Akashic Records

A theosophical term referring to an universal filing system which records every occurring thought, word, and action. The records are impressed on a subtle substance called akasha (or Soniferous Ether). In Hindu mysticism this akasha is thought to be the primary principle of nature from which the other four natural principles, fire, air, earth, and water, are created. These five principles also represent the five senses of the human being.

Some indicate the akashic records are similar to a Cosmic or collective consciousness. The records have been referred to by different names including the Cosmic Mind, the Universal Mind, the collective unconscious, or the collective subconscious. Others think the akashic records make clairvoyance and psychic perception possible.

It is believed by some that the events recorded upon that akasha can be ascertained or read in certain states of consciousness. Such states of consciousness can be induced by certain stages of sleep, weakness, illness, drugs, and meditation so not only mystics but ordinary people can and do perceive the akashic records. Some mystics claim to be able to reanimate their contents like they were turning on a celestial television set. Yogis also believe that these records can be perceived in certain psychic states.

Certain persons in subconscious states do read the akashic records. An explanation for this phenomena is that the akashic records are the macrocosm of the individual subconscious mind. Both function similarly, they possess thoughts which are never forgotten. The collective subconscious gathers all thoughts from each subconscious mind which can be read by other subconscious minds.

An example of one who many claimed successfully read the akashic records is the late American mystic Edgar Cayce. Cayce did his readings in a sleep state or trance. Cayce's method was described by Dr. Wesley H. Ketchum who for several years used Cayce as an adjunct for his medical practice. "Cayce's subconscious...is in direct communication with all other subconscious minds, and is capable of interpreting through his objective mind and imparting impressions received to other objective minds, gathering in this way all knowledge possessed by endless millions of other subconscious minds." Apparently Cayce was interpreting the collective subconscious mind long before the psychiatrist C.J. Jung postulated his concept of the collective unconscious. A.G.H.

Reference:

Shepard, Leslie A., ed.
Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology, 3rd ed.
Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1991.

Stern, Jess.
Edgar Cayce: The Sleeping Prophet.
New York: Doubleday, 1967.

SOURCE: The Mystica

The Akashic Records or "The Book of Life" can be equated to the universe's super computer system. It is this system that acts as the central storehouse of all information for every individual who has ever lived upon the earth. More than just a reservoir of events, the Akashic Records contain every deed, word, feeling, thought, and intent that has ever occurred at any time in the history of the world. Much more than simply a memory storehouse, however, these Akashic Records are interactive in that they have a tremendous influence upon our everyday lives, our relationships, our feelings and belief systems, and the potential realities we draw toward us.

It is no exaggeration to state that the computer has transformed (and is still in the process of transforming) the entire planet. Whether it's technology, transportation, communication, education, or entertainment, the computer age has revolutionized the globe and the ways in which we understand and interact with one another. No segment of modern society has gone unaffected. The amount of information now stored in computer memory and crossing the Internet highway daily is literally unfathomable. And yet, this vast complex of computer systems and collective databases cannot begin to come close to the power, the memory, or the omniscient recording capacity of the Akashic Records. 

The Akashic Records contain the entire history of every soul since the dawn of Creation. These records connect each one of us to one another. They contain the stimulus for every archetypal symbol or mythic story which has ever deeply touched patterns of human behavior and experience. They have been the inspiration for dreams and invention. They draw us toward or repel us from one another. They mold and shape levels of human consciousness. They are a portion of Divine Mind. They are the unbiased judge and jury that attempt to guide, educate, and transform every individual to become the very best that she or he can be. They embody an ever-changing fluid array of possible futures that are called into potential as we humans interact and learn from the data that has already been accumulated.

Information about these Akashic Records “ this Book of Life“ can be found in folklore, in myth, and throughout the Old and New Testaments. It is traceable at least as far back as the Semitic peoples and includes the Arabs, the Assyrians, the Phoenicians, the Babylonians, and the Hebrews. Among each of these peoples was the belief that there was in existence some kind of celestial tablets which contained the history of humankind as well as all manner of spiritual information.

The first reference in Scripture to some unearthly volume is found in Exodus 32:32. After the Israelites had committed a most grievous sin by worshiping the golden calf, it was Moses who pleaded on their behalf, even offering to take full responsibility and have his own name stricken "out of thy book which thou hast written" in recompense for their deed. Later, in the Old Testament, we learn that there is nothing about an individual that is not known in this same book. In Psalm 139, David makes reference to the fact God has written down everything about him and all the details of his life “ even that which is imperfect and those deeds which have yet to be performed."

