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DAMANHUR

THE ECOLOGY OF SPIRIT

Giorgia Gaia

Supervisor: Oskar Verkaaik

September 2014

Master thesis

Cultural and Social Anthropology

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Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 CHANGING PARADIGMS 4

1.2 THE CITY OF LIGHT 6

1.3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

1.3.1 SPIRITUALITY 12

1.3.2 ECOLOGY 14

1.3.3 INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY 16

1.4 QUESTIONS & SUBQUESTIONS 17

1.5 FIELDWORK & METHODS 18

3. SPIRITUALITY IN DAMANHUR

2.1 PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS 20

2.2 A CONCEPT OF SPIRITUALITY 20

2.3 SUMMER SOLSTICE RITUAL 21

2.4 COMMUNICATION WITH THE PLANT WORLD 24

2.5 SPIRITS OF NATURE 27

2.6 MENTE DI RAZZA 28

2.7 DAMANHURIANS’ PERSPECTIVES ON SPIRITUALITY AND ECOLOGY 29

2.8 REMARKS 32

3. INTENTIONAL SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY

3.1 PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS 34

3.2 THE IDEALISTIC COMMUNITY 34

3.3 THE ORACLE OF DAMANHUR 37

3.4 BUILDING THE TEMPLE OF HUMANKIND 38

3.5 SUPER-INDIVIDUAL 40

3.6 SPIRITUAL PEOPLE 42

3.7 DAMANHURIANS’ PERSPECTIVES ON COMMUNITY AND SPIRITUALITY 43

3.8 REMARKS 45

4. ECOLOGY IN DAMANHUR

4.1 PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS 47

4.2 RE-DEFINING ECOLOGY 47

4.3 OLIO CALDO 49

4.4 CONCRETE ECOLOGY 50

4.5 PRIMA STALLA 53

4.6 VANGELO ALIMENTARE 56

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4.7 DAMANHURIANS’ PERSPECTIVES ON ECOLOGY AND INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY 57

4.8 REMARKS 59

5. CONCLUSIONS 60

6. APPENDIX 65

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 77

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1. Introduction

1.1 Changing Paradigms

"All beings have their properties which spread

Beyond themselves, a power by which they make Some other beings conscious of their life —

Spirit that knows no insulated spot, No chasm, no solitude.

From link to link It circulates, the soul of all the worlds.

This is the freedom of the universe, Unfolded still the more, more visible

The more we know—and yet is reverenced least, And least respected, in the human mind,

Its most apparent home."

William Wordsworth, 1798 Environmentalist David Brower, whilst talking about possible solutions to face ecological crises, argues that one of the causes of human indifference towards nature lays in the misleading teachings of Abrahamic religions: “If I could go back to a point in history to try to get things to come out differently, I would go back and tell Moses to go up the mountain again and get the other tablet” ironically prompts Brower. In fact, he continues, both Ten Commandments and Genesis inform about how to behave in the relationship between humans alone and encourage humans to proliferate and conquer Earth. No more tips are given to believers (Brower 1992). Considering how the three Abrahamic religions have influenced Western culture and the perceptions that individuals have of themselves in the world, his claim is slightly mocking, yet significant. Maybe not accidentally, the decline of mainstream religions corresponds with the progress of ecological ideals, often related to spiritual concerns. An increasing number of people and scholars are engaging in environmental causes and looking for more powerful spiritual experiences. Twentieth century is witnessing a slow but significant paradigm shift in what concerns cultural interpretations of faith. On one side individuals, disappointed by authoritative religious traditions, are experimenting with new autonomous spiritual and religious ‘gnosis’ (Heelas & Woodhead 2005); on the other side nature religions, considered for centuries as primitive and dangerous cults, are gaining a renewed prestige and interest in human cultures (Taylor 2010). Simultaneously, important changes are occurring in the social structures of every-day life. The conception of nuclear family1, mainstream model in Western culture since the twentieth century, is collapsing under the weight of increasing economic and psychological responsibilities and expectations (Gordon 1972). Its decline is going hand in hand with the notorious economical global and environmental crises characterizing our decade. In this complex scenario, more and more people are considering going back to communal ways of living. All over the world, and especially in the Western world, are appearing many different kinds of intentional communities, guided by spiritual or laic ideals and mostly oriented to create a more sustainable future. The best known of such reality is the phenomenon of ecovillages, defined as “A human-scale, full-featured settlement in which human activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy human development and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future” (Gilman 1991: 143).

                                                                                                               1 With the term nuclear family is intended a family group formed by mother, father and their children.

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Ecovillages are typically constructed on various combinations of three dimensions: ecology, community and, for some, spirituality. These are also the key-concepts of my research, which aims to analyse how they influence and shape each other (Table 1). My interest is primarily to put in relation the concepts of spirituality and ecology, as I believe the two dimensions may be deeply connected and its linkage can open up new cultural perspectives and interpretations. Therefore I am going to investigate how spiritual practices and beliefs inform and shape the shared understanding of ‘ecology’ in a specific intentional community, called Damanhur. Damanhur is a community 40 kilometres north of Turin, in the northwest of Italy. At the moment of my inquiry only five ecovillages were proclaiming themselves as spiritual ecovillages2. They are Findhorn located in Northern Scotland and considered the most worldwide famous spiritual ecovillage built in 1962; Auroville, located in South India and devoted to Yoga practices, born in 1968; Tamera in Portugal started in 1978; Damanhur in Italy, founded in 1977 and the biggest currently, counts more than 1000 members from many different countries, it is famous for its wonderful subterranean temples; and Ithaca located five hours from New York. I have chosen Damanhur for its intriguing evidence of a well-rooted spiritual approach to the every-day life in the community and thanks to the suggestion given by a friend interested in esotericism. In fact, the fieldwork experience, while revealing all the complexities and multifaceted implications of a community with a very particular history and philosophy as Damanhur, helped me to understand how spirituality and ecology can be profoundly interwoven.

                                                                                                               2 “Gaia Education”, http://www.selba.org/EngTaster/Worldview/AwakeningAndTransfor/SpiritualEcovillages.html, (accessed 04/03/2013).

Spirituality ���

Intentional communities���Ecology���

Table 1: Key-concepts

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1.2 The City of Light

Damanhur means ‘city of light’, as did the ancient Egyptian city devoted to the god Horus. Oberto Airaudi founded the village in 19753 along with around 24 followers. It has since grown to 800 by the year 2000. Nowadays they number about 1000 citzens. On Damanhur’s website the community is briefly introduced with: “Damanhur, is an eco-society based on ethical and spiritual values, awarded by an agency of the United Nations as a model for a sustainable future”.4 Damanhur is located near Turin, in the North of Italy. The geographical area is called Valchiusella, a territory that goes from the slope on the mount Marzio to the municipality of Baldissero Canavese. The settlements are distributed on this territory in a heterogeneous manner, like ‘spots on the leopard skins’ (Stambecco). There are about 60 residences in approximately 200 hectares in total. Every house is inhabited by one or more ‘nucleos’. Nucleos are living groups composed by 12 to 15 people, mostly not in a family relationship 5 . They share bathrooms, kitchen and living rooms, while the rooms are private. They live as a temporary family, sharing meals and commitments. The territory is divided in four zones: Prima Stalla, Tentyris, the Forest Zone and the Central Zone. In total, there are 10 regions, and 25 nucleos. Damanhur is full member of the Italian Ecovillages Network (RIVE) and also the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN), an international network for communities and groups. In Damanhur they have their own coins, which can be used only inside the village itself and they are called ‘credits’. Socially Damanhur is organized as Federation of Communities and Regions. There is a Constitution6 containing the basic principles on which the communitarian social and spiritual choices along with the norms that regulate the internal organization are based. In Damanhur they believe that every group of individuals can find its equilibrium only when its organization is articulated in three parts. Therefore they have three Corpi (Corps):

- Scuola di Meditazione (School of Meditation): it is related with memory and spiritual contents.

- Gioco Della Vita (Game of Life): it has to do with innovation and future planning. - Social: it concerns every-day life and the organization in the community.

Each corps has an internal structure, with a guide, collaborators and grades. In the following page is a sketch of the extremely complex political scheme of Damanhur (Table 2). The two Control Kings, always male and female, have the role of enhancing and letting the people respect the spiritual and social values on which Damanhur is based. The College of Justice performs the functions related to monitoring compliance of internal laws. There is also Assemblee Generali della Comunitá (General Meetings of Communities) during which population can deliberate about arguments with communitarian characteristics. Even if it is not a rigid social structure, as it may seem from the scheme, Damanhur has a very complex hierarchical structure. The one I reported is the current one but it may change rapidly, as they are always experimenting and formulating new social theories.

                                                                                                               3 The founder of Damanhur, Falco, died of cancer a couple of days after my arrival in the community and after the celebration of Solstice ritual, on 23rd June 2014. A fieldwork note about this moment can be find in Appendix. 4 “Damanhur”,  http://www.damanhur.info/, (accessed 27/04/2013). 5 There are couples sharing the same nucleo with their children. When sons are 14 years old, they move to a particular nucleo where all the Damanhurians’ son live together. 6 The full Constitution is reported in Appendix.  

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POLITICAL STRUCTURE

2 RE GUIDA (Control Kings)

Elected every 6 month by the Initiated in the School of Meditation

COLLEGIO DI GIUSTIZIA (College of Justice)

Elected every 12 months

1 member elected by Re Guida

2 members by Camera Alta (High Chamber)

 

AMMINISTRAZIONE FEDERALE DIPARTIMENTI (Departments’ Federal Administration)

Foreign Relations

Internal (Security and Civil Protection)

School/Education

3 CORPI

MEDITATION

1 Guide

2 Collaborators

Camera Alta

Vie (Ways)

Grades

Instructors

Courses

Initiated

 

GAME OF LIFE

1 Guide

Collaborators

Viaggio (Travel)

Traveller Nucleos

Spiritual People

Experimentations

Olio Caldo

Table 2: Damanhur’s political structure

SOCIAL

Regents

Bursars

Representatives

Directives

Nucleos

Citizens (Level A-B-C-D)    

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Oberto Airaudi did not carry out any political office, he was considered just as a spiritual guide. “Above all, he said that he wanted to be recognized in the role of guarantor of the coherence of Damanhur. He always wanted to know what was happening” explained Stambecco (Ibex) during our first meeting “The succession of Falco has always been debated since the first day. A founder may not have a successor, by definition”. When Falco knew he was going to die, he named ‘three sages’, which were going to do what he used to, they are Sirena Ninfea (Siren Lily), Cicogna Giunco (Stork Rush) and Condor Girasole (Condor Sunflower). He named also other ‘three surrogate sages’, Orango (Orangutan), Cormorano (Cormorant) and Caimano (Caiman), to support the others. The School of Meditation, beside of being one of the three Corps of Damanhur, is also an Initiatic path, open to everyone interested in it, not only to citizens. Entering the path requires dedication such as a renouncement of smoking. This is seen as a sacrifice to increase self-discipline, but it has also a particular meaning. In their philosophy smoking kills the subtle particles of our inner body, defined by them as an alchemical laboratory As citizens are Initiated, they have certain spiritual responsibility, therefore they can choose between seven Spiritual Ways to follow. It is a path in which everyone can express their talent in order to reach a spiritual growth in the day-to-day world in which they live. The ways are: -Way of the Word: is the Way of communication. Citizens on this path are mostly teachers, journalists in the internal newspaper, public relators; they deal with the internal and external political relations. They spread the word of Damanhur and try to explain it outside and inside the community. -Way of the Knights: they care for the Temples and are mostly but not exclusively men. They also work as firemen, Red Cross and civil protection volunteers. Many of the Damanhurians are in fact involved in this social work to protect the territory in which they live and to help neighbors and members of the community. In this Way, physical and practical action corresponds with inner growth. -Way of the Oracle: it concerns the contact with Divine Forces. It is a binding Way; it requires a total devotion, inner subtle improvement and self-discipline. It is about ‘growing’ spiritually in order to become a channel with the Divine. It has to do with magical, spiritual and sacred. It is a vocation, and is mostly chosen by women. A subsection of it is the Dance, or Sacred Dance as they call it, which is an interpretation through movements of the Sacred Language7. -Way of the Monks: this has to do with deep thinking and retreat. It is a ritual and sacred path, where the contact with Divine is at the center. Monks are seen as being the containers of the spiritual living energies produced by the whole People of Damanhur. -Way of Art and Work: this reflects the spiritual philosophy of Damanhur, which suggests that through making the practical work sacred, human beings reach a spiritual evolution. Beside of working with art and producing every sort of manufactures to be sold in the community and to the visitors, the people in this Way take care of the economic life and financial strategies of the Federation. -Way of Art and Integrated Technology: is divided into two main groups, they are those that take care of all the visual art in the community and others who deal with technology in Damanhur, such as trying to use alternative and sustainable technologies, and maintaining internet and computers. Theater, a very common discipline in the village, is a subsection of this Way. -Way of Health: it concerns spiritual healers, traditional and alternative doctors. In fact, even if in Damanhur everything starts from holistic concepts of healing, traditional medicine is accepted

                                                                                                               7 The Sacred Language was revealed by Falco, and it is used for rituals, ceremonies and chants. It is said to be an archetypical language that everyone already know unconsciously, it is similar to Italian and has the same alphabet. At the moment they know only 300 words. (La Via Horusiana 2007: 115)

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and it is used only when it is believed to be very necessary. Many spiritual healers and doctors live in the village. A subsection of the Way of Health is Olio Caldo (Warm Oil): a new ecological project inside the community that operates in the area of agriculture and animal breeding, working to reach food self-sufficiency. Damanhur is an intentional community based on free choice of individuals. Commitment to the project Damanhur can be made on the basis of choices that each person expresses, in accordance with the will to participate fully or partially in this spiritual and social adventure, with the timing and mode preferred. For this reason there are different levels of citizenship. The granting of citizenship is based on a trial period of six months followed by an entrance examination. At any time, anyone can withdraw citizenship. The levels of citizenships are four: -Level A: citizens who reside in the community and are part of the School of Meditation. They are entitled to vote, participate in one or more Ways and share with Damanhur every material good. They are actively involved in family life of the nucleo and oriented on collective principle of solidarity. -Level B: citizens who are resident in the community and part of the School of Meditation. Economic participation is not total but agreed between the community and the citizens. They can vote expressing the partial vote of 0,5 and they cannot have positions of management inside the community. -Level C: they are part of the School of Meditation and they financially contribute to the economy of the Federation but are not residents in the territories. They can be part of the Ways as collaborators. -Level D: those who feel close to ideals of Damanhur but are not part of the School of Meditation and are not residents in the territory. Often they contribute economically. The actors involved in this intentional community are very heterogeneous. The age varies from 0 to 90 years old; there are families with children, grandparents, young boys and girls, dogs, cats and all kinds of animals. Around the 70% of the people have an age comprised between 40 and 65 years old, so the majority of inhabitants are in their middle age. That is partly due to the fact that when the community was founded in the 70s many young people came from all over Italy, thanks also to the conferences that the founder Falco presented around the nation. The other 20% is comprised of those aged between 0 and 40. In this category fall also all the children of the inhabitants and a small number of young spiritual seekers that after arriving in Damanhur decided to remain. A lot of them arrived in the village thanks to a project started five years ago, called New Life8. Finally around the 10% are over 65, and those are both older citizens that came to Damanhur for intentional reasons, or parents of the inhabitants that decided to stop there and embrace the Damanhurian philosophy. Stambecco, who has lived in the community for more than 30 years now, confirmed that compared to the beginning of their adventure the number of young people living in the community is diminishing. He also wrote an article on their online blog in which he asks ‘where are the youngsters that want to change the world?’ stating that lately the average age of the community is increasing. In Damanhur people have a very simple and basic outlook; their dresses are very colorful and usually made from natural materials. They pay attention to the colors they wear, because, as they explained me, each color has its own function for the health and the attitude of the person who wears it, a sort of clothing-chromo-therapy. They have also internal ‘stylists’ and cloth producers, whom sell their creations in the internal market, which takes place the first Wednesday of the month in the main square of Damijl9, the center of Damanhur. Almost all Damanhurians wear selfic jewels10 and different kinds of amulets, of which the most common, is called strength shield11

                                                                                                               8 This is a project open to everyone interested in experimenting life in the community, and it lasts for three months, during which the New Lifer becomes temporary a full member of the community, living in a nucleo, sharing the everyday life, duties and rules with the rest of Damanhurians. 9 Damijl is the central area and the first settlement of the community, located in Valchiusella. It is now home to the office reception and many other facilities. The first "walk" to Damjl, as a rule, has to be done with a specialized guide. 10  See page 38 for an explanation of Selfic technology, of which Selfic jewellery is a part of.  

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(Picture 1), a metal medallion considered here as a necessary instrument to protect oneself against the negative forces in the every-day life but especially during esoteric rituals and practices.

Pic. 1: Reproduction of the strength shield

Citizens and visitors greet each saying ‘con te’, which means ‘with you’, specifically ‘I am with you’, as a sign of unity, communion and solidarity. More than the half of the inhabitants are Italians; in fact the basic spoken language is Italian. Other part of them are coming from other places of Europe or U.S., especially Germany, Netherlands and California. I did not meet any people from Asian countries, except from some Japanese visitors. After becoming Initiated citizen, all inhabitants get called with new names, which are borrowed from animals and vegetables, as a mean of union with the nature and to connect with the ‘Race Mind’12 of the species. Damanhur became world-famous in 1992 when its subterranean temples were disclosed. The building of the temples began in 1978 and it remained hidden for 14 years. This could happen because Damanhurians have built the temples themselves working secretly during the nights for many years. Though it could be defined as such, the majority of Damanhurians refuse to call their system of beliefs a religion, the reasons are mainly linked with the negative inheritance the word ‘religion’ has gained in the history, as Stambecco explained: “We are not a religion but a research philosophy. What traditionally is religion is the fact of believing in a truth that already exists, and so it is a principle to which you have to adapt, in a way that is not joyful, as for example in the Catholic world, or as even the less joyful Protestant world. Your goal is to save your soul conforming to their path. Our point of view is that there’s a truth to be created together, of course following the direction that the universe expresses.’’ (Interview with Stambecco) In Damanhur the environment and the inhabitants’ behaviour immediately give the feeling of it being a very spiritual place, full of symbols, statues, temples and rituals. Knowledge and teachings are divided in two parts: exoteric and esoteric. The exoteric knowledge is open to everyone; there are weekend courses for foreigners and citizens, in the ‘Free University of

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       11 On the shield there are many symbols, some of them representing different religious beliefs, and sacred geometries. Historically its origin are found in Atlantis, but it seems that also the Templars were using it during the Middle Age. (“Lo Scudo di Forza”, http://www.caproespiatorio.net/lo-scudo-di-forza.html, accessed 20/09/2014) 12 See chapter 2.5

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Damanhur’. It is a very interesting activity, which beckons many spiritual seekers and tourists from all over the world. The courses are mainly focused on developing human potentials, on spiritual healing, astral travel, communication with the natural flora and also on contact with alien forms of life, learning how to read tarots and other paranormal disciplines. The esoteric knowledge is transmitted in the School of Meditation after an Initiation, and it is kept jealously secret by all the members.

Pic. 2: A statue of Horus in the Open Temple in Damjil, the central zone.

