Still No Atlantis

Over the years many people in the esoteric community have cited the story of Atlantis as evidence of some sort of ancient golden age of civilization. Some claim that the mythical Atlanteans possessed technology well in advance of our own, which is refuted by the absence of ancient plastic, printed circuit boards, and nuclear waste, all of which should endure for thousands of years under the sea. Others simply claim that the Atlantean civilization was more adept at magical practices, or that magick worked better during the time period in which it rose to prominance. While this is more difficult to refute, it is equally difficult to prove or demonstrate.

I have often commented that if there is a golden age of magick we surely are living in it, since the rise of information technology has made it easier than ever before to share magical techniques and pool information related to specific practices. As with the physical sciences, this emerging knowledge base can only lead to the more effective application of magical principles and better education for beginning practitioners. Furthermore, living in a modern society makes it a lot easier to practice magick without risking the persecutions that awaited Renaissance magicians who ran afoul of the Church.

In fact, our information technology has now reached the point where it could help us us uncover ancient mysteries such as the location of Atlantis. Some observers recently claimed that they had done just that, using the Google Earth network of satellite images to reveal what appeared to be human-constructed lines on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Sadly, the lines were indeed made by people, just not Atlanteans.

Keen observers had spotted what appeared to be the outline of a vast city - the size of Wales - on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.

But the criss-crossing lines, located 600 miles west of the Canary Islands, were today explained by Google as sonar data collected as boats mapped the ocean floor.

A spokeswoman for Google Earth further explained that the lines follow the straight paths made by boats as they take sonar images of the ocean floor. They are neither roads nor walls, but artifacts of oceanic data collection.

So Atlantis still remains lost to history if it ever existed at all. At this point, with satellites encircling the globe, one has to wonder if it will ever be discovered. It may have never existed or perhaps was so thoroughly destroyed that nothing of it remains. Either that, or it is hiding in plain sight like the island of Thera, which I still believe to be one of the most likely inspirations for Plato's famous account.