Read Occultism, Its Past, Present and Future Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Atlantis extended from the West Indies to the coast of Central and Northern Africa, as we know from the investigations of the British Government, which spent many years,
and large sums of money, in detemining the extent of the sunken continent; and it was here that civilization proceeded with tremendous strides. All the accumulated knowledge of the other periods was stored in the minds of those who had been the Lemurians, and were then incarnating as Atlanteans. As they acquired greater and greater knowledge, they not only reached a point in mechanical development almost as great as our own, but they also took up the study of Occultism, which became common among the people.

By that time the great Masters had retired from physical contact with men, and the Adepts had taken their places as direct teachers of the people. They moved among men, and were the kings and rulers, the law-givers and inventors; in fact, they were the inspirers of the race up to the time it reached its highest point of development in that period.

Then the continent became divided into five great kingdoms, and in each of these there were lodges of Adepts. At the height of Atlantis' glory, once more the people turned to sensual abandonment, and the Adepts withdrew into Retreats with their pupils, for the people refused to listen to them, or to be aided by them any longer. In the course of time, materialism swept over that continent, as it has swept over Europe and America; and Occultism was forgotten by the masses, and remembered only by the few; and then, gradually, that which was pure Occultism became perverted, and men began to use their powers criminally. Those who remembered or practiced Occultism, put into operation mental and certain other forces which enslaved all those who had forgotten how to use their own forces, or who were not developed to the same point as themselves.

And thus Atlantis became a continent where a few immensely wealthy, powerful and
strong egos ruled the majority of the people, and made them their slaves. But the misuse of Occult forces brought its reaction, as it always does, and, as Plato tells us, Atlantis suddenly became submerged. You remember that when he went to Egypt he was informed that the last remnants of Atlantis had disappeared about five thousand years prior to his visit; and also that the priests had records of the old continent, as well as of their own country, which extended back thousands of years. These records were kept by the Occultists who were priests in the time of Plato, and are still kept in triplicate; one copy has been placed in each of the three great repositories situated on separate continents.

Before Atlantis went down those of the inhabitants who had preserved their purity and who were trying to lead upright lives, were taken by the Adepts out of the country. Those living in the Western Empires were colonized in Central and South America. In Central America that rare civilization which preceded our own was founded, and was the duplicate in every respect of the one formerly established in India. The degenerate descendants from the Central American civilization emigrated to North and South America and populated them. The degeneracy of these aboriginal
Americans was due to the fact that at this time in that Fourth Period the undeveloped souls of the Atlanteans were incarnating in those bodies; for it was with the Atlanteans as it had been with the Lemurians, the strongest souls came first and became the pioneers. They bore the heaviest burdens and thus prepared the way for the less developed souls who had not the strength to do the work that their elder brothers had done. And it should not be forgotten that the history of the
Lemurians and the Atlanteans is but the history of ourselves. Our strongest and bravest souls came forward to start the Fifth Period onward in its evolution, as even a cursory reading of general history will disclose, and they have reappeared from time to time to manifest their energies in the several lines of human achievement, in order to teach, help and direct the course of events.

From the Eastern Empires of Atlantis the advanced souls went into Africa and laid the foundation of what is known now as the Egyptian Empire. And this brings us to the Fifth Period, in which Occultism was again taught popularly and openly among the people. A study of Egyptian history reveals that during its entire period there were Occultists-Magicians they were called - who could produce great phenomena. They were teachers of the people and were the priests and law-givers; they were the friends of kings and were consulted whenever there was sickness or national calamity. These teachers were the Adepts who came in contact with the people.

In the Fifth Period, which is the present one, the descendants of the colony which remained in India, having reached the height of its prosperity and development, passed Westward and founded the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires. There again the Adepts moved among men. In both sacred and profane history of those times we find that the Magi were able to cure all manner of diseases and to manipulate the laws of nature. Passing upward from Babylon and Syria to the Mediterranean on the one side and through Egypt to the Mediterranean on the other, we find that the great remnants of the Third and Fourth Periods were merged and blended in the Fifth Period in
the Phoenician, the Grecian, the Carthaginian and the Roman peoples.

This is not a statement of occult history in full; but is merely the barest outline in order to show you how Occultism has been presented in the past, and how it has been preserved for us. At the beginning of this Fifth Period we had a new burst of occult knowledge and force, because all the knowledge acquired in the preceding periods by the egos had been brought over in these later incarnations, and in the early history of each of the Nations mentioned Occultism was taught to the people once more. The Adepts were friends of the people and were freely consulted by them.

But gradually as materialism advanced and sensuality became the dominant trait of
each of these peoples, the Adepts withdrew again from personal contact with the world - as the great Masters had withdrawn in previous periods of time. In Greece materialism in its most artistic form began to stamp itself upon the minds of the people, who turned from spiritual teachings and caused the Adepts to withdraw entirely from the world. And it came to pass that all magic or Occultism, for they were identical in those days, was confined to what is known now as temple magic and was practiced by the priests who were students of the Adepts. In various Grecian temples mechanical or ceremonial magic was taught; that is, a knowledge of mental forces united with a knowledge of chemistry and alchemy, by the blending of which great phenomena were produced. Some record of this great knowledge is preserved
even in the histories which you have.

Before Occultism in Greece passed away one final attempt was made to counteract materialism, and the Eleusinian Mysteries were founded. In these mysteries the development and evolution of the human soul were taught in symbolic form and the wisest mein of that age thought it a privilege to be initiated into these Mysteries. But even this proved unavailing to stem the tide of materialism and therefore the priests ceased to publicly proclaim or exert their occult powers. Occasionally
some enthusiastic student came forward and exhibited his knowledge of the Occult by
the performance of a few miracles and marvelous phenomena; but the people as a whole were too materialistic to be taught anything better or higher than their own gross beliefs and soon such students had to retire from public work.

Then Christianity arose, and its doctrines were received by a great many who, after a brief period of genuine revival of spirituality, used them for political purposes. The different orders of the priesthood became the Occult Bodies within the Christian Church, and up to the Middle Ages the priests in the Church possessed all the knowledge of Occultism that the world had. And the Catholic Church is now the only one that has preserved a trace of this ancient truth. It was during the Middle Ages that the Occultists as a class withdrew from the Church of Rome and formed secret
bodies or societies, such as the Rosicrucians, in various parts of the world.

Read Occultism, Its Past, Present and Future Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4