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Atlantis was an ancient civilization that lasted four to five million years and existed about a million years before Egypt entered the official history books.  It is commonly believed to be a myth but Theosophy tells us differently.  The continent and islands which composed Atlantis were centered mainly in what we now know as the Atlantic Ocean.  The common belief according to Plato was that the island continent disappeared beneath the ocean in one day.  Actually the empire sank in portions in a series of earthquakes that began 800,000 years ago before the last island of Atlantis, Poseidonis, sank in 9564 BC.
Mainstream historians balk at the idea that Atlantis ever existed, categorizing it as a legend or a fairytale.  Academic historians seeking tenure or simply trying to keep the respect of colleagues would never publically suggest that Atlantis could actually have been a real civilization.  But Theosophy has given us details and there is verifiable proof coming to light that Atlantis really did exist and thrived as a civilization in some ways more advance than our own for millions of years.
[[File:Cove in Atlantis.jpg|right|300px|thumb|An illustration by Sir Gerald Hargreaves shows a utopian scene on a cove of the mythical land of Atlantis]]
[[File:Cove in Atlantis.jpg|right|300px|thumb|An illustration by Sir Gerald Hargreaves shows a utopian scene on a cove of the mythical land of Atlantis]]
'''Atlantis''' was an ancient civilization that lasted four to five million years and existed about a million years before Egypt entered the official history books. It is commonly believed to be a myth but [[Theosophy]] tells us differently. The continent and islands which composed Atlantis were centered mainly in what we now know as the Atlantic Ocean. The common belief according to [[Plato]] was that the island continent disappeared beneath the ocean in one day. Actually the empire sank in portions in a series of earthquakes that began 800,000 years ago before the last island of Atlantis, Poseidonis, sank in 9564 BC.


Mainstream historians balk at the idea that Atlantis ever existed, categorizing it as a legend or a fairy tale. Academic historians seeking tenure or simply trying to keep the respect of colleagues would never publicly suggest that Atlantis could actually have been a real civilization. But [[Theosophy]] has given us details, and proof coming to light that Atlantis really did exist and thrived as a civilization in some ways more advance than our own for millions of years.


== Plato's account ==
== Plato's account ==
In 355 BC Plato wrote the book ''Timaeus'', in which his character, Kritias, recounts the story of Atlantis, a story which has been in his family for generations. The tale of this great civilization had been originally told to his ancestor by an Egyptian priest named Solon.
In 355 BC [[Plato]] wrote the book ''Timaeus'', in which his character, Kritias, recounts the story of Atlantis, a story which has been in his family for generations. The tale of this great civilization had been originally told to his ancestor by an Egyptian priest named Solon.  
 
According to Plato’s account the powerful empire of Atlantis was founded by Poseidon, the God of the Sea. It was located to the west of the "Pillars of Hercules" (the Straights of Gibraltar).  On the island nation, Poseidon fathered five sets of twins. The firstborn was Atlas, for whom the empire and the surrounding ocean was named.  Poseidon divided the land into ten sections, each to be ruled by a son, or his heirs.  


The capital city of Atlantis was laid out as a series of concentric walls and canals.   Atlantis was a marvel of engineering and advanced technology but according to Plato the people became corrupt and greedy.   The gods decided to destroy them. There was a violent earthquake that supposedly sunk the huge island nation in one day.
According to Plato’s account the powerful empire of Atlantis was founded by Poseidon, the God of the Sea. It was located to the west of the "Pillars of Hercules" (the Straights of Gibraltar). On the island nation, Poseidon fathered five sets of twins. The firstborn was Atlas, for whom the empire and the surrounding ocean was named. Poseidon divided the land into ten sections, each to be ruled by a son, or his heirs.  
Many historians think Plato made up the story of Atlantis as an illustration of his teachings, but many other ancient historians and philosophers other than Plato have written about Atlantis.


The capital city of Atlantis was laid out as a series of concentric walls and canals. Atlantis was a marvel of engineering and advanced technology but according to Plato the people became corrupt and greedy. The gods decided to destroy them. There was a violent earthquake that supposedly sunk the huge island nation in one day. Many historians think Plato made up the story of Atlantis as an illustration of his teachings, but many other ancient historians and philosophers other than Plato have written about Atlantis.


== Theosophical viewpoint ==
== Theosophical viewpoint ==


Atlantis is often spoken of in the same breathe as Lemuria as if they existed simultaneously which they did not.   Lemuria existed before Atlantis in the Pacific Ocean and was home to the First, Second and Third Races of humanity. Atlantis was the home of the Fourth Race. The Fifth or Aryan Race exists today.   There is to be a Sixth and a Seventh Race. According to Theosophy many thousands of years from now the Aryan Race will have had its run. At this time the land masses we know of, beginning with the British Isles, will sink beneath the sea and the land that was Atlantis will rise again from the ocean and after a time (having been under water of millions of years) will become habitable again and will be the home of the Sixth Race.
Atlantis is often spoken of in the same breathe as Lemuria as if they existed simultaneously which they did not. [[Lemuria]] existed before Atlantis in the Pacific Ocean and was home to the [[Third Root-Race]] of humanity. Atlantis was the home of the [[Fourth Root-Race]]. The Fifth or Aryan Race exists today. There is to be a Sixth and a Seventh Race. According to [[Theosophy]] many thousands of years from now the Aryan Race will have had its run. At this time the land masses we know of, beginning with the British Isles, will sink beneath the sea and the land that was Atlantis will rise again from the ocean and after a time (having been under water of millions of years) will become habitable again and will be the home of the Sixth Race.
Atlantis had a life span of between four and five million years.  It was an entire continent between Europe and North America with smaller islands and peninsulas mainly in the Atlantic Ocean that were also part of the empire.  The actual land masses above water changed as earthquakes took the land down over a period of thousands of years, not in one day as Plato described.  These were catastrophic earthquakes and landsides the likes of which the Fifth Race has never experienced.  The first took place about 800,000 years before the final end, the second 200,000 years before, the third about 80,000 years before the last island of Atlantis, Poseidonis, sank about 11,580 years ago in 9,564 BC.  According to HP Blavatsky these massive earthquakes were caused by a shift in the axis of the earth.  


