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BOOKS by Jeff Merrifield
DAMANHUR: the Real Dream The first book in English about Damanhur, by Jeff Merrifield; it was first published on 20 February 1998 by Harper Collins Thorsons - £16.99 - the paperback was published on 1 March 1999 - £9.99 These editions are now out of print, but both versions can be found new and used through Amazon Books ISBN 0 7225 3496 5
A completely new edition, revised and updated, is now available this site: Click here Here are some details about Damanhur and the book: Damanhur is a place of greatly astounding things. It is a settlement with a burgeoning population of around seven hundred, to be found in the Italian Alps. It bears the same name, which means “City of Light”, as an Egyptian city with a population of some quarter million people. But the Damanhur in the Alpine valley of Valchiusella is no ordinary settlement. The people here have embarked on a unique experiment in social, economic and spiritual living, based around the construction of an elaborate temple, built deep into the heart of a mountain. One of the most astounding things is that, for over fifteen years, this building was carried on in secret, with some two million buckets of earth and rock being dug out and secreted around the valley or used in the building and restoration of other Damanhurian properties. The book, aimed at those with an interest in esoteric traditions, cultural and artistic endeavours, and experiments in social and spiritual living, describes the epic nature of the journey undertaken by the inhabitants of Damanhur, in four astounding parts, each one describing aspects of Damanhur more remarkable than that section preceding it. The construction of the temple in the mountain alone ranks alongside the recognised ‘wonders of the world’, but is only one aspect of the truly remarkable achievement that has taken place in this valley, some thirty miles north of Turin. The digging into the temple is an elaborate metaphor for the intensive digging into their personal and community psyche. The people of Damanhur have drawn on ancient knowledge and esoteric traditions, as well as sychronistic ideas of philosophical writers, such as Carl Gustav Jung, Ruldoph Steiner and Albert Einstein; and scientific experiments in energy transference by people such as Wilhelm Reich and Nikola Tesla.
The Perfect Heretics A book about the Cathars, a community of Good Men and Women who lived in the Languedoc region of southern France in the first centuries of the last milennium and were mercilessly persecuted for their devience from the rigid beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church ISBN 0 9523316 2 4
Jeff Merrifield’s book was launched at the Glastonbury conference on the Cathars. The Perfect Heretics is an attempt to look objectively at the Cathar phenomenon, stripping away some of the veneer of justification that academics, ancient and modern, seem to imply when recording the treatment of the so-called heretics. The book has contributions from the prominent French authors who were speakers at the conference, as well as the first English translation of the text of a son et lumiére performed in the small Pyrénées village of Caudiès-de-Fenouillèdes. Jeff Merrifield is an Essex based playwright and author, who has spent much time in the region, researching material and visiting the places where the Cathars lived and died. The Perfect Heretics is a large format paperback, with over twenty photographs and illustrations and is published by The Enabler, a subsidiary of Russell House. The book uncovers the realities of the Cathar phenomenon - the myths, the legends and the historical truths, stripping away some of the veneer of justification that academics seem to imply when recording the treatment of the heretics and their sympathisers. In the year 1208, Pope Innocent III (one of the most inappropriately named popes in history) unleashed the full might of a most horrendous and brutal crusade against a sect of devout Christians living in the Languedoc, an area on the French side of the Pyrenees. These Cathars had a huge following. The spiritual leaders were known as Parfaits and lived a life of chastity and purity. Though historically known as the Good Men, there is little doubt that the Cathars, with their general rejection of genderism, would today prefer the term 'Good People', or as they were commonly known, the 'Good Christians'. Women occupied priestly roles alongside the men, taking the words of Christ as their absolute guiding principle. They were simple, humble and much respected by their communities - yet they were burned alive as heretics. The Perfect Heretics digs into the murky depths of religious intloerance and persecution. It was published to co-incide with the first major conference on the Cathars to be staged in Britain and features contributions from major Cathar scholars from France.
The Perfect Heretics: Cathars and Catharism, Jeff Merrifield, (Russell House Enabler Publications, Dorset,1996) Available from Playback, 9 Maldon Road, Great Totham, Essex, CM9 8PR, UK £10.00 including post & package (Europe) - £13.00 or $20 (worldwide) Go to shop page (email: info@playbackarts.co.uk)
New books on The Cathars, The Knights Templars and the Florentine Camerata in preparation
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For further details, contact: jeff@playbackarts.co.uk
