Indralaya
Orcas Island, Sx’wálex’
The island where Camp Indralaya now stands is part of the lands of the Coast Salish people, in particular the Lhaq'temish and Samish peoples. The Samish Indian Nation has several online map tools that show the island with their indigenous name for it: Sx’wálex’, meaning "scattered reef netting". We're sharing the maps and other websites below, not from a position of advanced knowledge on our part, but with the intention of strengthening our own too-limited knowledge too. We would like to continue learning more deeply about this part of the world, its original caretakers, and their history and present, to frame our shared experience of this place.
Samish Indian Nation storymaps: Coast Salish Place Names of the San Juan Islands (including audio of pronunciation) and Samish Self-Guided Homelands Tour
Samish Indian Nation website, especially timeline and culture pages
Lhaq'temish Foundation
Video: Lummi Nation: Meet the People
About Indralaya
Indralaya is a retreat center located on the beautiful and peaceful Orcas Island in the Salish Sea. Founded in 1927 at the site of an old farmstead, Indralaya has slowly grown through the hard work of its community to exemplify what is possible when people come together to build something remarkable. Elders of the community can recall when Indralaya was little more than a campsite with barely enough infrastructure to support two weeks of gathering per year. Through a hundred years of community members volunteering their skills and support, Indralaya has expanded to 78 acres complete with two beaches, 28 cabins, a kitchen, dining room, lounge, library, and two bath houses and continues to be an open and welcoming community. The camp has been a Theosophical Center since its inception. As explained on the camp website, "Indralaya encourages visitors to engage in cooperative harmony with nature and each other while experiencing both our deep interconnectedness and our personal paths to purpose and wholeness. [...] As a Theosophical Center, Indralaya welcomes the participation of people of all religions, beliefs, races, genders, orientations, ages, and abilities."
Our Indralaya story
Indralaya feels like a childhood home to Colin, with some of his earliest memories being crawing around the lounge and chasing bunnies in the meadow. Colin introduced Rosie to Indralaya at the 2022 Deep Singing program. Our relationship deepened as Rosie got to experience a place so special to Colin and she fell in love with Camp herself. 2023 was extra special because we traveled to Camp by overnight train from California and on our ebikes (Colin converted the bikes himself). Although we could only squeeze in a short trip during 2024, that Memorial Day work party was especially memorable because we got engaged! Unbeknownst to us, the proposal happened in view of the board meeting taking place in the library (and board members did not miss the opportunity to take photos). Colin had also put in a sneaky word with Alec ahead of time, to secure the most romantic waterfront cabin for that weekend—Ocean Spray.
Now we are excited to celebrate our wedding with you all at such a special place. Indralaya has only hosted a handful of weddings throughout its long history and we feel so grateful and loved to have it happen. We would like to extend a special thanks to Kari, Tessa, and Crystal for volunteering to cook for us, asking only for a donation to Camp in return. It is our dream and relationship goal to live closer to Indralaya so we can contribute our own skills to strengthening this wonderful community for the years to come. We'd love it if our wedding celebration encourages some of our friends and family who are first-timers to return to camp in future, for a program or a low-cost volunteer work party!
