The People and Temples of Damanhur in Italy

What Is Damanhur?

Damanhur is a spiritual community and federation of intentional communities located in Valchiusella, a valley in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, approximately 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Turin. Founded in 1975 by Oberto Airaudi (1950-2013), who took the spiritual name Falco Tarassaco (meaning “Hawk Dandelion”), it has grown from a small group of seekers into one of the largest and most successful intentional communities in Europe.

Today, Damanhur encompasses several hundred permanent residents living in various nuclei (small community houses) spread across the valley. The community has developed its own constitution, economic system, schools, and cultural practices. It functions as a recognized political entity in Italy and has received acknowledgment from various international organizations, including the United Nations, for its sustainable practices and social model.

The name “Damanhur” comes from an ancient Egyptian city, also known as Tell el-Damanhur, which means “City of Horus.” This naming reflects the community’s deep connection to ancient Egyptian spirituality and symbolism.

The Temples of Humankind: The Heart of Damanhur

The most famous aspect of Damanhur is undoubtedly the Temples of Humankind, an extraordinary underground complex that has been called the “Eighth Wonder of the World” by some visitors and journalists.

The Secret Construction: Beginning in 1978, just three years after Damanhur’s founding, a small group of community members began secretly excavating beneath a mountainside. Working primarily at night and on weekends, using hand tools, pneumatic hammers, and immense patience, they carved out what would eventually become a 8,500-cubic-meter (300,000-cubic-foot) complex of halls and chambers.

The secrecy was necessary because Italian building codes would likely have prevented such an ambitious project. For nearly fifteen years, the temples remained completely unknown to the outside world.

The Discovery: In 1992, a disgruntled former community member reported the temples’ existence to authorities. When Italian officials arrived and entered the mountain, they were astonished. What they found was not a simple cave or storage facility, but an elaborate sacred space of breathtaking artistry and ambition.

The Halls: The temple complex consists of several interconnected halls, each with its own theme and purpose:

• The Hall of the Earth: Features an enormous three-dimensional Tiffany glass dome ceiling
• The Hall of Water: Contains intricate mosaics depicting the relationship between humanity and water
• The Hall of Spheres: Houses the largest Tiffany glass sphere in the world, suspended in the center of the room
• The Hall of Metals: Displays various metals and their symbolic associations
• The Hall of Mirrors: A meditative space using reflection and light
• The Blue Temple: Contains stunning frescoes covering walls and ceiling
• The Labyrinth: A complex pathway used for meditation and ritual

Every surface—walls, ceilings, floors—is decorated with mosaics, frescoes, sculptures, stained glass, or precious metals. The artwork draws from multiple traditions: Egyptian hieroglyphs and deities, sacred geometry, alchemical symbols, Celtic patterns, and original Damanhurian iconography.

Ongoing Creation: The temples are not finished. Community members continue to add new chambers, refine existing artwork, and expand the complex. This ongoing creation is itself a spiritual practice—a meditation in stone and color that spans generations.

Core Spiritual Beliefs and Practices

Damanhur’s spiritual framework is intentionally syncretic, drawing from many traditions while creating something distinctively its own. Here are the central concepts:

Reincarnation and Past Lives

Damanhur teaches that human souls incarnate repeatedly across many lifetimes, evolving through experience. Unlike some traditions where past lives are theoretical or metaphorical, Damanhur treats them as practically accessible memories.

The community offers workshops and practices designed to help people recall past incarnations. These memories are considered valuable for understanding present-day challenges, relationships, and life purposes. Many Damanhurians adopt “previous life” names from cultures and time periods they believe they once inhabited.

The belief extends to the idea that groups of souls often incarnate together repeatedly, forming what they call “soul families”—clusters of beings who work together across lifetimes toward common purposes.

The Divine Nature of Humanity

A foundational Damanhurian teaching is that humans are essentially divine beings who have temporarily forgotten their true nature. This isn’t metaphorical—they believe humans possess latent abilities that include telepathy, healing, energy manipulation, and even time travel through consciousness.

The spiritual path, therefore, isn’t about reaching toward a distant divine reality, but about remembering and reactivating what already exists within. This perspective shapes much of Damanhurian practice: rather than worship or supplication, the focus is on experimentation, training, and activation of inner capacities.

