atlantean priestesses
and their temples
During the session I was back in Atlantis. The whole sky is in flames. There are earthquakes and volcanoes and everything is falling. It’s chaos!
I am a tall woman, with long blond hair, and I am wearing a white robe. I am about forty-five years old. My name is Aiija. I am sitting with other priestesses around a table in a beautiful room, but it is strange, there is a lot of ozone in the air, a lot of lightning-type of energy and . . . fear. We are talking about it, but there is nothing we can do.
This is a lovely room and it’s part of the temple, but pieces have been falling down from the ceiling and the walls have cracked, it’s not really safe here anymore.
We are talking because we know that this was possible or coming, but we hoped that it would not happen. I feel regret about everything that is disappearing; this wipes Atlantis completely out . . . you see the flames against the sky . . . all that light and fire and stuff coming out, and that noise . . . it’s so much noise . . . and the people don’t know what to do . . . they are just running back and forth.
I die, getting buried under buildings and rubble and mud. It happened in that time of the year we call December.
That is why I am always filled with sadness during that time of the year. A deep, deep memory of something I will never be able to forget.
—herma
This tragic account from my friend Herma is a familiar description of the last hours of Atlantis. Similar experiences, or other memories that relate to drowning in very deep water, are buried in the subconscious minds of many of us who perished with our beloved country.
Herma is an attractive woman with dark hair, but she describes herself as a priestess with blond hair. Many dark-haired people lived in Atlantis, but her reference to being a blond Atlantean also correlates with recent archaeological discoveries. Mummies in caves in the Canary Islands, and elsewhere around the Atlantic Ocean where Atlanteans settled, often have red or blond hair. They exhibit the physical characteristics of Cro-Magnons, a race of people who were Homo sapiens, as we are. Cro-Magnons were first known as the “Atlantic People” because evidence of them stretched along the Atlantic shore from North Africa to the British Isles. They were physically strong, with a brain cavity somewhat larger than ours, long narrow skulls, high cheekbones, and prominent chins.
Cro-Magnons created the sophisticated artwork in the caves along rivers that lead to the Atlantic Ocean from southern France and northern Spain. Their beautiful paintings and sculptures date to the era of Atlantis, from 30,000 b.c. to 10,000 b.c. The artists may have come from the island of Atlantis, where pleasant climate, even during the Ice Age, offered them the opportunity to perfect their outstanding artistic skills. It was a short distance from Atlantis to these rivers along the coast of southwestern Europe. In the next chapter we shall consider other factors which also indicate that many Atlanteans were Cro-Magnons.
The light, fire, and resounding noises of Herma’s unpleasant experience were from earthquakes and erupting volcanoes in the last hours of Atlantis. If the building she remembers was on a mountain, which wasn’t a volcano, it might have survived when the ocean covered the land. Four temples of Atlantis, built high above the sea, did endure the final destruction. One temple was at Gorias on Gran Curral of the Madeira Islands, 300 miles north of the Canary Islands. Another, the Temple of Finias, stood on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. In the westernmost section of the Canary Islands, the Temple of Falias was above the surface on San Miguel, and far to the west across the Atlantic in the Carib-bean, the Temple of Murias, which was described in a previous chapter, remained standing.
When the ocean waters started to rise and earthquakes shook their country, the Atlanteans who realized the final destruction was imminent quickly climbed up to the sacred buildings. When conditions stabilized, the few fortunate survivors were amazed to discover that the ground had dropped and the water had risen so much that they and their temples were safe on land, but close to the water’s edge. Before long, the priestesses in the temples in the Madeira and the Canary Islands established regular contact by sea with each other. Using the clockwise circuit of the Gulf Stream’s strong current, they also managed occasional communication with the inhabitants of the faraway Temple of Murias in Poseidia.134 The intensive research of scholar Egerton Sykes offers interesting information about the Atlantean priestesses, lay workers, and soldiers who worked in the four temples. For untold centuries these sites were used for religious services and offered medical and repair facilities to visiting ocean travelers. Each extensive complex had clinics, schools, barracks for soldiers, and houses for those who worked at the temple.135 Women priestesses usually directed the temples’ activities. This was partly due to the strong influence of lunar fertility goddesses at that time, and also because during some of its various civilizations, Atlantis was a matriarchal society.
