by Edgar Cayce (edited by Lytle Robinson)

From this time on, although material civilization rose to great heights, there was growing unrest among the Atlantean people. In a land of plenty, strife rather than peace became the rule. The altars came to be used for human sacrifice by those turning away from the original concept of the One God. Sun worship became prevalent. Only the dedicated, inner core of the Children of the Law of One remained firm.

Low standards of morality, sex indulgence and perversion became rampant. Poverty and hunger were widespread among the peasantry and working classes. There was a deteriorating of the physical and spiritual bodies, just as there was a wasting away of the mountains and valleys into the seas. In spite of material advancements and many scientific achievements, inner decay was to bring dispersion and finally annihilation to a proud, wicked, adulterous people.

The second important land change came long after the first, around 29,000 B.C., and resulted in the submergence of many large islands. The Bible gives an account of it in the story of Noah and the Flood.

After the deluge, which was preceded by volcanic eruptions and electrical storms, the principal land areas left in this part of the world were the islands of Poseidia in the North West Indies area), Aryaz in the central Atlantic and Og (Peru) in the West. There were large movements of the people to these lands as well as to other parts of the earth.

Lemuria vanished into the Pacific Ocean. Some of its inhabitants fled to the safe lands of lower California, Arizona and New Mexico, where they established the Brotherhood of Mu in the land of “Mayra”.

For the Atlanteans it was the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one unsurpassed in many ways.

After the days of the Flood, a period of rebuilding began in Atlantis. The Atlantean scientific turn of mind combined with their energy and aggressiveness made possible great strides forward in mechanics, chemistry, physics and psychology; for in many ways the Atlanteans were a superior people. In certain fields they were more learned than any civilization since.

When electricity was discovered after the first upheaval, it paved the way for remarkable developments in the field of electronics and electrical devices. Atomic power, from uranium, came to be understood and used in transportation and the movement of heavy objects. It was also abused, for selfish purposes. The Atlanteans had more efficient systems of heating and lighting; and communications with other lands were well established. Light rays of many kinds, such as laser beams, were discovered and controlled, including the death ray. Liquid air was manufactured, also compressed air and rubber. Metal alloys of brass, aluminum and uranium, unknown to us, were used in the construction of air and water craft, including the submarine. The telephone and the elevator were in common use; radio and television were highly developed, as was the amplification of light rays in telescopic observation and photographing at long distances. Many types of bodily adornment came to be fabricated. Soldiering and law enforcement became a part of the political scene.

But the most notable scientific accomplishment of the Atlanteans was the harnessing of the sun’s energy. Developed originally as a means of spiritual communication between the finite and the infinite, the huge reflective crystals were first known as the Tuaoi Stone. Later, as its use was improved upon over the centuries, it expanded to become a generator of power or energy, radiating across the land without wires. Then it became known as the Firestone, or the Great Crystals.

Set in the Temple of the Sun in Poseidia, the Firestone was the central power station of the country. Basically, it was a large cylindrical glass or stone of many facets, capped with a mechanism at one end. It was suspended in the center of the building and insulated with a non-conductive material akin to asbestos but resembling Bakelite. Above the stone was a dome which could be rolled back for exposure to the sun.

The concentration and magnification of the sun’s rays through the many prisms was of tremendous intensity. So powerful was it that it could be regenerated and transmitted throughout the land in invisible beams similar to radio waves. Its energy was used to power ships at sea, aircraft and even pleasure vehicles. This was done by remote control through induction methods to the apparatus in the craft. Cities and towns received their power from the same source.

The human body could even be rejuvenated through the moderate application of the rays from the crystals, and man often rejuvenated himself. Yet by mis-application, the Firestone could be and was turned to destructive uses as well as the means for torture and punishment. Tuned too high—not intentionally—it contributed to the cause of the second catastrophe. The rays combined with other electrical forces to start many fires deep within the earth, and volcanic eruptions were precipitated from nature’s powerful storehouse of energy.

Beautiful stone cities that glistened in the sunlight were scattered across the land. Among them were Amaki, Achaei, and Poseidia; the latter being the most important city of the day. It was located on the last of the great islands designated by the same name. Here on the Bay of Parfa was one of the best and busiest seaports of the world.

Water was supplied to the buildings of the city and the many pools and lagoons by viaducts built to nearby mountain streams. So huge and numerous were these conduits that they gave the appearance of a walled city. Water sports were highly popular. The buildings were constructed in tiers with gleaming, polished stones and intricate mosaics of superior craftsmanship.

