Editor’s Note: this post was written by Marion Remus, our wonderful Resource Person in Bolivia.

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“It is not your task to go to Findhorn, to live and to work there, but to take the Findhorn-seed and to plant it into the soil of Bolivia – not imitating but taking the spirit of this seed” – this was the message, I received in September 1990, the year when I had consecrated my life to service, asking for higher guidance.

• What is it that guides you to find your vocation and purpose in life?
• What is letting you know that this is your vocation and purpose?

It is my own deep Life-Experience and my deep connection to the story of Findhorn and the three guiding principles:

Inner Listening
Co-creation with the Intelligence of Nature
Work as Love in Action

It all began in January 1987 when I moved from Germany to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, together with my Bolivian husband and our two little sons. In the same year our relationship went into a strong crisis. The suffering and struggling process brought me in touch with the Universal Wisdom Teachings and Meditation Practices. Hoping that those teachings may help to harmonise the relationship kept unsuccessful for three painful years. Helpless and without any vision for me and my children’s future, one day in January 1990, I did a little ritual of prayer and meditation and consecrated my life to service. I gave over to Universe, God, my Soul, and asked for higher guidance. I asked to be shown clearly over the year what my next steps should be. And I pledged to take no further decisions on my own until then.

The unfolding and outcome of that year was sheer amazing and most intense, putting the picture together one piece after another like in a puzzle game.

One of the details was, that I learned about the Realm of the invisible Nature Beings in my spiritual classes. That evoked a distant memory in me, having heard about a group somewhere in the North of Europe, managing a miraculous garden with the help of those beings.

Some months later, my grandmother gifted me with a ticket to visit Germany together with my sons. On one occasion, I met a friend who just came back from Findhorn. With an overwhelming enthusiasm and a face sparkling with joy, she told me about her experience there. When saying goodbye, she gave me the book “The Magic of Findhorn” from Paul Hawken.

Reading the story of Findhorn and the Founders thrilled me to the depths of my being. And one day, while reading the book, an extraordinary thing happened to me: I experienced a luminous energy shift and was shown a beautiful piece of land deep in pure nature and “knowing” it was 20 hectares big. And it was then when I heard that inner voice, telling me to plant the Findhorn Seed into the soil of Bolivia. The picture closed, the energy field turned normal. It left me sitting there as taken root on my chair. What was that ??? I asked myself.

More puzzle pieces of the picture and vision came into place. At the end of the year ’90, I was clearly guided to move to Samaipata, a small village in the subtropical Andean foothills. I got divorced and moved there together with my kids in February 1991.

Okay, I said to myself, let’s start to look for the land. But nothing what I saw, felt right. I began to doubt the vision, till one day in meditation, I heard the inner voice saying to me, “if this is your task, you don’t need to look for the land, it will come to you”. Oh hey, I thought by myself, it will come and knock at my door, who is kidding me?

I stopped searching and for the next two and a half years no angels were coming with the land. But other amazing, even strange things happened to me, giving me somehow the experience to trust in spiritual guidance.

I was called to travel to the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, in June 1992. There I met people from the Findhorn Foundation at the huge NGO-Forum. I talked to them about my vision and I asked if the Foundation helps or promotes to rise similar communities in other parts of the world. They answered no, but took my address.

Charles Petersen with Dorothy Maclean and Marion Remus at Aguas Claras (Argentina), 1996 photo Charles Petersen

The ball started rolling, touching ground in Bolivia in 1993, when I got a letter from Findhorn member Charles Petersen, asking if Bolivia might have interest in some Findhorn-style-activities. He was invited to come to Argentina and could combine the trip coming to Bolivia. “I have no idea”, I answered him, “but let’s try. And he came together with Jashana Kippert.

I organised public presentations and interviews about the Foundation in three different cities, Sacred Dance and Experience Weekends. Bolivians loved it and Charles and Jashana loved Bolivia.

It was also in ’93, when the land angel literally knocked at my door, offering the land exactly as it was shown in the vision, in appearance and size, and it felt right. I bought the land and started to build my new home and Nature Retreat Centre which took more than 20 years.

Over the next 15 years the spirit of the Findhorn-Seed unfolded itself tremendously in dimensions not even dreamed. The first years we did Transformation Games, Experience Weeks or weekends and had fun with Sacred Dances.

Charles Petersen with Dorothy Maclean and Marion Remus in Bolivia, 1997, photo Charles Petersen

In 1997 even Dorothy Maclean came, and we were travelling together for three weeks to many regions of the country, giving public talks, and running workshops on connecting with the intelligence of nature.

In 2003 while I was working with the German Development Service planting the Findhorn Seed reached out further to other dimensions. Miraculously fundings came together that several Foundation Members could come working hands on in many different practical fields, such as empowerment of women, conflict management, team building, participatory decision-making, water-recycling and catchment-systems, building compost toilets. Together we developed workshops and training programmes which we implemented all over the country. We worked together with indigenous groups and communities, with NGOs, students and businesses. Looking back, it’s still impressing me deeply what we did together and how we reached out, touching many people in their hearts and minds, shifting consciousness.

For me it was a deep learning process in trusting spiritual impulses, evoking potentials in me not known, to be part of bringing this to manifestation. It too was and still is always challenging for me.

