Camp Avalon
A lovely place for healing from harmful cult connections...or is it?
When I was making plans for my Sedona, AZ stay, a friend recommended I check out a spiritually-oriented campground just outside the city limits, in a gorgeous red rock valley, called Camp Avalon.
Interestingly, I had met this friend after I exited a different spiritual community—an online membership site called Energetic Synthesis (E.S.), that I’d joined for support in 2020. To be more descriptive, I was kicked out of the online group “Eee Ess” in 2023…and so was my friend, years before me - that’s how we met. I’d reached out to him because he went public with the story of ES dysfunctions on YouTube, and I needed support from someone who understood from the inside what it was like to feel very close to a loving community for years, checking in almost daily, and then overnight, to be exiled and wrongly accused because I asked uncomfortable questions and raised concerns. I was given no chance to defend myself, and no process for conflict management.
This hurt.
While enjoying Camp Avalon, I created a one-hour public video of my own to share experiences from, and concerns about, Energetic Synthesis, posted here:
https://www.soaarglobal.com/soaar-blog/energetic-synthesis-a-case-study
It was healing and freeing to create and post my story of injustice. I felt like I was standing up for my injured inner child, like a healthy father would…an expression of my inner masculine assertive power. Ironically, this was something highly emphasized in the ES community - integrating gender polarity on the inside. I’d say I learned the principle in the community, but was left to integrate it far more fully after I left.
While researching for the presentation, I came across the following list of questions to help someone discern cult characteristics, from an article at verywellmind:
Absolute authoritarianism without accountability.
Zero tolerance for criticism or questions.
Lack of meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget.
Unreasonable fears about the outside world that often involve evil conspiracies and persecutions.
A belief that former followers are always wrong for leaving and there is never a legitimate reason for anyone else to leave.
Abuse of members.
Records, books, articles, or programs documenting the abuses of the leader or group.
Followers feeling they are never able to be “good enough.”
A belief that the leader is right at all times.
A belief that the leader is the exclusive means of knowing “truth” or giving validation.
Yep, at least to me (and several other former members), ES meets most of these cult criteria. And, I also received a significant support while involved…when still an “insider.” I find it messy, thinking about modern cults. Sadly, they are more common than I ever thought…
Sedona is a place where cults have come and gone over the years…but thankfully my experience at Camp Avalon was very good, even though the spiritual activities like group yoga and meditation advertised on its website never materialized at the camp itself.
Camp Avalon is gorgeous, and I soon fell in love with its beauty, Oak Creek access, and the centralized location for area excursions. I met and “oriented” several trees there, including the one in the above picture, following a beautiful procedure my friend Garth taught me.
Tree Orienting
Tree Orienting is a project to reactivate the deep connection between trees and human beings, to recover the ancient alliance that united these very different species. Trees, through their specific sensitivity and intelligences are able to weave the tightest network of connections that exists on the planet. They are the most powerful “living computers” on earth. For us humans, re-establishing a spiritual connection with these beings is a way to recover an important part of our collective soul. We have long forgotten that we are all part of the same spiritual ecosystem, and our survival depends on the presence of these extraordinary beings, and our evolution depends on it as well.*
How it Works Trees are oriented using a specially designed Selfic pendulum developed in Damanhur, a spiritual eco community in northern Italy. The process is easy; simply connect to a tree using your senses and circle the tree three times. The pendulum is programed to orient a tree to the existing global network.
How many trees? Once a tree is oriented, it’s higher energetic vibration is shared with neighboring trees through its underground network of roots and mycelia. When enough trees in an area are oriented, the entire surrounding ecosystem gets a boost. Over time, humanity and the trees will benefit from this higher frequency. On the west coast of Florida we have oriented over 600 trees! We orient trees in conjunction with the Global Tree Network, which has oriented millions of trees around the world.