In the center of the city was the temple, around which much of the life of the Children of the Law of One revolved. Supported by huge, semi-circular columns of onyx, topaz and beryl inlaid with amethyst and other colorful stones, the elaborate temple reflected the rays of the sun from a variety of beautiful angles.

Inside, the sacred fires of the altars burned constantly in the inner chamber. These mysterious flames produced rays—the knowledge of which was so soon to be lost—that were used in the treatments given the mixtures [animal-man creatures] for the removal of unwanted appendages. There was a large outer court which served as an assembly hall, and inner rooms for the prophets and the many priests, priestesses and attendants of the temple. The large priesthood was made up of the most learned men and women of the day, and some of them acted in the capacity of judges as well as spiritual and vocational instructors.

The Atlanteans, and especially the Poseidians, studied the creative energies of the universe and penetrated the essence of nature’s storehouse; the vibrations of plants, jewels and metals—the latter including their vibratory effect on the psychic and intuitive nature of man. Agriculture was highly advanced, as were astronomy and astrology. The Atlanteans calculated the meaning of numbers, the stars and the elements; and even knew the activity and effect of the morning dew. They learned how to neutralize the pull of gravity. They were aware of the mysteries of the origin of man and the five races, and they had a full understanding of the laws of metaphysics—of spiritual and scientific truths which are essentially the same.

It was this wealth of knowledge possessed by those of the Law of One that was sought and misapplied by those of Belial, the materialists who rejected not only the ideas of the worshipers of the One God but also their precautions and warnings. There were some of the Law of One who listened to the arguments and the temptations offered by those of Belial and yielded, becoming collaborators with them in the desire to use for pleasure and destructive purposes the creative energies and laws of the universe.

This misapplication was known as the “Nightside” of the law, or of life. Many religious temples were degraded to temples of sin as spiritual laws were applied to the satisfaction of the physical appetites. The misuse of psychic powers brought strife in many quarters. There was contention over the use of explosives, gases and liquid air for selfish purposes. Conflicts arose over special privileges and who were to be the leaders as well as which was to be the ruling party of the land. The slave, peasantry and working class were not only selfishly oppressed and abused, but heavily taxed as well. Party lines were thus sharply drawn between the two groups. Although those of the One God were ostensibly in power, large inroads in their authority and control were made by the opposition, the self-seeking groups. Civil war erupted.

The form of government was a monarchy in a semi-socialist state. The king was aided in his rule by an inner council. In this there were evil elements; and deceit, intrigue and conspiracy were within the king’s own household. Society was divided generally into three classes: the ruling class—those of both groups in positions of power and authority, including the high priesthood; the middle or teaching class—instructors and overseers; and the peasantry or laboring class, including the mixtures. There was also a line of royalty, and princes and princesses who loved the pomp and splendor about the king’s court. The Children of the Law of One lived communally.

The growth of disturbing factors within, the magnification of personal desires and embitterments, made the final destruction of Atlantis all the more certain. Advanced understanding of spiritual and natural laws and their misapplication made that destruction all the more terrible. Those of the One God realized, through the clairvoyant powers of the fast-declining pituitary gland, that the impending final breakup of the Poseidian-Atlantean lands was now at hand. They sought ways of warning and uniting the people in order to prevent it, if possible, so that they might still carry out the injunction, subdue the earth, rather than—as those of Belial would have it—subdue one another.

They endeavored to gather all the knowledge of the various nations of the world concerning the approaching disaster, and a meeting was called with this in view. Envoys from many lands came to Atlantis to pool their wisdom in a last attempt to avert the calamity, but the meeting and evangelistic campaign resulting from it were to no avail.

Reconciled to the inevitable national cataclysm, the Children of the Law of One made other plans; the search for suitable lands to colonize. Many expeditions went out for this purpose. The Children of the Law of One also supplied leadership in the actual movements via land, air and water to the safer lands of Egypt, Honduras, Yucatan and other areas. Of special interest to them was the preservation of their religious tenets and records, and these were taken with them.

By 10,700 B.C., the country had reached the depths of moral and spiritual life—not in knowledge but in practice. Human sacrifice and sun worshiping were prevalent, as were adultery and corruption. The mixtures were used and abused.

The forces of nature were misused. The sun crystals were cruelly adapted as a means of coercion, torture and punishment; and they became known among the common people as the “Terrible Crystals”. A new low in morality and human dignity had been reached. Violence and rebellion spread across the land.

Then came the final catastrophe.

