Customer Reviews

Jesus and the Essenes: Fresh Insights into Christ's Ministry and the Dead Sea Scrolls

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I have never been a Jesus "freak," however, I do know he existed and one should strive to live life according to his teachings. The sad fact is I didn't remember much about what he taught (even after going to a Catholic school for 10 years). This book has sparked my interest to (re)learn about one of the greatest and most influential teachers that ever lived. When reading this book, it doesn't matter whether or not one believes in reincarnation. It also doesn't matter whether or not the female subject of this book was REALLY regressed into a past life as a man who was a teacher of Jesus. (I happen to believe this DID happen - I have studied reincarnation enough to know this could easily be true, and Cannon does an excellent job validating her research). What DOES matter is that people read this book for the lessons that will be learned. There are wonderful insights on biblical references (Old and New Testaments), the power of knowledge, as well as meditation techniques and the chakras. Also, the history of the Essene community at Qumran is explored in great detail. Even if one was to read this in the frame of mind that it is fiction, there would still be plenty gained from this book.

Read this book! It offers more fresh insight into the origins of Christianity, the early education of Christ, and the Essene community as a whole, than a dozen scholarly tomes whose depth and breadth could fill a thimble with their own enlightening, or in the very least, pertinent, conclusions.

Cannon's book is based on conversations she had with an Essene named Suddi, who lived in the Qumran community at the time of Christ. She had these conversations through regressionist therapy. They are a record of a past life of one of her patients. I, personally, do not believe in reincarnation, but I do believe we can and do experience, first-hand, the lifetimes of other people. I have no doubt this interview with Suddi is truly that -- a 20th century interview with a Qumran Essene. The repercussions of that, coupled with the statements made by Suddi in this book, are startling. The true origins of Christianity, its teachings, as well as the lifestyle and learning of the Essene community, are brought into a whole new light. This, coupled with genuine 20th century research, shakes the very foundations of our assumptions concerning Christianity and the Essenes and asks us to delve further into the issues which surround them.

Even if you do not believe in past lives, I would recommend you're reading this book. The perspective alone, even if it is totally made up in the mind of the author, is worth the cover price and more. If you're interested in the Essenes or the origins of Christianity, don't miss this book! It will bring all the rest of true scholarship into startling clarity, and may even help you formulate some new conclusions of your own.

This extraordinary document represents a new form of historical research, and straightens out many open questions and misinterpretations. It takes the form of direct dialogues between a modern researcher and a member of the Qumran Essene community, alive around the time of Christ. The Qumran Essene community has become the focus of ideas about the connection of Jesus' teachings to earlier traditions. This book gives a full description of the nature and purpose of the community, and the birth and upbringing of Jesus and John the Baptist. Also, it gives Essene renderings of Key Old Testament stories, concerning Moses, Ezekiel, Daniel and others, plus startling insights into ancient history. This information is candid and for real, even about the Dead Sea Scrolls, and many Biblical images and statements are corrected and added to.

Only about 8 percent of Dolores' subjects are somnambulists and this source was one of them. It makes the story even more incredible as this subject, while in a deep trance answering questions, actually took on the personality of an ancient Essene man. This combination gave some very credible and useful information about that time period that has been such a mystery.

The discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls in 1959 was news for about a year and then sort of disappeared from the news lists. Why weren't they pursued? This book suggests a cover up because of the information that came forth from this ancient Essene source.

Where was Jesus and what was he doing between the ages of 12 and 30, the period that is blacked out in the Bible? What educational training did he get? Why was he so different? Can we really be more like him? This book gave some astonishing answers.

This is a most enjoyable book. If as a child you had Christ beaten out of you by the Christian fundamentalists as I did, this book will heal many wounds and give your spirit a chance to reconnect with the Christconsciousnes that is within us all. If you're a Jerry Falwell-type, you won't like this book. But if you practice loving one another as Christ taught, then this book is a must read!

I can not endorse or recommend this book any more than to say it is 10 stars on a 5 star scale! I have studied Jesus and the Essenes for over 30 years and I found this information enlightening. There are many mysteries explained about the Dead Sea scrolls, Moses, Ezekiel, creation, the Magi, and other Bible characters and stories. The information on the education and youth of Jesus is amazing. The revelations about Mary and her uncle Joeseph of Arimathea confirm information only now being written and speculated about. There are astonishing disclosures about the miracles in the Bible and the life of Jesus! Plan enough time to read this in one sitting or two at most. This book has the potential to change your life.

Whether you believe in past life regression or not, this book is relevant and interesting to boot. The Essenes were, according to many accounts, key to the education of Jesus and their beliefs and practices were adopted by the early Christians. Their property was held in common, and they shared and shared alike. They also incorporated virtually all the spiritual teachings and religions of the East and Mid East into their belief system, and accepted that all the enlightened ones taught much the same universal and eternal truths.