[[File:Maps of Atlantis.PNG|left|300px|thumb|Atlantis Changes in Land Mass]]
Due to Plato's account, Atlantis is often thought of as an island. However, according to [[H. P. Blavatsky]] it was "a whole continent of whose isles and islets many have to this day survived."<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Collected Writings'' vol. V (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1997), 221.</ref> Plato's reference is to ''Poseidonis'', the last island that survived by the end of Atlantis.


A common rumor has it that Atlantis had advanced technology that became their undoing; some say a large crystal that existed in the area of the Bermuda Triangle blew up and took the civilization with it in one gigantic cataclysm.  As mentioned above, the demise of Atlantis took place more slowly as a series of earthquakes that broke apart the islands and continent that comprised the empire. There was a moral downfall of the people, it is true, but each race runs its course and then it ends naturally or in accordance with cyclic law and the ongoing and inevitable process of evolution.
The Atlantean continent was gradually formed from parts of the old [[Lemuria]], so we can see some overlapping between the two, especially in early Atlantis:


Each Root Race has seven sub-races.  In Atlantis the sub-races of the Fourth Root Race were:
<blockquote>The Atlantic portion of Lemuria was the geological basis of what is generally known as Atlantis.  The latter, indeed, must be regarded rather as a development of the Atlantic prolongation of Lemuria, than as an entirely new mass of land upheaved to meet the special requirements of the Fourth Root-Race.  Just as in the case of Race-evolution, so in that of the shifting and re-shifting of continental masses, no hard and fast line can be drawn where a new order ends and another begins. Continuity in natural processes is never broken. . . . Their continent was formed by the coalescence of many islands and peninsulas which were upheaved in the ordinary course of time ''and became ultimately the true home of the great Race known as the Atlanteans''. After this consummation was once attained . . . “Lemuria should no more be confounded with the Atlantis Continent, than Europe with America.”<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. II, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 333.</ref></blockquote>


1. Rmoahal.  
Atlantis united parts of Europe and Asia (Africa was mainly submerged)<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. II, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 263.</ref> with the Americas:


2. Tlavatli.  
<blockquote>There was a time when the Indian peninsula was at one end of the line, and South America at the other, connected by a belt of islands and continents. The India of the prehistoric age was not only within the region at the sources of the Oxus and Iaxartes, but there was even in the days of history and within its memory, an upper, a lower, and a western India; and still earlier, it was doubly connected with the two Americas. The lands of the ancestors of those whom Ammianus Marcellinus calls the “Brahmans of Upper India” stretched from Kashmir far into the (now) deserts of Shamo. A pedestrian from the north might then have reached—hardly wetting his feet—the Alaskan Peninsula, through Manchooria, across the future gulf of Tartary, the Kurile and Aleutian Islands; while another traveller furnished with a canoe and starting from the south, could have walked over from Siam, crossed the Polynesian Islands and trudged into any part of the continent of South America.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Collected Writings'' vol. V (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1997), 222.</ref></blockquote>


3. Toltec.  
[[File:Maps of Atlantis.PNG|right|300px|thumb|Atlantis Changes in Land Mass]]
=== Destruction ===


4. First Turanian.  
Atlantis was an entire continent between Europe and North America with smaller islands and peninsulas mainly in the Atlantic Ocean that were also part of the empire. The actual land masses above water changed as earthquakes took the land down over a long period of time. [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky|H. P. Blavatsky]] claimed that these massive earthquakes were caused by a shift in the axis of the earth.


5. Original Semite.  
According to [[Koot Hoomi|Mahatma K.H.]], the Atlantean continent was gradually sinking "while the new America was forming".<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' No. 93b (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 314.</ref> This was a slow process following a natural law that produces a change of continents for the development of every new Root-Race. According to Blavatsky, there was a first great catastrophe "several million years ago," which caused "the submersion of the main continent of Atlantis during the Miocene period." A second important cataclysm took place 850,000 years ago, in which sunk two important islands that had been left after the first great catastrophe:


6. Akkadian.  
<blockquote>The destruction of the last Atlanteans, the remnants that perished 850,000 years ago, after which there was no great submersion until the day of Plato’s Atlantis, or Poseidonis, known to the Egyptians only because it happened in such relatively recent times. . . .<br>
This event, the destruction of the famous island of Ruta and the smaller one Daitya, which occurred 850,000 years ago in the later Pliocene times, must not be confounded with the submersion of the main continent of Atlantis during the Miocene period.<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. II, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 314.</ref></blockquote>


7. Mongolian.
This catastrophe was the "first Great Flood within the Aryan historical memory."<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''The Secret Doctrine'' vol. II, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 332.</ref> All this left behind a few islands, the bigger of which was Poseidonis, mentioned by [[Plato]] in his writings:


