The moment I stepped into the Water Room, the air thickened with energy. Light rippled across the turquoise walls as if the mountain itself were breathing. In that instant, I felt I had returned to the source of everything — to a home I had somehow never left.
For more than a decade before that moment, Damanhur’s Temples of Humankind had whispered to me — a soundless song stirring deep within my spirit. I could not name the reason, only feel its pull. Tucked in the emerald foothills of Italy’s Piedmont Alps, this federation of spiritual communities is known for its vision of unity and sacred creativity. Yet no description or photograph could prepare me for what unfolded when I finally answered that call to a spiritual tour of Damanhur.
Entering the Living Temple
The moment I arrived, the air itself felt different, charged and intelligent, almost aware. I had long dreamed of the Temples of Humankind, those hand-carved hidden temples within the mountain of Damanhur.
Built in secret by Damanhur’s early citizens beginning in the late 1970s, the Temples of Humankind are often called “the Eighth Wonder of the World.” They descend multiple stories into the earth, each chamber devoted to a universal theme — Light, Water, Earth, Time, and the unity of divine masculine and feminine energies. Every surface glows with mosaics, stained glass, and frescoes that tell the story of humanity’s awakening potential.
Yet even knowing this, imagination proved too small for their reality. As I stepped into the first chamber, the atmosphere itself seemed to shift. A vibration moved through me — not something I saw or heard, but something I felt. It was recognition, reverence, and a sense of homecoming all at once.
The Water Room: Return to the Source
Everything changed when I entered the Water Room. My body knew before my mind did that I had to sit. The space was womb-like, shimmering with turquoise light reflected from hand-tiled walls and flowing mosaics that seemed alive. It felt as if I had stepped into the memory of creation itself.
Later, during a past-life session, I understood why. A vision surfaced: I was a woman with long dark hair, living on an island encircled by water. When the Damanhur Oracles confirmed this life, the recognition was instant and profound. That remembrance continues to ripple through my life, softening me, deepening my peace, and weaving purpose through everything I do.
Listening to the Music of the Plants
Each day unfolded like a new verse in a sacred text. In the Sacred Woods, we listened to something extraordinary — the Music of the Plants.
Developed by researchers in Damanhur, this technology measures the subtle electrical impulses that move through a plant’s leaves and roots. Those impulses are translated into sound through sensors connected to a device that converts bioelectrical signals into musical notes. The result is not pre-programmed audio but the plant’s own living voice, changing in real time as it responds to people, light, and touch.
Standing in that forest, I heard trees singing — delicate arpeggios from the birch, deep resonant tones from the oak. The sound was ethereal yet unmistakably alive, a bridge between worlds. It reminded me that consciousness is not confined to the human form. Instead, it pulses through all of nature, speaking in frequencies our hearts can hear when our minds grow still.
Meeting the Mother Tree: Heart of Damanhur’s Sacred Forest
At the heart of the Sacred Woods stands the Mother Tree. Her presence is so ancient and sentient she feels less like a plant and more like a wise elder. She is considered the energetic anchor of the forest, a living bridge between dimensions. Beneath her vast canopy, sunlight filters through layers of green, dappling the moss below in shifting patterns of gold and jade.
The Damanhurians believe the Mother Tree holds the memory and life-force of the woodland. Her roots intertwine with newly healed soil that once lay barren. Standing before her, I felt as if the forest itself were breathing through me — steady, timeless, patient.
In Damanhur’s tradition, contact with such a being requires stillness and sincerity. When I quieted my thoughts and simply listened, I could feel her awareness moving toward me, slowly, like the tide. Insight came not as words but as impressions: a pulse of warmth in my chest, an image of luminous roots spreading through darkness, and a whisper of belonging.
Surrender on the Devil’s Bridge
Transformation often asks for surrender. At the ancient Devil’s Bridge in Lanzo Torinese, Cynthia James invited us to walk through a stone portal, twice. First to release what no longer served us, and then once more to receive what our hearts longed to embody.
