The most advanced experiment, involving communication with plants, has developed in a remote corner of Northern Scotland.
Three miles as the raven croaks, from the battlements of Duncan’s Castle at Forres, and just South of the heath…where 3 witches prophesied to Macbeth.
It is here that an ex-raf squadron leader, (turned hotelkeeper), decided to take up residence with his wife, and three young sons….in the derelect corner of a caravan park on Findhorn Bay.
It was a rubbish heap of old tin cans, broken bottles, bramble and grose bushes.
Peter Caddy, (who once walked two thousand miles through the Himalayas), crossing Kashmir, deep into Thibet, has been a follower, since his youth, of a school of “Adepts”, whose object is to bring back beauty and wonder to this planet.
He was illumined by the dictates of his consciousness, or the “Will” of an all-powerful creative force which was revealed to him by his clairvoyant wife, Eileen, so they made the decision to pull up their roots and move to Findhorn Scotland.
Accompanying the Caddys was another “sensitive”, Dorothy Maclean, who had left the Canadian Foreign Office, to study “Sufism”.
For some time the Caddys had been intent upon radically changing their lives….by turning away from mundane occupations, and materialist pursuits, in order to enter upon, what Caddy calls, “a long period of training and preparation”.
During this time, they planned to surrender everything. This also included all personal volition, to a “being” they call “unlimited power and love”, whose “will” is manifest to them, through the guidance of a deceased Rosicrucian master.
This master they recognized in the flesh, as Dr. G. A. Sullivan, and in the spirit as “Aureolus”, or (Saint Germain), the master of the seventh ray.
Findhorn Caravan Park
To be fair, the place in which the Caddys least expected to settle, was this unsightly, over crowded encampment of Mobile Homes, known as the Findhorn Caravan Park. (For years they had hurried past it, on their way to and from Forres). Now some mysterious force was over-riding their aversion.
Following what appeared to be a crystal guidance, they wheeled an old caravan onto the site of their new home. It was less than half an acre, in a hollow, not far from the main cluster of trailers.
A patch of land composed mostly of sand and gravel, (that was constantly swept by gale-force winds), protected only partially by tufts of broom and quitch grass, which kept the sand from blowing away. It was shaded by a belt of spiny fir trees.
With winter coming, it was a dismal prospect. Following the concept of Monks, who used to build their monasteries by hand, putting love and light into the fabric of the building, with every stone they laid….the Caddys cleaned their rickety trailer, from top to bottom. They polished all the furniture, pouring in vibrations of love….to cancel out negative vibrations, they considered to be inevitable, in structures built by people, interested only in money.
Cleansing and hand painting the caravan, was a first step toward the creation of their own center of light.
The Pioneers
As none of the Findhorn pioneers was employed, and their meager resources would carry them through only one dark and clammy, Scottish winter….they dreamed of springtime…and establishing a garden. To increase the protective shield of light around them, and as a source of healthy nourishment.
When Easter rolled around, to herald a Renaissance of the land….the arid, lifeless soil surrounding their caravan, seemed hopeless for growing anything edible. Caddy, who had never sown a vegetable seed in his life, felt like Noah….when guided to build an Ark, where there was no water, but he persisted.
Either guidance was to be followed to the letter, or they might as well return to the world of business. His Rosicrucian masters, had taught him one prime rule of life: “To love where he was, to love whom he was with, and to love what he was doing”.
His wife Eileen, would rise regularly at midnight, and meditate for several hours. She had read, “that everyone receives his spiritual name, at some point in life, and that only then, can he begin his spiritual work in earnest. In 1953, she had felt the word “elixer”, branded on her forehead, so she adopted the name, and from then on, her guidance was constant.
The Vision
In her clairvoyant vision, “Elixer” saw seven cedar wood bungalows , clustered together. In the midst of a splendid garden, all trim and neat. (How this vision was to materialize…..in the constricted squalor of the caravan site, remained a mystery). Yet all were prepared to put their faith in her clairvoyance.
The prospect of creating a garden, seemed a super-human task. The ground was made of fine, dusty sand and gravel, in which nothing grew, but tough, pointed grass.
“Elixer” received guidance, that each time you put a spade into the ground, you put in your vibrations. That the right vibrations, acted like a magnet, to draw “like” vibrations.
Caddy made a 9 foot by 9 foot garden, tilling the grass, upside down, to provide nourishment, as it disintegrated. His problem was to get water to the soil, a far more difficult job, than he imagined. The sand was so fine, the water poured onto it, simply went into globules, like quicksilver. With assiduous patience, by spraying the surface over long periods, with a very fine spray, it was possible to impregnate the soil, sufficiently for it to hold the moisture.
More stones and gravel had to be raked out. Finally the plot was ready for seeding. He planted lettuce, and watched their lettuce grow into stunted apparitions, attacked by wire worms.
A Natural Compost Pile
They did not want to use chemical pesticides. A neighbor chanced to pass by, and informed him of a pile of seasoned “soot”, just outside the entrance to the caravan park, an admiral antidote to wire worms.
