Edgar Cayce

Edgar Cayce (b. ✦March 18, 1877 - †January 3, 1945) was an American who claimed to be a psychic with the ability to channel answers to questions on subjects such as health or Atlantis while in a self-induced trance. Though Cayce considered himself a devout Christian and lived before the emergence of the New Age Movement, some believe he was the founder of the movement and influenced its teachings.

Cayce became a celebrity toward the end of his life and the publicity given to his prophecies has overshadowed what to him were usually considered the more important parts of his work, such as healing (the vast majority of his readings were given for people who were sick) and theology (Cayce was a lifelong, devout member of the Disciples of Christ). Skeptics challenge the statement that Cayce demonstrated psychic abilities, and traditional Christians also question his unorthodox answers on religious matters (such as reincarnation and Akashic records).

Today there are thousands of Cayce students and more than 300 books written about Edgar Cayce. Members of Cayce's organization, the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) exist worldwide and Edgar Cayce Centers are found in more than 35 countries

1925 to 1945-the Virginia Beach period

Cayce's mature period, during which he created several institutions that would survive him in some form, can be considered to have started in 1925. By this time, he was a professional psychic with a small staff of employees and volunteers. The "readings" increasingly involved occult or esoteric themes.

In 1929, Morton Blumenthal, a wealthy recipient of the trance readings, sponsored the establishment of the Cayce Hospital in Virginia Beach.

Cayce gained national prominence in 1943 through a high-profile article in Coronet titled "Miracle Man of Virginia Beach." He said he couldn't refuse people who felt they needed his help, and he increased the frequency of his readings to eight per day to try to make an impression on the ever-growing pile of requests. He said this took a toll on his health as it was emotionally draining and often fatigued him. He even went so far as to say that the readings themselves scolded him for attempting too much and that he should limit his workload to just two readings a day or else they would kill him.

Edgar Cayce suffered from a stroke and died on January 3, 1945. He is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

Psychic abilities

Edgar Cayce has been called a "prophet" (cf. Jess Stearn's book The Sleeping Prophet), a "mystic," a "seer," and a "clairvoyant."

Cayce's methods involved lying down and entering what seemed to be a trance or sleep state, typically at the request of a subject seeking help with health or other personal issues (subjects were usually not present). The subject's questions would then be presented to Cayce, who would proceed with a reading. Initially, these readings focused mainly on the physical health of the individual (physical readings); later readings also covered past lives, business advice, dream interpretation, and mental or spiritual health.

They were not systematically preserved until September 1923. However, on October 10, 1922, a Birmingham (Alabama) Age-Herald article quoted Cayce as saying that he had given 8,056 readings as of that date. It is known that he gave approximately 13,000-14,000 readings after that date. Today, only about 14,000 are available at Cayce headquarters and online. Thus, it appears that about 7,000-8,000 Cayce readings are missing.

When out of the trance, he entered to perform a reading. Cayce said he generally did not remember what he had said during the reading. According to Cayce, the unconscious mind has access to information that the conscious mind does not - a common assumption about hypnosis in Cayce's time. After Gladys Davis became Cayce's secretary on September 10, 1923, all readings were preserved, and his wife, Gertrude Evans Cayce, generally conducted (guided) the readings.

Cayce said that his trance statements should be considered only if they improved the recipient's life. He also invited his audience to test his suggestions rather than accept them on faith.

Other abilities attributed to Cayce include astral projection, prophesying, mediumship, viewing the Akashic Records or "Book of Life," and seeing auras. Cayce said he became interested in learning more about these subjects after he was informed about the content of his readings, which he reported that he never actually heard himself.

Major themes

The health readings are most numerous and involve many alternative health concepts and practices. Cayce described his work as Christian service. People with esoteric interests have focused on a somewhat different set of topics.

• Origin and destiny of humanity: "All souls were created in the beginning and are finding their way back to where they originated." [Reading 3744-5] The Cayce readings can be understood as suggesting that human souls were created with an awareness of their unity with God. Some "fell" from this state, while others, guided by the soul of Jesus, chose to save them. The Earth, with all its limitations, was formed as a fitting environment for spiritual growth. It can also be interpreted to mean that all beings are born and will ultimately die.

• Reincarnation: Cayce's work teaches that reincarnation and karma are realities, functioning as instruments of a loving God rather than merely blind natural laws. Their purpose is to impart specific spiritual lessons. Animals have undifferentiated "group" souls instead of individuality and consciousness. Humans have never incarnated as animals. He describes a complex design established between souls and God to "meet the needs of existing conditions," referencing souls entangled in the Earth's physical materiality, which was not intended to be a habitat for the soul. In "There Is A River," a biography of Cayce by Thomas Sugrue, we learn that spirit "thought-forms" lingered nearby and guided the anthropoid ape selected as the ideal vehicle for creating the human physical race, influencing their separate evolution into the Homo sapiens species. In reading (3744-5), Cayce states, "Man did NOT descend from the monkey, but man has evolved, resuscitation, you see, from time to time, here a little, there a little, line upon line and line and line upon line." Cayce's perspective arguably aligns with and parallels Theosophical teachings on spiritual evolution.

• Astrology: Cayce believes in astrology based on the idea that our souls spend time on other planets (or possibly their spiritual counterparts) between incarnations. The positions of the planets at birth capture these influences.

• Universal laws: Souls incarnated on the Earth are subject to certain spiritual laws such as, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap" (karma) or "As ye judge (others), so shall ye be judged." In Cayce's belief system, such "laws" represent an aspect of "God's mercy", whereby no matter what our circumstances, "He" has promised to guide us in our spiritual path.. Cayce said that when you view it from the highest dimension, there is no time and no space, nor any future or past, and that it is all happening in one fascinating expression and that time is an illusion that has a purpose.

