I am finding this such an important time – With reference to Eileen’s guidance that we would grow from a family, group and community into a village, town and city of light, we are clearly becoming established in the second ‘triad’. A characteristic of the first ‘triad’ of family, group, community is that they are all single entities, whereas the second ‘triad’, village, town and city, are all comprised of multiple organisations. The era of the Findhorn Foundation, and then Findhorn Foundation and Community is over, and we’re now establishing organisational relationships within the greater unity of ‘What the World Calls Findhorn’. (Click here for a poetic expression of that unfolding.)

The NFA phone book, which lists around 500 people and perhaps as many as 250 business and organisations, is one of the indicators of our scale and character. Informed people tell me that there are about 2,000 people living between Elgin and Nairn for whom the community is their spiritual home and the principal reason for being in the area.

Without the Foundation’s organisational anchor and economic momentum, our principal organisations find themselves in an arena of crisis / opportunity. The Enterprise Fair in September showcased 60 businesses and organisations, and our growing awareness of an interdependent local economy has the potential for further vitalising this new era.

The recent appointment of new trustees to the (likely to be re-named) Findhorn Foundation SCIO is also an indicator of new times ahead. We are now in a six-month period of exploration during which we will assess the organisation’s viability and relevance, and also the value of changing it into a ‘Tier 2 SCIO’ in which its membership elect trustees. Although the election and nomination process catalysed considerable reaction and a subsequent three week period of reflection, the appointments have gone ahead and Marilyn Hamilton, Sara Trevelyan, Liza Hollingshead, and I are now trustees with Judy McAllister planning to join us in November once she has returned from a month of teaching. Our arrangements are that the SCIO’s AGM will be held on Friday, 10th October at which point the existing trustees will resign and a new chair and treasurer appointed. The retiring trustees have offered to remain available for advice and consultation – thank you!

Preliminary inter-organisational meetings have taken place including between Ecovillage Findhorn (EF CBS), NFA, Education Circle and FF SCIO, and the over-riding quality has been one of collaboration and mutual support. My hope is that the specialist boards of our various membership organisations will work together to vitalise our new unity. In this context, I see the renewed SCIO as an economic pump, supporting local and global educational and cultural activity, both in-person and on-line, and in this way supporting EF CBS, the Phoenix and local accommodation providers by increased numbers of people staying at The Park and locally to co-create a vibrant whole system.

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Photo credit: thanks to Margo van Greta for the image on top.