Hall of Mirrors

Today is Sunday May 28, 2017

I can hardly believe that my last message was sent on Wednesday. My goal has been to write daily, however, everything here has been so intense that there has been no personal time to write.

Last night was an amazing opportunity to make contact with the Cosmos.

We attempted this by starting with an evening of instruction about two Halls in the Temple that we visited this past week.

The first is the Hall of Mirrors. It is difficult to explain or describe this Hall. The entire space is captivating and like no other sacred place that I have visited. All four walls are mirrors that slant in slightly as the wall goes higher. 

I guess that the walls are about 20 feet high possibly more. Remember that this Temple is built inside of a mountain! It is truly incredible to be in the womb of Earth Mother. Every item inside the Temple is created by a Damanhurian.

The ceiling is a vast circular mandala that looks like stained glass. The Falcon's great wings meet creating the outer circle. The inner pieces are many colors and in the center, is a concentrated circle with colors and shapes differing from the rest. No photography is permitted, so this description will have to do.

Upon arriving, our first ritual act was as individuals of our group of nine. Each of us was to announce our presence to the Temple. This is a practice that I also teach at the Labyrinth. It is a way for those who come to visit and will be asking and expecting some energy exchange, to make a first connection with the Sacred entity.

In the center of the floor was a black circle held by a decoration of tiles like flowers and vines. Shama invited us to hold hands in a resonance circle around the center. Then each person, one by one, joined the hands they held behind their back so that the circle would remain intact. That person would then step into the center to announce her/his name and where they were from. In this way The Temple, which is an intelligent being, would recognize each of us.

When I first walked into the Hall of Mirrors, I saw myself and then I saw another reflection of my self looking at my self looking at my self. As I joined the eight of my group, Shama invited us to dance first with our self beyond the mirror. When the music was changed we were invited to dance with two of our selves beyond the mirror and then three and four. Finally, we were invited to discover how many images of our self we could find. I found 26 out of the possible 30. It was amazing to be able to see all of my physical reflections at once. Seeing my complete back as I danced was a first for me. To see my hair flowing in waves down my back, I was surprised at how long it had grown. This is not a vain comment, this is a new awareness as I see someone looking back at me who is not familiar. She is new, mysterious, full of wonder and a newly affirmed authenticity. She carries the Divine Feminine at a critical time is history. It is the Divine Feminine that brings hope to our planet as she rises.

Image credit unknown

I have so much more to share. Must leave now to go to Crotalo's Nucleo for Sunday lunch.

Later

PC

Temple of Humankind

Photo found at http://www.wanttoknow.info/i/damanhur-temples-of-humankind

Visiting the Damanhurian underground Temples is an out of this world fantastic experience. Several years ago, I visited for the first time and the experience took my breath away and inspired the deep desire to return here someday. Someday is now. 

The Temples are a work in progress. 

Every Damanhurian is represented in the Temples in several ways. The beauty and majesty of the art is all the ordinary people's work. Each one has hand crafted a terra cota representation of themselves. Many of the images in the paintings are actual faces of individuals of Damanhur. There are also paintings of those who have transitioned. The images of the three founders who have transitioned are seen in the mosaic marble floor along with the current leadership. 

Damanhur employs a rotating leadership and everything is done as a collective. 

We first visited several halls on the lower level. All of the Temples are inside the mountain. The Damanhurians hollowed out the mountain creating large caves. They did this by hand, using picks and buckets to remove the heavy rock of Earth. The Temples are entered by a discreet door that looks like a wooden cellar door. Before entering, each person must be attuned with the energy of the Temple. If this isn't done you could have an uncomfortable experience. No one enters the Temple area without a Damanhurian guide who first called our names, like a roll call. They have already gathered our birth dates when we registered. This is the information that is shared with the "intelligent energy" inside the Temple. Once inside, you are in a magical Egyptian passageway that has hidden doorways for you to discover in order to proceed. It is also a way to keep intruders out. 

We visited the Hall dedicated to Mother Earth with every possible surface artistically designed to honor Earth. The ceiling is filled with fiber optic stars in the pattern of the heavens 22,000 years ago.

No one is permitted to take photos inside the Temple. The Hall which is a few steps higher is dedicated to the spiritual aspects of Earth. Here is the androgen of male and female and the Creator with energies shooting into the cosmos creating the cosmic bodies and forces and creation dripping from its grasp.

A Young Fern Sings

Young fern leaf

In the late 1990's I visited Damanhur with a group of doctoral students. At that time, I knew that I had to return to experience some of the wonders that I wasn't able to see at that time. 

One of those wonders were the experiments that the Damanhurians were doing with plants. They had altered the technology of a lie detector that had the ability to pick up subtle changes in the skin when someone wasn't telling the truth. 

With the alterations to the equipment they are able to attach a small metal clip to a leaf of a plant and press a nail into the ground near the roots of the plant. With both of these connections they are able to hear the energy vibration that the plant emits. As amazing as that sounds, it isn't the most amazing part of their findings. 

