{{Short description|20th century prophecies}} {{New Age beliefs sidebar}} The phrase "'''Earth Changes'''" was coined by the American [[psychic]] [[Edgar Cayce]] in the 1930s in reference to his belief that the world would soon enter a series of [[Doomsday event|cataclysmic events]] causing major alterations in human life on the planet.
This includes "natural events" (such as major [[earthquakes]], [[Global warming|the melting of the polar ice caps]], a [[pole shift]] of the planetary axis, [[Climate change (general concept)|major weather events]], [[solar flares]] and so on<ref name=barkun>{{Cite book|title=A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America |first=Michael |last=Barkun |publisher=University of California Press |year=2006|page=172|isbn=0-520-24812-0}}</ref>) as well as huge changes of the local and global social, economical and political systems.
Cayce's term was taken up in certain segments of the [[New Age]] movement,<ref name= Lewis>{{Cite book|title=Perspectives on the New Age |first=James R. |last=Lewis |author2=J. Gordon Melton |publisher=SUNY Press |page=12,64,204|year=1992 |isbn=0-7914-1213-X}}</ref> often associated with other predictions by people claiming to have psychic abilities.<ref name=hammer>{{Cite book|title=Claiming Knowledge: Strategies of Epistemology from Theosophy to the New Age |url=https://archive.org/details/claimingknowledg00hamm_713 |url-access=limited |first= Olav |last= Hammer |publisher= BRILL |year= 2004 |isbn= 90-04-13638-X |pages=[https://archive.org/details/claimingknowledg00hamm_713/page/n264 243]–244}}</ref> These beliefs have occasionally been associated with Christian millennialism and beliefs about UFOs.<ref name=barkun/> Some New Age adherents believe that Earth changes will preface a "Golden Age" of [[spirituality]] and [[world peace]].<ref name= Partridge/><ref name= Lewis/>
==Prophecies of Edgar Cayce== In the 1930s and 1940s, Cayce made many prophecies of cataclysmic events involving the whole planet,<ref name= Partridge>{{Cite book|title=UFO Religions |first=Christopher Hugh |last=Partridge |publisher=Routledge| year=2003 |page=118|isbn=0-415-26324-7}}</ref> with a series of "earth changes" occurring between 1958 and 1998.<ref name= Hanegraaff>{{Cite book |title=New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought |first=Wouter J. |last=Hanegraaff |page=[https://archive.org/details/newagereligionwe0000hane/page/353 353] |publisher=SUNY Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-7914-3854-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/newagereligionwe0000hane/page/353 }}</ref> He predicted that the polar axis would shift and that many areas that are now land would again become ocean floor, and that [[Atlantis]] would rise from the sea.<ref name= Hanegraaff/>
==Prophecies of others== [[File:Golden Cities USA.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|A representation of the location of the five "Golden Cities" envisioned by Toye, in a flooded United States]] In the late 1980s, [[Lori Toye]] published the ''I Am America Map'', based on several visions that she claimed to have beginning in 1983.<ref>Pickover, Clifford A. [https://books.google.com/books?id=XnHAh4Lk2aYC&q=%22Lori+Adaile+Toye%22 ''Dreaming the Future: The Fantastic Story of Prediction.''] Prometheus Books, 2001. pg. 358</ref><ref>Larson, Bob.[https://books.google.com/books?id=vnAk9WefhfwC&pg=PA164 ''Larson's Book of World Religions and Alternative Spirituality.''] Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2004. pg. 43</ref> The ''I Am America Map'' sold over 40,000 copies, and was followed by subsequent maps: Freedom Star World map, Golden Cities map, and an Earth Changes Progression series of maps. These maps represented the earth's future geography after climatic earth changes.<ref>Larson, Bob.[https://books.google.com/books?id=vnAk9WefhfwC&pg=PA164 ''Larson's Book of World Religions and Alternative Spirituality.''] Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2004. pg. 161</ref>
In 2004, "self-proclaimed psychic" [[Gordon-Michael Scallion]] issued a variety of prophecies centering on the concept of "Earth Changes". He publishes a monthly newsletter, ''The Earth Changes Report''.<ref name=larson>{{Cite book|title=Larson's Book of World Religions and Alternative Spirituality |first=Bob |last=Larson |publisher=Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. |year= 2004 |isbn=0-8423-6417-X |page=163}}</ref>
==Reception and interpretation== Prophecies of Earth changes have been described as a form of pseudoscience, in which terminology and ideas borrowed from science are used to rationalize non-scriptural apocalyptical thought based on visionary experiences.<ref name=hammer/> [[David Spangler]], a leader of the [[Findhorn Foundation]] spiritual community, described prophecies of Earth changes as an expression of collective fear and anger, rather than as foretelling of actual future events.<ref name= Smoley>{{Cite book|title= Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions |first=Richard |last=Smoley |author2=Jay Kinney |publisher=Quest Books |year=2006 |pages=292–3|isbn=0-8356-0844-1}}</ref>
==See also== * [[Catastrophism]] * [[Eschatology]] * [[Global catastrophic risk]] * [[Nick Bostrom]] * [[Sea level rise]]
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
{{New Age Movement}} {{Doomsday}}
[[Category:Prophecy]] [[Category:Environmental sayings]] [[Category:Apocalypticism]]