druidkirk.org

An ADF Monastery

It has been a dream of mine for some time now to found an ADF style monastery. Currently, my idea is call call us the ADF Celtic Order, though it is possible that I may wish to expand out to include the entire Indo-European spectrum, in which case the name will have to change.

This concept is only in the early planning stages, and will probably take years to flesh out. What I have here is only the barest of beginnings. However, we are selling our current property to enable us to start over somewhere, probably near Tucson. The idea is to build an environmentally sustainable set of buildings to house the Order, along with shrines, temples and Nemetons. To this end, we have been investigating Earthships for the living quarters, strawbale construction for the Hall, and all using solar power, greywater systems, composting toilets and rainwater harvesting.

Facility

Last winter Steve and I went to Taos, NM where we stayed for a few days in an earthship home, and toured many others. This seems like an ideal solution for our living areas in hot and dry Tucson. The rooms are built four feet below grade, where the temperature stays a constant 58°, and three walls are made up of old tires filled with rammed earth, for solar mass. Earth is piled up to cover these three walls on the outside, and the fourth wall is glass for solar gain in the winter. For these rooms to work effectively, they can only be up to 20 feet deep.

The Hall, including kitchen and refrectory, could be made of strawbale construction which is very insulating, thus cutting down on energy usage.

Goals

The goals of the Order would be to celebrate the Three Kindreds on a daily basis, with rites held at various shrines and temples. We would also develop rites for all the High Days and for the various US Civic Holidays.

I'd also like to see us become a seminary, providing on-line and in-house classes for folks wishing to become ADF Priests, ADF Initiates, and Monks of the Order. We would also be open for folks to come and spend quiet time in contemplation and in devotion to the Kindreds.

We would also have to become self-supporting. I will do my best to provide some sort of endowment, but the Order will also have to produce products for sale, run the facility as a spiritual retreat center, and work outside for Order income.