If you are someone who claims to be a christian, then you will not be able to read this book and get anything out of it. However, one must realize that the bible, written in several languages, then re-written into English so the rest of us could read it, through transcription gives us only what 'they' (being the church)intended you to read. Jesus did exist and it isn't too hard to believe that what Dolores states in her book(s) is fact brought to her through regression of a subject. Reincarnation (recycling if you like) exists and the Quamran and the scrolls exist ... but do we ever hear the whole truth? Dolores, in her exemplary way, gives us the facts as she receives them. You may read it and believe, or you can disregard it as rubbish ... the fact remains Dolores is true to her research and more power to her. In regression, however, one must realize that information coming from the 'regreesee' (if there is such a word) will be more or less stated in their own idea of the subject ... i.e. if they have believed that suicide is wrong, and that God will not want them with him, then that will come through their interpretation, sorrowfully. I believe the Creator loves us all ... end of sermon. To end, Dolores is sincere both in her work and her research and you can't help but love her books, no matter the subject!

This book focuses on the relationship of Jesus to the Essenes, but it cannot be considered History, Theology or Religion. This is the story by a psychologist who uses hypnotism to help people explore "past lives." She has taken a critical and controlled approach to check for extraneous factors or fraud. It is well-presented as an objective scientific experiment.

The topic arises out of the discovery of a past personality of one of her patients, who in this life comes forth under hypnosis as an Essene, who becomes a teacher of Jesus. This in itself is not particularly remarkable. She does report on studies she did on Qumran and related topics as matters arose from her conversations with Suddi.

One thing that struck me is that with various aspects of Jewish life and tradition, including information from the Tanakh (Jewish Scriptures), she often expresses ignorance of things Suddi refers to, which are somewhat common knowledge, and clearly in the scriptures. This seems to add authenticity to the discussions and "reports" from Suddi. It is curious, however, what she indicates Suddi knows about, or terms he does or does not recognize, in regard to the times he lives and culture and technology he knows.

Suddi is, of course, limited to the use of the English of Katie, the subject of this regression therapy that discovered Suddi as a former life or personality of Katie. The words he knows or does not know seem random and inconsistent. You would think if there is a term, he could access the meaning and usage of the term from Katie's mind, in the same way he has accessed her knowledge of English in order to communicate with the therapist.

In the discussions Suddi explains much about the technology and astronomy or other knowledge collected, stored and taught in the Essene community, which he names Kum-ran, obviously meant to be the Qumran we now know. All very interesting, but with some puzzling aspects. Cannon reflects on implications of the possibility that Jesus might have been an Essene, taught by the masters there. She indicates this conflicts with the traditional ideas of Jesus and beginnings of Christianity.

Ironically, most of the differences between what she reports from Suddi and what she assumes is Christian or biblical seems often to be due to her ignorance of the Bible or the history of Christianity. I was likewise surprised to see some reviewers commenting on how all this, such as the breadth of knowledge of the Essenes, undercuts the whole foundation of Christianity. Well, perhaps it does threaten entrenched institutions built around a cultural and abstract intellectual concept of religion in Cultural Christianity.

But there is no threat in learning that Jesus related to the largest and best-organized messianic community in his land at the time. That seems quite natural. There is a danger is jumping to sweeping irrational conclusions from new insights like the Dead Seas Scrolls, or certain interpretations of them. I don't know if there is danger in considering the possibility that a human personality could live through life in more than one historical character and physical person. It certainly isn't consistent with established "received" religion in institutional Christianity.

I am wary of esoteric methods, however objectively conducted and scientifically evaluated, that claim to access historical personalities through hypnosis. Dr. Cannon does go to great lengths to verify what is "revealed" through conversations with Suddi, the Essene student/teacher who becomes the teacher of Jesus on behalf of the Essene community.

This is interesting reading. I enjoyed reading it critically, and with an open sense of ultimate judgement. But this is not the Bible. It is not the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is not the Essene commentaries on the Old Testament. And there is certainly nothing in the Qumran scrolls that resembles or purports to be an alternate version of ANY New Testament writing. The texts of the Old Testament are exactly the same, accompanied by clearly interpretive commentary.

This is light reading, in the general sense, not history, or theology. It is a good study in one aspect of psychology, and worth considering in that arena.

Initially, I found this book less readable than the sequel "They walked with Jesus", but as I progressed the book became more and more so and in fact fascinating.

Dolores regresses her subject, Katie, back to a life as an Essene, Suddi, at a time that proved to be contemporary with Jesus, though Suddi was born some years before Jesus. She talks to Suddi at different periods of his life, from the age of 12 to subsequent to his death when he was over sixty.

Suddi lives in the community of the Essenes at Qumran. At first, he describes his occupation as studying the laws of the Torah (the Jewish religious book) and Hebrew law, but later he teaches. The Essenes adhere strictly to the "law" (the laws of Moses) and the Torah.

