Introduction

A reading given by Edgar Cayce in 1933 says that we are living -- right now -- at a time when "the change" is imminent in the Earth,

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 of those influences that have been kept by those sojourners in this land of the Semitic peoples.

(378-16)

The following exchange in reading 826-8 sheds further light on the date of the shifting of the poles:

Q. What great change or the beginning of what change, if any, is to take place in the Earth in the year 2000 to 2001 A.D.?

A. When there is a shifting of the poles. Or a new cycle begins.

(826-8).

When speculating about the path of the upcoming pole shift, it makes sense to start with available scientific information on the present drift-direction of the north pole. (Data for the south pole are unavailable, but a movement direction identical to that of the north pole is assumed throughout the article). It is much harder to speculate about the distance of a pole shift than it is to estimate its direction. The approach used here is, wherever possible, to work backward from Earth-change descriptions in the Cayce readings to infer the minimum degree of pole shift that could produce those changes. Positing too large a pole shift will give outrageously improbable Earth-change results.

What we are looking for is a credible first approximation to the minimum degree of pole shift necessary to achieve all of the Earth changes predicted in Cayce's readings. Wild speculations about pole shifts of many degrees of latitude are not necessary, and they raise more problems than they solve. Preservation of the Earth's ice sheets, for example, cannot be accommodated by a pole shift of more than about 10 degrees. Ice in Greenland and Antarctica has been in place for more than 125,000 years, and so past pole shifts inferred from the readings could not have amounted to more than a few degrees, to preserve the ice during this period of time.

Scientists¹ analyzing observations of polar wander conclude that between 1900 and 1992, the Earth's pole of rotation has drifted southward along the 79.2 ± 0.2°W longitude; that is, roughly toward Toronto, Ontario. What is involved here is a change in pole position relative to fixed stars or to far-distant pulsars. The speed of this drift, or pole shift, approximates 33 ft per century. It is due to "some sort of mass redistribution" within the Earth.²  Thus, the Earth is currently undergoing a very slow shift in the average location of the north pole of the rotation axis.

The ongoing drift of the north pole could be explained by three possible mechanisms of pole shift. In the first mechanism, all the layers of the Earth remain together and the axis and entire spinning globe tilts relative to the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun. (See Fig. 1, A). This results in the north and south poles assuming new locations relative to the positions of fixed stars. Note that in this type of pole shift there is no displacement of the equatorial bulge during axis shift. Centrifugal forces that produce the equatorial-radius bulge of 13.5 miles relative to the polar radius are the same under both the former and new axis orientations. Thus, sea level, and the distribution of land and sea areas, are unchanged under both the old and new pole locations.

Any observed drift of the poles would then be due only to continental drift. But as stated by Kerr, "By the standards of continental drift, that [pole motion of 10 meters per century toward eastern Canada] is a gallop, but the [continental] drift of North America had nothing to do with it. Instead, the north pole appears to be wandering."

A second type of axis shift would involve no change in the direction of the axis relative to fixed stars. But here, a slight shift in masses either upon or within the Earth would cause the globe to roll beneath the rigidly spinning axis so that different places on Earth's surface would be at the poles. To visualize this process, imagine a ball set spinning on ice with a silver dollar, a quarter, and a dime taped at different places on its surface. The ball would orient itself so that the greatest masses were at the equator, where the greatest centrifugal forces occurred. If the quarter were then removed, the unbalanced ball would reorient itself so that a new equator would be on line with the silver dollar and the dime. The axis of rotation would still point in the original direction, but the poles would have shifted.

The main obstacle to such an axis shift is the stabilizing effect of Earth's equatorial bulge. Extra mass around the equator - rotating as it does at a very high speed - acts like the rim of a gyroscope to keep Earth on a steady axis. Nineteenth century greats of geology like James Clerk Maxwell and Sir George Darwin considered the problem and concluded that the stabilization of the equatorial bulge was so great that no conceivable force originating on or within the Earth could make it shift on its axis. We agree.

Consider now the third mechanism capable of producing "pole shift." This is our preferred mechanism and it will be referred to as the mantle-slip mechanism. Such a term is shorthand for "the slip of the Earth's crust (lithosphere) and mantle over the liquid core (or perhaps some other easily-yielding surface above the core)." [Note that when referring to pole shift, geoscientists assume for their own convenience the perspective in which Earth is fixed but the poles move.]

As shown in Fig. 1, B,  Earth's rotation axis remains unaffected, defined as it is with respect to the dense, spinning, iron core. The north pole of rotation moves across Earth's surface as the lithosphere and mantle slip over the core's surface. (Earth's outer core is about 1,400 miles thick. It consists of fluid iron that is thought to have a viscosity close to that of water.) This type of mantle-slip pole shift also causes the pre-shift equator to move over the surface of the Earth. As the pre-shift equator moves into new regions of Earth's surface, these regions begin to experience changes in centrifugal forces and sea levels. This leads to new distributions of land and sea, and to crustal tectonic movements.

When trying to determine the consequences of a predicted shift of the poles, it is of prime importance to specify which of the two types of shift are expected. In 2001, we expect the type shown in Fig. 1-B. Only a mantle-slip type of shift will engender the many catastrophic Earth-change events predicted to occur during the upcoming pole shift. A whole-Earth axis shift, however, primarily affects only Earth's climatic zones.

Axis shift. An axis shift involves a change in the orientation of Earth's rotation axis with reference to the fixed stars. It does not involve slippage of Earth's layers over one another. Thus, we term an axis shift a "whole-Earth axis shift." If such a shift occurs, it would probably cause few significant sea-level changes, or tectonic or volcanic Earth changes; climatic changes would be the major type of "changes" generated by a whole-Earth axis shift. Thus, while axis shifts may have been involved in readings 364-13 and 5748-6 below, this type of whole-Earth axis shift certainly does not seem to be the kind of pole shift predicted for 2000-2001 (see reading 826-8 at the beginning, where the upcoming shift is referred to as "a shifting of the poles").