It is important to remember that sometimes races did overlapped and change both in time frames lived or remnants of them survived and area occupied. It should also be remembered that in some cases a catastrophe was anticipated by the priests more in tune with higher energies and many migrations into lands currently in existence took place before all of Atlantis was submerged. There was intermarrying not only among the sub-races of Atlantis but also with the remains of Lemurian sub-races who had escaped before the fiery end of Lemuria.  
<blockquote>The sinking of Atlantis (the group of continents and isles) begun during the Miocene period—as certain of your continents are now observed to be gradually sinking — and it culminated — first, in the final disappearance of the largest continent an event coincident with the elevation of the Alps; and second with that of the last of the fair Islands mentioned by Plato.<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' [[Mahatma_Letter_No._93b|No. 93b]] (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 312-313.</ref></blockquote>


The first sub-race, the Rmoahal, came into existence while remnants of Lemuria still existed.   They were a dark-skinned race who stood twelve feet tall. They intermarried with the last of the Lemurian sixth and seventh sub-races. 
In 1882, Mahatma K.H. wrote that Poseidonis, the last Atlantean island mentioned by [[Plato]], sank about 11,580 years ago in 9,564 BC:


The second sub-race, the Tlavatli, originated on an island off the west coast of Atlantis.  They were a strong race, not as tall as the Rmoahal with reddish-brown skin.  There were a mountain loving people who along with the third sub-race, the Toltecs, inhabited the western islands which formed part of what is now the American continent.  
<blockquote>In the Eocene Age—even in its "very first part," the great cycle of the fourth Race men, the Atlanteans—had already reached its highest point, and the great continent, the father of nearly all the present continents—showed the first symptoms of sinking—a process that occupied it down to 11,446 years ago, when its last island, that, translating its vernacular name, we may call with propriety Poseidonis—went down with a crash.<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' [[Mahatma_Letter_No._93b|No. 93b]] (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 309.</ref></blockquote>


The Toltecs, the third sub-race, stood about eight feet tall and had reddish-brown skin like the Tlavatli but more copper colored.  The features of the Toltecs, according to William Scott-Elliot, were “straight and well-marked, not unlike the ancient Greeks.”  The Toltecs ruled the entire continent of Altantis peacefully for thousands of years.
This final destruction took place as a result of a war between Atlantean black magicians and the Adepts of the time, who were forced to intervene to stop the abuse of psychic powers:


The Turanians, the fourth sub-race, originated on the eastern side of the continent. They were yellow skinned humans, who were never a dominant race on the mother-continent, though some of their tribes and family races became fairly powerful.
<blockquote>The great event—the triumph of our "[[Sons of the Fire-Mist|Sons of the Fire Mist]]" the inhabitants of "[[Shambhala|Shambullah]]" (when yet an island in the Central Asian Sea) over the selfish but not entirely wicked magicians of Poseidonis occurred just 11,446 ago.<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' [[Mahatma_Letter_No._93b|No. 93b]] (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 313.</ref></blockquote>


The fifth sub-race were the Semites who had their home on the north-eastern part of a peninsula which is now Scotland and Ireland.   They were a discontented race, always warring with their neighbors and maintaining their independence from the southern kings.
Regarding the references to the "Eocene" and other Ages, it must be must remembered that Scientists in the 1800s were still trying to determine the dates for the various ages. One of the authorities quoted in [[The Secret Doctrine (book)|''The Secret Doctrine'']], James Croll, wrote: "The Eocene period extends from about 2,620,000 to about 2,460,000 years ago."<ref>James Croll, ''Climate and Time in their Geological Relations'' (London: Daldy, Isbister, & Co., 1875), 359.</ref>


The sixth sub-race, the Akkadians, came into existence after the first great disaster which took place 800,000 years ago.  Born on a peninsula further south of the Semites, the Akkadians, quickly migrated to the much larger continent of Atlantis.  They fought and overcame the Semites, ruling Atlantis for several hundred years.
See also: [[Fourth Root-Race#Demise|Demise of the Fourth Root-Race]]


The Mongolians, the seventh sub-race had no touch with the mother continent.  They were developed from the descendants of the Turanians.  They spread over what is now Asia. Master Koot Hoomi in the Mahatma Letters says that today’s oriental races such as the Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, Malaysian, Indonesian, Japanese, Vietnamese and so on are largely descended from the seventh and final sub-race of the Atlantean Root Race, while the indigenous peoples of Africa and Australia originate from earlier Atlantean sub-races as well as the seventh and final sub-race of the Lemurian Root Race.
==Evidence for the Reality of Atlantis==
 
There were conflicts and wars among the races of Atlantis but the Toltecs became the leading race when it came to developing the highest civilization and most powerful empire and during their reign peace and prosperity prevailed.  This was the Golden Age of Atlantis. 
 
Humanity at this time possessed psychic attributes and most had undergone training in occult schools and had obtained various degrees of Adeptship.  Initiate rulers under Toltec reign remained in contact with the Occult Hierarchy which governs the world and complied with its laws and contributed to its plans.  “The government was just and beneficent; the arts and sciences were cultivated— indeed the workers in these fields, guided as they were by occult knowledge, achieved tremendous results; religious belief and ritual was still comparatively pure— in fact the civilization of Atlantis had by this time reached its height.”<ref>Scott-Elliot, W. Legends of Atlantis and Lost Lemuria. Newburyport: Quest Books, 2015. Internet resource. P. 39</ref>
 
After about 100,000 years of this of this harmony and peace and the race began to decline.  The Turanians began to misuse their power for selfish ends.  Lesser kings, priests and the common people stopped using their faculties and powers in compliance with the laws of the Occult Hierarchy, in fact, connection with them was broken.  Personal gain, acquiring wealth and power, destroying enemies were now how the people’s occult powers were used. Selfishness and maliciousness turned the people to sorcery.
 
