Eileen Caddy
Encyclopedia
Eileen Caddy MBE
(August 26, 1917 – December 13, 2006) was a spiritual teacher and new age
author, best known as one of the founders of the Findhorn Foundation
community at the Findhorn Ecovillage
, near the village of Findhorn
, Moray Firth
, in northeast Scotland
. The commune
which she started with her then husband, Peter Caddy
and Dorothy Maclean
in 1962 was an early New Age
intentional community
, has today been home to over 400 residents and thousands of visitors from over 40 countries, today it is one of the UK's largest alternative spiritual communities, and also known as the 'Vatican of the New Age
'.
, Egypt
, the second of four children of Albert Jessop, an Irishman, and the director of Barclays Bank DCO
, her mother Muriel was English. At six she was sent to school in Ireland
, where she lodged with an aunt, and returned to Egypt in the holidays . When she was 16, her father died in Egypt of peritonitis and her family moved back to England, though tragedy struck again, when two years later her mother too died of meningitis. Thereafter she was educated at a domestic college, and later bought and ran a pub at an RAF base in Oxfordshire
, with her brother for four years.
Soon she met an RAF officer, Squadron Leader
Andrew Combe, whom she married in 1939, just months before the beginning of the Second World War, subsequently she travelled to London, American with him and lastly to Iraq and had a son and four daughters. Combe was a follower of the group called Moral Rearmament (MRA), and insisted that his wife follow the traditions of the group, and joined group’s "quiet times" during which they would listen divine guidance. Though diffident at the time towards the practices which she found restrictive, she later acknowledged the importance of her early attunement to 'quiet times' and 'listening to inner guidance', became an important milestone on her spiritual journey .
, in Iraq
, Combe on reading an article written by Squadron Leader
Peter Caddy
who was also posted, met him, and got interested in bringing him into MRA folds, subsequently Eileen was introduced to Peter and his wife, Sheena Govan
, daughter of the founders of the Faith Mission
. Due to their shared interests in the occult and spirituality, they immediately took a liking to each other. Soon Eileen was in the circle that formed around Sheena Govan
.
Peter Caddy's marriage was already in trouble. Their friend Dorothy Maclean
later recalled, in one of the meetings Sheena herself earlier declared that she was no longer her husband's 'other half', and soon Peter would meet his 'true partner' .
Eileen and Peter fell in love and in 1953 after returning to England, she asked Combe for a divorce in a letter to Iraq, where he was still posted. Combe immediately forbade her from seeing her five children. It was then that a traumatized Eileen, visited a private sanctuary at Glastonbury
with Peter, where she first claimed to have heard while meditating, the ‘voice of God’, which said: “Be still and know that I am God.” Initially she took it as a sign of her nervous breakdown but in time she began to “love the voice as an instrument from the God within us all” . Her subsequent instructions from the “voice” directed her to take on Sheena has her spiritual teacher . Sheena moved away to Isle of Mull
, near Iona
, Scotland, having divorced Peter Caddy. By autumn of 1956, Peter and Eileen came over to join her nascent group of followers there, along with the two children they already had together. Following a divorce, Eileen married Peter Caddy in 1957, and had one more son in 1968.
Meanwhile Sheena’s group was fast gaining popularity, and was dubbed the ‘Nameless Ones’ by the local media, which also called her "the woman Messiah" . Starting in 1957, Peter and Eileen Caddy first co-managed a run-down hotel in Scotland
, the Cluny Hill
Hotel near Forres
, Moray
, which they reportedly resurrected and turned it into a four star hotel following the practical guidance given by the 'voice'. Early in 1962, the couple along with most of the staff were sent by the management to resurrect another of their properties, the Trossachs
Hotel, at Perthshire
, and when they rallied to be shifted back to Forres
closer to their 'mission', they were fired .
Following this period of unemployment, on November 17, 1962 , Eileen Caddy, her husband Peter, the children and their colleague Dorothy Maclean
, shifted to a holiday caravan
in a trailer park
, a few miles from Forres
and a mile from the village of Findhorn
. There they began practicing organic gardening as a means of supplementing their family's food supply. The garden flourished to such a remarkable extent with the help of what she claimed as plant spirit and devas that it eventually attracted national attention, and was featured in a 1965 BBC
radio program. Its supporters included Sir George Trevelyan and Lady Eve Balfour
of the Soil Association
.
Beginning in 1965 a community, eventually known as the Findhorn Foundation
community, began to form around the work and spiritual practices of Eileen and Peter Caddy and Dorothy Maclean. The community was featured in several television documentaries by the BBC, starting in 1969, when BBC
TV programme Man Alive came to Findhorn, and there was no turning back since then. Soon the place began a favorite haunt for thousands of new age
rs from around the world and the community bought the Cluny Hill
Hotel in 1975 and turned it into a college , which stand seven miles from the Findhorn Bay Area caravan park, which was bought in 1983 Most recently it was profiled by the Channel 4
documentary series, The Haven, in 2004.
