Abbey in the novel "
Gargantua and
Pantagruel" conceived as the exact opposite of
monastic ideals: i. e. no separation of the sexes, luxurious appointments, cool
clothes to wear, etc. The inmates were supposed to be so well-mannered that if one of them wanted to engage in an activity, the rest would follow along. Over the door was engraved the motto, drawn from
St. Augustine: "Do what thou wilt." (And no, there's no record anywhere of it being used by ancient
Celts, or
pagans before
1940, or so...and the good
Saint was
very careful to attribute pagan sources in his works...)
Also, the name of an ill-fated utopian experiment by Aleister Crowley in Cefalu, Sicily, in the 1920's that tried to do the same thing. Somehow, having everyone on Keith Richards-sized doses of cocaine and heroin cut into the general self-sufficiency. The description of their womens' habits is appealing, though: soft, halo-like hair dyed red or yellow with henna and chamomile, and long simple blue gowns with red-trimmed bell sleeves and V necks....must have looked incredible in candlelight, especially with the red-laquered-look lipstick they had back then. Sigh...