The Three Principles of Creation

Damanhur organizes its understanding of reality around three fundamental forces:

Love: The primary creative energy of the universe. Not romantic or emotional love, but the force that drives connection, relationship, and the desire for unity. Love is what causes atoms to bond, planets to orbit stars, and beings to seek communion with each other. It’s the fundamental “yes” to existence.

Intelligence: The organizing principle that gives structure and form to creation. This manifests as natural law, mathematical patterns, sacred geometry, and the intricate designs found throughout nature. Intelligence is the “how” of existence—the patterns, codes, and systems that allow complexity to arise and persist.

Will: The active force that transforms potential into manifestation. Will is what moves things from possibility to actuality. It’s not willpower in the human sense, but the fundamental impulse toward becoming, toward bringing the unmanifest into material existence.

These three work together in all creation, from cosmic to personal scales. Damanhur teaches that by consciously aligning with and expressing these principles, individuals can become co-creators with universal forces.

Synchronic Lines: Rivers of Energy Through Time and Space

One of Damanhur’s most distinctive teachings concerns “synchronic lines”—currents of subtle energy that flow through the Earth, connecting different locations and also connecting different points in time.

These lines are similar to the concept of ley lines in other esoteric traditions, or dragon lines in Chinese geomancy. However, Damanhur’s understanding is more complex:

Spatial Connection: Synchronic lines connect sacred sites, power spots, and energetically significant locations around the planet. Where multiple lines intersect, the energy is particularly strong.

Temporal Connection: More unusually, Damanhur teaches that these lines also connect different moments in time. At certain locations and under certain conditions, consciousness can travel along these lines—not physically, but in awareness—to access other time periods.

The Temple Location: Damanhur claims that the Temples of Humankind were built at a significant intersection of synchronic lines. This wasn’t arbitrary—Falco and early members spent years searching for the right location through meditation, dowsing, and intuitive sensing. The belief is that this location amplifies spiritual work and makes certain practices more effective.

Working with the Lines: Damanhur has developed various practices for sensing and working with synchronic lines, including meditation techniques, ritual work, and the creation of Selfic structures (discussed below).

Time Travel and Temporal Consciousness

Perhaps Damanhur’s most unconventional teaching involves the possibility of time travel through consciousness. This isn’t physical time travel (no time machines), but rather the ability of awareness to move through temporal dimensions.

According to Damanhurian belief:

• Consciousness is not bound by linear time in the way physical bodies are
• Through training, meditation, and work with synchronic lines, individuals can access other time periods
• These journeys can provide information, healing, and understanding
• The past isn’t fixed—consciousness can interact with and potentially influence past events
• Multiple timelines may exist simultaneously

Whether these experiences represent literal time travel or symbolic journeys through consciousness is something Damanhur approaches empirically—through practice and observation rather than dogmatic belief.

The Living Earth

Damanhur views the Earth as a living, conscious being—not metaphorically, but literally. The planet has awareness, intelligence, and purpose. Humans are not separate from Earth but are part of her consciousness, like cells in a larger body.

This understanding extends to all of nature:

Plant Consciousness: Damanhur has conducted extensive experiments with plant communication, including the famous “Music of the Plants” research where they developed devices that translate plant bioelectric signals into music. The community believes plants are conscious, communicative beings with whom humans can develop relationships.

Animal Awareness: Animals are viewed as conscious beings with their own forms of intelligence and spiritual evolution. Some community members work as “animal communicators.”

Mineral Intelligence: Even rocks and crystals are considered to hold forms of consciousness—slower and more alien to human experience, but real nonetheless.

This isn’t simple nature worship, but a sophisticated animistic worldview where consciousness is understood as fundamental to all existence, manifesting in different forms at different scales and speeds.

Collective Consciousness and Group Work

Damanhur places enormous emphasis on the power of group consciousness. When individuals come together with shared intention, they believe something emerges that’s greater than the sum of its parts—a collective awareness with capabilities beyond individual consciousness.

This manifests in several ways:

Ritual and Ceremony: Many Damanhurian spiritual practices happen in groups, not for social reasons, but because they believe group work creates more powerful effects.

The Temple Work: The temples themselves are understood not just as beautiful spaces, but as instruments that amplify and focus group consciousness.

