Scientists find the records of life in the strata of the Earth, layers upon layers of fossils, bones, and shards telling a tale of ages long ago. This is the record of material life, of matter left behind. But life is more than matter. To fully understand the ancient history of Yucatan we need to journey beyond the physical. The records of non-material life are not in the Earth's strata; they are in the Akasha. This ancient term has its origin in the oldest body of religious literature yet discovered in the world, the Rig Veda, circa 1300 B.C., a collection of more than a thousand hymns written in an archaic form of one of the oldest languages on Earth, Sanskrit. The central myth in the Rig Veda is the myth of creation, told in several different ways. "Akasha" refers to the essence of life and the records of its activity since creation began. According to Vedic philosophy, life consists of two types: 1) formed or corporeal life (with which we are so familiar) and 2) unformed life. Unformed life possesses no substance whatsoever, yet is the fundamental condition for any corporeal existence and is the container for all matter. Form and unformed life are comparable to matter and energy. All life is matter and energy. Matter is formed. Energy is unformed. Energy possesses no substance but is the fundamental condition for matter to exist and the container in which all matter is manifest. Matter is equivalent to our bones and tissue; energy, to our minds and élan vital, or life force &endash; that spark or spirit that is so obviously missing in dead, decaying matter. Mind and spark affect the whole of life as much as or more than matter, but they do not leave their record in soil strata. Instead, thoughts and actions leave imprints upon an etheric wave, the Akasha. In order to read the Akasha one has to tune in to its frequency, like tuning a radio to a specific wavelength and converting that wavelength to one that can vibrate a speaker and in turn vibrate an ear drum. The Akasha may be a bit more difficult to tune in to than a radio station, but the same basic principle applies. Since the Akasha is essentially energy records recorded on formless ether, much like radio waves are in the air around us, one can use the mind to read them, a very deep portion of the mind.

In many of the indigenous tribes along the Amazon River, shamans enter into altered states of consciousness using various plant extracts found in the jungle. In these states they say that they can "see" beyond the normal physical world into the essence behind manifested life. For example, in his book Cosmic Serpent, Jeremy Narby explains: "Amazonian shamans have been preparing ayahuasca for millennia. The brew is a necessary combination of two plants, which must be boiled together for hours. The first contains a hallucinogenic substance, dimethyltryptamine, which also seems to be secreted by the human brain; but this hallucinogen has no effect when swallowed, because a stomach enzyme called monoamine oxidase blocks it. The second plant, however, contains several substances that inactivate this precise stomach enzyme, allowing the hallucinogen to reach the brain. So here are people without electron microscopes who choose, among some 80,000 Amazonian plant species, the leaves of a bush containing a hallucinogenic brain hormone, which they combine with a vine containing substances that inactivate an enzyme of the digestive tract, which would otherwise block the hallucinogenic effect. And they do this to modify their consciousness." When asked how they know which plants to select, they simply reply, " The plants tell us." This is difficult to accept. These shamans have an inner knowing that comes from depths of the mind-body or energy-matter relationship that yields information which would be difficult to discover using our powerful, external, scientific research alone. Interestingly, the shamans' insights that come from chemically-induced altered state of consciousness have been experienced by others without the use of drugs. Seers have been recorded throughout human history, from the ancient oracles, of which the Mayans and Aztecs had their share, to modern psychics. The mind's ability to perceive complex information from beyond physical dimensions can provide insights into the origins and destiny of humanity.

Over a period of forty-three years Edgar Cayce showed a remarkable ability to read the akashic records and interpret them. For more on Cayce's abilities see the article on Edgar Cayce. The tale he tells of Mu, Atlantis, Egypt, Yucatan, and the journey of the souls adds so much to our overall understanding that it is worth telling. As you might expect, correlating the akashic records as read and interpreted by Edgar Cayce with the physical records as excavated and interpreted by archaeologists and paleontologists is a challenge. But rather than begin with this, let me just tell the tale as conveyed through Edgar Cayce, and my interpretation of his interpretations. Due to their syntax and the presence of archaic terms and style, Cayce's readings can be difficult to read. Also, they are written records of a verbal process, which occasionally does not carry the full intent that was expressed, and punctuation can significantly change the meaning or intent of the voiced statement. Sometimes Cayce covers so many concepts and relevant issues that it can be difficult to determine just which one he is referring to in complex paragraphs. Despite all of this, with practice, one can become familiar enough with the syntax and the complex thought pattern to read and understand the Cayce readings fairly well.

Cayce explains the Akasha this way: "That upon the film of time and space, or that between time and space, makes or carries the records of the activities and thoughts of individuals in their sojourn through any realm of experience. And as to how well the record may be given depends upon how well [they are] interpreted by one who may read such records."

