I We Falco: Stories of Falco Tarassaco, founder of Damanhur, narrated by his students

I – WE – FALCO

Stambecco Pesco with:

Antilope Verbena, Aphia Di Cuore, Betsy Pool, Castoro Anice, Elaine Ballantyne Stewart, Elefantina Genziana, Esperide Ananas Ametista, Fenice Felce, Jennifer Evanko, Mammuth Alkekengi, Mary Kirk, Moscardino, Nephila, Orango Riso Granato, Ortolano, Yamamay

ISBN: 978-88-7012-204-6

1st edition DHORA Srl, Impresa Sociale

Vidracco (Turin), Italy

COPYRIGHT 2023©Stichting Damanhur Foundation

Editing: Unicorno Arachide Diorite

Translated by: Beira Hamamelis (Tiziana Redoni)

All rights reserved. No part of this work can be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher, with the exception of short quotes intended for reviews.

Printed in Italy in September 2023.

I – WE – FALCO

Stories of Falco Tarassaco,

founder of Damanhur,

narrated by his students

CONNECTING THROUGH STORIES

by Stambecco Pesco

This book is dedicated to the story of the founder and spiritual guide of Damanhur. It is a collection of stories and not mere recollections, because the objective, more than commemorating him for the things he did, said, or wrote that have inspired the lives of many people, is to meet him again, whether for the first time or anew, by learning from the narratives of his students and spiritual children.

For the Damanhurians, Falco is an enlightened individual, a human being who Knows and can indicate a path for us to also attain enlightenment and contribute to the awakening of humankind as a whole.

Born in the spring of 1950 near Turin, in North­ern Italy, Oberto Airaudi changed his name to Falco Tarassaco Cristallo di Lava, following the Damanhurian practice of adopting a spiritual name derived from nature. In 1975, he brought his creation, Damanhur, into being: a community, a spiritual school, a social experiment, and a multi­tude of other things. Over time, Damanhur gradually expanded into multiple communities, united in a federation, and, at the same time, in order to spread his message, Falco created Medit-Action, an initiatory path along the lines of classical esotericism, magic, and self-discovery.

Through Medit-Action, Falco embraces seemingly divergent tendencies: on one hand, the urgency to discover the divine nature of the universe and life, exploring even the mysterious realms of myth, supercelestial entities, and alien dimensions; on the other hand, the valuing of everyday life, even in its most hidden recesses, as the means through which the divine expresses itself.

His thinking is characterized precisely by the synthesis of disparate elements: the Damanhurian is a mystic who has faith in the existence of a divine reality but is simultaneously deeply immersed in everyday life, in the small things, in hands-on activities. They believe in the value of peace as a means to allow all individuals to express the best of themselves, while also acknowledging that peace does not exist in the universe, because every manifestation of nature expresses a conflict: from an antibody’s reaction to a disease, to the competition among trees in a forest to better expose themselves to sunlight. Conflict is the way for life to evolve itself.

Falco is a profound, romantic, and challenging — even rough — philosopher to study and comprehend. At first glance, he captivates with his depth, his keenness, and the myriad possibilities he presents to each person to recognize themselves in the path he offers. However, he then becomes demanding because he makes it clear that a spiritual choice amounts to very little if one simply follows a Guide. It requires meditation, understanding, resolving contradictions, becoming mothers and fathers to oneself, and ultimately becoming Guides, even questioning him if necessary, in order to make authentic choices.

For all these reasons, the best way to talk about Falco Tarassaco is to let his students do so: those who met him at the beginning of the Damanhur adventure and those who joined him over the years. Even those who never personally got to know him, but chose to look up to him after he had already left his physical body, watching his videos, reading his books, and listening to the memories of students who shared forty years of life with him.

The universe is an intelligent machine that tells stories and, through storytelling and listening, makes them real. Therefore, to speak of Falco means to summon him here, to meet him, and for those who desire, to discover or rediscover him within themselves.

I approached Damanhur during the late 1970s, and Damanhur was more of a project than a reality. When I joined Medit-Action and became a citizen of the community, a couple of years had passed, during which Falco’s figure hovered in the background and was present in the conversations of the older Damanhurians, but I had not many opportunities to get to know him.