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1.3 Theoretical Framework

1.3.1 Spirituality

My descriptive and interpretative analysis of the contemporary reality of Damanhur is based upon the mutual relationship of three key-concepts, which are spirituality, ecology and intentional community. Spirituality is a much-debated concept in the wide panorama of religious studies and social sciences. I will focus here on few relevant aspects concerning my ethnographic work. Historically spiritual was considered as a synonymous of religious, until new recent development outlined the differences of the two concepts. A new discourse developed in anthropology with the publishing of the book written by Heelas & Woodhead, The Spiritual Revolution: Why Religion is Giving Way to Spirituality (2005). This ‘Spiritual Revolution’, as they defined it, is seen as a consequence of people’s merging hesitance to be controlled and guided in their lives by any kind of religious authority, be it scripture, religious institutions or dominant personalities. Instead, a growing amount of people in the Western world seem to engage in private and informal searches to discover the sacred within themselves, and believing solely in the result of their contemplations. Therefore externally validated and congregational religions are replaced by self-oriented spiritualties (Heelas & Woodhead: 2005). This kind of analysis is evoking the religious consequences of the subjective turn of modern culture (Taylor 2010), where objectivity is identified as the entirety of social duties and obligations abandoned in favour of subjectivity, i.e. the experience of living in deep connection with the self. Subjective-life ‘has to do with states of consciousness, states of mind, memories, emotions, passions, sensations, bodily experiences, dreams, feelings, inner conscience, and sentiments – including moral sentiments like compassion’’(Heelas & Woodhead 2005: 3). Aside from indicating a detachment from dogmatic and authoritative religious traditions, the term spirituality is also used to suggest an individual attitude in shaping the contents of a faith. As Hanegraaff suggested in reformulating Geertz’s definition of religion, spirituality is defined as: Spirituality is any human practice which maintains contact between the everyday world and a more general meta-empirical framework of meaning by way of the individual manipulation of symbolic systems. (Hanegraaff 2000: 296)’ Following Hanegraaff’s reasoning, each religion can generate a wide range of ‘spiritualities’13 and theoretically there cannot exist a religion without ‘spiritualities’. Conversely ‘spiritualities’ can exist that are not dependent on any particular religion:

Spiritualities can emerge on the basis of an existing religion, but they can very well do without. New Age is the example par excellence of this later possibility: a complex of spiritualities which emerges on the foundation of a pluralistic secular society. (Hanegraaff 2000: 300)

Heelas & Woodhead assume that we are assisting in a sacralisation of the Western world, with the uprising of a broad ‘holistic milieu’ formed by New Age and other alternative healings (2005). In fact, there has been a general trend in the past decade to label a wide range of spiritual practices and groups with the term New Age. However Damanhurian philosophy refuses to be labelled as such, though journalists and writers still use that reference when talking of the community.

Damanhur, even if it is born at the beginning of the Aquarius Era, has nothing to do with New Age: the Damanhurian School of Thought and Life gleans to old esoteric traditions and knowledge and enhance an original experience to which hardly fit existing definitions or labels. (La Via Horusiana 2007: 12)

                                                                                                               13 “In principle we are dealing with a common everyday phenomenon: every person who gives an individual twist to existing religious symbols (be it only in a minimal sense) is already engaged in the practice of creating his or her own spirituality.” (Hanegraaff 2000: 300)

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Several scholars focused on the widespread definition, especially among American people, to be ‘spiritual, but not religious’ and few books came out with this title. Robert G. Fuller delivered an interesting theory about the beliefs and practices of Americans who are living their private spirituality outside the strict boundaries of organized religion. Here a big relevance is given to the social practices, highlighting the contrast between spirituality, seen as private and individual faith, and religion, which is collective and shared with a community (2001). In the same trend, Sven Erlandson analyses the exodus of American people from the Church, explaining the causes and implications, and suggesting a religious revolution (2000). Interestingly, the acronym SBNR (Spiritual But Not Religious) is commonly used in the American popular culture to define spiritual eclectic, free thinkers and un-churched people (Stark 2005). In popular culture, religion refers generally to organized and institutionalized religions; whereas spirituality refers to an individual moral value and deep religious experiences (Roof 1999).

While analytically, spirituality and religions are described clearly as two distinct social phenomena, often the term spirituality is used to describe those systems of beliefs that fall under the category of nature religions. With this term scholars mean all the religious systems that include nature worship, nature mysticism and earth religions, of which the most famous are Paganism, Animism and Pantheism (Taylor 2010: 5). Nature religions have a long heritage in the fields of religious studies; in fact to name just a few that deeply studied the subject more than a century ago: E.B. Tylor’s Primitive Culture (1871), Max Müller’s Natural Religion (1888) and James Frazer’s The Worship of Nature (1926). The most common debate has been between those who consider nature religions to be religiously or politically primitive, regressive or dangerous, and those who laud such religions as spiritually perceptive and ecologically beneficent. (Taylor 2010: 5)

The fierce enemies of natural religions have always been the three famous Abrahamic religions, Hebraism, Christianity and Islam, forcing believers to convert often with the use of violence. However hidden or in underground settings, nature religions continued to remain active throughout the centuries, and in contemporary society they continue to gain a greater relevance, especially with their affiliation with ecological means. Bron Taylor coined the intriguing definition of dark green religions to beliefs that he describes as “deep ecological, biocentic, or ecocentric, which are beliefs that consider all species to be intrinsically valuable, that is, valuable apart from their usefulness to human beings” (Tylor 2010: 13). These religions presuppose a profound respect for the natural world, conceived it as sacred, and have a strong connection with the Darwinian idea of all forms of life being connected by a unique origin. Taylor divides green dark religions in four categories (Table 3). ANIMISM GAIAN EARTH RELIGION

Supernaturalism Spiritual Animism Gaian Spirituality

Naturalism Naturalistic Animism Gaian Naturalism

Table 3: Taylor’s Green Dark Religions

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Spiritual Animism and Gaian Spirituality have supernatural characteristics, the former has to do with the perception that ‘non-human life forms’ have a soul or a spirit, consciousness and in some cases, special powers14; the second considers the cosmos as a conscious ‘superorganism’ and an expression or part of particular divinity. Naturalistic Animism and Gaian Naturalism involve scepticism towards supernaturalistic metaphysics, where in the first case adherents wish to understand and maybe to communicate with natural forces; in the second case they seek scientific proofs to promote any holistic metaphysics (Taylor 2010: 15). 1.3.2 Ecology The second key-concept, deeply connected with the previous one, is ecology. In anthropology the theme has already achieved resounding success as ecological anthropology has gained the autonomy of a sub-field during the 60’s with the works of Julian Steward (Kottak 1999) and in the 80’s with Orlove (1980). The central topics of this field of research are related to the function that beliefs and practices have in supporting the adaptation of populations to their ecosystems, with essentially neofunctionalist and neoevolutionists approaches (Kottak 2010). Another relevant figure in this debate is the British anthropologists Gregory Bateson and his book Steps Towards an Ecology of Mind (1972). Bateson suggests the idea that instead of trying to modify and shape nature, people should learn how it functions and how people function within it. Bateson’s invitation is … to hold back our eagerness to control that world which we so imperfectly understand […] Rather, our studies could be inspired by a more ancient, but today less honoured, motive: a curiosity about the world of which we are a part. The rewards of such work are not power, but beauty (1972: 269). Gregory Bateson opened up a ‘theoretical’ ecology involving the need to change not just actions, but also thoughts, re-considering ‘how we think’. It is an interdisciplinary approach that explores the ways in which consciousness changes and forms patterns on a social and individual level. The model of consciousness, or mind, is like an ecosystem, and ideas are the flora and fauna of this system. Therefore ideas are subjects of evolutive processes of extinction and flourishing. While environmentalists and biologists work to understand biological processes in order to promote the beneficial ones and avoid destructive approaches, Bateson’s suggestion is to understand the processes by which ideas interact with one another and the reasons why some of them decay and others prosper (Bateson 1972). Bateson is seen also as one of the most influential thinker of what is defined in anthropology as Systems Theory (Von Bertalanffy 1975; Laszlo 1996), which is also strictly related with the branch of ecology defined as system ecology, i.e. an interdisciplinary interpretation of ecology with ‘holistic’ approaches in the analysis of ecosystems (Kitching 1983). Howard Odum, a pioneer in this field, defines ecosystems as: … any entity or natural unit that includes living and non-living parts interacting to produce a stable system in which the exchange of materials between the living and the non-living parts follows circular paths is an ecological system or ecosystem. The ecosystem is the largest functional unit in ecology, since it includes both organisms (biotic community) and abiotic environment each influencing the properties of the other and both necessary for the maintenance of life as we have on Earth. (Odum 1953: 9) Recently, the word spirituality is often combined with the word ecology. The field that is now known as spiritual ecology may have its theoretical roots in Rudolf Steiner’s ideas, famous founder of the spiritual movement ‘Anthroposophy’. In fact Steiner was proposing a model where the

                                                                                                               14 Spiritual Animism may involve also “communication and communion with such intelligences or lifeforces, or beliefs that nature’s intelligences and forces are divine and should be worshipped and beseeched for healing or other favors”. (Taylor 2010: 15)

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natural and spiritual worlds were seen as a unity, suggesting the creation of a spiritual science with different epistemological bases compared to natural sciences (Steiner 1904). Actual environmental movements talk about the need for an ecological approach based also on spiritual awareness. If the values of biodiversity were felt not merely in the pocket or in the brain but in the soul, then the most effective, permanent conservation ethic imaginable might result. (Takacs 1996: 256) In anthropology this approach to ecology finds its ancestors in the work of late nineteenth-century anthropologists like Edward B. Tylor and James G. Frazer (Bolle 2005) that were already considering the relationship of natural world with the religious one. Also Roy Rappaport gave his contribution to the field with his book Pigs for the Ancestors: Ritual in the Ecology of a New Guinea People (1968). In this field, spiritual ecology can be defined as “a diverse and complex arena of intellectual and practical activities at the interface of religions and spiritualities on the one hand, and on the other, of ecologies, environments, and environmentalisms” (Sponsel 2007: 340). A more radical approach to ecology was introduced in 1973 by the Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss who also used the term deep ecology. Deep ecology refers to an egalitarian and holistic environmental philosophy founded on phenomenological methodology. By way of direct experience of nonhuman nature, one recognizes the equal intrinsic worth of all biota as well as one’s own ecological interconnectedness with the life world in all its plenitude. (Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy: 206)

Arne Næss also elaborated an eight-point platform of commitments for those willing to embrace this radical philosophical approach to ecology. Deep ecology has to do with re-visioning the meaning of human self-identity in relation with non-human world, suggesting that the world is one being and not an assembled mass of separate objects. Given the fact that many ecological theories offer a view of the universe as made of separate existing entities, this principle of ecology is revolutionary and it goes beyond the simple analysis of the environment, reaching also metaphysical or esoteric endeavours. It overcomes the dualistic way of thinking, destroying the illusionary process of ‘othering’ that divides the world into separate parts instead of highlighting its interexistence (Davies 2000). The anthropologist Richard Nelson in his article ‘Searching for Lost Arrow: Physical and Spiritual Ecology in the Hunter’s World’ writes:

For the most part, our society remains embedded in the Western worldview which isolates us from the natural community and leaves us spiritually alienated from nonhuman life. We have created for ourselves a profound and imperilling loneliness. (in The Biophilia Hypothesis 1995: 223)

This interpretation of the world as a unique living system strictly relates to what Edward O. Wilson theorized in 1984, i.e. the Biophilia Hypothesis. This theory assumes that there is an instinctive connection between humans and all the other living systems. Literally ‘biophilia’ means ‘love for living beings’. Wilson is in fact theorizing that human beings are subconsciously connected with all living entities and they live in a positive mutual relationship (E.O. Wilson 1984).

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1.3.3 Intentional Community

In her book Creating a Life Together: Practical Tool to grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities the author Diana Leafe Christian suggests that since the concept of ‘utopia’ made its appearance in human culture, individuals have begun to create every sort of community in order to increase the possibility to realize their dreams. Her example of the first consciously created community dates back to 525 BC and it was born in a place called Homakoeion, located near Crotone, on the southeast coast of Italy. The community was composed by few hundreds Pythagorus’ followers, vegetarians and was passionately involved with mystical practices, such as numerology (Christian 2003). Many other similar communities have existed in the world during the centuries, and lately the phenomenon of intentional community, as opposed to the Western ‘nuclear family lifestyle’, is gaining a big cultural relevance. Geoph Kozeny, writer and activist, defined intentional communities as A group of people who have chosen to live together with a common purpose, working cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values. (Kozeny 1995:18) Highlighting differences between intentional community and society, anthropologist Lucy J. Kamau writes: Intentional communities differ from the society that surrounds them, because they are intentional and because they are communal. Because they are intentional, people who live in them are not neighbours by happenstance; they have chosen to live together. Because they are communal, they share things that neighbours do not normally share, such as wealth, property, labour, food, and sometimes even spouses. These are the obvious and well-known differences between life in the communal society and life in the normal society. (2002: 17) Theoretically, community is a complex concept; however in the present day anthropological studies of communities attempt to underline the natural need for a connection that exists among human beings, and provides an opportunity to analyse how this need is culturally interpreted and figured out (Brown 2002). A very interesting contemporary phenomenon is concerned with a particularly new and widespread example of intentionally created communities called ecological villages (ecovillages). The ecovillage is defined as an intentional community based on concepts of environmental and social sustainability (Ergras 2010). It is a community wherein people share knowledge, spaces and time in a temporary autonomous zone (Bey 1991) characterized by a renewed dialect between common-private and sacred-profane. Two aspects are central in defining intentional communities: personal commitment and ‘shared core values’ of the individuals that form the community. Regarding commitment, the sociologist Rosabeth M. Kanter outlines three modes of personal orientation in regards to a new social system that determine three types of commitment. Each type of commitment may be supported by mechanisms of attachment and detachment, which disconnect the individual from his past and unite him/her with the new future. Therefore she presents (a) instrumental commitment which presuppose a sacrifice, as for instance members renouncing something as the price of their membership, an investment; (b) affective commitment that involves renunciation and communion; (c) moral commitment that works through mortification and transcendence, in the sense that the individual loses his previous social identity and creates a new one based on the community itself (Kanter 1975). Intentional communities are usually characterized by ‘shared core values’ as a basis of their cultural formations and as a means of internal social cohesion, making these values concrete or metaphysical. Diana L. Christian, editor of the Communities magazine and involved in the ecovillage Earthhaven in North Caroline, emphasizes by experience the importance of this aspect:

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Without a shared vision and common purpose to focus and unify your efforts, your group can bounce around endlessly between confusion, frustration, and grim battles for control. (Christian 2003: 58) Communities’ shared values are often in contrast with the ‘mainstream’ society. Corresponding with this view is anthropologist Susan L. Brown, who has elaborated her view of intentional communities as social and cultural critique: Intentional communities have often been called ‘utopian’ communities in the past (and sometimes even today), because people often seek to realize their ideals through these communities. Yet, an examination of these communities tells us unequivocally that they are anything but ideal, and while they are often conceived of as separate, they do, in fact, interact with the larger society, sometimes acting as halfway houses for those temporarily disturbed by social forces and sometimes emerging back into mainstream society because they have tapped into important perspectives with wide appeal. (Brown 2002: 9) 1.4 Questions & Subquestions In line with the understandings provided in the theoretical framework, the main question guiding my research and ethnographic work puts the three concepts of spirituality, ecology and intentional community in a mutual relationship and it is formulated as follows: How spiritual practices and beliefs inform and shape the shared understanding of ‘ecology’ in the intentional community of Damanhur? In order to highlight every relevant cultural aspect of this conceptual debate, my narrative and descriptive work will be divided into three parts, each one considering and relating two elements at a time. In each chapter I also gave little space to shed light on some consistent reflections and information that arose during interviews. (1) The first chapter’s predominant targets are spirituality and ecology and it aims to answer the pertinent subquestion:

Which are the most significant spiritual practices, concepts and beliefs that influence the idea of ecology? In order to help the reader understanding the concepts with which I am dealing throughout the thesis, I briefly introduce what is meant by the word spirituality from the actors’ perspectives. Therefore are considered several practices, concepts and beliefs as I observed and interpreted them during the fieldwork. (2) In the second chapter my investigation focuses on spirituality and intentional community: How spiritual practices and beliefs inform the idea citizens have of Damanhur as an intentional community? In this chapter I also include a brief account of an old citizen’s life history, which I consider to be significant ethnographic material with the purpose of offering an insider’s interpretation of the theoretical concept of intentional community. (3) Finally, the third and last chapter engages with the relationship between ecology and intentional community: How ecology influences every-day life in the community?

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In this chapter it is also outlined how citizens tend to define ecology, an argument that will be more deeply handled in the Conclusions section. 1.5 Fieldwork & Methods My fieldwork in the community of Damanhur took place from June to August 2013. I spent most of my time in the central zone, called Damijl. After the first week passed in the formal tourist guesthouse, they offered me a sleeping place in a caravan parked in territory, which I happily accepted. I was hosted for meals in a nucleo called Gej15 Damijl. Damijl is a very precious and delicate place; they define it as the sacred city. In Damijl there are three nucleos, the asylum and the primary school, the little Sacred Wood where none can enter except the Initiated in some special occasions, the headquarter of the internal journal of Damanhur, several spirals16 and the Open Temple, where many rituals are celebrated. During my fieldwork the founder of the community, Oberto Airaudi (Falco) died at the age of 63. For obvious reason I cannot include the notes of this event in my research, but I included a narration of the day of his death in the appendix, as it was a very significant moment for the story of the community and for my personal experience.

Pic. 3: Spirals in Damijl

                                                                                                               15 Gej means ‘stars’ in the Sacred Language. 16 Spirals are itineraries to be walked in order to get special effects, from really basic ones like having a better sleep or a good digestion or to get magical visions and open channels of communication with other worlds. These are also meditative tools, Damanhurians often walk the spiral before rituals, ceremonies or courses. This is how they explain it: “The form of the spiral is the basic structure of life in our universe. This Spiral is a real ‘gym’ for your subtle bodies; it harmonizes your aura and helps you clear your mind and elevate your thoughts.”

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Initially analysing Damanhur’s reality with my ‘rational’ mind, it all appeared unconventional, I was wondering whether its inhabitants could all be wacky wild people, but my bias collapsed after less than a week of fieldwork. The majority of them are sober and highly civilized individuals, with a Western rationalistic mind and an elevated cultural formation. The different attitude in interpreting reality probably lies in the fact that they trained themselves, as Gnomo explained me, to have not traditionally linear or logical thoughts; at least, not exclusively. This can be explained with the concept of synchronicity, which is taken here as the primary mean to explain many events. With synchronicity it is intended in this context the possibility to interpret events as not being connected by a relation of cause-and-effect (Jung 1968). Man lives immersed in a sea of synchronicity, Gnomo suggested, and must as much as possible, become a sponge that is permeated by all kind of experiences and not dried by rationalistic bias. Synchronicity is a ‘force’ that constantly links all the events, both simultaneously and in the time-space. An event is ‘synchronic’ when it represents the right thing in the right moment (Coyote 2010: 29). The methods I used are participant observation and open-ended interviews. I also compiled two life histories of old citizens living in Damanhur. Damanhurians are discreet people; therefore, to obtain information from them it was often not an easy task. Moreover lot of information is kept secret and available only for Initiated in the School of Meditation. To understand Damanhur and its philosophy, it is necessary to become as integrated as possible and get involved in their practices. For this reason I participated in many courses and activities, becoming sometimes myself a practitioner. This partly caused in me what anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann defines as interpretive drift: “The slow, often unacknowledged shift in someone's manner of interpreting events as they become more involved with a particular activity” (1989: 312). Luhrmann refers to her fieldwork in a Wicca coven in England, during which she began practicing and became herself a Priestess. When researchers begin to practice, even in play, they may start noticing new patterns and new connections between facts and data. Interpretive drift has to do with adopting new theories and new ways of interpreting events (Robbins 2013: 150). For this and other reasons I decided to write my thesis following the narrative approach and storytelling methodology, capturing social representation processes such as feelings and images. In this particular case I recognized the importance of addressing the ambiguity, complexity and dynamism of the actors during my fieldwork. I believe this method is particularly appropriate to study subjectivity and the influence of culture and identity on the human condition.

