Editor’s note: this article was translated from Italian.

Last year, in midsummer, I visited Findhorn and then informed Italian readers of the crisis situation that the Community, known all over the world as one of the most famous and long-lived ecovillages, was experiencing. The Findhorn Foundation, overburdened by debts incurred during the Covid period, was rumoured to have sold one of its campus venues. Cluny, the large former hotel where participants in the numerous training courses organised throughout the year by the Community were hosted, and which were attended by people from all over the world, was up for sale. The negative financial forecast for the Foundation had become a sad reality.

I have wonderful memories of visiting Cluny Hill College, linked to exciting and emotionally warm memories of participating in Community life. It began for me in 2007, travelling from Italy to Scotland for many years during the summer holidays and sometimes even in winter, except during the Covid period. I was attracted by a love affair with this magical place called Findhorn.

The news that the hotel was now to be owned by someone outside of the Community, filled me with great sadness and regret. The same bewilderment that one feels in front of a dead person, from whom one senses that the soul has gone, no longer animated by the spirit.

Yet just at that moment I heard once again the laughter and the songs, which were a regular part of life when I worked as a volunteer in the large kitchen at Cluny. Before we started our daily tasks there were wonderful sharings. We took each other by the hand and each one was asked to express the emotions they were feeling at that moment, sometimes with words, perhaps a short description, or even sometimes with the choice of a colour, depending on the degree of happiness or sadness being experienced at that time. At first, talking about my emotions in a foreign language involved great mental effort. But then, over time, my English improved and so did my satisfaction in feeling a great emotional closeness with the foreign people I was sharing Cluny with. We were all united by the human condition, with the same needs, joys and sufferings.

60th Birthday Cluny Kitchen cooking crew ©Mark Richards @AuroraFindhorn 2022

Being helpers in the kitchen at Cluny was a lot of fun. The focaliser, or chief cook, determined for each one of us which vegetable he or she should take care of, given the vegetarian diet. There were those who cut carrots into slices, those who peeled potatoes, and those who sliced onions. For the latter operation, goggles were kept in a special drawer. They were worn to save the eyes from the tears caused by slicing all of those onions! Work was always accompanied by music, with singing and dancing during the breaks.

And it was a pleasure for me to relate to people of different ages and listen to their stories of distant countries, where I probably could never have gone on a trip but which were made so alive and interesting by their narration. This creative aspect of life truly animated the kitchen. Flowers were always placed on the top of the salads, which someone took turns picking from the garden at Cluny. They chose from edible flowers, such as marigolds, and took great care with the combination of colours and the presentation. It was as if the dishes were artistic representations, which had to satisfy the eye before the palate. Some took great liberties in the interpretation of the dishes. I remember helping a Canadian cook in the preparation of about forty pizzas and that, since it was a must to make the gluten-free version, we had prepared some with polenta flour. I told my workmate that this would horrify the Italians, the creators of pizza. But he replied that Findhorn was allowed such “oddities”!

big beechtree in Cluny

I also volunteered in Cluny Garden. The legend of Findhorn has been nourished for 60 years with the story of the exceptional harvests (the famous 40-pound cabbage) that the founders, especially Dorothy Maclean, managed to obtain in the gardens. This was achieved through telepathic communication with the Spirits of Nature or devas (angels in Sanskrit) as Dorothy called them. These spirits gave accurate and very practical advice on how to grow and harvest, on the connections with the seasonal cycles, and with the phases of the moon. The gardens in their magnificence had attracted agronomists first from the area and then from all over the United Kingdom. From their stories the Findhorn myth was born in the 70s and 80s. Such stories drew people from all over the globe to Findhorn. My acquaintance with the place, which began in the new millennium, enabled me to discover the reality of magical gardens more than 40 years after their first creation.

As in the kitchen, before working in the garden, there was a sharing, so that a flow of love and participation was created in the group of gardeners. Then there was the donning of boots and heavy jackets, which everyone could find in their size in the wooden closet attached to the greenhouses.

Obeying the practical British spirit, garden tools were collected in a kit, which included gloves, knee pads, hoes etc. Thus equipped, one went to the garden area you were allocated. I remember with great wonder the Garden of the Chakras, divided into seven sectors, with flowers corresponding to the colours of the various chakras. It started with the first one with fiery red flowers, which recalled the base chakra Muladhara, the one that connects us to the earth and the material world. There were roses in bud or in bloom and also begonias and geraniums. Then we moved on to orange flowers for Savadhistana, the chakra of sexuality and vitality, such as marigolds, tulips that were gathered in a large flowerbed and dahlias that perfumed the air around them. The third, Manipura, included yellow flowers but also a large mimosa tree. The fourth, Anahata, the heart chakra, had pink flowers, such as magnolias and dog roses, which were collected to dry and make herbal teas. The fifth one contained sea blue flowers for Vishudda, the throat chakra. Cornflowers and small flowers with the evocative name of “eyes of the Madonna” stood out above all. The sixth, Ajna, contained the indigo colour of the sixth chakra, the one corresponding to the third eye. It’s my favourite colour and I liked to take care of those curled flowers that usually appear in the bouquets of brides, but which I don’t know the name of. The last, the largest sector, was that of white flowers, corresponding to Sahasrara, the chakra of the crown, of purity, of connection with the universe and the divine. It had a great expanse of lilies, which shone in all their dazzling whiteness.

I have always wondered for what merits in my previous life I had the great fortune in this life to work in such an Eden. What if little Roby, the robin that often appeared while we were weeding, was my guardian angel? I was willing to believe it. Or perhaps the Angel of Findhorn, who was rumoured to overlook and guide all activities in Findhorn.

Nelson’s Tower on Cluny Hill

These memories all came to mind in a moment of great sadness, suddenly and without effort on my part. They made me understand that the reality of Cluny can only survive through the memory of those who have received so much from this place in terms of personal evolution – people like me. Especially if their stories are written down in black and white in articles or in a book, as I intend to do.

Will nothing ever be the same again, I wonder, now that the Cluny Hill College campus has been sold?

I have just returned from a dance and song workshop led by Barbara Swetina, the most accredited musician in Findhorn. I think that we will probably start again from the balance and harmony that music, more than other arts, can inspire. And from the contact with the Spirits of Nature, which are still said to manifest themselves, as invisible but active entities, which inspire the people who visit the Community and are part of it. Some, more sensitive than others, feel and perceive their presence. Eileen and Peter Caddy and Dorothy MacLean, 62 years ago, way back in 1962, are said to have been inspired by these angelic entities in founding the Community.

If you think that they still guide our steps today and rely on their help and support, then you can hope that none of this wonderful experience is ever going to be over.

Marilisa Patini

Click here to read Marilisa’s travel diary of a stay in Traigh Bhan on Iona.

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Photo credits: Marilisa Patini unless stated otherwise

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