MY FIRST ARRIVAL IN 1971

Findhorn attracted me because it believed in fairies and so do I. We came in September 1971 on the night train and were picked up from Forres station by Peter Caddy. Five of us stayed in a caravan. I was surprised that it was in a caravan park. Around the Community Centre was a special energy, and where the Universal Hall now stands, there were chickens. It was like walking through a magical energy field into paradise! It was so abundant and alive. There was no Experience Week then. We met in the Community Centre and attuned for work in the mornings. In the afternoons we had tea with Eileen, David Spangler, and with the people whose bungalows now bear their names. I also met ROC. In the evenings there were optional talks and a sharing on Friday night in the CC, but it did not have much structure. It was a lovely time.

Easter 1974 I returned to Findhorn. It was much bigger now, with so many Americans. The Universal Hall had been built but I felt the community had lost some of the magic I felt during my first visit. I missed the intimacy. David and Dorothy had left. There was now an Experience Week. My intention had been to see if I could live here. Eileen said: “Not everybody can live in a community,” and she told me to get my own guidance. So I went back to London.

In 1980 I received guidance: Go to Findhorn and buy a house. I was shocked and wrote to Eileen. The Cluny Hill Cottage had just been put on the market. I looked at it but did not want to buy it. I received more guidance: If the Beloved needed you, would you not go?

At Easter I heard: You are going to buy the Cluny Hill Cottage. It is being arranged. By chance I met Peter Dawkins the day before he was driving up to Findhorn with Tom Welch. Peter invited me to join them. I accepted his offer, surrendered, and bought the Cluny Hill Cottage in September, exactly nine years since my first visit.

Marilyn Barry