Customer Reviews

The Lost Hall of Records : Edgar Cayce's Forgotten Record of Human History in the Ancient Yucatan

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been to workshops with John Van Auken and he has
a tremendous capacity and knowledge of ancient wisdom...that
seems to supercede what one can learn from distilling normal
history books, on site investigations, and even reading the
Edgar Cayce material...its as if he "lived there, lived then,
and has a remarkable capacity to remember it all and reveal it
clearly and effectively"....
This book is another splendid example of John's crystal
clear and profoundly deep capacity to share his knowledge
in a manner that both layman and passionate scholar can grasp.

What is a myth? Perhaps it's a story that isn't true on the outside, but is true on the inside. The tension between what our heart's intuition tells us and what we can actually experience on the outside is a source of great creativity and development, both personal and for the human race. Cayce's story of the history and destiny of humanity is a lesson here. Not only does his story include our spiritual creation and its purpose, but also the external history of life on planet earth, including predictions about major changes ahead. Is this story a myth? For many of those who contemplate it, his story is stimulating and spiritually fulfilling, which is what a good myth should do, whereas traditional religion has lost its ability to inspire. But Cayce presents his story as being literally true. Did things really happen the way he tells it?One of the fascinating aspects of his story concerns the existence of "Halls of Records," where this history is recorded. He said that one such Hall of Records was in Yucatan, Mexico. Furthermore, he said that at this site, there was also evidence of another key element in Cayce's story--the (in)famous "Firestone Crystal" of Atlantis, which was their source of power, but which had been misused and helped bring down that civilization.I vividly remember discovering the Edgar Cayce material and having my imagination sparked as never before by the story of the Firestone and its connection with Mayan imagery. Soon I was making pilgrimages to Yucatan to search for the Hall of Records. Whereas the external search was expensive and proved beyond my skill range, an inner search was also in progress and was more rewarding. I developed a symbolic meaning for the Firestone crystal; namely, that there is a dormant power of consciousness that can be awakened in spiritual community. Through group dream work (such as Atlantic University's Sundance: The Community Dream Journal) and interpersonal intuition of the heart, I was able to verify the tremendous creative power and wisdom that may be unleashed through cooperation when individuality is given equal footing with the unitive effort. As I became more involved with researching the inner meaning of the Firestone, my fascination with Yucatan and prehistory faded.But today I am inspired to turnabout, to look again with interest toward the outer side of the story. What motivates this revival comes through the publication of a significant book, The lost hall of records: Edgar Cayce's forgotten record in the ancient Yucatan (Eagle Wing Books). The author's, John Van Auken, a past executive director at A.R.E., and Lora Little, Ed.D., a psychologist, have spent years correlating information in the Edgar Cayce material with archaeological findings. In their meticulously researched book they have integrated a panoramic view of Cayce's spiritual story with scientific findings that take the story out of realm of pure myth and into the realm of history. Archaeological research, including advances in the interpretation of Mayan heiroglyphs and what they reveal about the Mayans' astonishing astronomical observations, has made it possible as never before to suggest that Cayce's story just might be true on the outside. Moreover, Van Auken and Little's research has made a significant breakthrough that makes their book as newsworthy as it is inspiring.A key point in Cayce's remote viewing of the Mayan archaeological findings concerned some artifacts, emblems of the Firestone, that were stored in the University of Pennsylvania museum. Previous investigations had failed to locate these artifacts in the museum's collection. The authors make a strong case, however, that the artifacts in question were those found in the site known as Piedras Negras, a Mayan ruins in Guatamala. Not in the state of Yucatan, Mexico, but part of the Mayan civilization in the general area of the Yucatan pennisula, nevertheless Piedras Negras could easily be described by Cayce's psychic perception as "Yucatan." Making this slight shift in focal point has unleased a provocative set of new findings. Athough there isn't space here to detail all the nitty gritty that the authors combine to paint a credible hypothesis about the external validation of Cayce's story, suffice it to say that they've excited me again to the possibility that there just might be a Hall of Records in that tropical jungle, as well as a model of the Firestone crystal.I am reminded of Cayce's statement that the records would be found and could be read only when the consciousness of the seeker matched the contents of those records. The lesson for me is that while an inner search is important, not to be forgotten is that it is equally important to look to the outer reality as well. Maybe it is time for me to make a return trip to the Mayan ruins to see what I shall see.

