Are you a new visitor to DIO?
WELCOME…
If you are a new visitor to this site and you are wondering where on earth to start…Please read the page entitled MAKE-BELIEVE first…it will help you get your bearings.
The pages About this site and Damanhur – a brief overview will put the information you find here into the appropriate context.
If you are considering joining Damanhur or making an extended visit please read… A message to would-be Damanhurians from Krishnamurti.
Unlike traditional chronological blogs the content of this site has been organized as a series of reference pages under section headings. Pages can be easily consulted by clicking on the titles shown in the side bar to your right.
The site is updated from time to time but is now functioning primarily as an archival resource on Damanhur … Check out DIO ALERTS below for major developments and latest additions to the site.
If you are a Journalist please consult the section Notes for journalists and film makers, there you will find translations of Italian newspaper articles with links to external sites and the NEWS GALLERY.
DIO welcomes comments but they will be moderated for honesty, transparency and authenticity…
I hope you find the site useful.
DIO Editor
© Damanhur Inside Out – 2020. https://damanhurinsideout.wordpress.com
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material from this site without express and written permission from the owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Damanhur Inside Out with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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DIO ALERTS
17.07.2018 – The Italian Supreme Court rules that Damanhurians must be paid for their work. A new chapter is written in the ten year battle to legally recognize work carried out in the Community. The Appeal Court decision of 2011 is dramatically overturned.
Read more via the page link in the sidebar: The Supreme Court rules Damanhurians must be paid for their work.
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20.06.2018 – Available now in English, an article based on the ground breaking book ‘Piccole Apostasie’ by Turin University Sociologists Mario Cardano and Nicola Pannofino, published by SAGE Journals in June 2018.
‘Taking leave of Damanhur’.
‘This article deals with an aspect of religious behavior that has remained in the shadows,
both in the scientific literature and in public discourse: deconversion from New
Religious Movements. The article analyses the deconversion from a magico-esoteric
community located in Northern Italy: Damanhur. Founded in the 1970s, Damanhur is
one of Europe’s major spiritual communities that counts about 400 devotees. The article
starts with an outline of the process of deconversion, followed by a brief description of
the religious organization studied. Lastly, the process of disaffiliation from Damanhur,
is reconstructed, through the close reading of twenty narratives of deconversion of
former Damanhurians interviewed in 2010…..’
This important article can be accessed via the page in the DIO side bar entitled ‘Taking leave of Damanhur’ and clicking on the link to the pdf.
10.09.2015 – Published today – in Italian – exciting new research on Damanhur by celebrated Sociologists Mario Cardano and Nicola Pannofino of Turin University.
Small Apostasies –The Exit from New Religious Movements
For quite a while now we have seen a renewed interest in the sacred and religious and much has been written about the great fascination exercised by new religious movements. Decidedly less attention however, has been paid to the processes of de-conversion from these organisations. This book is dedicated to these “Small Apostasies” and focusses its attention on the exit from four religious movements, all with differing organisational and doctrinal structures: Damanhur, Soka Gakkai, Jehovah Witness and Scientology. The authors consider the processes of identity reconstruction of those whose lives consist of two turning points, two choices that go against the tide: joining an alternative religious organisation and the abandonment of the new belief. It is this radicalism which has inspired interest in these biographical transitions and by which it is possible to understand, delineated by stronger traits, the peculiarities of less clear cut social phenomena which reveal themselves in other contexts.
Available from http://www.amazon.it
24.06.2013.
FALCO – Oberto Airaudi – Founder of Damanhur dies aged 63 of colon/liver cancer at Aval.
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14.06.2012
“Papa’ e’ sparito, e’ in una setta”, ragazza scrive a Napolitano – My Father has disappeared, he is in a cult, young girl writes to the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.
For Italian readers:
Dopo l’inchiesta di Report: “Ha cambiato nome e non si fa sentire”. La Federazione si difende: “Accuse ingiuste, siamo aperti a tutti”
Macerata, 14 giugno 2012 – “Da tre anni mio padre è sparito. Non si fa né sentire né vedere da me. So che lui sta in una comunità, perché mi parlava sempre di quanto gli piaceva quella setta. Per questo voglio che il capo di quella realtà lo convinca a farsi vedere da me, ad assumersi le sue responsabilità”.
L’appello arriva da una sedicenne della provincia di Macerata. Si è rivolta a Oberto Airaudi, leader della comunità Damanhur, e al presidente della Repubblica Giorgio Napolitano. La sua è la richiesta accorata di un’adolescente che da tre anni è costretta a vivere senza una figura paterna al suo fianco. Questo perché il suo papà — almeno così sostengono la ragazzina e la madre, assistite dall’avvocato Leide Polci — ha deciso di tagliare tutti i ponti con la sua vita passata e di entrare in una comunità etico-spirituale nel Torinese.
