(this article is a chapter in Findhorn by Paola Giovetti published in 1995)

Most of the people who have given me their testimony are resource people, reference points of the Community: one can therefore contact them for further and more precise information on the Community itself, the courses that are organized year after year, the initiatives related to Findhorn which are also taken in our country…

The first testimony that I report is that of Giovanna Bonvicini living in Bologna, to whom I owe particular gratitude because my encounter with Findhorn is mostly due to her. When we visited the Community, with my daughter who accompanied me, we had the invaluable guidance of Giovanna, thanks to whom I was able to quickly orient myself in Findhorn and gather a wealth of information in a relatively short time.

Giovanna Bonvicini (photo Isabella Popani)

Giovanna Bonvicini: The laws of Manifestation

Giovanna Bonvicini… is a dynamic, open, enthusiastic and generous woman who has found her authentic dimension in spirituality and the New Age movement. Her testimony on Findhorn is twofold: the first dates back to 1984, the second is… from 1989.

My journey to Findhorn began in the winter of 80/81, when by chance the magazine “One Earth” fell into my hands, and shortly after through the book “Faces of Findhorn”, a testimony on the Community. I say “by chance” because I don’t believe in “chance” in the commonly known sense.

Everything has a reason for being and happening, but I didn’t know it. Now I know it for sure: it’s one of the many things I learned at Findhorn. Everything happens at the right time, when you are ready to accept it for your own evolution.

I suddenly decided that I would go up there, to Scotland, in this Community to do I didn’t know what. I didn’t quite understand what they were doing. Did they cultivate gardens? Did they talk to gnomes and fairies? Did they publish books and newspapers? Did they grow tropical plants or giant cauliflowers? My ideas were rather confused. I just knew I had to go up there to learn.

It was like an irresistible magnet.

I lived throughout the spring of 1982 in incredible expectation: I counted the days, like when I was a child when I started the countdown the days before Epiphany or my birthday.

A few days before my departure for Findhorn, the British Railways decided to go on strike. It seemed that they wanted to put a strain on my decision. But nothing could dissuade me: the means of transport were not important, I would have gone on foot if necessary. I was rewarded with a place on an overnight coach to Glasgow. From there, after a long cold wait in the coach station, another coach took me to Inverness, then another to Forres, and finally a bus dropped me off at Findhorn Park. I had arrived: the magnet worked well in spite any problem or impediment.

I said this to show how strong the appeal was, and for a good reason. It was time for me to enter another dimension. I had to be given the opportunity to understand that when human beings move in the right way, everything is made easier for them; that when one sets aside one’s selfishness to help or donate to others, he/she is equally rewarded without asking anything in return. I therefore had to have the opportunity to learn to use properly all that I could assimilate, to help other people looking for certainties.

Thus I spent the 15 happiest days of my last thirty years in Findhorn. I discovered a serene way of working in groups, in harmony with others and with nature; I laughed again like when I was 10 years old. One way or another I was given everything I was looking for.

The most extraordinary thing was that no one had taught me how to behave, but I understood it very well: it was as simple as putting on a soft dress of your size.

This year (1984) in August, I returned to Findhorn and again extraordinary things happened to me, difficult to tell because they are very personal. But there was an episode, to conclude, that I think can give a small testimony on the laws of Manifestation and how the personality attracts things through it.

First of all, I want to point out that according to my understanding, and according to what David Spangler affirms in his book “Revelation”, in Findhorn “Manifestation” is essentially a means by which God expresses himself and therefore it is “Revelation in action”.

But here is one of my latest experiences in the field of the Manifestation (I must point out that I have had many similar ones). During the two weeks of my stay in Findhorn I had looked in vain for a quartz crystal for my sister who wanted it so badly.

The last day (I had now abandoned the hope of being able to buy one there, and therefore I didn’t think about it anymore). Sitting on the steps in front of the Sanctuary, I find Leona, who had just finished conducting a workshop on the laws of the Manifestation. She calls me and says: Giovanna, I want to give you something”. She carefully unfolds a small package that she had on her lap and she delicately pulls out a quartz crystal of the size I so desired!

“For you!” she says looking at me in a strange way. I rest speechless for a moment because Leona did not know anything at all that I had desperately sought what she so simply and lovingly was giving me! I know Manifestation exists, but every time it reveals itself to me, I am momentarily in shock! But that’s not all, because a month later, in Italy, Leona received from me in exchange a gift that I didn’t imagine would be so welcome to her due to its particular meaning, totally unknown to me. So here is once again a Manifestation for the two of us: for me, who was looking for something not for my selfishness, and for her, who had given me something for the pleasure of giving.

These things happen all the time in that magical place called the Community of Findhorn, but they can happen anywhere when one has learned the right way to think and act.