As Scott-Elliot puts it, “Partly through their psychic faculties, which were not yet quenched in the depths of materiality to which the race afterwards descended, and partly through their scientific attainments during this culmination of Atlantean civilization, the most intellectual and energetic members of the race gradually obtained more and more insight into the working of Nature's laws, and more and more control over some of her hidden forces. Now the desecration of this knowledge and its use for selfish ends is what constitutes sorcery.”<ref>Scott-Elliot, W. Legends of Atlantis and Lost Lemuria. Newburyport: Quest Books, 2015. Internet resource. P. 39</ref>
 
“Lust, brutality and ferocity were all on the increase, and the animal nature in man was approaching its most degraded expression.<ref>Scott-Elliot, W. Legends of Atlantis and Lost Lemuria. Newburyport: Quest Books, 2015. Internet resource. P. 40</ref> Sounds a lot like the way historians describe the beginning of the end of the great Roman Empire.
 
Magic “was practiced in such ungodly ways by the Atlantean Sorcerers that it has since become necessary for the subsequent race to draw a thick veil over the practices which were used to obtain so-called magical effects on the psychic and on the physical planes.”<ref>Blavatsky, Helena P., Collected Writings, The Secret Doctrine,  Vol 7. Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar ed., (5:256) 1975 Print P. 125</ref>
 
A highly respected associate of Madame Blavatsky, T. Subba Row, wrote, “There are all the powerful elemental gods and goddesses worshipped by the Atlanteans, and these still exist.  They are most ferocious things, but they cannot be evoked easily.  It is fortunate for us that they do not interfere more than they do."<ref>Godwin, Joscelyn. Atlantis and the Cycles of Time: Prophecies, Traditions, and Occult Revelations. Rochester, Vt: Inner Traditions, 2011. Print. P. 83</ref>
 
The initiated kings and priests who remained loyal to the Hierarchy were made aware of impending disasters and priests began leading immigrations out of Atlantis.  They ended up in lands where we find their ancestors today.  A Toltec immigration settled in what we know today as Egypt and founded the first “Divine Dynasty” about 210,000 years ago.  Sometime during the ten thousand years that led up to the second catastrophe (200,000 year ago), the two great Pyramids of Gizeh were built.  They were to provide permanent Halls of Initiation, but also to act as “treasure-house and shrine for some great talisman of power during the submergence which the Initiates knew to be impending.”<ref>Scott-Elliot, W. Legends of Atlantis and Lost Lemuria. Newburyport: Quest Books, 2015. Internet resource. P. 49</ref>  A “talisman of power”?  The Ark of the Covenant perhaps?
 
The Fifth Race (us) so far have far outstripped the Atlanteans in almost every area but those areas where the Atlanteans have far exceeded us is stunning.  It should be remembered that the Atlanteans were very psychic.  We, the Aryans, gave up that psychic ability to develop mentally. 
 
==Life in Atlantis==
 
 
They built houses of stone, great elaborate houses with elaborate gardens and fountains in the country where there was space and smaller ones in the crowded cities. They had street markets, like we do.  They valued architecture, art and painting, music and they loved color using it extensively inside and out of their houses.  Schools were state supported and all students were required to attend primary school.  Subsequently students were evaluated for their innate talents and then assigned to the school that could give them the best education for their talents. Those who went on to higher learning were instructed in the occult properties of plants, metals, precious stones and the alchemical processes of transmutation.  The power of vril (apparently very accurately described in Bulwar-Lytton’s book The Coming Race) was instructed and become a personal power which later was abused by many in the decline of Atlantis. There were no medical schools or doctors for that matter.  Every educated man knew about medicine and knew magnetic healing.  Precious metals such as gold and silver were used primarily to adorn temples and were produced in great qualities by chemists for that purpose.
 
There were constant experiments with breeding and cross-breeding animals of all kinds.  In the declining days apparently cross breeding with humans resulted In what we would today call the apes.  Much to Darwin’s chagrin we did not descend from apes, the came from us.
 
Atlanteans had airships made of wood or metal that were apparently seamless and powered by the personal power of vril energy.  They had sea-faring vessels also powered by vril.  (Adolph Hitler, always on the look-out for the most effective killing machine, was very interested in the vril power.  See Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, The Occult Roots of Nazism)
 
Atlanteans were capable of producing rain at will and during the encroachments of ice they were partially able to control it.
Each race had language both written and spoken with Toltec being the national language spoken during the Golden Age.  They had libraries just like we do but instead of paper they used sheets of metal with a white porcelain-like surface.
 
Atlanteans lived very long lives.  Knowing that Atlanteans settled in Egypt it should not surprise archeologists when they find lists of kings in Egypt who reigned for a thousand years.  Atlantians were very tall compared to the Aryan race so drawings of human type people twice the height of others should not be a surprise.  Nor should it be a mystery how pyramids were built; they were built by people much larger then ourselves who would probably find lifting huge stones to be child’s play.
 
