I'm now at Damanhur, an intentional community in the region of Piedmont in Italy. Lukas and I are currently staying at a nucleo called Primastalla which is focused on organic food production. We are trading 30 hours of work a week to be well fed and have a caseta by the cow barn a short walk from the main house.
Nucleo: the word that means a community within Damanhur. There are over 500 permanent citizens at Damanhur spread out in community homes in various nucleos. The Damanhurian land here is not connected. There are bits of land spread out over many many miles that have been acquired over the years. It takes about 15 minutes by car to get from Primastalla to Damijl, the central area of Damanhur which includes a few nucleos, the welcome center, the school of meditation and the Open Temple, an outdoor space lined with columns that invites rituals of all religions and creeds. There are also outdoor altars to the elements and many labyrinths for various intentions: digestion, optimism, dreaming, memories, and to connect to their larger energy body.
This year is the 40th anniversary of Damanhur's founding. When we arrived a week ago, it had been one week since the anniversary of the death of Falco, the main inspiration behind Damanhur. People don't call him the founder -- there was a larger group of founders that he was part of -- but they call him the main inspiration and channel for ancient information that has become the spiritual foundation here. It's all very complex to me. There are rules of citizenship, a sacred language of symbols inscribed all over the land, a school of meditation which all citizens must participate in, and a list of pathways which is chosen as a focus of study. People gather many times a week in groups for various reasons -- house meetings, weekly citizen meetings about social topics and another weekly meeting about spirituality and the various research developments going on here including alternative energy, the songs of plants, gmo research and Selfic art, the Damanhurian craft which incorporates energy of different symbols and metals into wearable objects or sculptures for different purposes. Some protect against radiation from technology, some help connect the wearer to her higher purpose. They have a gallery at DamanhurCrea, which is a center of commerce and other services such as the integrative healthcare and the art studios for painters, sculptors, etc.
The society here is very complex and I'm only beginning to uncover some details, which I will report on over time.
Con Voi
(Con voi means 'with you' in the plural. It is a saying uttered all day long amongst damanhurians. I heard that the common Italian salutation, ciao, was rejected from the beginning for being originally linked to a saying said to slaves.)