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2.Spirituality in Damanhur 2.1 Preliminary Considerations This chapter aims to answer the first of my research sub questions, which concerns the relationship between concepts of spirituality and ecology. In particular, I will highlight what I think are the most significant widespread spiritual practices and concepts, which may have influenced citizens’ understandings of ecology. In doing so, firstly it will be relevant to briefly explore what is meant by Damanhurians use of the word ‘spirituality’. Afterwards, I will provide a narration of my own participant observation of a very important, if not, ‘the most important’ ritual in Damanhur – The Summer Solstice Ritual. This ritual is relevant because it sheds light on several aspects surrounding the influence of spiritual practices on the perception citizens have of Nature, therefore their elaboration of ecological attitudes and meanings. The same goes for Communication With The Plant World, an exoteric course taught at the Free University of Damanhur where they train people with the spiritual and supernatural ability to communicate with plants and, at the same time, disseminate specific knowledge about the plants’ qualities and their ‘metaphysical’ importance. Hereafter there will be an explanation of what citizens identifies as Spirits of Nature and of the relevant concept Mente di Razza (Race Mind), where elements of spiritual philosophy and views of the natural world are melted. The first concept, Spirits of Nature, relates strictly to the supernatural interpretation of nature and the second, Mente di Razza, has to do with the connection of human beings to animals on a spiritual level. Finally I present some Damanhurian’s reflections about the relationship between spirituality and ecology in their cultural formation before I end with some personal remarks. 2.2 A concept of Spirituality The word ‘spirituality’ in Damanhur means many things and it is a very central tenet of their culture and every-day life. In fact, the first two points of its official Constitution declare: 1. The citizens are brothers and sisters who help one another through trust, respect, clarity, acceptance, solidarity and continuous inner transformation. Everyone is committed to always extending to others the opportunity to reach higher. 2. Each citizen makes a commitment to spread positive and harmonious thought, and to direct every thought and action towards spiritual growth, putting ideals before personal interest. Each person is socially and spiritually responsible for every action they take, as everybody is aware that each act is multiplied and reflected all over the world through the Synchronic Lines. All of the 15 points of the Constitution make reference to the spiritual path of every single citizen, giving profound relevance to unity and solidarity inside the entire community. ‘There’s no spiritual growth if life is not shared with others’, they argue. But, what is the meaning of spirituality for a Damanhurian? I asked this questions to all of my interviewees, and a very heterogeneous interpretation of the concept of spirituality was found. Firstly, it must be said that the starting point of Damanhur’s ‘research philosophy’, as Stambecco defines it, is that their system of beliefs is not a dogmatic one, therefore everyone is free to have a personal interpretation and also, a personal religious belief, being aware of the ethical rules imposed by the Constitution. Secondly, spirituality in Damanhur is a sort of umbrella for many other concepts as: religion, esotericism, magic, ethic, ideology, community and even, for some, ecology. What I can assume is that, as their body of cultural production is growing day-by-day, there is still not a widespread and common definition for all the concepts they mostly use. This

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assumption is not a refusal of the idea that by being against dogmatism, Damanhurians have different interpretations of the same ideology, but given my direct experience, I recognized a lack of internal coherence in some definitions. As Esperide, a 40-year-old teacher and writer, explained me: “Before the disclosure of the Temples of Humankind17, in 1992, there were almost no written documents about the philosophy of Damanhur, everything was oral and kept secret. After that moment we started working on conceptualizing and writing this all.” (Interview with Esperide) This work is done by the ‘Theoretical Group’, composed by twelve Damanhurians18, that meet once a week to work on Falco’s teachings, all of which are recorded on tape. This task includes not only organizing his lessons but also committing them to paper19. Throughout this chapter Damanhurians idea of spirituality will be further analyzed. 2.3 The Summer Solstice Ritual It was a sunny Sunday, on the 23rd of June, many tourists and citizens arrived in Damijl to celebrate the most important of all the rituals: the Summer Solstice. Damanhurians wore coloured long tunics, white, yellow, red and white, depending on the spiritual path chosen and the Initiatic level. All of the participants are given an Artemisia crown, the plant sacred to Damanhur, to be worn on heads as sign of empathic union with nature.

Pic. 4: Initiates performing Summer Solstice ritual in Damijl It is a very important celebration because, as Lince (Lynch) explained me, “it is the most powerful of all the four Solstices and Equinoxes because Nature is at its maximum efflorescence and therefore the connection is stronger”. Before the ritual, together with about twenty ‘outsiders’, I was taken to the seat of the Free University of Damanhur, where Salamandra (Salamander), an old well-dressed and austere woman, and member of the first group of founders of the Federation, elucidated us on the meaning of the ritual we were going to witness. She explained to the audience that the Summer Solstice is a ritual of joy and life because ‘nature is in its maximum energy’; it is the most important moment of the year because the Syncronic Lines 20 are open, so there is communication between all the living beings of the Universe. The

                                                                                                               17 For more information about the Temples of Humankind, see section 2.4 18 The ‘Theoretical group’ is research group created by Damanhurians. It used to be composed only by men, in the last years also women are admitted. The number 12 is fixed and chosen by Falco himself. 19 Already few books have been written on this subject, for instance Coyote Cardo wrote ‘The Spiritual Physics’, translated from the Italian ‘La Fisica Esoterica’, which collects all the teachings of Falco about cosmogony and the creation of the world. 20  The Synchronic Lines are energy channels that run our planet and connect it to the Universe. The Synchronic Lines are great rivers of energy that connects all the planets of this Universe who have some form of life. These run through our planet through a lattice composed of nine major vertical lines, North-South direction and nine horizontal, with East-West direction. The Synchronic Lines carry thoughts and ideas and through them it is possible to connect to any point on the planet. Damanhur and in particular Temples of Humankind, stand at the crossroads of four of these main lines. The maps used to represent the synchronic lines were made by a group of researchers Damanhurians, along with Oberto Airaudi. (La Via Horusiana 2007: 133)

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Solstice Ritual has been repeated for six thousand years by many different religious traditions, on public and secret forms. Salamandra asserted that it is the oldest of all the rituals. Moreover in the Damanhurian interpretation, during the Solstice the vegetal world releases signals and collects information from our planet to be transmitted to the Cosmos. During this period, argues Salamandra, the souls that are going to reincorporate on this Planet arrive on the Syncronic Lines and there wait to find a body. In 1978, right after arriving in the place where now is Damanhur, the founders stipulated an alliance pact with the Spirits of Nature21. Every Solstice this alliance is renewed. As a sign of respect to this pact, in this period is forbidden to harvest flowers or plants. After the presentation performed by Salamandra, the guest group returned to the area where the ritual was going to take place. The area was an open air space, in the territory of Damijl. Another little ritual took place before the Solstice: it consisted of receiving a little wax ball, which was kept in the hands as the participant tried to transfer ‘something that they want to delete from their memory’  into it, with the power of thoughts. Then the wax balls were all burnt as mean of purification.

Pic. 5: Visitors wearing Artemisia crowns waiting to participate at the ritual. I still remember the smell of Artemisia spreading all around and the calm happiness of the Damanhurians, coloured by their simple tunics. A circle, drawn on the grassland by white stones delimited the area of the ritual. Inside the outer circle there was a hexagram drawn. This is called the ‘ritual territory’, in which uninitiated participants cannot enter. Inside the hexagram there were two fires, a lunar and a solar fire. Before the ritual, every nucleo donates symbolic objects, such as written notebooks, flags or clothes, which represent an achievement they have made in

                                                                                                               21 See Section 2.4

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the past year, which will be then burnt in the ceremony. Also the Artemisia crowns brought back from the previous year are burnt, some donations are made to the fire, many good auspices are presented to the forces of Nature and a mantra in the Damanhurian Sacred Language is sung by all the participants. The Mantra recites the word MOAE, which is a way to ask the re-composition of the Androgynous22, i.e. equilibrium between masculine and feminine forces. Some of the citizens, located under a white tent outside the ritual territory, were playing percussion instruments, the harp, violin and classical guitars, whilst singing songs in their mysterious Sacred Language. The meaning of burning some particular objects is related with returning back to Earth what was given to Humankind during the previous year as a sign of gratitude. To conclude the ritual, two Damanhurians, a male and a female, consigned to each participant Artemisia twigs, to be conserved by participants as a symbol of inner renewal, until the next Summer Solstice, when it will be burnt. They did it while looking sharply in the eyes of the participant and saying one by one, the ‘woman to the men and the man to the women’, both in Italian and in the Sacred Language: “I consecrate you and your coming year with this Artemisia”. After the ritual, the fires burn until the sun goes down. As Salamandra suggested, if someone takes the ritual seriously and participates with full attention, unexpected energy will flow to him/her. During the explanation, she also expressed her worries about the condition of humans on Earth. As it happened in Atlantis, of which Damanhur assume to be the descendant, humans are in a dangerous situation: they are about to lose their souls. She hopes that as luck as we are now to be in the Era of Aquarius, humanity will move towards a very seismic transformation. The Solstice ritual is clearly a ‘model of’ reality that strongly affects how citizens understand nature and its rhythms. It gives to them also a ‘model for’ action, which is deeply related to the cultural patterns developed in this small society regarding the concepts of ecology and respect for Nature. Nature, and its mysterious creatures, becomes a living entity with spirit and body. This is probably why I heard comments like: “There’s no separation here between the concept of ecology and the concept of spirituality” (Interview with Esperide). Another interesting interpretation of Solstices and Equinoxes performed in Damanhur, was reported by Coyote: “These rituals are used to connect man with nature’s rhythms, because in our technological society this rhythm is differentiated. It is not good for nature but also for men. We need these rituals to synchronize the rhythms. In the context where we are now, forces of nature are a fundamental aspect.” (Interview with Coyote) Following the main ritual, another small ritual: jumping a burning fire, from South towards North, which represents the will of changing and of overtaking the obstacles of life. Even if I could not hide it, I was tremendously scared, but I also jumped the fire. In Damanhur the importance of ‘being an active part’ of the community is undeniable, in order to grasp the hidden meanings of actions and events. It is a mutual relationship between the ethnographer and the actors: the more they see the ethnographer active in the every-day life, the more they open their gates of knowledge. In order to obtain any relevant information from Damanhurians, they need to feel empathy, otherwise they just prefer to be silent or say the least possible with little zeal.

                                                                                                               22 Following Damanhurians teachings, the Androgyne is the being total and complete, in which they are united and melted masculine and feminine principles. In magic, and alchemy in particular, the concept of Androgynous plays a huge role. It is the arrival point of human evolution.

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2.4 Communication with the Plant World During a 3-day event called Summer Festival, I had the occasion to listen the presentation and to have a little overview of the body of exoteric knowledge that is taught at the Free University of Damanhur to citizens and strangers. The majority of the citizens took all of them, because they have cheaper admission fees, (less than the half of what a stranger pays) and the courses are very interesting and pleasant. Moreover, the courses taught have utility in their everyday life and relate to many common disciplines practiced by Damanhurians such as: Astral Travel, Past Lives Research, Contact with Alien Intelligences, Inner Senses, Medium, Contact with the Cosmos in the Temple of Humankind, Inner Personalities, Harmonization, Know the Tarots, Spiritual Physics and Communication with the Plant World. I will focus on the last course, which was presented by Tasso Peperone (Badger Capsicum). After a short theoretical introduction, participants had the possibility to ask him questions and to have a little trial of what the course is about. That is, learning the techniques to be able to feel what plants can tell us. Tasso explained: “For each person is different: you might have images or sounds or flavours or all these things together. We made also particular experiments where, through the plant, we asked things of other people because, as I was saying before, they perceive us from many meters away and we, as them, are much more complex than the part we just see. So at an energetic level, it’s possible to read thoughts or state of being or even possible illnesses or points of contact of our history. In the course we do all of these experiments.’’ (Tasso) Tasso recounted a curious anecdote, regarding the story of an Australian couple, husband and wife. They lived in a very remote place in the desert, where the closest shop was about 200 km from them. They would go shopping only once in a while. It happened one day that the husband left with the list of the things to buy, but the wife forgot to tell him to buy the flour, a very important part of the purchase. So she ran outside towards a big tree next to the house and stayed there for a while talking to the tree. When the husband came back, he had the flour, and he reported to have received the message.      Interestingly enough, Damanhurians, when arriving at every nucleo, use to stop by a tree close to the entrance of the house, and lean the forehead on it for about a minute. I asked for clarification about this habit, and Tara explained to me: “We say hello to the main tree all the time we arrive, the tree we stop by is the protector of the house and as a sign of respect and gratitude we give him some positive vibes every time we step by a place” (Interview with Tara). This devotion to and connection with trees it is not unique in Damanhurian culture, but as Frazer points out in The Golden Bough “In the religious story of Aryan race in Europe the worship of trees has played an important role” (1922).

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Pic. 6: David, a New Life citizen, greeting a tree.  Tasso reported another fascinating aspect regarding trees: they have a memory and as trees can live for over two thousand years, therefore, learning how to communicate with them could also mean to have access to a very long story of this planet. Trees are described here as the most evolved living system on the planet, as they have been here for more than 4 million years. In fact, as Tasso explained, NASA, in collaboration with an Italian University in Florence, is studying some robots for the exploration of Mars and other planets, using the plants as a model. However I could not find any official evidence of this statement. Plants seem to be all connected to each other and trees are sort of antennas, continued Tasso. Damanhurians used to communicate with other planets and to send messages through the Synchronic Lines during their magical practices. To demonstrate that plants are able to communicate with humans, in Damanhur they claim to have invented a device to listen to music synthesised by plants, after a research that lasted about 30 years. “The initial idea was to find a way to interact and we started with the human bio-feedback. For the human biofeedback, you can measure through your fingers the difference of potential of the skin and this potential is tightly connected with how we feel. If my emotion change, also the sound changes.” (Tasso) Starting from this principle, they tried it with plants. It came out that also plants send little electrical signals that, through the device, are measured and transformed in musical notes. They produce notes in a MIDI23 standard, which are then inserted in a synthesizer.                                                                                                                23 MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a protocol, digital interface and connectors and allows a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers and other related devices to connect and communicate with one another.

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Pic. 7: Devices used for the ‘Music of the Plants’.

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It seems that, confirming the idea that plants have a memory, they get better after some exercises and that they can hear sounds around and reproduce them. Damanhurians, claiming to have empirically proved all these statements, have taken this discovery around, performing some ‘plant concerts’ in special occasions outside their territories. Tasso explained that plants are very sensible, much more so than humans, in fact, before asking them to play, people must ‘connect’ with plants through some simple meditation techniques and let them feel comfortable to play. We experimented with this during the course, and it was very amusing to listen how the intensity, the speed and the notes were changing for each person that was interacting with the plant. As I was interacting with them, from my sceptical point of view, the music was really low and unencumbered; while with some other people it was loud and happy. Tasso, a man full of anecdotes, told us also another story, of a plant taken to New York to a manager that was willing to patent the project and produce it, but, at that time, no music came out from the device connected to the plant. In his opinion plant was put under pressure and taken out of its natural environment. These stories are all part of the popular Damanhurian culture and, unfortunately, there is no authoritative academic reference to be made. 2.5 Spirits of Nature In Damanhur, supernatural is a central feature in the everyday life of citizens. As there is a tangible tree or a chair or a pen, there too are spirits. It seems they have proved the existence of supernatural powers and entities; it is not just a matter of faith, at least not for all of them. Once I was invited by Tara to have lunch at her nucleo, called Pejda. It is a very energetic place and inhabited by many spirits of nature, she said. The house is surrounded by nature; there is a little wooded area inhabited by pigs and ducks and also a natural source of water. Next to the stream there is an old small abandoned house, in which lives a spirit that they claim to have seen several times in the shape of a white-dressed woman. The Spirits of Nature are, by their definition, intelligent beings, endowed with a free will, that live in a more ‘subtle’ dimension compared to humans. They are the real owners of this planet. Animal and plants easily recognize them and live with them.

Pic.8: The small abandoned house in Pejda.

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During the lunch I asked Nautilo, a 60 years old spiritual healer, how he would define the Spirits of Nature. He informed me: “Spirits of Nature are energies that preside over nature, in all its manifestations. They prefer places where there is more ‘prana’ 24, so when you would learn to see and perceive them, you will most probably meet them there close to the source of water. They are like portals, you enter them and you are re-generated. They can take the protoplasmic shape that you give them, so if you imagine the spirits as a fairy, they will be fairies, if you imagine them as gnome, they will be gnomes. They are modelled by the idea that you have of them. And they can do jokes!” (Interview with Nautilo) Of course I investigated which kind of jokes or whether they could be dangerous. Spirits of Nature are not bad; they are a container of opposite forces, being part of a spiritual ecosystem based on the equilibrium of different energies. Because of a materialistic culture, human beings have lost the connection with them and therefore they cannot receive their positive influence anymore, explained Nautilo. Another curious story, concerning the Damanhurian idea of ecology, tells that the Spirits of Nature leave the habitats that have been ecologically spoiled or polluted by negative or bad thoughts, and as a consequence they do not help humans in their spiritual evolution (La Via Horusiana 2007: 80). This particular aspect has consistent connections with how Frazer talked about primitive ‘worship of nature’ in the natural religions, and specifically with his view of nature as an animated being. [By] the worship of nature, I mean… the worship of natural phenomena conceived as animated, conscious, and endowed with both the power and the will to benefit or injure mankind. Conceived as such they are naturally objects of human awe and fear. Thus what we may call the worship of nature is based on the personification of natural phenomena. (Frazer 1925) 2.6 Mente di Razza The concept of Mente di Razza (Race Mind) is really important in the cultural productions of Damanhur. This concept explains the reason why they denote themselves with animal names. I talked with Coyote, author of the book Spiritual Physics and part of the Theoretical Group. Coyote is an interesting character, with the characteristics of a ‘nerd’, his appearance is not what he primarily cares about, his clothes are in the 90’s style and the interview we had was surely one of the most interesting of all. Sitting in the ‘Somachandra Café’, close by the reception of Damahur, we had a lunch together and talked for more than an hour. He made me feel comfortable and it was a very enjoyable talk. I was almost at the end of my time in the field and I was still left with a lot of doubts, which I wrote in my field diary in order to ask him, sure of the fact that he would be able to help me. Coyote, besides being one of the most eminent theorists of the group, is a woodworker. He arrived in Damanhur in 1994. “The ‘Race Mind’ of an animal is a natural thing, imagine it to be like an Internet. It is a specific Internet for each animal species. For instance, the ‘Race Mind’ of a dog is a tank of information that contains all the experiences made by dogs on this planet. So as there is a soul that survives the death, also the memories and experiences of living species are conserved. There is a kind of high conservation, where there is Consciousness, which we identify as Soul. This is transferred from body to body, but this happens only for us and few other species. Dogs and cats, they do not have a soul evolved like ours, but still their experiences are recorded and remain.” (Interview with Coyote) Therefore Race Mind is a sort of immaterial tank where the species memory is stored. Coyote told me that there is also a ‘time memory’ for each planet, as a human being has an aura, also our planet has one, and in this aura is stored a general historic memory.

                                                                                                               24 Prana is the Sanskrit word for ‘life force’. The term refers to a cosmic energy believed to come from the sun and connecting the elements of the universe. The universal principle of energy or force, prana is the sum total of all energy that is manifest in the universe.

