Emissaries of Divine Light

Origins of the Emissaries

Emissary “practical spirituality” was the brainchild of itinerant preacher Lloyd Meeker (1907–1954), pen name Uranda, who had a revelation of spiritual stewardship at age twenty-four and began attracting followers during the 1930s with his message of creatively and responsibly reflecting divine purpose in daily life. Eventually settling near Loveland, Colorado, in 1945, Uranda's small group founded Sunrise Ranch on approximately 120 acres of dry, overgrazed land containing a few run-down buildings. This first Emissary community expanded to about 356 acres and became the world headquarters for as many as 200 residential groupings, as many as a dozen primary communities of 50 to 100 residents, and many thousands of supporters around the world.

In 1940, Uranda's message attracted titled British noble and former Royal Navy officer Martin Cecil (1909–1988), later to become the sixth Marquess of Exeter, and thence Martin Exeter. Despite their starkly different backgrounds, Uranda and Cecil became effective coleaders of the Emissary movement, with Cecil converting his large inherited cattle ranch in British Columbia into the second Emissary community, 100 Mile House, which has served informally as a second international headquarters of the Emissaries of Divine Light. When Uranda died in a plane crash in 1954, Martin Cecil assumed the full reins of spiritual leadership. Upon Cecil's death in 1988, his son Michael, then married to Uranda's daughter Nancy, took over.

Overview of Emissary Communities

Emissary communities have come and gone, in rural areas and cities, serving as working farms, ranches, spas, and hotels. Those that have lasted for decades have evolved according to the Emissary hallmarks of flexibility, practicality, creativity, and innovation. By the early twenty-first century, they spanned six continents, with the eight largest being ranches in Colorado (Sunrise Ranch) and British Columbia (100 Mile House), farms in Indiana (Oakwood Farm), Oregon (Stillmeadow), British Columbia (Edenvale), and Ontario (King View), a spa in California (Glen Ivy), and a hotel in England (Mickleton).

Those who have visited or worked at Emissary communities submit that the best way to understand them is not to read about them but to experience them, their residents, and their unique atmospheres in person and on site. The racial and ethnic composition of Emissary communities depends on their location, from North America to Europe to Africa to Asia. Including a number of titled aristocrats, residents come disproportionately from either ethnic or professional backgrounds with strong familial or service ethics: from Catholic, Jewish, or tribal backgrounds, and from the military, nobility, or helping professions. One of the aristocrats was Sunrise Ranch resident, artist, and former spy Conrad O'Brien-French, a family friend of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond. Another is Princess Lee Radziwill of Rome, a member of the extended clan of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

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