The Astroshamanic Healing Grid at Findhorn Foundation Cluny Hill, is a large Medicine Wheel, a network of invisible lines that divide Cluny Hill and its whole territory into a basic matrix of 12 sectors, representing 12 multidimensional realities associated with the zodiac signs. Each sector occupies a portion of 30 degrees and corresponds to an astrological sign. The Grid is also divided into further subdivisions, such as 36 Decanates and 144 Sub-Sectors or dwadashamsa.
The Astroshamanic Grid at Findhorn Foundation Cluny Hill, originally devised by Franco Santoro in 1999, has been used in thousands of events and workshops held since 1999 at the Findhorn Foundation.
Please find below a brief description of the Sectors as they are distributed in Cluny Hill:
Sector 1: Aries (Fire, Spring) incorporates Cluny Kitchen and the Still Room. These are areas full of activities and noise, with several metallic structures and tools (such as a well-displayed selection of knives). Cluny Kitchen is also characterised by a traditional prevalence of male cooks and focalisers.
Sector 2: Taurus (Earth, Spring) includes Cluny Dining Room, the Lounge and the Beech Tree Room. These are the most comfortable areas of the building. The external area of Taurus includes the Chakra Garden.
Sector 3: Gemini (Air, Spring) comprises the entrance hall, the major junction of the building, and a small part of the Lounge, which is occupied by tables with newspapers, magazines and leaflets. On the first floor Sector 3 encompasses the Cluny Library.
Sector 4: Cancer (Water, Summer) incorporates the main entrance, the ample outer stairs leading to the southern lawn, the beech trees, the swing and a large portion of the southern lawn. The lawn features some of Cluny’s most traditional spaces, such as the Spiral, the Medicine Wheel, the Menhir, the White Statue, the Panorama and the Spirit Tree.
Sector 5: Leo (Fire, Summer) includes Cluny Reception, which still reflects the times when Cluny Hill College was a hotel. In those years Dorothy Maclean, one of the three founders of the Findhorn Foundation, used to be the receptionist. The area of Leo also includes half of an adjacent office. This half is occupied by the desk and chair of the Cluny Focaliser, the manager of the campus. The other half, which is part of the Virgo area, includes the desk and chair of the bookkeeper and accountant. In the garden the area of Leo incorporates the celebrated Love Bench, a stone bench in the shape of a heart engraved with the word LOVE.
Sector 6: Virgo (Earth, Summer) includes Room 6, the shop, the Education Administration and College office and a portion of the office behind Reception. This portion includes the desk of the accountant, while the other part of the office is in Leo and comprises the desk area of the Cluny Focalisers.
Sector 7: Libra (Air, Autumn) includes the former tennis court, which emphasizes themes of relationship, and its pavilion, whose structure is that of the Libra scales. It consists of a small central area with two bathrooms and two group-rooms (Pavilion East and Pavilion West) on both sides. Also in the Libra area are the Ball Room (originally a meeting point for dancing couples), the Ladies and the Gentlemen toilets (the only two WCs in Cluny Hill College where the difference of gender applies) and the Guest Department office.
Sector 8: Scorpio (Water, Autumn) comprises the Peace Garden, a pool, formerly used as a swimming pool, which was filled with stones in recent years. Just below the Peace Garden is situated the Underground Chamber, the main area of release and transformation, a previous subterranean storage space, whose mysterious and obscure environment constitutes an ideal site for rituals of release and connection with the lower world. The Scorpio area is the main “compost zones” for release and transformation.
Sector 9: Sagittarius (Fire, Autumn) encompasses Cluny Sanctuary. When the building was erected in the early 1860s it was conceived as a chapel. In later years, it was transformed in a billiard room. When the Foundation purchased the building, the Sanctuary returned to its previous function. Cluny Sanctuary is open 24 hours for individual and group meditation. The only iconographic elements are a glass window depicting a large tree with root and branches, representing the shamanic tree and its three worlds, and a small red bulb. In 1982 the place was devastated by a fire, whose causes are still rather controversial. On that occasion there was also a simultaneous fire in the Cluny Dining Room. This blaze drew all the attention so that nobody was aware that also the Sanctuary was burning. The flames spontaneously exhausted themselves and when the members eventually entered the Sanctuary all they found were smoke and embers (the final stage of fire associated with Sagittarius). In its association with Sagittarius, Cluny Sanctuary strategically represents the gateway between ordinary and non-ordinary reality. Sagittarius is regarded as the stellar womb from which our galaxy was conceived and born. Hence, when the Sun transits Sagittarius there is potential for conceiving and giving birth to alternative configurations. Hence, Cluny Sanctuary is an ideal location for connective with a multi-dimensional setting.
Sector 10: Capricorn (Earth, Winter) includes the hillock of the Power Point, the highest location in the Cluny Hill territory. Since ancient times it is believed that this site was used for rituals. When the founders of the spiritual community, Eileen and Peter Caddy and Dorothy Maclean, were managing the Cluny Hill Hotel in the late 50s, they began to use the top of the hillock, which they named Power Point, as a site for receiving guidance and communicating with the Divine. This custom has continued and the area still plays a major role in the spiritual and esoteric geography of the Findhorn Community. The Power Point is traditionally accessed through a spiral path circumnavigating the hillock three times before reaching its summit. The hillock has also a couple of defensive bunkers and underground shelters carried over from past wars. The access to the Power Point zone is sheltered by a natural gate. Capricorn also includes the Cluny Main Stairs and hence comprises the chief ascending routes both outside and inside.
