Findhorn’s 60th birthday

On November 17, the Findhorn community celebrated its 60th birthday, marking the occasion when the founders and their children arrived onto what is now known as ‘The Park’. The anniversary week started with presentations, among which was the Carbon Neutral 2030 initiative which received initial funding of £250,000 from the Scottish government’s ‘Just Transition’ fund to prepare an even more detailed proposal to help a green transition. David Spangler, whom the community Founders made co-director on his arrival in 1970, led a beautiful virtual meditation, with the memorable line that “you are the founders for the next sixty years.”

In the past, these birthdays were highlights with old members returning, sharing about the good old days. This year had a different feel, as, like Auroville, Findhorn too has been thrust into a time of change. The Findhorn Foundation had been earning 90% of its income from its educational programme, and when COVID struck it was financially devastated, resulting in over 60% of the Foundation employees having to leave and Cluny Hill College, the residence for guests, being mothballed for two years. However, the wider Findhorn community (called the New Findhorn Association, NFA) who live independently of the Foundation, are growing both in numbers and in the amount they contribute to the running of the eco-village.

Tragically, some months ago there was an arson attack by a disaffected former worker on two of the most spiritually and communally significant buildings in Findhorn, the Sanctuary, the first building to be built as the place of meditation, and the Community Centre, a social and eating hub. During the birthday week the new Sanctuary ground was blessed, planning papers were delivered to the local council and the groundwork of preparing the site for a new building began. As an indicator of how the community could evolve, the new sanctuary is proposed to be shared as a community asset, owned and run by community organizations and members instead of solely by the Foundation.

Auroville and Findhorn, in spite of their differences, also share commonalities, notably the infusion of the 1960-70s seekers looking to create a new world in community. They have also shared similar fates before. In 1973 when Mother passed away, key figures like David Spangler and, Dorothy Maclean and many others (amicably) left Findhorn for the US. In 1979 Peter Caddy, another founder, left Findhorn, and the community woke up to the realization they were considerably in debt leading to a tightening of belts. The same year in Auroville was the height of the SAS crisis.

In the early 1980s an American millionaire Peter Callaghan had a vision of three centres of light – Arcosanti in Arizona, Findhorn and Auroville – and he set up the Hexiad project which supported exchanges between them. A number of exchanges have happened since.

To witness the shared struggles of both communities was strangely reassuring. Both still have pioneers who are creating new directions and embodying that sense of the spirit that brought life from unpromising beginnings to the vital centres that they are now, while succeeding generations are bringing their unique and contemporary offerings to both centres. A new phase is beginning with churning, but in both places a sense of rebirth – to something as yet undefined – is palpable.