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The Essenes: Children of the Light

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Take a trip through time to uncover the mysterious Essene knowledge and secrets that Jesus was taught.

* Did Jesus really die on the cross?
* Who was Mary Magdalene
and what was her real connection with Jesus?
* Extensive new information
about the secretive Essene mystery schools.

It is one of the great tragedies of Western culture that Christianity forgot and eventually denied its Essene roots. Those roots are herein explored from the perspective of past life regression. Fascinating new information emerged, including Essene links with the Druids, the existence of a secret Core Group around Jesus, and contacts with the Order of Melchizedek.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that the Essene Jesus is restored to us, bringing to life the wise and loving Being who has been obscured by so much doctrine and dogma. His words speak to us across the centuries and open a clearer understanding of the Way, which he established, and the ultimate goal of that Way. This book makes clear that Jesus did not stand alone. He had the backing of a powerful and dedicated team of Essenes, including Joseph of Arimathea.

Thanks to the technique of past life regression, this story can now be told for the first time, opening up a fascinating window onto a unique and vital time in history.

384 pages, Paperback

First published March 3, 2005

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Stuart Wilso

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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
Profile Image for Tara.
92 reviews8 followers
September 11, 2018
I was hooked from the intro and couldn’t stop. This was my first dig into the fascinating Essenes, the group that supported and surrounded Jesus, and I can’t wait to read more- (The Order of Melchizideck is also super intriguing). The overall emphasis on love and forgiveness resounds with me a million times. So so glad this book found its way to me.
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“The power of life working in the heart, how strong this could be, and how this love could be a blessing to all who touched it. Our hope was to see this love spread out until it would cover the Earth, like a planet carpeted with flowers.”
Profile Image for Victor Smith.
Author 2 books19 followers
May 31, 2018
While reference to subjects like reincarnation, past life regression, and Atlantis might seem too strong a dose of woo-woo for people looking at Wilson and Prentis's The Essenes: Children of the Light for information on Jewish sects or just plain enlightenment, I recommend they soldier through such prejudices as this book provides both valid historical details and spiritual insights galore.

How about this visual tidbit about a group, the Therapeutae, barely mentioned by Philo, the first-century philosopher, and Josephus, the Jewish historian (Page: 105): "The library at our community at Lake Mareotis near Alexandria was the finest I have seen - even bigger than Qumran. It was a large building with windows right along the south side. Outside there were awnings, so you could adjust the amount of light coming through each of the windows. And all along the south wall were tables for the scholars to sit at. It was a most practical place to study. The tables had deep half-rounded channels in them, so that the handles of the scroll were put down into these when one had unrolled it to the desired place."

Or this spiritual gem that corrects a major human error in perception of the Divinity: (Page 325) What was unique about Jesus was the way he shifted the focus from “God in the Heavens to God in the Heart.”

While the book may have aspects that might be best left behind, it has many more that readers will want to ponder and savor as they recast the Christ story into the larger history of humanity than most of us who heard it from childhood--and likely rejected as fairy tale or nonsense--have thus far conceived. Be ready to be surprised.
3 reviews
August 8, 2017
Totally engrossing .

A very very enjoyable read from start to finish. While my mind has been opened up throughout my years with great teachings from books etc, this book came along at just the right time in my journey. I would seriously recommend this book to anyone who has questions around the true teaching of Jesus and the understanding surrounding the hearts and minds of the Essene community back at the time before the truth was distorted by fear and closed off the hearths of many to the light within.
Profile Image for Stefanie Dettmers.
Author 5 books13 followers
Read
July 20, 2022
A short time ago I would have given a book like this a 1 star rating. I guess I cannot do this anymore. Gaining the information presented in this and writing the actual book meant something to the authors and everyone involved. It added something to their life experience (something that completely escapes me) and it didn't add anything to mine. I filed it under "reincarnation and regression" although it appears to be an example of regression gone wrong.

The information presented in this book most certainly confirmed all the concepts the authors had about the Essenes and a variety of other esoteric topics. And this seems to be the sole purpose of this book. If these concepts happen to be something you hold for true in your world, if this is something that is meant to enrich your experience of this life, "The Essenes: Children of Light" is for you.

But it goes against everything that I've learned, experienced and hold to be true.

I started this book right after finishing Dolores Cannon's books Jesus and the Essenes and They Walked with Jesus: Past Life Experiences with Christ and had hopes to find an intersting sequel. Unfortunately, "The Essenes: Children of Light" is the absolute opposite of Dolores' work which I always perceived as well presented and researched.

Dolores Cannon never ceased to point out the methods she applied to gain the information, the whole process. She informed us about the people she regressed and went a long way to prove their neutrality regarding the topics they related under trance. The opposite is true in this book.

Most of the people the authors regressed seem to have had prior knowledge about esoteric topics, especially the man who came through as "Daniel" and whose lenghty monologues the reader has to endure for most of the book.

