Visioning the Design of a Harmonious Community in the Celestial Glyph Squares Within Squares Within Squares
Originally Posted on the Crop Circle Connector website: Wed Jul 06, 2005 10:08 am Revised and Updated December 8, 2008 by Ariel Ky
We are with you all the time, in your dreams and at the edge of your thoughts, whispering notes of cheer and hope, giving you sublime moments of the ineffable. We are with you all the time, we have never left your side. We are your souls connected with Source. We love you all the time, but so often you don’t hear. So maybe you will see how we are you in the geometries of life.
What can be more beautiful than the pattern of a star? Yet it is only the humble square copied and turned slightly on itself in an overlay. Within this star, we have given you a beautiful design for building a community with an open quad in the middle, a sacred center. All of your complexes for whatever purpose, education, commerce, business, healing, need to have an open space that is holding the sacred energy of the mission for that complex.
Always know that there is a greater design that you hold a part of. Let us look at this design for a building complex. If you were to create buildings patterned after this design, the triangles would be greenpark or garden areas set in triangles at the middle of each side of the inner square. It’s possible to have parking for vehicles maximized along the outer perimeter of the star, but only small vehicles powered by a clean energy source would have entrance to the inner areas.
The squares outside the star perimeter could also be residences for people who work within the complex. Conceivably, some people might commute from outside of the community to work there, while the majority live within the community.
Within the building complex are more gardens and green areas. There are three sizes of buildings, large buildings, long and narrow buildings, and small buildings. You might choose to vary the shape of some of these buildings, including domes, arches, pyramids, etc.
Of the large buildings, there are only four located on the outer side of the four edges of the inner quad, the sacred center. Of the long and narrow buildings, there are 16 facing north and south and 16 facing west and east. Of the small buildings, there are 20 along the inner periphery of the square, with clusters of threes in each corner.
So within the square, there are 52 public buildings. The small buildings are the size of a small classroom which could hold 20 people. The long and narrow buildings have two floors with eight classrooms or work areas on each floor, with an outer corridor giving access to the rooms.
The four large buildings have an open design, with mezzanines that allow people to look down and view what is going on below. One of these is used for performing arts, community councils and social events, another for dance and yoga classes or movement circles, another for gymnastics and ball courts, and the last a large dining hall/cafeteria/café/restaurant. Even if the complex is used for business or commerce, these buildings are provided for members of the community to gather and enjoy a quality of life together in ceremony, celebration and recreation.
Along the perimeter of the star are private dwellings. There are 16 large dwellings that are dormitory-type buildings with two, three or four floors. Each of these houses between 20-50 inhabitants who share a common eating area. Behind each of the dormitories is a smaller house. This house is for a small family who are the caretakers of the dormitory. Between each dormitory are two smaller buildings which are houses for families. In addition, there are two buildings at the points of each star. The larger one of these buildings are homes for individuals who serve as priestesses grounding the sacred energy of the site and who carry out ceremonies for the well-being of the community working and living within the star. Small dome dwellings for singles or couples may also be sprinkled about the periphery.
The priestesses also have primary responsibility for coordinating the maintenance of the grounds and gardens. The smaller one of each of these buildings are for sacred animals: llamas, goats, cows, sheep, and/or dogs. These animals are not killed, but the coats of the llamas and sheep are occasionally shorn and used to make cloth and clothing, the cows and goats give milk which is also used to make cheese, and the dogs provide assistance with taking the other animals to pasture and bringing them back again.
Each priestess is responsible for a small number of animals and takes turns collecting all of them from their dwellings each day along the perimeter of the star to outlying fields and for returning them at night. So the community is arranged with a pastoral perimeter which supports the people in the community within the inner square.
There are eight points of the star with eight homes for priestesses. 16 dormitories with 16 homes behind each one. The two family homes along the perimeter of the star between the dormitories add up to 32 homes. These are for couples with children and may be one, two or three stories high.
All together, there are 72 dwellings for people (basic design):
16 dormitories
16 caretaker family homes
32 family homes along the star’s perimeter
8 priestess dwellings (and 8 animal dwellings)
This community can thus accommodate the following numbers:
16 dormitories (20-50 single people) 320-800 people
48 single family homes – one story, two stories, three stories. A single-story home may accommodate a family of 3, a two story home may accommodate, a family of 5, a three-story home may accommodate a family of 7. 144-376 people
A base community of about 500 people would suffice to create a largely self-contained complex. Of course, you might have as many more people who commute in to work/ study/recreate/pray/meditate in this complex.
Each of the corners of the inner square has three small buildings that are classrooms bordering an open square that is a park area. These are dedicated for instruction of the children. The children also have access to the four large buildings with scheduled times for physical activity in the gym and movement buildings, as well as art, music, writing, and performing activities in the theater building.
