The Story of the Essenes – The Beginning
by Doug Simpson
Essene scholars basically rely on four sets of ancient writings for their knowledge and speculation on the Essenes. The Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria, c.20BC – c.54AD, in his manuscript titled Quod Omnius Probus Liber, mentioned over 4000 Essenes in villages throughout Palestinian Syria. Next, Pliny the Elder, c.23AD – c.79AD, a Roman soldier, naturalist, historian and biographer produced the 37-volume Natural History, indicating that the Essenes had existed for thousands of generations and located them at his time in the desert along the north-west portion of the Dead Sea. Flavius Josephus, c.37AD – c.100AD, Jewish soldier turned Roman historian and politician, included the Essenes in a number of his manuscripts, offering us the most comprehensive look at this mystical religious order. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, in caves outside of Qumran near the north-west coast of the Dead Sea, helped, or possibly complicated, the analysis of Essene history. Some scholars believe that the Qumran colony were Essenes, and others most definitely do not. I will leave you to do your own research, if you have the inclination, and to draw your own conclusions. It is now time for us to turn our attention to the information obtained through the in-trance, legendary American mystic, Edgar Cayce, on how, for many centuries and with Heavenly guidance, preparations were slowly being set in place for the eagerly anticipated birth of the Messiah.
“So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people …” [DS: I Kings 18:20 and 21, King James version of the Bible.] “3. In those days when there had been more and more of the leaders of the peoples in Carmel – the original place where the school of prophets was established during Elijah’s time, Samuel – these were called then Essenes; and those that were students of what ye would call astrology, numerology, phrenology, and those phases of that study of the return of individuals – or incarnation.” [DS: Edgar Cayce reading 5749-8.]
The prophet Elijah and a group of his associates apparently established the School Of Prophets at Mount Carmel, and the group known today as the Essenes evolved from the School Of Prophets, with the assistance of our next guest: “35. There it may be said that the entity so fostered those activities of that group later known as the Essenes, as to have been the influence that made the whole ideal and idea possible. 36. That, too, was a noble and an enlightening service to the world; … 37. … the entity gained from the teachings of many outside the pale of the tenets of the Mosaic law, – those things that were good in the purifying of the body, not only through the mastering of activities in thought but through the diet, through communion with the universal forces as manifested or expressed in nature itself. 38. The name then was Durkon.” [DS: Reading 2441-2.] For the record, Mrs. 2441 was obviously a woman, and Durkon was probably also a woman because when a soul, which is neither male nor female, changes from a body of one sex to the other sex in a succeeding incarnation, this fact is usually if not always pointed out in the reading. The historical documents mentioned in our opening paragraph sometimes refer to the Essenes as being celibate and male dominated, and it is always possible that certain sects of Essenes were celibate over the centuries, but, as we shall see, this was definitely not the case with our central group of Essenes who were actively laying the groundwork for the arrival of the coming Messiah.
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