The mystery lessons to do with money often entail working with attitudes: “Sometimes I feel I have a lot and sometimes I feel I don’t have any,” says Kathy, “but the truth is I have enough.” And Liza says, “How I feel about my level of prosperity has a direct relationship to my state of inner well-being; it’s all relative to my state of mind.”

Clothes can be very expensive, and sooner or later a new member discovers the boutique, where community members discard unwanted clothes and pick up new ones without any monetary exchange. Extraordinary tales are told of ‘ordering’ the exact item of clothing and receiving it just as envisaged. “I told myself recently,” says Phil, “that I would like some nice light-weight clothes to wear in the shop (where he works) and I found a £120 Dutch suit in the boutique. I also got £50 Birkenstocks there. But first I actively relinquished my old clothes.”

Two things can help members augment their income here. One is an attitude of loving awareness among people, knowing each other’s needs and wanting to help if we can, so that the giving-receiving level is probably unusually high. “I arrived broke in the community,” says Craig, “but I had total faith that everything would be supplied and it was. Sometimes I would find an envelope of money in my mail-slot, and once a community member took me out and bought me a whole new wardrobe.”

The exchange is not always financial. “Giving is in many areas here,” says Karen Aubrey. “Some people share their money, some compassion or emotional support. Giving means noticing what someone really needs and how you can help, not just discarding things you don’t need.”

Money is divine energy expressed through the area of the money market. All coins have the vibrational pattern of the mineral kingdom. The thoughtforms that flow to a coin have an esoteric effect. We can fill money with love when we give it to someone. It’s a networker, and through it we can spread love.

— Vita de Waal

Caroline, who is “delighted to have the privilege of having money in this lifetime,” has found a unique way of helping out tired and overworked members in need of renewal. She has devised a ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ where a certain person is asked to set aside a couple of days, pack their suitcase, and wait for instructions. These come on clue cards at odd places and in odd ways on the journey, which is tailored to individual needs and pre-paid and arranged by Caroline.

One person found herself being driven to Edinburgh to stay in a first-class hotel, with dinners out and concert and theatre tickets all arranged. Another person who needed time to herself at home was given breakfast in bed, a novel to read, a new hairdo, lunch and dinner outings, and new bath towels and bath salts for a little luxury. “It has to have the element of constant unexpected pleasure,” says Caroline, who meanwhile meditates for that person every night, giving on the inner levels too. “Sometimes a person needs to have a concrete sign that the universe is supporting them, just as I’ve had in my life. I’ve been given a tremendous amount—not just money—and it’s my way of giving something back.”

The other way to augment income is by giving services in the community or devising creative schemes through which, although obviously limited by the tax threshold, there is reasonable scope for earning extra cash. Mary, for instance, helps pay for her caravan by making and selling sweets. Some of our musicians perform in local hotels, and many people do massage, astrology readings, carpentry, healing work, chopping wood, etc.

There is some variation about whether and how much money to ask for these services. “I don’t charge for massage,” says Virginia, “because I usually do it on a barter basis, perhaps in exchange for another massage or as my way of helping that particular person if they’re in pain.”

For Jay Kassirer, asking a £15 donation for rebirthing sessions became an important lesson in his own growth. “I had a hard time at first,” he says. “It seemed a lot to ask. But it was a matter of coming to value myself and other people. I had to realise that I was worth that much and that people were happy with my services.”

Jill was in a deadlocked position of owing money to the community which was tied up in an unpaid debt to herself and, being relatively new, she had no allowance. “I thought I couldn’t stay, I couldn’t survive. But then I realised I could offer massage and haircuts. It forced me to stop resisting doing massage, which meant giving my time to other people, and to develop my skills as a haircutter.”

What is sometimes strange for people coming here to live is that there is no link between work and income. “Before I came to Findhorn I was working,” says Liza. “I knew I could generate income; I was in control of my budget. Here I was no longer in control because work was not connected to money. I had to trust in God—and it terrified me!”

Alex experienced the same thing. “Prior to coming here I had a cheque book and income and money in the bank at the end of the month, so I wasn’t concerned with it. Now if I want to go on holiday, for instance, it’s a question of trust that the money will come, and somehow it always does. Before I just saved it out of my income.”

