Halcyon a Township in San Luis Obispo County, California 

Halcyon Store and Post Office is the official town building which serves as post office, gift shop and meeting center. On the surface, Halcyon looks like groupings of farms and houses.  But the women holding a meeting in Halcyon Store were on a higher plain. They told me Halcyon is a township--and it's a gathering place for those who seek enlightenment.  They handed me a brochure about The Temple of the People building tucked back from  Halcyon Road beyond an intersection with a gas station and a cemetery.  

A very large building,  Blue Star Memorial Temple, was established in 1923 with design by architect Theodore Eisen of Los Angeles. Constructed with symbolism akin to Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt, a basic mathematical number for design was 7 as in 7 days in a week, 7 notes between octaves, 7 colors of light. Inside dimensions and angles are multiples of 7 with pillars and design representing spiritual concepts.  

Integrating Theosophy with American Indian culture, Halcyon and the temple attract people from around the world.  Temple Guardian Chief Eleanor L. Shumway succinctly summed up the tourist experience.  "Some people have come to Halcyon expecting Utopia inhabited by saintly beings and have left, deeply disappointed. They found a group of ordinary human beings with ordinary strengths and weaknesses, united by a desire to live by the Golden Rule, knowing that love can and does transcend all, eventually."