You see, with the changes - when there came the uprisings in the Atlantean land, and the sojourning southward -- with the turning of the axis, the white and yellow races came more into that portion of Egypt, India, Persia and Arabia.

364-13; November 17, 1932

Q What will be the type and extent of the upheaval in '36?

A The wars, the upheavals in the interior of the Earth, and the shifting of same by the differentiation in the axis as respecting the positions from the Polaris center.

5748-6

Pole shift. As used in this article, a pole shift refers to a relatively sudden change in the location of the imaginary piercing point of Earth's rotation axis at the surface of the globe. Such a shift is brought about by differential movement between the Earth's crust -- and including some (or all) of the material of the mantle -- with respect to the deeper layers of our planet. It is these deeper layers whose mass and momentum govern planetary rotation. This type of shift has profound implications for the redistribution of centrifugal forces over Earth's surface, and for sea-level changes worldwide, new distributions of land and sea areas, and extreme geotectonic events.

Our approach to determination of the shift path will be to assume that the current drift direction of the north pole will be maintained, but that the drift will suddenly accelerate into a full "shift." 

As for the consequences of a mantle-slip pole shift, it seems that a retired engineer may have come pretty close to explaining the possibilities. Mac B. Strain published his approach to determining the consequences of an axis shift in 1997. His book is entitled, "The Earth's Shifting Axis."³  Strain considered only a one-degree shift in the pole, not the 10-degree shift that I had suggested in Coming Earth Changes. Also, Strain's axis-shift direction follows a path down the 70°W meridian, not the 79.2°W meridian determined by Gross and Vondrák two years after Strain had published his book. For our first approximation to pole-shift consequences (i.e., Earth changes) we will assume that Strain's 70° W shift path is equivalent to the Gross and Vondrák 79.2°W drift path.

In presenting his dynamic axis theory, Strain first addressed the response of ocean waters to changes in centrifugal forces created by a shift of the spin axis, while assuming all other layers of the upper Earth were rigid. His calculations for a 1º axis shift of the north pole southward along the 70ºW meridian were intended only as an illustration of how the oceans would respond to an axis shift, not as a specific prediction. Strain then addressed the response of Earth's plastic and liquid layers below Earth's crust to changes in centrifugal forces. Unfortunately, there is an unknown lag time between ocean-water response and the much slower response of Earth's liquid outer core, plastic mantle, and semi-brittle crust to a shift-induced change in centrifugal forces. The response of the aqueous geoid⁴ at any point on Earth can be calculated to within a foot or less. The crust's response, however, depends upon many unknown factors, such as the rate of deformation of inner Earth materials to newly-imposed centrifugal forces, and the thickness, weight, and strength of the crust itself. Theoretically, given enough time, the crust and the sea-level geoid will respond equally and there will be no changes in land elevations. Initially, however, the land elevation changes that we calculate herein may all be expected to occur, immediately after a pole shift.

As we shall see, most of the Earth changes mentioned in the readings follow from the crustal deformations and changes in sea-level predicted by Strain's analysis of the consequences of his one-degree axis shift.

Readers may be concerned that we use Strain's analysis of the Earth-change results of an axis shift to explain the Earth-change consequences of our mantle-slip type of pole shift. But it doesn't matter that Strain's axis-shift analysis is used for what we believe to be a physically impossible model for pole shift. This is so because his shift analysis methodology will yield the same consequences whether it is applied to either the second or the third type of pole shift, as discussed above under "Three Types of Pole Shift."

To explain the effects of a mantle slip on Earth's crust, and the distribution of land and sea, we begin with the simple case of a one-degree shift in the latitude of the north pole, from 90°N to 89°N. The main points of Strain's analysis are as follows:

1) Consider a slice of the Earth through the rotation axis. This slice is described by a great circle on Earth's surface. Because the poles shift along this longitudinal (meridional) circle, we will refer to it as the shift meridian.

Fig. 2. Cross-section of the Earth showing two equatorial bulges along a shift-meridian great circle. The north and south poles have moved from N to N´, and S to S´, respectively, as the Earth's mantle has shifted 1° clockwise. Centrifugal forces thrust ocean waters toward the pre-and post-shift equators, forming equatorial bulges.

2) Centrifugal forces produced by the spinning Earth cause ocean waters to move toward the equator. (See Fig. 2) An equatorial radius is about 13.5 miles (71,280 ft) longer than a polar radius. Earth's crust is also found to extend somewhat farther at the equator than it does along a polar radius. This is due to centrifugal force acting on molten or plastic mantle and (or) core material underlying the crust.

3) Assuming that the axial shift in Figure 2 is exactly one degree, Strain's analysis is now advanced by reference to Figure 3.

Positive quadrants (see text) are W-FN-NE-X and W-FS-NE-X. They exhibit increased centrifugal forces, higher sea level, and, therefore, decreased elevation of land features relative to the mean-sea-level geoid. Negative quadrants exhibit lower sea level and elevated land surfaces.

Here we see that point FN at the ground surface on the shift meridian has moved from the former north pole to point NN, the location of the shifted pole. Sea level at NN is now suddenly lower than it was originally. Strain computes (in his Table B-1) that the lowering of the original (sea-level) geoid at NN is 65 ft. Note that Earth's geoid for the crust or ocean surface at the new south pole (NS) is also 65 ft lower than it was before mantle slip. At this point, it is useful to explain Strain's term, quadrant.

Following a pole shift, two quadrants of Earth's surface will experience lower latitudes at all pre-shift points. These points will also experience higher sea levels and flooding. Such quadrants are referred to as positive quadrants. Such quadrants also display higher elevations of plastic or liquid mantle and core material that puts Earth's crust under tension.