Community Decisions: Even practical governance decisions are made with attention to collective consciousness, seeking alignment rather than mere agreement.

Telepathic Practice: Damanhur offers training in group telepathy and mind-linking, treating these as skills that can be developed through practice.

Spiritual Roots and Influences

Damanhur doesn’t claim to have invented its spirituality from nothing. Falco was explicit about drawing from multiple ancient and modern traditions, weaving them into a new synthesis.

Ancient Egyptian Mystery Schools

Egyptian influence permeates Damanhur:

Temple Architecture: Many design elements in the Temples of Humankind echo Egyptian sacred architecture—columned halls, hieroglyphic writing, representations of Egyptian deities.

The Soul’s Journey: Damanhurian teachings about death and rebirth draw heavily from Egyptian concepts of the soul’s afterlife journey, including the idea of multiple soul components (similar to the Egyptian ka, ba, and akh).

Sacred Names: Community members often adopt Egyptian-influenced names, especially those related to hawks, as Falco did.

Thoth and Hermes: The Egyptian god Thoth (identified with the Greek Hermes Trismegistus) is particularly significant as the patron of wisdom, magic, and writing.

Atlantean Mythology

Damanhur incorporates teachings about Atlantis as a real historical civilization that possessed advanced spiritual technology—ways of working with consciousness, energy, and matter that have largely been lost.

The community sees itself as part of an effort to recover and reintegrate Atlantean knowledge. This includes:

• Understanding the relationship between consciousness and physical reality
• Working with subtle energies and frequencies
• Building sacred structures that function as tools for consciousness
• Recognizing the spiritual responsibilities that come with technological advancement

Whether Atlantis was literally real or serves as a mythological framework for certain spiritual principles is less important to Damanhur than the practical work these teachings inspire.

Hermetic and Alchemical Traditions

Western esoteric traditions heavily influence Damanhurian thought:

“As Above, So Below”: The Hermetic principle that patterns repeat at all scales—what’s true in the cosmos is true in the human, and vice versa.

Transformation: Alchemical concepts of spiritual transformation, symbolized as turning lead into gold, appear throughout Damanhurian practice. The work is to transform the base self (unconscious, reactive, limited) into the golden self (conscious, aware, unlimited).

The Four Elements: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire appear as organizing principles in temple architecture and ritual practice.

Operative Magic: Unlike purely theoretical esotericism, Hermetic traditions emphasize practical work—laboratory practices, ritual magic, experimentation. This practical emphasis deeply resonates with Damanhur’s approach.

Celtic and Alpine Indigenous Traditions

Damanhur’s location in the Italian Alps connects it to pre-Christian European spirituality:

Earth Energies: The Celtic practice of identifying and working with power spots, sacred groves, and earth energies informs Damanhurian understanding of synchronic lines.

Seasonal Festivals: The community celebrates solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarter days (like Beltane and Samhain), marking the turning of the year.

Connection to Place: Celtic spirituality’s emphasis on the sacred nature of specific landscapes—particular mountains, rivers, groves—resonates with Damanhur’s deep relationship with the Valchiusella valley.

Eastern Philosophies

Elements from Buddhism, Hinduism, and other Eastern traditions appear in Damanhurian practice:

Meditation: Various meditation techniques, including practices similar to Buddhist mindfulness and Hindu concentration methods.

Karma and Dharma: While reframed in Damanhurian terms, concepts similar to karma (consequences of actions across lifetimes) and dharma (one’s life purpose or path) inform community teachings.

Energy Work: Practices similar to pranayama (breath work), chakra meditation, and qi cultivation appear in Damanhurian training.

Reincarnation: The core teaching of rebirth, though developed in Damanhur’s own direction, clearly draws from Eastern traditions.

Contemporary Esoteric and New Age Movements

Damanhur emerged during the 1970s, a period of enormous creativity in alternative spirituality. It was influenced by and contributed to:

• Theosophy and Anthroposophy’s synthesis of Eastern and Western esotericism
• The human potential movement’s emphasis on consciousness development
• UFO and ancient astronaut theories popular in that era
• The emerging environmental and ecological spirituality movements
• The Italian “cultural revolution” of the 1960s and 70s

Selfic Technology: Consciousness Made Physical

One of Damanhur’s most unique contributions is the development of what they call “Selfic” technology—a term coined from “self” and “healing.”

