THE ARRIVAL OF MY DAUGHTER Phoebe Arianna into my life two and a half years ago was the catalyst in the creation of the Earthlight Foundation. It is thanks to her that I found myself looking closely at the existing educational systems available in England at present. From state-run to independent schools, from Steiner to Montessori schools, even looking at the home-educating route, I found all of them lacking in one area or another. None of them provided a completely holistic approach to education. None of them were perfect. I wanted perfect. I decided to set about writing down the elements required to create such

• A ‘perfect’ school.
  
  
• Spiritual well-being. Awareness of Self and others.
  
  
• Societal awareness. Human values, conflict resolution.
  
  
• Physical well-being. Nutrition, exercise, yoga, martial arts discipline.
  
  
• Ecological awareness. Sustainable living, global responsibility.
  
  
• Emotional well being. Healing modalities, energy management. Self esteem.
  
  
• E.S.P development – Mind Power control. Responsibility and wisdom.
  
  
• All medium Artistic development. Freedom of expression.
  
  
• Inventiveness. Critical thinking, technology and engineering.
  
  
• Research. Scientific exploration, metaphysics.
  

And then it was not simply the subjects covered, it was ‘how’ they were taught. Two things I remembered most from my own childhood school days were enthusiastic teachers passionate about their subjects and projects or experiments – in other words the direct learning approach rather than a hierarchical system, taught often by a dulled teacher reciting facts and figures from a board. So, the experiential teaching method was at the top of the list in order to stimulate the inherent desire in children to learn new things.After this came the thought that each child is so different in its natural inclinations and talents. If my child showed strong artistic or musical signs, why should she be forced to study biology or languages? And vice versa, if my child’s passion was for mathematics or geology why should she be limited in the subject matter simply because it was on the curriculum? Is this not the root of learning apathy, resistance and disinterest as the child grows older? The old saying of ‘going against the grain’ fits very aptly here, and at what a dreadful cost. Many years could elapse before the spark of acquiring new knowledge may be ignited once again, indeed, if ever.

So there I was, with the skeleton of a perfect school; it then comes to my attention that a new wave of awkward children has been arriving en-masse into the World. These children are challenging and rebelling left right and centre. They ‘see’ the ignorance, apathy and greed of their elders; they ‘see’ how their parents are fouling their own nest and fighting cruelly amongst themselves. They try to get the adults attention. Their frustration is overwhelming when they realise they are not heard, that their visions of a higher path for mankind are ignored or worse, mocked. Then they scream and shout; their resistance is loud. Or they retreat into silent despair. Their parents, teachers, doctors, and psychiatrists do not understand this new breed of child who refuses to sit quietly and fit within the systems. They stick labels on them – they give them drugs to quiet their anger or smother their pain. Anything but ‘listen’ to them or help them cope with their physical sensitivities. Anything but ‘see’ and respect them as wise souls in young bodies.

I do some research and find that ‘all’ children display such characteristics to some degree, the seed of consciousness is within all, yet undoubtedly some have indeed returned determined not to forget, to bring their gifts and talents, their awareness of Self and their missions and dreams for this lifetime. As adults all we need to do is listen and provide them with the resources they need to flourish and achieve their highest potential in a loving, non-institutional environment. An environment where the knowledge offered can be applied to become wisdom, where skills are learnt relative to world needs now, problem solving, solution finding and system challenging. An environment where children can demonstrate self-sufficiency and responsibility in their daily lives.

When teenagers come into their strong energy power, they need to be given tools and guidance, the knowledge and understanding to direct that power in ways that are constructive and in harmony with their life plan. A perfect balance of head in the clouds or heavens, feet firmly embedded in the earth needs to be achieved, whether a child is energetically or psychically sensitive or not. To this end I envisioned a wide variety of healing modalities made available on the school site and interwoven into the daily structure of school life. Successful modalities include a light, sound and dolphin energy dome, the effects of which for balancing and harmonising the body is exceptional.

At this stage I thought ‘I can ‘create’ this school, I know I can – it feels almost like my mission’. My next thought was that I’d need a little help along the way. So I reached out with a small advert and put my self on alert. I was amazed and delighted with the response; many connections were made with people looking for solutions to their children’s education. Two connections however were very strong, each sharing an identical vision, but more importantly they were committed to their visions. They believed as I do that we all ‘create’ our own realities and that on some level this school and many other sister ones already exist, and all we had to do was bring it down into this dimension here and now. It is the opposite of creating something from the ‘ground’ up, starting small and evolving. Rather we have a large, all-encompassing vision that is whole and complete in its detail, which we are manifesting by anchoring with clarity all the ingredients required.

We began with the germinating of our seeds of creation if you like. These were the aims and objectives; the site and faculty requirements, the curriculum and class structure; the living ecological projects. Then it is springtime and we start to sow our seeds, networking with magazines, Internet sites, mind/body/health shows, newspapers and T.V, connections with other organisations and government bodies, registering as a charity.

From this seed-sowing, we know we will reap the land and site, the facilitators, equipment, patrons, pupils and funding to enable the school to be free from fees. We have an official charity launch event on the 21st June at the Euron University in London. It will be a high profile event with well-known personalities, corporate business sponsors and media coverage. Further details will appear on our website.

Rather like the ‘Blues Brothers’, we feel we are on a ‘Mission from God’ and therefore our needs will be met accordingly if we but trust that it is so. All of us involved in this project have accepted our roles one hundred percent. As above – so below, this is our creation for the future of mankind.

© 2002 Viktoria Rhodes

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Viktoria Rhodes is a 36 year old mother whose occupations have included nursing, secretary, manageress of holiday apartments, chef on board luxury motor yacht, author and copious reader. Her nomadic lifestyle has led her to experience a wide range of countries and a plethora of characterful folk along the way. Shore-based now she and her husband are dedicating themselves to establishing the Earthlight Foundation.

For further details and a list of required facilitators please visit: www.earthlight.estates.co.uk