The Cluny Project
Have you spent time at Cluny Hill College in Forres, Scotland and been touched by the magic of your experience? Or, perhaps, you've been involved in the Findhorn community throughout the years and feel the significance of this beautiful building, the surrounding gardens, the power point, and the woods that envelope & fortify this wondrous space.
Cluny is currently up for sale. This is a project dedicated to the renewal of this property with a focus on honoring the power of the land and the spiritual impulse that inspired the vibrancy of Cluny throughout the years. Let's build a beautiful future in honor of the past.
Let's Celebrate Cluny, Together
An Initiative By Samantha Halitzer & Findhorn Friends
I’m on a mission to organize the purchase of Cluny and give it a second breath of fresh air based on the Findhorn values of co-creation with nature, work is love in action and inner listening. This journey will be a step into the unknown, the path will be winding, and yet, I am committed to seeing what may unfold. How may we revive Cluny for the times we live in today?
My Cluny Story
The Magic of Inner Listening
In 2008, I spent a semester at Findhorn studying as part of the FCS programme. At the end of our Experience Week, my group stood in our classroom in the beautiful Park Building as our focalizer led a walking meditation and taught us the practice of attunement. He had laid out pieces of paper with work department names on them. I was determined to work at Cullerne and forge my way into the world of sustainable farming. Right at the last moment, the focalizer said aloud, “Let go of any ideas you had about what you wanted, and let your feet carry you. Go to the place that calls you.” Without thinking, my feet took me to a piece of paper with the words, “Cluny Garden,” written on it. I had no personal desire to learn gardening, it seemed slow. And yet, there I was. Then he said, “Now if there’s more of you than the number listed on the paper, some of you need to move.” There was a number “1,” on the Cluny Garden paper, and three of us were standing there. For whatever reason, the other two people left immediately and I just stood there, my feet glued to the spot. That was my first experience of truly tuning into something deeper with intentionality. I’d always trusted my gut, but this was a magical experience, it felt alive. I proceeded to do my Work Is Love In Action in Cluny Garden for the next three and a half months, and it changed my life. In fact, it brought me back to life. I started to believe in everyday magic, small moments of wonder. Though I’d always held onto that feeling, I was having trouble seeing it in the world, and it hurt. My favorite part of that semester was easily my work time in Cluny Garden. We had a small work group back then and I was urged to take my time with the vegetables, to commune with the flowers. A lovely man named Jacques taught me to listen to the plants. My focalizer, Sverre, made it his mission to make sure I learned about the nature devas and the spirits of the land. I was enchanted. I was revived. I was connected. From the moment I left Findhorn that semester, I knew I wanted to return. And yet, I would meditate, and I’d hear, “Not yet.” One fine day in the summer of 2018, I got the “It’s time,” I’d been hoping for, with a very specific date. I only realized when I arrived that I returned to Findhorn 10 years from the day I’d left. Findhorn had gone through many changes, but Cluny still held so much wonder, beauty and magic for me. I spent the next year at Findhorn, which was laden with ups and downs, and yet, my time at Cluny was pure magic. Nothing could change the magnificence of the land and the raw beauty of magical life around it. Since 2018, I’ve made many trips to the power point atop the hill behind Cluny and walked the woods surrounding that beautiful building. This photo is from my time at the powerpoint this past summer. It was a deeply illuminated day, a time when the beings of the land spoke through the treetops and I was filled with a renewed sense of wonder and vitality as I climbed back down the hill. For me, Cluny is a place of prayer, a place where the sacred comes down to Earth if we choose to pause long enough. There are only a few times in my life when I’ve fallen to my knees. For me, it is a sign of pure devastation. The moment I heard Cluny was being sold, I dropped to the ground and wept. Then, within moments, I felt a burst of energy through my lungs and I knew I had to try. So I meditated. Then, I meditated again, And the next day, I meditated again. Every time I got a clear, “Yes, go ahead, take the next step.” So here I am. Whether this is a short journey, or a very long one, I’m committed to seeing it through.
The Concept & Business Layout
Cluny will be set up as a trust, most likely as an SCIO.
The business concept for Cluny is inspired by my favorite aspects of 3 spiritual learning centers I’ve felt the most connected to throughout my life:
1) Findhorn, of course (the spiritual elements & core values)
2) Omega Institute in New York’s Hudson Valley (the expert running of retreats, events, and other high level holistically-minded programs)
3) The Chalice Well Trust in Glastonbury (a sacred space people can visit, spend time, and connect with the land)
The business model will work in 3 ways:
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A Visitor’s Center, where you can tour the gardens and land. I imagine this to be similar to the Chalice Well Trust, with a possibility to become a Companion of the Trust, or a similar concept. This would mean people would contribute a yearly amount to both receive discounts and admission, as well as know they are contributing to the financial wellbeing of Cluny.
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Education - both in-person and online.
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The in-person workshops will be supported by Work is Love in Action work departments and a small team of people living at Cluny or nearby. More on the details of this as the project develops. Sweet things are a brewin’.
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Cluny Global - an online community celebrating attunement & inner listening, co-creation with nature, and work is love in action- and connecting over books, stories, and celebrations of nature.
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Local Connections & Extended Stays
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There will be the option to extend a stay after taking a workshop.
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There will be some who live there and pay rent, by attunement. Some participation in a Work is Love in Action and community life will be part of it. This must also support the healthy functioning of Cluny as a whole. The goal of which is that each offering - each element of work - flows in concert with the rest, in the permaculture fashion of multiple functions.
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Local events/community meals will be planned in concert with other local venues so we can be in a community flow, supporting community growth in all directions - connection, joy, financial sustainability & food/resource sustainability.
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The goal is to diversify streams of income, without diversifying work tasks too much. Therefore each component would ideally work for the 3 primary sectors : Local Community Connections, Education on Site (Visitors), Cluny Global. I would like to connect with other parts of the Findhorn community and surrounding areas to make a space that’s inviting and in concert with the other community elements. For me sustainability happens on every level, holistically - spiritual, emotional, mental, social, financial.
What's Next & What You Can Do
Let's bring this dream to life!
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Primary and very important - Please contribute to the GOFundMe fund! We need to buy Cluny before anything else can happen.
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Subscribe to get information about Cluny Global. When Cluny Global becomes available, please join! It’s a way to offer everyone around the world a connection to the land at Cluny while mutually creating a steady monthly income for Cluny. We aim to create things that are beneficial to all involved! This means that we can start earning an income for Cluny and hit the ground running before Cluny reopens, which is likely to take a little while. It also means that we’ll start creating a safety net for unexpected issues - like the maintenance of an old Victorian building.
Contact
I'm always looking for new and exciting opportunities. Let's connect.
123-456-7890