Home/Principles
Twelve things we are held to.
Not values on a wall. Agreements, the same for a first-time visitor and for the people who have been here longest.
- 01
The land decides
Numbers, sound, light, paths, building: the ecology sets the limit and we design under it. When the land and the programme disagree, the programme changes.
- 02
Nobody’s word is final
No guru, no doctrine, no founder whose opinion ends a conversation. Decisions that touch everyone are taken in circle, out loud, with room to disagree.
- 03
Every tradition may offer, none may impose
Bring what you carry. Offer it as an invitation. Nobody is required to take part in anything except the shared meals and the quiet hours.
- 04
Consent, always
For touch, for ceremony, for photographs, for being part of anything. Asked clearly, answered freely, respected the first time. A no needs no explanation.
- 05
The children come first
If a decision is not safe for a child, it is not made. Adults in roles with children are known and vetted and never alone with a child who is not their own. A named person is responsible at all times.
- 06
Held, not sold
Ceremony is led only by people who have earned the trust of the circle. Plant medicine only where legal and safely held. Nobody buys their way into holding space.
- 07
Build light
Natural materials, structures that could be removed, nothing poured over a meadow. The land should be able to go back to itself.
- 08
Real dark, real quiet
Quiet hours are quiet. Lanterns out by a set hour. No floodlights. The stars and the birds have rights here too.
- 09
Work is part of every stay
Everyone contributes: kitchen, garden, fire, gate. Nobody is only a guest, and nobody is only staff.
- 10
Open books
Money, water, waste, safety: written down and readable by the circle. Not summaries. The numbers.
- 11
No date until there is ground
We promise the order, circle then gatherings then land, and not the year. Anyone who tells you a date on our behalf is guessing.
- 12
Leave it better
Every year the land holds more life than the year before, and every person leaves a place a little more cared for than they found it. That is the whole test.