This article was first published in One Earth magazine Volume 7, Issue 1, December/January 1986/7

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When I was asked to write this article I was told that under no circumstances was I to mention Roger Doudna’s barrel house, Ian Turnbull’s sanctuary or windsurfing. I can’t think why. Could it have been something to do with the fact that these topics have been pretty ongoing for a pretty long time? Well, far be it from me to fly in the teeth of the editors’ wishes. Mention them I will not. On the subject of windsurfing I have no difficulty in following instructions. It’s a strange past-time involving, as far as I can tell, putting on an odd looking rubber suit and then placing oneself in a position where one is almost certain to get wet. I suspect that a mutation found in the genetic makeup of members from Australia and Hawaii is responsible for a liking for this extraordinary activity.

The other two things, I confess, I find more interesting, but there is little danger that I will go on about them at any length since I can’t think of a lot to say except that they are both excellent structures. The nature sanctuary is quite beautiful and looks as though it has grown out of a dune organically. Ian is a genius with stone. Roger may not be a genius, but he doesn’t lack perseverance. And perseverance is nine-tenths of the whole thing. Or so the I Ching would have one believe. Almost every hexagram assures you that ‘perseverance furthers’. I find this hard advice to follow which is perhaps why the king does not send me ten pairs of tortoises in one day as promised by the oracle. Now Roger should be able to get all the tortoises he can use because in spite of some setbacks he carries on, and I have no doubt that sometime before the millennium the barrel house will be completed. But what am I doing, dwelling on matters that I’ve been expressly asked to avoid? I must be mad. On to other things.

This autumn we were blessed with an Indian summer that lasted well into October -warm, dry and mellow and as utterly unlike what is to follow as can be imagined. September also means the beginning of term and the Moray Steiner School opened its doors for the new academic year. From my caravan I can hear the school bell toll. It definitely tolls for me for it means that I have overslept again. The school is presently in three physical parts. Not, as you might think, because the children have blown it up as an exercise in creativity but because a caravan has been placed near the schoolhouse to serve as a classroom. The existing premises are not large enough to accommodate the increased number of classes and Drumduan, the house where the school is to go when renovations are complete, is not ready for them. At such times it’s worth remembering what is undoubtedly one of the great laws of the universe, to wit: It Always Takes Longer Than You Think.

We will have cause I think, to remember this law often as the planetary village comes into being. We have plans. Five year, ten, twenty year plans, time-share plans, all sorts of plans, good plans, but getting it all into form is going to be a long haul. Never mind. It’s the journey not the destination that matters. I love change and as long as John Talbott and his cohorts don’t dump my caravan in the Moray Firth, I’m all for it.

Bay Area Graphics staff – Tim, Claudia and Ronald

The latest business enterprise to emerge is the design studio, which has gone independent and calls itself Bay Area Graphics. This is the first Foundation department to do so and it will be interesting to watch its progress. Claudia Klingemann, Ronald Morton and Tim Barrable are the partners in this new concern. Tim has had another change in his life. His wife Judy gave birth to a baby boy, Julian, this September.

This ‘village’ influence pervades everything. It has even affected the most fundamental, most important area of life, one which goes to the very core of one’s being – food. Or the Food Shed to be more precise. The Food Shed no longer wishes to be a mere food shed. It aspires to something better like becoming a food cooperative. This means that it would sell goods to the general public for money just like a real shop. This will not happen for some time (see law of universe above), but for the moment these expansionist tendencies will have to be satisfied by keeping the kitchen food in a separate building and creating more space in the original food shed. It would also like to put itself on a more business-like footing by charging independent members slightly higher prices to cover costs. Dependent members, presumed not to have any money, get the same deal as before. A Park family meeting was held on the subject. Passions ran high. Food is an emotive topic. The issue is less who pays what but the nature of the relationship between independent members and the Foundation. This will become increasingly important as the number of independent members grows which it will as the village grows. What did I tell you? It’s that village business again. There is no escape.

There are apparently about thirty of them now. Not villages, independent members, most of whom seem to be doing pretty well. Jeremy Slocombe with Proteus, the limited partnership he has formed with his wife Dorothy and other community members, brought over an Australian television crew to film our October conference (of which more later) and has received a retainer to provide ideas for an Australian TV series concerning positive social change. The number of independents will increase by one when William Martin, for four years the mainstay of Audio, joins Stephan Wik and Francois Duquesne in their computer enterprise, Alternative Data.

You know, I’d love to know what Francois and Stephan actually do. I go into Apple Shed once a week for the modest purpose of churning out computer horoscopes. I do this on an elderly Apple II with a monitor that would look perfect if I suffered from terminal astigmatism. And there they sit, glued to their swish Mackintoshes, rapt. Processing data like things possessed, but to what purpose I wonder? Everytime I come in there are more machines, cables, hard disks, and they’re always in different places. Do they breed in the night? They’re breeding somewhere for sure, because Stephan has accepted a gift of 12 computers from Apple for the Community and now various departments like Publications and Accommodations are lusting after them.

The social event of the season has to be what was billed as the ‘royal wedding’ and I don’t mean that little affair down in London. I refer to the union between John Talbott of planetary village fame (here we go again) and Frances Edwards, queen of Personnel. They were married in Frances ‘s family church in Surrey on 27 September, then returned and did it Findhorn style a week later. The ceremony in the Hall was simple and moving. Frances looked beautiful in a classic wedding dress designed and made by Morley Grainger (talented girl, that Morley). John looked exquisite in his kilt, but I don’t know who designed and made it. This was followed by a delicious spread courtesy of Loren Stewart, Cornelia Buss and the kitchen crew. There was pizza and such was the gravity of the occasion that we didn’t have to listen to Loren and his henchmen singing ‘I am a Pizza’, the usual price exacted for this excellent dish. Then there was sacred dance and Scottish dancing to the music of our own ceilidh band. Art is not dead at the Findhorn Foundation, I am pleased to report. Barbara Swetina, Lily Kellogg, Rory O’Connell and others have formed a very competent and lively band.