First the machine was attached to a wild blueberry plant and there was no response. There were a couple more attempts to make a connection with one of the plants. Just as I was about to lose hope in what seemed to be an outlandish claim, that plants could and would actually communicate, the machine was connected to a young fern. After a few moments while we waited for the plant to attune itself and some of us were ready to pack up and leave, there was a sound and a green light began to signal. 

Then the amazing happened. We listened to a couple of random pitches as the plant began to respond to our words of encouragement. Since the tones sounded melodic to me, I began to sing Dona Nobis Pacem, translated to: Grant Us Peace, a round that we used to sing around Girl Scout campfires. 

I sang gently and calmly allowing the young fern to feel the vibration of the pitches that I sang. Soon I noticed that the plant began to change pitches. Sometimes it matched my pitches and sometimes it seemed to harmonize. The whole experience filled each one of us with awe. This wasn't just a quirk. We continued singing duets for a while. It seemed that the young fern was as thrilled that we were singing to her as we were thrilled to have her singing with us. 

Each day is filled with wonder. 

Grant Us Peace

Pastor Carol

Diamantel's Touch

Random photo from the Sacred Forrest ~ anonymous

Another visit to the Sacred Forrest to wall the circuits that are energetically programmed for different healings.

This area had been strip mined and left in very poor condition. The Damanhurians have been not only protecting, but also restoring this Forrest. Their dream is to build a new temple here to be the Temple to the Parliament of all Peoples. 

Diamantel is a beautiful tree that the Damanhurians protect. She is the matriarch of the Forrest. There is a spiral circuit around her which I walked. It leads all the way up to her and then I reversed direction to double back the way I entered. 

There is a sign posted asking that Diamantel not be touched. She is special and Sacred to the Forrest and there is concern about detrimental human contact. 

Each one was careful not to touch her even as she drew us to herself at the center of the spiral. What we noticed is that Diamantel had not read or had chosen not to heed the warning sign. She seemed to long for human contact as her branches bowed low to brush our heads, faces and cheeks as we walked the spiral circuit. She tenderly reached out to us in the silence of this walking meditation. We smiled. 

On our way out of the spiral, we had to pass each other on the narrow path. There were moments when we had to embrace one another in order to stay on the path as we passed each other. I felt like we were dancing around the spiral as we negotiated our way out from the center through embraces and spins. 

PC

Standing Stone

Into the Sacred Forrest to walk, feel, experience. A time to open my heart in a new intentional way with purpose and curiosity. Isn't every tree, every Forrest filled with this very same sacred magic?

I walked the area in the small natural plaza near a standing stone of over six feet. My body and spirit were drawn to the stone which had a very simple Celtic cross in a circle at the top above my head. At first, I leaned into the stone as if to be embraced by her energy, which I felt and experience. I pressed my lips to her rough cool surface and she kissed me back with tender firmness. 

I allowed myself to turn in her embrace so that my back was flush against her as she supported me. I felt her strength and her grounded-ness. I felt secure and held as I leaned into her knowing that no matter how much force I pressed into her she would hold me pressing back with equal force allowing me to hold my ground. 

When I was summoned with the others to come forward to create a circle in the natural plaza surrounded by stately trees, I felt strong energy strands stretching from the standing stone attached now to my back. It felt like thick glue stretching as I intentionally pulled away feeling her pull on me. Her strength came with me even as I moved away from her. 

It was an ancient grounding strength I felt. 

I thought of Ari'El, the great stone pillar of angelic strength that always accompanies me. I am held in this grounding and strength, not only ancient, but eternal. 

Thank you, Ari'El, for your willingness to free me and to hold me, just as I hold you knowing we share our freedom, in this, together we are eternally strong. 

PC

Damanhur Crea

Damanhur is more amazing than I remember. Today has been so full.

Morning meditation started my day at 7:30. After we went to meet the group for an amazing variety of breakfast foods. Much different from our daily fare of hard boiled eggs and hard rolls at the convent guesthouse in Assisi

Christina is our contact person and she speaks wonderful English. We enjoyed a thorough tour of the grounds and the Crea.

The Crea contains the Marketplace, the offices of professional medical groups, the Selfic art gallery, the Art studios, a cafe, a restaurant, and a bakery, and much more. After WWII, Italy paid a huge price when its economy collapsed with its loss of the war. Business moved out of the valley. The population went from 20,000 to 5,000. There were no jobs. Damanhur took advantage of the economic decline when it purchased an abandoned typewriter factory; purchasing it for its center of arts and commerce. This is called the Crea.

After lunch we went in vans up the mountain to visit the Sacred Forrest. When I visited Damanhur in the early 2000s this was not a part of their dream. Now they are inviting shamans and other holy leaders to visit this place. Once it is confirmed that this is the appropriate space they will invite other like-minded people to help them build the Temple of the Parliament of all peoples. There is no plan as of yet. They will wait till the people come together and in community they will decide what the plan will be and their next steps.

Very purposefully they have chosen the site of an abandoned mine, with the dream of together healing the area.

Dreaming together seems to be a prominent theme here in Damanhur. Perhaps a model for us as we move through these changing times of our own abandoned mines into the fear and the excitement of what we are to create.

Dream on.

Pastor Carol