There is spiritual abuse inside Damanhur but all the spiritual ‘cool kids’ still promote them — why?
I want a new Spiritual Paradigm that recognises the harm done by the ‘spiritual pandemic’ that is caused when people follow and are manipulated by a controlling leader. Here is another example of why I want this.
Damanhur is widely promoted by all the cool kids of today’s spiritual scene. Gaia.com promotes them, and yet all of them ignore the harm the Italians say they caused — why? Is it actually ‘spiritual’ to be this way?
They are a group of people in Italy who seem to be doing some pretty cool things — they created the most amazing underground tunnel and work of art unbeknownst to the Italian authorities until the early 1990s. As far as I understand, they believe they are old Atlanteans aliens in human bodies that time travel in little pods that they have created.
This is what one of their communications said in 1994:
“Monday January 17th XIX (1994)
Time Travel has begun! Yesterday four people made some experimental passages in the Cabin: two physical Temponauts and two subtle body Temponauts after various phases of preparation they went to explore the places and characters they will travel to at the end of May.”
Personally, I love this stuff — when I was a child I wanted to be an adventurer discovering the lost city of Atlantis and I have always felt a connection with that civilisation. I also love watching sci-fi and all this type of thing.
That is why I was very excited to hear about Atlantis on Gaia.com when I saw they have a feature on it under the name of ‘Damanhur Journey Through Time’. I had also heard of this community before and I had loved the fact that they were trying to communicate with plants. So I was ready to sign up, especially the since spokesperson on Gaia.com was saying that everyone was free to believe what they wanted.
Here is a 2018 video showing something of the ‘spiritual vision’ of Damanhur, and why people want to be part of it:
However when I heard the spokesperson on Gaia start to talk about his leader ‘Falco,’ I just had a recognition, partly due to my past experience as child of a cult who has broken out of it, and partly due to my intuition, that something was wrong, or off about the way Falco was idolised by him.
So I decided to follow my nose, and sure enough, there was a little buried website ‘Damanhur Inside Out.’ Most of the articles describing abuses have come out in Italian, so this website aims to translate those into English, so that the English-speaking world can know about it.
It seems that there is a lot of resistance to any information coming out or for any open dialogue at all about it (which is another warning sign.)
They say:
“Damanhur is very aggressive on the legal front, individuals, national newspapers, Focus magazine, Italian District Councils and even a member of the Ce.S.A.P Association have all been sued for speaking out against Damanhur. The Community has its own group of internal lawyers working voluntarily or for a minimum rate of pay: they can afford to wage a legal war whenever and against whomsoever they like (or don’t like)…
…Former Damanhurians already reduced to financial ruin by their involvement in the Community do not have the resources to fight lengthy and costly legal battles defending what they know to be true.”
I saw that an artist I greatly admire, Alex Grey of COSM was also supporting them publically, which was very disappointing for me. I understand Damanhur made a great work of art but I do not understand why every time I try to ask about the abuse allegations on one of his YouTube videos, my comment SWIFTLY gets deleted. My positive comments remain. So there is no dialogue. That is another danger sign.
I also love Nassim Haramein and yet he seems to be to supporting them too.
Below I will show why this is such a deep disappointment.
“I have been living here (Damanhur) for almost twenty years and it is only recently that I have begun to be aware of the perverse mechanisms that bind all of us to our roots. It has been a slow awakening accompanied by a lot of pain and suffering because of my profound sense of defeat and failure.
My dependence on the guru and everything he has created is very strong, unimaginable, powerful and impossible to describe. Contrary to what was reported in the article, I entered the group not because I was depressed or anything similar but because I was an exaggerated idealist and believed I would spend my entire life in this reality in the service of humanity. Total deception!! My strength, my life, my means, my wealth and what is worse all my ideals, were just useful instruments for making a guru even more powerful. For enriching a situation that only outwardly appears to want to help humanity and when it does, its real aim is to find consensus and create a defensive screen.”
This is where I would like to point out an example of someone who finally woke up to what happens when you are brainwashed to follow authority in spiritually focused groups — that he wasted his life because his desire to serve humanity was taken advantage of. I believe this is the case in groups all over the world, including the cult I grew up in with Benjamin Creme. I have told my story elsewhere in medium. I believe that I too wasted some of my energy and life because I wanted to serve humanity, in the two cults that I grew up in.
That is why I can see the tremendous danger for the Earth and Mother Nature herself, because if the well-meaning, hypersensitive, empath people are sucked away in service of an authoritarian leader that is manipulating them for power, then we have lost many much-needed souls, for the activity that actually helps the planet.