For many individuals this Book of Life is simply an imagery symbol of those destined for heaven and has its roots in the custom of recording genealogical records of names or perhaps early census taking. Traditional religion suggests that this book – either in literal or symbolic form – contains the names of all those who are worthy of salvation. The Book is to be opened in connection with divine judgment (Dan. 7:10, Rev. 20:12). In the New Testament, those redeemed by Christ are contained within the Book (Philippians 4), those not found in the Book of Life will not enter the kingdom of Heaven.

As an interesting corollary, in the ancient world, a person's name was symbolic of his or her existence. According to Sir James George Frazer, author of The Golden Bough "one of the most extensive volumes on world mythology" there was such a bond between one's name and one's existence "that magic may be wrought on a man just as easily as through his name as through his hair, his nails, or any other material part of his person." In ancient Egypt, to blot a name out of a record was equivalent to destroying the fact that the person had ever even existed.

Closer to our current era, a great deal of contemporary information on the Akashic Records has been made available by both reputable psychics and modern-day mystics – individuals who have somehow perceived beyond the limits of three dimensions. According to H.P. [Helena Petrovna] Blavatsky (1831-1891), Russian immigrant, mystic, and founder of the Theosophical Society, the Akashic Records are much more than simply an account of static data which may be gleaned by a sensitive; instead, the records have an ongoing creative stimulus upon the present:

Akasha is one of the cosmic principles and is a plastic matter, creative in its physical nature, immutable in its higher principles. It is the quintessence of all possible forms of energy, material, psychic, or spiritual; and contains within itself the germs of universal creation, which sprout forth under the impulse of the Divine Spirit.
 - Alchemy and the Secret Doctrine

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), the Austrian-born philosopher, educator, and founder of the Anthropomorphically Society possessed the ability to perceive information beyond the material world: a "spiritual world" which was just as real to him as the physical world was to others. Steiner claimed that the ability to perceive this other world could be developed, enabling an individual to see events and information every bit as concrete as the present:

...man can penetrate to the eternal origins of the things which vanish with time. A man broadens his power of cognition in this way if he is no longer limited to external evidence where knowledge of the past is concerned. Then he can see in events what is not perceptible to the senses, that part which time cannot destroy. He penetrates from transitory to non-transitory history. It is a fact that this history is written in other characters than is ordinary history. In gnosis and in theosophy it is called the "Akasha Chronicle"...To the uninitiated, who cannot yet convince himself of the reality of a separate spiritual world through his own experience, the initiate easily appears to be a visionary, if not something worse. The one who has acquired the ability to perceive in the spiritual world comes to know past events in their eternal character. They do not stand before him like the dead testimony of history, but appear in full life. In a certain sense, what has happened takes place before him. - Cosmic Memory

"Upon time and space is written the thoughts, the deeds, the activities of an entity "as in relationships to its environs, its hereditary influence; as directed" or judgment drawn by or according to what the entity's ideal is. Hence, as it has been oft called, the record is God's book of remembrance; and each entity, each soul "as the activities of a single day of an entity in the material world" either makes same good or bad or indifferent, depending upon the entity's application of self towards that which is the ideal manner for the use of time, opportunity and the expression of that for which each soul enters a material manifestation. The interpretation then as drawn here is with the desire and hope that, in opening this for the entity, the experience may be one of helpfulness and hopefulness.
 - Edgar Cayce reading 1650-1

• Edgar Cayce
• Book of Life - Akashic Records
• Akashic Records/Book of Life
• Edgar Cayce Twentieth Century Psychic
• Edgar Cayce - Association for Research & Enlightenment  (A.R.E.)
• The Golden Bough - Sir James George Frazer

In terms of contemporary insights, perhaps the most extensive source of information regarding the Akashic Records comes from the clairvoyant work of Edgar Cayce (1877-1945), Christian mystic and founder of A.R.E. For forty-three years of his adult life, Edgar Cayce possessed the uncanny ability to lie down on a couch, close his eyes, fold his hands over his stomach, and put himself into some kind of an altered state in which virtually any type of information was available. The accuracy of Cayce's psychic work is evidenced by approximately one dozen biographies and literally hundreds of titles which explore various aspects of his information and the thousands of topics he discussed.

When asked about the source of his information, Cayce replied that there were essentially two. The first was the subconscious mind of the individual for whom he was giving the reading and the second was the Akashic Records.

