through one man’s conscious union with God. The advent of the newly structured Adam-body is what sets this sacred journey into motion.
Helpmeet
The second chapter of Genesis conveys an interesting moment in the biography of Adam, who dwells in a magnificent garden flourishing with everything he could possibly want or need. But the man is lonely. Realizing the problem, God proceeds to address it by setting aside Adam’s conscious mind and causing a deep sleep to come over him. Then the unseen Creative Forces remove one of Adam’s ribs and from that bone fashion a separate being—a woman called Eve. Out of the blue and from the innermost depths of Adam’s own being, a separate spirit emerges—something born of his deeper, unconscious self. And a new energy, which until that moment had been hidden from human awareness, is released to take form in the world.
This dramatic scene in the creation narrative harks back to the soul’s original, formless condition within the cosmos when the very first soul made “in our image, after our likeness” emerged from the Godhead. (Gen. 1:26) The biblical allusion to “our” likeness refers to the fact that from the outset souls were created male and female. Since the very first soul came into being and began roaming the universe in spirit form, entering the earth plane as an entity named Amilius, it and every other soul had incorporated both polarities. As explained in the Cayce information, only much later did the actual physical separation into the two sexes occur as a means to help souls advance.
The developments in Eden speak to the fact that the male spirit (Adam) and its female counterpart (Eve) were actually two halves of one whole. They were twin souls—coequal reflections of a unique aspect of divinity spun off at the moment of creation. And now the pair would occupy the planet in visible form as material representations of the masculine and feminine polarities. Interestingly, the Old Testament allegory confirms the unity and native equality of the two by describing Eve as an element of Adam taken from his side. Edgar Cayce elaborates further on Eve’s purpose for coming into being—
… this as a being came as the companion; and when there was that turning to the within, through the sources of creation, as to make for the helpmeet … then—from out of self—was brought that as was to be the helpmeet, not just a companion of the body …
364-7
More than a bodily companion, Adam’s helpmeet Eve is a symbol of that which issues forth from the soul itself to assist humankind along the path back to divine awareness. A previously overlooked aspect of the soul has come into expression in order to aid in its spiritual development.
As with most of the Bible, layer upon layer of meaning infuses the relatively simple story of the glorious garden that once was our home. Running through this tale of a paradise lost are the intertwining elements of the plot which mask profound spiritual truths. First, only by laying aside the mind, putting the outer self to sleep so to speak, can the unseen Creative Forces hidden deep inside us enter into this world. Second, each “half” of the now-split soul, its male and female counterparts, has an individual destiny and specific role to play in the spiritual upliftment of the human race. In that same vein, the Edgar Cayce readings reveal an as yet unrecognized but astonishing fact about Adam’s “twin soul,” his consort Eve. She will enter the earth again for another significant lifetime at a pivotal moment in human history. It is during the period when the first begotten of God or Adam soul makes its climactic appearance on earth as the Messiah. In that future incarnation the soul known as Eve will return to assist the deliverer in his holy mission by taking on the role of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
The Serpent Beguiled Me
In paradise—humanity’s original “perfect” condition—Adam and Eve live in peaceful coexistence and companionship with their God enjoying dominion over every cell of the created universe. The readings state that “ … in the first was given man and mind [to] subdue the earth in every element … all manner of animal in the earth, in the air, under the sea, has been tamed of man … ”(900-31) As a pot is comprised of and no different from the clay out of which it is shaped, the man and woman embodied the stuff of divinity and as such experienced a state of uninterrupted harmony and bliss. Their Edenic utopia might have continued unabated had the serpent not entered the picture. While it is intriguing and perhaps somewhat comforting to believe a literal talking snake was Eve’s tempter, that notion is far too simplistic. The human adventure on this planet was launched by the same forces still at work today: the temptation to misuse the sacred knowledge we possess for self-gratification—Selfishness.
The lamentable events that occurred in the Garden of Eden at the dawn of time actually are a record of the downward movement of human consciousness. Long ago when souls could still perceive their Oneness with the divine and the totality of creation, they chose instead to put their faith in a counterfeit reality: dualism. Understood from its mystical standpoint, the snake in the Bible is the life force found inside each individual—what Eastern mystical teachings refer to as kundalini energy (the serpent). And because every human being is endowed with free will, he or she chooses where to direct this creative spark, deciding either to use these soul forces for the good of the whole or to enhance oneself. Genesis is a fable about how the human race turned away from its divine source and misused its sacred energy as well as a potent reminder about the need to stay alert to the misguided antics of the restless mind. The mistake Adam and Eve made stands as a warning never to pervert the spiritual power to which our souls have access for selfish ends. If we do, it may be to our eternal detriment.
The female (Eve), representing the unconscious, veiled aspect of the human being, becomes aware of a frisson of energy inside her—the serpent. In close touch with this inner life force she soon becomes entranced with the possibility of wielding such a power and, unbeknownst to the outer male aspect (Adam), engages the notion with her mind. But the snake, which is both subtle and cunning, quickly tempts Eve to ignore her innermost guidance and stray outside the boundaries of divine law by seeking to aggrandize herself. It persuades her to ingest the knowledge of good and evil with the promise that she will become as a God. Eve has allowed her mind to grab hold of an idea and convince herself it is true: “I need something more than what I am right now in order to be divine.” With her decision to reach for the forbidden fruit and try to add “more” to what she already is, Eve has accepted the principle of duality. She perceives herself as separate and apart from the whole, from God. And the game begins.
Adam and Eve already existed in the midst of perfection as far as the eye could see, but after becoming cognizant of the kundalini energy within, living in attunement with divine order no longer was enough for them. Something mind-made, external to Eve’s inner recognition of an uninterrupted state of Oneness, becomes the apple of her eye. She then proceeds to involve Adam in the sorry drama. Thus will the more hidden aspect of ourselves (female) flirt with using the sacred life energy (the serpent) to convince the outer consciousness (male) that we must know more, have more, be more, in order to be whole. “ … For, it is knowledge misapplied that was the fall—or the confusion—in Eve” (281-63), states the Cayce reading. The irony is that Eve’s soul was constituted of divine stuff, and by its very nature encompassed everything she could possibly need or desire, including any knowledge that for the moment appeared to be lacking. Infinity resided within her. But with that singular act of disobedience to her highest sense of awareness, Eve gave in to the desire for separation from her divine source over attunement with that source. The yen for matter and material form had bewitched the soul again.
Worse, Eve’s companion, Adam, follows suit, then accuses his partner of leading him astray. Adam’s charge is the earliest known example of the all-too-human tendency to align one’s thinking with the thinking of others until together—through