The other two quadrants are termed negative quadrants. Points on Earth's surface prior to pole shift suddenly experience higher latitudes after the shift. This leads to lower sea levels at the post-shift points and to draining of lowlands. Beneath the crust, molten or plastic rock is slowly lowered as well, placing the crust under compressive forces.

Maximum changes in surface elevations occur at the center points of each quadrant; that is, at a point 45.5° north or south on a given shift meridian. Elevation changes decrease to zero at the meridional and equatorial great circles. For a rigid crust and a 1° pole shift, 1238 ft is the maximum elevation or lowering at the center point of each of Earth's four quadrants.

At latitudes all along the shift meridian between the new north pole and the new equator, it is now possible to compute the changes in surface elevations of the ocean or land.  If we proceed along W-FN-NE-X, we see that former points between W and X are now, post-shift, experiencing higher elevations of the sea-level geoid, and lower land elevations, than they were before. These higher geoid elevations define a positive quadrant.

Again, negative quadrants, like X-FE-NN-W (Fig 3), are those in the direction of pole shift. There, centrifugal forces are reduced at former pre-shift points at all latitudes within the quadrant; sea level is lowered; and ocean water is withdrawn from portions of previous land areas. 

We now use Strain's example of a pole shift down the 70°W meridian of just one degree (to 89°N). This will allow us to see how the sea-level geoid changes correspond with several of the Earth changes mentioned in Cayce's readings. It matters only a little that Strain did not use Gross and Vondrák's estimate of 79.2°W for the present pole-drift direction in his analysis. The 9.2° difference has only a small effect on the broad conclusions drawn.

Using the notion of geoid change discussed above, and the shift meridian values in Strain's Table B-1 (that assumes a rigid crust), it is possible to calculate approximate elevation changes for many points on Earth for a hypothetical 1° pole shift. It is fascinating to compare Strain's results with the Cayce readings' Earth changes. The comparisons are reminiscent of the story of the author who wrote about the sinking of the Titanic years before it happened. Strain is akin to that author, and it is about the readings' pole shift and Earth changes that he is writing -- before they happen.

Strain begins his analysis of the results of the pole shift with an examination of altered land and sea configurations. The shift meridian follows 70°W for the Western Hemisphere and 110°E for the Eastern Hemisphere. The continent of Asia falls into a "positive quadrant where the higher geoid floods much of the lowlands around the edge of the continent" (Strain, p. 38). This flooding of coastal lowlands around Asia includes the WWII-ravaged Pacific islands of Wake, Midway, Guam, Okinawa, and the Philippines. Included also are both WWII and later battlefield regions like Korea, China, Japan, Vietnam, Kuwait and the Persian Gulf countries. Tokyo would be 952 ft. lower than now, and so most of Japan's lowlands would be flooded. All of the former USSR war cities would be lowered (relative to a rising sea-level geoid) and some would be flooded. These results remind us of the following two readings:

….what is the coastline now of many a land will be the bed of the ocean. Even many of the battle fields of the present will be ocean, will be the seas, the bays, the lands over which the NEW order will carry on their trade as one with another.

1152-11; August 13, 1941

The greater portion of Japan must go into the sea.

3976-15; January 19, 1934

Strain's analysis of sea-level changes shows that almost all of North America falls into a negative quadrant. The lowered geoid in this quadrant exposes most of the present continental shelves. Because the west coast is more than 45° of longitude west of the shift meridian, and because the continental shelf is narrow, the alignment of the new coastline there is rather similar to the present one. Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay become drained and Lower California widens a bit more than lands to the north. According to Strain's computations, San Francisco will rise 798 ft, Seattle 821 ft, Los Angeles 817 ft, and San Diego 804 ft. Continental shelves offshore of these cities would be exposed down to a depth equal to Strain's predicted "elevation" values. For example, the shelf off San Francisco would be exposed down to 798 ft below present sea level.

As I mentioned in Coming Earth Changes, in reading 509-1 we have an intimation that in the near future the Santa Rosa/Petaluma area of California will be "fading into Mu, or joining with [formerly submerged land of] the Pacific lithospheric plate." Here's the relevant reading fragment:

And the entity was among those that - in what is not far from that land in which the entity in this sojourn first saw the light [Petaluma, CA] - (that must in the near future fade again into those joinings with the land of Mu) - established a temple of worship for those that escaped from the turmoils of the shifting of the Earth at that particular period.

We may presume here that "joinings" with the land of Mu simply means that continental shelf land suddenly exposed off California will be seen as merging with that of the original, pre-pole-shift California landscape. Remember, too, this reading fragment:

The early portion [of the Earth changes] will see a change in the physical aspect of the west coast of America.

3976-15; January 19, 1934

Strain now continues with the words quoted below, which contain several correspondences with several other Earth-change readings:

"The New Honduras and Nicaragua east coasts of Central America extend to the east for 100-200 miles. The Yucatan Peninsula extends about two degrees further north. The continental shelf off the east Texas and south Louisiana coasts are drained to move the coastline out about two degrees into the Gulf of Mexico. Florida picks up more than its present width from the Gulf of Mexico, while extending the state south to below the Florida Keys. The east coast of the United States from Florida to New Jersey gains about one degree of continental shelf lands from the Atlantic. An area about the size of Pennsylvania is added off Cape Cod as Georges Banks is drained. Even more land appends to Nova Scotia by exposing the Sable Island Bank. Over 300 miles of new continent are added to the east of Newfoundland as the lowered geoid exposes the Grand Banks….An island about the same size as Florida forms by the drainage of the Great Bahama Bank."

