(From Return of the Children of Light by Judith Bluestone Polich)

Myths of many cultures tell us of lost ancient civilizations. The legendary civilizations of Lemuria and Atlantis are still part of the human collective memory. Whether the ancient worlds of Lemuria and Atlantis existed apart from myth does not matter, since the idea is now a permanent part of the human experience and has shaped our vision of the present and future.

Esoteric accounts tell us that the first seedings of the Elohim occurred in the ancient worlds of prehistory, some 36,000 years ago or earlier. In these ancient traditions, the world of Lemuria or "Mu" (a large island continent in the Pacific Ocean near South America) was the first world, or Mother world.

According to legend, Lemurians were luminous beings who had direct contact with higher intelligence. Reputably, they had collective perception - that is, they had shared thoyughts, could perceive as a whole, and were very telepathic. In their time, human consciousness had not yet been fully integrated into dense physical reality, and the Lemurians existed more in the etheral than in the physical realm. They had not yet left the Garden of Eden.

Peruvian folklore is filled with references to the Lemurians. It is believed that the ruins of Tiahuanaco sit upon the ruins of a far older culture that existed long before the Andes were thrust upward. According to legend, Tiahuanaco, which was once at sea level, represents the remains of the continent of Lemuria - submerged prior to 30,000 B.C. as a result of massive geological catastrophies. The implication is that the Tiahuanaco, from whom the Inca claim to be descended, were a remnant seed of the Lemurians.

Another seeding is said to have occurred in the lost world of Atlantis, the physical remains of which reputedly lie in the Atlantic Ocean. Some accounts place Atlantis in the Bermuda triangle, while others claim Atlantis was in the Mediterranian and suggest the Greek island of Santorini is a vestige of the lost world. The Atlanteans were said to be a highly advanced race with a civilization unlike any the world had previously seen. Many believe that when their homeland was destroyed, the Atlanteans migrated to Egypt, Mesoamerica, India, and Tibet, seeding many new civilizations.

Virtually all the peoples of Mesoamerica have stories about how their earliest ancestors came from a land to the east in boats after a massive flood. Although the theory of a continental split is largely accepted, there is also considerable scientific documentaion of major world flooding over 10,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. For example, University of Miami geologist Cesare Emiliani has through extensive core drilling in the Gulf of Mexico indesputably established that the entire Yucatan Peninsula was flooded about 12,000 years ago. Moreover, it has been determined that the Gulf of Mexico rose as much as 130 feet above the present sea level when the last glaciers melted.

Clearly, in ancient times there were numerous catastrophies on earth that would have profoundly affected all human, animal and plant life. However, it is important to recognize the flood commonly refered to in origin stories throughout Mesoamerica and Peru may have been a psychological rather than a physical event. From a mythological perspective, a flood may represent a period in which the higher consciousness of a group is submerged in waves of the unconscious, a period of sudden transformation of a cultural worldview during during which ancient knowledge is cast aside for new beliefs, or a time in which evolutionary progress is impeded.

It is indisputable that some physical or psychological event occurred in early human history of which we have only a vague and collective memory. We may never be able to prove what actually occurred since our knowledge of ancient human history has long been submerged beneath the floodwaters of time. And although archaeologists continue to search for Lemuria and Atlantis, it may be futile to debate whether these ancient worlds actually existed, since they are a well-established part of human mythology and serve the important purpose of translating ancient wisdome into modern consciousness.