What Are Selfics?

Selfics are structures made from specific combinations of materials—primarily metals (copper, gold, silver, brass), minerals (crystals, stones), special inks, and sometimes organic materials—arranged in particular geometric patterns.

They range from small pendant-sized objects to large room-sized installations. Each Selfic is designed for a specific purpose: healing, meditation support, energy amplification, plant growth enhancement, water purification, or consciousness expansion.

The Theory Behind Selfics

According to Damanhurian understanding:

Subtle Energies: Beyond electromagnetism, gravity, and other known forces, there exist subtle energies not yet recognized by mainstream science. These energies interact with consciousness, life force, and what they call “synchronic fields.”

Material Resonance: Different materials interact differently with these subtle energies. Metals conduct them; crystals modulate them; certain geometric patterns amplify or focus them.

Intention and Structure: When materials are combined with conscious intention during construction, the resulting structure holds and radiates specific qualities. The Selfic becomes, in effect, a specialized tool for working with consciousness and energy.

Living Technology: Selfics are considered “living” in the sense that they interact dynamically with their environment and the people using them. They’re not machines but more like organisms that grow in effectiveness through use.

Types of Selfics

Healing Selfics: Designed to support physical or emotional healing, often combining copper spirals with specific crystals and arranged in patterns meant to harmonize energy fields around the body.

Architectural Selfics: Large installations integrated into buildings, including the temples, meant to enhance the energetic quality of spaces—supporting meditation, creativity, or group work.

Agricultural Selfics: Structures placed in gardens or greenhouses to support plant growth, enhance vitality, and improve crop yields.

Personal Selfics: Smaller pieces worn as jewelry or kept in personal spaces, designed for protection, clarity, or supporting specific intentions.

Experimental Selfics: Ongoing research into new combinations and applications, treating Selfic development as an evolving science.

Scientific Status

It’s important to note that Selfic technology is not recognized by mainstream science. No peer-reviewed studies confirm their efficacy beyond placebo effects. Damanhur approaches this pragmatically: they observe results, refine designs, and remain open about the speculative nature of the underlying theories.

For the community, what matters is whether Selfics produce meaningful experiences and practical benefits for users, not whether the theoretical explanations align with current scientific paradigms.

Practical Spirituality: Living the Vision

What distinguishes Damanhur from many spiritual movements is the insistence that beliefs must manifest in practical, observable ways. Spirituality isn’t separate from daily life—it is daily life.

Social Structure and Governance

The Constitution: Damanhur operates under a written constitution that defines rights, responsibilities, and decision-making processes. This isn’t typical for spiritual communities, which often rely on charismatic leadership or informal structures.

King/Queen Guide: The community has an elected “King” or “Queen” Guide (the role alternates) who serves for a limited term. This person coordinates activities but isn’t a dictator or guru. The term “King” or “Queen” is ceremonial, emphasizing service rather than power.

Nuclei System: Residents live in small groups called nuclei—typically 10-20 people sharing a house. Each nucleus functions semi-autonomously, managing daily affairs while connecting to the larger community.

Consensus and Decision-Making: Major decisions use modified consensus processes, seeking alignment rather than majority rule. This can be slow but aims for deeper agreement.

Game of Life: Every member participates in what they call the “Game of Life”—a point system tracking contribution to community work, spiritual practice participation, and service. Points affect access to certain privileges and opportunities, creating a merit-based dimension within the egalitarian structure.

Economic System

Credito: Damanhur uses its own internal currency called the Credito, which circulates alongside euros. This dual currency system creates economic resilience and keeps value within the community.

Businesses: The community runs various businesses—agriculture, crafts, construction, publishing, tourism (temple visits), a printing company, and more. Profits support community needs.

Resource Sharing: Members contribute earnings to community coffers and receive housing, food, education, and healthcare in return. It’s not pure communism (private property exists) but emphasizes sharing over accumulation.

External Economy: Damanhur maintains relationships with surrounding towns and the broader economy, neither isolating itself nor being absorbed by mainstream economic culture.

Education

Damanhur School: The community runs an accredited school (ages 3-14) that combines standard Italian curriculum with Damanhurian values—environmental education, artistic development, meditation, and community service.

