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Ancient Civilizations, Atlantis
Searching for the Hall of Records in the Yucatan
Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc.
Many A.R.E. members know about the search for the Hall of Records that has been going on in Egypt for many years. Fewer may be aware that there evidently is another place where Atlantean archives are buried. In reading 440-5 Cayce says that the records from the fabled Lost Continent are not only in the temple records of Egypt, but were also carried to Yucatan.

According to 5750-1, "The records are one." They contain "a record of Atlantis from the beginnings of those periods when the spirit took form or began the encasements in that land.. ." (378-16) They extend through the first destructions of that ancient civilization, the exodus of Atlanteans to other lands, and the final destruction of Atlantis. They contain a description of the building of the Great Pyramid, as well as a prophecy of "who, what, where, would come [to make] the opening of the records.. ." (378-16)

Perennially fascinated with Atlantis and unwilling to join the hordes flocking to the right forepaw of the Sphinx, my husband and I journeyed to the Yucatan to see what we might find. While the readings on the Yucatan Hall of Records are not as specific as those on Egypt, they contain many clues. Therefore, clutching the Hall of Records readings in our eager hands, we flew to Cancun, on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, and began our search.

We were looking for something that "might be termed the sundial that lies between the temple and the chambers." (440-12) I felt that the temple we were searching for might be a pyramid because reading 2329-3 uses the word "temple" interchangeably with "pyramid." Moreover, since the Egyptian Hall of Records is thought to be close to the Great Pyramid, it seemed probable that its Yucatan counterpart would likely be close to a pyramid as well.

There are many Mayan pyramids in Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, especially close to Mexico City and in the Yucatan. However, Cayce located this Hall of Records in the Yucatan, so we restricted our search to that region. As we traveled the paved and sometimes pot-holed roads slicing through the Mexican jungle, we wondered if the temple or pyramid we hoped to discover was still engulfed by vegetation and unknown to modern man, similar to the extensive ruins in Coba which have only recently been found and are still in the process of being unearthed and repaired.

However, we were encouraged by reading 440-5, which said that "the records that were carried to what is now Yucatan in America…are now…being uncovered." That reading was given in December 1933. Therefore, we assumed that the place we were looking for was open to the public by now. We hoped that one of the major Mayan ruins on the Yucatan peninsula - Tulum, Chichen Itza, or Uxmal - might be our destination.

Tulum, our first stop, was gorgeous. The main temple was perched like a citadel on a cliff overlooking the azure Caribbean. But there were no pyramids and we saw no sundial. In addition, although Tulum is part of the Yucatan peninsula, it is in the state of Roo rather than in Yucatan. Since Cayce in trance was often very specific, we thought that when he said "what is now Yucatan" he probably meant specifically in the state of Yucatan.

Therefore we headed inland toward Chichen Itza, a beautifully excavated and restored ruin that is famous for the snake sculptures that flank the stairway leading to the top of its main pyramid. At the spring equinox, sunlight falls along the stairs in such a way that it appears that a snake undulates up the stairway. Chichen Itza, with its observatory, snake carvings, temples and pyramids, contains endless opportunities for exploration. However, we didn't find a sundial.

We decided to head off the beaten tourist path along goat-crossed roads flanked by Mayan communities to Izamal, nicknamed Ciudad Amarillo (Yellow City) because of its picturesque buildings. Although the town is a disappointment as an archeological site - its one pyramid rises in the middle of a village like a huge uninhabited hill (without any sundial) - Izamal is know for its church, which was visited by Pope John Paul II in 1993. It is dedicated to the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, patron saint of the Yucatan.

Continuing our search for the Hall of Records, we journeyed toward Uxmal, arriving in town well after nightfall. Our headlights glared over narrow streets which wound, forked, twisted, and seemed to end up in the same spot over and over again. We bumped along in the dust past dwelling places, a church, and open garages illuminated by one in candescent light. Around us passed shadowy forms on motorcycles, in vehicles, and on foot, speaking with animation to each other in words that in no way resembled English.

We remembered all the admonitions from home, "Never drive in Mexico after dark!" and wondered what fate might befall us. "Uxmal?" my husband shouted out to a group of three men by the side of the road. One of the group came over to my husband's window and carefully, sincerely, and with honest concern showed us, with hand signs lit by refracted light from our headlights, and very slow Spanish, which roads to take. Somehow my husband under stood him. Within an hour we had found Uxmal and were gratefully settled in our motel room. Despite all the warnings, our many encounters with the Mexican people proved friendly and helpful.

Uxmal was an especially important destination, and not only because of the Cayce readings. I had also read in The World Before that Ruth Montgomery, best-selling author on the paranormal, said that her "spirit guides" had revealed the Uxmal vicinity as the location of the Yucatan Hall of Records.