The foregoing exposed sea-floors would be created by the draining of continental shelves, and all of the emergence of lands would be due to the mere 1° pole shift. Assuming that the crust in the areas just mentioned is rigid, which it is not, Panama City would rise (relative to the post-shift sea level) some 1030 ft, Tampa 999 ft, Miami 953 ft, Jacksonville 1045 ft, Charleston 1110 ft, Norfolk 1180 ft, New York City 1222 ft, Boston 1228 ft, and Halifax 1230 ft. More later about these seemingly excessive east coast elevation changes.

Here again we see clear correspondences with certain Cayce readings, as follows:

Land will appear off the east coast of America….There will be new lands seen off the Caribbean Sea, and DRY land will appear.

3976-15; January 19, 1934

In the next few years lands will appear in the Atlantic as well as in the Pacific.

1152-11; August 13, 1941

 

Then, with the leavings of the civilization in Atlantis (in Poseidia, more specific), Iltar - with a group of followers that had been of the household of Atlan, the followers of the worship of the ONE with some ten individuals - left this land Poseidia, and came westward, entering what would now be a portion of Yucatan. And there began, with the activities of the peoples there, the development into a civilization that rose much in the same matter as that which had been in the Atlantean land. Others had left the land later. Others had left earlier. There had been the upheavals also from the land of Mu, or Lemuria, and these had their part in the changing, or there was the injection of their tenets in the varied portions of the land - which was much greater in extent until the final upheaval of Atlantis, or the islands that were later upheaved, when much of the contour of the land in Central America and Mexico was changed to that similar in outline to that which may be seen in the present.

The first temples that were erected by Iltar and his followers were destroyed at the period of change physically in the contours of the land. That now being found, and a portion already discovered that has laid in waste for many centuries, was then a combination of those peoples from Mu, Oz and Atlantis.

Q In which pyramid or temple are the records mentioned in the readings given through this channel on Atlantis, in April, 1932?

A As given, that temple was destroyed at the time there was the last destruction in Atlantis.

Yet, as time draws nigh when changes are to come about, there may be the opening of those three places where the records are one, to those that are the initiates in the knowledge of the One God:

The temple by Iltar will then rise again. Also there will be the opening of the temple or hall of records in Egypt, and those records that were put into the heart of the Atlantean land may also be found there - that have been kept, for those that are of that group.

The RECORDS are ONE. 

5750-1; November 12, 1933

This last reading clearly indicates to me, and a few others, that Iltar's temple that contains the RECORDS was destroyed, is now underwater, but will rise again. What we're saying today is that the coming pole shift will so change the sea-level geoid that the continental shelf off Yucatan will be drained, Iltar's temple remains will be exposed, and the RECORDS will be found.

One of the most interesting comparisons between Strain's pole-shift calculations and the Cayce Earth-change readings has to do with the flow of water out of the Great Lakes Region (Fig. 4). The reading of interest (1152-11; August 13, 1941) states that:

The waters of the lakes [Great Lakes] will empty into the Gulf [Gulf of Mexico], rather than the waterway over which such discussions have been recently made [St. Lawrence Seaway].

It has been known since the early 1930s that Earth's crust in the vicinity of the Great Lakes had been tilting gradually toward the southwest. This is due to the rebound of Earth's crust and mantle - increasing in a northeasterly direction across the Great Lakes region - since melting of the last ice sheet. The southwesterly tilting is still in progress, at a rate of about five inches per hundred miles per century. Small as this rate seems to be, in only 1600 years it would cause the upper Great Lakes [Superior, Huron, and Michigan] to discharge through the Chicago River into the Illinois-Mississippi drainage and onward to the Gulf of Mexico. But in addition to this trend, let's now superimpose the effects of the 1° pole shift on the geoid across the region.

Ground-surface and lake-water surface elevation changes relative to the post-shift geoid in the Great Lakes Region (Fig. 4) demonstrate the effects of the pole shift on the flow of lake waters.

Following Strain's analysis (1997, p. 84), the lowered geoid drainage results in the St. Lawrence River eroding a gorge in the river bottom 1,229 feet above post-shift sea level, where the river crosses the 70th meridian east of Quebec (city). The riverbanks at Quebec are elevated above the geoid by 1,237 ft. This is three feet higher than the elevation at the 70°W shift meridian because Quebec is slightly closer to the 45°N latitude. The 45.5° latitude marks the maximum elevation change on the shift meridian.

Shorelines and water surfaces at the east end of Lake Ontario, near Kingston, are raised from 1,236 to 1,482 ft relative to the new geodetic sea level. This indicates that Lake Ontario must be 15 ft deeper at the west end before it flows out over the higher post-shift east end. Thus, Lake Ontario no longer flows east. The east end of Lake Erie at Buffalo has a new elevation relative to post-shift sea level of 1,792 ft (571 ft pre-shift elevation plus 1,221 ft from the lowered, post-shift geoid). Lake Erie water now flows west toward Toledo. Chicago, on Lake Michigan, has to be 29 ft higher to match the post-shift elevation of Lake Huron. But it is not, and Lake Huron then flows into Lake Michigan, resulting in a 29-ft rise at Chicago. This rise in water level will cause Lake Michigan to overflow into the Chicago River, and then down the Des Plaines, Illinois, and Mississippi Rivers to the Gulf of Mexico. Whether Lake Superior will flow into Lake Huron is problematical at this stage of Strain's analysis.

In reviewing the Great Lakes region work done by Strain, it is clear that this is one region in which the selection of the shift meridian may have an important effect on post-shift elevation changes. Different geoid elevations may affect flow directions differently. For example, if the 79.2°W drift path of Gross and Vondrák⁵ is chosen for the shift meridian, the results of the geoid shift analysis may have slightly different implications for the flow of waters in Lakes Erie and Ontario than was determined by Strain for a 70° shift meridian.

Before continuing our comparisons it is important that we note a few Earth-change elevations that do not at first glance compare well to Strain's 1° pole-shift speculations.

