Adela Curtis, In Search of a Modern Mystic
About this Blog. This blog began as a record of a research trip that I undertook in the States during the month of October 2023. That trip contributed to a wider project which is about trying to ensure that Adela Curtis’ story is not lost. This project really got underway during lockdown, when I was given generous access to her diaries and notebooks. As we were not allowed to meet real people then, I decided to go back in time and meet Adela and her community in the 1930s. From these beginnings I have started to write a book about her and her experiments in self-sufficiency, spirituality and community. The blog continues beyond my time in the States - you are welcome to stay on the journey with me.
What is the connection between Adela Curtis and Othona? Adela established her own community here, just outside Burton Bradstock in Dorset in the early 1930s and it became The Christian Contemplatives’ Charity in 1938. It flourished for a number of years, but gradually the other members died or moved away and Adela was the last one to live on the site. She died in 1960. Her trustees were tasked with the job of finding a charity to take on the buildings and land. After many approaches to different charities without success, they encountered Norman Motley, the founder of the Othona Community. Norman had started Othona after WW2 on the Essex coast as a summer camp and by the early 1960s was looking for somewhere that would provide a second base, with the potential for groups to stay at other times of the year. Norman was not deterred by the lack of plumbing, flush toilets, gas or electricity! Othona took on this site in 1965. Many changes at both sites have taken place over the years and both Othonas continue to offer an experience of living in community that is rooted in the Christian faith and open to those of all faiths and none: in Essex and in Dorset
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