There is a place on Earth where humans exist in harmony with nature. Where heartfelt exchange is the currency. Where organic food doesn’t need to be labeled because it was obviously grown biodynamically with love in the garden just outside the door, so who needs a label? Where people take advice from faeries and plants. Where children play and doors are left unlocked. Laughter and tea is destiny. Where you can walk along the seashore and sing as loud as you want because no one is around, and if they were, they’d encourage it. Where you can nap on the forest floor and be awakened by three baby deer in the distance.

Einstein said, 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.' Findhorn took this to heart. It is a blueprint for the future of Earth. I am eternally grateful for the gift of being here. It brought me great joy, peace, and clarified my inner vision. I am filled with Love and intend to bring morsels of this practical magic with me wherever I go…as the world spins madly on.
 
—from my journal, September 2016 {written on a train from Inverness, Scotland to Edinburgh}

My first trip to Findhorn, a regenerative community in Northern Scotland, changed me. It took everything I’d read and learned about connecting with nature spirits and showed what can happen when it’s put into practice.
 
If you’re unfamiliar with the Findhorn story, it started in the early 1960s when Findhorn’s three founders got laid off from a local hotel job and found themselves living in a caravan trailer park in Northern Scotland. Although the soil was said to be barren, dry, and not at all ideal for growing, they began planting a garden out of necessity. They had no conscious intentions of starting a community – at the time, it was a matter of survival.
 
All three had spent decades studying and practicing spirituality, meditation, and prayer, although quietly and privately. When they started planting the garden, they were guided both to read gardening books and to connect with and listen to the Devas – the faeries, nature spirits, angels of the land – for guidance.
 
Sometimes the nature spirits’ guidance contradicted what was written in the gardening books – yet they followed the guidance and tried it out. Over time, the once barren land flourished. In the early days, they grew pumpkins up to 40 pounds. Species of plants – including tropical foliage! – grew despite scientists' insistence that it’s impossible to grow on this land.

Their once tiny garden grew, flourished, and attracted people from all around the world, blossoming into a living community that continues on today. Findhorn is a leader in regenerative farming and continues to host spiritual workshops and classes. There are different villages (like mini neighborhoods) in Findhorn where some families live year-round; others own holiday homes there. The original gardens remain on the site, and spending time there was a life-changing experience for me.
 
Findhorn embodies the Presence of Peace, not a vague or abstract notion of “world peace” but a tangible possibility: what happens when humans and nature live in harmony? What beauty can be created together? How does communication with nature spirits affect the land, the people, the community, the world?
 
You don’t have to move to Northern Scotland to have this experience—nature is literally extending an invitation every day. Whether it’s through your house plants, flowers, daily walk around your neighborhood, or some other way that’s probably already integrated in your everyday life, nature is speaking. You can engage with nature not only as a witness, but as an active participant, and learn to connect with the Devas just as the founders of Findhorn did.
 
What do you need support with growing in your life? A feeling of connection? Opening heart? More presence? A 40 pound pumpkin? (I’m not even kidding about the last one.)
 
If you are called to deepen your communication and experience with nature spirits, I invite you to join Fairy School, a new online course I’m leading starting this Friday, May 1st (Beltane!). This type of dialogue with nature is exactly what we’ll be learning in the course!
 
You can find all the details here.
 
Nature’s blueprint for growth in your outer and inner worlds is clear, effective, and magical, and I’m so excited to share it with you this spring.
 
Love,
Madeline

PS: If you’re interested in learning more about Findhorn, you can check out their website here. I also loved reading To Hear the Angels Sing by Dorothy Maclean; she’s one of the founders of Findhorn, and you can read the details of her life story within the book.