Harbin Hot Springs Devastation Due To Valley Fire

Credit for these photos off facebook go to Harbin Hot Springs 

and Luiza Leite, luizaleite.com

Always a pretty bouquet in honor of those healing springs.

Favorite morning meditation & contemplation spot in the warm pool.

Long time resident of Harbin Dee (1927 - 2011) during her morning routine work out in the warm pool in 2006.

Main area of Harbin with view on the communal kitchen and showers with stairs ascending to the warm pool. 

Cats and skunks would hang near the kitchen, better be careful not to trip over them.

Harbin Hot Springs Swimming Pool

View from the trail up above over the sun deck, swimming pool and hidden the heart shaped pool where kids were welcome.

German speaking Omi, a frequent guest at Harbin, loves to smile, sing & swim.

Serenity, at the core of those hot and healing springs.

Harbin Gate Keeper to Altered States.

Deers with ferocious appetites cohabited in peace at Harbin.

Abundant trails became truly adventurous when walked at night in moon light.

Delicious blueberry pancakes for breakfast with good conversations & lots of laughter.

Harbin Restaurant with Stairs leading up to the Library.

Vegetarian meals savored among good people with open hearts and open minds.

Plenty of opportunities to come together to celebrate with ceremonies of peaceful intentions for the good of all in the warm pool.
I am certain I am not the only one feeling a need for just such, right now.

Harbin Hot Springs as it used to be, before a prior fire.

Harbin Hot Springs Now

Posterity Production posted all the photos that follow to facebook on Sunday September 13th 2015, 
after a devastating wild fire swept down the valley, through Harbin in to Middletown Saturday September 12th 2015.

The Heart, the essence of Harbin Hot Springs is still intact!
Harbin will be rebuilt. A phoenix will rise from the ashes.

Meanwhile it is up to us 'Harbingers' to nourish our inner vision of Harbin, a place of healing, of serenity, of beauty and of magic. 

We will hold it dear, and carry our vision out in to the world, bit by bit.

Harbin Lost to Valley Fire
Posted by Posterity Productions on Monday, September 14, 2015

9.18.15 PG&E: One of their power lines on contact with a tree may have ignited this fire. 

9.26.15 Update: ‪#‎ValleyFire‬ in southern Lake County is now 76,067 acres and 95%.

Today is the day of return for those that have been displaced due to the Valley Fire. It must have been a very long 2 weeks for Harbin residents who lost everything, their homes, their jobs, their community, everything. They are now all eligible for FEMA support and the collection of unemployment, thanks to the California's Governor having declared a state of emergency and thanks to President Obama's declaration of a major disaster (9.22.) with release of federal funding. Harbin's intent to rebuild is now official, but it will take time. Monday the cleaning up efforts will start. Check Harbin's website for further updates and for contributing to their Relief Fund if you are so inclined.

Update 10.16.2015 via facebook: Your donations toward Harbin residents and staff have totaled over $200,000! Please know that the result of these kind offerings serve to carry our community through a difficult and disorienting time. Should you wish to further support us in this manner please visit the bottom of the linked page.www.harbin.org

Update almost 11 months later: Faulty wiring to an outdoor hot tub caused the fire!

The Eye of the Storm

Glued to the TV, on despite a decision to turn off service totally and sell the equipment, I watch the horrors in Japan unfold along with the rest of the world.  This triple catastrophe is so beyond words and comprehension that really I can not write without sounding trite and redundant. Of course my heart goes out to those directly affected in their loss, shock and suffering.

One of my teachers from my teens, Paulo Knill, intent on helping us to ground,  would instill our confidence in Mother Earth by claiming She would always be there for us, support us, hold us. How wrong he was. I suspect as a civilization now a days we have greatly underestimated the power of nature. How else to explain the building of nuclear power plants along fault lines, be they in Japan, California or elsewhere? It does not make sense, never has, yet still our President insists that nuclear power will be part of the United States future. Sure, President Obama must be beholden to the nuclear industry, we know he received a lot of campaign monies from it. At least the Swiss and Germans put an immediate moratorium on further expansion, even plans already approved for the nuclear industry. If there is one good to come out of this let it be a radical rethink of energy demand and supply. Despite voices to the contrary, we do have the means now to go ahead with alternative, renewable energy. Nobody says that we have to continue to support a life style that wastes enormous amounts of energy. Locally we were able to shift in to a radically lower level of water consumption within only a few years. We can become more mindful in regard to electric necessities as well.

The political right calls for deregulation, but look at the horror of those 6 nuclear power plants in the control of one private company that does not communicate openly and honesty with the public. Can it get much worse? This is what my and maybe my generation's nightmares are made of. A destructive power on the prowl that we can not detect with our normal senses - horror of horrors.

Astrologer Erin Sullivan likens the harvesting of nuclear power to the stealing of fire by Prometheus, something terribly offensive to the gods. Do we consider a 9.0 earthquake normal, or an other effect of global warming or as some would have it punishment of the gods or Gaia or  others would  want to see it as the coming of Christ in the last days of earth? The flood and destruction does appear biblical for those that grew up in the Christian tradition. Who knew that tidal waves  would come in such a low, relentless force rather then those humongous super waves we imagined? Global warming has my vote. It gives us an opportunity to make amends and correct our errors and live more in harmony with nature as we strive towards a more sustainable life style individually and as a people.

Finally please, I heard that if you text in your support for Japan, the banks will take longer to deliver  your donations, so it seems best to go with the traditional organizations like the Red Cross, but please do not forget all those pets that no doubt are in dire need of our help as well.