Continue sharing our Space of Love co-creation story - live!

      SOL Magazine Issue # 6 Winter 2010.

      By Irina and Yuri

         "So think as if your every thought were to be etched in fire upon the sky for all and everything to see. For so, in truth, it is. So speak as if the world entire were but a single ear intent on hearing what you say. And so, in truth, it is. So do as if your every deed were to recoil upon your heads. And so, in truth, it is. So wish as if you were the wish. And so, in truth, you are. So live as if your God Himself had need of you His life to live. And so, in truth, He does."                                                                                              (by Mihkail Naimy, from: The Book of Mirdad)

1. An All-Russian Veche*.

An All-Russian Veche of Kin’s Villages was held October 25th in Moscow. We both participated with great interest, especially because we promised in our last Living Diary to tell you about this event, so important for all creators of Kin’s domains as well as those who can only dream of them at present. But also, it was our own first experience of participating in such a gathering. In addition, how could we ignore the synchronicity of living so close to this important event.

We took part in the Veche on behalf of our ecovillage Ljuboistok** in the Smolensk region. Over eighty participants, delegates of Kin’s villages from all parts of Russia, had filled the small meeting hall. The question discussed was the draft of a Law concerning Kin’s domains, published in the newspaper “The Kin’s Land”. After five hours of presentations and discussion, the floor was opened for everyone wishing to express on this topic.

In time, we too presented our considerations. The position we took was that we cannot and should not get entangled in the legal technicalities of such a law, but rather leave those to the professionals and politicians. At this stage, we feel our main task should be to generate the concept of the Law of Kin’s Domains and to work out its basic ideas and definitions. And also, the fact that a law has been passed in and of itself does not yet guarantee that people will actually and promptly go to live on the land.* The experience in the Ukraine provides a good example. Here, as far back as 2003, a law was passed which allows each family to take two hectares of land. This, however, has not at all affected the number of the ecovillages of Kin’s domains that have been created since then. The availability of a detailed vision of the future Kin’s domain, and also the determination and inner readiness of people to radically change their way of life are the main considerations here with regard to moving onto the land, as much as the prompt enacting of the Law of Kin’s Domains.

The discussions were interspersed with small performances of bards and amateur actors who sang songs and recited poetry for all participants. At lunch, participants from the ecovillage Rodnoye treated us with food prepared from products grown in Kin’s domains there, and we were amazed to discover how very different these delicious products tasted.  

We all managed to agree that the initial draft of the law would require more careful, detailed input. But even before that work, a strong vision for this law should be created. The organizer of the gathering, Igor Hodchenkov, offered his website to gather and display suggestions and wishes regarding the vision for the future law. The next gathering was planned for sometime in summer of 2010.

2. Yuri and Irina's progress during the first year

To recall, we both met in person for the first time in January of 2009, after four months of communication via the Internet. We can only reminisce with great wonder and delight about our first personal meeting (or should we say "reunion"?) and how strongly our relationship has affected all other aspects and events in our lives. In fact, after we joined ideas and forces in that first meeting in Moscow in January of 2009, the physical realization of these plans started to take off in leaps and bounds. And by now, our united dream is materializing in the real world more and more quickly.

At the risk of repeating ourselves, we would like to express once more how very right Anastasia was when she would reemphasize the necessity of a detailed elaboration of one’s dream. We realized the importance of this again when we were looking back upon the past year.

After we painted our Space of Love domain on a big piece of paper in March of 2009, we realized that this joint activity had pulled us even closer together, especially when we had to draw many different trees. (See back-cover, Issue #3). That was a very delightful pastime by itself. We are both convinced that all those details were very important, especially for the recognition of “our” land.

Many people drive for years all across Russia trying to discover where they might find their native land. It is truly a difficult decision to make: you might feel good here but you also feel fine over there. But when you have a completed drawing on a piece of paper, finding “your” land becomes a matter of technique. As our personal experience shows, it might even happen in a very short time. In our case, less than three months passed from the day we co-created our drawing to the first "meeting up" with our land.

Although we decided right from the very beginning that we would have a horse in our Kin’s domain, knowing also that we would raise it according to the principles of Alexander Nevzorov’s School*** (using imagery), at that time we had no idea which breed and color it would be.

