Koreshanity is the set of religious

pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...

beliefs put forth by

Cyrus Teed Cyrus Reed Teed (October 18, 1839 – December 22, 1908) was a U.S. eclectic physician and alchemist turned pseudoscientific religious leader and self-proclaimed messiah. In 1869, claiming divine inspiration, Teed took on the name Koresh and pr ...

(also known as Koresh). Followers of this belief were called "Koreshans", and most of them formed a

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

communal society An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

called the

Koreshan Unity The Koreshan Unity was a communal utopia formed by Cyrus Teed, who took the name "Koresh", the original Persian form of his name Cyrus. The Koreshans followed Teed's beliefs, called Koreshanity, and he was regarded by his adherents as "the new Mes ...

Main beliefs

The main beliefs of Koreshanity, or ''Koreshan Universalogy'', are put forth in the many writings of

and his followers. They are: * Model of the universe according to the Koreshans

''Cellular Cosmogony'', which is Teed's unique form of Hollow Earth theory which puts forth the idea that the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

and

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...

are contained within a concave sphere, or 'cell'. The Koreshans even conducted several experiments, similar to those conducted by believers in a

Flat Earth The flat-Earth model is an archaic and scientifically disproven conception of Earth's shape as a plane or disk. Many ancient cultures subscribed to a flat-Earth cosmography, including Greece until the classical period (5th century BC), the ...

. The most well known was conducted on the beach of

Naples, Florida Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the historical city (i.e. in the immediate vicinity of downtown Naples) was 19,115. Naples is a principal city of the Naples-Marco Island, Flori ...

(the Koreshan Geodetic Survey of 1897), a town south of the

commune at

Estero, Florida Estero is a village in Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,939. During the 2010 census, Estero was an unincorporated community, or census-designated place, the population at that time was 22,612. Est ...

. Here is the description of the earth from ''Cellular Cosmogony'':

The
sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
is an invisible
electromagnetic In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions of a ...

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
revolving in the
universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...
's center on a 24-year cycle. Our visible sun is only a reflection, as is the
moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
, with the
star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
s reflecting off seven
mercurial Mercurial is a distributed revision control tool for software developers. It is supported on Microsoft Windows and Unix-like systems, such as FreeBSD, macOS, and Linux. Mercurial's major design goals include high performance and scalability, d ...
discs that float in the sphere's center. Inside the earth there are three separate
atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...
s: the first composed of
oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...
and
nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
and closest to the earth; the second, a
hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...
atmosphere above it; the third, an aboron (sic) atmosphere at the center. The earth's shell is one hundred miles thick and has seventeen layers. The outer seven are metallic with a gold rind on the outermost layer, the middle five are mineral and the five inward are geologic strata. Inside the shell there is life, outside a void.

* ''Koreshan Premise'', A straight line extended at right angles from a perpendicular post will meet the surface of the earth at a distance proportionate to the height of the perpendicular.

Other beliefs

Reincarnation Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is a ...

, the belief that people are reborn. *

Immortality Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some modern species may possess biological immortality. Some scientists, futurists, and philosophers have theorized about the immortality of the human body, with some suggesting that human immorta ...

, the belief people will not die. *

Celibacy Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both, usually for religious reasons. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the ...

, the belief of abstaining from any sexual conduct, which they felt was a scientific method to obtain immortality. *

Collectivism Collectivism may refer to: * Bureaucratic collectivism, a theory of class society whichto describe the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin * Collectivist anarchism, a socialist doctrine in which the workers own and manage the production * Collectivis ...

, the community lived communally, with everyone sharing in the work without being paid. This began with the first

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in Chicago, leading to them moving to Estero and building their "New Jerusalem". *

Alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

, which was an area that Teed had experimented in for years. * Teed's inspired leadership. Teed claimed to be the 'seventh' messianic leader (

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

was the sixth).

Koreshan settlement

Teed proposed the creation of a "

New Jerusalem In the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible, New Jerusalem (, ''YHWH šāmmā'', YHWH sthere") is Ezekiel's prophetic vision of a city centered on the rebuilt Holy Temple, the Third Temple, to be established in Jerusalem, which would be the c ...

" as an ideal commune for his followers, to be located on the Mississippi river. In 1894 Teed moved to Florida where he accumulated land for yet another community. He was influenced, according to historian Robert S. Fogarty, by

Emanuel Swedenborg Emanuel Swedenborg (, ; born Emanuel Swedberg; 29 March 1772) was a Swedish pluralistic-Christian theologian, scientist, philosopher and mystic. He became best known for his book on the afterlife, ''Heaven and Hell'' (1758). Swedenborg had ...

, as was

Thomas Lake Harris Thomas Lake Harris (May 15, 1823 – March 23, 1906) was an Anglo-American preacher, spiritualistic prophet, poet, and vintner. Harris is best remembered as the leader of a series of communal religious experiments, culminating with a group called ...

, and these ideas helped craft his own notion of a "new spiritual heaven…called New Jerusalem.". Teed shows the degree to which the concept of 'New Jerusalem' not only translated into the ideal of creating a heavenly place on earth but the re-labeling of heaven to constitute a New Jerusalem up above.Fogarty, All Things, page 77 The day to day affairs of the settlement were governed by a council of women called "The Seven Sisters." The Seven Sisters lived in a common house referred to as The Planetary Court. Prior to the death of the last Koreshan the settlement was deeded to the state of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and is now a state historic site. In addition to the historic buildings of the settlement the state park includes canoeing on the Estero river which flows directly next to the settlement as well as the presence of many

gopher tortoise The gopher tortoise (''Gopherus polyphemus'') is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is seen as a keystone species because it digs burrows that provide ...

s who make their burrows throughout the park.

Major works of Koreshanity

* Cyrus Teed ''Cellular Cosmogony, or, the Earth a Concave Sphere''. Originally published in 1905, later reprinted in 1975. Promotes arguments for a concave earth with details on their Naples experiment. * Cyrus Teed ''Immortal Manhood''. Published in 1902, details the relationship of man with God. The work, along with Cellular Cosmogony, are considered the pivotal works in Koreshan teachings. * A.W.K. Andrews. ''The Identification of Israel''. 1882. Gives the basis for their beliefs in

reincarnation Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is a ...

and its importance in building their "New Jerusalem". * Koreshan Foundation. ''Koreshanity: the New Age Religion''. 1971. A fairly recent reprint of 4 works by Teed and J. Augustus Weimar. Covers their beliefs in

, male-female duality of God, messianic prophecy, and more. * Ulysses Morrow. ''Scientific Experiments on Lake Michigan''. 1899. Details their first experiments to prove a concave sphere.

External links

Koreshan State Historic Site
official web page.

Brief overview and great bibliography of works, if slightly dated.

References