October brought an unusual group of guests. The Findhorn Foundation Youth Project arranged a visit by 16 young Native Americans from Canada, mostly between 14 and 18 years old. They spent a week on the island of Erraid, then came here for ten days. On two occasions they delighted us with a pow wow which featured traditional Indian singing and dancing. It was a very colourful spectacle and there were also dances where the audience could join in. It was fun. What was less fun for me was the awareness that they were representatives of a deeply demoralised people and that for these kids discrimination and deprivation on account of their race was a common experience. At one point in the week there was a meeting of the Men’s Group with the Indian men and a meeting for the women. I don’t know what the men got up to, but we had a good time. The girls were, to begin with, rather shy. But once the ice was broken, they were open and friendly and they smoked like chimneys. This was the first time I’ve been to a Foundation meeting where the proceedings were interrupted by demands for a fag break.

The ever-popular Mastery workshop returned in September. Is there anyone left  in this community who hasn’t done it? It’s wonderful, superb, transformative! You may have gathered that I think quite highly of this workshop. It’s true. So I was very pleased to have the opportunity to ‘backrow’ this Mastery. This involves sitting in the backrow (obviously) and supporting the participants and leaders and, very important, making tea. Though not taking an active part, I still found this to be a very powerful experience. People have been fundamentally changed by this workshop. For example, John Talbott shaved off his beard after doing it. Alex Walker shaved off his moustache, though in his case it may be because he’s just left Accounts and is hoping that no one will recognise him and ask him tedious questions about money.

Along similar educational lines, Roger Benson and Maria Trapp recently offered something called DMA. I first thought it was a food additive, but apparently not. It’s all about knowing what you want and going for it. People said it was very good. There is also a workshop coming up called The Next Step which is being introduced by Vita de Waal and Dave Poulton. Dave says it starts where the Mastery leaves off. The mind boggles.

There  have been a number of comings and goings. Mary Harris is going home to Australia after one year here. Michael Swain is off to Southampton after eight years. Harley Miller has moved to England to continue his work with the Spirit of Europe Foundation. Returned are Carol Shaw and Seta (formerly Rosita) Gaston and, for a short visit, Roger and Catherine Collis and Lauren Marsak. Joy Drake and Kathy Tyler were back for ten days to give a Game of Transformation guide training course.

Peter Caddy arrived in September with one of his magical mystery tours. The group was here for a few days, disappeared and then Peter returned for a stay of four to six weeks. Eileen Caddy is off for a five week tour of Brazil and Argentina with Amanda Haworth. Amanda speaks Spanish which is obviously how she got in on that one, lucky thing.

At this time of year Essence and Orientation programmes approach. There are 15 prospective orientees waiting in the wings; Linda Parker and Craig Gibsone will focalise. Charles Petersen and Margaret Simpson (formerly Miller) will do Essence.

Big internal changes will occur when Jay Jerman gives up the job of Community Focaliser. Jay has given six months notice. At present he doesn’t see one individual succeeding him but feels that as we move into the village phase (I’m really tired of saying that but what can I do?) there is scope for two positions, one as Foundation Focaliser and one as Village Projects Focaliser. It’s not easy to see what administrative structures the new situation will require, but something will evolve. It always does.

And now the item you’ve all been waiting for, the annual jamboree know as the October conference. One Earth – A Call to Action, this one was called and I can tell you it was pretty action packed. There was a record number of participants, 260 I think, and as the week approached the burning questions were, could we house them all, could we feed them all, would the Hall sewers back up as usual. Well, we could and we did and the sewers did not let us down. This was because Loren, arrayed in all the splendour of the mantle of Park Focaliser, forbade us the use of the laundry for the duration. It paid off. We may have been dirty, but our drains ran free.

The main speakers were interesting and varied. Susan Griffin, author of Woman and Nature, gave a disturbing but riveting talk containing material that many people did not wish to hear. Some walked out. Guboo Ted Thomas, an Australian aboriginal tribal elder and old friend of Jeremy and Dorothy Slocombe (he married them), provided his delightful brand of Earth wisdom. Joanna Macy and Peter Russell were both inspiring and Jonathan Porritt of Friends of the Earth depicted ‘A Day In The Life Of A Green’ which in a humorous way showed some of the absurdities that can occur when vision and ideals meet The World As It Is. In the middle of the week, Ossian, the Scottish folk group, gave a concert which literally had people dancing in the aisles and on the stage by the end.

Also offered were experiential sessions, guaranteed to be transformative. So if after the Mastery, DMA or whatever you still hadn’t had enough, you could enter the Dreamtime with Guboo, become a non-human being in the Council of All Beings with Joanna Macy, transcend your fear by fire-walking with Neil Baird and Hilary Mackay-Martin, roast in a sweat lodge with Kajedo Wanderer or connect with the essential man or woman within with Danaan Perry. One was really spoilt for choice. I did the last of these and found it a truly joyous experience. The conference finished with a celebration and a disco in the Hall. A good end.

On the last night there was a total lunar eclipse. It seemed somehow fitting. It was an exhausting week and an exciting one and I think all who took part were made aware in a direct personal way of the beauty, fragility, love and pain of the Earth.

Now that the conference is over, God has put the boot in as regards the weather. Those golden, mellow days have vanished with terrifying suddeness to be replaced by more typical Scottish weather-frost, piercing winds and penetrating rain. It is the season of tea and hot buttered toast and television. The nights draw in, the clocks have gone back, the long underwear is girded on, the electric blanket switched on. Winter is coming.