Dürten’s warm smile was featured on the front cover of the Rainbow Bridge, following her death at the start of last week. She has passed into the light now but I will picture her still smiling at us all….the great number of us whose lives she touched, hands she held, and who have been hugged by her during her 30 + years of living, giving and serving in this community. Despite her very moving and beautiful burial on Sunday morning, which took place as gentle rain fell, perhaps representing our collective tears, its hard to absorb the reality that she is no longer with us in her physical body.

Dürten was a pillar of our community. This was expressed by the numbers who gathered on Sunday morning to accompany her final passage through the Park…with her body wrapped in a colourful shroud, covered in greenery and flowers, born on a trailer, driven forward by a slow moving tractor, with her family and closest friends leading the procession and her very large tribe of rainbow coloured community members following…we walked in silence accompanied by a steady drum beat which brought great dignity to the proceedings. In this way we honoured Dürten, accompanying her on her final journey to the green burial ground. This dedicated piece of land, created some years ago by two long standing community members who saw a need for it, has provided a place where burials can take place in a natural way. It’s a sacred place of memories held in the quiet stillness of nature.

The process of burial can be distressing as the empty hole in the soil awaits the body…on this occasion, in the spirit of Dürten, who had a life long deeply rooted connection to the earth, as did her ancestors, we were invited to lay green branches to provide a natural bed for her to rest on. After her body was gently lowered those of us who had brought them were invited to offer flowers…and as the flowers kept coming she was covered in beauty, symbolic of the essence she brought with her into this life. Words were spoken by Nicola Combe who was holding the ceremony, the family led us in singing, family and friends shared from their hearts. The farewells were poignant and moving, especially from her youngest family members. Standing in silence we were all united in this moment of grief, gathered to support the onward passage of her soul, each one of us holding our personal memories preparing ourselves for this final goodbye.

Afterwards we were encouraged to talk and share together. Dürten would have wanted this. Her burial, and the celebration of her life which followed, compered by one of her close friends, the delightfully expressive Ruby Worth, was a potent reminder of Dürten’s fully embodied, grounded and always very human presence amongst us. I kept expecting her to walk into the hall!

At the deepest level this coming together of the community (which included many on zoom) strikes a chord for many of us…in our increasingly disconnected, alienated, fragmented world isn’t this what we long for? That this community can provide this kind of healing, renewing, and transformative experience speaks volumes about what we have to offer the world at this time. Dürten’s spirit will continue to smile down on us. A timely reminder to heal our differences and step purposefully forward to demonstrate the possibility, potential and timeless importance of what Dürten dedicated her life to, which is the healing power of community. Something which has been lived here, not always perfectly, but with a steadily beating heart, for 60 + years…… the vibrant creative life force of community.

The newest expressions of this impulse, which include the possibility of the community buy out of land previously owned by the Findhorn Foundation, and the attractively designed community outward facing web site, a bud waiting to burst into life, are but two examples of how we are all being challenged to come together to embody and express the best of this community – the colourful co-creative weaving which has been lived, not always perfectly, but with a steadily beating heart, by thousands over the past 60 + years. The conch is being blown, reminding us that we are being called to step up, and step forwards as pioneers of this next evolution, a potent and moving moment in our collective history.

Sara Trevelyan