In North America, the Iroquois, whom Edgar Cayce says were direct descendants of Atlanteans, preserved the matriarchal culture of their ancestors. The earliest European records indicate that Iroquois women controlled the government and owned the land that, when they left this world, passed down to their daughters. The Iroquois men, who were expected to hunt and help plant the crops, had to live with their wife’s family. If the husband did not produce up to his spouse’s expectations, he was forced to leave the home and find another place to live.
Music was important in the Atlantean temples, for priestesses used it extensively in their healing practices. It was especially helpful with periods of depression and other mental disorders. The Atlanteans realized that every person has a certain vibration, and dis-ease results from conflicting or discordant vibrations.136 If music is correctly employed, it may eliminate harmful vibrations and offer a channel through which the natural rhythm and balance of the patient can be restored. Before becoming priestesses, women were required to attend special colleges where Muses trained them to be excellent musicians and successful healers.137 They learned to play flutes and stringed instruments, including harps and lutes, and to sing a variety of chants.
Murias, since it was renowned as a healing center, attracted priestesses who were interested in caring for others. At the temple, which was similar to a combination clinic and health spa, people received advice about their physical problems and also learned how to improve their habits so they might enjoy a healthier and happier life. Early explorers and treasure seekers, when they returned to the European continent, elaborately depicted Bimini as a site for the restoration of health and youth—hence the widespread belief that there was a wonderful Fountain of Youth somewhere in the Caribbean area. Hundreds of years later, these tales inspired the voyages of De Soto and Ponce de Leon, who daringly crossed the Atlantic Ocean hoping for rejuvenation.
Sykes believes the remedies the priestesses brewed in their cauldrons from herbs and plants led to the potions that Calypso, Circe, Medea, Medusa, the Witch of Endor, and Morgan Le Fay prepared. He points out that surviving stories attribute the power of the witches’ mysterious concoctions to the cauldron itself, not the ingredients, for apparently most people believed the power was in the “magical” container, not its contents.138 Edgar Cayce identifies the Bimini area as a place for improving one’s health. He suggests the development of a center for regeneration there, which would take advantage of the minerals in the water.139 In the midst of the salt water mangrove swamps on North Bimini, investigators discovered a hole of fresh water that appears to be spring-fed. This area, which resembles a very large well, is referred to as the “healing hole” or the “fountain.” Swimmers report a dip in the water has the happy effect of raising their spirits and making them feel cheerful and lighthearted. Some believe spending time in the “healing hole” improves their arthritis. The water in the Bimini area may stimulate the adrenal and pituitary glands to produce beneficial hormones, which could contribute to an uplifting, rejuvenating effect.
The workers who assisted in maintaining these four surviving temples of Atlantis were chosen partially for their skill in keeping records. Many of them were Tuatha who, when they left the sacred buildings, moved to the British Isles, taking their documents with them. The Celts incorporated the Tuathas’ data into myths and legends that provided Egerton Sykes with extensive information about the temples of Atlantis. From these sources and others, Sykes even provides us with the names of priestesses from each ancient location, such as Medusa, Sthenno, Eurayle, and Andromeda, who served in the Temple of Finias in the Canary Islands.
