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 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.

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

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.

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 Helena Pavlova Blavatsky these massive earthquakes were caused by a shift in the axis of the earth.

Atlantis Changes in Land Mass

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.

Each Root Race has seven sub-races. In Atlantis the sub-races of the Fourth Root Race were:

1. Rmoahal.

2. Tlavatli.

3. Toltec.

4. First Turanian.

5. Original Semite.

6. Akkadian.

7. Mongolian.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A definite line of mental development can be seen in these seven successive sub-races of Atlantis. Rudolph Steiner discusses this progress in his book Cosmic Memory. The first sub-race, the Rmoahals, were developed from the last Lemurian race, from those who demonstrated the inklings of the qualities to be developed, that of memory, and thus feelings. With memory language first occurred. Naming things was possible and thus a relationship began between the internal word and something outside of the individual. The Rmoahals still possessed something of the beings of nature. Their words had power of nature and thus they had power over things and their fellow man. When a Rmoahal spoke the word not only had meaning but it had something of the power of the object the word designated. This was a sort of religious relationship with things. They assigned the power they had over things not so much to themselves as to the divine nature acting within them.

In the second race, the Tlavati, now possessed of memory, began to feel their own power and ambition developed. Ambition was unknown to the Rmoahals. An individual Tlavati could look back on his own accomplishments, as could others in his community, and from that memory a leader would be chosen. Regal stations come into being. Communities bound by common memories of those still living or of the great deeds of their ancestors formed a social group.

The next race, the Toltecs took community to another level in the formation of a state. The deeds of ones ancestors were venerated and at this time it was possible for men to actually transmit their gifts to their descendants. The abilities of the father were transmitted to the son. The personality of the individual man counted for something and thus personal power arose.

In the fourth sub-race, the Turanians, personal power led to selfish desires and personal egotism. The pursuit of self-centered goals led to powerful conflicts. Men of this race rushed wildly toward their personal satisfaction.

The fifth race, the Semites, developed a higher capacity, that of thought. Man could go beyond simple memory and begin to compare experiences. Logical thought restrained the pursuit of selfish goals. He began to listen to an inner voice. The impulses for action were not allowed to run loose but were channeled back inward. As a result of this, the fifth race lost the control of the life force.

The sixth race, the Akkadians, took thought further than the Semites. Their thought was more comprehensive. In the past a leader was chosen who had a clear memory of past successes, but now the most intelligent was chosen. From the Akkadians we find the beginnings of law and justice.

The last Atlantian race, the Mongols also developed thought but the characteristics of the fourth sub-race, the Turanians, remained strong in them. They remained faithful to the feeling for memory and reached the conviction that what was oldest was the most sensible. They too lost their control of the life force but they did not lose their faith in it and this became their god.

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.”

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.”

“Lust, brutality and ferocity were all on the increase, and the animal nature in man was approaching its most degraded expression. 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.”

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."

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.” 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 Edward Bulwer-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.

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.

Excavated Remains of Giants in Egypt

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.

Evidence for the Reality of Atlantis

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.” 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.

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).”

Karma ended the civilization of Atlantis after millions of years in existence.

Additional resources

Articles

• Atlantis Found by Reed Carson
• Plato, the Source of Atlantis Legend at Blavatsky.Net
• Atlantean Realities at Philaletheians web page
• The Atlanteans at WisdomWorld.org
• The Lost Atlantis at WisdomWorld.org

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.
• 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.

Websites

• Recommended reading list at Blavatsky.Net
• Recommended reading list at Philaletheians web page