While Dolores backed her findings up with scientific research, the authors of this book only state their personal perception of the information they gained (I once heared... My experience with the Montessori kindergarten my children went to tells me...). That's not surprising given the complete lack of specific details provided in "The Essenes".

What makes Dolores books stand out are the very specific details the people she regressed provide: names, dates, places and special objects of interest, a great deal of which Dolores was able to verify scientifically. There is no such thing in this book. Everything that is related is very general: they meet in some village, sit in a nondescript cave (wherever it is is ot discussed). There is no knowledge that stands out as something the subject couldn't have know prior to the regression.

The information feels convoluted, a mumbo jumbo of esoteric topics fashionable in the lat 1990s and early 2000s and most certainly know to people visiting a place called the "Starlight Healing Center". Some facts from Dolores' books are scattered across the narration to give it some authority.

The information Dolores Cannon gathered not only felt always very precise, very privat and special to the characters coming through in the trance state, it never appeared to prove a point she wanted to make. Her way of leading the interview was subtle, always pointed at gaining insight into the specifics of the life of the personae we encounter. It gave me an insight into the circumstances these people were living under, in the ways their world worked back then. In a way I not only felt as if I witnessed the scenes through their eyes while following their path, I felt very much present on scene.

In stark contrast, the information given in "The Essenes" just feels fabulated. It's not about the actual perception of the historic characters, the very specific experiences they were able to make during their times, under the circumstances they encountered in daily life. It's about proving whatever esoteric concepts the authors believed to be true.

The account of "Daniel" comes across as an unquestioned regurgitation of esoteric "knowledge" within the range of what was known to the present day man. In They Walked with Jesus: Past Life Experiences with Christ Dolores Cannon relates the story of a lady who wanted to be the mother of John the baptist so badly, she fantasized a memory under hypnosis (p. 13). Dolores explains how she was able to debunk this memory as pure fantasy.

The signs are the same in "Daniels" story. What struck me most about it was the complete abscense of provable data and specific knowledge that only could have been known to a person living at the time of Christ.

This leads to "Daniel" remembering his travels with Jesus like this: "It was just such a beautiful experience, going out and visting those villages with Jesus. It was so light." and "It was very pleasant - a kind of divine wandering (he chuckles - he does that *very* often). We just had a wonderful time." This is ALL we get from a man who claims he had been close to Jesus for years and years!

Lets remember what he is talking about: him encountering Jesus out on a mission of healing people with severe illnesses. Oh, how pleasant and light it must have been to encounter those suffering people!

What a contrast to the emotions, the sights, the smells, the specific names of the villages, the specific actions and teachings of Jesus (and other healers!) "Naomi" relates in They Walked with Jesus: Past Life Experiences with Christ! Her account transports the reader back to the harshness and suffering of life in a village of lepers.

"Daniel's" account is a hippies' dream come true. Making chains of dandelions with Jesus on a beach in Britain...

The whole story lost me completely at the point it claimed, the Essenes could use time portals and run with their feet barely touching the ground... But this pretty much sums up the whole book. The Essenes were a mythical sect powered by their almost magical ancestors the "Kaloo" (who still happened to pop up in their lives every now and then, whenever it came in handy). They dabbled in crystals (a topic very dear to the authors and some of their regressed subjects alike... what coincidence...), lots of healing and energy grids as well. Without them the whole life of Jesus couldn't have happend. The Essenes were the secret power behind Jesus. That was because ... well, the Kaloo made them do it and this was because ... well ... the Kaloo knew something. Whatever it was they knew, we aren't told. Why this had to come about, why Jesus' life was of any importance in this context - we aren't told. It simply doesn't matter. Probably because the purpose of this book is something entirely different: to prove the authors right.

The most telling example is their story of the empty tomb

The major gap the story leaves is whatever happend to Jesus AFTER the crucifixion. For gods sake! Why in the world would anyone encountering such a tale from a person in trance not ask these very specific questions? The only explanation seems to be: it wasn't of interest to the authors of this book.

This book isn't about christianity, it isn't even about Jesus or the actual brotherhood of the Essenes, it is about proving esoteric hypotheses in existance during the time of its conception. It disguises itself as the scientific work Dolores Cannon did, but it fails to be of service to anyone but the authors and their following.

Dolores' books left me feeling elated, deeply touched by the lives of the people I encountered within. They felt like true, living, breathing people to me.

This book just leaves me feeling confused, angry and cheated. It just "proves" that Jesus actually was that kind of friendly, but harmless Hippie as which most people perceive him today. And as a being Yes, I am rolling my eyes at this point.

Wow. I wish I could unread this. Though I truly hope it helped the authors in some strange way, I strongly believe this book and the methods applied in gaining its information can shed a bad light on the work of Dolores Cannon. I do not understand why it has been picked up by Ozark Mountain Publishing, as it even contradicts some of Dolores' findings in her works on the same topic...
Profile Image for Brett Starr.
Author 7 books4 followers
December 19, 2019
Inspiring book and remarkable findings

Found this book very enlightening with new information. Very uplifting and inspiring. My cup runneth over with tears of Joy!
Profile Image for Kenna.
18 reviews
March 16, 2025
Though some may object to past-life regression therapy as pseudoscience, the teachings offered by the Essenes in this book strike me as universal.

