My soul’s home
For some it’s a book falling off a shelf that directs them to Findhorn; for Lisette Schuitemaker, it was a game – and her visit over 25 years ago became the first of hundreds. Here’s her story.
To be honest, I had never given communities much thought before 1998 when I first came to Ecovillage Findhorn. The first I heard of it was while playing a Game of Transformation with a group of world transformers who had become stuck. In its unfathomable way, the Game showed each of us a way forward, which we have all pursued. It also gave me transformative insights, language to commune with angels and oodles of blessings.
I simply had to know where this revelatory tool came from, so I registered for the introductory week and timed it so I could attend the conference on communities the week after. In these very different weeks, I went from being in a relatively small group space of self, purpose and life discovery to an event with hundreds of people in the Universal Hall. The common thread was that every conversation I had revealed more to me of pioneering practices and amazing people aiming to live in resonance with self, each other and the rest of nature. I had found my soul’s home!
If it is for you to visit, the angels will give you a sign. Maybe they have done so already.
I asked if I could help by doing some fundraising and publicity in the Netherlands and was delighted to be offered the role of Resource Person – a contact person for people wanting to visit the community, in the Netherlands where I live. Then, in 2001, to my astonishment – and not mine only – I was asked to attune to serving on the board of the educational trust, the Findhorn Foundation. You may wonder about attuning, if you haven’t been to the place yet: attunement is a process through which a person or a group opens for information on a choice or a decision to be made. To me, personally and professionally, this has become an invaluable way of moving forward.
What can I say? Being directed to come to Ecovillage Findhorn has been one of the blessings in my life. It isn’t always easy being there, certainly not for those who create and run the entities needed to be able to live and work there together. These days the community is in a process of old forms giving way and new ones being created and needing to find their role and function within the whole. I extend my gratitude to all of those good souls who go through the process of finding what serves best at this time and how to organise it all.
‘We’re all part of the one life,’ a flower once let it be known to a community co-founder, Dorothy Maclean. I cherish this notion and aim to live my life in accordance. A-ccor-dance. A-bun-dance. Life is a dance and we often need to find anew what the steps are.
If it is for you to visit, the angels will give you a sign. Maybe they have done so already, but you were in haste. Like one of the other co-founders, Peter Caddy, I firmly believe that all is in good timing, whatever the world looks like to our human eyes. And like another co-founder, Eileen Caddy, I am forever grateful that I listened to the still, small voice within and registered for that conference. I had no idea it would change my life forever. For good is a better way of saying it.
I look forward to visiting this beloved community again in the spring when I am co-hosting the 6th iteration of the Eldest Daughter Retreat. If you are a firstborn, this might be a good way for you to visit or revisit, sit in circle and go deep within to be able to serve where you are. The Angel may let you know. Look for the signs. Or attune …
Lisette Schuitemaker is an author, speaker, podcaster, presenter, philanthropist and former Chair of Findhorn Foundation Trustees. She lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands. www.lisetteschuitemaker.com