Leggere tutto:
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12.06.2012
You can now view the video of Off the Report‘s investigation of Damanhur and read a transcript of the program in English here:
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06.06.2012
ITALY’S CELEBRATED NATIONAL TV PROGRAM ‘REPORT’ INVESTIGATES DAMANHUR – NOT TO BE MISSED – WATCH BELOW
Italy’s national broadcasting channel RAI3 continued its new series of REPORT on Sunday the 3rd of June at 21.00 with an in depth look at the inner workings of Damanhur. The program was successfully broadcast on Sunday evening but on Monday morning it was removed from the Off the Report web site. This may be the result of legal action on the part of Damanhur.
The program is still available however via this commercial link…WATCH IT NOW BEFORE IT DISAPPEARS!
PROGRAM – 3 June 2012
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xram7d_off-the-report-la-comunita-damanhur_news
UPDATE: 16.00 04.06.2012
The program has now been restored to the RAI.TV website…watch it here.
http://www.rai.tv/dl/RaiTV/programmi/media/ContentItem-789ec24d-1000-443c-8f73-84d1db4c5c3f.html
On Youtube watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiNT6-U3FA8
Hopefully the edition will be archived later with English subtitles for a more international audience.
La seconda puntata di Off the Report mette sotto la lente di ingrandimento la comunità Damanhur, una setta new age che ha creato un sistema di potere politico ed economico in Piemonte. Circa mille persone che si ispirano all’esoterismo e ad uno stile di vita ecosostenibile, guidate da un leader che si sposta in elicottero e si fa chiamare Falco. Off the Report racconta come il sistema Damanhur conti simpatizzanti anche nella magistratura e nei partiti.
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30.12.2011
Damanhur is now a Church!
The Turin Appeal Court rules that Damanhur does not have to pay social contributions or taxes for the work of its followers. Work within the Community is considered religious devotion and voluntary even though it is paid…
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12.10.2011
For Italian readers …a succinct and accurate appraisal of the ‘workings’ of Damanhur…its dubious economic practices and political affiliations.
http://www.infiltrato.it/inchieste/italia/le-sette-damanhur-e-scientology-pecunia-non-olet-e-quel-pallino-politico-per-l-otto-per-mille
01.10.2011
For Italian readers: An interesting web article on the real face of Damanhur. A warning to the Italian public of the seductive nature of the Temple and the dangerous characteristics of the Community that has built it.
http://www.agoravox.it/Sette-pericolose-il-vero-volto.html
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24.09.2011
‘Occult Italia’ wins the Estense Prize for best journalistic book of the Year!
The Estense Prize for Journalism the l’Aquila d’Oro awarded by Unindustria Ferrara has voted Occult Italia the best book of the year. Chosen from an initial selction of 40 titles, Occult Italia by Gianni Del Vecchio and Stefano Pitrelli was awarded first prize after a unanimous vote at both stages of voting. Only three times in the prize’s 47 year history has a unanimous vote been recorded. http://www.pitrelli-delvecchio.com/?p=512
Published on March 10th 2011, Occulto Italia provides the first in-depth investigation of Damanhur.
Written by two journalists of L’Espresso and Europa, the 500 page book investigates how Italian cults infiltrate public institutions to safeguard and promote their own economic and political interests. The first 150 pages are devoted to a precisely documented analysis of Damanhur which includes moving testimonies by former Damanhurians on the reality of life inside the cult.
This book is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL READING for anyone thinking of joining Damanhur!
Title: Occulto Italia – Authors: Gianni Del Vecchio & Stefano Pitrelli – Published by: BUR – RIZZOLI – ISBN: 978-88-17-04827-9
Link to the Gianni Del Vecchio and Stefano Pitrelli web site containing a press archive of the latest reviews and articles on the book: http://www.pitrelli-delvecchio.com
26.08.2011
Has someone you love got caught up in Damanhur?
Check out this site for information on how to deal with the situation on a family level.
http://www.cultinformation.org.uk/article_caring-for-the-family.html
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04.08.2011
A message to would-be Damanhurians from Krishnamurti
If you only read one page on this site – make it this one…!
https://damanhurinsideout.wordpress.com/about/a-message-to-would-be-damanhurians-from-krishnamurti/
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08.01.2011
‘The uncomfortable truth about mind control – Is free will simply a myth?’…
An interesting article by Michael Mosley from the UK newspaper ‘The Independent‘, on the power of authority.
In Damanhur, Oberto Airaudi (alias Falco) is the extreme voice of authority and his followers do his bidding WITHOUT QUESTION. They have been induced to believe that he is a divine and superior being.
They are ready to give their own lives and take the lives of others in order to protect him.
Read more here:
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28.12.2010
Essential holiday reading for all would-be visitors to Damanhur.
Joseph Allen’s extraordinary account of his 2010 visit to the Federation of Lies.
“Damanhur my Sci-Fi Theophany under the Mountain”
Visit: http://cybercasualty.com/ or
http://www.disinfo.com/2010/12/damanhur-my-sci-fi-theophany-under-the-mountain/
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Damanhur Inside Out 