DAMANHUR – THE TEMPLES OF HUMANKIND

 

Already in 2001 I got to know something that made me write an article before having seen it – what I normally never do – they call it the 8th wonder of the world – and end of last year finally my dream came true, my wife and me visited Damanhur, the Temples of Humankind.

The story of Damanhur is the living proof that anybody can achieve outstanding things by sheer belief and unbending will.

Ibiza is situated on one of the energy lines that cover our planet, Tibet is built on four but only one place, located in the valley of Valchiusella, close to Turin in Italy, is situated on four lines that form a perfect cross coming from the four directions.

This place was chosen by Oberto Airaudi and 14 followers in 1978 to become what later onwards would be named Damanhur, home to the Temples of Humankind.

His vision was so precise that only a few people knew what exactly they were doing when he told them to start digging a hole in the ground. 10 years and more than 2 million buckets of stone later the first rooms of the Temples were finished and, according to the ‘Damanhurians’, nobody did remember on how they found the strength to do such extraordinary work. You must imagine, the first years it was all dug out by hand, using only hammers and picks. Later on they used some electric hammers but still the work is overwhelming. The Temples spread over more than 8500 cubic meters on five different levels, linked by hundreds of meters of corridors. They are situated where the Eurasian and the African continental plaques meet, bringing a mineral to the surface that is of the oldest to be found on this planet, black Mylonite, transporting the planet’s core energy up to the surface.

As within the years more helpers arrived the people from the nearby village started wondering what was going on there, so local police visited the mystic place to see what was going on. In the first raid nothing was found but a group of strangers calling themselves ‘Damanhurians’. The Temples remained undiscovered by the authorities. But one day an anonymous letter was sent to the police station mentioning some hidden Temples and legal action was taken: Carabinieri accompanied by the mayor investigated the place. On arrival they were shown the entrance to the Temples so they climbed down the stairs and could not believe their eyes. Returning in tears and overcome by the beauty as they eyewitnessed something unbelievable they said ‘these Temples must be protected’. As there was no specific law regulating the construction underground in this area the Temples were save and the community of Damanhur was accepted by the authorities.

And here is the story of our visit:

As we search for the road to Valchiusella we notice that we can not go wrong, it was like a magnet attracting us and we found the curvy road up to the valley instantly. We arrive to Damanhur Crea, the center of Damanhur consisting in a big building that formerly was a factory from Olivetti. Today it is converted in a meeting point for all Damanhurians, containing different artisan workshops, a medical center healing with magnetic resonance, an ecological restaurant, different exhibition halls and a big conference room, bringing this building and the whole village back to life after years of agony.

We are supposed to meet Macaco, our guide and one of the eldest members of Damanhur. Her name is derived from an ape and she tells us that it is common for Damanhurians to choose an animal’s name instead of their real one. This name has to be accepted by the community and after approval one can use this alter ego. The animal reflects the person’s character and symbolizes the dedication the members have after leaving behind their former life.

She brings us to the reception where we are taken to our room as we stay for the night to get up early the next day to visit the temples. After checking in we meet her again in the lobby and she tells us to sit down in front of a cupboard where a plant is situated on top and strange but harmonic sounds fill the room. Next to the plant we see two small devices and two standard speakers. ‘Are you ready to experience something incredible?’ she says while standing next to the plant. She starts to sing a melody that, after a while, resonates somehow different through the speakers. ‘It is the plant interpreting my melody’ she says… I would love to see your face right now reading this but I promise it is not as half as amazed as ours were.

The melody she had sung was interpreted by the plant in a very similar but different way and was still going on as she told us to come closer. The devices were connected to the plant by two cables, one came out of the back of one and was connected to a leaf, the other cable out of the back of the other device went into the soil. By taking the cable off the leaf the melody stopped immediately.

‘Before i experienced this i was a vegetarian’ she says, ‘but after that my point of view changed, plants do have a consciousness, just as animals do have, so where is the difference in eating an animal or a plant?’ I somehow felt happy to hear that as I always talk to my plants at home and give them names – and I do eat meat. ‘The best nutrition is a good mix of all, for sure it has to be 100% organic and additive-free but we need to eat a bit of all in order to get everything our body needs to function perfectly’ she adds.

But how the hack does it work?

“Based upon the e-meter, a device originally developed by Volney Mathison back in the 1940’s, it works by using a wheatstone bridge, which is an incredibly sensitive circuit that can detect the slightest change – in this case, electrical resistance, converting this resistance in sound, making it hearable for our ears. It measures the minute resistance of electrical currents within plants and trees. These currents are one-one millionth of an electrical volt. (All living organisms, whether mammals, amphibians, or plants, have electrical currents running through them. In humans, the brain communicates through the nervous system to control organs, limbs, sight, etc, using weak electrical charges.) Cables are connected to two receivers, one to the root of the plant and the second to a leaf. The meter is connected to a trigger, a voltage-controlled synthesizer or similar midi device. The change in the plant’s electrical resistance controls the pitch, volume and filtering.

Research has found that the plants react depending upon their surroundings. Light, water, sound and even emotional energy within a room all cause significant alterations to the plant’s electrical current.”

