Refugium update – April 2024

With the arrival of spring, I felt the need to make some additional changes to Norgaard Village, greening it up and allowing a lot more space for various nature features. Refugium, too, has seen another facelift. (One of many in recent months, but you know me – I keep decorating and redecorating!)

And so as of this month, our small meditation group meets in a lovely little cottage designed by Ria Bazar. I loved this build from the first time I saw it, although I initially thought of using it as our village café. However, once I started terraforming and adding bits and pieces to that part of the parcel, it just gave me a different vibe.

As you can see, the part on the left now houses the Refugium chapel / meditation space. The area is pretty small, but it just adds to the cozy and intimate feel.

The sunroom annex serves as the library / reading room. (Yes, that’s where I’m writing this blog post from!) I just love the view of the pond and all the trees and bushes surrounding it. I have to say, this has quickly become my favourite corner of the parcel. It’s so peaceful!

Pretty much everything else in the Village has been redesigned and redecorated: there’s now a small video store, the cinema, and the village café. At this point, I’m just playing with small details, but I don’t intend to change the layout of the place any time soon.

I’d love it if you’d stop by! And if you want to get regular updates from Refugium, consider joining our inworld group, ‘Refugium Announcements’.

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Additional information

• Meditation sessions at Refugium are held daily between 2330 and midnight SLT. You are welcome to use the space for your personal quiet moments any time during the day. To visit, click here.

• Music stream on the parcel currently plays ‘Christian Country Channel‘ radio station, based in Essen, Germany.

• To get regular updates from Refugium, consider joining our inworld group, ‘Refugium Announcements‘.

Silent movie night in February 2023: “Sherlock Holmes”

This month’s movie night at Kino Babylon will take place on Friday, 24 February, starting at 12 noon SLT.

We’ll be watching a 1922 silent mystery “Sherlock Holmes” directed by Albert Parker, starring John Barrymore.

Our Kino is located in the heart of the 1920s Berlin sim, which you can reach by clicking on this link. Alternatively, IM me inworld for a teleport (abinoam.resident).

Silent movie night in December 2022: “The Blacksmith”

Join us at Kino Babylon on Friday, 30 December 2022, for another silent movie night. We’ll be watching “The Blacksmith”, a 1922 short comedy co-written and co-directed by Buster Keaton, starring himself, Joe Robert and Virginia Fox.

The screening will start at 12 noon SLT, but if you can’t make it at that time, the film will be available on demand at Kino Babylon until 27 January 2023. The film last a little over 20 minutes.

Our Kino is located in the heart of the 1920s Berlin sim, which you can reach by clicking on this link. Alternatively, IM me inworld for a teleport (abinoam.resident).

Silent movie night in November 2022: “The Fall of the House of Usher”

Join us at Kino Babylon on Friday, 25 November 2022, for this month’s silent movie night. We’ll be watching “The Fall of the House of Usher”, a 1928 French film adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic story by the same title.

Directed by Jean Epstein, screenplay by none other than Luis Buñuel (and Epstein), the film is now considered one of the best adaptations of Poe. The leading roles are played by Marguerite Gance, Jean Debucourt and Charles Lamy.

The screening starts at 12 noon SLT, and if you can’t make it on that day, the film will be available on demand at the Kino until 23 December.

Kino Babylon is located in the heart of the 1920s Berlin sim, which you can reach by clicking on this link.

Silent movie night in October 2022: “The Hound of the Baskervilles”

Since the launch of the silent movie nights in Second Life, it has been our tradition to present silent horror films in the weeks leading up to Halloween. In keeping with that tradition, this year we’ll be watching Der Hund von Baskerville (The Hound of the Baskervilles), the very first film adaptation of this Sherlock Holmes novel written by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Released in 1914, it was directed by Rudolf Meinert, starring Alwin Neuß as Holmes, Friedrich Kühne as Stapleton, and Hanni Weisse as Laura Lyons. Long considered lost, luckily the film has been rediscovered.

If you want to brush up on the celebrated novel, here’s the link to the free e-book, available in several different digital formats (although I should add that the film we’ll be watching doesn’t follow it closely).

