intelligences of each child and
seeks to foster these in an environment rich with imagination
and direct contact with Nature and her cycles. At this age, the young child is still innocent, in awe, and fresh
from Source. We’d like to preserve and encourage this wide-
eyed-wonder-time as long a possible! So we searched far and
wide for the perfect land to gently cradle the dreamy imaginal
realm of early childhood – and finally found it at The Edge:
with three distinct eco-systems onsite; large food garden and
mature orchard to cultivate and sample from; a big boulder to
climb on; woods to explore; a tipi to play in; wooden stage to
perform on; majestic redwood trees, including a fairy ring, to
commune with; and free-flowing water in abundance - creek
with waterfall and swimming hole, natural springs, and a even
koi pond, with frogs! The Sanctuary: A Refuge for Today’s Youth
We will establish after school programs and summer camps
that bring in the talents of others within the community and
gift these back as services, workshops, classes, and coming-
of-age programs for local tweens and teenagers. In addition,
as our project expands, we intend to bring in at-risk-youth
from the inner cities and offer sweats, vision quests, trust-
building workshops, and other initiatory experiences to them
as well. We wish to cross-fertilize with this population directly
by seeding community garden projects and other outreach
services that support them where they live. It is our intention
that this outreach work will support our valley children in
their own initiations into adulthood, while simultaneously
gifting them with an appreciation for diversity (both socio-
economic and ethnic), an understanding for the value of
community service and hard work (seva), and a much-
needed sense of gratitude for their/our own privilege in
society and in the world. The Temple
As an offering for our community, we intend to build a
beautiful, dome-shaped temple on our land. The Temple will
be a large open space, sculpted out of earth, with central
skylight, and with simple altars built in to honor the four
directions. This temple will be created by the people for the
people; and will provide a place for the community to gather –
so that we might pray, work, heal, celebrate, laugh, dream,
soak and play together – all while communing with the
abundant natural beauty of this sacred, and precious land!