Karen Aubrey really likes this separation of work and money. “One of the things that attracts me about being here is that I don’t have to work for money. My ideal is that we would get everything we need and give everything we’ve got, share our material resources. I much prefer this sort of exchange to using money, which doesn’t seem to have any heart to it. I like the way at Findhorn: if I do something for you, it’s not necessarily you that pays me back; someone else will do something for me. I prefer to work because I enjoy it, for free. Here my needs are taken care of and I work because I want to.”

However, Moray disagrees. “I’d like a more even exchange, labour for money, so people don’t use up their savings and resources when they’re here and have nothing when they leave to set themselves up in the world where everything has to be paid for.”

There are certain lessons here for people who know how to give, but are not so able to receive or ask. Till, our much-loved printer and a man extraordinarily generous with whatever material assets he has, recently left for Hawaii. To manifest extra money, he worked overtime on personal printing jobs as well as on the enormous amount of community printing. But some members objected, and this left him having to look to other sources for his personal income. Eventually, he gathered the large sum needed for his trip to Hawaii by putting out a request for help. “It was the most trust-reinforcing experience. I had £40 saved and within six weeks I had ‘money-fested’ £3,500. The technique is just to go to the centre, the place of peace within you. There you’ll sense this presence patiently waiting for you. Just communicate your needs. If you express clarity all the way, you’ll get what you asked for, or you’ll be told that it is not the right wish.”

When worry and strife are gone from money, it becomes highly mystical and abstract stuff, symbolising both the infinite and the finite. It shows the power of the spirit on the material plane. If God is everywhere, then God must be in materialism. I express my true spiritual nature in working with money. With the power of wealth, I create beauty and abundance in my own life and the lives of others.

— Maureen Smith

Brian describes the humbling experience on his travels prior to Findhorn of learning to receive. “I went to zero financially and had to live without the insulation of money. It was a great training in faith. Pride was stripped off in sheets as I learnt to receive the kindness and largesse of other folk in a position to help me, a difficult reversal of roles for me. I also learnt to be generous when I had only a little that hardly seemed adequate for me.”

At Findhorn, he initially had some resentment about more prosperous community members zooming off on holidays when he felt badly in need of them himself. He did the inner work of changing his attitude. “Then giving and receiving started to be more unconditional. I could take a wealthy person out for a meal because at that moment they might need someone to be symbolically generous to them. I learnt to concentrate on how I was doing with my money, to look at where I was blocked, rather than trying to impose my standards of fair play and equality on others.”

What is it like for those community members who are in fact wealthy? “I was born with money,” says Vita. “I feel I was given the custodianship of it rather than owning it, to share and make the best use of it. It’s lent to me for my lessons. If we use money for a higher purpose, then we can really make it a service to humanity.”

Caroline also came from a wealthy background, although she has experienced periods of poverty too. “I love money,” she says. “It’s an enabling energy; you can do things with it.” She arrived in the community with two cats, a boat, and a grand piano, and says she certainly didn’t want to live a student-type life out of a backpack. Now a single parent, she owns her own bungalow, which is very important to her in providing a good place for her daughter to grow and to be settled as a family.

For families, cramped caravan housing and the small allowance provide a particular challenge that the purchase of the Caravan Park and the building of new housing will hopefully ease in the future. As a mother, Karen Aubrey would like to see her teenage daughter have more money. “She’s more expensive than I am; she needs clothes, outings—the things teenagers need to do seem to cost money. She does babysitting and odd jobs, but she has little compared to other teens. I wish I had more for her sake.”

How do the teenagers themselves feel? “I never feel a lack of money,” says Sean, aged 16. “It’s not that important to me. I have enough for all my needs, though perhaps not all my wants. Money is a sort of luxury. People at school worry about it; they need a lot. I use it to help me live my life better, but I don’t let it control me. It’s a cushioned life here really. You’re always assured of dinner.”

Working with money in the community could be a real headache, but those I talked to seem to keep a high level of optimism and inspiration in their work. “I love the work in Accounts,” says Vita. “I watch the energy flow and relationships, from buyer to seller, obtaining something in order to make something else out of it. Buying for the kitchen becomes food for the community. I see how people relate to money. I work a lot with the anger and fear that people have around money and try to help transmute it, showing how things are related to each other. We can’t give a huge sum to one department. We have to keep the whole community in mind as well as the needs of our creditors and debtors in the local area.”

