Findhorn’s practical magic

New colony forms on island of Erraid, invites you

Tree stump looking out over Lach Ness circa 1960

    Years ago when the world was full of Middle Earth imaginings (the print version, not the movies) and psychedelics, glimpses of a magical world were regular occurrences. To those in the wavy world of psycho-dynamics, like me,  the occurrences at Findhorn were totally plausible.

    Paul Hawken wrote a book about it, The Magic of Findhorn. I read it back in ’75 and reread it a few months ago. The founding of Findhorn is a miraculous tale and true. That’s the crazy part. It’s true. They did grow oversized garden plants on soil that scientists said could not support them. Cabbages grew to 40 pounds and roses bloomed in the snow.

    The back cover asks, “Experts have concluded that there must be some vital unknown at work… why has the garden of plants now become a garden of people who—like the plants—flourish and visibly glow?” The magic was that the plants were being supercharged with etheric energy provided by elemental beings. Devic nature spirits even including Pan himself.

    Hawken originally read about Findhorn in Harpers “which mentioned the community of Findhorn … who were growing one of the world’s most fantastic gardens with no resources except bushels of love and contact with another dimension of consciousness called the Devic and Elemental Worlds.’

    Especially in the beginning, Findhorn was a place these ephemeral beings chose to prove to the world they do exist. And like I said earlier, the legend of Findhorn is a true story. Contact was made regularly between both worlds, the physical and the elemental. There was no not believing because the presence was proven every day in the growth of the garden.

    At the time I thought the spectacle at Findhorn would change the world. I expected by now to have a Findhorn offshoot in Brookville, Indiana and multitudes of other small towns around the world. After experiencing it originally as a skeptic, Hawken later believed, “FIndhorn may be a manifestation of light and power which could transform our planet within a lifetime.”

    It’s taking a little longer than the Hawk an’ I had expected but there is movement in a positive direction, and it’s something you might want to take part in yourself. Findhorn satellites have taken root on the islands of Iona and Erraid off western Scotland. I watched the video below and was struck by a couple of things. They share leadership so that everyone gets a chance to learn to be confidant interacting at the front of a large group.

    They also work hard and love all the little things they do. They start the day together talking about what they are going to do. They work and then get together for tea breaks and meals. You can feel the bonding this rhythm of life brings. It is tribal, but it is a tribe without a chief, or better still where everyone takes turns being both chief and chef. Dirty your hands, clean them and dirty ‘em up again. All bound together by their word and their worth to the community. Love comes from that, deep love, lasting love. That’s the real magic of Findhorn.

    These Findhorn colonies are an example of egalitarian heterarchy, live and in living color. You say you wanna revolution? This is it.

For paid subscribers: Here’s a thoughtful, article from The Library of Babel entitled — For J.R.R. Tolkien, It Was Always About Writing the Perfect Fairy Tale