Peter Caddy was the co-founder of the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland with his wife Eileen and friend Dorothy Maclean. He was a vibrant, energetic and inspirational figure who between 1962 and 1979 established a keynote for the hundreds and then thousands of people who would eventually either live or pass through the Findhorn experience. Earlier in his life he had received spiritual training in a Rosicrucian Order (Crotona Fellowship) under the tutelage of Dr.Sullivan and in his army years was able to visit Tibet and undergo rigorous discipline under severe conditions.
On returning from India, within days, he met Sheena Govan whose parents had founded a world-wide evangelical Faith Mission. She was dedicated to a life of service in God and Peter became her husband and was introduced to the idea of the ‘Christ within.’ This led Peter to a process of having to give up everything including eventually Sheena. After coming into contact with Eileen Coombe (later Caddy) Peter, while sitting on a hill overlooking Jerusalem, heard a voice telling him that Eileen was his other half. Although resistant to this idea and thinking it was morally wrong, Peter and Eileen visited Glastonbury and in a sanctuary there Eileen heard ‘ Be still…and know that I am God.’ She had begun to hear the inner voice that would inspire Peter into future action and lead to the setting up of Findhorn. After many great challenges and considerable suffering they married, Peter took up a job as manager of the Cluny Hill Hotel near Forres and after about five years of trial in the catering business they landed in their caravan at the Findhorn Caravan Park where they were to establish the community that is still thriving today.
Peter was an inspirational figure. How he acted and lived was his teaching. ‘Be true to your visions.’ ‘Be at peace.’ ‘Be fearless – fear is testament to the denial of God, and no good comes from it. It is unnecessary and a hindrance to the workings of God.’ Peter became close friends with Sir George Trevelyan and R. Ogilvie Crombie who both assisted him in his work. Eileen was able to give daily guidance and Dorothy assisted with messages from the nature kingdoms. After he and Eileen separated in 1979 Peter was able to more fully explore spiritual pilgrimage in India and other parts of the world but it was still ‘meditation in action’. After he died in a car crash in Germany in 1994 his friend David Spangler said, ‘He was unique, and I have rarely met a leader who had his rigorous integrity of purpose and vision, his ability to turn vision into form, or his selfless willingness to either share power or give it away to others when the situation warranted.’
It is well worth reading Peter’s autobiography ‘In Perfect Timing’ for a comprehensive detailed account of his life subtitled ‘Memoirs of a Man for the New Millennium’, for so it was that Peter represented a new kind of man.
