Chapter Two: Wind, Sigils, and Lightworkers With Shovels

The Engine

It was the first morning at the Reservoir of Light when Larry’s dump truck broke down directly in front of the sand castle.

Two days before my birthday gathering, lightworkers were waking up, grabbing shovels, drinking coffee, and preparing to clear the land. Larry had bought the truck the previous October specifically to haul garbage away.

Instead, the truck died in a big puff of steam and unmuffled exhaust roaring into silence. Jay, our neighbor, said “That thing’s never moving again unless I tow it away”.

I would love to explain exactly what happened to the engine, but all I heard was: “oil too full,” “rebuild in a can,” and something about water in the blablabla.

On the podcast Larry can explain what any of that actually means, or whether I even heard it correctly.

What I did understand was this: we suddenly had piles of garbage, dozens of willing helpers, and nowhere to put anything.

Then our neighbor arrived with his work dump truck.

The lightworkers filled it to the rim.

He drove away, and we thought the problem had been solved.

He ended up dumping a full load of trash onto his own land, because the owner of the dumptruck, his boss, needed it before the dump would open. DANG!!

The pattern we had noticed on the road was continuing.

Fred replaced all four trailer tires for his trip back, “just in case” but still lost a tire. Ash got a flat tire and replaced all four of hers. By the time the gathering ended, we learned that more tire problems happened as people travelled home.

Coincidence? Maybe.

But it felt increasingly clear that this gathering was not designed for passive passengers.

The land demanded participation.

Arrival at the Land

We arrived a few days before the guests, well into the evening. Making it there without any more mechanical trouble already felt like a victory.

The land itself felt itchy-scratchy.

There were abandoned vehicles still needing removal, piles of debris, unfinished cleanup, and the unresolved legal process of transferring the land fully into Larry’s and my name.

Our neighbor had already worked long and hard helping us clear garbage and remove vehicles, and the difference was enormous. But cleaner is not the same as ready.

It became obvious very quickly that last year’s initiation into this land was continuing into this year.

Some things do not resolve themselves in a single pass.

Cleanup Begins

Larry mentioned that on the first day he cooked at the sand castle kitchen, there were only one or two people around to share food with him.

The next day there was a line.

People organized themselves naturally into groups. Cleaning, organizing, bagging, repairing systems, preparing spaces, hauling debris. Ashley created shared to-do lists, and people quietly took ownership of them without needing direction.

I have to tell you, Lightworkers with Shovels are something to experience.

The work itself became strangely meaningful. Physical labor, symbolic realizations, coincidences, conversations, discoveries. The land seemed to respond to participation.

Off Grid Reality

The Reservoir of Light is completely off-grid. No electricity, water, or sewage systems. Just desert land, wind, dust, generators, batteries, and people trying to make things work together.

And the conditions were intense.

High winds. Freezing nights. Scorching daytime heat. Dust everywhere. Batteries dying. Coffee emergencies. Water runs. Exhaustion.

No one left.

Instead, people gathered closer. We had daily Lightning Chats, rock-hounding expeditions, bonfires, night watches, and moments of connection difficult to explain unless you were there.

Ashley organized a scavenger hunt for the birthday, Kara helped execute it, and the guests are still talking about it. Martha organized karaoke the night of the celebration and many of us laughed and sang so much we lost our voices.

It was hard. It was joyful.

And the longer we stayed on the land, the stranger things became.

At first the strange things were easy to dismiss.

A misplaced object.Something appearing where it should not be.Sounds that did not quite make sense.

A feeling that reality itself was becoming slightly less predictable around the edges.

But as the days continued, the glitches became harder to ignore.

Next week I will share more about all the odd and curious things that started happening all over the land.

For those inspired to support Inelia and Larry with the stewardship of the Reservoir of Light here is the link:https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/laurencebuzzell

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