I wrote these short stories when I read the appeal to contribute memories to the Topic – Our Foundations.
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Moments with Peter 1

Dinner time 29th August, 1970:
I arrive with my then boyfriend, Ian Campbell, around 7:00 that Saturday evening after an overnight coach and a challenging hitch-hike. Peter sees us and asks me if I’m a fast typist and asks Ian if he can dig ditches. We both say yes and Peter tells us to wash our hands and help ourselves to dinner. Bright and early on Monday morning he introduces me to Dorothy Maclean and announces that I’m her new assistant. Ian joins a ditch-digging crew and is soon appointed one of the landscapers at first under Peter’s direction and then with Mathew Shield trusted to make planting decisions.

Moments with Peter 2

1970, 71 and 72. Early days still and there’s no Experience Week for guests. John Hilton takes guests to Randolph’s Leap and several of us chip in by giving tours of the community. New members sensing I’m a safe person to ask sensitive questions ask me what Peter is “really like.” I often answer by telling them if they see a light on in the Caddy bungalow in the wee hours it might well be because Peter and Eileen are helping someone. Offering informal counselling, a listening ear and a shoulder to unburden. Their front door is always open and they’re really not as intimidating as they may appear. They work very, very hard each in their own way, ultimately in a life of service to others.

Moments with Dorothy 1

Dorothy and I worked closely together in the then green office near the Sanctuary for about a year and a half. My first task of each morning was to type up Eileen’s Guidance from her teeny-tiny handwriting and make sure it was ready for Victor Bailey to print up by elevenses. Once done Dorothy and I walked over to her caravan which was bordering Johnny Bichan’s field (now the Field of Dreams of course). Dorothy made what she called “milky coffee” and we had 10 perfect minutes often talking about her contact with Devas.

Moments with Dorothy 2

It’s summer 1975 and Dorothy has moved to California with the fledgling Lorians living in the Bay Area. I was a little English girl “doing America” on $10 a day, literally. Arriving in the Palo Alto area, Dorothy offered to take me to a nearby redwood forest and I jumped at the chance. Well, you can imagine how awed and enchanted I was among the giant, sentient beings and more so when Dorothy spontaneously felt a connection with the Redwood Deva. I expect her words from that day are written somewhere, but to me she was just Dorothy, a friend and former colleague, perhaps the easiest of all the founders to be with in a natural, easy way as many others experienced over her 100 years of life.

Moments with Eileen

It’s summer 1974 and Peter has arranged with John Walters for me to cook at The Argyll Hotel on Iona for the summer. One week, maybe August, Eileen arrived on Iona by herself and stayed at The St. Columba Hotel. We ran into each other on a walk and she asked me to please come and have tea with her. Turns out she is staying alone on purpose needing time and space on Iona after Peter’s feelings for Alice became known in the community. During tea we talked simply as two women whose husbands had developed feelings for another woman. My short marriage to Ian had ended that spring when he fell in love with Sheila. Though in very different circumstances, Eileen and I shared a vulnerability and bonding over tea that afternoon and I will never forget her courage and faith that inspired me to forgive. And to learn how to put the outcome in God’s hands, no matter how impossible it may seem at the time. A lifelong lesson.

Moments with ROC 1

It’s 1971 and Pink Floyd rule the airways and party scene. The album Ummagumma is making the rounds among several of us, and being played very loudly in Pineridge especially. One evening ROC tells us that certain tracks on Ummagumma are drawing dark energy to Pineridge and asks us not to play the album any more. Not everyone complies but I trust ROC’s awareness. In those days, ROC walked the boundaries of the community when he was visiting, sometimes with Brian Nobbs, to keep our Light strong. Also, he specifically mentioned The Incredible String Band whose members were Scientologists. Again, he asked community members to refrain from playing their albums because Scientology energy and rituals were in some way coded into the music. I don’t think our dear ROC used the word “coded” but now we all understand how that can occur. These days, I wonder if he’d let us watch the Top Gun movies with famous Scientology member Tom Cruise ?

Moments with ROC 2 and also Myrtle Glines

It’s 1972 and someone, I can’t remember who, brought Egyptian Dance to the community. One day we were performing on the CC lawn and I was absolutely loving it all, the music, the movements, all feeling familiar, perhaps from a past life as I then understood it. Suddenly the music stopped, and Myrtle came over to me looking very stern and concerned. She said that ROC who was on the CC patio watching us, told her that he could see that I was far too open and in danger of being taken over by an ancient Egyptian spirit that did not have my best interests in mind. She pulled me out of the dancing group and took me to one side. I recall being very miffed at the time because the other dancers were allowed to continue. But not me!

Moments with David Spangler

Early September, 1970

David had arrived with Myrtle Glines in mid August and was in full flow connecting with a universal Being called Limitless Love and Truth. His previous transmissions had been for community members only but that evening he connected with LL and T with everyone present, including visitors. It was only my first week at Findhorn and I was thrilled to be included. About halfway through the transmission I felt myself going out of my body into an expansive realm, seeing clearly what was being described as “a new heaven and a new earth” and apparently I began to faint. Someone helped me out and as I came around Myrtle came over to see if I was alright. The following day Peter and David announced that from then on the transmissions would go back to being for members only or a small select group as it seemed they were too strong for visitors who had not yet acclimatized to the energy of Findhorn. And secondly, Peter suggested that I should help Ed Maxcy (Alexis) transcribe the recordings of David’s talks and transmissions. That doing so would help me get used to the higher frequency. What a brilliant solution for all of us.

On the bus to Westminster Theatre London for Introduction to Findhorn 1973

The featured image is a Findhorn Wedding snapshot of Mik and Angela Leach Summer 1972.
Left to Right. Joanie, Peter, Eileen, Ian Campbell, Angela, Mik, Carly (then Carol Campbell)