The children often stage performances or ceremonies for the adults on their lunch hours and in the evenings. They learn to cook, bake, prepare and serve food in the dining building. They often attend at least part of community councils and are trained for active citizenship and responsibilities in governance. The children also train in the workplace with adults on an ongoing basis, in small amounts of time when they are younger that increase as they grow.
Of the open areas between the buildings, there is first and foremost the sacred center. This will have a large fountain or labyrinth in the middle and extensive gardens with paths. There are four large open areas at each corner of the inner quad. Two of these at opposite corners are playing fields and two have trees planted in a sacred grove for picnics, drumming circles, and outdoor ceremonies, meditation groups, qi gong practitioners, social gatherings, and such. Some of the children’s instruction is held outdoors in these spaces when the four schools are brought together.
There are hedges and/or trees surrounding and dividing buildings and spaces. The hedges have both large and small entrances allowing passage between areas, some public and some private.
Of the four large open areas, there are three smaller open areas at each corner (the fourth corner being off the inner quad). Of these three small open areas, one is an open area for the children to play (and adults to exercise at alternate times), one is for growing flowers and herbs, and one is for growing vegetables. The children are primarily responsible for the flower and vegetable areas (with some adult supervision and assistance). The children also rotate duties to assist the priestesses in care of the community’s animals.
The 16 dormitories each have an outdoor swimming pool or some kind of outdoor recreational area, tables, benches, and chairs. They are surrounded by fruit trees that are picked in season to feed the community: apple, pear, plum, cherry, and quince. There is enough grown in a good season to trade with other communities for fruit not grown in this one. Each of the four triangular areas along the sides of the inner square also have nut trees such as walnut and hickory trees (varies by climate).
The inner square has an elevated running path with hanging gardens on trellises around its perimeter. Berries, beans, and flowers are grown on these hanging gardens for consumption of the community. An irrigation system is deployed along these hanging gardens.
Employees have large discretion in deciding when they choose to go for a run. From the wee hours of the morning to late at night you will find people running along the walkway. This also keeps a certain level of casual security for the complex. Members of the community may choose to be trained to develop their telepathic powers to communicate any alarms and to keep track of children and others’ whereabouts when needed.
Many of the rooftops of the buildings have gardens and patio areas for dining, relaxing, and visiting with others. Some of the long, narrow buildings are built over indoor swimming pools. Some have lily ponds at the top level for hydroponic gardens. Others have tiers of sun collectors to provide passive solar heating of water and inner spaces. The community’s buildings are designed to collect enough energy to meet the community’s needs.
At each point of the star (past the priestess houses and animal shelters), out much further in a larger perimeter, stands a windmill. Wind power is harnessed to grind grain for bread and for energy to be harnessed by generators to be used by the community.
What more do you need to create a sustainable community that holds the best of the past and what the world offers today? This is a template for building community that does not compartmentalize our lives.
We only give you one rule for building this kind of community: The people who live in the community must provide their own maintenance and provenance. What does this mean? First and foremost, that cleaning, cooking, and grounds work be done (as creatively and equitably as possible by preference/rotation/lottery) by the residents of the community, not be a subclass of outsiders who are hired to do what is considered menial work.
The reason for this is twofold: first, that all members of the community work with the land in some respect in an awareness of the seasons of planting and harvesting, of weather, of the cycles of the moon and sun, and animal life. Producing as much as possible of the food needs of the community teaches a sense of oneness and interconnectedness with nature that is sorely lacking in the universities, businesses, and commercial centers of today. Also monitoring energy usage and producing the community’s own energy for its needs is an important exercise in staying balanced with the ecosphere. And secondly, these activities, including cleaning, care of animals, gardening, and grounds work, are good for the soul and provide a balance of meaningful physical activity often found lacking in people’s lives today.
This complex is also designed so that children are more integrated into the daily flow of activities within the community. Much thought and consideration might be devoted to the social needs of different age groups and how these might be mixed and matched in creative new ways according to the desires of the inhabitants. An example of this might be a small cooking class offered by an older individual for children and any interested adults which might include men, women, teenagers, and other older individuals. Children (at various ages) who have acquired and mastered a new skill like designing a website, weaving a plant holder, or using permaculture to garden, might offer instruction to older individuals.
Storytelling/drumming/dancing/chanting/toning/singing/meditating could be an integral facet of community life that brings together different ages.
This is a design for those of us who want to lead creative lives in harmony and community with other people and all life. This is a design for those of us who want to live in such a way that every moment is sacred. This is a design for those of us who want to survive and lead a joy filled, sustainable lifestlye.