For numerous generations, priestesses remained on the islands to serve others, but eventually many of those from Falias, Gorias, and Finias joined the Amazons, a large tribe in nearby Africa with women rulers. As Amazons, these descendants of Atlantean priestesses maintained their knowledge and skills until Christianity and Islam finally eliminated them. Renowned for their especially vicious, well-trained female soldiers, the Amazons forced their women fighters to remain virgins until they completed military service. Hannibal employed fierce Amazon cavalry-women who fought with lances and carried shields of serpent skins.140
Precious treasures stored in the Atlantean temples were very carefully guarded, for stories about the valuables were widespread. For thousands of years, adventurers who were eager to acquire the valuable articles organized elaborate expeditions in hopes of reaching the islands and acquiring a precious Atlantean relic. The brave soldiers, who dedicated themselves to protecting the temples and their unusual treasures, were primarily Aesirs and Vanirs from Scandinavia.
The first recorded group of treasure seekers were from Ireland. They included Fionn, the Tuirenn brothers, and Labraidh, who was chosen to be a ruler of Labrador, and after whom the country is named. Labraidh’s daughter Fand became queen of Labrador and married two explorers; first, Mannannan, who deserted her and went to the St. Lawrence estuary, and then Cuchulain, who is a hero in many Irish epics.141 Sykes tells of a second group of brave adventurers whom Pepi the First of Egypt sent in 2800 b.c. to explore islands in the Atlantic. Their records refer to a visit to the Azores, where they found a temple on Santa Maria that was surrounded by a wide wall. In his diary, one of these Egyptians describes a white cat that jumped among the many white stone pillars of the temple. Perhaps the cat had escaped from a ship where it was expected to help with the problem of mice and rats. Other explorers who traveled to Santa Maria returned with stories of a woman named Calypso who was politically entangled with Neptune, Oceanus, and Ogyges. At a temple on San Miguel, the Egyptians report inspecting an extensive vineyard.
Homer wrote The Odyssey many centuries after the adventures of these intrepid voyagers, but stories of their exploits are thought to have provided him with the basic data for this classic masterpiece. Homer never sailed in the Atlantic himself, so he confused the sequence of Odysseus’ experiences. However, Sykes’ research revealed that an Odysseus was shipwrecked on Santa Maria, where the Calypso of the day lent him an ax to cut trees and an auger to drill holes. These tools, plus some sail cloth she gave him, enabled Odysseus to construct a vessel strong enough to carry him back to Gibraltar.
Some of those who sought Atlantean treasures were successful in their aggressive endeavors. The daring Tuirenn Brothers of the Tuatha, who worked in the Temple of Falias as scribes, stole an ancient seat and carried it to Ireland, where it was known as the Throne of Tara. Royalty used the magnificent chair for many years, even though it apparently had some property that delivered a small shock. There is a story that if an impostor didn’t know about its energy, he or she would cry out in surprise when they sat on it.142 One of the most priceless Atlantean treasures at the Temple of Gorias on Gran Curral in the Madeira Islands was a royal crown that became the property of the Amazon queens when they took over the island. Like other articles of infinite value, it was often the basis for the evil behavior of aggressive attackers. Amazon Queen Hippolyte traveled to a nearby island with the crown, believing it, and she, would be safe there. While she was on the island, wearing it and carrying a flag of truce, a group from North Africa murdered her. The valuable jewelry last appeared in France at the outbreak of the First World War, but Sykes learned that it vanished during the German occupation. Necklaces and bracelets from the Temple of Gorias were last seen in a North African museum during the 1930s.143
The Temple of Gorias is also remembered because it was adjacent to the orange grove that was famous in the ancient world as the location of the Golden Apples of the Sun. In ballads and stories, people in the Western world passed down memories for thousands of years that portrayed Perseus, Hercules, and others eagerly searching for what they believed were balls of solid gold.144
The Atlantean Temple of Finias on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands was renowned for its twelve towers of gold and emeralds (which Sykes believes were probably lapis lazuli or jadeite). Finias was an important center for metal workers, and when the treasure-seeking Tuirenn brothers returned home to Ireland from Finias, they took many valuables with them. These included the Findrine belt and shoe buckles, the sword of Lugh, the spear of Nuda, and the wine press of Tuis.