Norman Lederman was the true pioneer of this device celebrating the world’s first live plant concert in quadrophonic sound at the Kreeger Music Building’s McDonald Recital Hall on April 17th in 1974.

Macaco said that you can as well connect other devices such as a door locker to the plant. The plant would then only let people in the room that had a positive vibration, all others were left out with the door closed. ‘We also connected an automatic water supplier to the plant but had to take it off as the plant got hooked on water and did not stop watering itself.’ Junkies they are…

Imagine, if plants do have a consciousness we could educate our children to appreciate plant-life in a complete new way having a positive impact on encouraging conservation in our generations instead of deforestation and destruction of what is left over from our former ‘oh so’ green planet.

After this first massive impact our senses were edged to the max of what is there to come. We decide to have dinner and go to bed early as we wanted to desperately visit the Temples the next morning.

Waking up in this most green environment is amazing as you can already smell the pureness of the air and feel the vibrations of what is very close to us. We meet again with Macaco and she leads us to the first of the Temples, a place over ground that is dedicated to ceremonies and encounters, fringed by stone columns and a massive quartz cristal enthroned on an altar. Next to it is a garden with huge granite Monoliths to connect with the Earth and stone spirals to walk along and purify yourself.

After that we drive up a mountain with a group of people, all here to explore the Temples. Only seven people at once are allowed to enter the Temples, accompanied by an Italian guide and a translator.

An elevator takes us down, difficult to say how far, and we walk out into the Blue Temple, followed by the Hall of Water, the Hall of the Earth, Hall of Metals, Hall of Spheres, the Labyrinth and the last one, the Hall of Mirrors. To describe them all in detail would take far more than the space of this whole magazine but I can promise you, you have never ever seen anything like it in your entire life.

Each Hall has its own meaning, in the Hall of the Earth our history is documented in finest marquetry from the very beginning to the nearby future with a sky full of leds that form an ancient starry sky being reflected in the floor out of polished black marble making you feel you float in Space. The Hall of Metals is showcasing the different metals on our planet with fire being the protagonist of the Hall, the Hall of Water is dedicated to the feminine principle, carved in the shape of a chalice. The Hall of Mirrors is dedicated to light, air, sky, sun and life, being a celebration of the re-awakening of the complete Human being, the re-unification of Humanity as a spiritual and divine principle. It is crowned by the world’s biggest cupola of handmade glasswork. The whole Hall reflects colours and images in an endless sequence encouraging the mind to open towards infinity. A gong is placed in one corner and is played while you stand in the middle of the Hall, reaching so intense vibrations that you almost vanish in the omnipresent sound filling the whole Hall. The pathways connecting the Halls are full of hidden doors and invisible stairs, just as the Egyptian Pyramids. All the time I wonder on how on Earth this all could have possibly be constructed and crafted by Human Force – as I said in the beginning, we are able to do so much more than we possibly believe…

After leaving the Temples it feels like returning to planet Earth from somewhere outer Space or a parallel world, your body is vibrating and you are charged with divine energy. It is hard to describe but it certainly feels like you witnessed the most beautiful and extraordinary experience of your life. Macaco is awaiting us with an aware smile, knowing that we now opened a door to another world and will never be the same as we were before seeing this.

As we drive back to Damanhur Crea we have some food and visit the exhibition of paintings by the founder, Oberto Airaudi. He painted thousands (!) in his life and is still going, each one a unique piece of art. Painted in multiple colours and exposed to changing lights it is another great experience and I begin to seriously doubt if all this is Human work or if there is a divine force accelerating everything.

On our way out of Damanhur Macaco shows us a house they built in a village nearby, a completely self-sustainable house made entirely out of non-polluting materials, and a farm where all food is organic and the animals are of ethical husbandry. As we find a fox trapped in one of the fences and liberate it without getting bitten we know that this is definitely a special day and nothing happens out of coincidence. Before we finally leave for good we visit a room in the farm converted in a very fine restaurant where Sting was the latest guest, overwhelmed by the Beauty of the Temples and the quality of life the Damanhurians created out of nothing he decided to support this project wherever he can, helping in developing a device to spread the Singing Plant to all of us.

Damanhur is the perfect example of how we can live in absolute harmony with Mother Nature, benefiting mutually from our great abilities whilst preserving the resources by using sustainable energies and organic and ethical ways of nutrition respecting the circle of life.

If you want to experience it yourself you can do so by contacting Damanhur to book a tour to the Temples. You can as well become a part-time member of Damanhur, they are a community of more than 800 people with no religious background so no danger of getting trapped in a sect. Even their educational system is extraordinary as children learn from adults and vice versa – just as it should be.

Most of the pictures are courtesy of Damanhur as it is not allowed to take pictures inside the Temples, the ones outdoor were taken by ourselves.

If you want to find out more about Dmanhur and the Singing plant::

demonstration of the temples on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhBbB-K-nIg&feature=related

http://www.thetemples.org/en

http://www.damanhur.org/

singing plant video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YltW6kmTLSQ&feature=player_embedded#!

herb n’ electrics:

http://www.panicresearch.com/mondo-stereofern.html

mylonite:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mylonite