Living in the Round

Circling the Square

“Anyone who has explored the world of folk shelter has had to face this question: why are so many indigenous homes so lovely and modern ones so cold, harsh, and rigid?”

Bill Coperthwaite (A Handmade Life)

My friend, Harry, loaned me a book written by a friend of his, titled, Yurts: Living in the Round (Becky Kemery). In the pages of this lovely book I found a picture of a house that I dreamed about twenty years ago. In the dream, the house was eight sided, green on the outside with windows that opened out. Outside, a stone patio in a spiral pattern gave way to a terraced garden. I was outside watering my garden. I could smell the fragrance of the herbs as the water splashed on them. When I woke, I told myself that I would live in that house someday.

I once visited a compound in the Arizona desert. In the middle of it stood a meditation yurt. It was built entirely of cedar inside and had a conical roof with a skylight at the top. I felt a sense of the sacred as soon as I walked in. Even though it looked small from the outside, it easily seated thirty people in a circle within. It was Black Elk who said that 'the power of the world always works in circles'. The energy of the human chakras spins in circles, the earth spins on its axis and is itself round. Living in a round container appeals to something deep inside me; something older than I am.

Lately, I've been thinking about future days when I will not want to negotiate stairs to do the laundry or to carry out the garbage. Why not a round house? Why not a round house with a rock garden? Never give up on your dreams. They will always lead you in the way you need to go.

In the round,

Jane