The Beginning (Part 1)
After nearly twenty-four hours of travel from Seattle, I have arrived. The taxi pulls into the parking lot of Damjl, the capital and welcoming center of Damanhur. I see colored flags flapping in the breeze and amaze myself in thinking that I am really here, that I have entered a dream.
When I saw the DVD: Dreams of Damanhur a year ago, I was immediately taken by the place. Connecting with the images and words, I sensed the creative ethos: a combination of mythology, ecology, art, healing, metaphysics, science, invention, archetypes, quantum physics, alchemy, language, spirals, communication, all of these aspects evolving and growing in the exquisite landscape of Italy. My response was immediate. I have to go there. It was one of those moments when I felt parallel streams of so many things I’ve loved in my life converging in one place.
I liked how the Damanhurians describe themselves as “Practical Dreamers.” It’s one thing to observe the phenomenal underground temples they built, and another to sense that these people might actually be on the edge of understanding what it takes to move, quantum-like, from Dreamtime into Worldtime.
Typically you have to visit Damanhur through a formally structured guest program, pretty much viewing it from the outside. But not long after I saw the DVD, the federation began their New Life program. This was an invitation to people from around the world to come and live as a temporary citizen for three months. In the past, apparently it was very hard to become a citizen. But now, they were opening the doors. The program would give people a chance to experience the place, to have the chance to become a citizen if they chose to, or not.
I sent in my query and began an e-dialog with Wapiti (Elk, everyone in Damanhur takes on an animal name), the New Life coordinator. The more I heard, the more intrigued I became…
by Ann Marie Molnar naiade3@gmail.com
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