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In Damanhur there are tales of people who, with techniques of Astral Travel, were able to connect with this memory and to re-tell the true life history of some famous ancient characters, such as Jesus for instance. I asked Coyote why in his opinion it is necessary to connect with this Race Mind, and he explained to me that in the esoteric vision, every concept has always several interpretations, going from easy to very complex ones. “Let’s talk about the name we use, and the esoteric functions. At a first level, the animal name puts you in harmony with nature; on a second level, it connects you with the ‘Race Mind’, so with the experiences and the memories of the species; on a third level, following a spiritual-esoteric vision, we have to relate with divinities but we ourselves must become a divinity. Therefore, until we are not yet a divinity, we need an external one. How is a divinity made? It is made of several parts, called tanks, which are energies connected in a specific relation. So a divinity is made of one or more ‘Race Minds’, usually from animals. This is often why divinities are represented with the characteristics of animals. We also connect with an animal’s ‘Race Mind’, every living beings does it.” (Interview with Coyote) This concept seems to be very close to what Jung defined ‘collective unconscious’, the psychic universal tank, and common to all human beings (Jung 1996). This contains archetypes that are symbols and forms present in all human populations. What it is interesting here is the fact that consciously Damanhurians, while connecting with the Race Mind of an animal, become part of the Nature itself, receiving from it a kind of sensibility, which seems to be not human. Instead of considering whether or not this could effectively be possible, I however assume that their cultural patterns have deep roots in a pantheistic respect for and a very deep spiritual connection with nature and all its creatures. 2.7 Damanhurians’ perspectives on Spirituality and Ecology Some citizens, without exceeding in any materialistic concern, interpret ecology and spirituality as dependent on each other, being always an inner spiritual evolution the primary and final goal of the experience in Damanhur. The comments of Granchia (Crab), an Italian woman in the Way of the Monks, my personal Tarot reader and friend, confirmed the idea of a natural relationship of dependence between the three aspects of spirituality, ecology and community: “If you start an inner spiritual path, how can you not interact with nature or ecology? Because if you respect nature, you respect your neighbour. You are part of a whole; you are not a lonely human being. It is an inner path but it has to do with the world, nature and humanity. […] Ecology also means transforming matter, through recycling. We drained our planet, but we cannot any longer.” (Interview with Granchia) To underline the difficulties of talking about macro-concepts such as spirituality, Tridacna, Italian mother of 12-year-old twins and writer of Qui Damanhur25, told me: “Spirituality is such a complex and wide concept that has to do also with personal choices and also religious ones, so it is difficult to find a common definition. Here it is about how you live it; people are here because they have an idea of spirituality that they can apply somehow. So it can become something concrete. Therefore there will also be someone that is obsessed by nature and they will tell you ecology and spirituality are the same thing… someone else will do it in another way.” (Interview with Tridacna) This relates also with the anti-dogmatic attitude typical in Damanhur: everyone in the community is conceptually free of believing in any god or religion. They believe, in fact, that the inner path for reaching betterment and an holistic evolution of us as human beings, can pass through several ways, each one different for each person.

                                                                                                               25 Qui Damanhur is the internal daily newspaper of the community where citizens are allowed to write articles about their real or spiritual experiences. Tridacna also wrote an article about my fieldwork in the village. See Appendix.

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A consistently shared concept is the idea of a spiritual ecosystem, the perfect union and synthesis of spirituality and ecology, knowing that in Damanhur ecology is interpreted slightly differently than in the majority of other contemporary cultural formations, as we will analyse in chapter 5. Iride (Iris), who is a 54-year-old Italian woman with the name of the Greek divinity of rainbow, expressed what spirituality particularly means in her everyday ‘ecosystem’, showing the typical attitude towards work and creation of Damahurians. They often talk, in fact, of active meditation. This means, not just sitting and emptying the mind from thoughts or using yoga techniques to reach higher, but conversely being very active in the everyday life and work to realize dreams, while evolving as human beings. “The more we dream, the more we realize”, said Falco. “My spirituality is the effort I put every day to better myself, in an easy way. The effort to face things, to face my dark zones, to have a concrete programme and not stay in the fantasy, it is realization. Ecology… I would define it spiritual ecology, spiritual ecosystem. Damanhur is a spiritual ecosystem, because it starts from the assumption that I am this shape, this identification but I am also a salad, a cat or a dog. I am a complete shape that includes also the different natural realms.” (Interview with Iride) This idea of union of all living beings in a spiritual ecosystem is underlined also by Esperide, which introduced another cultural production related to food. Falco wrote in fact a Vangelo Alimentare26 (Food Gospel) in which there are cues about what it is best to be eaten. The idea is that as the body is an alchemical laboratory, all the substances presented in the alimentary chain must be introduced in it. Of course they have to be the purest possible and use has to be moderate. “The concept of spirituality in Damanhur is based upon the idea that an ecosystem exists. So that everything that exists, from the bacteria to the absolute divinity, are part of the same unity. The goal of a life is becoming aware of what is the proper place in the Universe and then to behave in harmony with it, being fed by the inferior (not in a demeaning sense) in order to feed the superior levels […] So we have to understand the position and responsibilities of human beings in the world, take good care of the creatures that we eat, that are inferior then us for their physiological, psychical and psychological complexity. In a way that our body will be clean because we eat clean products and we have clean thoughts, therefore we can feed superior forces in a better way. There is no separation between the concept of spirituality and ecology.” (Interview with Esperide) Also in Quaglia’s (Quail) view, 34-year-old Californian woman, the two aspects of ecology and spirituality are deeply interwoven in every-day life of the community and in Damanhur it is possible to feel this connection in most of the practices. “I think it’s a natural connection entering the practicing of Damanhur and having a sensitivity to ecosystems, both natural and spiritual ecosystems, it feels how it’s connecting, so sensing the vitality of the trees, listening to the music of the plants, sensing the presence of nature’s spirits, sensing this contact in relation to nature spirits, sensing the connection with divinities and spiritual beings and ecosystems. It’s like an opening of sensitivity to all these different realms and noticing that they are very connected.” (Interview with Quaglia) A slightly different but very interesting point of view present in Damanhur, though not often expressed to strangers, concerns the relationship of spirituality, intended as the same thing as magic or esoteric knowledge, and ecology. Nature is an antenna of spirituality on Earth, it is the best way to get in contact with divinities, and therefore, in order to continue a spiritual path, the most important action is to preserve Nature. However: “We are not fanatics that do not use technology or plastic, but things must have an equilibrium otherwise there is no evolution. Being a fanatic is reductive.” (Interview with Coyote)

                                                                                                               26 See section 4.6.

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In fact, Damanhurians are not fanatic in a materialistic ecology, because for most of them the ways to preserve nature can be supernatural. So it is possible to use magic instead of materialistic ecological techniques to ‘save the world’. Talking about the fact that Damanhurians still use cars for transportation, Tridacna told me: “If you think that in the terminally ill state in which the planet is in now, performing magical actions is more useful than not using a car, so you do that. It is something a little bit different than just talking about ecology, don’t you think? ” (Interview with Tridanca) There are several ways in which magic is used for ecological means. I was informed about a couple of them, surely not all. One is the dispatch of messages on the Synchronic Lines with a crystal sphere. The messages through the Lines are sent to human beings on the Planet, affecting their choices and their thoughts, as Tridacna explained me. This is a practice done on a daily base by the citizens in the Way of the Oracle, which have several shifts per week. When I asked what the sphere was, Tridacna laughed and answered: “The sphere is a very ecological thing, you light it with a candle and you talk with the entire world, it is highly ecological.” (Interview with Tridanca) They dispatch messages of different kinds: concerning the protection of natural world so that, for instance, woods and forest will not be all destroyed and that men will become more aware of the essential relevance an healthy environment has for human life, or concerning the condition of women or political attitudes to be changed. The social messages disseminated cover a range of typologies, but are only directed towards helping people and positive evolution. It is completely forbidden to send specific messages against someone or forcing someone to do something. Another more complicated action, it has to do with time-lines. “From an esoteric point of view, it does not exist as a singular possible future, there are in fact several. There is one that is very negative and well-known here. This future has been lived already in a time-line, which is not ours, where things degenerated really badly for the environmental. Time is a sort of tree with many branches, on each branch the story is slightly different. Clearly at a certain point of a branch, the strongest prevail over the others.” (Interview with Coyote) This idea of time is shared by all Damanhurians and, following their stories, through magical means, they were able to affect these lines, with an action that they call ‘separation of levels of reality’, putting the world on a level where the environment will survive its exploitation. This may sound as a weird statement, unfortunately there is no room here to deepen the argument, but I would suggest the interested reader to have a look at the book Spiritual Physics by Coyote Cardo for an analysis of the subject. A step further in understanding what they mean with ‘spiritual ecology’ can be done with analysing what ‘project Triad’ is. “Here we relate with some divinities, but our school dedicated also to a project that goes beyond us, the Triad: this is spiritual ecology, in the sense that as the environment has been badly treated, also in the relationship between humans and divinities in the last centuries there have been some problems. Some knowledge has been lost and polluted because religions wishy-washy it, they just wanted to rule over the masses, like Christianity, for instance. The religious idea that god creates men and determines their destiny it makes no sense in an esoteric view. We have free-will so we determine our destiny, as Falco transmitted   to us, men having the right knowledge can control divinity.” (Interview with Coyote) Project Triad, which lasted thirty years and required uncountable rituals, consists in the harmonization of the forces of our divine ecosystem. The operation also included those divinities that disappeared in the last millennia, because the civilizations that created and fed

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them also disappeared27. At the end of this operation, Damanhurians created a unique divine essence representing the global unity of all gods called Horus. Horus is just the frequency28 name, and does not specifically mean the Egyptian god himself. This divinity will be composed by three distinct tanks, containing all the Gods existing in human cultures, and each one called with names of Egyptian and Greek gods, as Horus (will), Bastet (knowledge) and Pan (energy). “So this project brought divinities not to have a definite territory but to have all the planet as their territory, while keeping their dissimilarities. In an ecological and evolutive vision, dissimilarities must be maintained. If everything is the same, there is no evolution.” (Interview with Coyote) 2.8 Remarks The spiritual philosophy of Damanhur is very complex. It is difficult to reduce it to a syncretism of other religious or spiritual traditions, even if there can be similarities with some of them. Damanhurians assume to be independent from any pre-existent tradition, their knowledge is a ‘revelation’ given to them by their guide, Falco29. What they are doing is studying, researching, and trying to apply and to verify the content of the revelation. I observed a theoretical coherence in all of the citizens while talking about Falco’s teachings and a sacred respect for what he has revealed. However, the biggest internal inconsistencies regarding definitions are in relation with macro-concepts, such as spirituality and ecology. On the other side, everyone is familiar with concepts such as Spirits of Nature or Race Mind for instance; regarding these subjects they all have coherent definitions and confidence in explaining them. Therefore I assume that micro-concepts are easier to be used and to be shared by all the members of the community then macro-concepts.

                                                                                                               27 To cut a long story short, in the book Spiritual Physics, it is said that humans create the divinities through worship, thoughts and rituals. 28 The frequency is an energetic field. Frequency name it is used by Damahurians during specific rituals to evoke entities.  29 The myth of Damanhur narrates that Falco has the faculty to remember all his previous and future lives, as we are living in an eternal present with different plans of reality, and therefore he is provided with an incredible amount of knowledge, regarding also different civilizations and their esoteric traditions, which cannot be found in any book or written document.

 

   

SPIRITUALITY

NATURE

ECOLOGY

 

Diagram 1: Spirituality-Ecology Paradigm

 

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I have drawn a simple scheme to summarize how, in my opinion, is the relationship between the concepts of spirituality and ecology (See Diagram 1). Ecology is not intended here to be synonymous with nature, rather, it is a set of actions and precautions enacted to preserve and enhance the conditions of the environment, including nature and all living beings. Ecology has to do with the material world. Nature, on the other hand, is a relevant element, with its supernatural attributes and its pure connection with the realm of spirit. As Coyote affirmed: “Spirituality expands over nature, without ever exclude it”. In other words, I assume that spirituality and its practices deeply influence the view that Damanhurians have of Nature and subsequently shape their model of ecological actions to preserve it, as I will analyse in the fourth chapter.

Pic. 9: The Open Temple in Damijl

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3.Intentional Spiritual Community 3.1 Preliminary Considerations This chapter will analyse Damanhur, seen as an intentional community, in relation with spirituality. I will hereby focus on how spiritual beliefs and practices shape the idea that citizens have of the community in which they live. Before considering the practices and beliefs, I think it is significant to report an experience I had the occasion to share. It is Puma’s experience, an old Damanhurian citizen, which provided me the possibility to listen her emotional life history. The relevance of her experience relates with the assumption that Damanhur is an intentional community and is an example, similar to others, that shows how free-will and intention has guided many people to radically change their lives and decide to move to Damanhur. Thereafter I will focus on two practices: first the Oracle of the Full Moon, a socially significant ritual that is performed once a month. It depicts how spirituality, enhanced with its supernatural features, influences the visions citizens elaborated of community. Secondly a practice that is considered by Damanhurians as a sort of collective meditation, which consist in volunteer working in the building of the Temple of Humankind. Being in fact a sort of spiritual mission kept secret for many years, the building of the Temple contains a myriad of social and spiritual significances, which will be elaborated on further, below. The theoretical concept of Super-Individual will be presented, which is the perfect synthesis of the ideas of spirituality and community, and the Spiritual People, an imaginary group of people connected by common spiritual goals and a similar view of reality. Finally, I will report some interesting answers collected during my interviews with the actors concerning concepts explored in the chapter, along with their views on the relationship between spirituality and community. To conclude I will outline my personal reflections. 3.2 The Idealistic Community Damanhur is, in the words of citizens, a dream that became reality. It is born at first in the imagination of the founder Falco, and step-by-step new people began to share the same dream. “Damanhur is created to let all the people dream, this is our mission on Earth” said the founder to Puma many years ago. Puma is a petit and friendly woman, her hairs are short and white-grey, her body is thin, yet full of the energy of a young girl. She is perpetually busy, teaching and attending courses, working for the community. Puma literally never stops, nor do the majority of Damanhurians. We had extensive talks, never longer than an hour each, as she always had a busy schedule, but they were always very deep and emotional conversations. Puma is a sensible woman, when I was with her I could feel her inner happiness and pleasure in telling me her life story. She was about 30 years old when she started attending the meetings organized by Oberto Airaudi in Turin, in the so-called ‘Centro Horus’. It was 1978. Puma is from Biella, a small city 60 kilometres away from Turin. At that time she had a husband and she was a teacher at the primary school. Few episodes deeply impressed Puma in the first period she was meeting Airaudi: “I was going every Tuesday to the meetings, once I had something to ask him, so I went and said to him: ‘Sorry, I do not want to disturb you, but I assume that you already know what I want to ask you, so what can you tell me about?’30 And he gave me the perfect answer to what I had in mind. I knew he was a special guy. I was impressed.” (Interview with Puma)

                                                                                                               30 Puma is referring here to the paranormal ability of mind-reading attributed to Falco.

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Another time during a conversation Airaudi asked her to narrate a dream she had. Puma started and after few words, he stopped her and continued to narrate her dream. She asked him, how he could know that. He answered with a smile. Puma is in Damanhur since the beginning, “the first period we were coming here only on Sunday to start cleaning the place, it was very wild”. The first group was of about fifty people, of whom only twelve were defined as the real founders of Damanhur, being strict collaborators of Airaudi for a longer time. Puma narrated me also the problems she had at work when they suspected that she was going to move in with this mysterious community, leaving her husband and her ‘normal’ life. She could not tell them the truth at that time; she was scared to lose her job. However they were already threating her with malice and bitterness. “They were not talking to me that much anymore, until one day they asked me: ‘What is esotericism?’ This question explained me the reason behind their rancour. The word esotericism in a Catholic country means something very bad. Imagine in a little village they were gossiping a lot about us, they were even saying that we were eating kids, as the communists. And I also was politically involved with communist, so it was very difficult for them to understand… ” (Interview with Puma) Puma’s story resembles many others that I have heard from citizens, many of whom left their fortunate lives to start an adventure that did not look easy, especially at its beginning. “It is a hard task Damanhur, a struggle with the worst part of oneself each day. You have to fight your pride, your bias, get along with the others, try to build this Super-Individual31, which we still were not able to do. Of course we are better now than before, but it is hard. Yet you have to reach that point, it’s inside of you, you know that it is this way. We build Damanhur every day. If we do not do so, we destroy it. Damanhur goes like this… ” (Interview with Puma)

Pic. 10: Puma cleaning the Spiral in front of her nucleo.

                                                                                                               31 See section 3.5.  

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One night Puma took me to her small and coloured room; it looked like a room from a teenager, a single bed, a library full of books, and many pictures on the wall. There she showed me a hand-written notebook that contained all of her writings about Damanhur, some tales and poetries, quotations from the founder, pictures and paintings. She took me there unexpectedly, after few days I asked what was her idea of spirituality in Damanhur. Of course at that moment she did not have time to answer. That night she read me something she wrote in the 80’s titled “Magic Damijl”. The text clearly shows some interesting aspects of Damanhur as an intentional idealistic community. “What drove in the 70’s young men and women to travel to a remote village called Baldissero in the equally remote Valchiusella? They left their cities and went to this place consisting of a hilly area, full of stones, trees and rocks. We cleared and healed the land, carrying away carts of soil to make it productive, to plant fruit trees and flowers, and in the meantime gradually beginning to leave out all our old habits, our ways to have fun and spend our free time, replacing them with new interests that we felt to be born in our heart and mind. During holidays we left always with clothes for work, returning home late in the evening, tired and happy. Family members, friends that somehow noticed the change occurred in us, they were considering it insane, or at least strange, they did not understand. For all of them (Damanhurians) it grew a form of natural detachment, compared to the previous way of thinking, which was exactly what happened. The first area of Damanhur, now called Damijl the capital, the ancient Egyptian city that means City of Light, was born thanks to a group of people who followed the teachings and experiments of Oberto Airaudi (Falco), who was a young man like them, so to speak, because in reality he had so many ideas, skills and interests that are not easily found together in anyone. When someone spontaneously called him master, he replied: ‘You are the master of yourself, learn to listen your inner self’. Damanhur was founded on optimism, the desire to experience what you believe in; starting to believe in some things, thinking that man is master of his own destiny. This philosophy belonged to many thinkers and peoples of antiquity. Damanhurians have discovered over time that what called us back to this land was Synchronicity. This is a law that gives the opportunity to interact in a very broad way with the events that touches the essence of a human being that makes you go beyond the apparent solutions of cause and effect. Synchronicity is a law that gives the possibility to go beyond the barriers of time and space, endlessly expanding opportunities related to the events. Man lives immersed in synchronicity but needs to be able to get rid of mental prejudices and learn more deeply about himself. What drove the first group of Damanhurians and all the others that were added later, and those that will come, it is the free will, the ability to choose, which is what makes human beings great. The territory of Damanhur was chosen for the presence of synchronic lines, which are the major rivers of energy that surround our planet and connect it to the universe. These are arranged in an irregular network constituted by nine vertical lines and nine horizontal lines, as if they are rivers, which sink or rise with respect to the ground level. The points in which the surfacing is accessible to human beings are important. The synchronic lines in fact carry thoughts, ideas and creativity. Through them it is possible to connect anywhere on the planet. An element of attraction for many was the intimate joy, a subtle perception of synchronicity, a strong and unconscious reminder of the promised land.” (Puma reading her diary) In the story Puma often refers to the concept of synchronicity, which is a very relevant element in investigating the reasons behind Damanhurians’ commitments in the community. To this respect, there is a myth narrated by Falco called ‘The myth of tops in the Ocean’. The myth is an allegory that explains on a ‘spiritual’ level why all these people arrived in Damanhur. The tops are representing human beings that float in an ocean, which represent time and space. Synchronicity, which operates for a positive evolution of humanity, has created a river in the ocean in which a part of tops, for specific reasons, are directed. The river is taking those tops, or human beings, in Damanhur. “Most of the people, according to our point of view, are magically bound to each other from the viewpoint of Synchronicity, then there is a thread through history, through time, that somehow unites them and the river of this era has done so that these tops or part of these are found in the same place, at the same time.’’ (Falco, Interview with Cardano)

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3.3 The Oracle of Damanhur Since 1985, the Oracle is a very important ritual in Damanhur. This occurs every month to coincide with the full moon. The ritual itself, which is performed in the Open Temple during the night, has a strong visual impact and lasts normally for more than two hours. It is open to uninitiated and it is the end of a ritual work done by citizens in the Way of the Oracle during the entirety of the lunar month.