With Galen Fulford and Lisa Shaw 2003 – 2006

Workshop Rural Communities with Galen Fulford

With Gill Emslie and Ana Rhodes

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Findhorn-Seeds Bolivia, Chronology

• 1990 January: Asking the universe for guidance.
Being invited to travel to different countries.
Receiving the gift from a friend of the book: The Magic of Findhorn;
Vision of Nature Retreat “Centro SOL – Planting the Findhorn-Seed into the Soil of Bolivia”.
• 1991 Moving from La Paz to Samaipata (living in Bolivia with my family since 1987)
• 1992 Earth Summit, meeting Jashana Kippert
• 1993 First visit by Findhorn Foundation Members Charles Petersen and Jashana Kippert; Organising Public Talks and Circle Dances in Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, La Paz; Experience Weekends at the countryside in Samaipata, Colomi, Lake Titicaca.
Buying visioned land and founding Centro SOL, June 21st
• 1994 – 1998, Inviting Charles Petersen and organising Circle Dances and Transformation Games in Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, La Paz;
Experience Week, focalized by Charles and Marion, “Connecting the Essence” at Centro SOL
• 1995 Meeting Dorothy Maclean in Aguas Claras, Argentina
• 1996 Helping to translate Dorothy’s Workshop at Millalen, Argentina (together with RPs Josephine Feller, Charles Petersen)
• 1996 – 1999 Focalising Transformation Games and Circle Dances in Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, La Paz; Giving Nature Retreats and Workshops at Centro SOL
• 1997 Inviting Dorothy Maclean and Charles Petersen to Bolivia, staying for three weeks
Giving public talks and Workshops on “God and Nature” in Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, La Paz, organised and translated by me.
Visiting Centro SOL with Dorothy and Charles, three days.
Visiting Nature Refugee Camp for wild animals, Carrasco National Park at Villa Tunari.
Visiting Sun Island Lake Titicaca.
Nature Workshop with Puya Raimondi plant at the Altiplano, plant which flowers after 100 years of age.
• 1998 Focalising Transformation Games in Salta, Argentina;
Focalising Circle Dances and Transformation Games in Lima and Cuzco, Peru.
• 1999 Retreat with Charles Petersen at Centro SOL
• 1999 Meeting May East in Geneva at World Service Intergroup Conclave and with Institute for Planetary Synthesis / UN (she supported me to come to Findhorn)
First visit of Findhorn, doors opened magically for me to stay three months almost for free:
Participating in Workshops: Experience Week;
Training for Group and Workshop Leaders;
Transformation Games Facilitators Training;
Participating in the International Forgiveness Conference; doing KP during the conference; being invited by May East and Rosie Turnbull to become RP for Bolivia.
• 2003 Taking a group of 8 people from Bolivia to Findhorn, participating in the World Service Intergroup Conclave.
Meeting with Michael Shaw and working out a project on water with Galen Fulford and a Youth Capacity Building Centre on Agro-Ecology CENFOTEC in Cochabamba.
• 2003 – 2006 Several hands-on activities with Galen Fulford and Lisa Shaw in CENFOTEC: Building Greywater Recycling Lagoons and Rainwater Catchment-Systems together with the students, giving classes on water cycles, Mural painting on water cycles.
Building Compost-Toilets and a Rainwater-Catchment-System for a school in the Indigenous Community of Puka Puka;
Installing a Solar-Water-Pumping-System in Indigenous Community of Japo;
Working on water with regantes of rural communities in Cochabamba.
• 2004 Participating at the “Connectivity and Synchronicity Conference” in Findhorn; Meeting with Gill Emslie, considering workshops in Bolivia.
• 2005 Running Workshops with Gill Emslie and Ana Rhodes on “Conflict Transformation” with Cooperatives of Ecological Coffee Producers, Caranavi
On “Teambuilding” with the Head-Office of the Association of Cooperatives of Ecological Producers (AOPEB), where I worked under contract with the German Development Service, La Paz
And with Directors of the Association of Orphan Childrens Villages (SOS), Cochabamba
On “Empowerment and Leadership of Women” (AOPEB), La Paz
• 2006 Workshops with Gill & Ana on “Conflict Management” with German Development Service and Partner Organisations, La Paz
On “Communication, Leadership and Improvement in the working field” with AOPEB staff, Presentation about the History and guiding Principles of Findhorn, Coroico
On “Leadership and Inner Conflict Resolution” with Ecological Coffee Producer Organisations, Caranavi
On “Empowerment of Women” with a Cooperative of Brazil Nut Producers, Riberalta;
And with a Cooperative of Quinoa Producers, Oruro.
• Facilitators Training Course I on “Empowerment of Women”, La Paz.
• 2007 Facilitators Training Course II on “Empowerment of Women”, Samaipata.
“Gender Forum” with AOPEB-associated Cooperatives, La Paz.
Workshop on “Leadership and Conflict Resolution” with a Cacao producing Cooperative, Sapecho.
Groupwork on Gender-Equality, Analysis, Measuring Impacts, Participatory Planning of Activities, Building Commissions of Women’s Representatives in Producer Cooperatives, Tarija
• 2016 Training on Transformation Solo Game in Findhorn.
• 2019 – 2020 Participating in the Online-Course “Living the New Story – Sacred Economy – Sacred Ecology” with a group of 8 spiritual and ecological engaged friends living in Samaipata.
• Presentation of Findhorn (ppt in Spanish), “History and the Guiding Principles”, Open Day, Community House Amatista, Samaipata
• 2021 EDE-Training on Ecovillage Design, GEN, online
• 2023 Visiting different implementations of “Syntropic Agriculture” with groups, Barichara, Colombia (Together with our ongoing working group of the EDE-Training)
Organising Meetings with different ecological working groups in Samaipata on the topic of “Syntropic Agriculture and Co-Creation with Nature” with the facilitator of Colombia.
• 2024 Organising 3-day-Workshops (teórico-practico) on “Syntropic Agriculture and Co-Creation with Nature”, Huerta Ecológica Samaipata with students of the Agricultural Faculty of Universities, Santa Cruz

Guest Author

Guest Authors are contributors who are not COIF members (for various reasons).