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I believe that these groups are born because people do not manage to find their dimension in society: dreamers, idealists, the hypersensitive, the sick, the lonely, the outsiders…and so on…
If one day I manage to liberate myself from this condition (and believe me I am doing all I can to recuperate the possibility and means) I will write a book, in the hope that the law in Italy will not condemn me for defamation.
I do not know if Rossa has recuperated because there is no book, but I have gone down this path so I am going to do my part to help her message.
Initiates are subject to a subtle system of ‘thought reform’, which is exercised by the School of Meditation and the ‘Tecnarcato’, both designed to control, maintain discipline and suppress criticism within community. Public humiliation is used to create fear and obedience and a system of rewards for good behavior and status within the ranks ensures everyone tows the line. Those who do not follow the rules and disciplines are ostracized by their fellow Damanhurians and excluded from group activities. They are required to write letters explaining their actions to the ‘Vertice’ and are often subject to humiliating sessions of public apology in front of the whole School. I often saw grown men breakdown and cry when faced with this ordeal.
People do not realize how they are being manipulated and if they do criticize the system, they are told that it is they who are the problem. They are told they are lacking in some way, not sufficiently integrated, that they need to be less rigid and more open to change. Newcomers are told that it is early days yet and as they go on to become initiated they will understand better and realize that their doubts were unfounded. Even the most intelligent spiritual seeker, once challenged on an inner level, fails to see what is happening.
…Over the years they slowly become slaves to the system, giving all their economic resources, family inheritance, energy and life force to what they believe will save the world: i.e. Damanhur and its magic….
…Children are mostly neglected as their parents work long hours for low pay and try to juggle all the time consuming needs of the School of Meditation, their ‘Spiritual Way’, the needs of the Nucleo, and their voluntary community work with the demands of a regular job. Internal taxation is high and initiates have very little disposable income. This reduces their mobility and ability to interact with the world: they rarely see family and friends outside and if they do, they often find themselves asking for monetary help….
…The fear of failing to be the perfect initiate and the lack of time for personal needs eventually takes its toll on their health. Several initiates have made suicide attempts, one, a highly respected and long standing member of the community, recently succeeded. He was found dead in Vidracco Lake.
And still everyone keeps smiling, because that is what is required. Positive thinking, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, is the rule. “Damanhur is a spiritual path that requires absolute commitment”; “hardship is part of the path towards spiritual growth”; “no one said it would be easy”; if you cannot keep up with the pace, then you are the problem”; “Damanhur is never at fault”…
…Initiates are reduced to obedient and compliant followers, completely in awe of Falco and desperately eager to please.
Once fully integrated into the social system and initiated into the Meditation School, Damanhurians will not accept any argument that challenges the world that they have become an integral part of. They are so psychologically and emotionally dependent upon it that any criticism is perceived as a personal attack, a threat to their very existence.
The damage goes very deep and also involves my children who grew up in the Damanhurian system. They have their own confusion and anger to deal with and their sense of insecurity. They no longer believe in my capacity to keep them safe and see what is real. We are a complex and sad psychological mess.
I cry with despair sometimes when I think of the damage that following my dream to Damanhur has caused us all. I am not only talking of the family’s economic ruin but of my deep sense of personal failure. How could I have allowed myself to be taken in by so many stupid and ridiculous lies?
Giorgio, Posted 02/01/2008 to the Damanhur forum of www.cesap.net under the title ‘La vita damanhuriana’
“You have only seen the surface and not the suffering of those people… they have to behave well with guests or they get punished by the School of Meditation. They lose their privileges and standing within the group. Their lives are controlled in every respect… sexual, physical, emotional and economical. You have seen the ‘apparenza’ and you have fallen in love with it but the reality is ugly and repressive. Damanhur is a totalitarian society that mirrors some of the worst regimes of the past: listening devices, spies, informers, psychological control, manipulation, sexual abuse and long, long hours of forced labor. And all with a smile.”
Verita, Posted 2009 on https://web.archive.org/web/20090925234730/http://current.com/items/89355590_how-i-found-utopia/25.htm
Which unfortunately seems to have been taken down (as have many related websites), so I am posting the Web Archive link.
Another system that keeps citizens imprisoned is our internal currency, the Credito which is sold as a ‘complementary currency system’ but is in fact a real swindle, it is used to avoid paying taxes to the Italian government, as well as for internal transactions.
