During the 60th Birthday Celebrations in November 2022 Robert Holden held an event to celebrate the founders and invited Jonathan Caddy and Roger Collis to share personal recollections of Peter.


Born in Ruislip, west of London, England, Peter was educated at what is now John Lyon School in Harrow, Middlesex. His father was a strict Wesleyan Methodist, though it was through his father, at age 10, that Peter met the well-known spiritualist medium, Grace Cook (1892-1979), founder of the White Eagle Lodge. Peter’s early life was steeped in esotericism, about which he read avidly, including the work of Helena Blavatsky and the Rosicrucian tradition. Peter’s first spiritual teacher was George Alexander Sullivan – also known under his spiritual name of Aureolis – who founded (c1924) the Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship (ROCF), into which Peter was initiated in 1936, by which time it was based in Christchurch in the South of England.

Soon after his first marriage, to Nora Meidling in 1939, Peter joined the Royal Air Force (1940). He served with distinction, ultimately rising to the post of Command Catering Officer to Home Command, and crafting practical leadership skills that would serve him the rest of his life, including the foundation of our Community. A champion athlete and middle distance runner, he completed several Himalayan expeditions during a posting in India, including a trek to Tibet. His love of the outdoors, walking and climbing mountains, continued throughout his life, and to this day Community members, including his son Jonathan, follow in his footsteps, taking long hikes into the nearby Cairngorm mountains of Scotland. A few years after the end of the Second World War, in 1948, Peter met and married Sheena Govan, a Scottish spiritual teacher who trained Peter, and later Eileen and Dorothy Maclean, in spiritual discipline. Under Sheena’s tutelage Eileen and Dorothy were to develop skills in receiving and recording guidance, whilst Peter continued training in intuition and obedience. Peter had met Eileen (née Jessop) in Iraq in 1952; they married a couple of years later. Around this time, Peter purchased a second-hand caravan for £650, now our ‘Original Caravan’, still in use today! Peter and Eileen’s first two sons, Christopher and Jonathan, were born.

After leaving the RAF in 1955 (as guided by Sheena), Peter found employment in a variety of occupations, even becoming a door-to-door brush salesman in Glasgow, during which period he met Lena Lamont, who was later to become the fourth founder of our Community. Peter became manager of the Cluny Hill Hotel in Forres, Moray, Scotland in 1957, and despite various events, including the unwanted attentions of the Press looking for a story on Sheena’s group, with which Peter and Eileen had now split, he and his team ran the hotel very successfully under Eileen’s guidance, by 1961 raising Cluny’s status from 3- to 4-star. Many years later Cluny was purchased by the Findhorn Foundation and is held to this day (June, 2023) as an educational facility. Eileen and Peter’s third son, David, was then born.

The Caddy family at Cluny Hill Hotel

During their second season at Cluny, Lena joined the team. The group continued their spiritual development, establishing links with centres around the world aligning to spirit – the ‘Network of Light’. One of their contacts was with Naomi Stephens whom Peter had met in the Philippines; she eventually joined the group at Findhorn in early 1964.

The hotel chain management wanted the success at Cluny repeated elsewhere, and it was to the group’s great surprise that they were asked to move to another hotel – The Trossachs in Perthshire. Despite their protests, Peter, Eileen, Dorothy and Lena were obliged to relocate there early in 1962. This hotel was known as the ‘graveyard of managers’: their achievements at Cluny were not so easily accomplished there, and at the end of their first season they were fired, without any reason being provided, and given four hours notice to leave. Peter, Eileen, Dorothy and the three children left for the Caddy caravan, which by then was located at Findhorn Sands Caravan Park. As the Sands site was not available for winter residential occupation, they found a space in a hollow at Findhorn Bay Caravan Park, next to a garbage dump and a broken-down garage, surrounded by weeds. Nonetheless, they moved the caravan there on 17th November 1962, regarded as the date of foundation of our Community. Lena soon joined them, placing her own caravan alongside theirs.

Over the following decade and more, the story of Peter’s life is intimately woven into the story of the development of the Findhorn Foundation Community as a whole—well-recorded elsewhere on this website. Peter was regarded as ‘leader’ of the Community until the late Seventies. It was during this time that several other figures emerged as ‘founding influences’, including ROC, David Spangler and Sir George Trevelyan. Over a seven-year period, Peter and Eileen gradually released their control over the Community. In 1971 Eileen was directed to cease sharing her guidance with the Community, and later also with Peter.

Peter established a “Core Group”, with both a practical management and spiritual focus. He noted in 1974: “To prepare for my leaving the community… we decided to form a Core Group… who would be responsible for the community while I was away …[I] am now gradually withdrawing to enable them to take on the running of the community.” In the period up to the time he finally left the Community in 1979, Peter delegated more authority to the Core Group. He travelled to various places worldwide, with Eileen and others, sharing about the work of the Findhorn Foundation Community, sometimes referred to as ‘The Role of Findhorn in World Transformation.’

