05
Jul
2020 Summer Solstice News – Lotus Skye!
It was with great happiness and gratitude that Lotus Heart Sanctuary humbly announced our very special news at the auspicious time of the Summer Solstice 2020, Solar Eclipse and June New Moon in Cancer on 20.06.20 – there really could never have been any better time to have announced this wonderful news.
The Universe delayed the Lotus plans, and delayed us it did for a very good reason!
2020 was always going to be hugely historical year, and the most life changing year most of us had ever lived through, so it was a real honour that 2020 was the year Lotus finally happened!
We announced on 20.06.20 the stunning Isle of Skye is now the official home to Lotus Heart Sanctuary.
We are situated in the most beautiful (and appropriately named) village of Dunvegan.
We have breath-taking views of the world famous Cuillin Mountains, and we are directly facing MacLeod’s Tables – stunning flat-topped mountains.
A Variety of Lotus Petals
As you’ll see from our pinned Facebook video which was filmed almost 4 years ago, the plan was always to make it a sanctuary for all earthlings not only animals – hence the reason we are called Lotus Heart Sanctuary and not Lotus Animal Sanctuary.
We have different petals under LHS one of which is Lotus Animal Sanctuary, but we also have other petals for humans too.
All these petals come together and make one Lotus, and together they all help us with advocacy and with the running costs of the sanctuary.
Lotus Holistic Healing which was established in 2008 and will be part of Lotus Heart Sanctuary. LHH will offer holistic therapies, stress management/counselling, meditation, mindfulness, relaxation and more on site at the sanctuary.
We will also have Lotus Camping Pods – beautiful glamping pods available for hire with actual views of those world famous Cuillin Mountains, MacLeod’s Tables and Lotus Animal Sanctuary – what could be more relaxing to help you unwind and come back into nature!
We will of course still be selling clothing & merchandise as we did on our www.BohemianHippy.com website (launched 2015) via Lotus Clothing & Merch which is available on our new website www.LotusHeartSanctuary.com
Lotus Camping Pods, Lotus Holistic Healing & Lotus Clothing & Merch will generate income to allow us to continue rescuing animals and caring for them at Lotus Animal Sanctuary with provisions like food, bedding and veterinary care. It will also help us to sustain the land, fencing and 
outbuildings for the animals to be safe, comfortable & secure.
Team Lotus has been involved in advocacy and activism for many years, and the new website will help us continue with that too, as does our social media. The section Lotus Resources & Support will cover everything from plant based recipes to Inspirational Vegans, Educational Documentaries and a list of organisations for issues with human & non-human animals!
Our Dark Prince
We began rescuing animals 4 years ago; Prince the Holstein Friesian bullock son of a dairy cow was our first rescue;
Prince
Prince was saved from slaughter in 2016. He is so dearly loved, and he really kept the inspiration and motivation strong in pushing us to keep looking for land.
We officially launched our search for land and made our plans public just after rescuing Prince in 2016…since that time we had been actively looking for our own land.
This entire project has been no easy task, looking for the land alone was a mission in itself! We were outbid on offers, we had deals fall through at the time of missives being signed, we encountered endless delays with land courts, The Crofting Commission and endless other unavoidable legalities – but as already stated, the Universe delayed us for a reason and for that there is endless gratitude!
Changes
Our original plan was to open the sanctuary in the central belt of Scotland, ideally Renfrewshire which had been home for 31 years, and where some of our other team members reside also. Our first real hope at land was in early 2017 in Houston, Renfrewshire, but we lost out on that to a farmer (which would become a regular feature in our search for land).
However, eventually we decided to completely change location…a lady I knew announced she and her partner were going to open a sanctuary in late 2017 relatively close to our chosen location; we knew that was the right thing to do. Also, practising non-attachment is part of our work, so this gave us the perfect opportunity to work with that – non-attachment to locations, people, ideas, notions etc.
For Lotus, this change of location really was the very best thing that could have happened for us, so yet again, we are forever grateful to the Universe for all our challenges along the way!
We may have changed location but we never changed our direction and our Lotus vision. 
Deciding on our new location took some time. It appeared the main areas in mainland Scotland were pretty much covered in terms of veganism and sanctuaries, so the decision was made to change to an area that wasn’t so well facilitated. The chosen area was the Scottish highlands & islands instead – and so the long search began. Skye was always the number one choice, but travels all over Scotland were made to view land, from Caithness to Argyll, Wester Ross to Sutherland and Skye & Lochalsh!
Our Inspiration
The sanctuary was inspired following a retreat with Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) back in 2010. Images of cows, holistic therapies, sanctuary, farmland and even Skye itself created a vision board following that retreat – for the purpose of the vision board it was simply called Lotus Sanctuary – so this has been a decade long vision which has manifested before our own eyes!
The Lotus is representative of purity in body, speech & mind and serves as a reminder that something so beautiful can grow from mud and dark murky waters.
Lotus Opening
Covid/Lockdown is still causing a lot of issues (especially in Scotland), but we will be open to the public as soon as we possibly can be.
We at least have the land now, and we are here on it daily, so we can attend to everything we possibly can to make opening in the near future a complete reality.
Bodhi’s ashes
Lotus Angel
We sadly lost our little sweet calf Bodhi in January, however, his physical form may have left this earth, but he’s with us in spirit, and his ashes too – he actually made it here before Prince and the troops. He is our Lotus Angel and will always be a big part of Lotus. See one of our new Speciesism designs features Bodhi and rescue collie Kya (her human is Earth Angel Lisa).
BodKya tee – End Speciesism
The Lotus Team are eternally grateful for the support that YOU (our Lotus petals) have given to us over the years.
We would like to thank you from the very bottom of our Lotus hearts; we greatly appreciate you and feel blessed to have your support.
We look forward to welcoming you to Lotus Heart Sanctuary on the beautiful Isle of Skye very soon.
Facebook & Instagram
@LotusHeartSanctuary
www.LotusHeartSanctuary.com
100% of profits from all sales will be donated to our fully vegan animal sanctuary in Scotland
Donate via PayPal –www.paypal.me/LotusHeartSanctuary
You can also support us via Patreon – www.patreon.com/LotusHeartSanctuary
