Co-creation with Nature

Eileen and Peter Caddy and Dorothy Maclean all followed a disciplined spiritual practice for many years before they came to live at Findhorn, and they continued their regular meditation times when they came to live at the caravan park.

In May, 1963 Dorothy Maclean received an insight from within as she meditated:

. . . The forces of nature are something to be felt into, to be reached out to. One of the jobs for you as my free child is to sense the Nature forces such as the wind, to perceive its essence and purpose for me, and to be positive and harmonise with that essence.

When Dorothy shared this insight with Peter, his idea was to apply to their fledgling garden what Dorothy learned from the forces of nature. Dorothy then received this insight:

Yes, you can cooperate in the garden. Begin by thinking about the nature spirits, the higher overlighting nature spirits, and tune into them. That will be so unusual as to draw their interest here. They will be overjoyed to find some members of the human race eager for their help.

Angels, devas and elemental beings

Dorothy first attuned to the garden pea. As her communication with the forces of nature developed, Dorothy realised that she was in contact not with the spirit of an individual plant, but with the ‘overlighting’ being of the species, which was the consciousness holding the archetypal design of the species and the blueprint for its highest potential. She was experiencing a formless energy field for which there is no word. The closest word to convey the joy and purity that these beings emanated was the inaccurate word ‘angel’ (which in the west is full of form), and her first thought was to call them that. However, the Sanskrit term ‘deva’, meaning ‘shining one’ seemed more accurate and freer of cultural associations. In practice, she uses both words, although neither word is adequate. Peter and Dorothy applied the insights of the meditations to their work in the garden, and through this the Findhorn garden flourished. These were the first steps in the Findhorn Community’s co-creation with nature.

In 1966 Peter Caddy met Robert Ogilvie Crombie, or Roc, as he is often called. Roc’s ability to communicate with elemental beings is a well-documented part of the community’s history, and he was an important influence on the development of the community as a place where the role of nature in ordinary life was brought to the forefront of consciousness.

This special relationship with the beings of nature continues to be practised by some of the people working in the community’s gardens today, but not by everyone. However, attunement to the angelic level of consciousness is taking place in many different areas of community life, not just in the gardens. Before most activities such as cooking, painting, healing, or starting the day in a service department, there is usually an attunement invoking active cooperation with an overlighting consciousness, to help align our actions and unfold the highest potential available in that particular task.

Awareness and cooperation with the forces of nature at this level are an important support and balance for the more exoteric, rational and scientific ecological approach of our ecovillage development and education. It is important to recognise and emphasise the intrinsic value of nature to truly form a cooperative partnership. It is the combination of these approaches that allows the Findhorn Foundation community to give its unique gift towards the sustainabilty of humanity and all of life.