Pic. 11: Pythias performing the Oracle of the Full Moon. I had the occasion to witness the ritual and it impressed me with its visual strength and emotional aspect. It was a serene night, only a few clouds were hiding the moon, but when the percussionists started to drum to announce the beginning of the ritual, clouds moved away and the moon was left in front of us in all its splendour. I received a paper with the explanation of the ritual. It states: “With the term ‘Oracle’ in Damanhur, we mean all the Divine Forces. This includes also all the Oracles of the antiquity that can, integrated with the Forces of the third millennium, carry out its guiding role for humanity. The Forces of the Oracle do not give just answers and indications, but they can interact on the possible ramifications of time, moving the events in a way that they can be more favourable for the spiritual evolution on many levels: those who receive an answer, those who participate to the ritual and all the Damanhur Population. During the ritual, a window of spiritual light opens and all participants can feel a connection with the divine dimension.” On the stage of the amphitheatre, which was located at the back of the Open Temple, there were twelve women dressed with blue long tunics and wearing weird caps, looking like antennas. In fact the pointed silver caps represented the contact with the moon and the function of the priestesses as antennas of communication with the Divine. This is in fact the role of the twelve Pythias, a name borrowed from the old tradition of the Oracle of Delphi. Next to them, there were four women dressed in white, holding coloured cloths in their hands and performing movements of the Sacred Dance for all the length of the ritual. The ritual starts with the offering made by Damanhurians to the Sacred Fire, then two priestesses illustrated the ritual and indicated the magical instruments used during it. They invited all the people to stand up and to unite, saying that Falco is still present between them and is sending a message of union. Then the percussions began, played by Damanhurians sitting between the public. Pythias divided in two group of six each and put themselves in two circles keeping their hands. Hidden behind the altar on the stage, there were other three women and three men doing the same but with a fire in the middle of the circle. They circumnavigated it shaking their heads as if in a trance. Meanwhile the Pythias one by one inhaled something coming from a burning bin and went in front of the altar imposing their hands on it. In the following phase of the ritual, people who asked for an answer to the Oracle were taken onto the stage. Those who had to receive the response were standing with a candle in their hands, while Mantide, with a special wooden cane, designed a magical circle around each of them, in order to focus the divine attention. Each response is written on a chestnut leaf and it is

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read by a Pythia directly to the applicant, in a way that none from the audience could hear it. Every action is performed slowly, giving a sacred nuance to every movement of the people on the stage. To conclude the ritual, Sirena Ninfea (Siren Water Lily), Falco’s wife and head of the Way of the Oracle, read the general response of the Oracle directed to all the people of Damanhur. This is concluded by the ritual form ‘Said, forgotten’, to underline the function of the woman as transmitter of messages from a divine origin. The answer is published the day after on the daily newspaper of the community. The responses are often unclear and laconic in their style, exactly as they were in the old Greek tradition, but words are taken extremely seriously from the citizens and as source of inspiration for all of them. Puma informed me of a time in which she asked to the Oracle something about a connection with one of her previous lives, that was causing in her some melancholic feelings. The Oracle did not answer the question she posed, but simply suggested that she should close this door of communication with that life, to stop thinking about it. This brief and simple answer, as she reported, helped her more than a thousand words. Oracles, as history would confirm, never predict future but are used as a suggestion in choices. Oracles are divination techniques, as old as our culture; in fact there is no other thing in the history of humankind as commonly shared inter-culturally as Oracles are (La Via Horusiana 2007: 43). Our contemporary society, at least apparently, has dismissed all the techniques that do not work with rationality; Damanhurian culture is in fact intentionally antithetic with these ‘restricting habits’ (Gnomo). 3.4 Building the Temples of Humankind Awarded with a Guinness World Record certificate in 2001, the Temple of Humankind is “the world’s largest underground temple excavated over 16 years by member of the Damanhur religious community […]” (from Guinness Worlds Records Certificate, picture 11).

Pic. 12: The Guinness World Records Certificate

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The total volume is of about 6000 cubic metres that are divided in rooms of different sizes. It is more than 70 metres-high. Symbolically it represents the heart of Damanhur, the process of evolution and the journey to discover oneself. Through the opening of its hidden doors and stop-over each room, it guides you to a symbolic path of inner re-awakening. From another point of view it is something even more curious: it is the celebration of what can be realized by the idealism of human beings with clear spiritual goals and great ambition. The Temple was built secretly only by Damanhurians for more than 20 years and works are still continuing even now. For them it was a sacred esoteric mission and a meditative moment. Actually it is something they are proud of, more than anything else. It is like writing a book, they say, that through architecture narrates of a ‘universal knowledge’ using a code-language, readable only for those who have the keys of certain esoteric languages (La Via Horusiana 2007).

Pic. 13: Initiates performing a ritual a room of the Temple of Humankind. The construction began in 1978 with the aim of building a place where creativity and art could be fully expressed along with the will to contact the Divine. The Temple is also an alchemical laboratory, well protected and isolated from the outside, where Damanhurians can experiment their esoteric knowledge in a ‘pure’ environment. They say it is positioned in an important knot

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of many Synchronic lines. The Sacred Wood32 is its continuation and trees are its antennas to communicate with the rest of the Universe. Rooms are devoted to the elements of water, air, earth and fire but there are also other rooms inspired by antique esoteric traditions, as for instance the metals room, in which it is represented the fifth element: ether. In the rooms they practice, study and research new ways in which to contact the divine through arts and magic. When the existence of the Temple was revealed33 in 1992, it was a big scandal in Italy and at the same time an internal revolution in the community. It worked as a big moment of opening up to the external world. They suddenly had to learn how to communicate with outsiders and to explain themselves to suspicious authorities in a very Catholic country. Esperide, who arrived in Damanhur as a public relator to help them in this apparently impossible mission of saving the Temple, reports: “Making people speak of the Temple at the time was similar to taking tongs and trying to remove teeth with them, because they were all accustomed not to talk about it.” The work needed for the construction of the Temple is considered by Damanhurians as a big collective ritual lived as a prayer and an intensive meditation. This shows also how rituality can be expressed in many different ways and how it is important for this community a connection between the metaphysical and the physical level. This statement from Ornitornico, a teacher of Spiritual Physics and receptionist at the Olami Welcome Office34, clearly explains this clear dependence:

“How can you properly dig the temple without any dream, without any idea that gives a meaning and a value to what you are doing? How can you give a value to the meaning of a theory if you don’t realize concretely a temple? A temple is an act of love; love is a beautiful word, so much abused. We need to make this word concrete within a temple, a temple with the value we want to create, because it’s in our possibilities as particles of the mirror to be creative, to do in scale what the divinity is doing, that is the universe. The divinity is making the universe sacred and we are doing the same.” (Ornitorinco)

3.5 Super-Individual

After the conclusion of operation Triad, i.e. the liberation of planet Earth from the forces against a positive evolution of humankind, a new mission is left from Falco to the Damanhurians: the creation of a Super-Individual. During my fieldwork in Damanhur, as already said, Falco died. Synchronically, I arrived in the village a couple of weeks before that moment and I never met him personally because he was terminally ill. Interestingly enough nobody told me anything about it, until the morning in which Cavallo (Horse), a middle-aged young looking and skinny German man phoned me and asked to meet. He never phoned before that moment and I instantly felt there was something big and important happening. In fact as I met him, he hugged me and started crying shyly. With a smile on his face, he said to me: “You maybe want to know, Falco is dead”. I was already suspecting it the only time I had the occasion to ‘see’ Falco, during a ‘Serata’, a weekly meeting happening on Thursday night in the Crea35 conference room. Usually Falco was present on the scene, answering questions from the citizens or explaining esoteric theories to them. That night, which was the last ‘Serata’ in which he could actively participate, they made a

                                                                                                               32 The Sacred Wood is a wide forest, about 16 hectares, it is sacred because the trees here are considered to be the antennas of the energies and information sent from the Temple of Humankind, which is built inside the mountain underneath the Sacred Wood. So this is a natural extension of the Temple on an energetic level and a contact with the Syncronic Lines. In this big park there are many kilometres of spirals, labyrinths, menhir, a normal brick house at the entrance and a little hidden village made of four tree houses, connected to each other with bridges. 33 The existence was revealed to the Italian police by a member of the community after his decision to definitely leave it. 34 This is the name of the reception of the community, where tourists and visitor can book visits, courses and accommodation. 35 In 2003, the Federation of Damanhur has purchased the former Olivetti factory in Vidracco, abandoned for twenty years. Restored in record time, in 2004, the complex has reopened as DAMANHUR crea: center of art, culture and health. Crea is an ‘alternative’ commercial centre owned by Damanhurians located 10 km from the centre of Damijl. There are: supermarket, hairdresser, green building company, the Selfic laboratory and an health center.  

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videoconference on Skype. Of course he was too ill to be there, but still, he did talk for about an hour, giving vague answers to questions posed by the listeners. I consulted Cavallo in order to understand whether his style of answering was usual, as Falco was giving pretty incomprehensible responses, sometimes out of the context. Cavallo informed me that he always had that style, Falco rarely answered directly to a question, he always wandered, maybe to take listeners to where he thinks is best. There were people crying while he was talking, very sad faces all around, but not one said a word about his condition. My curiosity was too great and I asked Cavallo what was happening to him and he laconically answered: “I do not know exactly, it is something from the inside, all of a sudden he had a physical decay, now he looks like a 80-year-old man”. During the last ‘Serata’ with Falco, he talked only about love, harmony, union and the Super-Individual, “you are one thing, you do one thing” he said with all the possible emphasis in his weak and tired voice. Even if someone was posing different questions, he kept on giving the same answers related to the idea of union and connection between the citizens. The Super-Individual in this context has nothing to do with Nietzsche’s Übermensch, as Quaglia informed me. Creating the Super-Individual is the forthcoming spiritual mission of the community. I investigated this aspect, and when I explained to Quaglia that I often was hearing people talking about the necessity of creating a bigger union than before, she replied: “That’s a thing that has been very central for a long time in the community and I think there have been lots of different approaches and strategies to that concept. The one that has been emphasized right now is the Super-Individual. It’s like we are all one being, the whole community or whatever thousand people are connected to Damanhur. Really it’s like we’re all one with many different aspects, we’re all kind of different forms, all united and moving as one. As your eyes are not your teeth, but are both very important and you want to let them work together, your eyes see what you eat and your teeth chew it.” (Interview with Quaglia) Super-Individual is the union of all Damanhurians’ citizens that become one living organism, where the experiences of one being become the experiences of the others. An enhancement of all traits of citizens united in one Super-Individual. It is a very spiritual view of reality and a spiritual way to interpret community. It is a syncretism of the two terms. But why is the Super-Individual so important in Damanhur now? I was wondering if maybe there were some threats from the outside or problems inside the community itself, but Quaglia told me: “Every once in a while there is this push to really have a jump in quality of the connections, so now it’s just one of them, so in a short amount of time creating a big sense of unity and spiritual growth within ourselves and it’s different for everyone: like for me it could be that I don’t reveal enough of my emotions to other people and that’s my growing point, so I work on that, I talk to people on a more emotional level; for him it could be… he’s too critical with people so he works on that. So each one of us works on his personal point; he keeps this distance from the others, so dropping our barriers.” (Interview with Quaglia) I talked about this also with Tara, who had not been initiated yet during my fieldwork but she was attending the School of Meditation for about a year and she asked for the citizenship. My curiosity was about ‘how’ they were going to create this entity, which is the next step to reach the goal. She laughed and said: “This is the beauty of Damanhur, that all has to come. Now is the construction of this Super-Individual. It is not that you open a book and there are rules that explain how to do it, everyone has a duty to bring their own idea, bring their experience, and bring their own contribution. So what you're saying right now is precious as what any Damanhurian can say, here is the value and the effort. When we hold for us our ideas, we take away something from the potential of this Super-Individual.” (Interview with Tara) Looking at the concept of Super-Individual from an analytical point of view, it could be seen as a strategic social message to be used as glue for the community, in a moment where Damanhur had lost its reference point with the death of their spiritual guide, Falco. Therefore, a moral crisis

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or some disagreements could become a real problem for the whole Federation. This could be seen a smart and positive ‘model for’ action in the present time. In such a changeable reality, of course also models must change rapidly following the needs of the moment. A particular facilitator for the creation of this Super-Individual that has been created in Damanhur is an institution called Tecnarcato. It analyses in which point of the spiritual path the citizens are at. It does so by hosting individual monthly conversations between each citizen and two elected Damanhurians that take care of the institution for six months. In each nucleo there is also one person that works as a facilitator, giving information to the head of Tecnarcato, about how are things going between his or her ‘temporary family’. “It is a work that is done to raise up, to get along well together, to unite always more towards a Super-Individual, which means connecting to each other and sharing in an authentic way.” (Interview with Mantide) 3.6 The Spiritual People A very big number of people, from Italy and almost all the countries of the world, are part of this entity called the ‘Spiritual People’. The members have all been in Damanhur at least once, they may or may not be part of the School of Meditation, and they decided to ask for the introductive ceremony, after which a pink silk bracelet is given as a sign of belonging. Stambecco explained: “Damanhur presents a philosophy of life, a laic spirituality that everyone in the world could follow. We have many friends that are part of the Spiritual People that we cannot define as complete Damanhurians, but they are inspired by our principles” (Interview with Stambecco) A few weeks before leaving the field, I also decided to ask for the ceremony. I went to the School of Meditation office and asked for it. They gave me the number of Silfi (i.e. the name refers to a mythological creature, spirit of wind and woods), a middle aged woman that cures the introduction of new fellows in the People. We made an appointment and meet in Damijl, next to the nucleo where I was hosted. With us there was another Dutch woman visiting Damanhur. Silfi guided us down an underground staircase to a little room smelling of incense and candles. She read us the oath that we were going to pronounce, explaining us the meaning of it. It is about swearing the will to connect with the people, to think about them sometimes, to love them. It concludes by saying that there is the total freedom to cancel the oath in any moment, just by having the intention to do so. Again, free will remains the most paramount of all of the values. Damanhurians perceive the Spiritual People as a unique entity, a unique body of energy that can connect and support. It aims to be a sort of Super-Individual. It used to be called the Magic People. The belonging to this group is offered to every person that share the spiritual goals of this new millennium as presented by Damanhurian philosophy, for all those people that aim to be part of the awakening of humanity. They usually meet in Damanhur for the Solstices and Equinoxes, when they celebrate the birthday of the People and 1st of September, the first day of the year according to the Damanhurians’ calendar. On that occasion they also shoot the yearly ‘Foto di Popolo’ (Picture 14).

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Pic. 14: ‘Foto di Popolo’ Another interesting aspect, that reveals again the centrality of the supernatural in this community, is the ‘Para-telepathic union of the People’. They explain it with these words: “In the context of strong social groups usually a sense of union is created between the individuals and a cultural identification, shared and heart-felt. In Damanhur, thanks to the specific techniques of subtle communication, a sort of para-telepathic union is created between the individuals themselves. In this way there is an exchange of knowledge between people and they can use in every-day life the experiences already lived by others.” (La Via Horusiana 2007: 51) Of course it is a matter of faith, whether to believe that this may be true or not. Observing the people that were participating in this social ritual of the annual picture, I could see how significant it was for them. They were preparing for hours before, looking for white dresses and clothes. They saw me with my usual black outlook as I tend to have no coloured clothes, and Faraona (Guinea-fowl) came to me and said: “Hey sweety, I can lend you a nice white shirt, come with me!! You will look amazing, try it!”. It is not just about spirituality, despite the name. With this act they socially reinforce and create a stronger bind in the ‘spiritual community’, leaving also a visual trace where everyone can be placed and recognized. 3.7 Damanhurians’ perspectives on Community and Spirituality During my interviews, I asked many questions related to aspects that were attracting my curiosity the most and yet were somehow not interpretable just through the observation of practices and beliefs. One of these relates of course with the secret esoteric knowledge, shared only between those who are Initiated and vigorously kept hidden. I tried to understand how they deal with esoteric knowledge within the community. Interestingly enough, Esperide, a priestess in the Way of the Oracle, explained to me:

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“In my nucleo, I live with people who I do not have the slightest idea of what they do, in the aspects related to rituals. We do not talk about that. We are not in the same Way. If we were in the same Way then I would have more or less an idea what are the things they care of, what they do… I have people in the house with me that go regularly to the Temple in the morning every Sunday, they are Monks doing some rituals about the Triad, but if I have to say exactly what they do, I have no idea.” (Interview with Esperide) Significantly, this fragmentation of the knowledge in the community reinforces the idea of solidarity between inhabitants and it does not create social tensions or envy. They are strongly dependent on each other to let their spiritual ecosystem work and be completed. Everyone deepens his own knowledge without having the need to enter into someone else’s realm. This is also due to the fact, as they often expressed in the interviews, that the body of knowledge given by Falco in 38 years of teachings is too wide and too complex to be owned by everyone at the same level. Specialising gives them the most efficient and important results, and this is what counts in Damanhur. “Here hierarchy is really used with the idea of mutual support and everyone haves a really clear idea in mind, maybe not those who have just arrived, but Damanhur gives you immediately this idea of reciprocal usefulness. Falco always said that, the same dignity to whom is doing the most complex ritual with gods and to whom is at home cleaning the dishes, because as someone performs the ritual, someone has to clean, otherwise not everything is going to work.”(Interview with Esperide) Regarding the Initiation process, I asked to Tara, a yet uninitiated citizen, how she felt about this condition of exclusion from a part of the activities, and she recounted: “When I asked for the citizenship here, I made my choice. And from that point a lot of doors and steps of knowledge started to open. Here you earn what you play… yesterday I was with the other citizens of my nucleo close to the Temple and they were about to go to celebrate the birthday of an Initiated, and of course I could not go… then I felt like, oh what a drag!, I also want to go…I live with an inner rush… but ok I am waiting. We are in a world of shapes and we have to be patient. Here I know that I can learn in one life, what I would be able to learn in hundreds reincarnations somewhere else. That’s enough for me now. ” (Interview with Tara) We were talking also about her condition of being not located precisely in the esoteric community yet. Tara felt to be a somewhat liminal subject in some specific ‘esoteric’ activities; however this did not result in a personal frustration because she had feelings of being already in a process of spiritual growth and not in a static position. Another interesting aspect is the relationship of sharp connection between spirituality and community, both being necessary in order to function. “Esotericism, feeling good, knowing who we are: these are all things that you learn staying with the others, side by side. I can have all the knowledge of the world but if I am not able to stay with the others, it is useless. The others are my mirrors. To be a person that is doing a spiritual path and refining it, I need to be a drop in the sea. The others must recognize that I am undergoing a change, a transformation. Everyone must see it.” (Interview with Granchia) Therefore I assume that Damanhurians could be described exactly as an intentional spiritual community, where the idea of individuality has importance only concerning matters of responsibility and choice. Regarding the spiritual path: union, solidarity and community are the central features to let the combination work. Asking Esperide, which is the biggest privation that she experienced in Damanhur, she answered: “I do not think that living in Damanhur is a sacrifice, only if I use my external mentality here yes. Because Damanhur asks of you a choice, which means first of all to live for the others… in this we are more Christians than many Catholics for sure. Damanhur essentially tells you: ‘Look, your life has a value and if you want to be enlightened, you have to live for the others’.”(Interview with Esperide)

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3.8 Remarks In this chapter I highlighted the most relevant elements that in my opinion represent the fusion of the two elements of community and spirituality in Damanhur. Of course, those are both of central importance in the every-day life of the community and connected by a strict dependence relationship. This is also what came out from the interviews I had with the actors. “Community and spirituality are not two separate things. Everything we do, we do it for Damanhur. So it is a way to live spirituality in every action that someone does.” (Interview with Tara) There is a very interesting correspondence between ideals, practices and internal interpretations of the concepts of spirituality related with intentional community, which, in my opinion, could be unanimously melted in the definition of Damanhur as an Intentional Spiritual Community.

