Cerchio Firenze 77

Domain XIV · Western esoteric, divinatory & new spiritual movements · Roberto Setti · 1946 · Florence, Italy

What it is

What it was. The Cerchio Firenze 77 ("Florence Circle 77") was a Florentine mediumistic group that formed around the medium Roberto Setti (1930–1984). According to the publisher and CESNUR, it began on 28 May 1946. Setti's mother had held a séance to contact a son who had recently died. Setti then…

Format

• 1946–1984: the circle's sessions. Teachings came through Setti in trance from a growing set of Maestri, and attendance grew. The sources say Setti and the organisers did not seek converts. Sessions were recorded and later transcribed.
• B. The psychotherapist's work when a client brings the circle. No source sets a session count or format; the steps below are a clinical sequence, not a protocol.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Evidence status (one line). The circle reported trance communications and physical phenomena: apports (objects said to appear), lights, table levitation and ectoplasm. None of these is established by mainstream science, and the sources cited here document no independent controlled investigation of…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• practices replacing human contact or necessary care. It is working when the practices support functioning rather than substitute for it.
• confidentiality breaches, and helpers who discourage medical or psychological care. It is working when support and care are coordinated around the client's choices.
• longing that is not easing and is causing impairment; avoidance of reminders, alternating with compulsive listening to recordings; beliefs about reincarnation used to avoid grieving; any…
• the client claiming to receive new teachings from the circle's Maestri, especially with grandiosity or a mission; reduced sleep; trance states arising outside any group setting; command-like…
• your own assumptions about Italian Catholic culture (the client may be Catholic and a reader of the circle at the same time), and reluctance to disclose because of fear of being labelled. It is…

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.