Sacred Spaces
Journey of the Soul
Pine Manor is home to a marvelous meditation walk with seven stations, denoting seven archetypal steps in the journey of every human being. Our friend Antonella from Italy introduced us to this journey through her lovely flute music. Each station represents one stage of life and the potential of seeing from that stage. So I sit in “Before” and imagine what I experience and anticipate as I get ready to journey into human form. Being able to reflect from different stages of our life gives us a broader perspective on experiences we have. These stages were created by Pine Manor staff and others as part of the beautification project in 2019-2020. The kids who attended Kids’ Camp helped create the stage of Childhood.
The Seven Stages:
Before — Birth — Childhood — Threshold — Adulthood — Elderhood — After
Round House
The Round House was built a couple of weeks after 9/11. We almost cancelled the workshop because of 9/11 but then realized that it was actually the perfect thing to do: bring people together to build. It taught us an important reality about grief—that amazing things do eventually come from the ground of grief. Our straw bale teacher, Bob Bolles, taught us all the important things to know about building a straw bale building. The tribe that worked on this building were impacted by the community working together and many have stayed connected to Pine Manor all these years later.
Earth Mama
The Earth Mama was built and sculpted by Michael Leach, resident artist. Both Michael and Gail collaborated in her design. Gail saw another Earthen Mama when she did her Watsu training with Elaine Marie at Spirit Lake near Harbin Hot Springs. That Mama sat by the lake, and Gail envisioned something similar at Pine Manor. Separately, Michael had his own vision of the Earth Mama.
This Earth Mama has a straw bale base and is sculpted out of Cob by Michael. She came in as a piece of art and now sits as Earthen Goddess representing Gaia, Mother Earth, in earthen form, guardian of Pine Manor.
Wind Phone
The story of the Wind Phone was told by Mark Nepo at one of his retreats. It is the story of a man in Japan who lost many friends and family members in the major tsunami of 2011 when his village of 20,000 people was destroyed. He pulled an old phone booth onto his property and put a rotary phone inside. The line to the phone was cut, but that didn’t stop him from calling loved ones lost in the tsunami. Others began coming to call their loved ones, too. Thousands of people have since come to the Wind Phone in Japan to call loved ones who have passed on. This Wind Phone invites us to express grief.
In 2018, Pine Manor lost an important member of our family, Michael Sieck, PhD, therapist and founder of Three-Fold Way. Michael and Gail co-created many retreats and workshops at Pine Manor for over 20 years. This Wind Phone was built in honor of Michael, friend, co-creator, and wise teacher.