who had come together to dedicate their minds and bodies to becoming the channels through which the body of the Messiah or “ … chosen vessel might enter—through choice—into materiality.” (5749-7) The community was committed to preparing for the time when “ … there might come that beloved Son, who would make the paths straight, who would bring then man out of darkness into light … ” (587-6) Cayce also refers to the unusual sect as “ … sincere in their purpose, and yet not orthodox as to the rabbis of that particular period … ”(2067-11), having separated themselves in body, mind, and spirit to accommodate the foretold deliverer and upcoming spiritual awakening. Expectancy was their watchword and the possibility of fulfilling the messianic promise by “ … offering themselves as channels through which there might come the new or divine origin … ” (254-109) formed the context for every aspect of their daily lives, even the most mundane activities. Members of the Essenes were devoted to creating the most auspicious setting for the entrance of that consciousness we know as the Son of Man.
The Essenes’ belief, fervent hope, and ideal was that through a stricter adherence to both the letter and the spirit of the law they might so purify themselves that it would be possible, through them, for the Promised One to come into the earth. And according to Edgar Cayce, this consecration of thought and activity led to the fulfillment of the law of like begetting like.
… Did the darkness bring the light? Did the wandering away from the thought of such bring the Christ into the earth? Is this idea not rather refuting the common law that is present in spirit, mind and body that “Like begets like?” As was asked oft, ‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’ …
262-61
While scholarly disagreements and heated debate continue over the significance and historic role of the Essene community, this pious sect was the group to which Jesus’ family belonged. Linked to the ruins found at Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, which comprised the sect’s spiritual literature and informed its social precepts, the Essenes never rose to great prominence in the ancient world. But it was within the context of the religious and cultural climate they engendered that John the Baptist conducted his mission and Jesus initially was reared.
Looked upon as rebels and radicals, especially by the Sadducees and Pharisees who held to a strict interpretation of the law of the prophets, members of the Essene community were considered outcasts at the time of Christ. While they sincerely held to the tenets of the Mosaic law, a separate set of rules, beliefs, and unusual rituals set them apart from Orthodox Jewish life. Adherents made use of astrology, numerology, and phrenology and also believed in reincarnation. In general, the community followed its own agenda, which put them in direct conflict with many of the wealthier aristocratic families, high priests, and temple officials vehemently opposed to their heretical ideas.
Central to the Essene philosophy was the conviction that it was possible to receive revelation and guidance directly from the Divine, not just through the prophets of old. The Cayce readings state that the Essenes “ … taught the mysteries of man and his relationship to those forces as might be manifested from within and without.” (2520-1) The community also kept detailed records of those occasions when individuals in their midst had been visited by supernatural beings or had reported extraordinary experiences coming in dreams, visions, and voices. As diligent students of the universal forces, the Essenes taught the mysteries of man and regarded such revelations as valid promises to humanity.
The sect occupied several areas—one of which was a community on Mount Carmel built on the original site of the school of the prophets established during the time of Elijah. According to the Cayce readings, Mount Carmel was the main headquarters of the Essene temple and its most important branch in terms of preparing for the arrival of the Messiah. Members from that location had studied the records of the early Egyptian period including the activities of the Temple Beautiful and Temple of Sacrifice and had incorporated those findings into their temple services. Cayce also reports that many Essenes or the “ … near adherents of same … ”(1602-4) were not part of the rigid, monastic order living in semi-seclusion in formal communities such as the ones established at Mount Carmel or near the Dead Sea. While holding to the sect’s beliefs and cooperating with the brotherhood’s stated purposes and objectives, this loose network of believers remained scattered throughout the countryside, maintaining private homes in various villages and towns.
Interestingly it was not just the Essenes who were engaged in special preparations for the entrance of the Messiah. In every land where man sought to understand and know his relationship with the Creative Forces there were “ … those who looked for the day, the hour, when that great purpose, that event, was to be in the earth a literal experience,” (1908-1) reports one reading. Through astrology and numerology the Essenes along with other clairvoyants hailing from the far corners of the world and advanced in the interpretation of signs and symbols kept watch, trying to ascertain the time when the great changes were to take place.
The Cayce information also mentions an extensive level of cooperation among groups from many lands who embodied the same high spiritual ideals and purposes as the Essenes. Not surprisingly, interactions among the different circles also involved an exchange of information. Members of the Essene community seeking knowledge about the promised events were able to study material handed over to them by other communities as well as to review the research generated by their own sect. Seers all over the world at that time had come to recognize the onset of the Piscean Age, which marked the start of another cycle, and understood the dawning of this new era portended a major transformation of the old order.
Unfortunately, though, for the majority who realized change was imminent and a new order at hand, including many inside the Essene community itself, the wait was still for a deliverer who might free the Israelites from their physical bondage by either setting up a separate government or creating an entirely new nation. The Jewish people, Essenes included, were under the thumb of Rome and paying heavy taxes to a hated conqueror. In addition, a corrupt and oppressive priesthood constantly demanded devotion and tribute. Cayce depicts these spiritual leaders as gormandizing themselves and their own interests through the sale of privileges associated with temple activities, which were steeped in the letter of the law without its spirit.
Choosing Mary
… the entity was in that now known as or called the Promised Land, during those periods when there were the preparations of the channels through which the Essenes looked for choice to be made of one, from those who had been consecrated for the service of being the channel, through which He, the Prince of Peace, might come.
1981-1
Through choice, the soul that would become the Son of Man was going to enter into materiality again. Preparing for that moment eventually led the Essenes to hand-pick twelve young maidens for special religious training. The hope was that with very strict discipline and concentrated effort this carefully selected sorority would be the group from which the mother of the Messiah might be chosen. Edgar Cayce’s rendition of the birth-of-Jesus story begins at this point with the description of a gathering on Mount Carmel when all the parents of young girls who were perfect in both body and mind—and wanted to dedicate their children for this unusual service—brought them to the temple school overseen by the Essene priests. The leaders eventually culled a dozen girls from the larger group of children brought forward because those twelve were regarded as the most fit to consecrate their minds and bodies in preparation for serving as the sacred vessel and becoming—
… the channel through which there might come that beloved Son … that there must be … through the very expression of that Being in the earth—the understanding that the law was written in the hearts of men, rather than on tables of stone; that the temple, the holy