In 1971, Eileen as ‘guided’ herself by her inner voice, stopped receiving guidance for the community and from then on remained as an inspiring figure within the community . Dorothy Maclean moved to the United States in 1973, while Peter left Findhorn in 1978 after falling for a young female community member, he married twice in the following years, even started a Findhorn-style community in California and eventually died in a car crash in 1994 . Meanwhile all through the 1980s, Eileen travelled across the world speaking at spiritual gathers, and also writing several books, including her "compendium of daily guidance", 'Opening Doors Within', which went on to be translated in 30 languages . Her works include God Spoke to Me, a volume of inspirational messages published in various formats from 1966 onwards, and an autobiography titled Flight into Freedom and Beyond. Finally in 1996 at the age of 76, Eileen stopped giving workshops, as her inner voice ‘suggested’ .
's ‘The God List .
For services to spiritual inquiry, Eileen Caddy was in 2004 awarded the MBE
by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
. The award was presented by the Lord Lieutenant of Moray
, Air Vice-Marshal
George Chesworth.
Eileen Caddy died on December 13, 2006 at Findhorn, after leaving instructions that her death "be a cause for thanksgiving, rather than mourning." . Today, the original Caddy caravan of the 1960s, stands preserved as a shrine, amidst trees and flowers within the Findhorn Ecovillage
.
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
(August 26, 1917 – December 13, 2006) was a spiritual teacher and new age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
author, best known as one of the founders of the Findhorn Foundation
Findhorn Foundation
The Findhorn Foundation is a Scottish charitable trust registered in 1972, formed by the spiritual community at the Findhorn Ecovillage, one of the largest intentional communities in Britain....
community at the Findhorn Ecovillage
Findhorn Ecovillage
Findhorn Ecovillage is an experimental architectural community project based at The Park, in Moray, Scotland, near the village of Findhorn. The project's main aim is to demonstrate a sustainable development in environmental, social, and economic terms...
, near the village of Findhorn
Findhorn
Findhorn is a village in Moray, Scotland. It is located on the eastern shore of Findhorn Bay and immediately south of the Moray Firth. Findhorn is 3 miles northwest of Kinloss, and about 5 miles by road from Forres....
, Moray Firth
Moray Firth
The Moray Firth is a roughly triangular inlet of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotland...
, in northeast Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The commune
Commune (intentional community)
A commune is an intentional community of people living together, sharing common interests, property, possessions, resources, and, in some communes, work and income. In addition to the communal economy, consensus decision-making, non-hierarchical structures and ecological living have become...
which she started with her then husband, Peter Caddy
Peter Caddy
Peter Caddy was a British caterer, hotelier, and founder of the Findhorn Foundation community.Educated at Harrow, he apprenticed as a director with J. Lyons and Company, and was a member of the Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship...
and Dorothy Maclean
Dorothy Maclean
Dorothy Maclean is a writer and educator on spiritual subjects who was one of the original three adults at what is now the Findhorn Foundation in northeast Scotland....
in 1962 was an early New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
intentional community
Intentional community
An intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They...
, has today been home to over 400 residents and thousands of visitors from over 40 countries, today it is one of the UK's largest alternative spiritual communities, and also known as the 'Vatican of the New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
'.
Early life
She was born Eileen Marion Jessop in AlexandriaAlexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, the second of four children of Albert Jessop, an Irishman, and the director of Barclays Bank DCO
Barclays plc
Barclays PLC is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. As of 2010 it was the world's 10th-largest banking and financial services group and 21st-largest company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
, her mother Muriel was English. At six she was sent to school in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, where she lodged with an aunt, and returned to Egypt in the holidays . When she was 16, her father died in Egypt of peritonitis and her family moved back to England, though tragedy struck again, when two years later her mother too died of meningitis. Thereafter she was educated at a domestic college, and later bought and ran a pub at an RAF base in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, with her brother for four years.
Soon she met an RAF officer, Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. In these...
Andrew Combe, whom she married in 1939, just months before the beginning of the Second World War, subsequently she travelled to London, American with him and lastly to Iraq and had a son and four daughters. Combe was a follower of the group called Moral Rearmament (MRA), and insisted that his wife follow the traditions of the group, and joined group’s "quiet times" during which they would listen divine guidance. Though diffident at the time towards the practices which she found restrictive, she later acknowledged the importance of her early attunement to 'quiet times' and 'listening to inner guidance', became an important milestone on her spiritual journey .
The beginning of Findhorn
In 1952, while posted at RAF HabbaniyaRAF Habbaniya
Royal Air Force Station Habbaniya, more commonly known as RAF Habbaniya, was a Royal Air Force station at Habbaniyah, about west of Baghdad in modern day Iraq, on the banks of the Euphrates near Lake Habbaniyah...