Diagram 2 represents visually this relationship. Spirituality remains always the most relevant aspect of every-day life that includes all the others. Meanwhile in the previous diagram nature was just a smaller circle, here we see intentional community represented as a triangle that touches the outer circle. It is represented as a triangle because Damanhur has an evident hierarchical structure as seen in the introduction section of this thesis, and it touches spirituality because the two elements are indissolubly connected. Moreover I observed in the Damanhurians answers, the growing importance of another concept, i.e. Super-Individual. As in the diagram, the Super-Individual is a multi-faceted figure with an irregular shape, because it contains all the differences of the people of which it is composed, in a unique form. Furthermore it expands over the intentional community because it includes also the members of the Spiritual People, which are not all part of the Damanhurian intentional community. The Super-Individual connects with spirituality even more than the community itself, because it is a purely idealistic creation. The hierarchical structure of Damanhur is very well organized and could be found both in spiritual and social aspects. While socially the structure has been already explained in the

 

 

SPIRITUALITY

INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY

   

SUPER-INDIVIDUAL

 

ESOTERIC KNOWLEDGE

Diagram 2 Spirituality-Intentional Community paradigm  

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introduction, on a spiritual level ‘hierarchy’ is determined firstly by Initiation processes and its growing levels of esoteric knowledge, and secondly by the different realms of esoteric knowledge related to the Ways chosen by individuals. Only a few people at the top of the ‘pyramid’ know everything about magical practices and rituals of all the Initiatory grades and all the Ways. The esoteric knowledge is represented by the smaller yellow triangle. The central question of the chapter is answered by the diagram above, however, I assume that spiritual practices and beliefs influence and shape not only the idea that citizens have of the community in which they live but also its social structure. Moreover spirituality works as glue that creates deeper alliances and solidarities between the actors. Interestingly enough, esoteric knowledge (included here in the realm of spirituality) unites people whilst dividing and keeping secret certain information throughout the different levels of the social pyramid.

Pic. 15: Passero (Sparrow) painting the wall of Gej Damijl kitchen’s nucleo with sacred symbols

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4. Ecology in Damanhur

4.1 Preliminary Considerations This last chapter will address the last of my questions, which is related with how ecological ideas influence everyday life in the community. First of all I focused on what I think it is a very relevant point: the widespread idea between Damanhurian citizens that they possess a very personal and spiritual way to interpret ecology, where the usual definitions of ecological attitudes do not properly function with how they interpret it. Therefore I left some space for their re-definition of ecology. In light of such a secular relationship between elements of ecology and community, I tried to pull out of their practices and beliefs what could be more relevant in this respect. However I had to admit that it was not an easy task, as spirituality permeates every realm of their everyday life. One such significant practice, in this case not a ritual but a sort of ‘game’, takes the name of Olio Caldo (Warm Oil). Started in the past, it was an extreme experience of self-sufficiency, whereas now it is also a section of the Way of Health. Olio Caldo highlights the intention of experiencing sustainability and to give to this concept a bigger relevance in the community. Other practical aspects are as follows: firstly, concrete examples of new research and activities present in Damanhur which are strictly related to ecology; secondly, my visit to Prima Stalla, a nucleo devoted to agriculture and breeding. Regarding nutrition in the community, I focused on the Food Gospel, elaborated by Falco and given to the community. Finally I offer some of the Damanhurians’ points of view along with my own personal considerations. 4.2 Re-defining Ecology As confirmed by Cernia, for Damanhurians ‘reality’ is not an end in itself and every upgrade to the present condition can be guaranteed only by relying on the spiritual level. “What we do the most here is to work on the connections between spirit and matter. Therefore, compared to other schools and traditions more concentrated on a materialistic principle, it is more difficult here to let people be concentrated on some aspects on a material level.” (Interview with Cernia) To my surprise, in fact, all the branch of new techniques aiming for a more ecologically based agriculture or breeding are not taken into consideration yet in Damanhur. Conversely, they are still working with traditional and older techniques, helped by magical instruments as, for instance, Selfic devices activated for specific means and positioned in particular points in order to protect cultivations or breeding. ‘Selfica’ is a field of empirical research introduced in Damanhur by Oberto Airaudi through studies and experiments conducted by Damanhurians. It is said that ‘Selfica’ was present in Egyptian, Etruscan, Celtic and ancient Minoan civilization. The legend says that it was also used in the mythical Atlantis, the idealistic origin of all Damanhurians.36 Through these techniques they create structures based on spiral shapes and the use of metals, colors, special inks and minerals that can act as conduits for ‘smart’ energy that, as they argue, can connect different levels of existence. The Selfic devices can be used for the development of personal potential, and to harmonize and amplify energy frequencies most useful to perform the function for which these were built. Therefore there are personal Selfs that have function related to the bettering of the individual, Selfs for the environment and Selfs for magical rituals (Esperide 2013). Regarding agriculture and breeding there are specific Selfs

                                                                                                                 

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created in Damanhurian laboratories (Picture 16), which protect and help the growing of plants and creature on an energetical level.

Pic. 16: Selfic devices.

During the preparation for my fieldwork, I did some preliminary research into this interesting and innovative technique, often applied in ecovillages around the world, known as permaculture. Of course, I expected to find it also in Damanhur but it was not   the case. In fact, Quaglia explained to me: “There is no special permaculture, but the idea to have vegetables connected to your kitchen near the house and recycling the products and eating biological and so on, it exists, but we are not concentrated only on this, so it’s not the priority, but we are interested in these things. It depends on the single members of one family, how much you realize it or not, like Porta Luna [a nucleo] gives a good example for a high production of their fluids, also Magilla [a nucleo] has other aspects of this.” (Interview with Quaglia)

It is different than the other aspects analysed earlier regarding ecological techniques because there is a large differentiation throughout the community: every nucleo has its own peculiarity, there are no strict ecological rules, but a general suggestion to all the citizens, which can be found in the sixth article of their Constitution:

“6. Spirituality, research and ecology inspire all relationships with the environment, also through the use of appropriate technologies. Every Citizen lives in communion with nature and the subtle forces, which inhabit it. Everyone is committed to respect and preserve resources, and to avoid as far as possible forms of pollution and waste. Citizens put into practice rules of life suitable for harmonious physical, mental and spiritual development; they respect their own body, take care of it and nourish it harmoniously, refraining from any form of substance abuse. They ensure the orderliness and cleanliness of their environment.” (Damanhur Constitution, in Appendix)

Despite its very particular style, ecology is idealistically a central point in the overall idea of a new possible world presented by Damanhur. Citizens here fight every-day for the salvation of the planet, and all are aware of the dangerous conditions in which it seems to be facing now. Damanhurians’ ecology is executed primarily through auto-education, avoiding wastefulness and living in harmony with the ecosystem of Nature. Historically recycling has always been very important for Damanhurians, something they are very proud of. Some of the oldest citizens

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reported to me that they were recycling already before the period in which it became an official recommendation. However also the pact done with the Spirits of Nature is part of this ecological view. The understanding of ecology in Damanhur is, in fact, dissimilar to what we are familiar with when using this term; it is something wider, an esoteric ecology, as I would define it better in the Conclusions of this work. “I think that we need to change the paradigms we have in mind, because normally people give to the term ecology a very restricted significance, risking therefore that they do not find real motivations to do certain things… so one can respect the environment simply because there are rules or laws, or because there is the desire that Nature remains clean, limiting it to a pure materialistic level. Or conversely, we can think that everything is part of a wider ecosystem in which we are integrated, with different levels of consciousness… so there will be other motivations to look for a certain kind of equilibrium. It is very difficult to learn to use resources in a different way, to have a total respect and to understand what it means.” (Interview with Cernia) 4.3 Olio Caldo When addressing questions related to ecology, Damanhurians often refer to Olio Caldo, which means warm oil. We need to go back to 1989, when Olio Caldo made its first appearance as an experiment in the corps called Gioco della Vita. The term Olio Caldo comes from a myth narrated by Falco, The Myth of the Sapphire Masks. “In this story, at a certain stage, the heroes find themselves in a cave. They have to leave all their clothes outside to dry, because it is winter, and they are all wet. So they hang their clothes in the first part of the cave to dry, and then they go inside. When they wake up in the morning, their clothes have been stolen, and they cannot go out. A little gnome appears and gives them Olio Caldo, a magical compound that keeps the cold out when you put it on your skin. So that makes you self-sufficient, you do not need clothes.” (Esperide in Merrifield 1998: 216) The first experiment of Olio Caldo was in fact undertaken as a sort of game to test the two themes that are central in this chapter: community and self-sufficiency. Six Damanhurians went to an isolated mountain hut for a period of one year, without electricity and water. They were not allowed to take anything with them, except for a few self-produced goods, such as clothes or utensils. The idea was to relive the steps of human civilization in the course of the year and to experience a real condition of solidarity and sustainability when faced with extreme conditions (Merrefield 1998: 216). Almost all citizens, in shifts of one or two weeks, shared the experience with the six stable people. This is because in Damanhur, every experience acquires meaning only when it is shared with all of the community. So they started to produce goods that would be useful to face this experience, clothes and sandals or furniture, and to exchange it with the others. Puma, who stayed there for about a month, informed me: “It was a heroic proof of courage but it was pleasant. I lost weight, we were undernourished. We were eating always the same thing: potatoes and cabbage. We were also walking in the snow with only wooden, homemade clogs.” Also, Mantide remembered the experience with pleasure and emotion: “I went up there and taught them how to do butter with the milk of the cow we had there. So with this we put on two kilos each!!”. After the first extreme example, they repeated it a couple of other times but it was something almost forgotten until 2003 when Falco decided to refocus attention to it, instituting a Way called Olio Caldo, which actually is still part of the Way of Health. Gracchio (Big Crown), responsible of Olio Caldo, said it might become an autonomous Way very soon.

“With the name Olio Caldo we intend all the branches of creation of our Damanhurian activities…and so Damanhurian culture. For example: manufacturing, clothing or woodworking. Of course a very important part of it is also nutrition. However, everything we are able to produce. So it is the concept of self-sufficiency, but we widen it to all the possibilities of it.” (Interview with Gracchio)

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A central feature is certainly agriculture and alimentation; in fact the people in this Way take care of a seed bank that they created in order to preserve differences and to have a sort of historic memory of them, as Gracchio specified. Moreover they help people in the nucleos if they have problems with vegetable gardens or trees. All the products of Damanhur, especially alimentary products, are defined as Olio Caldo products.

Pic. 17: Cavallo next to the greenhouse run by Olio Caldo group to produce seeds.

I had the occasion to try some of them during my interview with Gracchio, especially wine and tomatoes, which he presented to me with pride and joy. Interestingly enough, the number of people in the Way Olio Caldo is very low compared to others, at just fifteen. This fact is a testament of how the ecological attitude is still ‘under construction’ in Damanhur, where certainly spiritual and communal matters have their prevalence. However Olio Caldo shows a little effort towards this direction enacted by all the community on different levels. Also here, spirituality is present.

“I work as a farmer, but the fact that I am part of the Way Olio Caldo is a spiritual interpretation of my job and its related concepts. So in my life I do a job that has a utility for Damanhur, it is not something for myself only, I try to connect to the general tank… therefore it is something useful for all the population.” (Interview with Gracchio)

4.4 Concrete Ecology There are many little precautions taken by all citizens of the Federation about acting in a concretely ecological way, which are symptoms of greater ecological awareness when compared to the ‘outside’ society. Starting from everyday life inside nucleos: they separate waste in order to recycle it, they avoid every kind of wastefulness, they use water cleaning system instead of buying

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drinking water in plastic bottles37, they try to eat self-produced food or at least produced close by them, they try to share their car usage as much as possible, even if it is still pretty high. Close by one of the most frequented places, they created meeting points called ‘syncronic rides’. Whenever anyone needs a ride somewhere, hitchhikers can simply stand for few minutes and be sure that the first car driving will stop and pick them up. Relating to nature itself, as we already saw, Damanhurians have always care in treating it as a full dignity living being. As an example, in the internal school of the community, they teach to children how to behave with plants. Iride, who works in the education sector of the community, calmly explained to me: “Well, on an educational level, we immediately teach children to respect plants, not to rip leaves… we explain to them that plant is a living being with feelings. It looks different than us but it has feelings… In some cases we can rip a flower or plant, or eat salads, but before, we need to ask permission to them (i.e. the plants).” (Interview with Iride) Being a ‘research laboratory for the evolution of humankind’, as they define themselves, in Damanhur a tiny number of citizens are working in developing tangible ecological techniques. Iride hinted at the fact that slowly they are experimenting with how to grow meat in vitro, because Falco suggested to them that it might be a good solution to avoid pollution created by breeding and at the same time being still able to follow their Food Gospel. I was very curious to know more about this; therefore, I insistently and unsuccessfully tried to get in touch with those responsible for the project. The only one who briefly talked to me about this project was Iride. She explained to me that they are trying to work on it, but it seems to be too expensive so things are going very slowly. ‘In Damanhur we are the first who tried to do this kind of operation’ said Iride, though this information needs to be verified. I also asked pertinent questions during some interviews, unfortunately they did not have anything to say about it, most of them ignoring the argument completely. Surely it is a very interesting project with dubious implications, deserving further in-depth analysis. Another research group is working on the possibility of producing biogas with biodigestors. I talked about this with Gau, a young student of Medicine living in the nucleo of Rimára. She was born in Damanhur, from Damanhurians parents. In Rimára there are three little lakes full of seaweeds and fish. The lakes are artificial and, before that the land was given to Damanhur as heritage from a neighbour friend, it was used for sport fishing. They analysed the water and it came out that it was not polluted; therefore they were researching how to use all of the products from the lakes. At the moment, they are more interested in biogas than fish farming, therefore:

“We already have biodigestors here but they are not working yet. There is a research group that takes care of the project; they still have to assemble all of them. We are now defining the project: how much green mass should be used and so on. In reality we could also use cut grass, as there is also a lot of lawn here. So we are working with these specialists to understand what’s best to do, we have these big tanks where we’ll put the biodigestor, which are bacteria that are used practically as a biological mass to transform it and produce biogas, which can then be used for cooking. We would like at least to be self-sufficient in food. So we are in the experimental stage.” (Interview with Gau) The majority of the nucleos are in fact not self-sufficient yet in food and their energy sources, even if reaching self-sufficiency is said to be a future goal of the Federation. Every nucleo has its own vegetable garden, enough to feed all the members of it. Ecological awareness tends to be variable from nucleo to nucleo. Renewable energy is quite a central feature of the community. In Damanhur, with the term ‘renewable energies’ is meant: all forms of energy that are produced with systems of conversion and accumulation, which are not dangerous for the environment (La Via Horusiana 2007). They use traditional techniques and research new ways to produce renewable energies. In Damanhur there are about 240 solar panels and 340 photovoltaic panels.

                                                                                                               37 In Italy the very majority of the population drink water bought in the supermarket and not tap water, even if this is drinkable in almost all the territory.

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There are also wind generators, hydroelectric turbines and fuel cells. In Damanhur Crea there is also a ‘green’ building company managed by Damanhurian architects. The company has projects and works outside the community also, from Switzerland to Sicily. I spoke with a middle-aged woman from Sicily, Seppia (Squid), working in the company as an architect and living in the community since 2009. She took me with her to visit what it is defined as ‘the’ ecological region of Damanhur, called Tentyris. The region is composed by two nucleos: Dendera and Magilla. Magilla, where Seppia lives, is destined to become a biotechnological natural aquatic park in the future. The region of Tentyris is by Damanhurians’ definition representing the feminine element, as there are many sources of water: little lakes, waterfalls and rivers. It is the place where they experiment with new ways of building, such as the first tree house, a mud house and the ‘sunflower house’, which is a small moving house that rotates to follow the direction of the sun in order to benefit from its light as much as possible. “Here, to live good with ourselves and with the environment around us is a priority, also considering what we believe of the elements of nature... the territory must be respected, you cannot respect yourself and your body, do yoga or all of this stuff and then smoke or pollute or eat all stuff that have pesticides or other things that do not come from organic farming... If you want to heal your soul, you have to take care of your body… as well as you would have to care for the environment that is hosting you. As well, you cannot live in a house that does not breathe because it is a principle of consistency: if only the soul feels good, all the rest does not work.” (Interview with Seppia)

Pic. 18: The ‘Sunflower House’ in Dendera.

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I argue that the theories of building used by Damanhurians could be defined holistic. Seppia explained me: “Our basic idea is that what you give to the cosmos, you will get it back. And that nothing will be lost, but everything transforms”. In the company, they use only natural materials, researching the best ones in order to build houses that can ‘breathe’ as Seppia explained me. When working abroad, they do not move with the company of builders, but they only sell their materials and teach how to use them, in order to reduce squandering. In building houses they pay also big attention to sustainability in relation to energy. For instance, the nucleo called Aval in Damanhur is an active house, which means it creates more energy than it is used. This is a very interesting example of how the community is moving, even if slower than others concentrated only on ecological aspects, towards a self-sustainability and a development in ecological techniques. 4.5 Prima Stalla Prima Stalla (First Stall) is the biggest nucleo in Damanhur. It is comprised of 32 people, of which only eight are working full time in it as farmers and breeders. There is also a restaurant, managed by the inhabitants of Prima Stalla, open on the weekends or on special occasions. The menu is of course made from self-produced products offering only selected dishes each day in order to avoid wastefulness, and the food is delicious.

Pic. 19: Prima Stalla products.

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Driving through shaky field roads, I arrived there on a sunny morning to meet the head of agriculture and breeding activities in the nucleo, Sciacallo (Jackal). Despite his name, he is a very kind and gentle man, 53 years old, tall and sinewy. As I arrived he introduced me the new-born of the family, a little calf lying next to the mother. “In breeding, we use a philosophical concept called ‘the happy animal’: we never disconnect the new-born animal from the mother. For three or four months, until the mother feeds him, we do not milk her, the son does it. So all the experience of the mother is passed to the son through milk.” (Interview with Sciacallo) Sciacallo hinted at a ritual related to animals, it is called the baptism. It could be done both at birth and when animals are taken to the slaughterhouse. It is enacted by a woman and a man together, dressed with the proper vests. It is a way to prepare animals for their death, which happens outside the territory for hygienic and legal reasons. ‘Sometimes animals are a bit nervous, so we do some magnetic (i.e. magical) steps to them, we caress their aura… we are with them.’ (Interview with Sciacallo) Prima Stalla is a territory of about 40 hectares, the property is rented and it is a clean zone without water sources, so therefore much depends on rain fluxes. They practice biological agriculture and breeding. Here, they also used to breed milk cows but they stopped, as it was too demanding. Sciacallo specified that: “With animals we recycle a lot, we collect everything and never throw anything away. There is no wastefulness even at this point”. Meat that is produced here is then sold at the supermarket, which is present in Damanhur Crea, called Tentaty. Vegetables are in part sold directly to the nucleos twice a week, and partly are sold to Tentaty. This nucleo is very important when looking at the relationship of the concepts of community and ecology, because in Prima Stalla they produce the entirety of the meat and a big part of the vegetables that are used to feed their community. And this is done following the idea of the Damanurian esoteric ecology, respecting every form of living creature in the same way and using magical tools to help cultivation. Sciacallo explained to me that they have a very powerful   Sphero-Self38 activated to protect agriculture, which is conserved inside the house. This helps them with all the problematic aspects of cultivating; it works against parasites and so on.

Pic. 20: Sphero-self.

                                                                                                               38 The Sphero-Self is a very powerful Selfic device. The Sphero-Self interacts with the environment in which it is placed, creating a "sphere" of harmony and security for the people who live there. Each Sphero-Self can also be used by those who possess to consciously direct events and propitiate positive situations (Esperide 2013).

