The Akasha is said to be the library of all events in all realities—past, present and future. It is a theosophical term referring to an universal filing system which records every occurring thought, word, and action. The records are impressed on a subtle substance called akasha (or Soniferous Ether).

              In the Bible, it is referred to as The Book of Life.

              Akasha is a Sanskrit word meaning "sky", "space" or "aether".

              In Hindu mysticism this akasha is thought to be the primary principle of nature from which the other four natural principles, fire, air, earth, and water, are created. These five principles also represent the five senses of the human being.

The plane of the Akasha is in a higher, non-physical level of existence than is the Astral, which also contains records of events and is almost physical. Many readers claim to be reading the Akashic Records when they are merely reading Astral images which are subjective and changeable.

A legitimate and accomplished Akashic reader, as many say Edgar Cayce was, gives reports that are absolutely correct and clear and not accounts of probability.

in New Age discourse. The Akashic Records are understood to have existed since the beginning of Time and even before. Just as we have various specialty libraries (e.g., medical, law), there are said to exist various Akashic Records (e.g., human, animal, plant, mineral, etc) encoding Universal data. Most writings refer to the Akashic Records in the area of human experience but it is understood that all phenomenal experience as well as transcendental knowledge is encoded there.

Some indicate the Akashic Records are similar to a Cosmic or collective consciousness. The records have been referred to by different names including the Cosmic Mind, the Universal Mind, the collective unconscious, or the collective subconscious. Others think the Akashic Records make clairvoyance and psychic perception possible.

It is believed by some that the events recorded upon that akasha can be ascertained or read in certain states of consciousness. Such states of consciousness can be induced by certain stages of sleep, weakness, illness, drugs, and meditation so not only mystics but ordinary people can and do perceive the akashic records. Yogis also believe that these records can be perceived in certain psychic states.

Certain persons in subconscious states do read the akashic records. An explanation for this phenomena is that the akashic records are the macrocosm of the individual subconscious mind. Both function similarly, they possess thoughts which are never forgotten. The collective subconscious gathers all thoughts from each subconscious mind which can be read by other subconscious minds.

An example of one who many claimed successfully read the akashic records is the late American mystic Edgar Cayce. Cayce did his readings in a sleep state or trance. Cayce's method was described by Dr. Wesley H. Ketchum who for several years used Cayce as an adjunct for his medical practice. "Cayce's subconscious...is in direct communication with all other subconscious minds, and is capable of interpreting through his objective mind and imparting impressions received to other objective minds, gathering in this way all knowledge possessed by endless millions of other subconscious minds." Apparently Cayce was interpreting the collective subconscious mind long before the psychiatrist C.J. Jung invented the concept.

This awareness indicates that the Akasha is essentially spirit. It is the spirit record of all existence—past, present and future. It embraces the future because it is truly spiritual, greater than space and time.

The Akashic Records are not written accounts in some large brick building like a court house, as was described in the Edgar Cayce readings, although, for Edgar Cayce, this was the way he perceived this. It was partly for his own benefit that he perceived it in this manner. The imaging of one walking into a large building like a court house and going through the records there to read about something, was merely a convenience for his own imaging process.