Here's the tale Cayce tells of the forces leading to and the development of Yucatan's many fascinating cultures, magnificent temples and pyramids, and amazing cities as he reads and interprets the akashic records:

The Akasha begins with the creation and its unfolding to the point that Central America becomes a meaningful stage in the human journey. As Cayce reads these records, Middle America is one of the "new lands" to which humans migrated from the sinking legendary lands of Mu (Lemuria), Atlantis, Oz, Og, Zu, and Ohum. Yucatan, Egypt, and China were the new lands where culture was going to make another effort to realize its full potential and escape from the many dangers and threats on this planet in those ancient times. Although Cayce's dating of these times is older than most archaeological dates, scientific data is moving closer and closer to Cayce's dates with each new discovery. His tale is not just the evolution of matter but an involution from dimensions of energy into matter, followed by an entrapment or possession by matter, and then the evolution up through matter. In his reading of the Akasha, the realms of the collective subconscious mind, even unconscious, are significant in understanding the people of Middle America because they lived in these states of consciousness far more than we do today; a condition that makes it difficult for us to understand their language, mythology, tales, ceremonies, and abrupt abandoning of magnificent temples and cities. Another handicap is our fundamental belief that everything old is primitive and that we are evolution's progeny. From our perspective ancient cultures live in superstition and myth, but we live in reality, the "real" world. Few Ancient Mayans would consider the world of matter to be the real world. For them the real world lay behind the conscious one, and the more one was in the outer, projected world, the further in their unconscious lay the real, true world. This is a very difficult perspective for many modern minds to accept.

The Beginning
Our story begins in the womb of the Creator's mind, an infinite expanse of consciousness that was perfectly still, formless, absolutely clear, with no thought prior to the creation, but with all the latent potential to conceive. At some immeasurable moment, this universal consciousness moved within itself and creation began. As ideas form in our little minds, so this first mind conceived, expressing its creativity and innate sense of beauty, harmony, and movement. The idea of light came forth from the Creator's mind; playing with light, stars were conceived; playing with stars, galaxies emerged; and the primordial stillness was alight with activity. But it was all in thought, in the mind of the Creator, which we would consider formless and not real; only matter is real. In a wondrously surprising moment of love, the one mind conceived of countless individual points of mind within itself, each given freedom to experience the creation and to co-create with the Creator. In the one were now many.

It was the first dawn, when the morning stars sang together and all the children of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7), to have found themselves awake and astir with wonder and excitement. In this early morning light their virgin minds were so like the infinite, omnipotent mind of their Creator that they were virtually one and the same. The Creator had put a piece of itself in each of them. Each innately possessed their Creator's desire for expression and companionship. Flush with life, their minds ablaze with wonder and imbued with the dynamic spirit of their Creator, these godlings began to reach out with their minds and experience the endless cosmos. As children explore everything, they peered into the many mansions of their father's house where wonders upon wonders were to be found in every direction their young minds turned. It was a glorious beginning, but there were dangers. Paramount among these was freedom, for it included the potential to rebel, even against the very source of their freedom.

As the godlings used their freedom they began to develop uniquenesses that made them less homogeneous and more individual. Each was building a personal story, with unique memories and desires. The Creator's ultimate goal was for them to know themselves to be themselves yet remain cooperatively one with the whole of life, one with the Creator and all of creation. In order to know themselves they had to experience individualness; but the individuation process had a dangerous side to it, a danger that was soon to cause all manner of trouble in paradise. Consciousness allows such a sense of self that the awareness of the underlying oneness may be lost. Some among the godlings lost their sense of oneness. They saw only individualness or multiplicity. As they continued to give strength to this perspective, they became self-focused, uncooperative, and motivated by their own self-interests. The ultimate impact of this would not be fully realized until the godlings moved out of the realms of the mind and into those of matter, particularly into the third dimension of the little, blue planet Earth.

The Earth was still cooling and life was just beginning to stir in its gases and waters when some of these godlings descended out of formless mind-spirit dimensions and into matter. At this early stage they were little more than whispers in the breeze, voices in the wind as their minds swept across the steaming planet, foretelling their coming into matter. Earth was not the only planet they visited, nor was the third dimension their primary level of consciousness. All the planets in this star system provided their minds with opportunities. Indeed, the entire universe with all its dimensions was theirs to enjoy. It was hoped that by doing so, they would grow to be fit companions for the Creator, the universal mind within which all of this was taking place.

Into Matter, Ready or Not
All of these fascinating stories refer to a time in the mind, in the heavens, long before the story of matter and flesh. The beginning of the journey into matter and the cycles through physical reality are recorded in the Akasha as an unintended side-trip for the godlings that turned into an extended sojourn.