“The third point that is taught is that you are there because you are a soul that has conquered the possibility of being able to work for this grand project and because of this you are, one of the elect! All of this is portrayed in the Damanhurian School with the concept of being a ‘Cork’ (Tappo). It works like this: stoppers made out of cork are those that remain floating in the sea and Airaudi because of his incredibly high level of illumination ( I am joking), knows how to navigate in time, travel between temporal wefts and collect these corks. He directs them towards Damanhur and consequently saves their souls. Yes, saves their souls!
This is why according to the Damanhurian School the only way to avoid losing your soul is to give everything you own to Damanhur without exception. There is strong psychological pressure, daily at this point to make you accept these principles and, even now all those who make up the structure of Damanhur are subjected to them.
In this system Airaudi can do just about anything he wants. From saying senseless things and passing them off as absolute truth, to saying that, only that which has his approval is true, to taking Damanhurian women (married and not) in ‘Viaggio’ and taking them to bed (sex with an enlightened being is an honor and what he can give you spiritually is priceless!)
Airaudi is exploiting spirituality to enslave people and make them work for him at zero cost, as many have done before him…”
Anno33 Posted to www.cesap.net 2008/02/07 02:18 under the title ‘Ogni Damanhuriano è solo’
I also like to consider this person’s view who was there for 3 years:
I knew ‘Falco’ Airaudi, and I believe him to be a friendly guy who is tenaciously holding on to his dreams, certainly very involving, but I never felt obliged to him in any way, not even to the oaths I swore and when I decided to leave I went and looked him in the eye and told him so. It was a cordial dialogue and in the end we said goodbye man to man, each of us to his own destiny with head held high.
I understand this viewpoint, but it appears from all the testimonials it only becomes visible to people who were there for much longer. In reply to the person writing above, someone else writes:
Three years is really not enough time to understand the Damanhurian reality.
You see, when I left I could not even bear to hear people talk about Damanhur, writing in this forum has cost me a lot, exposing everything may appear rather undignified to you but it becomes a duty when you understand that entering or leaving Damanhur is not just a question of personal choice but, and I will not refrain from saying so, a conditioning. It is a deception that people feel they have been subjected to when they finally understand it all and decide to leave.
There are things that you do not know, that you have not lived, that do not burn on your skin. For me the thing that continues to burn is the silence of the many Damanhurians who continue to suffer, who haven’t completely understood, who can no longer liberate themselves because they are subject to a strong system of control and are deceived by the many lies written by a particular person, i.e. He who commands.
It is probably true that If I had only spent three years in Damanhur I would also have written something like you but I was there a lot longer and I cannot turn my head and look the other way.
Mappamondo Posted to www.cesap.net 2008/03/13 01:30 under the title ‘Re: Dare dignità alle scelte’
What I considered incredible science fiction was just a part of everyday life to Damanhurians. I no longer paid attention to warning voices from outside the community, how could they know, they were not part of this fantastic world that I had discovered for myself. I felt as if I had ‘come home’ as if I had found my true destiny: my mission in life.
“I now see Damanhur as a collective illusion, fired by the enthusiasm of its idealistic members and maintained through a communal form of suggestion practiced by its charismatic leader Falco.”
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Damanhur is a self-perpetuating fantasy world that preys on idealists and spiritual seekers, subtly sucking them into a psychological vortex from which it is almost impossible to escape. Once in the downward spiral, climbing out requires enormous strength and clarity of mind. Few have managed it. Most die inside, psychologically and energetically, surrendering their autonomy to the voracious and fast moving Damanhurian machine.
Maria, Posted to the Damanhur forum of http://www.cesap.net 2008/02/15 05:16 under the title: ‘Porta i tuoi ideali altrove — Damanhur uccide‘
I know what experience this person is talking about because I myself had to do this coming out of what I was indoctrinated into as a child and of the Bhakti Marga cult.
I suppose that is the reason I recognise deep in my being that what they are talking about is real. I know that it is not so obvious to people who have not experienced this, and most people will not immediately see why this is important to all of us. That is why I feel it is my duty to reproduce and write this down for the right person to find.
“To this were added other small incentives to limit people leaving. One of these, which lasted for many years, was the rite of the white handkerchief. This ritual of the School of Meditation consisted of wearing a white handkerchief around the neck for three days and then consigning it to the School. The handkerchief would then be used for black magic rites by Airaudi to damage the person if they ever decided to leave Damanhur. In the early years, this fact was publicly declared in School of Meditation meetings and all Damanhurians were obliged to accept it as an act of faith towards Damanhur itself.”
