Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl00953)

Last night I posted the following message on theos-news, but it neither appeared
nor did it bounce, so I'm re-posting it on theos-l.  JHE
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     The Centennial celebration of William Quan Judge and the
dedication of the new site for Alexandria West Academy on April
12-14th at Coulterville California has now become a part of
Theosophical history.
     The conference took place at the Jeffery Hotel in
Coulterville.  Coulterville is a gold mining town from the days
of the gold rush.  The town's population during the 1850's was
over 5,000, but today it only has 115 permanent residents. Gold
however, is still mined from "them thar hills."
     The Jeffery Hotel was first built in 1851 as a dance hall,
but was soon converted.  Its 19th century decor has been
carefully maintained, along with that of the entire town.  The
hotel is also still owned and maintained by the same family who
founded it.  The town served as a perfect backdrop to give a
feeling for the times that Judge had lived.
     Registration for the Judge conference began at 3 p.m. in the
meeting hall at the Jeffery Hotel.  A vegetarian dinner was
served in the Hotel dining room at 5:00.
     The Conference began at 7:00 P.M. with welcomes and
introductions followed by an ice breaker led by Vivian Caccione.
The main presentation for Friday was a series of dramatic
readings of memoirs from people who had known Judge, and from
Judge's own letters.  The Dramate Personae were:

Annie Besant: April Hejka-Ekins
H.P. Blavatsky: Lisa Lepperd
J.H. Connelly, and E.T. Hargrove: Jerry Hejka-Ekins
C.A. Griscom: Lee Renner
William Q. Judge: Dale Ramey
Julia Keightley: Marie Ramey
Master M.: Dennis Gottschalk
Colonel Olcott: Brett Forray

The meeting broke up sometime after 9 pm.  Some of the more
adventuresome guests continued their activities in the
Coulterville Saloon where they got acquainted with the local
cowboys and miners.
     Saturday's activities began at 7:30 am with a continental
breakfast in the Hotel dining room.  The conference re-convened
at 8:30 am in the meeting hall, where we began with greetings
from the Pasadena and Adyar Theosophical Societies and reports on
other Judge conferences.  Following the greetings and reports,
was a series of presentations beginning with Gabriel Blechman
(ULT) who spoke on the special relationship between HPB and WQJ.
Emmett Small (Point Loma) followed with a presentation entitled:
"Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva."  His presentation concerned the
relationship of Blavatsky, Judge and G. de Purucker.
     Dara Eklund (Adyar/Point Loma) spoke on "WQJ: The Greatest
of all Exiles,"  and Brett Forray (Adyar/Pasadena) spoke on the
"Future of WQJ."  Both presentations concerned various aspects of
the "Judge Case."  These two presentations were followed by
discussion groups, organized by April Hejka-Ekins
(Adyar/ULT/Pasadena).
     Lunch was served at noon, and the afternoon sessions
concerned Theosophy in application.  Lee Renner (Independent)
conducted an interactive presentation on a comparison of the
"principles" between Judge and Blavatsky.  Alex Pappas (Adyar)
gave a presentation of "Psychological and Spiritual growth,"
illustrating teaching by Judge on this subject.  Richard Hiltner
(Independent) gave a very unusual talk on Judge's teachings
concerning healing.
     A vegetarian dinner was served at 6:00 pm., and we re-
convened afterwards for stories from the "Occult Tales" written
by Judge.   These were presented by Tammey Gianini (Independent)
and Lisa Leppert (Independent).  Spontaneous contributions were
invited, and Sobha Cherukuri (Independent) shared some thoughts
on Judge's ~Bhagavad Gita.~ and read some passages in Sanskrit.
The conference broke up for the night sometime after 9:30 pm.
     Sunday began at 7:30 am with a breakfast of strawberry
crepes.  Following breakfast, April gave an interactive
discussion on Judge's teachings concerning theosophical ethics,
followed by group dialogues on WQJ's contributions.
     At 10 am, we all caravaned to the 160 acre future site of
Alexander West Academy for the dedication.  The caravan stretched
along the highway 134, moving away from the town for about a
mile, then turned into the upper gate of the site.  We then all
drove another mile in from the highway over the Academy's scenic
private road and arrived at the second gate.  Beyond this gate,
the road branches into three to access different ares of the
property.  We then all took a short walk along one of the roads,
and again through a third gate, to the future site of the library
building.  The site was especially chosen because of its
breathtaking view overlooking lake McClure and California's great
central valley.  The future building site is surrounded on three
sides by hills covered with oak and pine trees, giving it a sense
of being very remote from all civilization.
     Sobha Cherukuri opened the dedication by reciting the
Gayatri and some other prayers in Sanskrit.  Lee Renner then
spoke on the history of the ranch site, which was first deeded
under a Spanish grant in 1853.  Jerry Hejka-Ekins then answered
questions concerning the land and spoke about the goals and
activities of Alexandria West.  April gave thanks to the many
"invisible helpers" who have made possible what has so far been
accomplished.  Jerry then unveiled the dedication monument.  We
then all had a picnic lunch on the site.
     After lunch, those wishing to explore the lands broke up
into two groups.  Lee led one group on a hike along one of the
three springs on the property.  Jerry, Bob Guiterrez, and April
drove the second group up the very steep road (4 wheel drive
only) to the top of Mt. Fuqua, the highest point (2700 feet) on
the property.  We then led hikes along the ridge, where we all
took in spectacular views of the untouched tree covered rolling
hills.  Also the views of the lakes Mc. Clure, Don Pedro and
Turlock on one side of the ridge, and of the Yosemite range of
mountains on the other.  Some also lingered to watch the hang
gliders who use the summit of Fuqua as a jumping off place.

JHE
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   |Jerry Hejka-Ekins,                      |
      |Member TI, TSA, TSP, ULT                |
         |Please reply to: jhe@toto.csustan.edu   |
            |and CC to jhejkaekins@igc.apc.org       |
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