Consider this reading:

Portions of the now east coast of New York, or New York City itself, will in the main disappear. This will be another generation, though, here; while the southern portions of Carolina, Georgia - these will disappear. This will be much sooner.

1152-11; August 13, 1941

If New York City will in the main disappear, and the southern portions of Carolina and Georgia are to disappear even sooner, how can that happen if Strain's calculations for the U. S. Atlantic coast are correct? He finds Charleston would be elevated by reference to the post-shift, sea-level geoid by 1110 ft, Norfolk by 1183 ft, and New York City by 1222 ft. But the readings require New York and Charleston/Savannah to sink somewhat and Norfolk to stay about the same in elevation. It would seem that special geological conditions exist in the New York and Georgia areas. Indeed, the following reading implies that some special conditions are to be found, at least along the North Atlantic seaboard.

Q Will there be any physical changes in the Earth's surface in North America? If so, what sections will be affected, and how?

A All over the country we will find many physical changes of a minor or greater degree. The greater change, as we will find, in America, will be the North Atlantic Seaboard. Watch New York! Connecticut, and the like.

Q When will this be?

A In this period. As to just when -

311-8; April 9, 1932

There is considerable complexity to the movements of buried blocks of Earth's crust along the U. S. east coast, including "the North Atlantic Seaboard" mentioned above. Please refer now to Figure 5. We can perhaps understand the prediction in 1152-11 to the effect that the southern portions of Carolina and Georgia will disappear sooner than New York City if we realize that it's all a matter of knowing enough about the structure of the buried bedrock in both places.

Figure 5. Map of the southeastern United States showing axes of embayments (see text) in the ancient shoreline of the North American continent. Major areas of seismicity are related to these gradually subsiding embayments; minor activity occurs on intervening arches. Trends of major fracture zones mapped on the Atlantic Ocean floor are shown where they are interpreted to exist on shore. The Brevard zone involves strike-slip faulting paralleling the Appalachian trend that becomes the Northern Fall Line fault zone. Explanations: ETSZ = Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone; ORNL = Oak Ridge National Laboratory; SRP = Savannah River Plant; F.Z. -fracture zone; MG = Mobile Graben; GRFZ= Gulf Rim Fault Zone; FBTF = Florida-Bahamas Transfer Fault (interpreted); solid line near coast = generalized contact between Cretaceous and Tertiary coastal plain deposits; solid line interior= western side Valley and Ridge province.

As mentioned in my book, Coming Earth Changes (p. 102),

"A broad look at subsidence in the belt of Atlantic coastal states shows that areas of subsidence coincide with embayments along the ancient shoreline that existed in Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary times. These embayments, or deep indentations of the ancient shoreline, coincide with broad, concave upward folds in the rocks (synclines) whose axes run transverse to the ancient shoreline. Embayment axes trend northwest, and the embayments have a history of subsidence since mid-Cretaceous times. The Raritan embayment is named after Raritan Bay, which lies off the south end of Staten Island, New York. The subsiding Raritan embayment is the site of the largest earthquake in southeastern New York....and earthquakes occur around it from northern New Jersey to southwest Connecticut. During the time of the larger earthquake last century Raritan Bay had an unusual subsidence rate. Thus, the ingredients for the natural destruction and disappearance of a major portion of New York City, by earthquake and subsidence, respectively, seem to be in place. Here again, we are struck by the ability of Cayce's psychic source to describe general geophysical conditions well before their discovery by scientists. And we see again that Edgar Cayce's Earth-change readings predict an acceleration in existing geological trends for portions of Connecticut and New York, including New York City."

What might have Cayce's psychic source for reading 1152-11 been seeing as the fundamental tectonic reason behind the predictions of subsidence of the southeast coast from about Charleston southward to the Georgia-Florida line? This stretch of coast is bounded by projections of two northwest-trending fracture zones that occur on the floor of the western Atlantic Ocean. To the north, the Blake Spur Fracture Zone is believed to coincide with the Charleston Seismic Zone, while to the south, a northwest-trending fault zone beneath the coastal plain sediments of southeast Georgia coincides with the landward projection of the Abaco [also called the Jacksonville] fracture zone. The southeast Georgia embayment appears to lie over a crustal block dropped between the two major fracture zones. Coastal seismicity is concentrated at the flanks of the Southeast Georgia embayment, which is (relatively) subsiding at present.

"And so here we have 1) bounding, northwest-trending fracture zones and 2) a gradually subsiding embayment, as the tectonic prerequisites for submergence of "the southern portions of Carolina, Georgia" as described by Cayce's psychic source. And if mantle movements associated with an oncoming pole shift begin to raise the sea floor in the Atlantic, as per reading 3976-15, off the U. S. east coast, one might well expect an acceleration of some of the existing long-term trends in coastal subsidence along the present Atlantic seaboard. This could be especially true for such ancient synclines as the Raritan and southeast Georgia embayments."

Strain points out (p. 56) that minor sags in the crustal plates of negative quadrants may evolve into synclines (or even syncline/ anticline folds) in response to the compressive forces that develop during and after pole shift. If we add to this explanation Strain's calculated changes in sea level for the Atlantic coast, interpretations of land-sea relationships after the 1° pole shift can get rather complicated. But the trends are clear. We paraphrase them thus, speaking only of the states bordering the U.S. Atlantic coast:

New land will appear in many places off the east coast of the United States as the pole shift lowers the sea-level geoid and drains the continental shelf. But features like the old Salisbury, Raritan and southeast Georgia embayments will accelerate in their ongoing tectonic sinking and not be stable. Stable areas will be the east coast arches, like the Norfolk and Cape Fear arches. Elevation of the land surface relative to the post-shift sea-level geoid may be expected elsewhere along the Atlantic seaboard.

Incidentally, what Strain would say about the above is as follows. Regional subsidence of New York City and the southern portions of Carolina and Georgia within a negative quadrant could be explained by an over-correction of the crust to the lowered magma seas.

GEOPHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES OF A 1° POLE SHIFT TO 89°N AND 79.2° W

As mentioned earlier, Gross and Vondrák found that the north pole has been drifting 33 ft per century down the 79.2W° meridian, not the 70°W meridian used in Strain's work. Because the recent past is our best guide to future pole drift, we will focus on a 1° pole shift to 89°N and 79.2°W. Our assumption is that it is most likely that the pole drift direction of the past hundred years or so will continue down the 79.2°W meridian and, for reasons given later, will suddenly accelerate into a shift of one degree latitude.

Results of our computations of elevation changes for numerous points on Earth's surface following the pole shift are given in Appendix Table A-2. Readers may be interested in turning to this table to check elevation changes for locations near their homes.

Immediately below, we begin addressing those worldwide Earth changes mentioned in the readings. It turns out that the changes noted are typical of those that could be expected from a sudden pole shift of 1° on this shift meridian, to 89°N latitude. Also, unless otherwise noted, we will assume that the crust behaves in a non-rigid way when responding to the shift in the geoid.

Canada and United States East Coast Earth Changes

The first thing that we notice about our newly chosen shift meridian is that the following cities or towns all lie one degree of longitude to either side of it. Going southward:

Please refer now to Figure 6.

Recall that the greatest pole-shift-induced elevation changes tend to occur closest the shift meridian. And along the shift meridian, the greatest post-shift elevation changes, in a negative quadrant like the one we are dealing with, are at 45.5°N. Such a point in this example is about 120 miles due north of Toronto, a point at which the elevation relative to the post-shift geoid would rise around 1238 ft. The Bimini Islands, however, sit astride the shift meridian at 25.8°N. The post-shift elevation at Bimini would be around +965 ft. These specific elevations assume a rigid crust, but since the Bahamas is underlain by upwards of 40,000 ft of carbonate sediment the land surface there may take longer to respond to underlying movements in the uppermost mantle than, say, the land surface along the southeastern seaboard of America.

In 1927, a man interested in developing a resort at Bimini asked the sleeping Cayce:

Q Is this the continent known as Alta or Poseidia?

A A temple of the Poseidians was in a portion of this land.

996-12, March 2, 1927

And in 1935, a woman asked about developing a well that she had visited on east Bimini:

As to how, this should be considered seriously from many varied angles that exist. For, as understood, there are those conditions as related to the varied powers that are in power or in affluence as respecting activities of any nature there. And as they exist in the present there are some complications for agreements, contracts, the lettings of this, that or the other.

But this should NOT be left alone; it should be considered from many angles.

Also aid may be induced from the varied societies that have been formed for the study of geological and archaeological activities, or such. For much will be found.

And, as may be known, when the changes begin, these portions will rise among the first. [Emphasis added].

587-4; July 1, 1935

Since the Bimini area will be rising "among the first" - due to the change in the geoid and draining of the Great Bahama Bank as the pole shifts - it should soon be relatively easy to locate any temple remains that may exist "in a portion of this land" (the northwest Great Bahama Bank). But do these remains lie under water less than 950 ft deep today, the amount that Bimini is supposed to be elevated post-shift? My guess is "yes." 

Proceeding northward along the shift meridian from Bimini to Charleston, Florence, and Raleigh-Durham, we see (Fig. 6) that the meridian bisects the East Coast Fault Zone (ECFZ), which lies buried beneath the Coastal Plain sediments. In 1943, the following reading was given for a Navy man who wanted to find out if Norfolk, VA, would be a safe place to develop a home.

It's a mighty good place, and a safe place when turmoils are to arise; though it may appear that it may be in the line of those areas to rise, while many a higher land will sink. This is a good area to stick to.

2746-2; November 11, 1943

As mentioned in "In Line of Those Areas To Rise...,"  

"the eastern United States has been experiencing east-west compressional deformation for perhaps the last million years. In response to this compression, crustal rocks buried beneath the Coastal Plain sediments are undergoing local vertical uplifts along the trend of the ECFZ. This has been going on for at least the last 130 thousand years. Current uplift rates along the ECFZ are estimated to be slow (0.02 to 0.3 mm/yr). The fastest rates of uplift are in the southern segment and the slowest in the northern.

"Regional uplift associated with the Cape Fear and Norfolk arches terminates to the west against the East Coast Fault Zone. Initiation of faulting along the ECFZ, perhaps a million years ago, 'decoupled the upper crust west of the ECFZ from the crust to the east.' Consequently, regional uplift was terminated to the west against the fault system..."

And if pole shift were to begin suddenly,

"mildly accelerated compression could produce uplift along the ECFZ. In agreement with the present trend in uplift rates, the greatest uplift would begin in the southern segment of the ECFZ, with lesser rates of uplift occurring as one moved northward. If so, a person living in Norfolk might conclude that his hometown could be "in the line of those areas to rise."

According to Strain (p. 55), compressive forces in Earth's crust can be expected in negative quadrants. Regional subsidence, due to a lowering of magma below the semi-rigid crust, can result in the formation of folded strata. Folding results when a block of the crust sags and the continued horizontal compressive forces cause the crust to increase buckling. As just mentioned, horizontal compression is occurring along the ECFZ today. It might well be expected to accelerate in response to the pole shift under consideration, thus revealing the truth of the statements in the reading about Norfolk appearing to be in the line of those areas to rise.

Following the pole's shift to 89°N, 79.2°W, a positive quadrant will be found lying to the south of the negative North American quadrant. It will manifest south of the equator over South America all the way to and including the Palmer Peninsula and Marie Byrd Land regions of West Antarctica. This positive quadrant will be centered at 45.5°S and 79.2°W, near southernmost Argentina. Much flooding can be expected to occur in southern Argentina. This seems to contradict reading 3976-15, which speaks of the appearance of land "in the Antarctic off of Tierra del Fuego" [Cape Horn]. As explained later, however, West Antarctica is currently undergoing rapid uplift.