Scelta Posted to the Damanhur forum of www.cesap.net 2008/02/13 20:15 under the title L’altra faccia di Damanhur — 1 — magia nera
“A Damanhurian’s mission is not to save the planet from disaster in the year 2600 by separating the planes and maintaining a new time line as is communally thought … No, no, a Damanhurian’s mission in life is to create wealth for Falco: work seven days a week for low or no pay, support Damanhur financially by paying at least 500–600 Euro a month in taxes, donate all presently owned and inherited property to the community and give your life for Damanhur should it be required.
A Damanhurian’s mission is always to smile, be optimistic, write endless personal reports, be obedient at all times, never question the system, accept everything as part of your spiritual path, no matter how humiliating, degrading and dishonest it may be. Vote as instructed by Falco in Damanhurian, local and national elections and last but not least, if you are female, young and beautiful, be sexually available in case Falco needs your vital energy for his alchemical magic.
It is hard to believe that I accepted such repressive conditions for so long. But, I had become a ‘believer’, a believer in a system that no one wants to call a religion but a believer all the same. My mind, my dreams, my ideals and aspirations were all subtly and carefully manipulated. Where is the Damanhur I had imagined at the beginning? I now realize it will never exist because everything is designed to keep Damanhurians poor, in health, wealth and energy so that Falco can become richer and more powerful in every respect.”
Maria Posted to the Damanhur forum of http://www.cesap.net 2008/02/15 05:16 under the title: ‘Porta i tuoi ideali altrove — Damanhur uccide‘
…It was a scary experience standing up to the authority figures that had ruled my life for more than a decade: confronting the people who had succeeded in reducing me to little more than an obedient slave. Institutional authority figures were never a problem for me before I became a Damanhurian but in the community I easily slipped into a state of compliance when faced with officials of any kind. I always saw myself as a rebel but in Damanhur I found it hard to challenge anyone who held a position of power. When I look back on that final day, I still do not know how I found the courage to announce that I was leaving or the strength to actually go ahead and do it.
At the beginning, Damanhur had seemed such a spiritual utopia, far removed from the evils of this world but by the end it had become a psychological prison that held me captive inside a life of fear.
“…Those on the inside become deaf and blind to criticism because they cannot afford to challenge the world they have so laboriously created. It would be a death wish.”
You have to let go of it all piece by piece, all the elements that have constructed your Damanhurian personality have to be dismantled one by one until your pre-Damanhurian self can surface and challenge the illusion you have taken to be real. It took a very particular event to ‘wake up’ my old personality, an event that violated my cultural DNA and seriously rang the alarm bells. It was rather like waking up wounded in a muddy war trench to find that I had been fighting for the wrong side.
…So there I was a cosmic refugee with nothing to show for my adventure except a whole heap of anger, debt and despair.
…I so wanted to understand the great mysteries, the forces and magic that shapes our lives. And there, I believe, lies the worst aspect of Falco’s betrayal: his manipulation of people’s dreams and aspirations in his pursuit of power, sex and money. I am sorry but I find it impossible to forgive him for that.”
I am pleased that my children were the wiser and I am sorry for the indignities they suffered in the name of my ‘spiritual path’. I am ashamed to say that I seriously neglected them in pursuit of what I considered were ‘higher ideals’.
… I still want to believe that a small group of dedicated people can inspire change in the world but I suspect it requires a revolutionary dedication to truth that is hard to find in our times of ‘universal deceit’: to quote a phrase by George Orwell, the prophetic author of 1984.
Giorgio Posted to Ce.S.A.P: 2009/01/01 19:10
Do you want to know why Damanhur is still going? It’s simple; Airaudi has used everyone’s money to pay lots of people so that he is not ‘disturbed’ and can carry on doing exactly what he has always done.
“All of the women that he takes to bed with the excuse of being a spiritual guru: mothers and daughters, wives of Damanhurians, women already pregnant by other men who are blackmailed psychologically and spiritually and coerced into having sex with him — and last but not least, because the children born of those relationships are never told that he is their father!”
And those who do not denounce everything they know are guilty of aiding and abetting and, on a human level it will not be enough to say that you are sorry, to get out of what lies in wait for you.”
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Lillo, Posted 18/02/2010 16:53 to http://www.mondoraro.com as a comment on the article by Gianni Leone entitled ‘la-religione-di-avatar-nata-in-piemonte-una-bugia-colossale’
In my next article, I will write about other examples that show what happens to spiritual people who give themselves over to an authority.
Let the Earth hold you, take care of you and nurture you, perhaps you don't need anything else.