I came from a faraway city and had the chance to meet him there during one of his public lecture tours, but in my journey into Damanhur, our paths did not cross frequently. On my part, I had never felt the need to deviate from my path in order to meet him. Partly because I wanted to understand Damanhur and my fellow Damanhurians like me more than I wanted to understand him, and partly because I did not believe much in those who told me — practically everyone — that Falco was open, curious, and willing to dedicate his time to meeting his students, especially the younger ones.

Little by little, I discovered him and built my personal relationship with him alongside the teacher-student relationship. It was true, Falco was open to allow people to get to know him and, in turn, he was curious to get to know the people who were coming to visit the community. The encounter with Falco is the event that has guided my life in a specific direction. By nature, I have always preferred ideas to people, the projects to their creators.

So, I used to tell myself that I was fascinated by Damanhur, whoever had inspired it. But gradually, I realized that the magnetic pull came from him, and even when I did not feel the need to deviate from my path to meet him — even in a literal sense, as Falco often enjoyed walking in the Damjl territory, the first seat of Damanhur — I knew deep down that I was here for him, whom I recognized as my spiritual guide, and that my participation in Damanhur was a consequence of it being his project. Why did I feel from the beginning, and still feel today, that Falco was my guide? I felt it. Period. Any subsequent explanation I can give is the result of later reflection, which would not provide a real answer to the question.

That young man, so different from me, was my destiny. Past lives? Ancient missions and oaths? Project Vajne?(1) Common stellar lineages? I am not particularly sensitive to these topics. I am open-minded, not ruling anything out, but they have never deeply moved me.

I live this life, and in this life, at a certain point, I felt that Falco was my path. Therefore, I decided to follow him. Falco, from whom I have received, from a human perspective, friendship and trust that I believe I have reciprocated, interests me primarily as an event and as a catalyst for the projects and feelings of many people.

In my life in Damanhur, I found myself collaborating with sociologists, psychologists, university and private researchers in the field of neo-spiritual movements, or as they call them, new religions (a term that Falco detested, although he appreciated the word new). As a result, alongside my intimate feelings, I have also developed a detached observation of him and all of us, in order to identify the relationship that binds us. And I have discovered some things that I find valuable and that I think it is important to emphasize in order to make this book accessible.

First and foremost, the thing that has always struck me the most is that Falco has always allowed each Damanhurian to choose the type of relationship they wanted to have with him. While it is true that Damanhurians are those who have chosen Falco Tarassaco Cristallo di Lava as their spiritual guide and have consciously accepted a relationship that is not entirely equal, everyone, within this framework, has been able to choose the type of relationship they wanted to have with Falco; it was never him who made that decision.There are Damanhurians who have never desired to speak face-to-face with him, while others sought his advice on their choices every day.

Some people wished to adopt his habits, be inspired by his tastes, and make him their daily role model, while others sought to differentiate themselves as much as possible. Some people loved being constantly in his aura, while others preferred to keep their distance for fear of losing their independence.

Falco allowed people to choose, regardless of whether he liked certain persistent presences or, conversely, aspired to closer collaborations. He never rejected the attention of those who wanted to be courtiers, but he also never neglected to offer opportunities to those who wanted to keep their distance.

Once he stated that we must be mothers and fathers to ourselves, take our own responsibilities, and emancipate ourselves from every role model — and he repeated this very often — he did not consider it his task to prevent those who hung on his every word from doing so; at the same time, if he saw someone, among those who were determined to never ask for his advice, making a mistake, he allowed them to do so. As long as it did not create problems for Damanhur, which would have enraged him.

It was evident that he did not consider it his mission to personally enlighten any of us — although, over time, he provided many teachings on how to evolve ourselves — but rather the overall development of Damanhur as a spiritual People, as a federation of communities, as an initiatory school, so that it could project itself far into the future.

He was a great promoter of talents and personal initiatives: he always encouraged people to discover vocations and abilities within themselves that they did not know they had, and to better use the ones they knew. He rarely discouraged anyone and was a source of encouragement that never dried up.

However, it was fundamental that these talents, initiatives, and abilities bore fruit for Damanhur in terms of ideas, economy, and relationships. As he emphasized in his posthumous letters, he did not see Damanhurians as individuals but as a People that develops collective projects. From this perspective, personal initiatives are useful if