THE VISION


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SUMMARY

The Harmonic Alchemy Retreat (HAR) is a community-based project with a seasonal, rhythumcal combination of full time and part time (seasonal) residence and volunteers, offering services to retreat guests. The HAR community is intended to be as self-sufficient as possible sharing skills and products from land management.

Where needed outsourcing services, paid for from the sales of surpluses or via barter and exchange.

The HAR project is not just a cooperative community, because one of the primary functions of the project it to offer a variety of retreat services to guests.

The community offers facilities to other organisations or individuals to run their own retreats, while also providing in-house workshops, classes, retreats and volunteer opportunities to both international and local Bulgarian guests.

The principle of the cooperative community is applied both to the running of the HAR and its relationship with the wider Bulgarian village community, with both being considered integral to the running of the project.

“By harmony all phenomena are formed and sustained.
There is a scientific statement to the effect that this earth
is a vast harmonic wave system that is built
and sustained by unheard music.”
Corinne Heline

The Harmonic Connection

It is time to rediscover our harmonic connection with all living beings and reintegrate with the natural world. We are harmonic beings living in a vibrational universe, where frequency is the key to the creative power of music.

As human beings we view the world through the lenses of our perceptions, which are individually constructed by our personal experiences and beliefs, though a process that some call Karma. These perceptions are vibrations that collectively create our individual expression in the world, which may be described as our ‘vibes’ and can be seen as our ‘energy’.

We are all familiar with the way our energy levels can be affected by external events in our lives, whether they are at home, in the local area or on the world ‘stage’. In such situations we may resonate with what is happening or feel disharmony and therefore resistant to the events occurring.

Unfortunately the world we live in today appears to be destructively, disharmonious and de-energising so it can appear increasingly difficult to find synchronicity with frequencies that energise us positively.

“Conservation is a state of harmony
between men and land.”
Aldo Leopold

Why is the retreat project needed?

Sound is the energetic stimulant in the vibrational universe in which we all live. It has phenomenal creative power and indescribable destructive force.

The powerful frequencies and vibrations of ‘modern’ living overwhelm our organic harmonies and rhythms, with everything from the increasing intensity of noise pollution to the imperceptible electro fog from the ever-present wifi, bluetooth and mobile signals.

The disharmonies and disease that result within us are a symptom of the disruption to our life force and flow as we become more and more disconnected from our natural harmonic environment.

The intensity of the high tech frequencies that pervade our lives from numerous digital and mechanical sources are disconnecting, disempowering and disembodying us on a multitude of physical, mental and spiritual levels.

The principle objective of the HAR is to offer a facility where residence, volunteers and retreat guests can reconnect with the natural harmonic rhythms of life. Specialist therapy treatments, workshops and classes will be available to help shift physical, mental and spiritual blockages, restoring unity and balance.

“Sound is the force of creation, the true whole.
Music then, becomes the voice of the great cosmic oneness
and therefore the optimal way to reach
this final state of healing.”
Hazrat Inayat Khan

WHY BULGARIA ?

Bulgaria is in the southeast corner of Europe with Greece and Turkey to the south, Macedonia and Serbia to the west, Romania to the north and the Black Sea to the east. It is on the same latitude as Portugal, northern Spain, southern France and central Italy.

The country’s position geographically in the European continent has a significant influence on its weather. The summers are hot, with warm air flowing north from the Mediterranean and the winters are chilled by the cold air dropping down from Ukraine and Russia. Meanwhile, between the two extremes, spring and autumn are beautiful transitions providing four clearly defined seasons in the annual cycle. The foundational beat for the Rhythm of Life. 

The continental weather patterns provide a certain predictability to the annual seasons flowing from one to the other in the year’s natural rhythm. However, Bulgaria’s location in southern Europe means the sun is hot all year round and winter days still feel warm even with snow on the ground. The high number of sunny days throughout the year, makes solar power more efficient and the growing season longer.

“Music and Rhythm
find their way into the secret places of our soul”
Plato

The landscape of Bulgaria is dominated by two mountain ranges that run through the country from west to east, ending at the Black Sea coast. The agricultural planes of the Danube Valley to the north are bordered by the river Danube and are where most of the country’s large arable farms grow cereal crops.

