With this issue, Atlantis Rising marks an early milestone of sorts. At the very least, twelve issues means one time around the zodiac, even if it took us three years to do it, and signifies, we hope, some level of mystical fulfillment. At any rate, we think it time to reflect on chapter one in our saga.

When we set sail in November of 1994, we knew we were attempting something unique and that uncharted waters lay ahead. Sure, there had been numerous magazines on ancient mysteries, future science and unexplained anomalies, but it was our opinion that most fell short in many areas we thought important. We wanted to be exciting and credible at the same time, to challenge the predictable pronouncements of the academic establishment without resorting to the mindless sensationalism of the tabloid press. To our way of thinking, a vast arena of new discovery, if mentioned at all by the mainstream press, was either sneered at by opponents or overstated by true believers. We wanted to give it the balanced coverage it deserved.

Moreover, it seemed most new age publications were devoted almost entirely to the health issues of body, mind and spirit with special emphasis on the intuitive, in other words, very personal and subjective. What was needed, we thought, was a magazine that concentrated on more objective areas. It seemed that the growing acceptance of consciousness-based reality had inadvertently undermined the standard of reasonableness which most people need to evaluate new ideas. The unhappy result, we felt, was that many objectively plausible notions, because of their unfortunate association with notions which are entirely subjective, were never even considered by the mainstream, much less embraced. At least one new age publication, we believed, should determine to maintain an objective focus and we determined to be the one. This is not to say we rejected the validity of such forms of knowledge, we simply wanted to make sure objective forms of rationality also had a voice in the new age marketplace.

Three years ago, it remained for the public to rule upon the validity of our approach. Now, with the publication of Atlantis Rising #12, a partial verdict is in.

A small but growing band of readers, it appears, have understood and wholeheartedly endorsed the approach. And to them we say, it is your enthusiastic support which has made it possible to survive in a marketplace littered with the bones of many such quixotic endeavors. You have convinced us that our joint cause is worth pursuing. With the continued support of yourself, and many others like you who have yet to discover Atlantis Rising, the Atlantis of all our dreams will, indeed, continue to rise.

J. Douglas Kenyon

Publisher