I have been researching #Atlantis for over 2 decades. Not every day, of course, but ever since I discovered it in an #EdgarCayce book, I was hooked. I used to collect books that reference it, finding obscure #metaphysical sources that almost seem like science fiction. I have come to decide that there are two camps of Atlantology… The Secular (derived from Plato’s Timaeus and Critius written in about 360 BC), and the #Esoteric (which has its roots in the Theosophists of the 1900’s, and has been popularized in the modern age by Edgar Cayce in the 1930’s.)
I study both camps. There are similarities between the works of Plato and Cayce. I find it ironic that the secular camp stems from a philosopher. But the scientists who have attempted to label one submerged city or another as Atlantis, follow the criteria set in Plato’s Critius.
Plato was the main student of Socrates. His works detailed conversations between Socrates and various scholars who came to converse with him. The Timaeus is mainly a #philosophical text, contemplating the order of existence. It suggests that the world is a conscious living being, a god, whose soul exists at the core of its circular body, which is a perfect form in nature.
The Critius then goes on to discuss Atlantis in great detail. From the layout of the city, as a perfect circle (representing the perfect form), made of alternating rings of land and water in a target pattern, incorporating the sacred balance between elements. He described a fertile island beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Known today as the Strait of Gibralter). The landmass was the size of Libya. This translates to a large continent in the Atlantic Ocean. I always said that the Atlantic was named after Atlantis. Seems to make sense. This landmass was a natural habitat for elephants, whom the Atlanteans used as beasts of burden. I would like to think they loved the elephants, but that’s because elephants are wonderful creatures. It would make sense that they are Atlantean. The architecture was highly advanced, and made of white, black and red stone. They also mined precious metals, of which a coppery Orichalcum was highly abundant, and second in value to gold. No one knows what the metal is, although a recent find in a shipwreck revealed a metal consisting of copper and zinc.
For many ages, they were a people of great virtue until they began to lose sight of this, and degraded into evil and greed. They waged war on Athens, (suggesting there was civilization in the Mediterranean simultaneously,) and became very aggressive. Then Zeus punished them by sending a flood, which would be their famous demise.
Edgar Cayce’s work mirrors many of the same things mentioned by Plato. He was a channeller known as the sleeping prophet. He would go into trances and access the “Akashic Records.” This is a 4th dimensional record of all knowledge that can be accessed in a dream state. He did past life readings by entering a trance and tapping into this knowledge. His readings were in the form of detailed descriptions of the past lives of his clients, many of whom had may lifetimes in Atlantis. The main difference is that he described a highly advanced civilization who possessed what could be described today as ancient alien technology.
They used crystals for many functions, much like the home world of Superman. Pyramids were their power generators, and they flew machines that seem more advanced than even what we have invented in the modern age. He even describes a type of android they created called “things,” who did their menial labor. He also described a global culture, expanding Atlantis into a civilization rather than a city, with thousands of years of history, including a series of natural disasters marking their various ages, which split up the continent over time into islands.
I have looked into the changing geology of the Atlantic, and this all makes perfect sense, considering the volatile nature of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Even Cayce’s date of the devastating flood at 12,000 years ago matches with the end of the ice age, when the oceans were said to rise 400 feet.
Once I discovered this information, my imagination was hooked for life. To me, this is a fabulous mystery that I will never stop thinking about. I love the secular research, and I don’t discount esoteric theories. People tell me about their past lives there, and post articles they find on my wall. I have studied it so much, I can close my eyes and imagine myself walking on the streets. And this is what has led me to create my Atlantis Saga. Shadows of Atlantis incorporates my many years of passionate research.
Mara Powers is author of the Shadows of Atlantis saga. An Atlantis researcher for almost 3 decades, she incorporates all her knowledge into an epic fantasy saga set in the final age of Atlantis. www.shadowsofatlantis.com