[[File:Giants unearthed.jpg|left|300px|thumb|Excavated Remains of Giants in Egypt]]
[[File:Big Guy.png|right|300px|thumb|Giants Depicted in Egyptian Art]]
 
Before the fall of the Fourth Race, the Manu (the divine being in charge of human development) chose from the Fourth Race those who were poor in the usual attributes of their race, that is clairvoyance and magical powers, and chose instead those more developed in the novel ability to think.  According to Rudolph Steiner, the Manu led these people to the central Asia (the Gobi Desert) where they would be isolated from other humans so they could focus on their evolution which included putting the Atlantean psychic powers behind them and developing the ability to think.  So the Fifth Race began in the area of the Gobi Desert.


We are the fifth sub-race of the Fifth Root Race.  We are known as Teutonic.   Previous races in our Root Race are, first the Hindu, then the Arabians, Persians and Celts.   The sixth root race is beginning now in the 21st century, being born first in California. They will have more developed pineal glands to give them more psychic ability which will be blended with the mental abilities we, the Teutonic’s, have achieved.  
Suggesting the existence of an ancient land mass in the Atlantic Ocean which would have connected North America to Europe is indicated by the many very similar flora dating back to the Miocene age.  Magnolias, tulip-trees, evergreen oaks to name a few found in Virginia and Florida correspond to a European counterpart. Skulls discovered on the banks of the Danube River bear a striking resemblance to the Carib people, an indigenous South American people living mainly in coastal regions of French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, and Venezuela and also to the Old Peruvians. Frederic Farrar, classics scholar and comparative philologist, has found that the Basque people of Southern France/Northern Spain, have a language that bears no resemblance at all to the languages in the their geographic area but is very similar to the aboriginal people of North America. Stones found in the Canary Islands have sculpted symbols very similar to stones found around Lake Superior. Fossils found along the Eastern coast of South America are nearly identical to the those found on the coast of Western Europe extending down to Western South Africa, in fact, the geological structures of both coasts are identical. The horse supposedly originated in North America. How did it come to be present throughout Europe and Asia?  A land mass connecting North America with Europe is the obvious answer.  


==Evidence for the Reality of Atlantis==
Sea-soundings of the Atlantic Ocean indicate a huge elevation of land at the bottom of the ocean which reaches from the British Isles down the Western Coast of Africa. “The voyage of the ''Challenger'' has proved the existence of three long ridges in the Atlantic Ocean, one extending for more than three thousand miles, and lateral spurs may, by connecting these ridges, account for the marvelous similarity of the fauna of the Atlantic islands.”<ref>William Duppa Crotch, "The Norwegian Lemming and its Migrations"  ''Popular Science Monthly'' Volume 11 (August 1877), 143. Available at [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_11/August_1877/The_Norwegian_Lemming_and_its_Migrations Wikisource].</ref> Theses ridges rise some 9,000 feet from the ocean floor, peaking above the surface at the Azores, Ascension Island and other places.  The curious thing about these land masses is that the mountain peaks and valleys of it could not have been made by underwater conditions, suggesting that at one time it had to be above ground in order to have this topography.


Proof that Atlantis existed can be seen in plants and animals found on continents separated by oceans.  At one time a continent filled that ocean space connecting those land masses. “The voyage of the 'Challenger' has proved the existence of three long ridges in the Atlantic Ocean, one extending for more than three thousand miles, and lateral spurs may, by connecting these ridges, account for the marvelous similarity of the fauna of the Atlantic islands.”<ref>Crotch, Duppa, M.A., F.L.S. The Norwegian Lemming and its Migrations (Vol. I., p. 143)</ref>  Many, many ancient writers, before and after Plato have mentioned Atlantis, writers and philosopher such as Zoroaster, Homer, Hesiod, Strabo and Socrates. And there are so many flood-legends in just about every culture. Scott-Elliot point to the similarity of language and of ethnological types and the correspondence of religious belief, ritual, and architecture between peoples separated by oceans.   
Many ancient writers before and after Plato have mentioned Atlantis, such as Zoroaster, Homer, Hesiod, Strabo, and [[Socrates]]. There are many flood-legends in just about every culture. [[William Scott-Elliot]] pointed to the similarity of language and of ethnological types and the correspondence of religious belief, ritual, and architecture between peoples separated by oceans.   


[[File:Atlantic Ridge.png|right|300px|thumb|The Mid Atlantic Ridge rises 9,000 feet underwater directly where Atlantis would have been]]
[[File:Atlantic Ridge.png|right|300px|thumb|The Mid Atlantic Ridge rises 9,000 feet underwater directly where Atlantis would have been]]
So, did the gods decide to destroy Atlantis by earthquake because it had become corrupt or had the Fourth Race simply run its course and it was its natural time to end?  The following quote from the Secret Doctrine seems to indicate the answer, in a letter from one chief of Atlantis to others warning them of the impending doom.
“He sent his air-vehicles (Viwan) to all his brother-chiefs (chiefs of other nations and tribes) with pious men within, saying: ‘Prepare. Arise ye men of the good law, and cross the land while (yet) dry.’ ‘The Lords of the storm are approaching. Their chariots are nearing the land. One night and two days only shall the Lords of the Dark Face (the Sorcerers) live on this patient land. She is doomed, and they have to descend with her. The nether Lords of the Fires (the Gnomes and fire Elementals) are preparing their magic Agneyastra (fire-weapons worked by magic). But the Lords of the Dark Eye (“Evil Eye”) are stronger than they (the Elementals) and they are the slaves of the mighty ones. They are versed in Ashtar (Vidya, the highest magical knowledge). Come and use yours (i.e., your magic powers, in order to counteract those of the Sorcerers). Let every lord of the Dazzling Face (an adept of the White Magic) cause the Viwan of every lord of the Dark Face to come into his hands (or possession), lest any (of the Sorcerers) should by its means escape from the waters, avoid the rod of the Four, (Karmic deities) and save his wicked’ (followers, or people).”<ref>Blavatsky, H P. The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy.  Vol 11, Pasadena, Cal.: Theosophical University Press, 1970. Print. P. 427</ref>
Karma ended the civilization of Atlantis after millions of years in existence.


