What Does ‘The Findhorn Garden’ Offer?
written by Christine Lines
In a world marked by war, conflict, polarisation, exploitation, inequality and ecological crisis, a small community in the north of Scotland might seem insignificant.
So what could a place like this possibly offer?
Recently I was sitting in a community meeting where we were discussing the evolution of our foundational programme. Now called Experience Week: From I to We.
Coming together: Attunement in the Findhorn Gardens
Perhaps this simple shift, from I to We, is part of the movement our world is longing for? It reminds us …
How easy it is to “other”.
How painful it is to feel excluded.
How deep the wound of separation can run.
Yet when we return to ourselves, through listening, presence and reflection, something softens. And when we return to nature, we remember that we are not separate from the living systems that sustain us.
Perhaps this is the deeper invitation of the garden.
Christine (middle) followed the invitation of The Findhorn Garden and has lived at Ecovillage Findhorn for many years.
Many Gateways, One Garden
The Findhorn Garden is both a place and a practice.
It is a physical garden, lovingly tended for decades in cooperation with the invisible realms, in our often clumsy human ways. Yet there is also something subtle here: an invitation to cultivate deep listening, relationship and care.
This year we will be offering several new gateways into this living exploration.
One of them is The Findhorn Garden, a programme that invites participants to learn with the land through listening, care and co-creation.
Lovingly caring for the garden as we prepared the ground for the new sanctuary.
Through time in the gardens, shared practices, conversation and reflection, participants explore what it means to live in relationship with nature, with one another, and with the quieter wisdom within.
Rather than finding answers, it is about rediscovering ways of listening. Learning and practising in the midst of community - both the joys and the challenges.
The Garden of the Soul
People arrive here in many ways. Some come because they have read about Findhorn.Some come out of curiosity.Some arrive during times of transition.Some feel simply called or yearn for a sense of belonging.
However people arrive, something often becomes clear during their time here:
We all have a garden to tend.
The garden of the soul.
The garden of relationships.
The garden of the living Earth.
The Findhorn Garden is simply one place where we practice remembering this together. As the poet Rumi wrote:
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”
The garden of the soul. The garden of relationships. The garden of the living Earth.
Perhaps the garden is one of those fields where we practice living this aspiration.
And perhaps the seed that brought you to these words is beginning to grow.
If you feel the garden calling, we look forward to meeting you here!
