Edgar Cayce on the Mysterious Essenes. John Van Auken

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СКАЧАТЬ these means, one reaches Heaven and is in sight of God. (Avesta: Mino-

-Kherad, 43:1-14)

      You can see how these principles easily fit with Judeo-Christian principles. Consider as an example the writings of the Christian disciple Paul who also saw two forces struggling against one another, the spirit and the flesh, and listed the “fruits” of these:

      I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one other, that you may not do the things that you desire. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit. Let’s not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another. (Galatians 5:17-26)

      Edgar Cayce’s discourses saw the struggle to be between love and selfishness, seeing God as the spirit of love, and selfishness as misuse of the gift of free will for self-gratification, and self-exaltation: “The only sin is self . . .” He saw this as the reasoning behind the two great commandments: love God and love one another.

      In addition to these examples, some of the Zoroastrian stories are also found in the stories of the Jews and Christians. For example, Zoroaster, like Jesus, is tempted by the personification of the Destructive Mind and Spirit, or Satan in the Christian story, to follow its ways with the promise that Zoroaster would become the sovereign of the whole world! But Zoroaster, also like Jesus, rejects the Destructive Mind and Spirit’s temptation, pushing it out of his personal mind and spirit. (Vendidād 19 and Matthew 4:1-12).

      Where did Zoroastrianism and its Magi first connect with the Jews and thereby the Jewish sect of the Essenes? It can be traced all the way back to the Babylonian captivity of the Jews of the First Temple, when the First Temple was destroyed and the Jewish captives were carried off to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar II (597-582 BCE)—even the prophet Daniel was among the captives. At this same time and after, Zoroastrianism was the religion of Persia (modern-day Iran) and Babylon was their next-door neighbor (a portion of modern-day Iraq). When the Persians finally invaded and conquered Babylon (539 BCE), they eventually liberated the captive Jews. But by the time they were allowed to return to Jerusalem, these Jews would have heard and recorded the religious beliefs of their liberators and perhaps possessed copies of the Zend-Avesta. They would have taken some of these wonderful ideas and texts back with them, and these would have become some of the documents of the Second Temple period that made their way into the caves in Qumran.

      Where does Zoroastrianism connect with early Christianity? Many of the Essenes considered themselves to be “Messianic,” preparing for the birth of the Messiah, and many of them considered Jesus to be that Messiah. They, therefore, became followers of “The Way” of Jesus’ teachings, still considering themselves to be Jews, but “Jews of The Way.” What helped them believe that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah? The answer is the legendary Magi coming from the East to honor the birth of Jesus as the “King of the Jews,” claiming that the stars indicated this! Some of the Magi were known to be sacred Zoroastrian priests trained in astrology as well as other esoteric wisdom and practices. They even lent their name to the word “magic.” In the Gospel of Matthew, 2:1-2, they are called “wise men from the east,” but many of the early church leaders referred to them as “magicians.” (Drum, W.; 1910; “Magi,” The Catholic Encyclopedia, New York: Robert Appleton Company) These Magi were of such an enlightened consciousness that they, too, had a dream from God in which God instructed them not to return to King Herod, but to travel a different way back to their country. (Matthew 2:12) And they obeyed the instruction. Herod, angry that he had lost the confidence of the Magi and their knowledge of which newly born male child was to become the “King of the Jews,” chose to kill every baby boy two years of age and under—a horrific act that caused the spirit of Rachel to weep inconsolably for her children. (Matthew 2:18) But Joseph and Mary had already fled to Egypt with the baby Jesus, obeying the instruction of an angel in a dream instructing Joseph to flee with the mother and child. (Matthew 2:1-15)

      In his masterpiece, The Histories (i. 131 et seq.), Herodotus, considered to be the “Father of History,” recorded that the Persians from the earliest times considered the sun, moon, stars, earth, the waters, and the wind to be sacred, and everyone should cooperate with them and never abuse, misuse, or contaminate them. Herodotus recorded that the Magi believed in the propitiation of the powers of evil (ib. iii. 35, vii. 114), which is considered today to be a basic Christian concept! In other words, through new actions old sins are absolved, as the apostle Peter noted in his epistle: “Above all things being fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covers a multitude of sins.” (I Peter 4:8, my italics) Herodotus also wrote that Zoroaster strongly spoke and wrote against demoniacal rites and practices that continued to be practiced. Herodotus described how Zoroastrian priests conducted magical ceremonies to evoke the power and presence of the Bountiful Spirit and Mind, corresponding closely to the Christian practice of evoking the presence and power of the Holy Spirit—which was for a time conducted in secret so as not to be labeled divination by the Inquisitor. Even Nostradamus recorded how he used a method for evoking the divine presence to generate his visions, writing that he was “seated alone in secret study . . . fear arising and trembling . . . for in divine splendor a god sits nearby.” (Century 1, clips from Quatrains 1 and 2) Nostradamus had to cloak his writings in obscure language in order to avoid the wrath of the Inquisitor, especially since Nostradamus’ parents were Jews who converted to Catholicism, making them suspect of being under Satan’s influence.

      As in Kabbalah and Christianity, the Magi had legends and lore of angels as well as heavenly beings akin to archangels, called “Immortal Holy Ones” (Amesha Spentas). These archangels personified virtues and ideals: Good Mind, Perfect Righteousness, the “wished-for” Kingdom, Harmony, Health, Salvation, and Immortality (or Eternal Life with God).

      The Zoroastrians also had the concept of an incarnation of God’s Light! They called it the “incarnation of light and truth,” known as Mithra (not to be confused with Roman Mithraism). Mithra is derived from -tra, meaning “causing to,” and mi-, meaning “to bind,” thus Mithra is he who “causes one to hold to” the covenant, the oath. This is where the Essenes, who referred to themselves as “the Keepers of the Covenant,” met with the ancient Mithra and his mission of “binding to the covenant.”

      Amazingly, Mithra has many titles similar to Jesus (John 14:6), Mithra is called “the Truth,” “the Way,” “the Light,” and more. (Avesta: Yasna 1-3) In Old Persian Mithra is called Mica and is often connected with Baga, the Old Persian word for God; thus Mica-Baga, indicates that Mithra was as the Gospel writer John described the Logos, an incarnation of God: “In the beginning was the Word (Greek: Logos), and the Logos was with God and the Logos was God . . . and all things were created through this One.” (John 1:1-3) John later wrote that the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Curiously, Mica/Mithra was also described as being an incarnation of the Light, the Truth (found on the Elamite tablets of Darius’ time).

      Here’s a Zoroastrian passage from the Khorda Avesta (known as the “Little Avesta” and the “Book of Common Prayer”), referring to Mithra as follows:

      Whose word is true, who is of the assembly, Who has a thousand ears, the well-shaped one, Who has ten thousand eyes, the exalted one, Who has СКАЧАТЬ