University: Damanhur University (Damanhur U) offers courses in spirituality, meditation, healing arts, Selfic technology, and community living to both residents and visitors.

Apprenticeship: Much learning happens through hands-on apprenticeship in various arts—temple decoration, agriculture, construction, music, healing practices.

Continuous Learning: Spiritual development is lifelong. Even long-term members regularly participate in new training, workshops, and practices.

Art and Creativity

Temple Art: The ongoing decoration of the temples is the community’s central artistic work, involving dozens of artists across multiple disciplines.

Music: The community has developed unique musical traditions, including the “Music of the Plants” concerts where plants perform using bio-electric interfaces, and original compositions for ceremonies.

Visual Arts: Painting, sculpture, mosaic, stained glass, and other visual arts are both spiritual practices and practical contributions.

Performance: Theater, dance, and ritual performance play roles in celebrations and spiritual work.

Sacred Art: All art is approached as sacred work—not mere decoration or self-expression, but service to beauty and transformation.

Environmental Practices

Permaculture: The community extensively uses permaculture principles—designing agricultural systems that mimic natural ecosystems, minimizing external inputs while maximizing yield and sustainability.

Organic Agriculture: All food production is organic, free from synthetic chemicals, emphasizing soil health and biodiversity.

Renewable Energy: Solar panels, wood gasification, and other renewable energy systems reduce dependence on external power grids.

Water Systems: Careful water management includes collection, purification, and recycling systems.

Building: Construction uses natural materials where possible—stone, wood, clay—and emphasizes energy efficiency and minimal environmental impact.

Forest Stewardship: The community manages extensive forest lands, harvesting sustainably while enhancing ecosystem health.

Daily Life in Damanhur

What does it actually look like to live in Damanhur day-to-day?

Morning

Members typically rise early. Many begin with personal meditation or spiritual practice—perhaps 20-30 minutes of sitting meditation, energy work, or prayer in personal sacred spaces.

Breakfast happens communally in nuclei. It’s simple, often including bread baked in the nucleus, fruit, tea or coffee, perhaps yogurt or cheese from community farms.

After breakfast, people head to work. This might mean:

• Working in gardens or greenhouses
• Construction or maintenance projects
• Temple decoration—applying gold leaf, creating mosaics, painting frescoes
• Operating community businesses
• Administrative work
• Teaching in the school
• Welcoming and guiding visitors

Afternoon

Lunch is the main meal, typically eaten communally. Food is simple but abundant—fresh vegetables, grains, legumes, some cheese and eggs, occasional meat. Much of it is grown within the community.

After lunch, work continues, though the pace might be slower. Some take rest time or personal practice periods.

Evening

Dinner is lighter, often in nuclei, though sometimes larger groups gather for shared meals and celebration.

Evenings bring variety:

• Some nights, there are study groups or spiritual classes
• Ritual work in the temples happens regularly
• Community meetings for decision-making
• Social time—music, conversation, games
• Personal practice and rest

Weekly and Seasonal Rhythms

Weekly Gatherings: Regular community assemblies for information sharing, decision-making, and connection.

Seasonal Festivals: Eight major festivals per year mark solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarter days with ritual, celebration, feasting, and ceremony.

Temple Ceremonies: Regular ritual work in the temples—meditations, energy work, seasonal observances.

Work Rotation: People rotate through different types of work to develop diverse skills and prevent monotony.

Challenges of Community Life

Damanhur is honest about the challenges:

Conflict: When hundreds of people live closely, disagreements arise. The community has developed conflict resolution practices, but tensions still occur.

Sacrifice: Community life requires giving up some personal freedom and privacy. Not everyone adapts easily.

Economic Pressure: Maintaining such an ambitious project requires constant work. Financial stress can be real.

Relationship Complexity: Romantic relationships, friendships, and family dynamics become complicated in close-knit community life.

Spiritual Intensity: The constant emphasis on spiritual practice and development can feel overwhelming or generate pressure.

The community has experienced schisms, departures, and difficulties over five decades. It’s not utopia, but an ongoing experiment requiring constant adjustment and commitment.

Visiting Damanhur

Damanhur welcomes visitors and offers various ways to experience the community:

Temple Tours: Regular guided tours of the Temples of Humankind (reservations required). These typically last 90 minutes and provide introduction to Damanhurian philosophy while exploring the underground chambers.

