Koreshanity is the set of religious pseudoscientific[1] beliefs put forth by Cyrus Teed (also known as Koresh). Followers of this belief were called "Koreshans", and most of them formed a utopian communal society called the Koreshan Unity.
The main beliefs of Koreshanity, or Koreshan Universalogy, are put forth in the many writings of Cyrus Teed and his followers. They are:
The sun is an invisible electromagnetic battery revolving in the universe's center on a 24-year cycle. Our visible sun is only a reflection, as is the moon, with the stars reflecting off seven mercurial discs that float in the sphere's center. Inside the earth there are three separate atmospheres: the first composed of oxygen and nitrogen and closest to the earth; the second, a hydrogen 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.
Teed proposed the creation of a "New Jerusalem" 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, as was Thomas Lake Harris, and these ideas helped craft his own notion of a "new spiritual heaven…called New Jerusalem.".[2] 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.[3]
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 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 tortoises who make their burrows throughout the park.
He adopted the more theologically appropriate name of Koresh and began to attract followers, calling his new religion Koreshanity. The central tenet of Koreshanity was that the earth was hollow, the outside universe nonexistent, and the sun, being at the center of the interior sphere, was an electrically powered device.
