Manifesting a Miracle
The Sweet Water Sustainability Institute
How does one go about having a property valued at over $8M gifted to a cause? It starts with a desire, a belief in something for the highest good. At least that is how it started for SWSI. SWSI is the acronym for Sweet Water Sustainability Institute which is located on a 144 acre historic former boarding school campus located near the base of the southern Appalachian Mountains.
Scottie Cloninger is a visionary. Scottie is also an AVEDA salon stylist who lives with his partner, Eric in the small east Tennessee town of Sweetwater. Living just steps away from this beautiful campus with its picturesque rolling hills, castle like buildings and Japanese cherry blossom trees. Yet there was something amiss in Scottie’s mind. The campus had sat empty since March of 2007 when the Japanese high school, Tennessee Meiji Gakuin had closed due to lack of enrollment. What he saw was a gorgeous, historic property sitting empty, alone and crumbling but the best part was, that wasn’t all he could see. He saw a resurgence of energy there, a place for all ages and walks of life. A place for art, agriculture, wellness and sustainable living practices.
Although he had shared this vision with a few of his clients, friends and neighbors it wasn’t until I re-connected with him after 20+ years that it began to sprout. Scottie and I had met when I was 18 and he was 22, we had become instant friends but had lost each other along the way of life. After reconnecting via facebook, my children and I visited Scottie at the salon where he mentioned briefly the campus and what it ‘could’ be. Being a visionary myself, I acknowledged the potential but had no idea what would occur in the months to follow from Scottie’s brief suggestion implanted into my mind about the campus.
Weeks later in meditation, the campus appeared. I wasn’t exactly sure what it meant but had learned to watch thoughts float by in meditation without attaching more thought to them. Like a cloud floating along the sky off it went. Then next day, and the next brought the same cloud of thought about this mysterious campus. Finally after several days, I decided that it must have meaning attached to it so I investigated via the internet. I discovered a couple of interesting things upon first glance.
The campus sat upon 144 acres, on the corner of highway 11 and highway 322. I looked up the satellite view of the campus on the internet and upon viewing the word SOLAR came across my mind. I was intrigued to say the least, so I telephoned Scottie and relayed the story about the meditations and the appearance of the campus into my psyche.
