To Hear the Angels Sing: An Odyssey of Co-Creation with the Devic Kingdom

I was interested in how the devas might be interpreted as archetypes. This book fulfilled my pre-conceived notion. I liked it.

I read this when it was first published and it has been a major influence in the way I look at the universe ever since. Dorothy's story of her unfolding awareness is wonderful. The "Kingdom of the Gods" book by Hodson and the Perelandra Garden books are also good and along similar lines, but this one is my favorite.

This is a very personal story about Dorothy's ordinary-turned-extraordinary life, as she expanded her consciousness in simple ways that anyone can do themselves, privately, not attempting to attract attention but seeking for her own personal fulfillment. The book is a real page-turner as it moves into Dorothy MacLean's spiritual adventures while she and the Caddys created the impossible-by-all-scientific-accounts garden at Findhorn, Scotland. It got to the point where I just couldn't put it down but did-- just so it wouldn't end! The messages she wrote down from the devas (her word for celestial beings that hold the blueprints for all of matter) are direct, simple and comforting -- but also haunting in their admonitions to mankind to work on an intuitive level with nature and have the courage to reduce the consumption and accompanying waste of our natural resources, which, as they very clearly communicated, creates a divide between man and the spiritual forces of the planet. As Albert Einstein said: "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction." Toward that end, I have found this book to be profoundly inspiring as I go about my not-very-extraordinary daily life, and I find myself thinking of Dorothy and the Caddys often as I seek the best possible solutions for my own daily problems. It has definitely expanded my own relationship with the world and my own infinitely smaller (but no less important) role on the planet.

I bought *To Hear the Angels Sing* in an earlier edition in 1982 and fell in love with it. Dorothy Maclean, a Canadian who became one of the founders of Findhorn, tells her story with wit and deep insight. As interesting as her life is, however, what fascinates me most is her ability to communicate with the devas, or "angels," or "pattern-holders" of plants and trees (the Hindu term, deva, wasn't as well known when she first wrote the book so she called them "angels" and has retained that term in later editions). Her book includes transcripts of her dialogues with an extraordinary range of powerful nature spirits -- some speak of their vision of life, others complain about a humanity that refuses to listen, still others plead eloquently for interspecies cooperation between their realms and ours. The words are profound and often deeply moving. (The story that has stayed with me the longest is on pp.93-94 where Maclean picks up a pebble on a Scottish beach and has an unexpected encounter with the mineral deva.) Like all mystics, Maclean sees the Otherworlds through her own societal filters, which leads her to speak of a monotheistic male deity and sometimes to explain things in Christian terms (e.g., God's will, God's plan). Other than this minor quibble, the book is superb. Since reading it, I have never seen "reality" in the same way as before. I am not psychic but Maclean is so grounded and wise in her approach to such matters that I feel I can trust her insights. I may not be able to communicate with the devas myself, but that they are *there,* I no longer doubt. To a world as ecologically troubled, polluted, and out of balance as ours is, this book brings a vision of hope and offers a path of respect between the realms.