Sector 11: Aquarius (Air, Winter) covers most of the Annexe. When the building was the Cluny Hill Hydropathic Establishment, the Annexe was added as the area for health treatment, Turkish baths, shower stalls, toilets and all the water set-up for healing purposes. Although many water facilities were later converted into rooms by the Findhorn Foundation, the Annexe still preserves its healing and purification energy. The Healing Sanctuary or Bodhi Room (devoted to healing practices and massage), the sauna and the adjacent pool, the Sycamore Room (group room) and the showers are all in the area of Aquarius.
Sector 12: Pisces (Water, Winter) includes the east end part of the Annexe, with part of the Healing Sanctuary, the Maintenance workshop and room 99. It also comprises the linen room, the pantry, the fridge and freezer rooms.
The point in the middle, located in front of Porter’s Palace, represents the Centre and the crossing place of the Horizontal and Vertical Axis. This point is marked by a small dome ceiling painted in blu. The position of the Centre, upon which depended the whole arrangement of the Grid, was crucial. It was elected in 1999 after a long investigation and visionary process on the energetic patterns of Cluny Hill, and finalised following a very significant confirmation. Franco had already come to the conclusion that the small dome ceiling was the likely point to use as a Centre, but he still had some doubts and needed a more explicit confirmation. During one of his shifts at Cluny Hill Reception, he inwardly asked with determination to receive a signal in this regard. After a few seconds, a community member working in maintenance, who knew nothing about the work Franco was carrying out (kept strictly confidential at that stage), came rumbling down the corridor carrying a ladder, some brushes, a bucket of water and paint, exclaiming “I have had the vision to do it and I do it!”. Then he began to paint the dome ceiling, the exact spot chosen as the Centre. In brief, later we were told, he had long had a vision of painting a blue sky on the vault, but kept postponing it, also due to some reservations from a resident. The painting of the dome ceiling was the definitive confirmation.
The circumference and the whole area of the Circle corresponds to the Horizontal Axis, whereas the North-South line strategically refers both to the Horizontal areas of Sector 10 (Capricorn) – Sector 4 (Cancer) and to the Vertical Axis of Higher and Lower World respectively.
There are many ways to use the Grid and they all work equally well. Each model is good as long as you operate with integrity. For example, you can go on a shamanic walk, moving from the East point in a clockwise direction and exploring each Sector. You can stop and spend some time connecting with the Sectors of a specific element or with those Sectors that are particularly relevant in your life or according to your astrological chart. You can also move around the territory or building without a specific order until you find an area to which you feel drawn. This is generally indicated by a vibration in the body, a magnetic attraction, an image, a light, sound, or the simple decision to go to one place. Once you find that area you can stay there for a while. Before using the Grid it is good practice to express your Intent or ask a question. When you move through the territory of Cluny Hill, during a practice or any ordinary activity, you can pay attention to the whole environment and be especially aware when you see or experience something unusual. Notice where and who are the people and beings, seen and unseen, you meet, or which objects, plants and animals are more emphasized in your perception. Consider any significant experience that occurs to you and find its correspondence on the map.
The use of the territory as a healing site allows the horizon to take over its original role of Sacred Circle. In this way the area where you live and move becomes a geomantic field of wisdom and healing. Usually, when there is a strong and true connection or message, the same associations are repeated through different media or tools. Life is a Sacred Circle and nothing happens by chance. There are no idle thoughts or situations. Everything has meaning and provides information about where you come from, where you are and where you are going. With this work you can learn to pay attention and be alert to all that happens within and without you.
The boundaries of the Grid were first created underground (lower world), with the burying of small healing stones, then through the blessing of 12 big trees (higher world). It was kept unmarked with no explicit signs until 24 April 2010, during the “Being with the Spirit of Cluny Garden” week I held with Sverre Koxvold when 12 wood posts indicating the number, glyph and healing seal for each sign were placed. The markers were created by Richard Brockbank and installed by the 12 participants of the workshop.
The Grid functions as a Healing, or Power Points. Power points are areas where the physical, third-dimensional and ordinary realities meet with the spiritual, multidimensional or non-ordinary realities. Power points play various functions, mainly operating as gateways or gaps in or out of our perception of this world. Some power points were created or promoted by ancient cultures; or were the manifestation of events caused by nature spirits, multidimensional or unseen beings, while some are the result of recent human actions, which may either reactivate previous power points or create new ones. A major word of caution is required here: power points, sacred site, grids and alike do not necessarily serve a healing or luminous function. Many of them were/are created with dubious, selfish, demonic or even evil intentions, and were/are inspired by vicious or wicked entities, or by invisible beings neither innately evil nor innately good, such as jinns, genii, asuras, devas, etc.
Power points can be broadly divided into three categories:
1) Known power points: public spaces and holy sites used to perform rituals or sacred activities, for example temples, churches, chapels, dolmens, menhirs, stone circles, etc. All human traditions have sacred sites and ceremonial lands. Some of them are widely known, at least in the local environment, others are less known, as they have not been attended for ages or are only visited by few people. Others are basically unknown and belong to the following category.
2) Unknown power points: you may discover these places “by chance” or intuitively. Some common phenomena that may occur in such places are: feelings of unity with the environment, calmness and slowing down of time, expansion of the aura or a sense of being embraced by some larger presence, altered states of perception, loss of identification with the ego. Also, the feeling of being observed by somebody as you walk, for example, in a wood or by a river can often indicate that you are in a power point.
3) New Power Points: these are places that shamans, healers and devoted seekers have chosen for their healing work and to promote connections with the Divine, or for dysfunctional and evil purposes. For example, any place where regular and significant practices, were or have been held for a certain amount of time, especially if involving other people, can become a new power point.
Please be aware that these three categories are not absolute and may blend in many circumstances.