, in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Combe on reading an article written by Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. In these...
Peter Caddy
Peter Caddy
Peter Caddy was a British caterer, hotelier, and founder of the Findhorn Foundation community.Educated at Harrow, he apprenticed as a director with J. Lyons and Company, and was a member of the Rosicrucian Order Crotona Fellowship...
who was also posted, met him, and got interested in bringing him into MRA folds, subsequently Eileen was introduced to Peter and his wife, Sheena Govan
Sheena Govan
Sheena Govan was an informal spiritual teacher, and the daughter of evangelist John George Govan. Later in life she became an early influence on what would become the Findhorn Foundation...
, daughter of the founders of the Faith Mission
Faith mission
Faith mission is a term used most frequently among evangelical Christians to refer to a missionary organization with an approach to evangelism that encourages its missionaries to "trust in God to provide the necessary resources" These missionaries are said to "live by faith."Most faith...
. Due to their shared interests in the occult and spirituality, they immediately took a liking to each other. Soon Eileen was in the circle that formed around Sheena Govan
Sheena Govan
Sheena Govan was an informal spiritual teacher, and the daughter of evangelist John George Govan. Later in life she became an early influence on what would become the Findhorn Foundation...
.
Peter Caddy's marriage was already in trouble. Their friend Dorothy Maclean
Dorothy Maclean
Dorothy Maclean is a writer and educator on spiritual subjects who was one of the original three adults at what is now the Findhorn Foundation in northeast Scotland....
later recalled, in one of the meetings Sheena herself earlier declared that she was no longer her husband's 'other half', and soon Peter would meet his 'true partner' .
Eileen and Peter fell in love and in 1953 after returning to England, she asked Combe for a divorce in a letter to Iraq, where he was still posted. Combe immediately forbade her from seeing her five children. It was then that a traumatized Eileen, visited a private sanctuary at Glastonbury
Glastonbury
Glastonbury is a small town in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,784 in the 2001 census...
with Peter, where she first claimed to have heard while meditating, the ‘voice of God’, which said: “Be still and know that I am God.” Initially she took it as a sign of her nervous breakdown but in time she began to “love the voice as an instrument from the God within us all” . Her subsequent instructions from the “voice” directed her to take on Sheena has her spiritual teacher . Sheena moved away to Isle of Mull
Isle of Mull
The Isle of Mull or simply Mull is the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland in the council area of Argyll and Bute....
, near Iona
Iona
Iona is a small island in the Inner Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It was a centre of Irish monasticism for four centuries and is today renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty. It is a popular tourist destination and a place for retreats...
, Scotland, having divorced Peter Caddy. By autumn of 1956, Peter and Eileen came over to join her nascent group of followers there, along with the two children they already had together. Following a divorce, Eileen married Peter Caddy in 1957, and had one more son in 1968.
Meanwhile Sheena’s group was fast gaining popularity, and was dubbed the ‘Nameless Ones’ by the local media, which also called her "the woman Messiah" . Starting in 1957, Peter and Eileen Caddy first co-managed a run-down hotel in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, the Cluny Hill
Cluny Hill
Cluny Hill is a hill on south side of Forres, Scotland.At the top of Cluny Hill is Nelson's Tower, built in 1806 to commemorate Admiral Lord Nelson and his victory at Trafalgar. The Tower is open to the public....
Hotel near Forres
Forres
Forres , is a town and former royal burgh situated in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately 30 miles east of Inverness. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several occasions...
, Moray
Moray
Moray is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland.- History :...
, which they reportedly resurrected and turned it into a four star hotel following the practical guidance given by the 'voice'. Early in 1962, the couple along with most of the staff were sent by the management to resurrect another of their properties, the Trossachs
Trossachs
The Trossachs itself is a small woodland glen in the Stirling council area of Scotland. It lies between Ben A'an to the north and Ben Venue to the south, with Loch Katrine to the west and Loch Achray to the east. However, the name is used generally to refer to the wider area of wooded glens and...
Hotel, at Perthshire
Perthshire
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
, and when they rallied to be shifted back to Forres
Forres
Forres , is a town and former royal burgh situated in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately 30 miles east of Inverness. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several occasions...
closer to their 'mission', they were fired .
Following this period of unemployment, on November 17, 1962 , Eileen Caddy, her husband Peter, the children and their colleague Dorothy Maclean
Dorothy Maclean
Dorothy Maclean is a writer and educator on spiritual subjects who was one of the original three adults at what is now the Findhorn Foundation in northeast Scotland....
