Category Archives: References to James’ work

Recently an esteemed colleague pointed out a video entitled the “The Sumerian Epic (Part Six) ~ The Legend of Mu.”

This version of the “Legend of Mu” does actually include information on and a cartoon of my great grandfather James Churchward. On the other hand, his theories are sandwiched into some Anunnaki timeline thereby invalidating James original premise.

In the original 1926 Lost Continent of Mu Motherland of Men and throughout the other books James wrote – his lost continent of Mu was the original birthplace of mankind. He wrote the people of Mu spent thousands of years developing an advanced civilization until they ventured out to the remainder of the world and established colonies. This video presents a version of the legend of Mu that adds elements to make the original unrecognizable. The creator in the original is the divine intelligence giving each person a spark of the divine. The creator in the video are aliens from outer space who create humans as the slave race. James wrote about his ancient continent with its idyllic civilization as a place where humankind can return. During the Great Depression when it was first written his theory was hope; escapist literature to fend off the worries and sorrows of a bitter existence. How does that fit into the scheme where space aliens are out there and might come back to enslave us all?

Another point creating negative vibes was the attack on established science as though years of study training and experience made people stupid. It is a tool James used as well – anyone with a different opinion was just uninformed, because he was the real expert. This tactic should immediately raise alarms as to whether they are leaving out some important details. To provide a balanced presentation, do they discuss other interpretations of Ashurbanipal’s tablets? Show physical evidence not otherwise explained of the facilities used by the space aliens? (Certainly, if they could fly here from planet Marduk something would remain.)

In addition to leaving out information to make their theories sound credible, the video also introduces deceptions – such as using cartoons figures to gloss over important details and a Mayan pyramid is shown ‘underwater’ supposedly standing in for the Yonaguni, Okinawa feature.

I could go on and on pointing out all the nonsense in the video but is it worth the time? I could show how the translation of the Sumerian tablets they use is not generally accepted and that James referenced the generally accepted translation. I could point out the deviations in James’ theories they use to make the content easier to digest, but will it change anyone’s mind?

I am for free speech and these folks profiting from posting fraudulent videos about my great-grandfather James is none of my concern. My commentary should be none of their concern either.

J. Churchward

In the first part I had only witnessed the back cover of Children of the Rainbow: The Religion, Legends and Gods of Pre-Christian Hawaii. The mention of “legends and myths concerning the people of the Mu” could fill in some of the many blanks in my research about the life and theories of James Churchward.

After ordering the book, I didn’t have to read very far to realize “the Mu” did not exactly equate to my great grandfather’s theory, which may be a good thing. However, the author’s judgmental tone soon reminded me of my great grandfather. In a funny twist, the author uses some of the very literary techniques James used copiously in his works. In dismissing accredited experts, Melville rejects non-native scholarship on the subject and James does the same thing on many topics, rejecting even native research where it disagrees with his theories.

Another point of agreement between the authors is the Mu brought civilization to the world and that is where the similarity stops. Churchward wrote there were millions of full-sized people living on the now sunken continent of Mu. Melville describes them as the original inhabitants of Hawaii and they were little people. (Susan Martinez in The Lost History of the Little People says all the Hawaiian folklore calls the little people the “menehune” and her little people also brought civilization to the world.)

One point the author makes concerning non-native scholarship is the change in words that used to begin with T to now be spelled beginning with K. For instance, instead of calling a well-respected, educated individual in Hawaiian society a Kahuna; Melville spells it Tahuna and the individual is a “doer.” I found nothing to indicate spellings actually changed anywhere else. Could be part of a new movement (back in the 70s.)

At some point, you have to put the book down and look for something to corroborate what you’re reading. For example, do the names of the gods mentioned match any of the Hawaiian gods mentioned in other literature on the subject (noting the possible swapping of “K”s)?

In reading the obviously non-native information on Hawaiian religion in Wikipedia I came across the following sentence:

Traditional Hawaiian religion is unrelated to the modern New Age practice known as Huna.

and

In the 1930s, non-Hawaiian author Max Freedom Long created a philosophy and practice he called “Huna”. While Long and his successors have misrepresented this invention as a type of ancient, Hawaiian occultism, it is actually a New Age product of cultural misappropriation and fantasy, and not representative of traditional Hawaiian religion.

Digging a little deeper, I found Children of the Rainbow listed on website espousing the practice of Huna. Maybe the folks are in error by including the book, but it reads like a New Age religion and it is published by The Theosophical Publishing House. They are also responsible for publishing the Book of Dyzan, purportedly an ancient Tibetan text. Just like the Naacal Tablets, the Book of Dyzan was never seen by anyone else and is widely accepted as a hoax.

To further research the Children of the Rainbow, a detailed comparison of the ideas in the book against those of Huna, the creation of Max Freedom Long, would be required to ascertain if it is indeed a “Huna book.” Max Long started writing his twelve or so books in the 1930s and fit right in with other New Age authors. I will leave this task to others as the answer is of no interest to my research. Just like other authors who borrowed the name, the Children of the Rainbow bears very little resemblance to my great-grandfather’s theories (even though others think readers of James Churchward’s works will find it familiar.)