Reflecting Heaven on Earth
By Barbara Swetina
A flash of inspiration over 20 years ago has turned into an annual New Year celebration at Findhorn – and helped build our beautiful Singing Chamber. Barbara Swetina tells the story.
Barbara Swetina at the opening of the Singing Chamber.
Change happens quickly in a community. When we are gone for a while new people step into our footsteps and the question of ‘Where are you?’ can quickly turn into a question of ‘Who are you?’. During my six-month absence in 2005, the devotional Findhorn Taize singing sessions that I started in the 80s had rooted well, continuing daily in the Park, Cluny Hill college and once a week in Newbold House. Coming back to Findhorn after living in Hawaii for six months made me wonder how to integrate back into the community. What would my next contribution be?
The Experience Week I’d attended came to mind, and the words of David Spangler, the Findhorn mystic who had put many of the New Age principles into writing. I still remember the essence of his essay: ‘The purpose of living in Findhorn is to lay down a blueprint for a sacred planetary culture, in which Heaven is reflected on Earth in our daily lives through our thoughts, words and actions’. Wow, I thought at the time, such a beautiful vision, this would be something worthwhile to do with my life! It was like a wake-up call and formed the basis of my decision to come live in Findhorn. I wanted my life to be part of something worthwhile and this sacred experiment fitted the bill!
Ian Turnbull and Barbara Swetina
Dreaming into what this sacred planetary culture would feel and look like, the image came: we need a building to remind us of our connection with the divine that can also serve as a place of ceremony and as a singing chamber. We did not have a dedicated building for our Sunday Findhorn Taize Services. I wished for a place that community members could just use for themselves any time, without a lot of red tape procedures.
Far-out ideas require talking to far-out minds. So naturally I went to talk to my friend Ian Turnbull, atomic physicist, builder and stone mason extraordinaire, who had proven his status as an innovator by single-handedly building the beautiful Nature Sanctuary from recycled materials. ‘What would you think of building a singing temple? Something like the Nature Sanctuary, but bigger, so that it would house all the singing events in the community?’ I asked.
Ian was immediately excited and replied: ‘Very good idea my dear, and you know, I have the perfect place in mind already! It is a little copse of trees behind the Universal Hall (our conference building) that no one seems to notice or use at all!’ Together we went to meet Mari, the focaliser of the community at the time and asked: ‘If we find the money, build the building, look after it in every way and it still belongs to the Findhorn Foundation [which owned the land], can we use that space behind the Hall that we have in mind?’ The answer was very quick: ‘Sounds like a good plan, go ahead, you got it!’ We were happy!
The next question was of course: where will the money come from? My next idea popped in: what if we gave a week of our lives to run a workshop? But instead of being paid for our work we'd ask for donations from the participants, sharing the idea of building a singing temple? The only charge would be for food and board!
Building the Singing Chamber
Having decided on this strategy, Ian and I asked our french friend Francois Monnet to be part of our team, having proven many times his ability to bring Heaven to Earth in his mystical theatre productions. He was also willing to come for only an airfare ticket to Scotland. As a team of ‘Celebration activists’, Ian, Francois and myself birthed many community celebrations over the years! We decided that the best time for our plan would be a week over New Year, and so we called it ‘Crossing the Threshold’, a celebration of consciously entering a New Year. That was in 2005/06
The success of the idea was immediate! The course had a record attendance of 40 people who were so happy. We had a stellar week of music, magic, stillness and creativity, celebrating New Year’s Eve in style in the Universal Hall. That was the beginning of a tradition of Crossing the Threshold in Findhorn, that has lasted more than 20 years!
A workshop with singing – and digging
Over the years, the focalisers for Crossing the Threshold have changed. Last year we established a Sufi theme with my friend Jilani Cordelia from England, and this year’s celebration again draws on the Findhorn and Sufi traditions of song, dance, soul work and ritual, to share joy, healing and relaxation. It’s a chance to release the old, bring in the new and connect with the stillness found in nature and at the heart of our being.
As we ‘Cross the Threshold’ in community into the New Year, we celebrate the divine in our hearts and all around in music, stillness and pure delightful fun!
I loved this feedback from a past participant: ‘Your gifts to humanity and the planet are so clear to me. Your joyous presence when singing and playing instruments and leading song – you look and feel like an angel when you are doing that. This is your big gift to the state of the world, and just as a stone makes a ripple outwards when it drops into a pool, your joy and song and music makes big ripples outwards and affects everything.’
That first Crossing the Threshold provided the seed money to start building the Singing Chamber, which happened over many years, fuelled by the love and dedication of many hands and hearts, but that is another story in itself. Today our beautiful Singing Chamber is used for meditations and singing events almost every day and is a beloved open-air feature in the community. Come and visit it!
Ian Turnbull at the opening of the Singing Chamber
Crossing the Threshold takes place from 28 December 2026 to 3 January 2027