, shifted to a holiday caravan
Travel trailer
A travel trailer or caravan is towed behind a road vehicle to provide a place to sleep which is more comfortable and protected than a tent . It provides the means for people to have their own home on a journey or a vacation, without relying on a motel or hotel, and enables them to stay in places...
in a trailer park
Trailer park
A trailer park is a semi-permanent or permanent area for mobile homes or travel trailers. The main reasons for living in such trailer parks are the often lower cost compared to other housing, and the ability to move to a new area more quickly and easily, for example when changing jobs to another...
, a few miles from Forres
Forres
Forres , is a town and former royal burgh situated in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately 30 miles east of Inverness. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several occasions...
and a mile from the village of Findhorn
Findhorn
Findhorn is a village in Moray, Scotland. It is located on the eastern shore of Findhorn Bay and immediately south of the Moray Firth. Findhorn is 3 miles northwest of Kinloss, and about 5 miles by road from Forres....
. There they began practicing organic gardening as a means of supplementing their family's food supply. The garden flourished to such a remarkable extent with the help of what she claimed as plant spirit and devas that it eventually attracted national attention, and was featured in a 1965 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
radio program. Its supporters included Sir George Trevelyan and Lady Eve Balfour
Lady Eve Balfour
Lady Evelyn Barbara "Eve" Balfour was an English farmer, educator, organic farming pioneer, and a founding figure in the organic movement. She was one of the first women to study agriculture at an English university, graduating from the University of Reading.The daughter of the second Earl of...
of the Soil Association
Soil Association
The Soil Association is a charity based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1946, it has over 27,000 members today. Its activities include campaign work on issues including opposition to intensive farming, support for local purchasing and public education on nutrition; as well the certification of...
.
Findhorn Foundation
The Findhorn Foundation is a Scottish charitable trust registered in 1972, formed by the spiritual community at the Findhorn Ecovillage, one of the largest intentional communities in Britain....
community, began to form around the work and spiritual practices of Eileen and Peter Caddy and Dorothy Maclean. The community was featured in several television documentaries by the BBC, starting in 1969, when BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV programme Man Alive came to Findhorn, and there was no turning back since then. Soon the place began a favorite haunt for thousands of new age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
rs from around the world and the community bought the Cluny Hill
Cluny Hill
Cluny Hill is a hill on south side of Forres, Scotland.At the top of Cluny Hill is Nelson's Tower, built in 1806 to commemorate Admiral Lord Nelson and his victory at Trafalgar. The Tower is open to the public....
Hotel in 1975 and turned it into a college , which stand seven miles from the Findhorn Bay Area caravan park, which was bought in 1983 Most recently it was profiled by the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
documentary series, The Haven, in 2004.
In 1971, Eileen as ‘guided’ herself by her inner voice, stopped receiving guidance for the community and from then on remained as an inspiring figure within the community . Dorothy Maclean moved to the United States in 1973, while Peter left Findhorn in 1978 after falling for a young female community member, he married twice in the following years, even started a Findhorn-style community in California and eventually died in a car crash in 1994 . Meanwhile all through the 1980s, Eileen travelled across the world speaking at spiritual gathers, and also writing several books, including her "compendium of daily guidance", 'Opening Doors Within', which went on to be translated in 30 languages . Her works include God Spoke to Me, a volume of inspirational messages published in various formats from 1966 onwards, and an autobiography titled Flight into Freedom and Beyond. Finally in 1996 at the age of 76, Eileen stopped giving workshops, as her inner voice ‘suggested’ .
Later years
In the late 1960s, Eileen had reconciled with her first family and in 1997 all her eight children came together for the first time to celebrate her 80th birthday. In 2001, she was named one of the 50 most spiritually influential people in Britain on Channel 4Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
's ‘The God List .
For services to spiritual inquiry, Eileen Caddy was in 2004 awarded the MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
. The award was presented by the Lord Lieutenant of Moray
Lord Lieutenant of Moray
This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Moray, Scotland. Until 1928 the office was known as Lord Lieutenant of the County of Elgin.-Lord Lieutenants of Elginshire:...
, Air Vice-Marshal
Air Vice-Marshal
Air vice-marshal is a two-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in...
George Chesworth.
Eileen Caddy died on December 13, 2006 at Findhorn, after leaving instructions that her death "be a cause for thanksgiving, rather than mourning." . Today, the original Caddy caravan of the 1960s, stands preserved as a shrine, amidst trees and flowers within the Findhorn Ecovillage
Findhorn Ecovillage
Findhorn Ecovillage is an experimental architectural community project based at The Park, in Moray, Scotland, near the village of Findhorn. The project's main aim is to demonstrate a sustainable development in environmental, social, and economic terms...
.
Quotations
- “Life without a high aim, is like a ship without a rudder.”
- "Don't force anything. Let life be a deep let go."
- "Have no fear of moving into the unknown".
- "Seek always for the answer within. Be not influenced by those around you, by their thoughts or their words."