Do you know about Findhorn?

[Tanemon]

I'm just wondering if people here know about the Findhorn alternative community... It's in Scotland. Apparently, it got a lot of attention 30 years ago. They had a garden that struck visitors as being especially "vibrant" :uhhuhuh: ... and that produced wonders like 40 pound cabbages. :holycow: The people who started it felt they were working with devas and with nature spirits.

Since MW is an English-language forum, could be some people who see this post are actually from England or Scotland. Maybe you've been to Findhorn (??).

Anybody know if much is happening at the community these days?

:sunny: Tanemon

[Seren_]

I wrote to the Findhorn community about ten years ago hoping to spend the summer there as a kind of spiritual retreat. A friend had told me about it, since she knew people who'd been there back in the day when it was some sort of hippy retreat style place, where you could go and spend pretty much as long as you liked.

They wrote back and were very very nice and helpful but the prices they wanted to charge were frankly extortionate - or so I felt as a student at the time. I can't remember how much they wanted to charge a week but it was more the sort of price you'd expect to pay to go to a luxury spa or something. They were at least honest and up front about it, and very apologetic that it was obviously going to be beyond my means. I couldn't afford to go for even a week, so I never did get there. I was disappointed, but they did seem like a nice bunch of people and offered a lot of courses and workshops that seemed to be interesting - although very New Agey, I think, so not something I'd be so interested in now.

[Tanemon]

I wrote to the Findhorn community about ten years ago hoping to spend the summer there as a kind of spiritual retreat.... They wrote back and were very very nice and helpful but the prices they wanted to charge were frankly extortionate - or so I felt as a student at the time. I can't remember how much they wanted to charge a week but it was more the sort of price you'd expect to pay to go to a luxury spa or something. They were at least honest and up front about it, and very apologetic that it was obviously going to be beyond my means.
I think I read somewhere that 10 or 15 years ago Findhorn got into some kind of financial bind. I believe they were trying to build their eco village, to give people there a good eco-friendly place to live. Maybe at that time they started asking high fees to deal with their finances. I couldn't say.


I couldn't afford to go for even a week, so I never did get there. I was disappointed, but they did seem like a nice bunch of people and offered a lot of courses and workshops that seemed to be interesting - although very New Agey, I think, so not something I'd be so interested in now.
What aspect of the "new agey" thing rubs you the wrong way (or rubs you the wrong way most :hmmmmm: )?

:sunny: Tanemon

[_Banbha_]

One thing, among many, "New Age" things is they are often expensive. That's not a good sign for me personally when it comes to a 'spiritual' experience. There are many myths about Findhorn and I would guess they have found a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

[Seren_]

What aspect of the "new agey" thing rubs you the wrong way (or rubs you the wrong way most :hmmmmm: )?

:sunny: Tanemon

For the most part it's not the fact that it rubs me the wrong way, it's just that it doesn't really have much meaning to me, personally, or the way I express my spirituality. Especially with the price tag attached.


One thing, among many, "New Age" things is they are often expensive. That's not a good sign for me personally when it comes to a 'spiritual' experience. There are many myths about Findhorn and I would guess they have found a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

This pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter.

[Tanemon]

One thing, among many, "New Age" things is they are often expensive. That's not a good sign for me personally when it comes to a 'spiritual' experience. There are many myths about Findhorn and I would guess they have found a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Could be. I've heard that opinion from some people.

I'm more curious these days about their eco village... which is just a planned intentional community that has low-environmental-impact as a main goal... plus some kind of built-in recognition of nature and nature's importance. I don't know whether the people living in the eco village subscribe to all the early beliefs and practices and aims of the old Findhorn Community, like when it was a spiritual community. I get the sense that the two phases (spiritual and ecological focuses) mey exist side by side, but sort of separately.

But I have reason to go to Scotland in about six weeks, so I've thought about putting a visit to Findhorn into the itinerary. But I've wondered if it would be worthwhile or be a diappointment.

:sunny: Tanemon