Gigantic land upheavals shook the foundations of the earth. Great islands crumbled into the sea and were inundated. Only scattered mountain peaks remained to mark the sunken graves. Some people escaped; a few stayed behind heroically to aid others in the exodus to other lands. The majority were lost. By 9500 B.C., Atlantis as a nation had vanished from the face of the earth.

The Atlantean culture, however, did not entirely pass away. Although there were comparatively high civilizations in China, India and the Pyrenees, Atlantean influence was felt in many places at different times, just as their aggressive and progressive nature is now and will continue to be felt through reincarnation in the earth.

The cycle of history often repeats itself, and the spirit of Atlantis has arisen once more, as will portions of the land itself. When changes that are to come about do take place, the island of Poseidia will be among the first high points to appear above sea level; new land will emerge off the east coast of the United States.

The Bahama Islands are remnants of the peaks of Poseidia, a part of the once great continent before its breaking up into islands after the second disaster. Near the islands of Bimini, fifty miles off the coast of Miami, Florida, there are buried under ages of sea slime the remains of an old Atlantean temple. It will one day be recovered.

In the Pyrenees and Morocco are the ruins of early settlements still to be uncovered. In Honduras, Guatemala and Yucatan, Mexico, the fleeing Atlanteans became known as the Mayas. In North America they settled in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and as far east as Mississippi and Ohio, where they came to be known as the Mound Builders. The Iroquois Indians are direct descendants, and traces of Atlantean religious beliefs may be found among other Indian tribes.

In Egypt, Atlantean influence was felt in the building of pyramids. There are to be found in Egypt, Bimini and Yucatan duplicate reports of Atlantean history. The records are identical and they will clarify some of the Old Testament accounts. Included in the records are the plans for construction of Great Crystals. Some of these remain have already been unknowingly recovered by unsuspecting archaeologists in the pyramids of Yucatan.

While the earliest recorded date in the Cayce readings is ten and a half million years ago—the second influx of souls of the perfect race—civilizations rose and fell many times during the great Atlantean period from 200,000 to 10,700 B.C. Between the first and the last destructions was a span of years many times the length of the Christian era to date. The type of culture carried into the Pyrenees and America when the first catastrophe occurred differed from that taken to Central America and Morocco with the second exodus; and to Egypt and Yucatan, Mexico, with the third and final disaster. Nor could the whole civilization in its entirety be transplanted at any time. A division of tongues took place when the continent was broken up into islands, although the rest of the world still spoke the one language. This further complicated the Atlantean effect on the various civilizations to which the people migrated.

Thus man evolves materially and sometimes spiritually, but almost never in a straight line, although generally the trend has always been upward. Here he is a little better; there a little worse; fluctuating like a cork in the sea. Souls rose to great heights; often they fell to low depths, taking others with them. But always there have been the few who were searching for the answer to the mystery of whence they came and whither they are going, and why. The higher way to a more noble and Godly life still evades man, yet it is at his finger tips.

The present age is a replica in many ways of ancient Atlantis at its height, and our technology can therefore be better understood in the light of Atlantean accomplishments. Atlanteans are now reincarnating in the earth in large numbers, and as the cycle of mankind progresses through the laws of karma—action and reaction—men are faced once again with a world of their own making. Our high civilization presents the first opportunity, under similar circumstances, not only to recompense for the many evils committed but to choose once more between the use of nature’s forces for constructive or destructive purposes.

The Cayce Records say: “As indicated here, this entity is an Atlantean. Hence it is manifesting in the earth at this period when many Atlanteans have entered. For this ye may be very sure: no leader in any country or clime—whether friend or foe of what the entity believes—is other than an Atlantean.

“As we have indicated, the Atlanteans had reached such an advancement; and had been entrusted with divine activities on the earth. But—as did also this entity—they forgot from Whom and in Whom all live and have their being. Thus they brought about within themselves that which destroyed the body, but not the soul.

“Then this is the purpose of the entity in the earth: to be a channel of blessing to someone today—now. That is, to be a living example of that which He gave: ‘Come unto me, all that are weak and heavy laden; take my cross upon you and learn of me.’ These are thy purposes in the earth. And those thou will manifest beautifully—or again make a miserable failure, as thou didst in Atlantis and as many another soul is doing in this particular era.” (Case #2794-L-I)

We are at the threshold of the testing period. What we do now will decide the fate for mankind for ages to come.

Excerpt from Story Of The Origin And Destiny Of Man

See Part I here.