As the present civilisation collapses, and a New Age prepares to rise from its ashes, our collective pain is immense.The great gurus teach us the way forward More>>
Contemporary interest in Atlantis can be traced back to a self-educated
American politician named Ignatius T. T. Donnelly (1831-1901).
After serving as the Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota and later as a congressman,
Donnelly retired from politics in 1870 after a defeat at the polls.
He devoted the rest of his life to writing and research. Among his many
theories were the argument that the Pleistocene Ice Age was caused by
the collision of the earth with a comet, and the suggestion that it was
Sir Francis Bacon who really wrote Shakespeare's plays. Both of these
ideas have become the subjects of popular cult followings and are alive
and well today.
Far more important was Donnelly's interest in Atlantis.
More than any other writer, Donnelly converted 'Atlantism' into
a popular cult through the publication of his influential book, Atlantis:
The Antediluvian World (1882). In developing his ideas Donnelly
drew upon a short article by L. M. Hosea in The Cincinnati Quarterly
(July 1875), "Atlantis: A Statement of the 'Atlantic' Theory Respecting
Aboriginal Civilization", where the author argued that Mayan and
other early civilizations were derived from Atlantis.
We can summarize Donnelly's development of the Atlantis
story as follows: Opposite the mouth of the Mediterranean, in the Atlantic
Ocean, there once existed a large island—Atlantis. This was
the remnant of a former Atlantic continent. Plato's description of this
island was not imaginary but factual. It was on the island of Atlantis
that civilization first emerged. In time a great and mighty Atlantean
nation developed, which sent out colonists to the Gulf of Mexico, other
parts of the Americas, the Mediterranean, Europe, Africa, and various
other parts of the globe. Atlantis was the true Antediluvian (prior
to the Biblical Flood) world known in the Bible as the Garden of Eden,
in Greek mythology as the Elysian Fields, and by a variety of other names
in the legends of ancient peoples. The gods and goddesses of the ancient
civilizations were simply folk memories of the mighty deeds of the kings,
queens, and heroes of Atlantis.
Donnelly maintained that the mythology of the Egyptians and of ancient Peru represented
the original religion of the Atlanteans, which was a form of sun worship. The
oldest colony of Atlantis was probably Egypt, where Atlantean civilization
was reproduced in an almost pure form. The Atlanteans were responsible for the
Bronze Age in Europe as well as the original manufacture of iron. The Phoenician
alphabet was derived from the Atlantean alphabet, as was the alphabet of the Mayans.
Both the Aryan and Semitic races originated in Atlantis, Donnelly
said, spreading from there throughout the world. Finally, Atlantis perished
in a terrible natural disaster which caused the whole island to sink to the bottom
of the Atlantic Ocean. Only a few Atlanteans escaped the sudden, tragic destruction
of their city on ships and rafts. Those who escaped carried with them both fragments
of Atlantean knowledge and the story of the catastrophe, which became the basis
of the biblical Flood and other similar legends.
Essentially, all modern
Atlantis stories used by occultists draw upon elements of Donnelly's
scheme, updated and adapted for contemporary readers with 'scientific' details
and stories about flying machines, space travel and aliens.
The Edgar Cayce material provides a number of fascinating glimpses
into pivotal epochs of human history. For many individuals, perhaps two
of the most notable periods discussed by the Cayce readings are
those which deal with the ancient civilizations of Atlantis and
Egypt.
Hundreds of readings discuss the lost continent of Atlantis—a
civilization, which was one of the most advanced that the world would
ever know. According to the readings, records of this society exist to
this day in Egypt, the Yucatan, and near Bimini. In fact, the readings
considered the Bimini Islands the remnant of a mountain range from this
once-massive continent.
From Cayce's perspective, much of modern-day technology is simply
the rediscovering of knowledge and information possessed by the Atlantean
culture. Yet, although the Atlanteans were advanced technologically, many
of the people lost their sense of purpose by becoming too attached to
power and the material world. In time, this once spiritual populace became
fractured into two distinct groups: the 'Children of the Law of One' and
the 'Sons of Belial'. Those of the Law of One carried on the spiritual
tradition of their ancestors, while the Sons of Belial became engrossed
with satisfying their physical appetites and desires. This split would
eventually lead to the continent's downfall and eventual destruction.
Essentially Cayce's readings state that—by focusing upon materiality
and ignoring their true spiritual nature, the Atlanteans brought upon
themselves a series of three cataclysms. The first, about 50,000 BC, destroyed
their major power source. The second, about 28,500 BC, caused the continent
to break into three smaller islands: Poseidia, Og, and Aryan. The third
and final destruction—which is the one mentioned by Plato—occurred
about 10,500 BC and caused the three islands to sink, forcing those who
survived to migrate to other parts of the world.
In fact, prior to the final destruction of Atlantis, many of the
Atlanteans migrated to Egypt and were absorbed into a culture that reached
its height of glory at about the same time as the third Atlantean cataclysm.
Under the direction of a High Priest named Ra Ta, Egypt began to lead
the world in social programs aimed at equality, personal transformation,
and moral responsibility to others. Eventually, the Egyptian civilization
was considered unsurpassed in the scientific history of the world and
given credit for introducing the world to writing, medical science, irrigation,
architecture, and nationalism.
Cayce stated that records of this once glorious civilization would
one day be discovered in Egypt. In addition, the readings suggest that
between 1958 and 1998 the world would again be presented with many of
the same opportunities and challenges that faced the Atlanteans, eventually
requiring humankind to remember its true spiritual nature as we head toward
a new millennium of peace and hope.