Findhorn – 7 years later, 6/15/1989

What have these seven years meant to me, what do I still find so magical about it and what is the magnetism that still attracts me there, after 10 visits at different times, in different seasons and for apparently different reasons? Why am I going up there for the eleventh time to bring my fourth group of Italians who could not participate in community life because they cannot speak English? Why? Maybe because I love Scotland? It’s true, I love Scotland: its sunsets in hours when here in Italy, in summer, it’s already night; the clouds that race over the gentle heather-covered mountains; the woods, the fjords, the tides that in a moment cover the vast beaches; the clean and fresh air that smells of the sea and the forest; the wind that makes the yellow and red broom bushes dance, the sun that you can feel in all its warmth when it decides to impose itself. I love Scotland, it’s true. I would live there very well, and I have a particular affection for the Scots. It appears that I have lived in Scotland in some past lives. But that was not enough, because, even if I decide to travel around Scotland, in the end my journey always ends there, at Findhorn, or rather at the Findhorn Foundation. There is my real home, there I live as I would really like to always live: in harmony with nature, with human beings, with Creation, with the Divine, with myself. My mind is stimulated, my conscience widens: the confrontation with people of all nationalities is pressing but joyful. The teaching is continuous, but I learn by myself: I learn by observing myself, others, nature. Relationships are frank, loyal, without implications, even painful and sometimes very painful, but always aimed at understanding every nuance in order to learn to live with others, in a group, in full respect of the others’ rights and aware of my duties. The New Era, which is talked about so much, is here, but we don’t know how to deal with it: it is too big a reality and we are unprepared. It is as if a huge inheritance were given to a person who has always lived simply: what to do with this money, these estates, these houses? At the beginning he/she makes mistakes: squanders, relies on the wrong people, gets angry, threatens, sees his/her inheritance fade. But then he/she begins to think and inquires, finds the reliable person, learns how to manage his/her legacy. In short, he/she rolls up his/her sleeves in practical terms. For me in Findhorn one learns, as in other places, to manage this great inheritance that is given to us by Heaven, to understand, to develop, to transform this energy for the good of humanity and the planet. How many of those who read about it really know what the expression “New Era” means? Maybe you have a vague idea of a new heaven on earth. But how many really know how to reach it, this paradise on earth?

There are books that talk about this, and it is right to read and meditate on these writings. But for me, afterwards, it is much more useful to put into practice the fruits of meditation. And here is the usefulness of the Findhorn “gym-laboratory”.

I call it “gym” because working together – and I really mean material work, therefore the participation of the body itself with other bodies nearby – is one of the main teachings. We work in groups. I also call it a “laboratory” because the mind is continually stimulated in the search for the right way to face and compare oneself with fellow workers. In the New Era, to build heaven on earth we will work in groups, groups that will be so close-knit that they will not even seem like groups, but a single entity with various facets. Bright and pure crystals, illuminated by a single source of Light, the source of everything.

I have dedicated part of my life to learning so that I could be able to teach what I have learned, with extreme humility, knowing that I also learn by teaching. I am convinced that the more people experience Findhorn, the easier it will be to work together to prepare this earthly paradise, which is nothing more than the expanded consciousness of all Humanity, all encompassing, aware of the Oneness of everything, in the sense that we are ONE: we started from One, we fell apart, creating endless suffering, and now we must come back to reunite, to be that One that we already are, but of which we are unaware. Only then there will be heaven on earth, the New Era. The great Masters are pouring all their energies into planet earth to help us understand, also creating places like a school. The Findhorn Foundation is one such school. We Findhorn Resource Persons represent some fingers of the Foundation in the world. We act and behave in the same spirit that animates the members of the Foundation. We also sometimes work in opposition to negative forces, for the expansion of consciousness. It is not an easy job but an exciting one. I’m not moving to live in the Findhorn Community (at least for now) because I think I have to put into practice what I learned in the country where I was born and continue to learn up there. I think my job is to act as a bridge. […] I hope that more and more people will follow in the footsteps of all those who are on this wonderful spiritual journey, which for me began at Findhorn in 1982 and which I am sure will not end any time soon.

The “Spirit of Findhorn”

I wondered what I mean by “Spirit of Findhorn” since everyone perceives it in a different and personal way. So I can say what it means to me.

For me it is joy, it is awareness of my spirituality, it is cooperation and sincerity.
For me the “Spirit of Findhorn” is solidarity but also loving steadfastness. To be available to the person who needs the friendly word, as long as my strength permits. It is holding a hand, but if necessary also refusing it, keeping a close watch. Because it is also knowing when to say No.
For me it is living spiritually in continuous contact with the Divine within me, but with my feet firmly grounded.
For me it is trying to improve myself more every day, always trying to behave as my Divine Self suggests.
For me it’s forgiving myself and moving forward without wasting time on pointless regrets.
For me it is trying not to be hasty in actions and thoughts, but quick in execution once the decision has been made.
For me it’s just thinking positive thoughts and living in the present.
For me it’s a group of adults who laugh out loud, playing like children.
For me it is holding hands before starting a group work.
For me it is meditating with people of all ages, races, nations, religions and feeling in one’s place and accepted by all, without reservations.
For me it is working in harmony and joy.
For me it is awareness of the journey to be made on this Earth.

GIOVANNA BONVICINI

Paola Giovetti book cover

Findhorn by Paola Giovetti, Edizioni Mediterranee 1995 (in Italian)

Giovanna Bonvicini

Mother of two sons, lived in Bologna, Italy. Giovanna was a dynamic, open, enthusiastic and generous woman who found her authentic dimension in spirituality & her connection to the Findhorn Community.