The relatively level land between the mountain ranges in the center and to the southeast of the country, known as the Gornotrakiyska Lowlands, is dominated by large vineyards and rose oil farms, which represent two of Bulgaria’s biggest exports.

Mountains are the defining character of the Bulgarian landscape and have had a significant influence on the land management, which is predominantly small farms under 10 acres (40,000 sqm). Such smallholdings are usually family owned and have been so for several generations.

However, more and more of the mountain and agricultural villages are becoming derelict as the population is moving out of the countryside into towns and cities. While the agricultural plans are taken over by bigger and bigger farms, the mountain pastures are not economic for large scale farming and the herb rich meadows have not been spoiled by the over use of fertilizers or pesticides.

Before the first and second world wars the mountains were well used by small farming communities, but that soon changed during communism and people were moved into the towns and cities, leaving nature to reclaim the landscape. Now the mountains are tree covered, with only scattered small hamlets of houses occupied by the last of the human residence, scratching a living off the land.

“There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm.
One is the danger of supposing that breakfast
comes from the grocery, and the other that heat
comes from the furnace.” 
 Aldo Leopold

Economically the country is poor and there are few jobs so many people are still reliant on growing food on the land in the villages, but return to the towns to live. The towns have supermarkets, but most people buy their fresh fruit and vegetables at the weekly market, topping up what they grow themselves.

The people have a distrust of the banks, because they have experienced unexpected closures in the past. They prefer to trade in cash or by barter and exchange. When the next financial crisis hits the world, life will still go on in Bulgaria with little impact to day-to-day existence. When you are at the bottom of the economic ladder you can just step off.

The Bulgarian population is 7.2 million, which is considerably less than London and it is predominantly urbanized, mainly concentrated in the administrative centers. There are more houses and land than there are people to use them, so property is cheap and often surrounded by common land with grazing opportunities.

There are various European and Bulgarian government initiatives to encourage small farming and business ventures that benefit jobs in rural areas. At the local level property development is encouraged with limited planning restrictions on renovation works or extensions.

Public transport is cheap with the 50km train journey from the capital Sofia to the local town of Svoge costing a little over £2 and the bus ride into the mountains less than £1. Meanwhile, the international flights into the country are serviced by various budget airlines like easyJet, Ryanair and WIZZair, meaning that it is possible to fly from UK to Bulgaria for under £50 and frequently much less if you are flexible on times.

“If we represent knowledge as a tree,
we know that things that are divided are yet connected.
We know that to observe the divisions and ignore
the connections is to destroy the tree.”
– Wendell Berry 

WHY LESKOVDOL ?

Bulgaria is an incredibly beautiful country and there are many places that might be considered suitable to set up a retreat project like the one considered here.  However, there are a few criteria that make this valley particularly suitable.

The combination of accessibility while also retaining the essential wild connection within the natural landscape is perhaps one of the most important factors. One of the primary functions of the HAR community it to share experience and knowledge with others both locally and internationally, so connectivity is essential.

Having arrived in the capital of Sofia on one of the many cheap flights from across Europe, a short city train journey on the Metro will take visitors to the mainline train terminal, from where there are regular trains stopping at the municipality town of Svoge, which is about an hours journey north along the Iskar valley. At Svoge there is a short walk across the town square to the local bus station and a bus ride into the mountains.

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“To interpret observations of natural things
it is essential, not only to possess an understanding
of their ecology, but also an appreciation of their being.”
Andrew Cowan

The valley of Leskovdol in which the village is located is a horse-shoe of mountains, with the houses spread around the hillsides. It is locally recognised as a beautiful place to visit and the road to the village leads nowhere else so it is not a route people travel on the way to somewhere different. There is existing interest in improving it as a tourist destination with plans for an eco-trail, named after a famous local author, who was inspired by the landscape.

The mountain landscape has restricted farming activities to a small scale and the local grazing traditions mean that animals are fenced out rather than in, so the hay meadows, pastures and woodlands are unfenced.  The hillsides have reforested as the farming community has declined and boundaries have become even further blurred and indistinct, returning to the natural wilderness.