💕—Thank you Global Tree Lovers, at
https://globaltreelovers.org/?page_id=1662
I spread out my sand and yoga mats for solo morning Yin yoga, before the sun got high enough that the temperature topped 100 degrees, which was common. Sparky would stand on my stomach for moral support, so I wasn't all alone.
I loved writing or having video coaching sessions from Goldie, except a few times when I had electrical problems and couldn't get my A/C to work. I suppose it didn’t help when I drove off one day with my van electrical cord still plugged in to the campsite power box…which I realized when I was pulled over by a helpful county policeman - ☺️. Thankfully the outlet was fine, but my cord adapter was never quite right after that…until I got to nearby Cottonwood for a new one from Walmart.
Yes I am getting lessons in nature about what “power” means…
Camp Avalon was an ideal starting point for area tours, like this one that I took with Heather and Sparky to Tuzigoot, a National Monument nearby.
Though I didn’t get photos or video of the frequent evening thunder and lightning storms, this was the view from my bed at night where I watched them. This has been one of my favorite experiences of the whole trip to date, sleeping with the doors and windows open, feeling the vibrations of nature so closely as I drift off to sleep. At Camp Avalon my bedtime was around 9pm, and I usually woke before the sun.
The experience of living in rhythm with nature is easier when camping, unplugged, and feels healthier for my body, more restful for my mind, and deeply peaceful for my spirit. If you want to read a WONDERFUL article about this kind of lifestyle, check out my friend Alissa’s The Homemade Life on substack. 🌸
But after almost a month in the desert in July and August will little shade and triple-digit days, I was ready to cool off, and Sparky was too! Time for the next resting and writing phase of the trip, moving back in to my favorite Sedona hotel/spa: Los Abrigados and her lovely salt pools!
❤️
P.S. Here is some shadowy background about Camp Avalon that Heather Blessington, my friend and investigator, dug up. Does this explain why the camp is so empty, and no longer a thriving spiritual community…?
The above is a photo from Camp Avalon’s ecumenical entrance, stating the camp founder as Gabriel of Urantia. Apparently, the larger camp community left the Sedona vicinity to build a new headquarters near Tucson, AZ in 2007.
Yet in 2022, author Be Scofield published a magazine exposé that calls the new version of Camp Avalon a “UFO Doomsday Cult”! Below are some of her words, compared to the words below it describing the new “pioneering prototyping society.”
Read them both, describing the same place. What do you believe?
You can read the full article here: https://www.gurumag.com/gabriel-of-urantia-cult-tubac-arizona/, and compare it to the Camp’s version:
The Avalon Ecovillage is listed online here, on a very nice website: Foundation for Intentional Community. Reading it, one would have no idea of the allegations of
heavy use of surveillance, indoctrination and control
stockpiling guns
requirement to turn over homes, cars, money, businesses, and possessions to the leader
child sex abuse and cover up
overworking members to death and lack of life-saving medical care
polygamy for the leader (but not followers)
A few other interesting points:
Be Scofield’s one and only book is titled: Hunting Lucifer, One Reporter’s Search for Cults and Demons, and her biography states:
“As Scofield becomes a prominent cult reporter, she travels as a nomad; often homeless or living in a campervan. Her healing journey takes her to powerful natural places and sacred sites throughout Hawaii and the West. As she hunts demons, she realizes she too is being hunted but is told angels are guiding her. Scofield discovers a profound truth along the way: the dark hides in the light.”
💫 My shero!
Gabriel’s son Amadon is the overseer of the Camp Avalon I stayed at:
https://amadondellerba.com/ - He is described on his website as “A Multi-Dimensional Man of Action.”
I never met Amadon while I was there, but he did hold a men’s retreat at the camp one weekend, and Heather and I saw several of the men pass by, all dressed in black. They were all extremely fit, as if active military or some kind of athletes. 🤔
U r 2 much, Anastasia! And to have such a faithful canine....
Yes on the underestimation of cult numbers. Perhaps all the features you named are reducible to the instinct of bowing to authority.