The Network of Light – Then and Now
written by Christine Lines
“Scattered around the Earth are untold thousands of individuals, small groups and communities quietly creating a society based upon the unity of the human family and co-creation with the forces of nature. Part of our work at Findhorn is to link with a wide range of these centres, organisations and individuals to reveal an emerging pattern that we call the ‘network of light’.”
These words from Faces of Findhorn (1980) felt like the voice of my friend Ralph White, whom I met at the Holistic Centres Gathering in Hawaii in 2010. When I wrote to ask, he replied immediately, “Yes, I recognise those words. They’re what I felt all those years ago, and they’ve been proved true. It’s a wonderful thing.”
Global Gatherings of Centres of Light
After a few years of living in the Findhorn Foundation in the late ‘70s Ralph moved to the States and co-founded the New York Open Center, the largest urban holistic centre in the US. In the mid ‘80s, peers from the Open Center, Esalen and Omega attended what became the first Centres Gathering.
“A clear sense quickly emerged that there was genuine value in the Center’s meeting in a relaxed spirit to exchange insights, information and best practices,” he recalled. “There was a feeling of mutual support and friendship as Centers emerged increasingly as focal points for the new holistic, spiritual and ecological worldview.”
The guidance of Eileen Caddy, co-founder of the Findhorn Foundation, said, “More souls are becoming aware of what is taking place and in these centres of light the love within each individual is free to grow and develop in the right environment. That is why at this time you will find more and more centres of light being established all over the world.”
The original caravan in the Findhorn Bay Caravan Park, home of the co-founders, Peter, Dorothy and Eileen, in the early years of the community.
Holistic Centres Gathering at Findhorn in 2012
In 2010 I attended the annual Gathering for the first time and was inspired to return to Findhorn after my Experience Week the previous year. In 2012 the Findhorn Foundation was approaching its 50th birthday and agreed to host the Gathering as part of the physical manifestation of the Network of Light.
Participants came from five continents and I read an extract from Eileen’s autobiography, “We started to send out love radiances to people or groups around the world… It was becoming obvious that we were part of a bigger picture.”
The Findhorn Foundation’s connection to the Network of Light
Peter Caddy, co-founder of the Findhorn Foundation, first heard about the Network of Light when he met Anne Edwards in 1953. Peter recalled, “Prickles ran up and down my spine; I knew we’d met for a purpose. We were told in guidance that we’d been drawn together from the opposite ends of the earth because we had a lot of work to do.”
Anne was the focal point for a group near Chicago and told Peter about the network. Guided in meditation, they located and telepathically linked up with centres of light throughout the world.
Later Eileen received the guidance:
“Get a globe and start marking the centres on it. You are part of a tremendous network and each member needs to feel part of the whole. This is a Network of Light. The strength comes through the linking up of the centres.”
Having a globe in the sanctuary for the Network of Light Meditations is still a tradition in our community
Peter said, “Our early work at Findhorn was entirely on the inner planes, linking up with the Network of Light, tuning into centres twice a day, receiving visions and telepathic transmissions… it’s very much a communications network as well as a network of energies.
”They linked with 370 centres sharing information about the world situation. Dorothy Maclean, co-founder of the Findhorn Foundation, found the easiest group to contact was a tribe of aborigines in Australia, “They were always right there, as if their consciousness was constantly open to non-physical realms.”
A miracle meeting with a group from Turkey
Their work was done in absolute faith. “Our only confirmation that these centres existed was an inner knowing. Sometimes I received visions. One was a group of businessmen in Turkey,” wrote Eileen. “I saw them quite clearly dressed in formal suits around a central figure.”
Katherine Collis, who arrived in 1970, said, “The founder’s years of inner linking with individuals, groups and centres around the planet created a deep sense of the wider community of the consciousness of spirit emerging and radiating energy. There was a knowing that some of us would meet at some point.”
And indeed they did, after an American hitchhiker called Stephan told the manager of a Turkish youth hostel he was off to visit Findhorn next. The amazed manager had been a member of the Turkish group. He said they’d received this word Findhorn, but had no idea what it was. They couldn’t find it on the map, it was so small.
Stephen came to Findhorn, and Stan remembered, “One evening a tall, handsome man with a deep voice, sang a Turkish song of greeting to the community, and particularly Eileen, from their community, as a representative from the group who had met on the inner planes.”
“Our only confirmation that these centres existed was an inner knowing. “ - Eileen Caddy - Connecting from the North of Scotland to Turkey on the inner planes
The Network of Light evolved into a conscious outward link. Peter believed, “It is very much our work to be a point of synthesis, to be able to link these centres together to see where we can unite, explore what each centre has to give to the whole. Each centre has something different that we can learn from, that they can give to us, and we can give to them.”
Outreach from Findhorn into the world and to the United Nations
Peter and Eileen began to travel and give presentations in different countries about community life and their vision for the future. “Outreach was always a fundamental purpose of the Findhorn Foundation”, explained Rosie Turnbull. “Some people are called to be the pillars of the community and some are called to be here for a few years and then share the message of Findhorn with the world.”
Eileen on one of her tours around the world, connecting with others on the spiritual path
Peter also felt the importance of connecting with the United Nations, whose major purpose is to be a unifying force in the world. In 1997, the Findhorn Foundation was approved for formal association with the United Nations. The new status was a sign of a great maturing of the community, which continues to provide a contemporary and evolving model of regenerative living.
On the 3rd April 2026, May East, came to Findhorn in preparation for the proposed change of UN status from Associative to Consultative (in June 2026) and for this status to transfer from the Findhorn Foundation Trust to the Findhorn Foundation SCIO, in the unfolding journey of Park Ecovillage Findhorn. To honour these changes we held a meditation at the Light of Findhorn Sanctuary.
Meditating on the UN-Findhorn connection in the Light of Findhorn Sanctuary, 3 April 2026
The vision of Findhorn is one expression within a wider emergence, a new sense of planetary humanity taking shape across the world in many different ways.
Join us: Seeds of Light - global community calls
We invite you to join Seeds of Light. In the spirit of Findhorn we come together in our twice monthly community calls to nurture the unfolding of the Network of Light. Let’s meet for a time of connecting, sharing, and learning with each other.
Learn more…
To learn more about the Network of Light you’re welcome to explore the Celebrating One Incredible Family website containing archival material from the community.
If you’re involved in a holistic centre and would like to attend the annual Gathering, to share insights, challenges and experiences in a supportive environment, please click here. The Findhorn Foundation will contribute to the 2026 Centres Gathering online in May, hosted this year by Le Monastère des Augustines in Quebec City, one of the oldest holistic centres in the world, dating back to the 17th Century.
