Cyrus Teed
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
eclectic physician
Eclectic medicine
Eclectic medicine was a branch of American medicine which made use of botanical remedies along with other substances and physical therapy practices, popular in the latter half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries....
and alchemist
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
turned religious leader and messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
. In 1869, claiming divine inspiration, Dr. Teed took on the name Koresh and proposed a new set of scientific and religious ideas he called Koreshanity
Koreshanity
Not to be confused with the teachings of David KoreshKoreshanity is the set of religious/scientific beliefs put forth by Cyrus Teed...
, including a unique Hollow Earth theory that posits the Earth and sky exist inside the inner surface of a sphere. In the 1870s, he founded in New York the Koreshan Unity
Koreshan Unity
The Koreshan Unity was a communal utopia formed by Cyrus Teed, who took the name "Koresh", the Hebrew version of his name Cyrus . The Koreshans followed Teed's beliefs, called Koreshanity....
, a commune based around his teachings that moved in 1894 to the small Florida town of Estero
Estero, Florida
Estero is a census-designated place in Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the CDP population was 18,176. It is the home of Germain Arena, which hosts the home games for the Florida Everblades ECHL hockey team and the Florida Firecats af2 arena football team...
. After a peak at 250 residents in 1903–1908, the group went into decline after his death and disappeared in 1961, leaving the Koreshan State Historic Site
Koreshan State Historic Site
The Koreshan State Historic Site is a state park in Lee County, Florida located on U.S. Highway 41 at Corkscrew Road. It was also added to the National Register of Historic Places...
behind.
Biography
As a young physician, Teed was always interested in unconventional experiments, such as alchemyAlchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
, often involving dangerously high levels of electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
. In the autumn of 1869, during an experiment he was badly shocked, and passed out. During his period of unconsciousness, Teed believed he was visited by a divine spirit who told him that he was the messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
. Inspired, once he awoke Teed vowed to apply his scientific knowledge to "redeem humanity." He promptly changed his first name to "Koresh," the Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
word for Cyrus.
He denounced the idea that the Earth revolved around the sun and instead pioneered his own theory of the Universe, known as the Cellular Cosmogony. According to this theory, human beings live on the inside of the planet, not the outside. Gravity thus does not exist, and humans are held in place due to centrifugal force
Centrifugal force
Centrifugal force can generally be any force directed outward relative to some origin. More particularly, in classical mechanics, the centrifugal force is an outward force which arises when describing the motion of objects in a rotating reference frame...
. The sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
is a giant battery-operated contraption, and the stars mere refractions of its light.
Teed's ideas, called Koreshanity
Koreshanity
Not to be confused with the teachings of David KoreshKoreshanity is the set of religious/scientific beliefs put forth by Cyrus Teed...
caught on with others. Koreshanity preached cellular cosmogony, alchemy, reincarnation, immortality, celibacy, communism, and a few other radical ideas. Teed started preaching Koreshanity in the 1870s in New York, forming the Koreshan Unity
Koreshan Unity
The Koreshan Unity was a communal utopia formed by Cyrus Teed, who took the name "Koresh", the Hebrew version of his name Cyrus . The Koreshans followed Teed's beliefs, called Koreshanity....
, later moving to Chicago. Teed's followers formed a commune in Chicago in 1888. Some followers also formed a short-lived community in San Francisco (1891-2). Small church groups existed in other towns.
Eventually, Teed took his followers to a small Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
town named Estero
Estero, Florida
Estero is a census-designated place in Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the CDP population was 18,176. It is the home of Germain Arena, which hosts the home games for the Florida Everblades ECHL hockey team and the Florida Firecats af2 arena football team...
, to form his "New Jerusalem" in 1894. The 'golden age' for this community was 1903-1908, when they had over 250 residents and incorporated Estero. They built extensively, establishing a bakery, printing house (publishing their newspaper and other publications), their "World College of Life", a general store, concrete works, power plant (that supplied power to the surrounding area years before it was available elsewhere in the region) and more. The colony was extensively landscaped with exotic tropical plantings. They tried to run several candidates for county government against the local Democratic Party but were never successful. Teed died in 1908. He was involved in an altercation between Fort Myers men and members of the Unity. Teed was severely pistol whipped by Marshal Sanchez, suffering injuries from which he never recovered, dying two years later. After his death the group went into decline.
The last remaining follower, Hedwig Michel, deeded the colony to the State of Florida in 1961. It is now the Koreshan State Historic Site
Koreshan State Historic Site
The Koreshan State Historic Site is a state park in Lee County, Florida located on U.S. Highway 41 at Corkscrew Road. It was also added to the National Register of Historic Places...
.
Cyrus Teed's son, Douglas Arthur Teed
Douglas Arthur Teed
Douglas Arthur Teed was an American painter. He was the only son of the founder of Estero, FL and self-proclaimed messiah, Dr. Cyrus Teed.- Early Life with Cyrus Teed :...
, was an American Impressionist
American Impressionism
Impressionism, a style of painting characterized by loose brushwork and vivid colors, was practiced widely among American artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.-An emerging artistic style from Paris:...
painter.
Further reading
- Kossy, Donna. "Dr. Cyrus Teed" in Kooks: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief, Los Angeles: Feral HouseFeral HouseFeral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden"....
, 2001 (2nd ed. exp. from 1994), ISBN 978-0-922915-67-5
External links
- Koreshan State Historic Site, official web page.
- Unofficial Koreshan State Historic Site, unofficial web page.
- American Communal Utopias and The Koreshan Unity: A Bibliography Brief overview and great bibliography of works, if slightly dated.
- Turning the Universe Inside-Out: Ulysses Grant Morrow's Naples Experiment Examination of the Naples Experiment, and why it failed.
- The Startling Testimony of Plumb-Lines Earlier experiments of Ulysses Grant Morrow
- Catherine A. Anthony Ohnemus- Dr. Cyrus Teed and the Koreshan Unity Movement
- Biography of Cyrus Reed Teed