He spread it carefully, and luckily it rained and the soot was washed into the soil. By the end of May, they were eating luscious lettuces and radishes. Chemical fertilizers were toxic to the human body….a compost heap was essential, if they were to grow a greater variety of vegetables.
Only where to obtain the ingredients?
A pile of rotting grass, was donated by a neighbor. A nearby farmer, grateful for a rescued sheep, gave him a large load of cow manure. A friend who owned a riding stable, allowed them to follow his horses with a bucket and shovel. A nearby distillery supplied them with free peat dross, and cummings, ( a natural barley germ fertilizer).
Seaweed they gathered free….at the beach. A bale of hay, dropped from a passing truck, almost at the gate of the park…as if from heaven, served to cover their compost.
They planted water cress, tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, parsley, squash, and asparagus. They also planted hedges of blackberries, and rasberries, around their garden. Which began to spread beyond the caravan, till it covered 2 acres of ground.
Every bit of soil of which had to be manufactured from old turf, and new compost: every square inch, man-handled several times in the process.
Stunning Results….
Within 2 months the results were stunning! The neighbors, who, not knowing of the spirit, in which the Caddys, were going about their gardening, could not understand what was happening. Especially when the Caddy’s cabbages and brussel sprouts….were the only ones in the area, to survive a plague of cabbage-root grubs, (which eat away at the roots of the plants), and their harvest of black currants, grew healthily….by the bushel. Whereas the crop largely failed, in the rest of the country.
The lunches began to consist of salads, with over 20 ingredients: surplus quantities of lettuce, radishes, spinach, and parsley were disposed of, around the country…which was suffering a shortage.
Their evening meals included 2 or 3 vegetables from the garden, grown without fertilizer, or insecticides….freshly picked and cooked. Stews from garden vegetables…consisted of onions, leeks, garlic, carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, turnips, artichokes, Kohlrabi, celery, squash, potatoes, flavored with all kinds of herbs.
“Elixer”, let her mind dwell on each ingredient, when making a salad, or stew, her thoughts and feelings were important…..in the continuing cycle of life, she was to appreciate whatever she was doing….whether peeling a carrot, or podding a pea. Of the peelings and garbage, nothing was to be wasted. All was to go back into the compost, and the soil….constantly increasing the living vibrations.
The only drawback to this life, was that when they were obliged to go into town, or on a short holiday, they found it very difficult to support normal food.
Preserving the Life Foods
When midsummer came, they were ready to preserve quantities of rasberries, blackberries, and strawberries. Putting up, altogether a hundred pounds of jam. They pickled 15 pounds of red cabbage, and a large quantity of cucumbers. In a newly built garage, they stored potatoes, carrots, beets, and shelves full of shallots, garlic, and onions.
During the winter they prepared the Earth, for the following season. They planted more fruits, altogether some 20 species, including apples, pears, plums, cherries, apricots, loganberries, and boysenberries. By May of 1964, the fruit trees and bushes were bursting into bud.
A Life Experiment
It began to dawn on them…that there might be some greater underlying purpose behind what was happening. That they must be involved in some mysterious pioneering venture.
Some larger experiment, in group living….that the garden might be the nucleus of some larger experiment, in new age living.
A sort of training course in the realization that life is a whole.
In June 1964, when the county horticultural advisor came to take a sample of the soil, for analysis, (his first comment on arrival was that the soil would require a dressing of at least 2 ounces of sulfate of potash, per square yard).
Caddy replied that he did not believe in artificial fertilizers….and he was happy using compost, and wood ash. The advisor said that would be totally inadequate.
Six weeks later, when the advisor returned, bringing the results of the analysis, he acknowledged with some bewilderment, that the analysis had found no deficiencies….in the soil sample. All necessary elements, including rare trace elements, were present.
By now they were growing 65 different kinds of vegetables, 21 fruits, and over 40 herbs, (both culinary and medicinal).
Dorothy Maclean
For some time Dorothy Maclean had also been receiving extraordinary spiritual guidance, of her own. And had adopted the name of “Divina”.
She realized that by raising the quality of her own vibrations….she might eventually open the doors, to a whole new spiritual realm of plant life.
It became clear that human thinking, human passion, human anger, human kindliness and affection…all have far-reaching effects on the world of plants.
(Plants are most susceptible to human thoughts, and emotions…which affect their energy).
Poisonous and bad-tempered moods, have as depressing effect on plants, as happy uplifting frequencies….have a beneficial effect. It occurred to her, also, that bad effects could come back to humans…as they ate the produce….they had infected, with bad vibrations.
Thus, the whole cycle could become viciously descending…..leading to more and more misery, pain and disease. Or hopefully ascending…leading to greater joy, and greater light.
The most important contribution that man can make to a garden…even more important than water and compost…is the radiation he puts into the soil, while cultivating it. Such as love, and every member of a group, has something to contribute, in the way of radiations, strength, happiness, and so on………
Everything that comes in to a human being, through inspiration of one sort or another, goes out again…modified in wavelength, tone, and timber…by the “will” of the person involved. He or she can improve the quality of what is sent out, and increase the brilliance….of its wavelength.