The energetic expression of the land can be tangibly felt and offers boundless opportunities for visitors to recharge in nature.  Walks through the valley of Leskovdol include visiting dense Pine forests, Hornbeam and Beech woodlands, before discovering the ancient Beech wood pastures on the mountain meadows that afford spectacular views.

Trees are a particular significant expression of nature’s energetic consciousness and the many different varieties share this energy in a multitude of unique ways.   Beech is a tree known for its magical energy and ability to reveal ancient knowledge, encouraging us to let go of fixed ideas, learning from the past (language, literature and books), working with destiny, finding pure desire and pleasure, it is considered to be one of natures wisdom keepers.   So it is fitting that the valley of Leskovdol is surrounded by wood pastures of ancient Beech pollards.

Valley of the Hazel:

Hazel is an interesting tree energy to work with while exploring the valley.  Hazel is the Tree of Wisdom and Knowledge, considered to be one of the ‘chieftain’ trees in a number of Celtic traditions.  Druid priests often chose to use staffs made of hazel, believing them to impart great wisdom.

Hazel is a tree that invites us to combine the conscious mind with that of the unconscious and to use these energies to manifest our dreams into reality.  This is the tree that acts as a catalyst to our journeys, all that we have hoped for may now become possible through this tree’s energy.

Hazel’s powerful association with divination means it is the wood used by legendary sorcerers and shaman, as well as those who want to dowse for hidden sources of water.   Hazel wands, staffs and/or forked twigs have been used for centuries as tools to find hidden treasure and discover the innocence or otherwise of a person accused of murder.

In the Celtic Ogham hazel represents the letter C : Coll, astrologically linked to the Sun and Mercury, in the Celtic birth calendar it is ruler of the 9th Lunar Month between 5thAugust and 1st September.

Hazel offers an incredible tree energy to work with on this project, which can share in its power to stimulate great wisdom and inspiration, wishes, luck, divination of hidden things, protection and fertility.

“A human body can think thoughts, play a piano,
kill germs, remove toxins, make a baby all at once.
Once it’s doing that your biological rhythms are actually
mirroring the symphony of the universe because you have
circadian rhythms, seasonal rhythms, tidal rhythms
you know they mirror everything that is happening
in the whole universe..”

Michio Kaku

Circadian Rhythms

What are circadian rhythms?

 Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a daily cycle. They respond primarily to light and darkness in an organism's environment. Sleeping at night and being awake during the day is an example of a light-related circadian rhythm. 

Circadian rhythms are found in most living things, including animals, plants, and many tiny microbes. The study of circadian rhythms is called chronobiology.

What are biological clocks?

Biological clocks are an organism’s innate timing device. They’re composed of specific molecules (proteins) that interact in cells throughout the body.
Biological clocks are found in nearly every tissue and organ. Researchers have identified similar genes in people, fruit flies, mice, fungi, and several other organisms that are responsible for making the clock’s components.

Are biological clocks the same thing as circadian rhythms?

No, but they are related. Biological clocks produce circadian rhythms and regulate their timing.

see https://www.nigms.nih.gov.

Download full pdf : https://www.nigms.nih.gov/education/Documents/CircadianRhythms.pdf

“The Universe can be thought of as a giant symphony
of sound, with each entity represented
by a unique underlying numeric property or unique sound.
All things are nothing more than an expression
of something numeric or harmonic”
Enoch Tan

HARMONIC ALCHEMY

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe,
think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.”
Nikola Tesla
 
The Vision

THE VISION

The Harmonic Alchemy Retreat (HAR) is a community-based project with a seasonal, rhythmical combination of full time and part time (seasonal) residence and volunteers, offering services to retreat guests. The HAR...

THE VISION

COMMUNITY

The HAR is a group of like-minded individuals and families working together, in a skill sharing self-sufficient cooperative. The community includes a small collective farm, growing fruit and vegetables...... 

COMMUNITY

Retreats

retreats

Short retreats can offer a taste of harmonic connection and contribute towards significant shifts in physical, mental and spiritual blocks, but for lasting life-transforming work a longer period is often needed.

RETREATS

Services

OPPORTUNITIES

The HAR community is being established to offer a diversity of workshops, classes and treatments that can be packaged together to form part of organized retreats of one-two weeks in length.

OPPORTUNITIES

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