Visiting & Interning at Light Morning
(Revised: March 2007)

The community also offers a six-week internship program. During the first month, interns immerse themselves in Light Morning’s "path with heart"—its founding vision, core values, implementational values, and evolving lifestyle. During the final two weeks, the focus shifts to the interns’ path with heart. Utilizing Light Morning as a supportive environment, they strive to clarify their deepest values, and to discern, in the tapestry of their lives, the presence of a subtle, guiding Force.

People visit and intern at Light Morning for various reasons. Some want to develop sustainability life skills. Realizing that many of our culture’s institutions are inherently unsustainable, they are intuitively moved to try something new. Three decades of experience has convinced us that a sustainable lifestyle is only possible within the context of a sustainable community. And that a community becomes sustainable only to the degree that it is energized by a sustainable vision.

Each of these three facets of sustainability has skill sets that can be cultivated in a place like Light Morning—homesteading skills such as permaculture, four-season organic gardening, self-built shelters, and off-the-grid solar electric systems; family-building skills like creative problem-solving, conscious projection, and peer coaching; and transformational skills such as meditation, dream work, and prayer. We’re open to sharing what we’re learning in each of these arenas.

People are also motivated to visit Light Morning because they’re looking for fellowship and support. Once we’ve developed new skills, how do we anchor them in our daily life? Energy and awareness ebb and flow. Knowing that our budding practices meet stiff resistance on the downside of these cycles, how do we keep from yielding to the gravitational pull of the status quo? How do we learn to make our new practices sustainable?

Support and encouragement are essential. Whether we’re aiming to establish a meditation practice, reliable dream recall, a less consumptive lifestyle, or a promising approach to conflict resolution, we all need help. When our motivation starts to waver, we often catch ourselves wondering, "Why bother? What’s the point?"

In an isolated environment these doubts can be debilitating. In a shared vortex of support, however, we’re more likely to recover from these unavoidable setbacks. "Now I remember," we say. "This is important. I do want to keep making space for this practice in my daily life."

Those of us who live here are often humbled when we leave our protective cocoon and attempt to sustain our beliefs and practices in surroundings that are hostile or indifferent. These sobering experiences bolster an already strong appreciation for fellowship and deepen our desire to offer it to others.

You may also be drawn to visit or intern at Light Morning because you’re navigating a transition in your life. Perhaps you’re poised on the threshold of adulthood. Or wrestling with a mid-life crisis. Or your kids are grown and retirement beckons. "Who am I?" you wonder. "What’s next?!"

According to a woman who appeared in one of our dreams, the navigational steps for any transition are essentially the same. The path, she said, consists of asking yourself three questions: "What do I want? What am I afraid of? What’s my next step?"

Confusion about one’s next step, she went on to say, indicates an incomplete exploration of the first two questions. Once we discover what we really want, and are willing to face what we’re really afraid of, then we not only see the next step, we take it.

Light Morning is a conducive place to ponder the dream teacher’s three questions. Clues may emerge while contemplating a numinous dream, or sitting on a meditation cushion, or next to a large tree or a murmuring stream. Maybe they come while thinning carrots. Or grow out of a long conversation. But once intent has truly been raised and clarified, insights arrive.

If you’re wanting to visit or intern at Light Morning, you’ll first want to learn more about it in order to see how well its vision and values match your interests and needs. You can do so by browsing some of the pages on this web site. A Brief Intro and A Closer Look provide an overview, while three Journal articles explore Light Morning’s core values in greater depth: A New Kind of Family, Transformational Journey, and Living Close to the Earth.

How Long Plan for an initial visit of at least several days, hopefully a week or two. After your first visit, you can arrange for subsequent visits and/or apply for an internship.

Time of Year Our climate suggests April through October. In April, the garden’s gearing up, the roads are passable, and it’s easier for us to help you keep warm and comfortable. By late fall the community’s moving into the quieter, more introspective season of the year—a good time for personal and communal renewal. Then, with the return of spring, we’re eager for company again.

Accommodations We have several guest rooms in Rivendell, our new community shelter. There are also some lovely, wooded tent sites if you’d like to bring camping gear. The campground utilizes "outdoor plumbing," while Rivendell has a Phoenix composting toilet, an energy efficient washing machine, and a gravity-fed shower (which, with foresight and coordination, can be provided with hot water).

Food Light Morning’s a "common table" community, which means we all eat together. The meals are simple and vegetarian. Our produce is home grown, garden fresh, and organic. Almost all the grains, beans, and seeds we purchase in bulk are organic as well.

Drugs and Pets Please avoid bringing illegal drugs when you visit. We also ask that you leave your pets at home. We consider these 150 acres to be a wildlife sanctuary and have no dogs or cats ourselves. Nor do we allow hunting. The other creatures with whom we share this land are treated with courtesy and respect, even those who are tempted by our garden or who, like our occasional poisonous snakes, demand special awareness. The land’s a sanctuary for us all.

Contributions Visitors and interns are asked to contribute an average of three hours a day (except Sundays) to the labor needs of the community, such as gardening, building, housekeeping, cooking, or firewood. We attempt to balance personal work preferences with what most needs doing. The rest of the day is left open for reading, writing, walking in the woods, working with dreams, meditating, juggling—whatever you intuitively sense is the best way to take advantage of the opportunity of being here. There’s no charge for staying at Light Morning. All donations, however, help keep our visitor and intern programs viable and thriving, and are deeply appreciated.

Setting Up the Visit If you resonate with what you’re learning about Light Morning and want to visit, please write to us. (You can use the Contact page on this site.) Tell us a little about who you are, what some of your dreams, interests, and experiences are, and what moves you to want to visit. Be sure to include several time windows that might work for you. We’ll try to align these with the community’s occasionally complex calendar and then fine-tune the dates with you.

Anticipation We’re happy you’re considering a visit to Light Morning. Welcoming visitors and interns is an important, enjoyable aspect of our life here. The reflections we offer each other, the dreams, stories, work projects, and meals that are shared, all serve to deepen existing friendships, and to develop new ones. We look forward to seeing you!

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To learn more about Light Morning’s year-round residents, go to:
Apprentices & Caretakers

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Copyright © Light Morning 2007