New on the A.R.E.'s Ancient Mysteries website is a piece entitled "Pole Shifts. What Does Science Say?"

One finds some of the statements made in the article no less than revelations. But what kinds of revelations? Let's have a look.

Did you know that:

1. "The Edgar Cayce readings contain references to past pole shifts as well as future shifts."
   
   Note that the last word is "shifts," plural. Unfortunately, for the crafter of this fascinating revelation there is only one future pole-shift mentioned; it is for 2000 - 2001. (See 826-8; August 11, 1936)
   

2. "The shifting of the Earth's poles, according to Cayce, is accompanied by a change in the consciousness of humanity."
   
   Maybe Cayce wrote something like this in a letter to a friend, but there is no such statement in the Cayce readings.
   

3. "In some cases, it appears that Cayce was referring to an actual physical shifting of the Earth's poles."
   
   The author of this piece is a master of the obvious. Indeed, that's what the readings on pole shift are all about. But let's be clear, the readings refer to shifts in the poles of the Earth's axis of rotation not, as in this next revelation, the Earth's magnetic pole.
   

4. "However, in other readings, it is likely that Cayce was referring to alterations in the magnetic poles. These could relate to a drifting of the magnetic poles or an actual reversal of the polarity."
   
   This is untrue. It's not even a valid interpretation. There are no references anywhere in the readings that refer to, or imply, that magnetic poles are involved in the pole shifts described in the readings. I challenge the author to bring forth these readings, if he/she can indeed locate such.
   

5. "Science leaves no doubt about the possibility of sudden reversals of the Earth's magnetic poles."
   
   Now to use the word "sudden" can leave a reader wondering, maybe even a little fearful, in view of the previous scribblings. In this case we are talking about a relatively slow-moving process in human terms. "Sudden" in geological terms? Yes, probably. But even when identified as being about to occur, it may take decades to centuries or more for such a shift to be accomplished.
   

6. "The magnetic field emerges from the south magnetic pole…"
   
   Well, the field doesn't emerge, it is the magnetic lines of force that emerge from a broad area in the southern hemisphere. This area is centered upon a point referred to as the south magnetic pole, some 10º from the south pole of Earth's rotational axis.
   

7. "The Earth spins like a top making a complete revolution every 24 hours."
   
   No, the Earth doesn't revolve on its spin axis; it rotates.

8. "Cayce's readings indicating that sudden physical changes in the Earth's rotational axis created many catastrophic events in the past have been explored by various people. Interengly [read "interestingly"], the dates given by these researchers for sudden shifts tend to match Cayce's dates. In 1958, (The Earth's Shifting Crust) and in 1966 (Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings) Charles Hapgood proposed the idea that from 75,000 to 50,000 B.C., northern Europe was in the Arctic Circle and in the midst of an Ice Age. The buildup of ice in this location (essentially the North Pole) eventually became so massive that it caused the outer crust of the Earth to suddenly slide around the molten inner core. The sliding of the outer crust occurred to maintain a balance in the earth's [Earth should be capitalized]spin axis. That is, the shift distributed the greater weight to the sides of the Earth as opposed to its top."
   
   Now, the relevant book of Hapgood's that should have been cited here is his 1970 book, The Path of the Pole, which brings together all of his previous work on the subject. In his conclusion section (p. 321), Hapgood writes, "Our theory of displacement depends upon two assumptions, and on two only. One of these is that an unbalanced mass within the lithosphere is exerting a sufficient centrifugal effect. The other assumption is that at some point below the crust a weak layer exists that will permit the displacement of the crust over it. The body of geological evidence presented in this book provides very strong indirect support for both these assumptions." Here, then, we see that Hapgood did NOT propose that the outer crust suddenly slides "around the molten inner core." And he never mentions a Cayce reading, any more than the author of this Revelation 8 does in his/her assertion that Hapgood's dates tend to match Cayce's. Also, Revelation 8's author is in error when referring to "the molten inner core." The inner core is actually solid. It is the outer core that is molten.
   

9. "In the 1970s, ….Rand and Rose Flem-Ath, began working on the maps Hapgood had used in his book, Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings. They came to the conclusion that an ice-free Antarctica was accurately depicted in many ancient maps. They also surmised that the legend of Atlantis, with its catastrophic end, was based on a civilization that had once existed in Antarctica..."
   
   It is ridiculous to bring up FlemAth's and, later on, Graham Hancock's work re. Atlantis in Antarctica on an Edgar Cayce website. No Cayce reading says anything whatsoever about Atlantis being in Antarctica; indeed, the contrary is the case. Furthermore, scientists have documented that ice 120,000 years or so old is present on Antarctica (see my book, Coming Earth Changes, p. 35). Thus, a great civilization could not have been present there "prior to 10,000 B.C.," as said by the author of Revelation 9.
   

10. "….a remarkable article published in the July 25, 1997 issue of Science, indicated that sudden shifts in the Eart's [read Earth's] crust probably have occurred. Dr. Joseph L. Kirschvink, Professor of Geobiology at Caltech, and a host of esteemed coauthors provided geological evidence in the article that, 500,000 years ago the crust slid exactly as Hapgood suggested, moving the pole to the equator."
    
    This certainly is" a remarkable" revelation. Only 500,000 years ago the Earth's crust was on the equator? Good heavens! But wait. Let's look carefully at the 1997 paper in Science. First off we notice that the paper is authored by Kirschvink and two others. Would you call that "a host of esteemed coauthors"? I wouldn't. These two coauthors are about as esteemed as any others of the 15,000 or so Earth science researchers in the profession today. Now look at what the paper says. It says that the crust moved 500 MILLION years ago, not 500 THOUSAND years ago, and not "exactly as Hapgood said." Whew, I was getting worried. The author of this final revelation was only 499,500,000 years in error. As for the suddenness of this shift, the authors of the paper indicate that it took about 15 million years. Now, just why did the author of this Revelation 10 give such a twisted interpretation, suggesting to readers that a huge shift could be accomplished over a time interval that human beings would call "sudden"?

