It All Started With A Door
LOVE Temple Rising was a beautiful yet ambitious undertaking. My dream of having sacred space in my back yard started in 2010 as a vision of an adobe dome, which morphed into musings of a rock hut. But then, in September of 2015, I found a special door, that had just arrived in California from India (courtesy of 18th century wood carvers) and when I saw it and I had to have it. It was clear to me that it was my Temple door, a sacred portal that I had previously only dreamt of entering. The Love Temple was bringing itself into physical reality! This amazing door took up residence in my living room, where it lived as a big grounding presence and constant inspiration for one and a half years as I planned and visioned the Temple, until my builder David and blacksmith Barry carried it outside to the actual Temple to be framed in.
It seems funny now that I went directly from acquiring a Temple door to looking for a steeple. I found Barry Kulmann, a blacksmith artist who lives in Mendocino, CA. He now jokes that when he arrived to discuss the steeple, he remembers looking around for a Temple. When I contacted him, I had not even found my Temple builder yet, but I was looking! This man is also responsible for the Temple door hardware, check out the forged steel lock and keys that he hammered and the steel handrails that keep us safe on the property.
Serendipity brought me my builder, David Esparza, who would simply fall from Heaven into the position when he took over another project on my property that went awry with another builder. As I watched David’s precision, knowledge, and the level of care in his work, it was clear he would be the Temple builder.
Aside from the hillside excavation and hauling of rock down the hill, Love Temple rising was an exciting and pleasurable journey to a Masterpiece. The cedar timber was sourced from Oroville, California area by a man named Logan. He personally hand-picked the trees and his crew created the hand-hewn cedar beams. I have no explanation for this man’s angelic part. The timber was delivered December 3, 2016. It took six very strong amigos to carry these monstrous 10 x 10 beams up my 70 winding stairs - some of the beams were 20 feet long! I will never forget the strong smell of cedar that permeated my property for months when this gorgeous wood arrived.
So the building began. Amazingly my builder was remarkably good at listening to the articulation of my vision and bringing it into fruition. He was just exceptional, usually exceeding my expectations. He enjoyed the challenge of the project and approached it with love, knowing that the Temple’s beauty and strength was always the priority. It was 8 months of creative building and expression, hunting for the highest quality and perfect Temple ingredients. The copper roof and steeple feel like a wedding cake topper. The copper roof did not come easy, I am very grateful for Wilfredo Zelaya for his roofing talents, working with metal and his bravery for a most breathtaking roof.
Builder: David Esparza
Blacksmith: Barry Kulmann
Roofing: Wilfredo Zelaya (510 672 8112)
“LOVE Temple is a shrine representing Sacred Union with Self, The Universe and a Beloved. For some life is about Love, Art, Truth, Honor, Freedom and Authentic Creative Expression.”