Joannie has been the community treasurer for 16 years. “We had guidance that I was to be the treasurer and I was thrilled,” she says. “I have always had a feeling for money and I like to use it.” Through all the ups and downs over money in community life, she has maintained a steady faith. “Money is concrete energy; it can do a tremendous amount of good and help in so many ways. In itself it’s not the answer: we must know that all our needs will be met and that as we think, so we create.”

Working with our thinking is helping us give birth to new thought-forms about money, to let go of poverty consciousness and embrace abundance. People in the community are stretching their minds to encompass these ideas. “I always had just enough money with none to spare,” says John, “but I’m starting to feel I could do with a bit more, so I can be creative with it. Money used to be just for survival, but now I see that it is an energy that can be used wisely. Previously, extra money would have been a nuisance because it probably would have meant extra possessions, and I wanted life to be simple. If I had an abundance of money now I’d be excited, but it’s also a heavy responsibility.”

“I used to feel safe with money in the bank, but I really didn’t trust the universe; I had no joy in spending it,” says Jay Kassirer. “Now I see that the degree to which I open up to spending what I feel is right with joy and tithing happily, draws the money to me. And you can say: ‘I’ve only got £5’ or ‘Look how much I’ve got—£5!’ Abundance is all a matter of attitude and values.”

The energy of money is seeking to redeem itself and is looking for creative individuals to make this happen. We must have giving as our focus, because the energy field around giving is very powerful and persuasive and tends to act as a catalyst. Once one person gives, it’s easier for another to give. Our complete focus needs to be on giving and trust that our needs will be met.

— Karen Hood Caddy

Karen Hood Caddy learnt a lot about abundance in the Bed and Breakfast business she runs from her bungalow. “At first we charged a certain fee and then we experimented with letting people pay whatever they wished to. Meanwhile, we gave them the best while they were here, served them on the nicest china, and gave them endless cups of tea and other niceties. The more we gave them, the more they began to give us. People now pay twice as much as they did before. We feel we are being abundant giving them all these extras, and they feel they are being abundant to us when they give a donation. It makes us all feel great.”

Alongside this concept, intertwining with it and sometimes contradicting it, is the call to a life of voluntary simplicity. “We don’t need millions of pounds,” says Jill. “If we’re right custodians, we can always have what we need. I’m learning to appreciate simplicity and little things.”

“Living here is demystifying,” says Kathy. “It takes the glamour out of things and shows us the world is a humble place to be alive in.”

Moray is concerned that opening to abundance can draw us away from spirit. “Living in a caravan brings you into closer contact with nature, a simpler life. The new age is about learning to use the very minimum for oneself. God can be found by following a life of simplicity.”

Craig lives simply on next to nothing. “I don’t resonate with the old world idea of responsibility in relation to earning your living in the commercial world. Being responsible means having a concern for humanity in general. I earn money through practical work and I’m happy to work for nothing. My early training with the Buddhists taught me non-attachment. I’m willing to give things away and look after what I have, and I always have enough.”

Vita sees it all as part of the learning process. “Voluntary simplicity was needed to break the thought-form of over-indulgence, to break the pattern and let a new one emerge. We need counter movements to get balance. Through voluntary simplicity we first become conscious and responsible, and then we can move into abundance.”

Another concern of members is the extensive starvation and poverty in the world. “It’s a question Findhorn hasn’t really addressed yet,” says Alex. Phil adds, “There’s no stable base for any sort of planetary illumination to emerge until the problems of the third world are addressed.”

Vita elaborates: “An awareness of other lives is lacking. Everyone who dies in the world is a little part of us dying. We can’t say it doesn’t relate to us; we have to face it. We should include this awareness in our everyday life and transmit nurturing strength to our planet.”

There’s still a lingering sense that spirituality and money don’t quite go together, a distrust of money’s energy. But there’s also a willingness in the community to purify these energies and work responsibly and creatively with them.

“Money can be evil if it’s used with selfish motives,” says Moray. “It’s a spiritual energy that humanity has the free will to use how it wishes. We need to be honest about our primary motive, which should be some form of service to others.”

Liza puts it all in context. “Many of us are from a very materialistic society that sickened and frightened us because materialism is so dehumanising. But money can be a great teacher for us. We need to learn the right use of the power it gives us. The spiritual challenge is to rise above our fears of money and see that God has created perfection, that in dedicating our lives to spirituality there’s no need to do it on a shoe-string. Sloppy isn’t spiritual. It’s a true challenge to rejoice in the beauty of physical things and live our lives with gratitude.”