Page 10 - C.A.L.L. #36 - Summer 2013

Findhorn at Fifty

The Foundation is still going strong
The Scots Magazine – March 2013

“Everyone is welcome, and welcome to come again”. If the Findhorn Foundation
needed a motto, this would be the one because on my arrival I was greeted like an old
friend and made to feel very much at home. The relaxed, informal atmosphere a far
cry from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
However, despite its success and longevity, the Foundation began almost accidentally.
In 1962, Peter and Eileen Caddy and Dorothy Mclean came to live in Findhorn Bay
Caravan Park, they did not intend to build a community. But the garden they planted
began to flourish, attracting many people to come and visit, then to live and work with
them. Peter and Eileen have since passed away, but Dorothy still lives in the

community. Their legacy is a thriving spiritual community, learning centre and Eco-
village and one that is home to over 400 people from all over the world. Together, and
with the thousands who visit each year, they creatively explore how to live more
consciously and sustainably on this planet. Everyone knows one another and everyone
supports one another, and there are no cliques or folk with individual agendas. It's
very much a case of all for one and one for all.
Michael and Gail Shaw have been members of the community for over 30 years,
meeting and getting married at the Foundation in 1979. He is from Paisley, she from
Boston, Massachusetts but both found the experience of Findhorn immediately
captivating. "I had heard about it and came up for an experience week,” says Gail. It
involved meditation and sharing with folk and I thought 'Yes, I'm going to live here’.
Once I tied things up in London where I lived, I took three courses here and Michael

was teaching one of them. That was it!"
Mo Farey is originally from Seattle but settled in Findhorn last year after living in
Spain and London, and works at the Communications Department at the village. Since
she arrived, she has felt at peace with the world, but does security come with
contentment? "No," she says. "Not security, because you have to give up a lot to live
in this lifestyle. I feel support in an immense amount within the community. I feel
more engaged, more aware, more involved!"
As you would expect, recycling plays a major role in the life of the community; and a
wind turbine provides energy, with almost 30% sent back to the national grid. There
is an ecological sewage treatment called the living machine, the first of its kind in

Europe, where plants and bacteria break down the waste, similar to decomposition in
the natural world.
Gail sums up the Foundation succinctly. “Findhorn is a group of groups all under one
umbrella. One incredible family, where everyone is a brother or sister and you live
your life your particular way. It's a wonderful place to live. For more information go
to www.findhorn.org

Findhorn hosts the next ICSA Conference from 26-28 June 2013. The ICD will be there – will you?

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