of divine service as channels of light into this world, of creative, uplifting movement and music that aroused and raised the soul and mind rather than the lusts of the body, lessons and practice with praying and singing, caring for others, doing good in the community, and practicing the “Fruits of the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:22) They were very busy girls.
Cayce’s reading stated that the life’s work of the Essenes, from very early times, “were given to alms, good deeds, missionary activities—as would be termed today.” The reading also indicates that many Essene trained individuals, including many women, eventually lived busy lives in the everyday community, even in the households of wealthy and important citizens. Shockingly, a trained Essene woman served in the household of Herod! For example, in Herod’s palace his third wife’s assistant was a trained member of the Essenes! The reading states: “Through the manner and conduct of life of that individual [the assistant], and the associations and activities, the entity [Herod’s third wife] gained knowledge of that group’s activities [the Essenes].” The wife sought out a secret meeting with one of the Essene wise men and learned the fundamentals of the faith and daily practice.
Here’s a segment of Cayce’s discourses on Essene practices and the birth of Jesus:
Please describe the Essene wedding, in temple, of Mary and Joseph, giving the form of ceremony and customs at that time.
(A) This followed very closely the form outlined in Ruth [one of only two biblical books named after a woman, the other being Esther]. It was not in any way a supplanting but a cherishing of the sincerity of purpose in the activities of individuals.
When you read the biblical book of Ruth, you do not find any wedding ceremony; rather, you find an older landowner named Boaz honoring the selflessness of the maiden Ruth in caring for her widowed mother-in-law Naomi. Boaz also honors the customs and rules of his community by allowing a younger suitor who, according to tradition, has first right to marry Ruth and take ownership of Naomi’s deceased husband’s land. The younger suitor does not accept the offer, so Boaz is free to marry Ruth, whom he cherishes because of her sincerity of purpose the Cayce’s reading indicates.
Shifting now to Cayce’s reading 2067-11, Cayce speaks to how the maid Mary was among the chosen ones to serve as channels of the Messiah and how she was “indicated” on the stairway to the altar of Mount Carmel’s temple by “the hovering of the angel.” This angel also made the “annunciation” of Mary as the chosen one to her mother Anna and to Judy, the Essene priestess who became one of the main teachers of the young Jesus (we’ll learn more about her in a later chapter).
There will be much more on the Essenes and Mary in chapter 6. Here, though, is a fundamental statement by Cayce about this community:
Hence the group we refer to here as the Essenes, which was the outgrowth of the periods of preparations from the teachings by Melchizedek, as propagated by Elijah and Elisha and Samuel. These were set aside for preserving themselves in direct line of choice for the offering of themselves as channels through which there might come the new or the divine origin, see?
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Could we have an Essene group today? Could we have a School of the Prophets? We suspect not. First of all, modern society today is generally against cults—even delineations of the faith are beginning to breakdown, moving toward a more ecumenical view of religious diversity. Secondly, given today’s attitudes, most people do not dedicate their children to churches or organizations, especially secret ones. Thirdly, there is a worldwide demand for more regulatory oversight of organizations and groups, and more transparency into their internal activities and handling of young people, especially children. And given the world’s anxiety with terrorists, sleeper cells, cults, especially of a religious nature, it would be unlikely that such a group could form today without a least some serious “watch-dog” group interference, if not the local or national government agency getting involved.
However, Western beliefs in individual freedom allow people to get into whatever interests they desire, no matter how unusual they are, as long as they do not threaten the fabric of society. Even so, terrorism is cutting into the broader freedoms as governments and groups feel the need to be more aware, prepared, and preemptive.
The wisdom that came through Edgar Cayce consistently guided him and his little band of visionaries to not form a cult or schism of any kind. The guidance was to first apply the concepts and practices in their own lives and then present them to others as “see for yourself,” sharing the benefits experienced but never attempting to push the information on others or draw others into a cabal. Over these past many years, the A.R.E. has continued to make opportunities available to seekers of better health, greater consciousness, and heightened spirituality, while allowing for as much individual variations as possible without leaving the foundational concepts that came through Cayce’s amazing discourses and the faiths they were built upon.
The breadth of topics covered by the readings has made for a diverse organization with a massage and hydrotherapy school, a transpersonal psychology and leadership university, annual conferences on everything from ancient mysteries to modern remote viewing, from energy medicine to intuitive medical analysis, from mystical, universal forms of Judaism and Christianity to the physics of God!
The little organization that began with one amazing psychic, Edgar Cayce, has grown into an international association of seekers with diverse cultural, national, educational, and spiritual backgrounds and perspectives—each retaining his or her own inner source of revelation and guidance. This open association of seekers allows for much diversity with one overarching and underlying ideal: There is one infinite source of life, and there is an ultimate oneness of all souls from and in that one source. Common among these seekers is a belief that eventually evil, violence, hatred, and hierarchical dominance will vanish, leaving only goodness, love, and mutual appreciation for one another.
Chapter 3
Essenes’ Scrolls—Found
Despite a few alternative views, most every researcher agrees that the scrolls found in caves next to the Dead Sea belonged to the community that lived in Qumran, and most researchers agree that this was the community of those now known as the Essenes. However, most of the scrolls were not written by the Essenes; many appear to be collections of important spiritual and historical documents that may have been written elsewhere by various other groups or authors and then collected as well as preserved by the Essene community at Qumran.
Some forty percent of the scrolls are copies of various texts in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh! Tanakh is an acronym of the first Hebrew letter of each of the three traditional sections of the Hebrew Bible: Torah (“Teaching,” the Five Books of Moses), Nevi’im (“Prophets”) and Ketuvim (“Writings”)—thus: TaNaKh (there are no vowels in Hebrew, so they are added to help with pronunciation).
Roughly thirty percent of the scrolls are spiritual documents not included in the Hebrew Bible but are considered to be important, such as the Book of Enoch, the Book of Tobit, Psalms 152-155, the Wisdom of Sirach, Jubilees, and so on—all of these documents are from the Second Temple Period (516 BCE to 70 CE).
There were two Temple Periods. Nebuchadnezzar II, who was the king of the Babylonian Empire and reigned from roughly 605 to 562 BCE, destroyed the first temple. He was the king who constructed the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World). In 587 BCE he invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the First Temple of Israel, which had been constructed by the Israelite King Solomon in 957 BCE. The Second Temple of Israel was built after the Persians conquered
