Hello everyone,

I sit here at Findhorn watching snowflakes fall on already icy ground and am very glad that I was not travelling this holiday season. Earlier today I said hello to the seals as they bobbed around ice floes between Findhorn Bay and the Moray firth, and The Park and Cluny Hill College are winter wonderlands. Whether you are rugged up warm or enjoying the heat of summer, everyone at Findhorn wishes you a peaceful and fulfilling 2010.

On 21 December the community gathered in the Universal Hall for the much-loved winter solstice celebration. A wonderful spiral is created from pine branches, holly and other wintergreens and traditionally we each walk the spiral releasing the past year and creating intentions for the new, completing by choosing a personal angel for the year. We also have a community angel, this year chosen by our remaining co-founder Dorothy Maclean, and we are happy to collectively welcome the quality of Beauty to be with us in 2010.

Dorothy turns 90 on 7 January and we are celebrating with a grand sharing in the Hall on 15 January, at the end of the Foundation's internal conference. We are blessed to have her living with us again and grateful for her ongoing contribution to many facets of community life.

The Foundation and Community were represented at the International Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen - at the main talks at the Bella Centre, the civil society events at KlimaForum and the Bottom Meeting, set up by a team of Danish volunteers from the Global Ecovillage Network and associated friends. Click here for a series of interesting blogs from Jonathan Dawson's time in Copenhagen.

With so much happening in the world, and so many opportunities for creative change on a global scale, I am looking forward to an evening in the Hall on 13 January with the down-to-earth wisdom of David Spangler via a live video-stream talk from David in America. David and the Lorian Association are partnering with the Foundation in a three-month collaborative learning programme beginning with a residential week at Findhorn 13 - 19 March followed by three months of online interaction. The talk will be an introduction to the programme Living Whole: Shaping a Future of Grace, Beauty and Sustainability. Such an inspired title, and so appropriate, given our angel for 2010!

Another community event of note was the 18 December World Premiere of the film The Turning Point: A Return to Community, in the Hall. The film grew out of our 2008 Positive Energy conference and has an uplifting 40 minutes of footage (our very own eco-clown, Lesley Quilty, is a highlight) and another 70 minutes of interviews with Rob Hopkins, Richard Heinberg, Joanna Macy, Dorothy Maclean and Megan Quinn Bachman. With beautiful images, it explores the vital importance of community in creating a life-sustaining society and looks at the solutions that have grown up over the last 20 years here at Findhorn. The film is a great way to explain to others what the Findhorn experiment is all about. For more information visit The Turning Point Film website.

It also gives me pleasure to announce the publishing, by Findhorn Press, of The Gentleman and the Faun, a book about R Ogilvie Crombie. Roc had many wonderful experiences with elemental beings, met Peter Caddy in 1966 and became an important influence on the development of this community. The book includes Roc's own story of his encounters with Pan and the elemental kingdoms and chapters by Mike Scott, David Spangler, Dorothy Maclean and Brian Nobbs which bring Roc's amazing story into the 21st century. This will be a delight to anyone interested in the early days of the Findhorn community, particularly its relationship with the elemental kingdoms. Also available is a double CD, Encounters with Pan and The Elemental Kingdom, remastered from original recorded talks by Roc in 1973-4. For an additional 20% discount on either book or CDs input the code ROCFF in the discount box on the second page of the check out at Findhorn Press website.

Finally, I hope you have had a chance to browse through our brochure for 2010 - there are so many amazing opportunities to connect with your own inner wisdom and beauty, as well as with like-minded people from all over the world. I especially hope to see some of you at our Inspired Action conference at Easter or at the summer solstice Planetary Game of Transformation. We are all seeds of change and I never tire of seeing people leave here after a programme sprouting and budding and lit from within - truly embodying our intent to change the world from the inside out.

Sending you the peace and beauty of soft snow and warm hearts,

with love and laughter, and expecting miracles in 2010,
Yvonne Cuneo
for the Communications team