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In this idea of esoteric ecology, as I interpret it, it is impossible to disconnect from spiritual or supernatural means. In fact, during my interview with Sciacallo, even if I was asking questions related to concrete and practical matters, the conversation was often leading to spiritual realms. For instance, when we were visiting the vineyard, Sciacallo tried to let me feel its aura, assuring that the vineyard especially possessed a very strong one. A curious thing is that Sciacallo used to travel and work as a salesman before that Falco suggested him to move to Prima Stalla and to start working there, about 20 years earlier. “I have to be grateful that I can live in close contact with nature, plants and the vegetal world. For me it is a source of inspiration, as is our Initiatic school. I see life from a spiritual point of view: when I give birth to an animal, watching the grapevine growing. Simple and banal things but they are very important to me. I think I am very lucky. I live this as a sort of mission.” (Interview with Sciacallo) After visiting the territory, Sciacallo took me into the big house of the nucleo. Kitchen and living room are huge and full of life, there were two women preparing lunch for the inhabitants. Sciacallo showed me a notebook in which all of the inhabitants use to write their thoughts; there are also his poetries. This is an example of how important is to share as much as possible in the community, how every-day life efforts are supported by sympathetic relations between individuals, both on a concrete plan, i.e. taking care of all the daily obligations, and on a psychological one, i.e. receiving social support.

Pic. 21: The ‘sacred place’ inside Prima Stalla, with the Sphero-Self, a Selfic painting and the notebook.

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4.6 Vangelo Alimentare

Included in the shared knowledge regarding themes of community and ecology is the ‘Food Gospel’, compiled by Falco. It includes some general suggestions regarding the diet Damanhurians should be on, and ethical approaches best suitable towards what is going to become their ‘food’. Further it is significant in order to analyse the relationship citizens have developed with nutrition.

“We will feed like this:

1) Things that come from: sky, ground and underground. 2) Colours have to dominate. 3) The products of animals, milk, eggs. 4) At the start of the meal small animals’ meat and at the end of the meal bigger beasts. But meat should

never exceed the fourth part of vegetables. 5) Who prepares the food should be pure. 6) Snails, river and seaside fish, insects are not meat. 7) What has to be killed must be respected. 8) The fruit planted and put freely in the ground are baptised like little sons. Seeds should be offered and

baptized. Animals born are as humans and receive a sign, a name. They are liberated and close to the Gods that they preside over. ” (Airaudi 2004: 194)

As seen already, the philosophy presented in Damanhur is not dogmatic, therefore the points presented here by Falco are simple suggestions and not everyone is following them. In fact, there are also vegetarians, especially in the younger generation, even if in a small percentage compared to the whole. I was really surprised by the fact that not all the community has vegetarian habits, which seemed kind of obvious to me, given their spiritual philosophy. At the nucleo in which I was hosted I could observe their alimentary habits and I must admit that moderation is the concept that guides all choices. Meat is offered no more than three times a week, and in a very little proportion compared to the rest. Fish just on Saturday. All the rest is composed of vegetables, cereals and legumes. “The majority yes, eat meat, but there are vegetarians. Anyway the important thing is not to exaggerate with anything, so especially with the meat you must be careful.” (Interview with Quaglia)

Their claim is that body is an alchemical laboratory, which, to be perfectly functioning, needs to digest all the substances present in the alimentary chain. In my opinion is still a strange motivation, but as I could observe in the community it is very hard to find someone willing to contradict Falco’s word, therefore what he said became somehow sacred words, especially after his death. “We are not vegetarian because we do not think that we can eat a plant without sacrifice, if I sacrifice a plant it is the same as if I sacrifice an animal. As we do sacrifice ourselves for shapes that are more evolved than us. We sacrifice in the sense that we will be absorbed in their experience. Everything has the same value in the evolution chain. Life has value. The important thing is to have an equilibrate relationship in this exchange. I cannot devour the entire planet... I cure the planet and the planet cures me.” (Interview with Iride) It is evident that there is a relationship of deep respect with the creatures that are going to be killed, but I was very curious about how the members of the community were feeling about killing animals. Especially when considering the fact that they have a deep relationship with them by giving them names and caring for them. The majority take it for granted that it is something that has to be done, and that there is a bigger spiritual reason, that works as a sort of justification, behind this violent action. The most enjoyable answer I received, as often happens in Damanhur, stands at the border of reality and supernatural:

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“Do you know that animals commit suicide? They practice euthanasia. Because we transmit telepathically to them a message, the message says that it is time to close their existence. So, as we are really strong telepathically, they die.” (Interview with Calabrone) It immediately came in my mind the movie ‘The Man Who Stare at Goats’, and the funny images of Damanhurians sending telepathic messages to animals as George Clooney does in that movie. Aside from this hilarious moment, analytically here we find again supernatural elements. Damanhur’s philosophy is deeply permeated by supernatural elements, which, interestingly enough, are considered completely normal for the citizens. This is due to the fact that inside the Federation, logical ways of thinking are subverted and new unrealistic theories are supported, gaining therefore a bigger strength and value of truthfulness. Also regarding food, traditional ecological behaviours find little space in the community. There are other every-day rituals that remind their spiritual devotion. Before eating Damanhurians always purify food. Every Initiated citizen can do this ritual by placing the hands on the food itself and then announcing the sentence: “This food is purified, in the name of Horus and be it so”. The ritual is done; they explained to me, in order to put food in the same ‘spiritual frequency’ of the persons that are going to eat it. It is very important and helps in avoiding health problems caused by eating food not pure. Also, those who cook must have the right mood when doing it, he/she must be pure, without negative feelings, otherwise it is best to leave the kitchen to someone else, because food absorb the energies of the cooker, they say. “It is the compatibility between what you eat and what the food produces inside your body. It creates a sort of synergy; eating what grows in our territory we create a very important energetic field. So everything becomes thought. Extremely purified.” (Interview with Iride) As Iride assumed, and as it came out during my analysis, in Damanhur a very important reason to eat self-produced food is located also in the spiritual realm: it is in fact a matter of energetic and subtle particles, more than ecological reason, that push citizens to work in agriculture and breeding. What is grown and cultivated inside the territory has a stronger energy than anything coming from the outside world, because, as they explained me, there is a sort of protective ‘circle of thoughts’ created by citizens on their territories that preserve and purity all living beings included in it. This again has to do with their esoteric philosophy, very much present in all aspects of everyday life. 4.7 Damanhurians’ perspectives on Ecology and Community Related to the topics debated in this chapter, during interviews I had the occasion to focus on some interesting aspects. At first, I tried to understand the concrete reasons why Damanhurians do not spend more energy in researching and working for the environment. Simply, they do not have time. “Actually here in Damanhur the concept of ecology is relative because we have to consider we are always in rush, everyone has to do so many things… ” (Interviwe with Tara) Stuck between weekly community and nucleo meetings, work commitments and spiritual responsibilities, Damanhurian citizens occupy all their available time and energy. For this reason, ecology is left behind. Not because it is not relevant, but because it is not a priority. However, many of them, especially the younger members, are hoping for a change. “So what I think is that Damanhur has always been an evolving reality and has always changed with the times. For needs Damanhur was born as builders’ population, all that's around here was built with the arm strength and the first savings of Damanhurians. And certainly far less than in the early days, we still live with this warrior fighting spirit of having to be always on the run but it is probably time to leave it behind and relax a bit. That is something you

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breathe with new people who are approaching, the new people who come to Damanhur now should have the courage and the strength to turn things in this way. However, I believe that many of us feel and believe that finally the time has come to enjoy more, enjoy more space; there is no more need to fight. This means also to have more free time in real life but not time to laze around.” (Interview with Tara) Another tricky matter relates with the use of autos. In fact, to move from an area to another one, Damanhurians use primarily petrol-powered cars. In my view, it is a problematic issue in an ecological perspective to consider how many cars are driving in such a natural environment. “Cars are our Achilles’ heel sincerely. At the beginning there was a collective management of cars, now it is no longer possible. Everyone has their own daily commitments.” (Interview with Stambecco) However the necessity of using cars is acknowledged by the majority of citizens as a compromise, it does not create a very big ethical problem to them. “It is not as ecologically focused as other communities that are just focused on ecology. It’s integrated that there are some compromises, like driving cars. One of the reasons that there are so many spread out areas in Damanhur which is the value of diversity: just being in the mountains or just being in the farming areas, to have some communities in the mountains, some close to the temples, some here, some in the hills, some in the plains… so agricultural areas and other areas that are focused more on renewable energy and so on. So it takes cars to get from one place to another and they eventually will all be electric cars, now it’s just accepting that as a necessity.” (Interview with Quaglia) Given the fact that Damanhur is part of the Global Ecovillage Network and officially it is presented as an ecovillage, a researcher or visitor would expect to enter in an ecologically focused community. Clearly this is not the case of Damanhur. In fact, some citizens recognize the community as an ecovillage, another part does not recognize it under this definition. It is a very significant possibility that in such a wide community people may have different opinions and interpretations of reality, depending on personal interests and attitudes. However it is rare to observe that the main definition the community gives itself to the outside world, i.e. as a spiritual ecovillage, it is not shared unanimously. “We’re inside the ecovillage network. Well… it was more a choice of those who are taking care of the relationship with the outside world, more than a shared choice. I do not know how much the community would recognize as an ecovillage. And of course there are also those whom feel comfortable with the definition of ecovillage… but especially the old Damanhurians came here with very precise ideas about the development of their ideals and spirituality more than else…” (Interview with Tridacna) I talked extensively about this definition problem with citizens having different attitudes. It came out that those who are dealing with nature on a daily base or those who work in the field of ecology, they spontaneously define Damanhur as an ecovillage. They are aware of their limits, knowing that ecology is not on top of the interests of the community, but they look forward and see a more ecological development in the future. Also for those working in public relations with the external world, Damanhur is an ecovillage. This has of course several motivations: first of all being in the ecovillage network has put the community in a position of being related to an existing and active reality throughout the rest of the world, facilitating exchanges and tourism; secondly it gives a laic connotation, which helps the community to have an official definition to support their claims against frequent attacks of the Catholic institutions, very widespread in Italy39, whom condemn Damanhurians philosophy as a ‘dangerous pagan cult’.

                                                                                                               39 As it is known, Italy is home to the headquarters of the Vatican and by history, it is a very Catholic nation both in its cultural fundaments and in its institution. Though legally there is religious individual freedom, practically alternative religions are hardly accepted on a social level.

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4.8 Remarks In this chapter I have described some practices and concepts that show the reader how ecology may influence daily life of the community. My interpretation of it is that when talking about ecology in Damanhur, we need to sharply divide it between ‘ecological awareness’ and ‘ecological practices’. With ‘ecological awareness’ I mean a purely theoretical knowledge and a mental attitude of respect towards nature. This is surely a very common cultural background shared by all the members of the community. It entails also what I previously defined a ‘sacred respect for nature’, connecting again with the supernatural realm. On the other side, ‘ecological practices’ may be divided in ‘concrete ecological practices’ and ‘esoteric ecological practices’. With the former, I intend the combination of techniques and habits traditionally and broadly defined as ecological. With esoteric ecological practice I refer to all those practices that use supernatural means to better the environments, as: use of ‘Selfic technology’ in agriculture and breeding, the dispatch of ecological messages on the Synchronic Lines with a crystal sphere, communication with plants, the pact with Spirits of Nature, purification of food, baptism and pre-death telepathic connection with animals. These are practices I could witness during my fieldwork, there are other esoteric ecological practices reserved and known only by Initiated. Diagram 3 shows visually the relationship of these four concepts and practices, where intentional community stands outside as the container of other three elements. In fact it is the interaction of individuals in the community that produces both knowledge and practices related to ecology. Moreover the square representing ‘concrete ecological practices’ is positioned almost at the bottom of the triangles, this is due to the fact that my analysis reported a bigger interest on concrete ecology from the new arrivals in the community, compared to the old citizens more concentrated on esoteric practices. The green circle representing the ‘ecological awareness’ corresponds to the circle of diagram 1 that was representing nature. In fact the two elements correspond: the more is spiritually enhanced a sacred respect for nature and its creatures, the more it is created an ecological awareness in the community. As we can see ecological awareness and ecological practices do not coincide. This is due to the fact that it seems to be very difficult for Damanhurians to put theoretical ecological awareness into concrete practices, considered by many to be less effective than esoteric ones.

 

 

 

INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY

CONCRETE ECOLOGICAL PRACTICES  

 

ECOLOGICAL AWARENESS

Diagram 3 Ecology-Intentional Community paradigm

 

 

ESOTERIC ECOLOGICAL PRACTICES

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I conclude that ecological ideas have a small influence in every-day life in the community; in fact, concrete ecological practices are not a concern for the whole community, especially not for the majority of older citizens. Regarding ecological ideas, we face a multi-faceted reality, where every citizen has different views and attitudes. Furthermore, ecological awareness is strictly related to spiritual commitments and it does not have autonomy outside of the spiritual realm.

Pic. 22: A lunch in the nucleo of Pejda, with Olio Caldo products.

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5. Conclusions

By reason of the cultural complexity of Damanhur and the flexibility of the three key-concepts I used as analytical tools, my ethnographic work has shown a wide variety of concepts and interpretations, which I regard as appropriate cues for answering the question that guides my research, i.e. how spiritual beliefs and practices shape Damanhurians’s idea of ecology, and to eventually suggest further investigations. Throughout the three central chapters I tried to summarize, while narrating my experience on the field, the influence spirituality has on the idea of ecology as elaborated by Damanhurians. While analytically I divided the three elements of my inquiry, interpretatively it seems that they are a part of the same cultural milieu that is present in the community, which could be defined as intrinsically holistic, i.e. ‘characterized by the belief that the parts of something are intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole’. While my analytical process was encouraging me to divide the elements of my research, the actors and actions I encountered suggested the innate connections between each part. I will outline just a few examples. Summer Solstice ritual shows how through spiritual practices individuals can acquire a better understanding of nature, while expanding their ecological awareness. However the same ritual has a big relevance in informing social relationships inside the intentional community. The same goes for the Oracle of the Full Moon; it is seen here in the light of the connections between spirituality and community, but it also has implications for the conception of Nature, in this case the Moon, as a form of spiritual guidance for the entire community. Similarly the project Olio Caldo, while being essentially an ecological and social project, is also intrinsically spiritual in its meanings. In Damanhur there is no spirituality if there is no community and there is no ecology without spiritual basis. In fact, spirituality deeply permeates every realm of life, and any understanding of the concept of ecology. Interestingly enough, while there are some concepts and beliefs, which can be limited to the realm of spirituality and intentional community, those that refer to ecology cannot function without the cooperation of the other two elements. For instance, while the concepts of Super-Individual and Spiritual People relate most strictly to how spirituality and community influence and reinforce each other, I cannot find any proper ecological meaning or endeavour entailed in these two ideal entities. Conversely, all the aspects of ‘concrete ecology’ practiced in Damanhur, as for Olio Caldo, Prima Stalla and the Food Gospel, have deeper motivations and meanings in some socially shared spiritual beliefs. Analysing the interviews collected during my fieldwork, I discovered that the entire community is still in the process of shaping a shared definition of ecology and therefore a set of practices related to it. As the meaning of ecology is still ‘under-construction’, naturally the related practices and interpretations given to them by the actors are also confused. I would like to focus my final arguments on two levels of interpretation, extrapolated from actors’ views, concerning how spiritual beliefs and practices have shaped the meaning of ecology in Damanhur. I will first consider the theoretical level and afterwards the practical one. (a) Theoretically the most widespread and agreed ecological understanding in the community defines reality as a spiritual ecosystem, where all living beings are part of the same divine unity and therefore they all must be treated with same respect and love. The living beings are positioned on an evolutionary chain. This chain is not based on their intrinsic values or on the fact that those creatures may be provided with a soul, but on the proximity of said creatures with the divinity. Regarding nutrition, everything that is positioned on lower level of the chain then human beings serves as their food. The same goes for the upper levels, for which humans can serve themselves as food, but in this case, as I understood the belief, only on an energetic level. To this respect during an interview with Cernia I proposed him to define this approach as spiritual Darwinism, he partly agreed with my suggestion, however he pointed out:

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“In what now we define spiritual Darwinism, evolution is not guided by ‘causal’ conditions but it has a history. It is guided by a superior order, for us as humans incomprehensible and inexplicable. Science may give a good point of view, but there is a distance between our ideas and the scientific ideas when they are defined as purely materialistic.” (Interview with Cernia)

So the spiritual ecosystem to which Damanhurians refer expands beyond what we can see and perceive, beyond our visible environment. In fact, if I were to adhere to the definition generally given by the citizens, I may be mistaken in identifying their ecology as a branch of what scholars define as system ecology. Spiritual ecology is too vague way to define such a complex view and deep ecology does not adequately convey all its esoteric meanings. In fact, what differs profoundly from all the definitions ever given of ecology here is the continuous reference to mysterious supernatural attitudes that can affect reality, and that can be consciously controlled by humans. Even in discussions of practical environmental problems, citizens assume that the solution is more likely to be found on a supernatural level than on a material one. (b) The overall interest in concrete practices related to ecology is significantly low in the community compared to the centrality of spiritual and esoteric practices. Clear evidence of this is given by the very low number of citizens that have chosen as their Way, Olio Caldo, the most properly ecological spiritual path, only fifteen compared to hundreds registered in the Way of the Oracle or the Way of the Monks. Techniques and practices normally defined as ecological by scholars and experts in the field are almost totally absent in the community. Permaculture, for instance, is neither experimented with nor applied, and remain out of the common interests of the citizens. This and other similar findings made me reflect upon whether it is appropriate to define Damanhur as an ecovillage, and some interviewees supported my doubts. It seems they are a part of the network for not exactly ecological reasons, as it is explained in section 4.7. However, I believe that the most important factor in analysing how spiritual beliefs and practices shape the idea of ecology in the community is the fact that although in Damanhur innovative and solid ecological techniques are nearly absent or of little relevance, citizens claim to use esoteric techniques to improve and better the conditions of the environment in which they live and of the whole planet. Beside the few examples narrated in the previous chapters, including the use of Selfic devices in agriculture and the daily practice of sending ecological messages through the sphere on the Synchronic lines, I struggled to find a complete record of such esoteric practices. Unfortunately many of them are offered only in the secret knowledge given to Initiates. Some actors mentioned these techniques in brief, but in such a hasty manner that it could not allow me to consistently report them. It is not my task here to verify whether these techniques are effective or not, or to debate their scientific grounds, but simply position them in a cultural framework coherent with the actors’ interpretation of them. Therefore, willing to give a theoretical definition of ecology in Damanhur, I would use the terms esoteric ecology, i.e. a philosophy that implies the use of supernatural practices and beliefs to deal with relations and interactions between organisms and their environment. I would also suggest that Damanhurian ecology seems to function well with the four essential attributes Antoine Faivre considers the theoretical required features to define a doctrine as esoteric. These are: (1) Correspondences; (2) Living Nature; (3) Imagination and Mediations; (4) The Experience of Transmutation. The two non-essential but common components are also (5) The Praxis of the Concordance; (6) Transmission (Faivre 1994). I am going to briefly outline these features one by one. (1) The often quoted sentence ‘As Above, So below’ reflects the meaning of Correspondences. In Damanhur actors affirm that everything that happens in the world corresponds to a supernatural reality, which humans are no longer able to perceive, but they have the chance to recover this faculty through exercise. (2) The belief that the ‘cosmos is complex, plural, hierarchical’ and that ‘Nature occupies an essential place’ (1994: 11) in this cosmos presuppose a belief in a living Nature, very much present in Damanhur. (3) Imagination and Mediations are two complementary notions, regarding both sensing the unseen and a mechanism for interacting with it. This is rooted on the idea that imagination, rather than simply being a subjective aspect of a person’s