South of Quito, on the post-shift equator, all of South America lies in a positive quadrant.

Moving southward from the equator down along the 79.2°W shift meridian we see that it runs just west of Quito, Ecuador, and Lima, Peru, and then continues southward in the Pacific, along a line up to about six degrees of longitude west of the coast of Chile. This means that the geoid has risen everywhere in South America south of the equator and flooding there becomes progressively worse until latitude 44.5°S is reached. Remember this part of reading 3976-15?

South America shall be shaken from the uppermost portion to the end, and in the Antarctic off of Tierra Del Fuego LAND, and a strait with rushing waters.

Regional uplift may be strong in the vicinity of the shift meridian in a positive quadrant. This is due to pressure on the crust from below as liquid magma seeks to obey the imperative of the higher, post-pole-shift geoid (Strain, p. 40). Sea level rises quickly in a positive quadrant during a pole shift. Indeed, we may expect tsunamis frequently to cross the oceans, especially if the pole moves in fits and starts to its final resting place. Christ said,⁶  in the Bible under the heading "Signs of the End of the Age:"

"There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. On the Earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea."

Tsunamis cause the sea to begin "tossing" when they mound up over the shallow continental shelf as they move toward shore. They often cause "roaring" when they begin to overtop the coastline itself.

Viscous magma rises much more slowly than sea level when a pole shift moves a region into a positive quadrant In the Andes, rising magma, or rising plastic rock of the uppermost mantle, could lead to numerous powerful earthquakes as the mountains are stretched over the elevated hot rock beneath. Thus can one explain the shaking of South America "from the uppermost portion to the end."

The appearance of land off Tierra del Fuego may again be explained as due to regional uplift in the vicinity of the shift meridian, a region close to the peak line of flooding in this positive quadrant. Elevation of the geoid results also in upward magma pressure at the base of the crust, pushing up the sea-floor surface until it may in some places rise above the water.

Of all of Edgar Cayce's psychic readings, few have caused as much controversy as number 3976-15. The worldwide occurrence and severity of the Earth changes described in this reading are too much for some to accept. A few people have felt that the predictions in the reading were all to happen in 1934, and that they failed to occur as predicted. This conclusion is based on the interpretation of just two words in the reading. Yet others have felt that correlation of the Earth changes described in 3976-15 with other end-time prophecies actually lend credibility to those given through Cayce. Yes, the reading is a discourse given through Edgar Cayce, by an entity of the spirit world. Here's what happened.

On the morning of January 19, 1934, Cayce gave a reading at the home of Mr. and Mrs. T. Mitchell Hastings, on Park Avenue in New York City. Hugh Lynn Cayce conducted the reading. Gladys Davis acted as stenographer. A Josephine Macsherry was also present. Mrs. Hastings led the group in meditation before Edgar entered his sleep state. Hugh Lynn then began, "We seek at this time such information as will be of value and interest to those present regarding the spiritual, mental, and physical changes which are coming to Earth. You will tell us what part we may play in meeting and helping others to understand these changes."

As I interpret the reading, Hugh Lynn's "you" turned out to be an archangel named Halaliel. For toward the middle of the reading -- and after describing most of the spectacular Earth changes found therein -- he reveals himself with the words, "I Halaliel, have spoken". (Occasionally, messages came through Cayce from specific entities in the spirit realm but, except for 3976-15, never was an entire reading credited to a single spirit entity).

According to other readings, Halaliel is "one who from the beginning has been a leader of the heavenly host, who has defied Ariel, who has made the ways that have been heavy -- but as the means for the understanding." (254-83). [Ariel was "a companion of Lucifer or Satan, and one that made for the disputing of the influences in the experiences of Adam in the Garden." (262-57)]. This Halaliel is "not the Christ, but His messenger, with the Christ from the beginning, and is to other worlds what the Christ is to this Earth." (262-71)

And it is Halaliel who said through Cayce, on that wintry New York day in 1934, that:

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 upheavals in the Arctic and in the Antarctic that will make for eruptions 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 be proclaimed as the periods when his light will be seen again in the clouds. As to times, as to seasons, as to places, ALONE is it given to those who have named the name -- and who bear the mark of His calling and His election in their bodies. To them it shall be given.

3976-15; January 19, 1934

We have already dealt with two of Halaliel's above predictions. Let's turn now to the upheavals "in the Arctic and in the Antarctic that will make for eruptions 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."

Refer now to Fig. 3, showing a diagrammatic cross-section of the ellipsoidal Earth. The shift meridian in the western hemisphere (left half of figure) is 79.2°W. In the eastern hemisphere it is the 100.8°E meridian. Assume that an incipient mantle slip (MS) down the 100.8°E meridian is being driven to accelerate by unspecified redistributions of mass in the interior of the Earth. This will tend to lead in kind to an acceleration of the existing pole drift down the 79°W meridian. Imagine now an area of Earth's crust in the vicinity of 85°N and straddling the 100.8°E shift meridian. (This area could be represented by a short line on the Earth's surface to the right of the present north pole, FN, on the diagram). This crustal area will be under growing pressure to begin to move into what will become the positive "shift" quadrant NN-W-FN-NE-X. Recall that the positive shift quadrant is away from the pole-shift direction and becomes, post-shift, a quadrant where centrifugal forces have increased. Sea levels are higher, and plastic or molten rock beneath tends to rise as well, although more slowly than the sea.