If you are interested in broadening your horizons from more traditional ideas and take a look at what they did not teach you in school in your history classes then this book is a great read. If you already have some background as I did it will fill in some of the blanks for you. It certainly is well documented and detailed. This book definitely challenges my Catholic School view of how things began...probably not the way the Protestants taught it either. Having "knocked around" the "psychic" literature (Cayce, Seth, and a few others) I already was quite familiar with Edgar Cayce. This book deepens my understanding of the man and his work. Over the last 10 years my massage therapist has been telling me about all things Mayan and what is said to be coming in 2012 and beyond. I thought he was a bit "out there" if you know what I mean. Now I have some understanding of what he has been talking about at a more "rational" level. I particularly liked the sections of the book on the Akashic records and the Cayce "reading" of those records. I also appreciated the parts of the Bible that were discussed and what the Bible's authors were trying to say in story form. I would recommend this book for those who are interested in furthering their knowledge in the area of spirituality, psychic phenomena, archeology, and anthropology. It will leave you with plenty of food for thought.

There is lot of information here about the Pedras Negras site. The authors have collected information from a variety of sources and compiled them into this book. I believe one of the authors spouses (Greg Little) has even been to the site. Given that there are so few readily available resources on this site this book has value to anyone interested in Mayan sites.

Where the book fails to deliver is that ultimately it becomes a speculative piece trying to loosely tie Cayce predictions to findings and activity at the site. You get a lot of 'if', 'perhaps', and 'possibly' kind of talk. There is much waffling as to whether the correct years match, or the correct research teams from the 1930s, lots of confusion that is not really cleared up. After wading half-way through the book you realize the authors can prove little, if anything, in the way of any substanative connection between Cayce and Pedras Negras. Even more tenuous are Caycian references to this area of Central America being founded by surviors of Atlantis, etc. Not that Atlantis could not have seeded the Olmecs and/or Mayans, but that this book does not deliver in terms of making any firm arguments.

Towards the last third of the book the site Pedras Negras is largely left aside and we are taken on a ride through theories about the Akashic records and what supposedly occured in earth's past. What started as a marginally scientific work quickly turns into a mythical story book. Again, not that what the book says happened could not have occurred, but that the information is presented with no confirmation and nothing for you to really latch onto.

Ultimately metaphysical books today dealing with sacred sites MUST evolve to the point that the reader can actually get some understanding either of the site or how to interpret it for themselves. The authors do attempt to present concepts and ties such as the firestone of Cacye's reading to various elements at Pedras Negras. What is to be done with the firestone? If you are really into Atlantis then you might realize any physical technology was involved in Atlantis' destruction (sons of Belial) because the true priesthood would have cultivated internal power, not external power. The real halls of records are etherial (not necessarily Akashic). Looking for physical answers will only keep you within the physical. This is a huge change of view that was missed in this book.

The book fails to give you a better understanding of the Maya (better left to Friedel and Schele), and do not give you the solid archeological information (that was directly done by UPenn and now by BYU). You also find almost no solid information which would allow you to step into the intents and consciousness of the founders or occupants of the site. At the least mainstream archeology provides this insight. But this book has spent most of its capital focused on making connections back to Cayce. And Cayce was wrong about more than one thing (sorry Cayce fans, the poles did not flip in 1998) so trying to use him as the nexus for important research will tend to be both frustrating and error prone.

The experiential reader will pick up a couple of elements worthy of personal investigation including the mineral hematite and the six pointed diagrams presented.