Before incarnating, many of the free-will godlings had already become so self-centered, self-motivated that they lost their spiritual purpose and began seeking self-gratification and self-exaltation. They pushed their way into matter without regard for the consequences. Since there were no humanoid bodies, they attempted to experience three-dimensional life through the senses of the existing animals and plants. Entangling their minds with these forms in the process. From this very ancient time came our mythological legends of creatures that were part man and part animal. A fundamental principle of creation was that each life-form should give seed to itself, to its own kind: dogs should produce dogs, fruit trees should produce fruit trees, and so on, but the godlings had pushed their minds into these life-forms, creating mixed creatures. This careless entrance into matter produced semi-human beings with feathers, scales, fur, claws, hooves, and tails. Their minds, though still powerful, were possessed with animal features: satyr and faun (human and goat), centaur (human and horse), sphinx (human and lion), merman and mermaid (human and fish), minotaur, (human and bull), gorgon (human and snake), geryon (human and cow), chimera (human mixed with lion, goat, and serpent) , and so on. These creatures were known for their vanity, idle fancy, lust, drunkenness, and cruelty. Virgil's depiction of the Gates of Hell touched on this in his poem in Aeneas: "Of various forms, unnumbered specters more; centaurs and double shapes besiege the door; before the passage horrid Hydra stands and Briareus with all his hundred hands; Gorgons, Geryon with his triple frame; and vain Chimera vomits empty flame." In addition to beastly mixtures there were grotesque giants: titans, cyclopes, and gigantes (huge beings with the heads of men and the bodies of serpents). Even entire forests were enchanted by spirits, godling minds trapped in tree forms. It is important to understand that these were not so much physical as they were mental. That's difficult to comprehend given that life today is predominantly physical. But at this ancient time life existed more in energy or thought than in matter. Thought forms existed before physical forms, and the contamination first occurred in the mind. We like to call this "mythology." Odd blends of gods, humans, and animals are mythology. They are imaginative tales of the origin and nature of the world told by primitive people. Yet these myths exist in all of the world's societies (Africa, Asia, India, Persia, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Europe, Scandinavia, the Americas, and the Pacific) and are considered by each to be sacred. Myths are in pre-scientific legends of the past.

The Akasha contains the great story of a pre-evolutionary fall from heaven of great beings, angel-like beings made in the image of God. Prior to the evolution of matter there was an involution into matter from formless energy, or from mind and spirit. Hindu teachings of transmigration were founded upon these ancient legends. And though transmigration does not occur today, it once did. Beings we would consider to be humanoid were incarnating in non-human forms. But this was all about to change. A human form or body was needed and through a series of prototypes, one was developed.

According to the akashic records, the first place godlings incarnated in large numbers was not in Africa, that came much later when we were more deeply into matter. The first place was in Mu about 12 million years ago, or what is often referred to as Lemuria, an ancient continent in the Pacific Ocean. The minds of the godlings had been entering the realm of Earth since about 4.6 billion years ago, but much of this time was in the realm of the mind. True incarnation into carnal forms did not begin until Mu. Here's where human evolutionary theory and akashic tales part company. According to evolutionary theory, humans were still wandering around in primitive forms only a few thousand years ago. Cro-Magnon man (Homo-sapiens) was active in Europe and the Middle East about 40,000 years ago. The first city wasn't built until Jericho, about 10,000 B.C. Egypt and China didn't begin their spectacular cultures until 3,000 B.C. However, scientists have found humanoid or, as they call them, "hominid" remains dating back millions of years.

During the latter stages of the involution into matter the godlings were highly attuned to the forces of the Universe and Nature, capable of amazing feats of creativity and building. According to the akashic records the megalithic structures we find around the world from antiquity were indeed built by these godlings. It was a time of power that we can only imagine. For example, today there are just two cranes in the world that can lift the stones in the Great Pyramid of Giza. In order to build it we would have to perfectly lay 63 of these huge stones each day for 100 years (no days off) &endash; not likely. Everything old is not primitive, yet where are the physical remains of these powerful beings? The Akasha records that the tools of the ancient builders were not as physical as ours, their "bodies" not dense; therefore, no remains are in the layers of Earth to be discovered. Another curious indicator that ancient times may not have been as we believe is that even the physical evolutionary records reveal unexplainable jumps in development. For example, the time for evolution from monkey-men to Cro-Magnon is millions of years, but the time for evolution from Cro-Magnon to Queen Hatshepsut ruling over the glories of golden Egypt is only 37,000 years. Her granite obelisk in the temple at Karnak weighs approximately 100 tons and is carved with a level of skill that would be hard to find today. In fact, raising her obelisk is impossible today. And there are many similar megalithic structures around the world. According to the akashic records, the descending godlings used their powerful minds and intuitive understanding of the forces of the cosmos and Nature to build and survive. They projected themselves into this world using thought-form rather than matter, yet they could influence matter and its evolution. Their minds affected the breeding of animals, especially monkeys. They created what Cayce called, "things" to labor for them, zombie-like creatures of physical form, some were actually humanoid. However, the forces of Nature occasionally reacted with such force and violence to their disturbing presence that dramatic cataclysms occurred in the Earth, so dramatic that the godlings would withdraw or be forced out of Earth, leaving life here to evolve untouched by them for long periods. During these times of turmoil and change the Things were left to their own evolution following the laws of Nature. They wandered the Earth, evolving along with the plant and animal life. These zombie-like creatures had primitive minds, no souls, and were used by the godlings as we today use domestic animals. They bred and multiplied.