In 1950s London, it was fashionable to have a sanctuary in your home, a place to be at peace, to meditate and pray. Eileen Caddy, a medium, sat quietly meditating in a sanctuary and heard a voice say, "Go with your husband Peter and live in the country." Recognising it as divine guidance, they moved to country England.

Eileen and Peter lived in a caravan, grew vegetables and received unemployment benefits. A man from the social security office came to visit and asked them, "Who supports you?" They responded, "God provides." The official replied, "In that case, you don't need this money," and promptly stopped payments.

To get by, they wrote a spiritual newsletter and marketed it to friends. Later, they were guided to move to a temperate area of Scotland and "grow vegetables". Here in 1962, Eileen and Peter settled in a caravan park near the village of Forres with others, including medium, Dorothy MacLean. Together, they developed an approach to organic gardening in co-creation with the nature spirits and devas of the land. They also communed with an angel who called herself the Findhorn Angel.

The most remarkable result was an extraordinary garden manifesting in pumpkins the size of a TV, potatoes the size of a hat and other giant-size vegetables. In tandem with this activity, a community gathered around the original group and more divine guidance arrived, encouraging Findhorn to move its focus from growing vegetables to "growing people".

From these early beginnings, Findhorn now offers annual programs to 3000 residential participants from all over the world. The focus is to provide participants with practical application of spiritual values in everyday life. There are courses on personal development, life purpose, intuitive leadership, working with nature, living in community, sacred relationships, love in action, authentic living, angels, and many more. I planned some day to visit Findhorn, having met Eileen in Australia many years before. So imagine my delight when I received an invitation to conduct a seven day Angelic Connections workshop there last September.

Cluny House, a former four star hotel in the village of Forres where the workshop was run, is past its glory days. Though grey, it is a welcoming old regal building surrounded by beautiful gardens and nature walks. Nearby is the other part of Findhorn, The Park, an eco village community acknowledged by the United Nations as a place of habitat best practice. The community includes an arts centre, shop, pottery, bakery, publishing company and other activities.

From Cluny House, stone steps lead up past the woods. Shafts of sunlight dapple the trees. Silent tall keepers of the earth's wisdom, they honour visitors with their presence. As do daisies, roses, delphiniums and chrysanthemums, who dance their welcome in yellows, reds, pinks and apricots around the front door.

The staff of Findhorn, lowly paid pilgrims on their individual spiritual quests, come here to live in a community where the unseen world is respected, where angels are as present as flowers. Inspired workshop participants made time to be alone in the garden, drinking in the peace and tranquillity, when time ceases to exist, and inner experiences expand.

I sat one morning on a bench meditating in the garden. On opening my eyes, I saw a caramel rabbit sitting watching me from about a metre away. Unafraid of people and knowing it was safe, it twitched its nose and looked deep into my eyes. Those moments of oneness, becoming part of all being, are the special connection the rabbit and I shared. Then my new friend simply sat there as I closed my eyes and continued the meditation.

In this beautiful setting, it was my desire to create a seven day angelic experience that would enhance each person's awareness of their divine connection and deepen the purity of it, so that in a safe space everyone would open their hearts and gain confidence in working with their guardians, angels and archangels.

Participants from various secular, religious or spiritual backgrounds travelled from Greece, England, France, Switzerland, Australia, the Shetland Islands, Germany, Holland and the Bahamas. They came to learn about and connect with angels and archangels, and to experience Findhorn.

Anastasia, a dark eyed scientist from Athens, found the angel knowledge was like being given a chemical formula.

"At last," she said, "I understand how to be clear and specific about asking Divine assistance for what I require, then to grab life and live it with trust, grace, integrity and gratitude."

She went on to tell me later: "The angel sessions had a huge impact on me and at lunchtime I went for a walk to settle and become more attuned to the Light within me. Later, I felt called to the sea at the nearby Forres Beach. I felt part of the sea, mermaid-like, the separation had gone and I was one with all things."

Katie, a cute blond detective from London, ran every morning. She, too, felt connected with nature, a stillness combined with the whispering of trees. One day she lost her bearings in the woods, asked for divine assistance and found her way to the back gate of Findhorn. The week helped her to see beyond human limits, to know she can connect and co-create her best life with the assistance of the angelics.

Cara, a real estate executive from the Bahamas, whose husband Cairo was running another workshop, joined the Taize singing group in the chapel before breakfast. Taize singing was created to open the heart chakra and is a way of connecting to spirit through song with beautiful spontaneous harmonies. It originated in Southern France, started by a monk in an ecumenical community as a way of helping troubled teenagers, and it continues to this day.

Cara had arrived saying she found angels to be a concept rather than an experience. The strongest thing for her was learning how to tune in to each angel's frequency. By the middle of the week, as I was introducing a new angel, she was able to know what the angel's specific quality was, before being told. Now she can tune in very easily and receive the assistance of angels whenever she needs them.

Wendy, a Parisian writer, found that the workshop affected her vibration, making it lighter and stronger for her own healing and for the healing of others. She bonded with the like-hearted group, made new friends, and returned to France with the intention of creating a new life.

Taiwanese Cindy from Sydney, a marketing coach and kahuna student, knew a kahuna flying exercise to gather up chi energy. To the song "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan, she taught graceful birdlike movements in the garden after breakfast. This gift of flying meant everyone arrived at the workshop energised, light and bright.

Once outside the workshop, Christopher, an engineer from the Shetland Islands, enjoyed sitting in the oak panelled dining hall looking out on the rolling green hills of the Scottish countryside, eating vegetarian food cooked with love by the chefs, and watching the sunlight sparkle through the stained glass windows. He and his wife Joy came to Findhorn to celebrate their wedding anniversary and learn more about angels.

My learning in 1998, when I first started painting, was that each of the angels being painted is part of the Angelic Choir, a group of 77 angelics, 10 of which are archangels. Through the centuries, this choir has had the purpose of making it easy for people to connect with angels and archangels. Long ago, the choir inspired the paintings of angels in Mesopotamia, then in the beautiful angelic paintings of the Renaissance, and now in the 21st century, paintings through various artists around the world. I felt that as people had come so far to participate in the workshop, it would be rewarding for them to connect with all members of this choir.

My other understanding in 1998 was that the human body has to learn to integrate strong divine Light. At that time, the effect of the angel's frequency as it came through me into the picture was so powerful that after six hours of painting, I didn't know what to do with myself - whether to run around the block, sleep, eat chocolate, go to the gym, have a cold shower, or what. My concern at Findhorn was how to do a process with 77 beings without frying everyone with the divine Light.

Angelics can connect with us from afar through our guardians or they can come close. I requested that the Angelic Choir come into the room to do the process with us. What was guided was to take our selves into our hearts and set a purpose to connect with this choir.

The process was to sing "Magnificence", a beautiful song by Deva Premal and Mitten, as the choir vibrated their frequencies through us. Eyes closed, smiling and with tears running down our faces, our hearts opened as we sang in communion with the Choir, then fell silent, held in the beauty of pure love. Later, each individual said this deeply heart touching angelic connection was the most profound experience of their lives.

Going to an angelic workshop is not only about what we do there, it's who we become and how we bring our potential to life. Being in the energies of specific angels and archangels affected everyone. Each of us changed who we are, and how we are in the world. Each is more able to express and enjoy being the difference that makes the difference to ourselves and to others, and we learnt that living in partnership with angels and archangels makes life flow.

The participants from the workshop are still in touch and doing regular group meditations at agreed times, participating from all parts of the world, and true connection with each other and the angelics continues, as does a fondness for Findhorn.

www.visionsofangelics.com