== Additional resources ==
== Additional resources ==
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*[http://www.wisdomworld.org/additional/TheRacesOfMan-Series/TheAtlanteans-4of6.html# The Atlanteans] at WisdomWorld.org
*[http://www.wisdomworld.org/additional/TheRacesOfMan-Series/TheAtlanteans-4of6.html# The Atlanteans] at WisdomWorld.org
*[http://www.wisdomworld.org/additional/ListOfCollatedArticles/TheLostAtlantis.html# The Lost Atlantis] at WisdomWorld.org
*[http://www.wisdomworld.org/additional/ListOfCollatedArticles/TheLostAtlantis.html# The Lost Atlantis] at WisdomWorld.org
* Hall, Manly P. "Atlantis." ''Collected Writings of Manly P. Hall Volume 3: Essays and Poems'' (Los Angeles: Philosophical Research Society, Inc., 1962), 11-44. D
* [https://www.theosophy.world/encyclopedia/atlantis Atlantis] in Theosophy World
* [https://www.theosophy.world/encyclopedia/daitya Daitya] in Theosophy World


===Books===
===Books===
* Bartzokas, Chris A. ed., [http://www.philaletheians.co.uk/Major%20works/Rise%20and%20Demise%20of%20Atlantis.pdf# ''Rise and Demise of Atlantis: Occult Features of the Fourth Race of Humanity and Its Fall into Matter.'']  Available on Philaletheians web page. ISBN 978-0-9550400-5-4. Beautifully illustrated work references ''The Secret Doctrine'' and other sources.
* Bartzokas, Chris A. ed., [http://www.philaletheians.co.uk/Major%20works/Rise%20and%20Demise%20of%20Atlantis.pdf# ''Rise and Demise of Atlantis: Occult Features of the Fourth Race of Humanity and Its Fall into Matter.'']  Available on Philaletheians web page. ISBN 978-0-9550400-5-4. Beautifully illustrated work references ''The Secret Doctrine'' and other sources.
* Godwin, Joscelyn. ''Atlantis and the Cycles of Time''. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2011.
* Godwin, Joscelyn. ''Atlantis and the Cycles of Time''. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2011.
* Scott-Elliot, William. [http://www.anandgholap.net/Story_Of_Atlantis_And_The_Lost_Lemuria-W_Scott-Elliot.pdf# The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria].  
* Perkins, James S. '''''Visual Meditations on the Universe'''''. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1984. Chapter 25: "Atlantis - Growth and Disaster" gives a visualization of Atlantis.
* Scott-Elliot, William. [http://www.anandgholap.net/Story_Of_Atlantis_And_The_Lost_Lemuria-W_Scott-Elliot.pdf# The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria].
* Sinnett, A P, and A T. Barker. ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett from the Mahatmas M. & K.H.'' Pasadena, Calif: Theosophical University Press, 1926. Print.
* Steiner, Rudolf. ''Cosmic Memory: Prehistory of Earth and Man''. Englewood, N.J: Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959. Print.
 
=== Videos ===
* [https://www.academia.edu/video/jJPEWl?email_video_card=watch-video&pls=RVP Plato's Atlantis] by Phil Flambas. Three videos about the location of Atlantis, based on Plato's ''Timmaeus'' and ''Criteus''.
 
*[https://www.literaryblog.net/documentary-blog/item/2857-watch-full-documentary-the-hidden-history-of-humanity "The Hidden History of Humanity"] by Mehmet Şentürk. 30 June 2019. "Focuses on the evolution of consciousness over millions of years while revealing the secret chronology of human history from ancient Lemuria and Atlantis to our current root race."


=== Websites ===
=== Websites ===
*[http://www.blavatsky.net/science/atlantis/atlantis.htm# Recommended reading list] at Blavatsky.Net
*[http://www.blavatsky.net/science/atlantis/atlantis.htm# Recommended reading list] at Blavatsky.Net
*[http://www.philaletheians.co.uk/SN-atlantean-realities.htm# Recommended reading list] at Philaletheians web page
*[http://www.philaletheians.co.uk/SN-atlantean-realities.htm# Recommended reading list] at Philaletheians web page
*[http://prajnaquest.fr/blog/king-thevetat-of-atlantis/# King Thevetat of Atlantis] by David Reigle


== Notes ==
== Notes ==

Latest revision as of 23:46, 26 November 2023

An illustration by Sir Gerald Hargreaves shows a utopian scene on a cove of the mythical land of Atlantis

Atlantis was an ancient civilization that lasted four to five million years and existed about a million years before Egypt entered the official history books. It is commonly believed to be a myth but Theosophy tells us differently. The continent and islands which composed Atlantis were centered mainly in what we now know as the Atlantic Ocean. The common belief according to Plato was that the island continent disappeared beneath the ocean in one day. Actually the empire sank in portions in a series of earthquakes that began 800,000 years ago before the last island of Atlantis, Poseidonis, sank in 9564 BC.