In this connection, we would like to tell you about some amazing occurrences which took place during 2009, related to our future horse. All was preceded by my (Irina) night-dream where I saw a beautiful black steed, its coat shimmering with blue sheen. He stood against a fire and looked at me. In my dream, I mentally asked him: Who are you? The mental answer followed immediately: I am Svarog. (With emphasis on the first syllable). This word was new to me. I had never heard it before and so the next day I asked Yuri whether he knew of such a name. It so happened that indeed he knew what it meant. He told me that according to the Slavic Vedas, Svarog was the name of the God of Fire and also one of the names of God the Father (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svarog). Certainly, we immediately decided that this name, Svarog, was the name of our future horse.

Soon after that event, one word - Svarozhichi- began to appear persistently in my thoughts. I told Yuri about it and he shared that this word had come to his mind quite often as well, along with very delightful sensations of unusual joy in his heart. We decided that this was not by accident and thus, the name of our Kin’s domain - Svarozhichi - was born.

So here we were, at the end of August 2009, while the next International Horse Exhibit “Equiros” took place in Moscow. Because we are loyal and regular visitors to this event, of course we wanted to attend. However, that day the weather was very unpleasant from early morning on and we, the adults, were not in the mood to go. But our little one with tears in her eyes insisted that we should go “to look at the horsies”. We had nothing better to do but to go to Equiros. Upon our arrival, we strolled around the pavilions and tried to find that of Alexander Nevzorov's (the horse whisperer we wrote about in our previous issue). Suddenly, it felt as if something was calling us back to one of the pavilions which we had already visited. So we decided to give our daughter another chance to look at "horsies." And what amazement we felt when we saw, standing in the passage-way between the stalls... “our” Svarog! Certainly, he was not named Svarog, but a steed of the same breed that I (Irina) had seen in my dream. Here it was that we learned that the horse of our dream is of Friesian breed. It appears that these horses are particularly good-natured with children.

Of course, our daughter was prepared to leave the exhibit with Svarog. And we had to explain to her that our Svarog most likely was not born yet. After collecting all necessary information and paperwork on where in Russia it is possible to get a horse of this breed, we left the exhibit, happy and slightly stunned by what we had seen. We had a delightful sensation in our hearts, as if the whole family was complete at last. That day we were once again reminded that miracles are everywhere. They are always around us and we only need to look for them.

And now, even though we cannot live directly on our Kin’s domain yet, we continue to detail our dream every chance we have. We discuss the news and different people's experiences in permaculture, so as to choose the best way to plant trees, form garden beds, cultivate plants, excavate ponds and such, in order to plan it all thoughtfully, to be built once and for a long time. For example, we very much like Sepp Holzer’s ideas and will surely incorporate his methods of creating natural ponds, raised beds, and vegetable storehouses. We try to work on our dream together, because together, special inspiration comes which stimulate our thoughts and creativity.  

Also, the mutual relationships between us and our group members are getting stronger, and we are coming to know each other as friends more intimately every day. Even though each of us now still lives in a different city, that does not prevent us from being neighbors right now. Every Sunday we meet in a Skype-conference (Hurrah for the Internet!) where we discuss basic current questions regarding our ecovillage. We greatly enjoy meeting with each other and continue to co-create our Ljuboistok.

While Ljuboistok does not yet exist in reality, it is only a matter of time. Legal documents are in the process of being registered. Also, through our joint efforts, we created an official Charter of Ljuboistok as well as the internal and social lifestyle rules for the settlement.

Who knows, maybe someone who is now reading these lines is going to become our future neighbor? If our Ljuboistok has touched your heart, we will open our arms to you with joy. Welcome, Vedrusses! For it is not a nationality - it is a life mission.

So we want to encourage you to go ahead and dream your Space of Love, make a mental image of it and after that – draw and paint it, commit it to paper in any form, photograph your dream, specify it by every means available. And your dream shall not fail to hasten toward you.

May you have happy and healthy thoughts and new creative images in the New Year!

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* Veche - one of the earliest forms of public democracy was a popular assembly in Proto-Slavic countries. The word is inherited from Proto-Slavic větje, meaning 'council' or 'talk' (which is also represented in the word "soviet", both ultimately deriving from the Proto-Slavic verbal stem of větiti 'to talk, speak'). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veche)  

**Ljuboistok – derived from the Russian “Istok Ljubvi” meaning ‘Source of Love’.

*** Nevzorov Haute Ecole - a new revolutionary teaching that has brought a novel, non-violent relationship between men and horse, which is based on love, trust, the horse’s well-being and freedom. (http://hauteecole.ru/en)

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