Friday, March 25, 2016

History of the O.P.A.L. North East Region Interface... 2013-2016

  First Meet-up of the O.P.A.L. North East Region Interface

O.P.A.L. stands for One People Absent Limits, and this name is derived from a Gathering held on a property in New South Wales, Australia in early 2013 whereas O.P.A.L. stood for One People Abundant Living. The wording was changed with Launch of the original O.P.A.L. Tour by Lisa M. Harrison, Brian Kelly, and Bob Wright on October 25th from Tehaphapi, California that rolled across the southern United States to Lake Norman, North Carolina and ended on December 15th of the same year. Tour was to resume in the Spring of 2014 and roll up the eastern seaboard.

I placed a "pin" on the O.P.A.L. Tour map online and was contacted by Tess von Maluski of Tiverton, RI and the O.P.A.L. North East Region Interface held its 1st Meet-up at Bentley Pub in Auburn, Massachusetts. Then Tess put us in contact with Robin Coulon, steward of Strawberry Hill Farm in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire and we held our next Meet-up there over the Memorial Day Weekend to plan for O.P.A.L Gathering 2014, a three day festival August 15th-17th (same days and dates as Woodstock '69) at Strawberry Hill Farm.

Meanwhile, the O.P.A.L. Tour was diverted to start a One People Community in Aouchtam, Morocco so U.S. east coast continuation was never scheduled, which scrubbed the Interface idea in Wolfeboro, NH. We took a promotional trip to the 11th Annual Porcupine Freedom Festival in Lancaster, NH in late June to drum up interest for the upcoming Wolfeboro event, but the PR apparently fell on deaf ears as we only had 15 people total come to Strawberry Hill in August where the few of us who came enjoyed each others company, looked through books and gemstones on our display tables, ate wonderful meals in the farmhouse, and spent our evenings sitting around the campfire in Robin's tipi behind the farmhouse over the three day period.

Then, in the Fall of 2014, we held a weekend Gathering that brought an equal number of people to participate with us. In 2015 we held two Summer Gatherings at Strawberry Hill, and three Fall Weekend Meet-ups. By then, I was participating in an Immersion Program at Sirius Community in Shutesbury, MA and could only attend the last Meet-up once the program had ended. In late November, 2015 I experienced a "download" which revealed how the spirit of original O.P.A.L. Tour might be revived through the creation of an IN-Community Overland Tour that would begin on the Spring Equinox in 2016.

On March 20th of this year, the One People of Earth IN-Community/Unity Link 'n Sync Tour had its Ceremonial Launch, following an Equinox celebration in the Stone Circle Sanctuary at Sirius Community. Announcement of Tour Launch took place during the Hearthstone Village Potluck Supper in the Community Center of Sirius. The 1st Stop on Tour is Juniper Hill Homestead, located on Schoolhouse Road, which is scheduled for Sunday, April 3rd, 2016. Tour will eventually be Interfacing with 2016 O.P.A.L Summer Gathering at Strawberry Hill Farm in August of this year...

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