Although the nights are drawing in in this part of the world and I see the gardens slowing down for the winter I am in high spirits. I feel an energy of change all around and an enormous will-to-good bringing people together in the face of the many challenges in the world. It was so lovely after my last email in September to receive replies from Pakistan, Argentina, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Japan and America, just to name a few - and glad that news of our work here brings light to so many. We are truly brothers and sisters and I love that the interweaving of our lives and aspirations mirrors the wider web of life on the planet.

I also see this in the fact that Eileen Caddy's book Opening Doors Within is now published in 178 languages, lately including Korean, Chinese, Russian and Gujarati. We are so pleased to have recently received many inquiries from Taiwan and Korea.
Click here to find details of Findhorn workshops being offered abroad.

You can also find Eileen's Daily Guidance everyday on our new Daily Connections page, along with your angel for the day and news and views from the community. You can also find your Findhorn connection through our popular Facebook Fan Page, packed with beautiful photos and our Youtube channel, which has many Findhorn videos for you to enjoy. Come and join the Findhorn community online.

So much has been happening here that I want to tell you about. In late September Joanna Macy gave a training in The Work That Reconnects to 70 people from around the globe and then held a mini two-day workshop for 120 of us from this community. What an amazing two days! I was so inspired by Joanna's opening words which described us as 'the Findhorn ongoing event of service to the transformation of our world' and of 'the Findhorn in our lives'. I guess that's what many of you refer to when you tell me that receiving Findhorn news uplifts you, wherever you are.

I was left with a clarity that as we all act together, with firm intention, unimagined solutions will emerge. After all, we are all open systems and are made by change. Click here to read more about the Joanna Macy event.

That same week I was also inspired by our first Experience Week for people with a range of disabilities, many in wheelchairs. I felt again the magic of Findhorn as I watched the 11 participants and their carers unfold and blossom in the love, acceptance, honesty and communal spirit of this place.

The buzz in the community centre in October rid us of any notion that we are quietening down for the winter: we welcomed over 30 participants from as far afield as Myanmar, Mexico, South Africa, Japan and Turkey to Gaia Education Design for Sustainability - Training of Trainers; 13 American students are enthusiastically engaged in their three-month programme, The Human Challenge of Sustainability, and around 30 young people - a mixture of the community's Youth Project and visitors from Kitezh, a Children's Community in Russia supported by Ecologia, a charity based at The Park - spent a lively week together at The Park and a week on the Isle of Erraid.

If you are feeling the energy of change within there is still time to participate with Caroline Myss in Defy Gravity - Healing Beyond the Bounds of Reason, 14-17 November and with James Finley in Seven Steps to Spiritual Healing, 17-20 November. If you book both these events before 14th November you will receive a £115 discount on the combined events.

I also invite you to experience Christmas in a very special way at our retreat house on Iona or New Year with a difference on the nearby island of Erraid. There is also a one-week Game of Transformation, a New Year gathering and a retreat at Findhorn itself. Click here for details of our December programmes and retreats.

If you are looking further ahead, during the weekend of 23/24 January you can join Diana Cooper, well-known for her books about the angelic realms, at 2012 And Beyond, an exploration of the end of a 26,000 year astrological period and the start of a new era. A cosmic moment occurs at the winter solstice in 2012 offering an unprecedented opportunity for divine inspiration, and Diana will share why 2012 is so important and explain what is expected to happen worldwide to the climate as well as economically and politically during the following 20 transition years. There is an early bird discount of £25 if booked and paid in full by 13 November 2009.

Looking even further ahead, we are all excited about our Easter Conference, 3-9 April, 2010: Inspired Action - Changing the World from the Inside Out. The theme of this conference is very dear to us at Findhorn as we know it is the crucial link between inner wisdom and outer action that will transform the world. This began with our founders, who transformed barren sand dunes into a vibrant international community through inner listening followed by action, and it is still at the heart of all that we do here.

The conference is an opportunity for us to experience the power of individual and collective meditation as intentional and heartfelt spiritual practice and to use this inner work to collectively catalyse global change. Held by a variety of experienced people using open space forums and The Game of Transformation, I invite you to come and be part of a social activism which is magnetic, transformational, peaceful and loving. It is going to be a fabulous week!

My parting note is a huge sense of gratitude for all the people who support the amazing, inspiring, uplifting, wonderfully expansive experiment that is Findhorn - it is so many things to so many people and we are supported in so many ways.

We recently received a considerable sum of money from the legacy of Tom Welch who lived at Findhorn in the '80s. A friend of his wrote: 'Tom's whole life was about service, always with a healthy dose of adventure and exploration, outer and inner. At the age of 47 he left the Royal Tank Regiment, of which he was the Commanding Officer, changing his vehicle of service from the military to the new age. Findhorn was especially dear to his heart and relevant to his vision of the future, and he often said that Findhorn was only of service to individuals or the planet if it was relevant to, and engaged in, positive thinking and action on real practical issues and initiatives out in the world.'

We celebrate the invigorating effect this money will have on our contribution to positive change in the world. We are truly blessed.

whether you are watching autumn leaves falling or new buds opening,
love and light to you,
Yvonne Cuneo
in the kitchen and for the Communications Team