Alper, Frank (1930-)

Frank Alper, Spiritualist channel and founder of the Arizona Metaphysical Society, was born on January 22, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York. Alper moved to Phoenix in 1970. He founded the society three years later, and in 1979 he aligned the society with the Church of Tzaddi, a Spiritualist denomination headquartered in Boulder, Colorado.

Alper first emerged as a channel in 1975 and has subsequently channeled many volumes of material from "Moses" and "the Christos." However, he is most known for the three volumes he channeled and published in 1982 as Exploring Atlantis. According to Alper, one of the masters who periodically spoke through him requested that he channel several sessions on Atlantis. The several entities channeled during these sessions claimed to have lived there. According to Alper's volumes, the Atlanteans were extraterrestrials. When their planet became uninhabitable, they used their advanced technology to come to Earth. They settled in Atlantis, but their island kingdom was destroyed by a natural catastrophe following the tilting of the Earth's axis.

While Exploring Atlantis provided some interesting development of thought about the ancient continent, the volumes especially developed a new occult perspective on crystals. Alper described Atlantis as a crystal-oriented culture that relied on a power system based on natural symmetrical—flawless—crystals said to concentrate massive amounts of energy. While these crystals could absorb and store electrical energy to be used at a later date, they were most useful in storing universal energy to be used for healing. Crystals of different shapes and colors have different healing uses. During the 1980s crystal power became the subject of numerous books and the starting point of a debate on the power-storing capacity of crystals. Through the early 1990s, the emphasis within the New Age community on crystals has considerably waned in the face of a strong critique of Alper's theories.

Sources:

Alper, Frank. Exploring Atlantis. 3 vols. Farmington, N.Y.: Coleman Publishing, 1982.

Webster, Sam. "Dr. Frank Alper: Interview with a Metaphysician." Whole Life Monthly (March 1987): 20-22.