Contact with Nature Spirits
What in the world was all this stuff about devas, pan being alive, and elves, pixies and all manner of fairy folk being real?


My background includes five years trying my vocation to be a Benedictine monk, so for my first few months in Findhorn in 1970 I poked around asking lots of questions, generally playing the part of the expert sceptic. But I discovered a great affinity with Dorothy, and found her explanation of the devic realm made perfect sense in the context of the theology of angels.

I found it virtually impossible to disbelieve Robert Ogilvie Crombie (ROC)’s tales of his experiences, particularly as he himself had sceptically appraised them until he could no longer doubt them.

Gradually I became aware of my own increasingly unusual perceptions. Invisible hands greeted and caressed me as I walked in the garden; an astonishing feeling of great presences that carried with them the perfume of flowers and beautiful colours that, unlike their physical reality, seemed to enter deep within me at a spiritual level.

Dorothy’s request for illustrations for her next published set of deva messages led to my discovery that I could tune into the devas and produce images symbolic of their function. They are still published as the Deva Drawings. Not long after this I was in Edinburgh and ROC invited me to stay at his flat for what proved to be one of the most memorable weekends in my whole life.

ROC had been prompted to take me to two places with strong nature associations: The Botanical Gardens and The Hermitage of Braid by Blackford Hill.

On passing through the gate of the Botanical Garden ROC told me simply to report to him any impressions I received. Immediately I found myself with a vivid, physical and undeniable feeling of wading through a medium as resistant as flowing water but carrying a tingling electrical charge, which flowed around my ankles and through my whole body. I accurately identified the direction of flow of successive rivers of ley energy, while ROC pointed out markers in the Edinburgh skyline with which they lined up. Then as we walked by the Garden’s art gallery, I became aware of an over-whelming presence I had never sensed before. In my mind I could vividly see a stunning image of Pan standing on the grassy mound in front of the gallery. I could have rendered a picture of him in detail and colour even though my eyes saw nothing. I was diffident about telling ROC of this but I had stopped involuntarily and he turned to face me with an amused smile. So I said, “Is it … could it be Pan?” “Yes,” he answered, “And he wonders why it took you so long to pluck up the courage to speak. He welcomes you into his world!” And indeed, from this moment, but only when initiated from his side of the veil, I have been able to ‘see’ Pan and the other elementals that are his subjects.

Brian Nobbs