At the same time the soil and plants, are constantly being affected by radiations from the earth itself, and from the cosmos…each of which contributes to its fertility…without which both soil and plants, would be sterile;
These radiations were more fundamental then chemical elements, or microbiotic organisms…radiations that are subject fundamentally to the mind of man.
Man appeared to have the role of a demi-god. By cooperating with nature, he might find no limit…to what could be achieved on this planet……………
The Vision of Light
In the spring of 1967, they extended the garden even further…and made it into a place of beauty, with the planting of many kinds of flowers. The vision they had seen, was now beginning to materialize.
Money for neat cedar strip bungalows, turned up, as if by miracle, and the bungalows were soon surrounded by impeccable flower gardens.
In 1968, when Findhorn was visited by a number of accomplished gardners and agricultural experts, they were amazed at what they found. They had never seen such a uniformly high standard in all sections of a garden.
The growth and color of the flowers in the new herbaceous borders were so remarkable…that the visitors were at a loss to explain the phenomena, considering the poverty of the soil, and the rigorous northern climate.
The root vegetables were the best they had ever tasted, and they were surprised to find fruit trees of all sorts in blossom, as well as a vigorous young chestnut…standing 8 feet tall, among broad-leaved trees and shrubs thriving on the slope of windswept dunes.
With and interest in the organic method…they had seen enough to know that compost and straw mulch alone, mixed with poor, and sandy soil, were not enough to account for such a garden.
There must be some “factor x”, to be taken into consideration.
If so much could be accomplished at Findhorn, in such a short time…the Sahara could be made to blossom.
The Devas……..The Nature Spirits
Lady Cynthia Chance, a follower of Rudolf Steiner’s biodynamic farming methods, was astounded when Peter Caddy told her…he did not need to apply Steiner’s methods, that he had a more direct spiritual way, of obtaining the same results.
“The vigor, health, and bloom of the plants in the garden, at midwinter…on land which is almost a 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”.
At which point, Peter Caddy broke down, and let out the secret of their success, at Findhorn.
He said that “Dorothy Maclean”, or “Divina”, had managed to get in direct contact with the devas, or angelic creatures…who control the nature spirits.
That are said by clairvoyants, to be everywhere…at work nurturing plant life.
Communication with the Devas
Conscious investigation of such worlds is of the utmost importance, to our understanding of the life of plants. Peter Caddy put out a series of pamphlets, describing the true nature, of the experiments at Findhorn. “Divina” contributed detailed descriptions of the messages she received, directly from the Devas.
She described whole hierarchies…responsible for every fruit, and vegetable..to every flower and weed.
A new Pandora’s box opened up.
New Age Center of Light
Findhorn quickly developed into a community of over a hundred disciples. Young spiritual leaders turned up, to preach the gospel of the New Age. And a college was founded in the community, to teach the tenets, of this New Age.
What had started as a miraculous, little garden…appeared to be turning into a true center of light…for the Aquarian Age, visited annually…from every continent of the globe.
Parting the veil into other worlds, and other vibrations…beyond the limits of the electromagnetic spectrum…may well go a long way to explain the mysteries…..which are incomprehensible physicists who limit their looking…to what they can see with their physical eyes, and their instruments.
In the more etheral world of the clairvoyants, who claims to have mastered the art of etheric and astral vision…a whole new series of vistas, opens up around plants…..and their relation to man, to the Earth, and to the Cosmos.
The growth of seeds and plants, as Paracelsus intimated, may indeed be affected very stongly…by the position of the moon, the positions of the planets, and their relation to the sun and to the other stars of the firmament.
Fechner’s animistic vision of plants being “ensouled”, becomes less of a wild conceit.
The ancient wisdom, as detailed by seers like: Helen Blavatsky, and Alice Bailey, throws quite another light on the energy of bodies, both of humans and of plants, as well as the relation of individual cells…to the entire cosmos.
The secret behind Pfeiffer’s biodynamic compost, which has been proved so highly effective, scientifically….turns out to be a homeopathic wonder.
Based on a fairy-land creation, of Rudolf Steiner’s organic brews…..made by burying cow horns, filled with cow dung, and deer bladders, filled with nettles and camomile leaves. Steiner’s spiritual science, throws such a light on plant life and agriculture, as to make Scientists root in their tracks…………….
Aesthetically, the world of Devas, and the nature spirits….turns out to be even more full of color, and sound, and perfume, than the creations of Wagner and Mozart.
Their gnomes, nymphs, and undines…their fire, water, earth and air spirits….closer to reality than the Holy Grail…..and the eternal quest it engendered.
The attraction of worlds…..within worlds, is too great to forego, and the stakes too high….for they may include survival for the planet.
Where the modern Scientist, is baffled by the secrets of the life of plants….the seer offers solutions which, however incredible, make more sense…..than the dusty “mouthings” of Academicians.
What is more….they give philosophical meaning to the totality of life…………….