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mental process, is a ‘kind of organ of the soul’ (1994: 12). In Damanhur ‘imagination’ is identified as one of the eight inner senses that can be re-awaken through exercise. Faivre assumes that the practitioner can ‘use mediations of all kinds, such as rituals, symbolic images, mandalas, intermediary spirits’ (1994: 12) to act in the world, as it happens in the esoteric ecological practices mentioned by the actors.  (4) Transmutation can be used as synonymous with metamorphosis. It is the modification or transmutation of the basic nature of a thing being acted upon, whether that is a person being initiated through rituals into a new and better life or a modification of any kind of object. In Damanhurian esoteric ecology, the body of Initiated is transformed into an alchemical laboratory through several exercises and renounces. Initiated, with the new powers acquired, can modify the subtle substance of food, as an example. (5) The Praxis of the Concordance is the tendency of esoteric traditions to find analogies between different traditions. It means a sort of syncretic union. This point may be debated regarding Damanhur. In fact, their ‘theology’ is revealed by the founder and it sounds very original and unique in some parts. As said already, I agree with them to refuse the term syncretism to explain it. However The Praxis of the Concordance is not an essential feature in determining whether a philosophy is esoteric or not. (6) Transmission refers to the process of exchanging knowledge, which ‘implies that an esoteric teaching can or must be transmitted from master to disciple following a re-established channel’ (1994: 13). This often takes the form of Initiation, a highly significant practice in Damanhur. In a tentative and theoretical hypothesis, which may merit closer analysis, I would argue that Damanhurian idea of ecology has many intrinsic esoteric attributes that cannot be neglected and that suggest a possible new fascinating way of interpreting ecology and its practices, though irrespective of any physical scientific statement. An ‘ecology of spirit’, as I romantically titled my research, where nature becomes itself spirit and where supernatural features are considered as valuable tools to interact with environmental crisis and, maybe, help faithful and aware human beings in their mission to save the planet from its dubious future. I would describe it as a very charming metaphysical philosophy of nature, where faith and dedication are required in order to see any tangible result. As theologian and biologist Alister E. McGrenth would suggest ‘to reenchant nature is not merely to gain a new perspective for its integrity and well-being; it is to throw open the doors to a deeper level of existence’ (2003: 186), where faith in the existence of other mysterious and imperceptible worlds and entities is required. Ignoring the actor’s perspective that partly resist to label this esoteric ecology as a religion, the analogy with what Bron Tylor defines as dark green religions, particularly what he calls spiritual animism, is very evident. A further study could focus maybe in considering eventual implications in trying to apply his theories and definitions on the reality of Damanhur. I conclude with the statement that spirituality in Damanhur has deeply influenced and shaped the citizens ideas about ecology, fostering the creation of a very unique and particular philosophy that hardly bears comparison with any other existing. The ‘esoteric’ practices by means of which Damanhurians claim to be able to shape reality can be considered as a singular and curious approach to ecology. It must be underlined once again that spirituality in Damanhur always involves magic and the knowledge of secret esoteric traditions, which require years of personal involvement with the community in order to be accessed and probably a longer period to be verified scientifically. Even then, there is no certainty that an empirical analysis would be sufficient in such an endeavour. This new paradigm of an ‘holistic’ view of ecology which interprets the universe as one being, as opposed to an assembled mass of separate objects, is profoundly revolutionary and suggests the necessity of a reform of the scientific fundamentals of Western humanistic culture. Many environmental philosophies and spiritual movements condemn modern belief in the Cartesian dichotomy or the Kantian imperative as being linked to the global capitalistic culture. It is thus the cause of the disturbed relationship men have established with nature, suggesting as it does that beings different than man are only to be used to man’s ends.

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“The intellectual effort to solve the mystery of the physical universe is in vain since the scientist is trying to separate himself from the Universe. It is a single unit. Nature and man are not two different things.” (U.J. Krishnamurti 1992)

My trust is that this research, other than highlighting some culturally relevant aspects of a growing reality as it is Damanhur, could work in helping scholars and individuals in re-considering and re-interpreting the cultural perspective in which we are embedded and develop a ‘sustainable mind-field’ directed towards a meaningful rescue of theories, proposing that the integrity and significance of human being on Earth depends on humans’ affiliation with the rest of living beings and not on his superior loneliness.

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APPENDIX

Constitution of Damanhur

Damanhur is a School of Thought founded by Oberto Airaudi and inspired by his teachings. Its

structure is expressed through the four bodies called Meditation: tradition and ritual knowledge;

Game of Life: experimentation and dynamics; ‘Tecnarcato’: continuous inner transformation;

and Social: the social realization of such teachings.

The aims of Damanhur are: the freedom and re-awakening of the Human Being as a divine,

spiritual and material principle; the creation of a self-sustaining model of life based on ethical

principles of good communal living and love; the harmonious integration and co-operation with

all the Forces linked to the evolution of Humankind.

The Constitution is the fundamental Charter regulating the Social Body, formed by Damanhur’s

citizens. Damanhurian citizens dedicate their life to the application of the principles and aims

indicated in the Constitution, and they make a commitment to respect and apply it in all its

norms. The act of becoming a citizen takes different forms, corresponding to the choice and

commitment of the individual.

The Communities represent the ideal form of union and communal living. They are inspired by

principles of solidarity and sharing. The Communities as a whole are organized as a Federation.

Communities and groups belonging to different schools of thought may affiliate with the

Federation, as long as they are inspired by the same aims.

Out of the creation of shared Tradition, Culture, History and Ethics, the People is born.

1. The citizens are brothers and sisters who help one another through trust, respect, clarity,

acceptance, solidarity and continuous inner transformation. Everyone is committed to always

extending to others the opportunity to reach higher.

2. Each citizen makes a commitment to spread positive and harmonious thought, and to direct

every thought and action towards spiritual growth, putting ideals before personal interest. Each

person is socially and spiritually responsible for every action they take, as everybody is aware that

each act is multiplied and reflected all over the world through the Synchronic Lines.

3. Through community life, Damanhur aims at developing individuals whose reciprocal relations

are regulated by Knowledge and Consciousness. Fundamental rules of life are common sense,

thinking well of others, kindness, sense of humor, optimism, and the welcoming and exaltation

of diversity. Every citizen is expected to be capable of self-control, of purity in thought and

actions, and of making mature choices. Those citizens who wish to engage in a recognized love

relationship, make a public announcement to their fellow citizens.

4. Work has spiritual value and is understood as a gift of oneself to others. Through it, everyone

takes part in the spiritual and material activities of the people. Each citizen offers a part of their

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time in activities of common interest, especially in social volunteering activities and Terrazzatura

(devotional work within Damanhur). Every task is precious and carries the same dignity.

5. Damanhur promotes research and fosters and encourages experimentation and renewal in

every field of knowledge, as long as it is expressed in a harmonious form. Citizens improve their

education, and widen and deepen their knowledge in the fields of research, art, work and leisure

activities.

6. Spirituality, research and ecology inspire all relationships with the environment, also through

the use of appropriate technologies. Every Citizen lives in communion with nature and the

subtle forces which inhabit it. Everyone is committed to respect and preserve resources, and to

avoid as far as possible forms of pollution and waste. Citizens put into practice rules of life

suitable for harmonious physical, mental and spiritual development; they respect their own body,

take care of it and nourish it harmoniously, refraining from any form of substance abuse. They

ensure the orderliness and cleanliness of their environment.

7. The People is a single entity in constant evolution, the organic sum of all the single

individualities; it holds and synthesizes all the experiences, thoughts and feelings expressed

within itself and makes them a common cultural, ethical and spiritual wealth.

8. Every Damanhurian citizen takes care of their own economic maintenance, and contributes

with their resources and work to support the Federation of Communities, in harmony with the

principle of sharing. Individuals who withdraw from citizenship do not make any financial claims

against it, and have no right to be reimbursed by it.

9. Damanhurian citizens prepare spiritually and socially the environment in the best possible way

for the birth and growth of children. To this aim they prefer to plan the birth of children.

Damanhurians educate children to be free and autonomous individuals, providing them with the

instruments necessary to express and develop their individual characteristics. This is done in

harmony with the shared pedagogical guidelines. All resident citizens participate in the education

of children, in their care and economic maintenance.

10. Whosoever wishes to become a citizen of Damanhur must present a written request outlining

their reasons. If the applicant possesses the basic qualities to become a Citizen, the person will

be allowed to begin the probationary period, in the manner agreed upon with the applicant

themselves. From that moment on, applicants are to observe this Charter and the other social

rules. The ‘Concession of Citizenship’ can take place only after the applicant has demonstrated a

knowledge of the principles and cultural heritage of the People. An individual will cease to

participate in the citizenship process by withdrawal or by exclusion if serious reasons or cases of

misconduct make it impossible to continue the relationship.

11. The highest authority of Damanhur is represented by the King/Queen Guides. They

coordinate the Bodies of Damanhur, and guarantee a constant pursuance of the ideal aims and

spiritual goals in every manifestation of social life. They direct choices and emanate laws on

those subjects of interest to all Damanhurian citizens. Their unanimous opinion is binding for

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every individual, group or organization. They are periodically elected by the members of the

Body of Meditation according to the rules determined within it.

12. The functions regarding control of the observance of the regulations are carried out by the

College of Justice. Every Citizen has to respect its decisions. The College of Justice may suspend

or annul illegitimate acts by any other body or office. It instructs and defines disciplinary

procedures in cases of violation of constitutional norms. It carries out functions of appeal in case

of disciplinary procedures issued by another body or office, in the modes and forms provided

for by the federal laws. It watches over social processes, and suggests the elaboration of norms

that are suitable for collective and individual development. Any controversy whatsoever among

citizens and between citizens and Damanhur and its bodies will be subject, with the exclusion of

any other jurisdiction, to the competence of the College of Justice, which will judge fairly, with

equitable consideration and discretion, and its ruling will be final. The Members of the College

of Justice are periodically elected by the members of the Body of Meditation according to the

rules determined within it.

13. The citizens organize themselves in communities, within the forms established by the federal

laws. Every community has its own territory, its own population and autonomy. Each

community aims at reaching complete self-sufficiency, and its population must not exceed

200/220 individuals. The government of each community is elected periodically. Each

Community may set up bodies and promulgate the rules it deems necessary to function, having

regard to the Tradition and to the superior interests of the whole population. All citizens commit

themselves to respect the laws of each community, when they are present on its territory. The

citizens residing in Damanhurian communities, and those who are present in a Damanhurian

territory, do not smoke, do not abuse alcohol and do not use drugs.

14. Communities or groups inspired by principles and aims compatible with those expressed in

this Charter can affiliate with the Federation of Communities. The King/Queen Guides establish

the modalities of association with the Federation.

15. The norms of execution of the present Charter must not contain measures that are contrary

to it. The discipline of all matters relating to the whole population is carried out by means of

Laws. Any revision of rules contained in this Charter is to be approved by those who belong to

the Body of Meditation, according to rules decided within it. In every case where the

interpretation of the existing norms is questioned, the resolution is adopted by the Guides, after

consulting the College of Justice, and expressed according to the principles of the Tradition.

Damanhur, December 2007 40

                                                                                                               40 ‘Damanhur’, http://www.damanhur.org/about-us/1543-the-constitution-, Accessed April 2014

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Field-note: Monday Morning, Falco is dead

24/06/2013

5 p.m.

It’s Monday morning, as every day here I wake up around 9 a.m.. I take a shower and the phone rings. It’s Cavallo, the ageless German Damanhurian. Cavallo is the first person that spoke to me, despite its particular social attitudes, when I walked in the gate. A ‘synchronic link’ as they call it. He asks me: “What are you doing? Can I join you? I do not like to talk by phone”. His voice is serene, smiling. I thought he wanted to invite me to lunch. Just the time to finish the phone call, Cavallo is already in front of my door. He steps into the room, his eyes are red. He tells me with slippery Italian language something that I hardly understand. He seemed to be complaining of fatigue and so I show him my understanding. I walk over to hug him and I realize that he's crying with a smile. He tells me that Falco is dead. Falco is their spiritual teacher, the elder brother. I sensed that something important was happening last night after the ritual. I am astonished. In part to have had confirmation of my perception, in part because of the knowledge that I find myself magically in the middle of a story, a story that will become a fable perhaps one day, and that it already is a fable for them. They, the inhabitants of these valleys and mountains, believe in a dream, a dream that has become reality. I say to Cavallo that I'm sorry; I do not know what to say in these moments. He tells me that I do not have to regret, it would have happened sooner or later. He defines it liberation, in the broad sense of course. It is a turning point in their history. Telling me his last visit to the teacher, Falco, touches him together with the anecdote that he has revised the picture of a time, thirty years ago. He wants to let me know that Falco’s home at Aval is open to all to say the last goodbye to the teacher. There is only the body there, he says. The aura is everywhere. While I walk outside the room with Cavallo that must return to his daily works, we meet Eliana, an English woman, gray-haired, perhaps 60 years old, round glasses. She does not live here but she is tied to this place for 17 years, since she met Falco in England. I propose to go together to Aval, if she wishes so, I have the car. She asked me some time to get ready, an hour. At 12:30 p.m. she reappears on my door. I see her around for a few days, as we share housing. She never talks with me; I cannot deny she is mysterious. Facial expressions are always at the limit between serenity and sadness, but never hang from either side. The smiles are slightly mentioned and rare words, her eyes are serious. Last night I had offered a camomile in silence with a gesture. We go down to get to my car, but I do not have the keys. In the time it takes to retrieve change anything. Very slowly Eliana thanked me for my offer to accompany her, but she says she would prefer to share this moment with some ‘sister’ who knows her longest. She tells me that synchronously she would come with me but then she felt the need to have another support. It appears Sardina (Sardine), a woman aged probably the same as my mother, 55. Her energy arrives before of her physical body. Eliana and she have known each other for a long time. I wait that they greet each other and then in a discreet way I show myself again available to drive there, as I am the only entity in possession of a car. Sardine decides to be the missing link between me and Eliana. It is the right time to leave for Avalon. Before getting into the car Sardina asks for information on my account, we had never seen before. I explain that I'm an anthropologist interested in esotericism and I came here for a series of coincidences. With the air of one who has much to tell she gets into the car next to me. Slowly, her knee is painful. While I direction in the direction of Falco’s home she starts her story. 'You know, esotericism is nice, but if you just study it, you do not get it. When it all started in 1975, in Turin, we used to meet on Tuesday night and studied together. Falco had a center (i.e. Centro Horus) where we used to meet, in twelve people. There were talks about telekinesis, astral travel, in short, all those things that are called paranormal. But they are not. Oberto, who still did not have a name of an animal, he was a

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boy 25 years old but his memory was different then ours. He explained to us that it is not right to talk about paranormal, but, on the contrary, it is the man who in his development did not evolve, becoming subnormal and remaining stuck in his basic faculties, the most useless.’ Sardina’s voice is pleasant; she speaks slowly and occasionally stops to show me the way, then gradually she begins again to speak. I, as I try to adapt my driving to the situation, rest in silence. I know she wants to tell me about the dream that she lives for a lifetime and that she will do it because it gives her a lot of joy. 'Falco told us that if we wanted to change the world, we could not continue to see each other only on Tuesday evening, we had to do something more than just bend forks and move objects with thought. That did not help much in changing the world. So we started looking for the right place, where the synchronic lines merge and we got here.’ She stops to make sure that Eliana is listening and then continues:' ... He always told us that all he could do, we could all do too. The only difference was that he knew and could 'remember' his previous lives, which were many, and incorporeal body, human and non-human. He was our big brother and he was the channel for the knowledge of things that otherwise without him we would never have been able to remember. There were talks of love, to live together. ... Not religion, he got angry when they defined our group a religious movement ... we have no dogmas, ours is a creature moving on. The people here are united by a dream, they live it all the time, this is what gives us the strength to go on, that's how we managed to do an amazing thing how building those temples.. Those temples are not made just for us, only for a small group of people, but for all humanity, the knowledge that we have is for all mankind, for the awakening of humanity ... '. Sardina has a bouquet of flowers in her hands but decided to leave it in the car and she said: 'I once picked a primrose and happily went to Falco to show him and he told me very seriously that the primrose was feeling better when it was before I picked it up. I do not want to leave cut flowers to die on him.' We get closer and I start to consider. I've never seen anyone dead in my life before and I've always been afraid. I inform ‘my women’ that I am very happy to accompany them and to share this experience, but I do not know if I'll feel to enter the room where there’s his body. Sardina reassured me by saying that the aura of Falco goes far beyond his physical body and therefore I will perceive it the same. We arrive in front of a lawn and a blond-haired woman invites us to park, climbing a hill we come to an open gate, a gate with Selfic drawings, I suppose. Inside someone is playing a guitar, the same rhythm I've heard yesterday during the solstice. There are four or five people that I've already seen in Damijl. They meet each other and hug, smiling; someone has few tears on their eyes. ‘The women’ say to me that all this is beautiful. Damanhurians are all dressed as always, colourful. A lady asks Sardina if it is normal that the dead body had been left with her eyes open, she says no and explains, ' they left the eyes open because he is present, he not sleeping, he always present and observes .. this is what it means.' Stuck in my personal dilemma I continue to wonder whether or not I happen to come in, I can get easily disturbed, and these days were already quite intense. Meanwhile, Sardina and Eliana, with clasped hands and a slight bow, take their way. I decide to put an end to the horde of my thoughts, thinking that in fact, as I had never met him in life, I might grant an exception and psychological blocks sooner or later have to be overcome. So instinctively and with an empty mind, I enter the room. There are photo albums everywhere, with many of his pictures. Not a coffin but a bed, glasses behind the head and feet. I see his body sooner than I thought, just as I step into the room. I had never seen a dead body before. The skin color is yellow, and it looks like wax. The wonder is that much. I cannot resist more than a few seconds, maybe ten seconds, and always from a relevant distance. Then I turn around and I focus on the photos, I prefer to remember people alive and I cannot force myself too much. Outside there are some notebooks where all who pass writes thoughts. The emotional charge of the moment is too high and I decide not to read anything but write only 'Buon Viaggio Falco' (Bon Voyage Falco).

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I sit outside to listen to the music and waiting Sardina and Eliana. That face has been printed in my mind and I concentrate to process it. When the women come out smiling in tears, we get closer to the car and we get slowly back on our way to Damjil. I wonder how Sardina is able to speak again, apparently without emotion, of Falco. Maybe she trained herself over years and years of meditation. She narrates to us about the two years time when she lived in his house to look after his son, when they first arrived at Damanhur and started to build together their houses, when they were playing, when they were discussing and when they were dreaming together. I say that in the end, death is only a passage. And she nods, smiling. I leave the two women together at home, they must embrace a little, they say. While leaving the car Sardina thanked me for sharing this experience with and she invited me to visit her in the nucleo one day. I am back in my room, it is about 4 p.m, the guesthouse now is deserted, guests of the solstice are all gone, and energy is weak. I sit down and start writing because I feel the need; my head is spinning. As I finish to write this field-note I realize, clearly and for the first time, how much of oneself is put into play when entering a new and different world. What this experience is teaching me now and how much more there is to learn. Me, the sceptical anthropologist in search of stories to tell and theories to test, I could search today only my emotions.

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Doc.1: This page is taken from ‘Qui Damanhur’ daily newspaper of the community. When my fieldwork was about to end, they interviewed me to motivate my presence in the village and to explain what my research was about.

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Pic . 1 : The l i t t l e Sacred Wood in Dami j l , ca l l ed the Wood o f Consc iousness .

P i c2 . : A v i s i to r med i ta t ing on a s tone in Dami j l .

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Pic. 3: The caravan where I was hosted during my fieldwork.

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Pic. 4: A typical house in Damijl. /Pic.5: Health Altar in Damijl.

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Pic. 5/6: Animals in Pejda.

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Pic.7: Daily Menù at Prima Stalla / Pic.7: Breeding in Prima Stalla.

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