Atlantidae

The term "Atlantidae" is derived from Atlantis, the legendary island continent first described by Plato in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias. The name likely originates from the Titan Atlas, who, in Greek mythology, held up the heavens and was associated with the region.

Tlu* aiict'stoi-s of the IMiaraolis and the I'on-fatliti's (if the Kfiyptians, aecordiiij; to some, and as tlu' Esoteric Science teaches. (See St c. Doct., Vol. II., and Ksottric Buddhis-ni.) Plato heard of this hij;hly civilized i)eoj)le, the last remnant of whieh was sul)mer<jed 9.000 years before his day, from Solon, who had it from the Ilijrh Priests of Egypt. Voltaire, the eternal scotTer, was rijrht in stating that "the Atlantichv (our fourth Root Race) made their ai)pearance in Egypt. . . . . It was in Syria and in Phrygia. as well as Egypt, that they established the worship of the Sun." Occult pliilosophy teaches that the Egyj)tians were a remnant of the last Aryan Atlantida-.

The term Atlantidae, as presented by Blavatsky, invites us to consider not merely a lost continent but a lost epoch of human consciousness. It speaks to a primal yearning for a golden age, a time when humanity, or a significant branch of it, possessed a deeper, more integrated understanding of existence. Mircea Eliade, in his explorations of archaic thought, often highlighted the human tendency to project ideal states of being onto a mythical past, a past that serves as a repository for our highest aspirations and deepest fears. The Atlantidae, in this light, become an archetype of advanced civilization, one that achieved a sophisticated mastery of both the material and the subtle realms, a mastery that ultimately proved unsustainable.

This concept resonates with Carl Jung's exploration of collective unconscious archetypes. The Atlantidae could be seen as a manifestation of the archetype of the Wise Old Man or the Great Mother, embodying lost knowledge and nurturing power, but also carrying the shadow of their fall. Their submergence, a motif common in flood myths across cultures, symbolizes a profound psychic or societal collapse, a forgetting of essential truths. The notion that they influenced early Egyptian and Syrian cultures suggests a transmission of esoteric knowledge, a faint echo of their former glory that filtered into subsequent human development, much like fragments of ancient wisdom persist in later philosophical and religious systems.

The allure of the Atlantidae lies in its promise of a forgotten science, a spiritual technology that allowed for a harmonious existence with cosmic forces. This echoes the alchemical quest for the Philosopher's Stone, the Buddhist pursuit of enlightenment, or the Hermetic ideal of as above, so below. The very idea of a "fourth Root Race" implies a grand evolutionary narrative, a cosmic unfolding of consciousness that dwarfs our current understanding. It challenges the linear progression of history, suggesting that periods of immense advancement can precede periods of regression or transformation, a cyclical view of time that finds parallels in Hindu Yugas or the cyclical cosmologies described by scholars like Ananda Coomaraswamy. The Atlantidae, therefore, are more than just a historical curiosity; they are a mirror reflecting our own potential for both transcendence and oblivion, a potent symbol in the perennial search for lost wisdom.

RELATED_TERMS: Atlantis, Root Races, Lemuria, Akashic Records, Archetypes, Cyclic Time, Esoteric Buddhism, Flood Myths