The screening is scheduled to take place on Friday, 28 October 2022, starting at 12 noon SLT at the Wannsee beach in the 1920s Berlin sim. If you get lost in the sim and have no idea where the Wannsee lake is, don’t hesitate to IM me inworld at abinoam.resident and ask for a teleport).

The film will be available on demand at our usual spot, Kino Babylon, until 24 November.

Silent movie nights: Spring 2022

All events take place at Kino Babylon in the 1920s Berlin sim, starting at 12 noon SLT.

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25 March 2022: “Man with a Movie Camera” (experimental documentary, Ukraine/USSR, 1929, dir. Dziga Vertov)

29 April 2022: “The Matinee Idol” (comedy, USA, 1928, dir. Frank Capra)

27 May 2022: “The Seashell and the Clergyman” (experimental, France, dir. Germaine Dulac)

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If you’re on Facebook, please visit and join our Kino Babylon group for more information and regular updates.

“Refugium Quarterly – Issue #3”

Spring is here – and so is the next issue of our very own Refugium Quarterly!

The current issue comes with our regular features:

• the Editorial,
• Welcome to Refugium – brief explanations for first-time visitors to our meditation centre,
• Out & About, with Spring 2022 schedule of silent movie nights at Kino Babylon, plus the information on Book Lovers Coffee Hour held at Shoshin Cafe,
• Parting Thoughts, this time with a wonderful peace poem by the celebrated American poet Wendell Berry.

You can pick up your free copy at our inworld landing point or by clicking here.

Finally, a reminder that we welcome your contributions in the form of short written pieces or inworld photography. Don’t hesitate to email me for more information: norgaard@posteo.eu.

Photoset: Bedtime Reading

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Setsubun 2022

Earlier this month I had the chance to visit Kyoto in Second Life for this year’s setsubun. In the old Japanese calendar, this is the day before the beginning of spring, marked by different customs and traditions.

In Second Life, the wonderful geisha community of Kyoto celebrates it annually by performing sacred dances at the local Shinto shrine, followed by the customary expelling of demons by throwing soy beans and exclaiming “In with the Fortune! Out with the Evil!” Those gathered are supposed to catch and eat these beans – one for each year of their life, to make sure they have a prosperous year. Which is exactly what we did!

Below you’ll find a few snapshots from this year’s setsubun. Many thanks to the community of Hanafusa Okiya for their hospitality!

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My piece of Spruce Woods

Last September I made a big decision to leave my parcels in Odie, on one of the ‘old’ mainland continents, and move to a much smaller one in the SL equivalent of the New World – Bellisseria.

After a few weeks of experimenting with different neighbourhoods, I was eventually successful in getting a home in a region that checked all the right boxes – lovely woodland area with a great network of country roads and good access to nearby rivers and the ocean. And, mercifully, in a region that doesn’t have one of those silly names (don’t care much for those). Spruce Woods. The moment I saw that name, I somehow knew it would be the right place for me.

Since the end of September 2021 I played a lot with the parcel, changing some of its features as holidays came and went: pumpkin patch was replaced by Halloween display, which was then replaced by piles of snow… It was only after New Year’s Day that I’ve had the time to think about a more permanent look and feel of the place (which again took some experimenting and negotiating priorities in relation to the rapidly shrinking parcel capacity!).

Instead of writing too much about it, here are a few snapshots to show you the place. Taking the pics, I wanted to capture some of the things I love the most about the place, which are otherwise easy to miss unless you know where to look – the frog in the small pond, a family of robins nesting on an old basketball hoop, the blackbird that has been a constant presence on all my parcels for years…

Norgaard in Spruce Woods, also home to the Refugium meditation centre. A view from the adjacent public road.

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If you ever find yourself in this part of the world, feel free to stop by. The kitchen is fully stocked and you’re welcome to whatever you can find in the fridge 🙂 And as mentioned earlier, the parcel also serves as the home to the Refugium meditation centre – we meet on the ground floor of the house for the daily half-hour sessions between 2330 and midnight SLT, but you can use that space for quiet reflection or yoga practice whenever you feel like.

To visit, please follow this SLurl.