This book helps bring the reader up to date about the search for one of the lost halls of records described by the psychic Edgar Cayce. Interestingly Cacye indicated there are three identical sets of records which are all the same and are somehow really part of the same thing. This seems to parallel the idea of The Holy Trinity.

In this case the focus is on the lost hall down in the Yucatan. The other sites are at the Giza plateau in Egypt and Bimini near the Bahamas where Atlantis sank.

The conclusion as I understand it is some of the artifacts related to the lost hall may have already been discovered and they are in various museums but people don't realize what they are. Cayce indicated that back in the 1930s people had actually discovered some stones that had strange powers but they 'know so little about them'.

But the actual lost hall hasn't been discovered yet and nobody is really sure where it is exactly.

Van Auken believes he had lived in ancient Egypt in a past life and was some type of priest. He was in the great pyramid and was levitated off the ground and into the mysterious fire inside the pyramid.

A lot of the material in this book diverges from the search for the lost hall and gets into a discussion of Edgar Cayce's prophecies about the akashic record. The akashic record is the 'book' that contains the history of every souls activities in this earthly plain. Cayce was able to read from this psychic book.

The authors have another book out which expands on the akashic record and other things called 'Secrets Of The Ancient World'.

Jeff Marzano

Fulcanelli: Master Alchemist: Le Mystere des Cathedrales, Esoteric Intrepretation of the Hermetic Symbols of The Great Work (Le Mystere Des Cathedrales ... of the Hermetic Symbols of Great Work)

Secrets of the Ancient World: Exploring the Insights of America's Most Well-Documented Psychic, Edgar Cayce

Edgar Cayce's Atlantis

Edgar Cayce's Egypt: Psychic Revelations on the Most Fascinating Civilization Ever Known

The Giza Power Plant : Technologies of Ancient Egypt

Initiation

Initiation in the Great Pyramid (Astara's Library of Mystical Classics)

Forbidden History: Prehistoric Technologies, Extraterrestrial Intervention, and the Suppressed Origins of Civilization

The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls: Unlocking the Secrets of the Past, Present, and Future

The Lost Hall of Records provides an excellent and extensive list of the clues found in the Cayce readings as to the location of the records left by the Atlanteans in the Yucatan.

This is a feat worthy of applause since Cayce's information on the Atlantean records in the Yucatan is scant and scattered throughout many psychic readings. Unlike the information on the Hall of Records left by the Atlanteans on the Giza plateau-that the Hall of Records can be accessed from a passageway leading from the right forepaw of the Sphinx--the many unconnected details about the Yucatan site make a search for it very difficult.

The co-authors Van Auken and Little chose to concentrate on a number of these clues to support their contention that the Atlantean records in the Yucatan were left in Piedras Negras, Guatemala, which is in the Yucatan Peninsula.

I disagree with them based on my own understanding of the clues in the Cayce readings. I wrote about my research and my travel in the Yucatan in my article, "Searching for the Hall of Records in the Yucatan," which was published in Edgar Cayce's A.R.E.'s membership magazine Venture Inward in their March/April 2001 issue. The article is reprinted in my book, When We Were Gods: Insights on Atlantis, Past Lives, Angelic Beings of Light and Spiritual Awakening.

I believe the Atlantean records in the Yucatan are actually in the Mexican state called Yucatan and are in or near the ancient Mayan ruin called Uxmal. When I read The World Before, I discovered that Ruth Montgomery's guides agree with me.

Although I disgree with Van Auken and Little, I enjoyed The Lost Hall of Records and learned a lot from it. It is also richly illustrated and has a scholarly feel to the writing.

By Carol Chapman, photographer of the only Edgar Cayce Calendar Divine in Nature: With Quotes from Edgar Cayce and author of When We Were Gods: Insights on Atlantis, Past Lives, Angelic Beings of Light and Spiritual Awakening.