Eileen and Peter Caddy

Peter’s priorities and his relationship with Eileen changed, leading to his leaving the Community in 1979 to develop a new life path, one of ‘world service,’ outwith the Community. He spent time in the United States, marrying Paula McLaughlin; and with Peter she bore a son, Daniel. Some years later Peter married Renata Zurn, with whom he developed a deep understanding of Eastern mysticism.

Sadly, Peter died in a car accident in Germany on February 18th 1994, shortly before his 77th birthday. Part of his ashes are interred in the beautiful garden grounds that he enjoyed so much, of the home where he and Renata lived in southern Germany; with another part scattered on Ben Macdui, the second highest mountain in Britain, in Peter’s beloved Cairngorms.

Eileen Leona Peter Mary Inglis

Peter’s former secretary Leona adds this personal note: “Peter served as ‘The Rock’ in the founding of our Community. His teaching of positive thinking and obedience to Higher Guidance (from his early training with both Aureolis and Sheena) has served us well, allowing us to ground and grow for over 60 years. He is remembered with great love and respect amongst us and worldwide”.

 

For a detailed, personal account of Peter Caddy’s life and work, see his autobiography, “In Perfect Timing”, The Findhorn Press 1996.

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This short biography was written by Richard Elen and Leona Graham, with thanks to the several sources called upon to compile this article.

Extract from the Timeline:

1917
Peter Caddy born in Ruislip, Middlesex, England
1936
Peter Caddy meets his Master, Dr Sullivan and is initiated into the Rosicrucian Order
1939
Peter marries Nora Meidling
1940
Peter joins RAF
1947
Peter and Sheena meet; Sheena becomes Peter’s teacher
Peter and Dorothy meet through Sheena
1948
Peter and Nora divorce
Peter and Sheena marry
1952
Sheena and Peter cease living as ‘man and wife’
Peter and Eileen meet in Iraq
1953
Peter meets Naomi (Anne Edwards) in the Philippines
Eileen leaves her marriage to live with Peter
1954
Sheena performs spiritual marriage for Peter and Eileen in Glastonbury
1955
Peter and Sheena divorce
Peter leaves RAF
Christopher Caddy is born to Eileen and Peter
1956
Jonathan Caddy is born to Eileen and Peter
Sheena, then Peter and Eileen and finally Dorothy all move to Scotland
Peter meets Lena Lamont in Glasgow
1957
Peter and Eileen marry
Peter is hired as manager of Cluny Hill Hotel, Forres; he, Eileen & Dorothy move there
1958
David Caddy is born to Eileen and Peter
1959
Peter and staff landscape the gardens at Cluny Hill
1962
Peter, Eileen, Dorothy & staff are transferred to Trossachs Hotel, Stirlingshire
Peter is fired from Trossachs Hotel, October 11
Peter & Eileen move caravan to temporary site at Findhorn, Dorothy stays locally
Peter and Eileen move to Findhorn Bay Caravan Park, November 17
Lena Lamont joins Peter and Eileen at Findhorn a few weeks later
1963
Peter works on garden in accordance with Deva guidance received through Dorothy
1965
Peter makes trips south to link up with people in British New Age movement
Peter meets Liebie Pugh and her group Universal Link
Peter meets R. Ogilvie Crombie (ROC) in Edinburgh
Peter meets Sir George Trevelyan at Attingham Park
Peter meets Anthony Brooke & Monica Parish
Peter meets John Walters on Iona, beginning Findhorn-Iona connection
Peter helps form the Glastonbury Foundation, deepening Findhorn-Glastonbury connection
1966
Peter, ROC and Kathy Sparks make “Unpremeditated Pilgrimage” to British sacred points
Peter duplicates and sends out Eileen’s guidance monthly under title God Spoke To Me
1967
Peter visits Samye Ling Buddhist monastery in Eskdalemuir, beginning long connection
Peter, Eileen & Joanie go to Cluny Hill power point on Christmas Eve, ‘cosmic’ inner event
1968
Findhorn Trust is legally established, with Peter Caddy as Custodian
1969
First spoken word tapes are published, featuring Peter, Eileen and ROC
Peter, Eileen and 3 sons move out of the caravan into a new bungalow on New Year’s eve
1971
Eileen is told from within to stop receiving guidance for Peter and the Community, October
1973
First Core Group formed with 7 members and Peter as Focaliser
1974
Peter Caddy’s first overseas lecture tour (North America)
1975
Peter and Eileen’s first tour together (Europe)
Peter and Eileen move into the Park Building
1976
Peter and Eileen make several lecture tours round the world
1979
Peter Caddy leaves the Community in November
1994
Death of Peter Caddy in Germany on 18 February
1996
Posthumous publication of Peter’s autobiography, In Perfect Timing

You can find other stories about Peter on our website

This link will take you to his profile.

You can find stories which refer to Peter following this link to his tag.