Mainstream historians balk at the idea that Atlantis ever existed, categorizing it as a legend or a fairy tale. Academic historians seeking tenure or simply trying to keep the respect of colleagues would never publicly suggest that Atlantis could actually have been a real civilization. But Theosophy has given us details, and proof coming to light that Atlantis really did exist and thrived as a civilization in some ways more advance than our own for millions of years.

Plato's account

In 355 BC Plato wrote the book Timaeus, in which his character, Kritias, recounts the story of Atlantis, a story which has been in his family for generations. The tale of this great civilization had been originally told to his ancestor by an Egyptian priest named Solon.

According to Plato’s account the powerful empire of Atlantis was founded by Poseidon, the God of the Sea. It was located to the west of the "Pillars of Hercules" (the Straights of Gibraltar). On the island nation, Poseidon fathered five sets of twins. The firstborn was Atlas, for whom the empire and the surrounding ocean was named. Poseidon divided the land into ten sections, each to be ruled by a son, or his heirs.

The capital city of Atlantis was laid out as a series of concentric walls and canals. Atlantis was a marvel of engineering and advanced technology but according to Plato the people became corrupt and greedy. The gods decided to destroy them. There was a violent earthquake that supposedly sunk the huge island nation in one day. Many historians think Plato made up the story of Atlantis as an illustration of his teachings, but many other ancient historians and philosophers other than Plato have written about Atlantis.

Theosophical viewpoint

Atlantis is often spoken of in the same breathe as Lemuria as if they existed simultaneously which they did not. Lemuria existed before Atlantis in the Pacific Ocean and was home to the Third Root-Race of humanity. Atlantis was the home of the Fourth Root-Race. The Fifth or Aryan Race exists today. There is to be a Sixth and a Seventh Race. According to Theosophy many thousands of years from now the Aryan Race will have had its run. At this time the land masses we know of, beginning with the British Isles, will sink beneath the sea and the land that was Atlantis will rise again from the ocean and after a time (having been under water of millions of years) will become habitable again and will be the home of the Sixth Race.

Due to Plato's account, Atlantis is often thought of as an island. However, according to H. P. Blavatsky it was "a whole continent of whose isles and islets many have to this day survived."[1] Plato's reference is to Poseidonis, the last island that survived by the end of Atlantis.

The Atlantean continent was gradually formed from parts of the old Lemuria, so we can see some overlapping between the two, especially in early Atlantis:

The Atlantic portion of Lemuria was the geological basis of what is generally known as Atlantis. The latter, indeed, must be regarded rather as a development of the Atlantic prolongation of Lemuria, than as an entirely new mass of land upheaved to meet the special requirements of the Fourth Root-Race. Just as in the case of Race-evolution, so in that of the shifting and re-shifting of continental masses, no hard and fast line can be drawn where a new order ends and another begins. Continuity in natural processes is never broken. . . . Their continent was formed by the coalescence of many islands and peninsulas which were upheaved in the ordinary course of time and became ultimately the true home of the great Race known as the Atlanteans. After this consummation was once attained . . . “Lemuria should no more be confounded with the Atlantis Continent, than Europe with America.”[2]

Atlantis united parts of Europe and Asia (Africa was mainly submerged)[3] with the Americas:

There was a time when the Indian peninsula was at one end of the line, and South America at the other, connected by a belt of islands and continents. The India of the prehistoric age was not only within the region at the sources of the Oxus and Iaxartes, but there was even in the days of history and within its memory, an upper, a lower, and a western India; and still earlier, it was doubly connected with the two Americas. The lands of the ancestors of those whom Ammianus Marcellinus calls the “Brahmans of Upper India” stretched from Kashmir far into the (now) deserts of Shamo. A pedestrian from the north might then have reached—hardly wetting his feet—the Alaskan Peninsula, through Manchooria, across the future gulf of Tartary, the Kurile and Aleutian Islands; while another traveller furnished with a canoe and starting from the south, could have walked over from Siam, crossed the Polynesian Islands and trudged into any part of the continent of South America.[4]

Atlantis Changes in Land Mass

Destruction

Atlantis was an entire continent between Europe and North America with smaller islands and peninsulas mainly in the Atlantic Ocean that were also part of the empire. The actual land masses above water changed as earthquakes took the land down over a long period of time. H. P. Blavatsky claimed that these massive earthquakes were caused by a shift in the axis of the earth.

According to Mahatma K.H., the Atlantean continent was gradually sinking "while the new America was forming".[5] This was a slow process following a natural law that produces a change of continents for the development of every new Root-Race. According to Blavatsky, there was a first great catastrophe "several million years ago," which caused "the submersion of the main continent of Atlantis during the Miocene period." A second important cataclysm took place 850,000 years ago, in which sunk two important islands that had been left after the first great catastrophe:

The destruction of the last Atlanteans, the remnants that perished 850,000 years ago, after which there was no great submersion until the day of Plato’s Atlantis, or Poseidonis, known to the Egyptians only because it happened in such relatively recent times. . . .
This event, the destruction of the famous island of Ruta and the smaller one Daitya, which occurred 850,000 years ago in the later Pliocene times, must not be confounded with the submersion of the main continent of Atlantis during the Miocene period.[6]

This catastrophe was the "first Great Flood within the Aryan historical memory."[7] All this left behind a few islands, the bigger of which was Poseidonis, mentioned by Plato in his writings:

The sinking of Atlantis (the group of continents and isles) begun during the Miocene period—as certain of your continents are now observed to be gradually sinking — and it culminated — first, in the final disappearance of the largest continent an event coincident with the elevation of the Alps; and second with that of the last of the fair Islands mentioned by Plato.[8]