The bridge itself is breathtaking — a single, high stone arch spanning the deep turquoise waters of the Stura di Lanzo River. Built in the 1300s, it rises steeply between two rocky cliffs, its worn cobblestones polished by centuries of footsteps. The air there feels ancient and alive, filled with the scent of moss and river spray. Below, the current rushes through a narrow gorge, its sound echoing like a heartbeat beneath the arch. Standing there, I felt suspended between worlds — the visible and the unseen, the past and the becoming.
As I crossed, something within me cracked open. Tears poured forth as I touched an old wound tied to my birth and my mother. It was raw, humbling, and holy. I walked away from that bridge lighter, freer, and profoundly whole.
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Remembering Across Past Lifetimes
A past-life workshop with Crotalo Sesamo deepened this awakening. Through meditative movement, guided breath, and inner journeying, he invited us to travel through time — not as spectators but as embodied explorers of the soul. Some participants received vivid visions; others sensed only impressions, emotions, or fleeting images. I learned that both experiences are equally valid, each a doorway into the deeper memory that lives within us.
The Damanhurians teach that the soul incarnates many times to learn, heal, and evolve. Each lifetime carries its own thread of wisdom — sometimes a gift, sometimes an unresolved lesson. When those threads resurface through awareness, they can dissolve old blocks, bring clarity to relationships, and awaken hidden strengths waiting to be expressed.
Within the teaching structure of the Temples of Humankind, this practice is known as Past Lives Research. It’s a formal, multi-level discipline that invites each person to “investigate the story of your soul” and integrate its insights into your present purpose. Under Crotalo’s guidance, I felt that purpose unfold gently within me. Surprisingly, it revealed itself not as proof of who I had been, but as remembrance of what my spirit already knows.
During my session, memories surfaced not as linear storylines but as sensations. My awareness tuned into the rhythm of waves, the scent of salt air, the image of dark hair moving in the wind. When that lifetime by the water was revealed to me, I understood it not as something outside myself, but as a resonance that continues to live within me. What once felt like mystery became clarity. And clarity became liberation.
Under the Strawberry Moon
Our time at the Temples of Humankind culminated in a full-moon ceremony radiant with devotion and joy. As drums echoed and voices rose, the strawberry moon slipped free from the clouds, then vanished again as the drumming ceased.
In that breathtaking silence, I felt the pulse of creation move through us all. We were not observing the rhythm of life; we were the rhythm.
The Homecoming
Leaving Damanhur was bittersweet. My body returned home, but a piece of my soul remains in the labyrinths, in the echoes of the plant songs, and in the tears that kissed ancient stone. I carry that frequency now. I experience it as a clearer purpose, a softer heart, and a deeper knowing of the divine tapestry we inhabit.
Most beautiful of all was witnessing our group transform alongside me, each soul awakening in its own sacred way. Damanhur reminded us that awakening is not a destination. It is a remembering — a homecoming to the light we have always been.
Join the Journey
Are you feeling called to experience this for yourself?
Join Spirit Tours in June 2026 for Journey to Damanhur and the Temples of Humankind — a sacred pilgrimage into the heart of spiritual artistry, consciousness, and transformation. Walk the labyrinths. Marvel at the Temples’ radiant chambers. Listen to the voices of the living forest. Explore your past lives. Rediscover the light within you.
About the Author
Rev. Karen Fry is an ordained minister, spiritual teacher, wildlife photographer, and the CEO of Spirit Tours. After a successful corporate career, Karen followed her deeper calling into ministry and, in 2022, acquired Spirit Tours to unite her love of travel with her devotion to spiritual awakening. With more than 20 years of Spirit Tours’ legacy and her own dozens of trips led worldwide, Karen’s leadership is marked by authenticity, presence, meticulous care, and a profound reverence for the natural world.
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