The Temple of Finias was also famous for its horse and dog breeding, which produced Pegasus, the steed of Perseus, and several special hunting dogs.145 A full-size, solid gold replica of the Chariot of Poseidon that Plato describes, complete with horses and driver, was the most priceless possession of the priestesses and soldiers of Finias. On special occasions, everyone cautiously moved the heavy vehicle down the seven steps from the altar in the temple on which it stood and carried it out to the street for the festivities. As a result of these public displays of the valuable carriage, stories of it circulated around the world for centuries. The knowledge was still current in 330 b.c., when the historian Budge wrote in his Life of Alexander the Great that Alexander was invited to visit the temple at Finias with its full size, solid gold Chariot of the Gods, which the Chariot of Poseidon was called hundreds of years later in Alexander’s time. No information about what happened to the chariot has survived, but Sykes believes it probably lies in the sea between Tenerife and Lanzarotte and will never be found.146
Edgar Cayce’s readings contain several references to other Atlantean temples and to the priestesses who lived and worked in them. These include the Temple of the Sun or Light and the Temple of Ichakabal, both in the Yucatan. Here, like Mother Teresa and many of those who minister to needy people today, the devoted women focused their lives on service to others rather than their own selfish goals. In his readings, Cayce tells us that priestesses used symbols and signs, numbers, astrology, astronomy, ritual, and plants as well as music to help their patients overcome their physical problems and to advance their spiritual development.
Cayce gave a past life reading to a person who long ago was an Atlantean girl named Quellar. Quellar left Atlantis when the land was breaking up and moved to the Yucatan, where she became a priestess. She spent her life working in the temples and spreading knowledge and teaching others. Cayce suggested his client might find the temples in the Yucatan very interesting, since she was interested in the occult.147 When meditating and reflecting in these sacred buildings, it is possible to receive an illuminating glimpse into other worlds, including the distant past.
Another priestess from Poseidia, named Alyne, traveled to the Yucatan where she worked to establish a temple. She became so upset with the activities of people from Mu and Og (Peru) who moved into the area that, to avoid all the distressing problems they created, she intentionally went within herself, withdrew from her physical body, and left the Earth. She escaped to Jupiter, where she hoped to repair the damage to her soul.148 Cayce sometimes refers to souls spending time on other planets in our solar system between material lifetimes on Earth. This is interpreted to mean the soul enters the dimension associated with a particular planet. These visits offer enriching learning experiences.
Highly evolved Atlanteans like Alyne had so much control of their minds and bodies that they could concentrate and focus their thoughts and depart from their body (physically die) if they wished to. Lemurians had the same facility. When they believed they had accomplished all that they could in their present circumstances, they passed through transition, even though they were still young.149 If we wish to, we will once again learn to leave the material world. Some animals are capable of accomplishing this feat. There is an account of two wolves who were captured in a park, put in a cage in the back of a truck, and driven for several hours to a zoo. When the truck arrived at its destination the two wolves were no longer alive. Mystified scientists could find no physical problems to explain the wolves’ departure from this Earth. Obviously, it was the trapped animals’ decision to abandon their physical existence on this planet.
134. Sykes, Atlantis, Volume 27, No. 3, p. 44.
135. Ibid., p. 40.
136. Winston, Music As the Bridge, p. 13.
137. Sykes, Atlantis, Volume 27, No. 3.
138. Sykes, Atlantis, Volume 27, No. 4, p. 67.
139. Cayce, Readings 587–4.
140. Spence, Atlantis in America, p. 130.
141. Sykes, Atlantis, Volume 27, No. 4, p. 76.
142. Sykes, Atlantis, Volume 27, No. 3.
143. Ibid.
144. Ibid.
145. Ibid.
146. Ibid.
147. Cayce, Readings 3412–2.
148. Cayce, Readings 823–1
149. Cerve, Lemuria.