America, and created high civilizations there, and that these determined, energetic, resourceful people through reincarnation are making their presence felt in radical, forceful ways in America and the world today.
As a famous English scientist once said, I am too much of a skeptic to deny the possibility of anything.
L.W.R.
Tucson, Arizona
October, 1971
1
Was There an Atlantis?
In the 2,500-odd life readings Edgar Cayce gave, many periods of history, both known and unknown, are commented upon in varying degrees of detail. The Cayce files therefore cast considerable light on the origins and developments of the mystery races of the world. These little-known prehistoric people—and they are numerous—have long baffled the best minds of men.
Since only fragmentary evidence of their civilizations exists at this late date, the lack of knowledge is not surprising. What archaeology has learned of their cultures it has had to piece together from scraps of artifacts left here and there by people who apparently were far less interested in history than we are today. It would seem that they simply never went to the trouble to put down, at least in a permanent manner, the chronological events of their day. Or if they did so, the records have been lost.
It is therefore understandable that there is so much speculating, theorizing, and rationalizing about the “mystery tribes.” Little else can be done, considering the lack of evidence. Many of the issues involved are necessarily controversial among scholars, and we do not propose to discuss all of them in detail here. Suffice it to say, some of them for our purposes are important, for it is on certain of these very points that the Cayce records throw so much light. Our chief interest, however, is in the colonies of Atlantis and the peoples and areas influenced by that ancient culture in so many parts of the earth and especially in the Americas.
The reader will readily observe connecting links between civilizations far removed from each other, for all have the common denominator of an Atlantean source or influence. The Cayce readings indicate that the people from the slowly sinking continent of Atlantis immigrated to many widely scattered areas in search of safety, and that their impact was felt in various ways according to the age in which they lived.
Unhappily, official science gives no credence to the Atlantean theory. A few brave scholars have ventured to raise that possibility, but fewer still go so far as to base their case on the premise. The moment such a scientist does so, he is likely to be considered outside the fold by his colleagues, and his views cease to be regarded as official or authoritative. Regrettably, this is almost always the circumstance when a new or different hypothesis is put forth, whether in the field of history, philosophy, medicine, theology, physics. Martin Luther was a heretic; Alexander Graham Bell a crackpot; and Robert Fulton a dreamer who was trying to do what everybody knew could not be done. Their names are legion, and they are the ones who have led the way to new horizons. Only the great dare to be different; that is why they are great. They also need to be thick-skinned to weather the professional jealousy and the public ridicule. Still, while we want to be open-minded, we don’t want to be so open-minded that the wind blows through.
We will therefore delineate what the Cayce records have to say on the subject after exploring what is considered to be the best and most widely accepted knowledge of it to date. We must bear in mind, however, that tomorrow or twenty years hence, as new findings are made, our factual knowledge may be very different from what it is today. Modern science is not infallible. For centuries men believed and taught that the world is round; now they are certain it is elliptical.
The most convincing thing about Cayce’s Atlantean explanation is that it answers questions that so far have largely defied solution. Too, the readings in many instances corroborate points that have never been definitely established but merely postulated by geology or archaeology. In some cases the information in the readings is simply unmentioned as a possibility, or it many even be diametrically opposed to that which is generally believed. Only time, research, and new discoveries can prove the validity of many of these points.
The readings state that immigrating Atlanteans went in many directions: primarily to the Pyrenees mountains between France and Spain and to North America with the initial cataclysm about 50,700 B.C.; to Central America and Morocco during the second debacle, about 28,000 B.C.; and to Egypt, where they built the pyramids, and Yucatan, Mexico, with the third and final catastrophe in 10,600 B.C. Since these movements were spaced many thousands of years apart, the culture taken to one area in a given period was different from that taken to another at a later period. Because of the Ice Ages, which were intermittent, and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, drastic land changes were wrought over wide areas of the world. For these reasons, plus the time element itself, little is know of the civilizations today.
We have a classic example of the mystery tribes in the case of the Basques of the Pyrenees Mountains. The Cayce files briefly state that fleeing Atlanteans found their way to those high lands, that they set up a kingdom there, and that their marks may still be seen in chalk cliffs of Calais.
Today, the modern Basques with their peculiar culture and history smack so much of the Atlanteans that anyone familiar with the story of Atlantis according to the Cayce readings is irresistibly drawn to the conclusion that the Basques are Atlantean in origin. But there is nothing concrete to prove this. That is the problem we will be faced with throughout our study. Yet the one bright hope is that time and technology will eventually resolve the many questions. One can only wait and see.
From our studies of early man, we will see that there are corroborations as well as discrepancies between the present knowledge of science and the Cayce readings. Civilized man has, for instance, according to the Cayce files, lived in the earth far longer than once generally believed—some 10—million years. But man’s first large, organized, united effort appears to have taken place about 52,000 years ago, when cooperation was essential in combating the wild beasts still roaming the earth.
Historically, there is now evidence that man lived in Central America perhaps 30,000 years ago, from bits of decorative carved bone found not far from Mexico City. The area also abounds with traditions of ancient civilizations from the east, of a great land called Azatlan, and flood stories.
In Peru, the Spaniard Pizarro and his men found 10,000 miles of well-paved stone roads dotted with the remains of numerous inns. This raises the obvious question of what kind of sophisticated people required such roads and where they came from. Indeed, there appears to have been a wave of cultural growth that affected civilizations all the way from Egypt to the Andean highlands of Peru in South America and the Midwest of North America. It is apparent that at a certain period in world pre-history—perhaps 10,000 B.C.—striking and sudden changes took place.
American archaeologists have for years been confronted with what appears to be undeniable evidence of trans-Pacific contacts between the Old World and the New.
Leo Deuel, in his book Conquistadors without Swords, writes:
“Students of American antiquities had of course long been aware of similarities in artifacts, customs, and institutions between the Americas and Southeast Asia, particularly, as well as Polynesia and Melanesia. The Mexican game of patolli can be considered an almost exact replica of the parchesi of Hindu India. The pan pipes in use all over the Andes and into Brazil are virtually indistinguishable from those known to Burma and the Solomon Islands. Star-shaped mace heads from Melanesia resemble those from Peru. The people of Easter Island built masonry of polygonal blocks fitted into each other just as the Incas did. The native sweet potato of South
