Aphrodite is the goddess of sex, beauty and bliss. Her Latin name is Venus. Thus she is patron of what, to modern eyes, might seem a collection of opposites: betrothal and prostitution, marriage and adultery, love and passion. Aphrodite especially he
Read more…Hera (Ἥρα) married her bother Zeus and thus became the queen of the Olympian gods and goddesses. She is a jealous wife. Zeus is always having secret affairs and Hera is trying to thwart him and drive away her rivals. She is thus the goddess of marria
Read more…Athena, whose Latin name is Minerva, is the goddess for disputes and justice, warfare and wisdom. If you are having a dispute you can go to Athena's Wood to settle the matter. It is across the lane from the domain of Eirene, beyond the second well. A
Read more…Artemis (Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of wild things. Her Latin name is Diana. At La Ville she presides over the wildest part of the forest. Her land is bounded by that of Demeter to the south, Eirene to the west and Aphrodite to the north. Entering her d
Read more…Demeter (Δημήτηρ, Δαμάτηρ) is the earth mother. She is the goddess of cultivation, food and harvest. One of her minor roles is as the goddess of poppies and some years there are many poppies in her domain at La Ville.
Demeter's domain at La Ville au
Read more…Eirene, (Εἰρήνη) also spelt Irene, is the goddess of peace. She presides over the land immediately in front (on the west side) of the house, including the old and new gardens, the east meadow and, beyond the trees to the north, the Champ de la Ville
Read more…The thirty acres or so of land at La Ville au Roi is divided into segments dedicated to specific goddesses.
By walking the land one can pass from the domain of one goddess to another. By spending time in one of other domain one can meditate upon and
Read more…I am very much looking forward to the ITZI conference next year.&nb...
This is a print from a linoleum block printed on a monoprint background. This was inspired by my time last year at the old abbey at Drongen
I currently have a big digging job on. The ground level on the east side of the building is higher than the inside floor level. I would like to instal at least one door on that side of the building. This necessitates digging away quite a few cubic me
Read more…During the summer we introduced a number of water saving systems. These included small items like catching water from the washroom sink to installing a 1000 litre tank to catch run-off from the big barn roof. When we have a hot day and need to water
Read more…Transcript by Helen evanfé
In the sutras we read the story of Kisagotami. Kisagotami comes to the Buddha, "Please heal my child," she begs. Clearly in the mind of Kisagotami the child is sick, but not dead. The Buddha, however, can see that the child
Read more…The pandemic came to Europe about 20 months ago, to China, somewhat earlier. Two whole years have now passed since the pandemic began.
At the beginning, there was a strict lockdown in many countries but also a sense that this will soon be over. That
Read more…I have just returned to Eleusis in France after two weeks away. The firsr week was in Hamberg, Germany and the second in Den Haag in Netherlands. While I was in Germany I led a workshop on the theme of the book The Feeling Buddha which is essentiall
Read more…
One of the things that we observe here at La Ville au Roi (Eleusis) is the therapeutic effect of people simply having space. Modern people experience life as rather crowded. They feel under pres
Read more…
In a dream I saw four mountains
with a valley in between.
In the valley lay a lake
of crystal water, deep and clean.
Somewhere hidden on this fell
there lived a hermit rarely seen
who mingling with the mist and cloud
left no trace where he had be
Read more…