Terms Explained

Finally! I am going to explain angel meditations and sacred dance. And other funny things we have done.

Angel meditation was a process we did in order to find some guidance for the semester, both individually and as a group. It is a big part of the Findhorn community, and it is done by all work groups and other groups and individuals at the beginning of the year, or at the beginning of any project or time together. It is basically a longer meditation during which a person will focus on 'angels' or guidance or anything really, I guess, and at the end are invited to chose an 'angel card' that has a little picture and a word written on it (it is kind of like attunement, the idea is to be drawn to a card but that doesn't happen for everyone). The word on the card is something then that is focused on throughout the experience, or year, or semester, or time spent in the work group. Maybe it is something you need to work on, maybe it is a quality that will guide you, maybe just a word to remember and come back to throughout. The word I chose (I'm not really very comfortable with angels) is strength. I think that probably a person could find a connection to any word in the deck (of 72 cards) but this one fits very well for me right now, as I am getting through having mono, which is making me weak, I am coming back to school after a long hiatus, which is a struggle for me, and because living here is stretching and big and different. The group angel is beauty. We all agreed that we are especially beautiful people, and we will have to wait to see what else this card means for us other than that we are attractive. I think my favorite part about angel cards is that the "intention" card has a little picture of an angel playing golf. What?

Sacred dance was something we did the second or third day we were here. It was with this other group of people who are studying here for a month, to learn about ecovillages and sustainability. Kind of like we are but all ages. The dancing was really fun, a lot of music and traditional folk dances from different European countries. Mostly circle dances. Yeah. Sacred dance sounds a lot more out there than it actually is. We attuned before and after it. We always attune. Tonight we had a ceilidh, which is I guess the name for a big Scottish party with traditional Scottish dances. I laughed so hard it hurt to laugh. We had to polka, but no one had ever polka-ed before. There was a lot of spinning and circling and prancing and jumping and clapping and trying to make figure eights, which I was really bad at. It was incredibly fun.

After the ceilidh we walked to Findhorn village, which is separate from the Ecovillage, and about 15 minutes on foot, to the pub. All the non-drinkers/people who didn't want to drink got yelled at to drink something by a very angry man, but we didn't want to drink anything! So we had to leave. I guess you can't be in a pub at all unless you buy something? I had no idea. I guess maybe that is because I have never been to a pub or bar before but maybe this is just a rule in Scotland? People seemed to think it was strange. So my housemate and I came back to our bungalow and drank tea instead and now here I am, writing to you.

We've done a lot of intense sharing and bonding and getting to know each other and the community, which has been a lot of fun. Findhorn has so many secrets! I guess not secrets so much as lots of history and intricacies and processes that take a long time to understand or know about. This program is doing a really good job of giving us the opportunities to figure them out though. Today we met our teachers for our classes, which start on Monday. It's strange to think about going to school because we've all been lulled into this state where it kind of feels like we're on a vacation (a very busy vacation), and also because the idea of going to school in a place like this is just alien. I just don't associate places like this with classes and papers. The "experience week," as everyone's first week here is called, is completely necessary as coming here I think most people would probably experience some sort of culture shock and starting classes would potentially be very difficult. The teachers look really great though, as do the classes. You can read about the them on the Living Routes website (I link it on the right side of this page), to see what/who they are, because I think that would be easier, but I will be sharing a lot about them in here later.

I'll write more when I'm not exhausted from intense folk dancing and late-night walks and days full of community-agreement-making (our other big activity today) and mono. Be safe and stay healthy!

Love,
Nora