Most often, when giving a reading which discussed a person's soul history and his or her individual sojourn through space and time, Cayce would begin with a statement such as, "Yes, we have before us the records of the entity now known or called _________." In discussing the process for accessing these records, Edgar Cayce described his experience as follows:
 

I see myself as a tiny dot out of my physical body, which lies inert before me. I find myself oppressed by darkness and there is a feeling of terrific loneliness. Suddenly, I am conscious of a white beam of light. As this tiny dot, I move upward following the light, knowing that I must follow it or be lost.

As I move along this path of light I gradually become conscious of various levels upon which there is movement. Upon the first levels there are vague, horrible shapes, grotesque forms such as one sees in nightmares. Passing on, there begin to appear on either side misshapen forms of human beings with some part of the body magnified. Again there is change and I become conscious of gray-hooded forms moving downward. Gradually, these become lighter in color. Then the direction changes and these forms move upward and the color of the robes grows rapidly lighter. Next, there begin to appear on either side vague outlines of houses, walls, trees, etc., but everything is motionless. As I pass on, there is more light and movement in what appear to be normal cities and towns. With the growth of movement I become conscious of sounds, at first indistinct rumblings, then music, laughter, and singing of birds. There is more and more light, the colors become very beautiful, and there is the sound of wonderful music. The houses are left behind, ahead there is only a blending of sound and color. Quite suddenly I come upon a hall of records. It is a hall without walls, without ceiling, but I am conscious of seeing an old man who hands me a large book, a record of the individual for whom I seek information.
 - Reading 294-19 Report File

Yes, we have the body here, and the record as has been made and as may be made with the will as exercised, and the condition irrespective of the will's influence or effect as has been created. We have conditions that might have been, that are, and that may be. Do not get the three mixed up or crossed purposes of either.

304-5

Once given the record, Cayce had the ability to select the information which would be most capable of assisting the individual at that time in his or her life. Frequently, a reading might suggest that only a selection of the available material was being provided, but that the individual was being given that which would be "most helpful and hopeful." Additional insights were frequently provided in subsequent readings once an individual had attempted to work with and apply the information which had been given previously.

As a means of perhaps alluding to the fact that the Akashic Records were not simply a transcription of the past but included the present, the future, and certain probabilities as well, in reading 304-5, Cayce began the reading with a curious statement.

When discussing the Book of Life, he stated it that it was "The record of God, of thee, thy soul within and the knowledge of same." (281-33) On another occasion (2533-8) Cayce was asked to explain the difference between the Book of Life and the Akashic Records:

Q. [What is meant by] The Book of Life?
A. The record that the individual entity itself writes upon the skein of time and space, through patience; and is opened when self has attuned to the infinite, and may be read by those attuning to that consciousness...
Q. The Book of God's Remembrances?
A. This is the Book of Life.
Q. The Akashic Records?
A. Those made by the individual, as just indicated.

2533-8

The Edgar Cayce readings suggest that each of us writes the story of our lives through our thoughts, our deeds, and our interactions with the rest of creation. This information has an effect upon us in the here and now. In fact, the Akashic Records have such an impact upon our lives and the potentials and probabilities we draw toward us that any exploration of them cannot help but provide us with insights into the nature of ourselves and our relationship to the universe.

There is much more to our lives, our histories, and our individual influence upon our tomorrows than we have perhaps dared to imagine. By accessing information from the Akashic Records, the universe's computer database, much might be revealed to us. The world as we have collectively perceived it is but a faint shadow of Reality. 

SOURCE: Dolphin Healing Hands

The soul emits energy with every thought, action or event that it engages in during its incarnations.

This energy leaves a permanent energetic blueprint. This blueprint is in the form of a multi dimensional holographic recording of the actual events, thoughts, feelings and actions of life that the soul experienced. This hologram is a continuous cinematic display that continues through time and space. These hologram recordings are the akashic records. Because every activity of the soul leaves its energy blueprint, the history of the whole universe is recorded in this hologram - including the history of our past lives and present life. This is the akashic record of our life.

The akashic records are in the Hall of Records, located in the akashic plane of the universe, an etheric plane, one of the 7 planes. These planes are distant energy fields that we can access through the depths of our minds. Our inner mind can access them because we, along with these fields, are made up of the same cosmic energy. However, it takes work and training from the slower 3 dimensional physical reality we are in today to access the higher vibrational frequencies of these states of reality. Brief experiences of intuition are subconscious forms of momentary awareness of our akashic records (without us aware of the "viewing")leading us to making the right choice or decision (if we follow our intuition).

The akashic records are a very complex existance for us to understand. There are higher and lower akashic records, each storing different aspects of universal history.

Added by Matthew James At 9/19/2007 05:48:00 PM

SOURCE: A Light in the Darkness