I think that this piece on pole shifts is so bad that the impressions left by its nonscientist author (or authors) will seriously misinform scores of people, both A.R.E. members and nonmembers alike. Why is such material offered up on the A.R.E. website? The article hardly deals with the relationships between the Cayce readings on Earth changes and pole shift and what is being learned by today's scientific researchers. And not a single reading is cited throughout. Why is this allowed to happen at the A.R.E. today? Short-sighted, professionally-untrained authors, and biased or personal-agenda-driven managers seem be the answer.

One management mistake is that the person who has been charged with making the A.R.E. website "world class" is a person who also has no fundamental understanding of Earth science and, more than that, he has an antipathy to the Cayce readings that deal with this information. Here's a quote from the tape of a talk that he made to an A.R.E. conference in October 1995 on "Co-creating Your Future."

"The Earth changes are not things that are going to happen to us . [They are] an effect of what we're doing to the world. We have somehow reduced Cayce's discussion of 1958 to 1998 - his discussion of changing times - to the Big One in California. That's really not what it's about. I'd like to suggest that we're in the midst of Earth changes right now. And the next time someone says to you, 'When will the Earth changes occur? When do you think it's going to happen?', tell 'em to 'WAKE UP!' Look at the paper. We're in the midst of them.

I pulled out, in a two-week period, a couple of articles. I'm just going to read you some headlines. These are the Earth changes Cayce was talking about, even though the symbolism may have been earthquakes, these are the Earth changes. 'Girl three shoots brother 10 in the head over video.' [He reads the horror]. Headline: 'Asia is destroying a generation of girls.' [He reads the horrors].

This type of thinking is little more than delusional. But on the tape, the speaker's words carry so much vigor, so much certainty, and are delivered with so much emotion that it's no wonder that some of the audience might well have walked away thinking that the words must be true. Let's examine the above words of this would-be guru.

First and foremost, the 1958-to-1998 period referred to was mentioned in the Cayce readings only twice, and in portions of readings dealing strictly with Earth changes and pole shift. Here are the relevant quotes:

From reading 3976-15; January 19, 1934:

"As to the changes physical again: The Earth will be broken up in the western portion of America. The greater portion of Japan must go into the sea. The upper portion of Europe will be changed as in the twinkling of an eye. Land will appear off the east coast of America. There will be the upheavals in the Arctic and in the Antarctic that will make for the eruption of volcanoes in the torrid areas and there will be shifting then of the poles - so that where there has been those of a frigid or the semitropical will become the more tropical, and moss and fern will grow. And these will begin in those periods in '58 to '98, when these will be proclaimed as the periods when His light will be seen again in the clouds."

From reading 378-16; October 29, 1933

"For these [records] were to be kept as had been given by the priests in Atlantis and Poseidia….when the records of the race, of the developments, of the laws pertaining to One were put in their chambers and to be opened only when there was the returning of those into materiality, or to Earth's experience, when the change was imminent; which change, we see, begins in '58 and ends with the changes wrought in the upheavals and the shifting of the poles, as begins the reign in'98 (as time is counted in the present) of those influences that have been given by many in the records that have been kept by those sojourners in this land of the Semitic peoples."

Where in these readings do we find anything about a discussion of "changing times" for the period 1958-1998? The term "changing times" appears in only three readings, once on choosing foods for breakfast, and twice in different astrology readings. How in heaven's name can anyone say that the 1958-1998 period mentioned in the above readings, dealing they do with Earth changes and pole shift, "are not things that are going to happen to us"?

Is it not more understandable, now, how such tripe as the article under review here can wind up on the Edgar Cayce website? The manager of the effort to make the A.R.E. website "world class" is the same one who lectured members on Earth changes in 1995, telling them that we are in the midst of the Earth changes "right now," and that the reading's earthquakes are symbols. Sure, and the assertion that Asia is destroying a generation of girls is likewise an "Earth change." See how far you would get mentioning that on your final exam for Geology 101!

To complete this review, let me just mention that William Hutton and Jonathan Eagle, working through an intermediary last spring, explored the possibility with A.R.E. management of providing the materials of The Hutton Commentaries to A.R.E. members through the Headquarters website. Members under our plan could have had free-access to THC's website for a small fee, in addition to the usual A.R.E. membership fee. Several weeks after making this offer the word that came back was, "no." Seems that the man in charge of making the A.R.E. website 'world class" carries a lot of weight. He refused the offer without even considering negotiation. He is reported to want to wait until a THC-type Earth change actually occurs before considering our offer to provide fair and balanced information on Cayce's Earth changes to interested members. Then maybe he'd consider negotiating our offer. Such is his attitude toward the Earth change readings. They just don't meet his requirements as readings worthy of research and analysis. And I suspect that he doesn't want others to study them either, especially those trained in the field of geology.

THC has from the start provided a link to the A.R.E. website on its home page. We have no animosity toward anyone at the A.R.E., but we are determined to press managers there to engage in discussions with us about their limp (or dismissive) approach to this very interesting and potentially world-altering information. Conducting a search for the truth of these readings will lead to an understanding of great importance to, at the very least, researchers studying the origins of psychic information. And if the changes do occur, they will carry a great message to humanity, as all must agree.

We hereby offer to the manager of the A.R.E.'s developing "world class" website the opportunity to publish his response to THC's review on our website.