In addition, when Cayce was asked how the Great Pyramid was built, he had answered, "By the use of those forces in nature as make for iron to swim. Stone floats in the air in the same manner." (5748-6) Since the Great Pyramid, which he said is close to the Egyptian Hall of Records, was built by an exceptional method, I wondered if the temple beside the Yucatan Hall of Records might also have been built in an unusual way. Moreover, in reading 5750-1 on the Yucatan, Cayce was asked, "By what power or powers were these early pyramids and temples constructed?" He replied, "By the lifting forces of those gases..."

One of our guidebooks mentioned an extraordinary legend about Uxmal's main pyramid. It had evidently been "built by a magician in one night." That clue made me think this might be the place.

It sounded very much like my past-life memories of the construction of the Great Pyramid. In past-life regressions, I had inadvertently stumbled upon my own experiences in Atlantis, including memories of the building of the Great Pyramid. It wasn't by dragging 20-ton boulders up earthen ramps on oiled skids. I had seen huge stone blocks flying through the air. The flying stones had not just hovered. They had zinged through the air so fast that they blurred as they dematerialized and rematerialized into the exactly correct spot. It seemed likely, then, that a pyramid with the reputation of having been built in a single night would have been built by Atlanteans.

That's why I really wanted to see the Pyramid of the Sorcerer in Uxmal. By chance, this pyramid happened to be built right beside a three-foot tall column that our guide referred to as a sundial.

Consulting the Cayce information, I read that the temple in the Yucatan is "overshadowing" the Hall of Records. (2012-1) My first view of the sundial was in the early morning while it was overshadowed by the Pyramid of the Sorcerer. I stood in the middle of an archway that perfectly framed the sundial and waited while the sun rose, freeing the sundial of the shade. Be hind it, the main stairway of the Pyramid of the Sorcerer ascended to a temple faced with Chaac, the rain god, whose fierce countenance glowered down as if in warning and protection, but of what - a sundial?

Opposite the Pyramid of the Sorcerer, on the other side of the sundial, is a square called the Quadrangle of the Nuns, because it is lined with cells that look like the small rooms found in a nunnery. I remembered 440-12 "... the sundial that lies between the temple and the chambers." This Yucatan relic is called a sundial, is between a temple and chambers, and is overshadowed by the temple on top of the pyramid. I wondered, could the Hall of Records be nearby?

Other researchers have different ideas of where this legendary repository may be found. Lora Little and John Van Auken, authors of a new book, The Lost Hall of Records: Edgar Cayce's Forgotten Record of Human History in the Ancient Yucatan, concluded that the Hall of Records in the western hemisphere is in Guatemala at Piedras Negras, which is situated along the Usumacinta River border with Mexico. They base this on a different interpretation of the Cayce readings.

I had interpreted the Cayce readings to mean that the search for the Hall of Records would best be confined to the Mexican province of Yucatan. Other inquiring minds had felt that Cayce could have meant areas on the Yucatan peninsula beyond the Mexican province of that name, including neighboring Guatemala.

In a telephone interview, Lora Little said that she had found 17 clues in the Cayce readings suggesting the location of the Atlantean information tion. For example, in 440-5, the December 1933 reading mentioned above, Cayce said that "these stones are now - during the last few months - being uncovered." The stones Cayce referred to were associated with the crystal "firestone" that was used by the Atlanteans for power. Evidently the records describing the firestone's construction were also in the Hall of Records. Further along in reading 440-5, Cayce says that an emblem representing the stones would be carried to the Pennsylvania State Museum.

Unfortunately, there is no museum called specifically the "Pennsylvania State Museum." Dr. Little conducted an extensive search through archives of state-funded museums in Pennsylvania to discover which, if any, contained stones unearthed in the Yucatan area in 1933. She found that the State Museum of Pennsylvania, which is associated with the University of Pennsylvania, had records that revealed that the only archeological work under taken in the Yucatan area during 1933 had occurred at Piedras Negras in Guatemala. She was heartened to learn that Brigham Young University has been in the same location as well, looking for evidence of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Like Cayce, Brigham Young believed the Lost Tribes had been in the Americas.

John Van Auken, who is also a former executive director of A.R.E., says that there are three caves in Piedras Negras that are very likely candidates for the location of the Hall of Records. However, neither he nor Dr. Little have explored the site. Piedras Negras can only be reached by canoe, including portages through treacherous tropical jungle. Not only must all food and water be brought in, but even water for bathing has to be transported due to the risk of infection from the river. "I'm not a hardship kind of guy," says Van Auken.

My husband and I are not the only ones who have gone looking for the Yucatan Hall of Records. Scott Milburn, a Virginia Beach videographer, reported to the A.R.E. Congress on his journeys down the Usumadnta River just over the border in Guatemala. He has explored the ancient Mayan site of Y-Okib, meaning the "entrance" or "cave," now called Piedras Negras on three occasions. In the process of making a documentary, he plans to return to Guatemala and lead an A.R.E. tour to Mayan sites in Mexico.

Thus far, however, like the elusive chamber beneath the Sphinx in Egypt, the location of the Atlantean records in the West remains as mysterious as their contents.