Thanks for joining. I sent you an email answering some things you said in your blog; but I thought I'd reiterate them here to save them for "the group". I think you are very closely aligned with what I'm trying to create here.

PAGAN SANCTUARY:

One long term goal would be to bring paganism and a respect for nature together, (and a joy of being in and part of nature); to the advancement of both. Its of course true that most pagans are eco-friendly, and you even have people like Starhawk out there being all activist and stuff, to the benefit of the Earth. But where I'm coming from, is an understanding that the Christian MYTHOS includes a belief that Man has a mission to subjugate Nature. "You shall name all living things, etc". I dont see that as being such a DEEP part of Pagan thinking; and it isnt being advanced as it might be. We are at a turning point in history, and I believe there is a deep wellspring of desire across humanity to reconnect with the Nature that we are losing. And to tap that; we can be emphasizing the respect for, and reconstruction of; Nature. Sorta like a pagan Sierra Club. The most obvious way in which to do this, would be to create a string of pagan sanctuaries across the world (just as Christians have churches); which would be sort of like national (or local) parks, but where we could modify Nature in such a way as to emphasize its sacredness. (I know this sounds a little self-contradictory, but bear with me).

With unlimited funds, one could of course lay out temples, meditation sites (I'm thinking marble benches covered in moss next to waterfalls, etc) campsites and more fixed accommodations, stone circles, you name it. I particularly liked your idea of a tree-of-life temple complex. Maybe you could write some more about that here. But of course, no-one has unlimited funds. I originally had this idea because I was walking in the redwoods, and wanted to sit down for a bit, but of course the park authorities dont build seats. Probably some college-graduate administrator decided it would be against policy. From that seat idea, I envisioned stone benches built into the side of the cut; and as my brain wanders - to building small shrines with the sources of springs jutting from them; tidying up the junctions of streams (sacred to Hecate), and so on. Allowing people to wander off trails to a thousand spots made slightly more special by a small amount of management, even replanting with natives.

All clothing optional of course, in order to get the full connection with the earth. It really makes a huge difference. Stream beds could be expanded at intervals into sandy-bottomed pools, of various depths, perhaps even with low submerged stone benches like jacuzzis.
Sweat lodges scattered about. The idea would be to maximize human interaction with the environment; by making the human element as unobtrusive as possible, enhancing rather than replacing whats there; and by encouraging, not discouraging, humans to get into close contact with it.

There are a few decent sites I know of near San Francisco; which could be linked together, although probably not as neighbouring properties. There is a private nudist beach near San Gregorio thats perfect - with a huge cliff which makes a natural sort of temple, a perfect place for bonfires; perfectly invisible from anywhere except the Ocean, and more or less inaudible also. There is a large cave close by. On the public beach boundary, but late at night that might not be a problem. It would be great to purchase that land, but probably somewhat expensive (although its not building land). This would be close enough to redwood forests nearby that could be also bought.

Of course other sites that might be purchased by a community that is willing to chip in like Christians do; would involve undeveloped hotsprings, (is it possible to create hotsprings? by drilling a deep pipe into a riverbed in the right area?), places on sacred mountains, and so on. It would in some ways be a competition with the Sierra Club to buy these sites; No - because we would be looking after them and more or less preserving them; YES - because we would have open-access and public nudity policies that these people would have problems with. No fencing-off. But most of the second-tier sites arent THAT expensive to buy; as they are generally in non-commercially-valuable land. Of course, buying these places close to places where people live and which therefore have good access, will be more difficult.

This should be done sooner rather than later, as wild places are being taken up by commerce and the hands-off-nature brigade, leaving little of the wild places left to build the kinds of places I have in mind.

There are a few of these being built; but so far, nowhere near enough; nor generally, to my mind, what I'd ideally build. Often there is little to distinguish them from Christian retreat camps, apart from the obvious symbological differences.

What I have in mind, is working with the genius loci (an old idea generally lost unfortunately), rather than simply walking in and building something. Seeing what the site suggests - where the spirits are - and honoring the ones that are there, instead of simply flattening a site and building a generic temple. (although a few temples may not be out of place nearby in less sacred areas of the site).