In 1882, Mahatma K.H. wrote that Poseidonis, the last Atlantean island mentioned by Plato, sank about 11,580 years ago in 9,564 BC:

In the Eocene Age—even in its "very first part," the great cycle of the fourth Race men, the Atlanteans—had already reached its highest point, and the great continent, the father of nearly all the present continents—showed the first symptoms of sinking—a process that occupied it down to 11,446 years ago, when its last island, that, translating its vernacular name, we may call with propriety Poseidonis—went down with a crash.[9]

This final destruction took place as a result of a war between Atlantean black magicians and the Adepts of the time, who were forced to intervene to stop the abuse of psychic powers:

The great event—the triumph of our "Sons of the Fire Mist" the inhabitants of "Shambullah" (when yet an island in the Central Asian Sea) over the selfish but not entirely wicked magicians of Poseidonis occurred just 11,446 ago.[10]

Regarding the references to the "Eocene" and other Ages, it must be must remembered that Scientists in the 1800s were still trying to determine the dates for the various ages. One of the authorities quoted in The Secret Doctrine, James Croll, wrote: "The Eocene period extends from about 2,620,000 to about 2,460,000 years ago."[11]

See also: Demise of the Fourth Root-Race

Evidence for the Reality of Atlantis

Suggesting the existence of an ancient land mass in the Atlantic Ocean which would have connected North America to Europe is indicated by the many very similar flora dating back to the Miocene age. Magnolias, tulip-trees, evergreen oaks to name a few found in Virginia and Florida correspond to a European counterpart. Skulls discovered on the banks of the Danube River bear a striking resemblance to the Carib people, an indigenous South American people living mainly in coastal regions of French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, and Venezuela and also to the Old Peruvians. Frederic Farrar, classics scholar and comparative philologist, has found that the Basque people of Southern France/Northern Spain, have a language that bears no resemblance at all to the languages in the their geographic area but is very similar to the aboriginal people of North America. Stones found in the Canary Islands have sculpted symbols very similar to stones found around Lake Superior. Fossils found along the Eastern coast of South America are nearly identical to the those found on the coast of Western Europe extending down to Western South Africa, in fact, the geological structures of both coasts are identical. The horse supposedly originated in North America. How did it come to be present throughout Europe and Asia? A land mass connecting North America with Europe is the obvious answer.

Sea-soundings of the Atlantic Ocean indicate a huge elevation of land at the bottom of the ocean which reaches from the British Isles down the Western Coast of Africa. “The voyage of the Challenger has proved the existence of three long ridges in the Atlantic Ocean, one extending for more than three thousand miles, and lateral spurs may, by connecting these ridges, account for the marvelous similarity of the fauna of the Atlantic islands.”[12] Theses ridges rise some 9,000 feet from the ocean floor, peaking above the surface at the Azores, Ascension Island and other places. The curious thing about these land masses is that the mountain peaks and valleys of it could not have been made by underwater conditions, suggesting that at one time it had to be above ground in order to have this topography.

Many ancient writers before and after Plato have mentioned Atlantis, such as Zoroaster, Homer, Hesiod, Strabo, and Socrates. There are many flood-legends in just about every culture. William Scott-Elliot pointed to the similarity of language and of ethnological types and the correspondence of religious belief, ritual, and architecture between peoples separated by oceans.

The Mid Atlantic Ridge rises 9,000 feet underwater directly where Atlantis would have been

Additional resources

Articles

Books

  • Bartzokas, Chris A. ed., Rise and Demise of Atlantis: Occult Features of the Fourth Race of Humanity and Its Fall into Matter. Available on Philaletheians web page. ISBN 978-0-9550400-5-4. Beautifully illustrated work references The Secret Doctrine and other sources.
  • Godwin, Joscelyn. Atlantis and the Cycles of Time. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2011.
  • Perkins, James S. Visual Meditations on the Universe. Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1984. Chapter 25: "Atlantis - Growth and Disaster" gives a visualization of Atlantis.
  • Scott-Elliot, William. The Story of Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria.
  • Sinnett, A P, and A T. Barker. The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett from the Mahatmas M. & K.H. Pasadena, Calif: Theosophical University Press, 1926. Print.
  • Steiner, Rudolf. Cosmic Memory: Prehistory of Earth and Man. Englewood, N.J: Rudolf Steiner Publications, 1959. Print.

Videos

  • Plato's Atlantis by Phil Flambas. Three videos about the location of Atlantis, based on Plato's Timmaeus and Criteus.
  • "The Hidden History of Humanity" by Mehmet Şentürk. 30 June 2019. "Focuses on the evolution of consciousness over millions of years while revealing the secret chronology of human history from ancient Lemuria and Atlantis to our current root race."

Websites

Notes

  1. ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. V (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1997), 221.
  2. ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. II, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 333.
  3. ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. II, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 263.
  4. ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Collected Writings vol. V (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1997), 222.
  5. ↑ Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 93b (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 314.
  6. ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. II, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 314.
  7. ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. II, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 332.
  8. ↑ Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 93b (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 312-313.
  9. ↑ Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 93b (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 309.
  10. ↑ Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 93b (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 313.
  11. ↑ James Croll, Climate and Time in their Geological Relations (London: Daldy, Isbister, & Co., 1875), 359.
  12. ↑ William Duppa Crotch, "The Norwegian Lemming and its Migrations" Popular Science Monthly Volume 11 (August 1877), 143. Available at Wikisource.
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