Day Visits: Opportunities to tour community facilities, meet residents, learn about daily life, and experience Music of the Plants concerts.

Courses and Workshops: Multi-day programs on various topics—meditation, healing, Selfic technology, community living, past life exploration.

Work Visits: Short-term stays (weeks to months) where visitors contribute labor in exchange for room, board, and deeper immersion in community life.

Residency: A small number of people each year are accepted as potential new members, beginning a multi-year process of integration.

Critical Perspectives

No description of Damanhur would be complete without acknowledging critical perspectives:

Cult Concerns: Some observers have raised concerns about cult-like dynamics—charismatic leadership (especially around founder Falco), insularity, economic dependence creating barriers to leaving, and psychological pressure to conform. Damanhur rejects the cult label, pointing to democratic governance, freedom to leave, and absence of physical coercion.

Scientific Skepticism: Mainstream scientists dismiss claims about synchronic lines, Selfic technology, and time travel as pseudoscience lacking empirical support. Damanhur’s response is pragmatic: they focus on subjective experience and practical outcomes rather than scientific validation.

Cultural Appropriation: Some critics note that Damanhur freely borrows from Egyptian, Celtic, Eastern, and other traditions without always demonstrating deep understanding or respect for source contexts. The community sees itself as synthesizing universal wisdom rather than appropriating specific cultures.

Economic Questions: The relationship between communal ideals and capitalist reality creates tensions. Damanhur runs profitable businesses and charges for temple tours and courses, raising questions about whether spiritual teachings should be monetized.

Falco’s Role: Despite democratic structures, founder Falco Tarassaco held enormous influence until his death in 2013. Some question whether his vision dominated too completely, limiting organic community evolution.

Verification Challenges: Many central claims—about past lives, synchronic lines, the effectiveness of Selfics—are unfalsifiable by conventional means. This places Damanhur in a category of faith-based movements regardless of its experimental rhetoric.

Legacy and Ongoing Evolution

Falco Tarassaco died in 2013, creating a significant transition point. The community faced the question all charismatic movements eventually face: can it survive and thrive after its founder’s death?

So far, Damanhur has continued. The temples keep growing. New members arrive. The businesses operate. The spiritual practices continue. Whether this represents successful institutionalization of Falco’s vision or gradual drift from original inspiration remains to be seen.

Damanhur has influenced broader alternative spirituality and intentional community movements:

Community Model: It demonstrates that large-scale intentional communities can persist for decades with stable governance and economic systems.

Temple Architecture: The Temples of Humankind have inspired other communities to undertake ambitious sacred architecture projects.

Plant Communication: Damanhur’s Music of the Plants research has spread globally, with similar technologies now used by musicians and researchers worldwide.

Practical Idealism: The community models how spiritual values can inform concrete systems—governance, economics, education, agriculture—rather than remaining abstract ideals.

Conclusion: A Living Question

Damanhur is perhaps best understood not as a place with answers, but as a place that embodies certain questions:

Can humans live together in harmony, or will conflict always fragment us?

Does consciousness have capacities beyond what materialist science recognizes?

Can ancient wisdom inform modern life without regressing into primitivism?

Is it possible to build beauty that serves not just aesthetic pleasure but spiritual transformation?

Can a community maintain idealism while operating practically in the real world?

The mountain that houses the temples doesn’t answer these questions. It simply stands—stone holding space for the colorful dreams humans paint upon its inner walls. People come seeking meaning, connection, beauty, and transformation. Some find it. Some leave disappointed. Many, perhaps, find something other than what they sought.

After five decades, Damanhur persists—not perfect, not utopian, but alive and growing. The temples continue deepening into the mountain. The gardens continue yielding harvests. The community continues welcoming visitors. The experiments continue.

Whether one believes in synchronic lines or not, whether one sees the Selfics as technology or sculpture, whether one regards the whole endeavor as visionary or quixotic, something undeniable has been created: a community that has sustained hundreds of people across decades; temples of extraordinary beauty carved from solid rock; working systems that translate values into daily practice; and a living demonstration that human beings, at least sometimes, can dream together and make those dreams real.

The song the mountain sings continues. And some still stop to listen.