The community obtains its water from two fountains. They have a complex water system within the community including two baths. They have two types of lights, one containing oil, which is lit, but also lights with no flame. These apparently contain dry cell batteries and work by means of a sort of electricity!

The Essenes are an advanced and liberal community. For instance, the members of the community are not obliged to stay there but can leave if so desired. They do not believe in blood sacrifices, and women are regarded as being on a par with men and entitled to the same education. The Essenes compile astrological charts to determine, for instance, whether persons are suitable for each other with regard to matrimony. They do not condone slavery, but some choose to do menial work for a time as an act of penance.

The community houses a library comprising a vast collection of scrolls in numerous languages. The library also contains a model of the solar system (orrery) that moves constantly. This includes ten planets, though the outer planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) have not been discovered in the time of the Essenes (though apparently they have been!). These include one past Pluto which Suddi terms Juna, that is apparently not known to us as yet. Juna is explained to have a very erratic orbit in that it swings in and out and "does a kind of a loop around Pluto". The model's method of operation is not explained precisely, but Dolores thinks it might be a perpetual motion machine operated by centrifugal force. It is explained that the model was made by the Kaloo, members of a dying race from whom the Essenes are descended. They came from the West, settled in Egypt and then travelled towards Israel. The Kaloo were a wandering race, this being part of their destiny. Their knowledge included the fact that somewhere in the near future (Saddi's near future) there will come a Messiah.

The library also containes a great crystal in pyramid form. Suddi terms it "an energy increaser". It is about two foot square and of changing colours. Only one person in the community, the Master, is able to approach this crystal. A wall has been built around it for people's protection. Energy iss imparted by the students to the Master, Mechelava, and then into the crystal, and this energy can then be directed or focused on whatever it iss to be used upon. The knowledge of how to handle this crystal will be passed on only to one deemed responsible enough have this knowledge.

Even at the tender age of twelve, when the first interview or interviews with Suddi are made, he has an amazing knowledge and understanding. He informs Dolores that the Essenes are not a religious group, which would be inhibiting, but their function is to protect knowledge and keep it alive.

Suddi, whose native language is Aramaic, when older, tells Dolores of the 12 commandments. The two unknown to her (and us) are "Thou shalt not follow the ways of the path of Baal" and "Thou shalt do only unto others as they would do unto you" (Though I think Dolores here has made an error and it correctly should read "Thou shalt do only unto others as you would have them do unto you".)

A chapter describes Suddi's knowledge of meditation and the chakras, and another particularly interesting section of the book tells of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. These towns, or villages, were located close to the "Sea of Death" (the Dead Sea). Suddi states that radiation caused the explosion that led to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Pockets of pitch and tar were struck by lightning. When the explosion occurred, a large amount of salt would have been thrown into the air, thus accounting for Lot's wife "turning into a pillar of salt".

Also we are provided with new information about Daniel, David, Adam and Eve, Ruth and Joseph of "coat of many colours" fame. But it turns out that phrase was due to an incorrect translation. It was not a coat of many colours that Joseph was given but a coat with sleeves. (I've just seen on the net, on Wikipedia, that others now confirm that this was in fact a mistranslation, and the word meant a coat with sleeves as stated by Suddi,)

Much other new and fascinating information is presented to us by the knowledgeable Suddi.

But perhaps the most valuable section of the book is that on the life of Jesus, We are told about the Star of Bethlehem, whose appearance is witnessed by Suddi. It turns out that Suddi's two students, whom he taught for about five years from when they were about eight years old, were Benjoseph and Benzacharias, i.e. "son of Joseph" and "son of Zacharias", respectively, and thus none other than Jesus and his cousin John. They have also other teachers at Qumran and learn "mathematics, the study of the stars, the study of the prophecies, the mysteries".

This is a fascinating and extremely informative section, and includes a chapter on the preparation for crucifixion and one on the crucifixion and resurrection. Suddi witnesses the crucifixion from the after-death state and describes it to Dolores.

All Dolores' books are exciting and vastly informative. This one is one of her best, and I urge you to read it. I would award it ten stars if I could.

Jesus and the Essenes
by Dolores Cannon

I found this to be a very thought filled and interesting book that really speaks to reincarnation at it's core, and also gives us a lot of rare insight into the man named Jesus. I enjoyed the way the author personalized the story and was able to give us such detailed accounts of the sessions that gleaned her so much information.

The format of this 290 page blessing was easy to follow and the material was well presented. I really liked the pictures, they added an extra touch and the messages were so clear that I felt like I was actual there with Jesus learning about his life from those around him. I thought the info on the Essenes was amazing. I would recommend this dedicated book to those who have a fascination for Jesus and the times he lived in. Thanks Dolores, for giving us that rare glimpse.

Love & Light,

Riki Frahmann