Some favorite nuggets:

“When we are full of the Spirit, the whole universe opens to us and all things become possible … Let Spirit be your Master, and the Inner Voice to which you constantly pay heed, for Spirit is the Master of us all.”

“Because the Divine Presence is within, knowing ourselves is also knowing God.”

“Buildings decay, hierarchies crumble, and doctrines change. But the love in the hearts of the people is eternal, for love is the nature of God, and all things of God endure forever.”

“Joy is a special form of wisdom which gives rapid and easy access to Deep Knowing.”

“We are the result of a sacred merging of the Spirit of the Heavens and the substance of the Earth.”
96 reviews
October 6, 2021
Amazing revelations towards the end. So thankful for the efforts of this particular past life regression group, and of the Essenes themselves. Unbelievable how far we strayed from the original path given for us to follow. May we find that path in our hearts again.
Profile Image for Jo Atchley.
14 reviews
May 11, 2023
Wonderful and enlightening.

Keeping the spirit in simplicity. Complicating beliefs and making them inaccessible to people for understand such as latin does not bring Jesus’ good work to our heats. Daniel, in this book says as much. Enjoyed this book.
1 review
August 18, 2024
Healing

Throughout my life I have felt a connection to Jesus but church and Christianity never called to me. This book has given me deep insights into the truth of Jesus which is truly about connecting with love and spirit without all the doctrination around it.
1,363 reviews7 followers
October 3, 2017
This is the best book about the Essenes I have read.
11 reviews
April 12, 2022
fascinating

This is a wonderful book regardless of your beliefs on past life regression. The ideas are simple and understandable for all.
Profile Image for Logan Streondj.
Author 2 books15 followers
December 22, 2022
Excellent book focusing on regressions of Daniel from the Essenes and Joseph of Arimathea. Lots of good background that compliments Dolores Cannon's Jesus and the Essenes.
Profile Image for Mamanoley.
33 reviews2 followers
January 26, 2025
Fascinating work akin to Dolores Cannon but the narrator (very slow speaking man with a southern drawl) makes this incredibly hard to stick to.
Profile Image for HS.
54 reviews
February 5, 2025
A lot of good information and research
4.5/5 too many comments from the authors
Deserves rereading the ebook version
A good follow-up to the Dolores Cannon book on Jesus and the Essenes
5 reviews
April 2, 2025
Such a nice book to read after Jesus and The Essenes, They Walked with Jesus by Dolores Cannon. Its compliment each other and bring a lot more clarity and truth about what really is, not from distorted view of history. Thank you 💯🙌
Profile Image for Suvi.
10 reviews
September 22, 2025
beautiful book that fills my heart with unconditional love
Profile Image for Phyllis Leavitt.
Author 3 books3 followers
March 14, 2024
Very inspiring

This book helped me understand just how revolutionary Jesus was in his time - making the distinction between the old paradigm of the God in Heaven and the new paradigm of the God within. It gave me a great appreciation for humanity’s spiritual evolution and also confirmed much of what I have come to understand and believe myself.
61 reviews2 followers
November 8, 2014
Ten stars out of Five.
Forget every other book in the world about Jesus, forget the Bible, this is a masterpiece of information. I cradled it in my arms, slept with it next to my pillow. A phenomenal part of history that has never been told before, but is important to know for everyone who loves Jesus.

There were a few times I was restless in my chair wanting to tell the hypnosis to ask about the Mary's. What were they like? What do the Kaloo look like? Etc. But she did not go into that area. We can get so much more information from these clients of hers...I want a sequel!
Profile Image for Christopher Miller.
Author 2 books4 followers
December 16, 2015
My daughter, Amy, suggested this book. I've always considered myself a Gnostic Christian, which on the surface of things looks to be an oxymoron. However, due to the work that I was able to accomplish within Founatin and other meditational experiences, I have come (back) to the same understanding that I must have once had in a prior life. The words in this book are a testament to my beliefs/knowledge/understanding. I shall never doubt them again.
Profile Image for Gaile.
1,260 reviews
June 29, 2013
Through past life regressions five subjects who lived as Essenes at the time tell a different story of Joseph Of Arimathia, Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
Information that come through is not what we learn from the Bible. This book is mind blowing and gives the reader much food for thought.
Profile Image for Kelly.
11 reviews
August 4, 2013
I had wanted to read more about the Essenes after DC book. This has been an enjoyable filler. A bit new-ageish at times! More details were acquired as the book continued....
Profile Image for Claudia.
Author 3 books63 followers
June 6, 2014
Really enjoyed the material but found myself having to skim what seemed to be much repetitiveness. An interesting read that I will think about for some time!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews

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