Correspond for Life

When people are in dialog, they’re facilitating understanding. We invite you to participate in this program and make contact with someone in another country, one that is foreign to you. It’s your opportunity to make a friend and overcome hate, fear and resentment, one person at a time. As Margaret Mead said: “Never underestimate the power of a small group of individuals to change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Hike for Hunger

On Sunday, September 25, we host the first of a monthly Ridge Trail Hike for World Hunger. Hikers gather at the Presidio Parade ground at eight in the morning, cross the Golden Gate Bridge and follow the coastal trail through the Marin hills to Stinson Beach. Busses will bring the hikers back to the Presidio.

The money raised in this walkathon provides grants for poor communities all over the world to buy tools to grow food. It’s a wonderful program and the only permanent solution to poverty. As the Chinese proverb says: Give people a fish and they’ll eat for a day. Teach them to fish and they’ll eat for the rest of their lives.



The Aurora Cruise Ship

The first home of the Elysia community is an advanced eco-ship. Ariana gave it the name "Aurora" to mark the dawn of a new era when we live in self-sustaining habitats. Here are some of the Aurora’s ecological advances:

  • A large wind turbine generates power and stores it in a bank of batteries. The batteries are also the ship’s ballast and provide steady electrical power to run the ship and propel it on excursions.
  • A black glass sphere in the center of the ship is made of solar collectors for the ships water purification, hot water and heating systems.
  • Fresh vegetables are cultivated on the greenhouse deck.
  • A fishing boat delivers a daily catch.
  • A rear docking station enables smaller boats to transfer passengers and cargo so the Aurora does not need to come into a harbor. A built-in crane lifts a small boat out of the water and places it alongside the dock.
  • The ship’s helicopter lands on the Helipad and transports people and mail. It’s also used for security and emergencies.

    Peace Sphere
    An unusual feature of the Aurora is the black sphere at the center, our Peace Sphere. Inside are multiple projectors that display a seamless panorama onto a 360º surround screen. Together with an array of surround speakers, this unique environment can be transformed into any place on earth in the past or the future. The whole community gathers in the center of the Peace Sphere for an incredible immersive experience. The community meets in this sanctuary every morning and evening. We love the drama, music, dance and film that is the glue that binds us together as a community.

    Excursion
    The Aurora is usually anchored off the Farallon Islands, twelve miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge. A smaller sailing ship, the Iris, ferries passengers and cargo to and from Sausalito. Weekly excursions go from San Francisco Bay to Monterey Bay and Big Sur and back. For more information about the free excursions, click here.

    Ariana to Unveil Elysia Calendar for 2017
    Ariana Amnisos will launch a series of seminars on Wednesday, September 7 at the Aurora. She arrived from Crete on Saturday. The seminars are an immersive media extravaganza that introduce the Elysia Calendar. The seasonal festivals and ceremonies follow the lunar cycles and celebrate the revival of values and practices of the Minoan culture that flourished on the island of Crete 4000 years ago.

    		•


    Rodney Castleden provides an imaginative reconstruction of Minoan society on the island of Crete four thousand years ago. It’s a culture that Elysians honor. We believe we are on the threshold of a new culture today that is about to rise from the ashes of a dying one based on greed, hate and violence. In looking for new models to emulate, we are inspired and encouraged by the kind of society Minoans developed.

    The Minoan civilization was one of peace and the rule of law. With their fleet patrolling the Mediterranean, Minoan’s felt safe in towns without fortifications. They detested tyranny and warfare. The Pax Minoica spread effortlessly across the Aegean Sea as a result of pure and massive cultural superiority.

    Minoans were elegant, graceful and sophisticated. They loved art, nature and religious ritual. They were talented and sophisticated – full of wisdom, fantasy and romance.

    However, Minoan culture was anonymous and without the stamp of personal ambition and individualism rampant in our own culture. Personal identity and gender were subordinate to a person’s function within society. Men and women shared equally in exercising positions of power and both genders contributed equally to the quality of life experienced by Minoans.

    While too much has changed in 4000 years to resurrect an ancient civilization, we believe that a society built on the values and characteristics of Minoan culture is both desirable and possible    .