What can we expect to happen to this area if it is undergoing incipient movement into a positive quadrant? As explained by Strain's dynamic-axis hypothesis (p. 40), when the crust "is stretched over the higher magma seas of the positive quadrants, the crust's poor strength facilitates magma intrusions."⁷  Such intrusions are common in extensional geologic environments. Crustal extension may lead normal faulting of broken-up crustal blocks, to huge intrusions of magma, or to small-scale dikes and sills. Volcanoes are also produced in extensional environments. Lets look at a telling recent example of possible incipient pole-shift activity from the high arctic, in our hypothetical area straddling the 100.8°E shift meridian.

Beginning in October 1998, a swarm of earthquakes began to be recorded on distant seismographs. This "seismic swarm" originated from the submerged, Gakkel Ridge, north of Severnaya Zemlya, Russia. C. Müller and W. Jokat (2000, EOS, v.81, no. 24) interpreted this swarm, saying that "these events clearly show extensional focal mechanisms characterized by normal-faulting patterns…" [emphasis added]. The seismic-swarm activity lasted an unusually long seven months, and epicenters of quakes were distributed over a distance from 86.4°N, 70°E to 84.4°N, 106.0 °E. The densest part of the cluster was centered at 85.5°N and 87.0°E. The seismological data were further interpreted to be emblematic of "cone-shaped [volcano] caldera-collapse events." They continue by saying that "most earthquake swarms occur in volcanic regions, and their occurrence is often related to the movement of magma." Thus, all of the criteria for an upheaval in the arctic, as associated with incipient, pole-shift induced movement of the crust toward a positive quadrant, have been satisfied. The crustal behavior under extension - resulting in block faulting, magma movement, and volcanism - has been met. The authors conclude that the earthquake swarm "is the first direct evidence of recent volcanic activity in the high Arctic," and state that "in March 2000, the Hawaii Mapping Research Group reported the discovery of fresh lava flows" on the sea floor there.

This historically-unprecedented seismic and volcanic activity, occurring as it has in the very recent past, seems to correlate well with the prediction by Halaliel (3976-15) to the effect that "there will be upheavals in the Arctic and Antarctic….and there will be shifting then of the poles…." The time of the shifting of the poles is given in reading 826-8 as 2000-2001. Thus, with the above-reported arctic volcanism suggesting that pole shift may be in the process of beginning, the Earth may have only a few months left before the shift itself becomes obvious and Earth changes begin in earnest.

How Can The Upper Portion of Europe Be Changed In The Twinkling Of an Eye?

Continuing with reading 3976-15, we find this startling sentence:

The upper portion of Europe will be changed as in the twinkling of an eye.

The upper portion of Europe probably includes northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and perhaps Russia as far east as Archangel. Its southern boundary might be around the 64°N, or about 2-1/2 degrees latitude south of the Arctic Circle. This land mass is probably close enough to the arctic region to be affected by "upheavals in the Arctic," of the type discussed above.

The neutral shift meridian (10.8°E) runs roughly through Oslo, Norway. Here, the 10.8°E meridian divides the negative North-American post-shift quadrant from the positive northern-Asia post-shift quadrant. Because the neutral shift meridian runs just to the west of the land designated in the reading as "the upper portion of Europe," all of this land will lie in the same positive post-shift quadrant that was discussed just above. Because of the suddenness of the change for northern Europe mentioned in the reading, and owing to the fact that the first thing that occurs during a pole shift is a change in sea-level and a related redistribution of areas of land and sea, we may reasonably speculate that - initially -- former land elevations will decrease as the positive quadrant is flooded. This will affect the lowlands of northern Norway (including possibly Spitsbergen), Sweden, Finland, and Russia in Europe.

Earth's torrid areas lie roughly between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, or approximately latitudes 23.5°N and 23.5°S of the equator, respectively. Once again, Halaliel's message, as channeled through Cayce in reading 3976-15 says:

There will be the upheavals in the arctic and antarctic that will make for the eruption of volcanoes in the torrid areas, and there will be the shifting then of the poles...

Stated clearly here is the proposition that eruptions of volcanoes in the torrid areas can be induced by crustal upheavals in the arctic and antarctic. This seems to imply that upheavals in the polar regions must be of sufficient magnitude to start to unbalance the rotating Earth and induce the poles to attempt to shift. Such activity will cause those volcanoes located to either side of the equatorial bulge in the torrid areas to respond to the incipient pole shift.

Any attempt of the overlying mantle and crust to move over or away from the equatorial bulge will cause sufficient disturbance to cause magma to rise into many of the torrid-area volcanoes. Volcanoes closest to the eventual shift meridian could be expected to be the most eruptive. The idea here is that as a region of the crust and mantle straddling the incipient shift meridian tries to move toward the equator, it must cover a somewhat larger area (or, in three-dimensions, fill a greater volume). But there is insufficient material available to do so. On the other hand, any torrid-area mass trying to move away from the equator is subjected to contraction, as there is an excess of material available.

In regions of existing torrid-area volcanism, such disturbances of the crust and mantle related to pole shift would be sufficient to facilitate magma flows. Such magma flows would very often lead to eruptions through paths of least resistance in the crust. These would be paths through incipient fractures and existing volcanoes. Old fractures could be reactivated allowing magma to move through them.

Some of the best work on shift of the mantle and crust over the equatorial bulge was done by J. Campbell for C. Hapgood's book entitled, The Path of the Pole (1970, Chilton Book Co., New York). For example, consider Figure 7 below, adapted from Fig. 34 in Hapgood's book. The figure shows diagrammatically the pattern of faulting and folding during displacement of the crust and mantle. Only one meridional fault (the shift meridian) is shown, which is moving toward the equator in the northern hemisphere. The dotted lines indicate other faults opening from the bottom of the crust as the arc of the surface diminishes. Across the equator, where the crust is moving toward the pole, and compression is resulting, the continuation of the major expansion fault is shown as a pressure ridge. Dashed and solid vertical lines designate other crustal fractures that may be expected to parallel the major meridional fracture.