Vol 3, No 1
Co-Creating
with the Devas
of Findhorn
by Celeste Adams
Many people see Findhorn as a place; but to understand truly what Findhorn is seeking to make manifest we must see it from the inside out, and that means from the center of our being outwards. This is true of any of the other centers of Light that are now beginning to emerge. The Findhorn Foundation attracts four thousand visitors a year, from countries around the world. It is a member of IONESCO and is recognized as a Non-Governmental Organization, or NGO, by the United Nations. In The Spirit of Findhorn, Roy McVicar describes how Eileen Caddy heard the voice of God in simple, day-to-day directions that inspired her, with Peter Caddy, to create Findhorn: Little in Eileen Caddy's early life indicated that she would one day be the co-founder of a New Age spiritual community or that she would develop a unique power to hear and to share the voice of God within.... Despite the fact that the land was barren and dry, beautiful gardens began to grow. In Faces of Findhorn, Professor R. Lindsay Robb of the Soil Association speaks about the vitality and vibrance of the Findhorn garden: The vigor, health and bloom of the plants in this garden at mid-winter on land which is almost barren, powdery sand cannot be explained by the moderate dressings of compost, nor indeed by the application of any known cultural methods of organic husbandry. There are other factors and they are vital ones. The other factors that Robb is referring to were Findhorn's co-creation with the angelic and elemental realms. In her book To Hear the Angels Sing, Dorothy Maclean writes about communicating with angels: I had never set out to learn to talk with angels, nor had I ever imagined that such contact could be possible or useful. Yet, when this communication began to occur, it did so in a way that I could not dispute. Concrete proof developed in the Findhorn garden, which became the basis for the development of the Findhorn Community. The garden was planted on sand in conditions that offered scant hospitality and encouragement for the growth of anything other than hardy Scottish bushes and grasses requiring little moisture or nourishment. In The Faces of Findhorn, devas and elementals are described as living forces of creative intelligence that work behind the scene. All life is considered an outpost or point of entry through which great intelligences externalize themselves. "The devic or angelic beings work at that level where the divine image or idea is sketched out into the archetypal patterns for all forms. The devas, whose name stems from a Sanskrit word meaning literally 'shining ones,' hold these archetypes in consciousness, wielding and patterning the forces which vivify the physical form and stepping these energies down to the elementals or nature spirits, the 'blue collar workers' who build the forms through which Spirit reveals itself." One member of the community describes a kind of sensitization process that takes place in learning to communicate with the nature spirits: When I came to Findhorn in 1971 I began to realize that I was experiencing a broadening of perception; it was as though my physical senses were being extended in a way that's very hard to describe. Walking through the central garden I experienced an extraordinary sense of being greeted and caressed by presences there which seemed to be connected with the flowers. Later that winter I came to follow up that contact with the nature kingdoms when Dorothy asked me to try illustrating her messages from the Devas. Today, Findhorn has become an important part of the world group. As their website explains: On December 8, 1997, the Findhorn Foundation was approved for formal association with the United Nations, through the Department of Public Information, as a recognized Non-Governmental Organization. This was the culmination of a series of official collaborations between the UN and the Findhorn Foundation. To learn more, we spoke with Richard Coates, a public relations officer who has lived at Findhorn for 25 years, and with David Buswell, who operates the enquiry line there. Celeste: Can you describe the relationship that people had with plant devas in the early years at Findhorn? Richard Coates: In the early days, we were famous for our 42-pound cabbages, which we don't grow these days. Well, I haven't seen any lately. We're told that this was necessary as a demonstration of the power of the people and an example of what we could achieve by cooperating with the nature realms. By working with those beings, we could produce amazing results. But having demonstrated that, we don't necessarily need to keep doing that. Our gardens are quite magnificent and are admired by many people who come and visit. Celeste: Dorothy Maclean is known for communicating with the devas and elementals. Are the people who come to workshops at Findhorn learning to communicate with devas? Richard Coates: Anyone who comes here does one of our "experience weeks," which we give all year long for various nationalities. People work together, live together, and explore together in the gardens. It's a personal experience of being here and how that relates to nature. We allow people to explore on their own and to have the direct experience of working in the garden. It's a very healing thing to do. Part of our experience is a nature sharing in the evening. One of the gardeners will come in and talk. We also have an evening on spiritual practice. Many people like myself will spend the evening, after work or on the weekends, in the garden, and that's part of our spiritual practice. David Buswell: Dorothy Maclean wrote a great deal about devas and nature spirits. She comes back here several times a year and gives workshops. When people are sensitive to plants, a relationship begins. Communicating with devas is a matter of sensitivity. There's no methodology as such to learning how to do it. That kind of sensitivity is inborn in some people. People who really want to develop that sensitivity go to our workshops, run by Dorothy or others who do these things. The gardeners here all have a basic connection. It really is an individual thing. Some say the plants are "talking" to them. Whatever they mean by that, the essential truth we've found is that the spirit within a plant is capable of communication. And when the plant spirits find humans they can communicate with, it's a boon to them. When human beings can recognize the subtle levels, the plant beings are overjoyed. In ages past, far more people had these gifts. In folk history, they had connections with what they called the fairy folk, or in Ireland, the "little people." So communication with nature devas is not something new. It's an ability that existed when people were closer to the land, one that atrophied with the development of the intellect and industrialization. But today, people are developing sensitivity, and these connections are once more being made. Celeste: How is the Findhorn Foundation organized and how does it operate? Richard Coates: The Findhorn Foundation was originally a charitable organization run by charitable laws, not corporate laws. Then it became too cumbersome to handle as a single entity, so it's been broken down into different organizations. Some are charities, some are volunteer organizations. There's also an organic farm, a café, and a shop. This has enabled a lot more people to become involved. Not everybody who is involved here needs to become a member of the Findhorn Foundation to be associated with the work that we're doing here. Celeste: Why is it important that a place like Findhorn exists? Richard Coates: It is a place where people can experience different ways of relating to each other, to themselves, to the planet, to society. It is a place that twenty-five or thirty years ago was on the cutting-edge of changing aspects of society. Many places around the world that now exist are based on what the foundation has been doing and demonstrating. The things we have been doing, like health care and organic farming, are now very much a part of mainstream society. Even thinking about the planet as a whole, instead of selfishly looking at the nuclear family, "my country" or "my town," is a change since Findhorn began. Findhorn has inspired people to look at the whole picture, not just part of it. Celeste: How is Findhorn spreading its message to the world about honoring and preserving the environment? Richard Coates: Six weeks ago, we had a Restore the Earth conference, all about trees — reforesting, and how we could influence politicians to take care of the environment. This was a precursor to the United Nations conference coming up in South Africa. We are recognized by the UN as a Non-Government Organization, or NGO. We have people at the UN who meet regularly and represent us there. We also have our Trees for Love project, which was started by Alan Watson Featherstone, who has lived here for as long as I have. The plan is to reforest the highlands of Scotland with native trees, going out with work parties and fencing off areas to protect them from deer and so on. Projects like Trees for Love might be small in terms of their individual impact. But as a whole, energetically, these projects build up exponentially. Thinking about the whole planet, and not just my little bit or my backyard — that's how we have to think. 
References: The following is a short selection from the many books about the Findhorn Community.
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