• Unknown Life of Jesus: Cayce presented narratives of Jesus' previous incarnations, including a mysterious Atlantean figure called "Amilius" as well as the more familiar biblical figures of Adam, Enoch, Melchizedek, Joshua, Asaph, and Jeshua. Cayce describes Jesus as an Essene who traveled to India in his youth in order to study Eastern religions, more specifically astrology.

• Jesus and Christ: Following New Thought precedent, Cayce distinguishes between Jesus and Christhood. Briefly, Jesus was a soul like us who reincarnated through many lifetimes. "Christhood" is something he was the first to allow to be "manifest" through his material life, and it is something which we also ought to aspire towards. Cayce accordingly calls Jesus our "elder brother" and frequently makes reference to the way of the "lowly Nazarene."

• Ideals: Cayce repeatedly stresses choosing an ideal as the foundation of the spiritual path. "And O that all would realize... that what we are... is the result of what we have done about the ideals we have set" (1549-1). We may choose any ideal we feel drawn to. As we attempt to apply it in our lives, God will guide us further, perhaps inspiring us to revise our choice of ideal. The highest ideal, says Cayce, is Christ; however, the readings recognize "the Christ spirit" in some form as the basis for religions other than Christianity.

• Body, Mind, Spirit: Cayce often invokes these three terms, or their equivalents, to describe the human condition: "Spirit is the life. Mind is the builder. Physical is the result." (This is a conflation of various readings.) The concept applies not only to holistic health but also to spiritual life.

• Meditation: While Cayce sometimes described particular meditation techniques of sitting or chanting "Arrr--eee-oommm" the crucial element, he believed, was opening up to divine influences. The Search For God book says that "Through prayer, we speak to God. In meditation, God speaks to us." Cayce's concept of meditation has some aspects in common with Hinduism or Buddhism (the chakras, kundalini) but is most similar to Christian versions of New Thought. He says the Book of Revelation's symbolism is based on meditative experiences.

• Extra-sensory perception: Cayce accepted psychic experiences and ESP as a natural by-product of soul growth. God may speak to us through dreams (many readings consist of dream interpretation), or through intuitions similar to the pangs of conscience. However, Cayce did not endorse Spiritualism or mediumship on the grounds that supposed entities thus contacted are not necessarily particularly lofty. Instead, he encouraged seekers to focus on Christ.

• Atlantis: The Cayce readings spoke of the existence of Atlantis, a legendary continent with advanced technology whose refugees peopled ancient Egypt as well as pre-Columbian America. Cayce's description of Atlantis has much in common with that of Ignatius L. Donnelly. According to Cayce, Atlantean society was divided into two long-lived political factions-a "good" faction called the "Sons of the Law of One," and an "evil" faction called the "Sons of Belial." Many people alive today are the reincarnations of Atlantean souls, he believed, who must now face similar temptations as before. It is said Atlantis suffered three major destructions, one of which was the deluge. According to the readings, a major source of turmoil was the Sons of Belial's desire to exploit the Things, sub-humans with animal appendages and low intelligence, and the movements to protect and evolve them by the Sons of the Law of One. The final destruction was the overcharging of the crystal which caused a massive explosion.

• Egypt: Next to biblical times, the most significant era for the "life readings" was a pre-dynastic Egyptian civilization consisting of Atlantean refugees. Cayce purported to have been an Egyptian priest named "Ra Ta" who built a spiritually-based healing center (the "Temple of Sacrifice") and educational institution (the "Temple Beautiful"). His diagnostic readings and narratives about the past and future were supposed to be a continuation of his ancient work. This civilization also built monuments on the Giza plateau, including the Great Pyramid, and left records of Atlantis in a "hall of records" located under the right paw of the Great Sphinx of Giza. These readings bear a close resemblance to books by AMORC founder H. Spencer Lewis.

• Earth Changes: Cayce coined the term Earth Changes (later widely used in New Age writings) to refer to a series of cataclysmic events he prophesied would occur in future decades. These included the Earth shifting on its axis and most of California dropping into the Pacific Ocean following a catastrophic earthquake.

• Cayce "cures": Cayce's medical readings typically prescribe poultices (often of castor oil), osteopathic adjustments, colonic irrigation, massage (often with peanut oil), prayer, folk remedies (e.g. charcoal tablets), various forms of electric medicine, and patent medicines (such as Atomidine), and specific recommendations concerning diet and exercise. Cayce is often seen as a practitioner of holistic medicine and has particularly strong philosophical ties with naturopathy.

• "Cayce diet": Major dietary recommendations include the avoidance of red meat, alcohol (except red wine), white bread, and fried foods; a preference for fruits and above-ground, leafy vegetables over starches; and a high ratio (80:20%) of alkaline foods over acidic. One meal per day should consist entirely of raw vegetables. Under strict circumstances, Cayce advocated both coffee and pure tobacco cigarettes to be non-harmful to health. "Food combining" was also a central idea in the Cayce diet. According to Cayce, several food combinations that are contraindicated are coffee with milk or sugar, citrus fruit with starchy foods, and high protein foods with starches. Cayce himself followed very few of the dietary recommendations that were suggested by the readings. According to Cayce, two or three almonds (see Amygdalin) a day keep cancer away.

• Dream interpretation: Cayce was one of the early dream interpreters who contradicted Freudian views by saying that dreams can be of many different kinds (including sexual) with many levels of meaning; that lack of interest is the reason for poor dream recall; that only the dreamer knows the meaning of his dream; and that a dream is correctly interpreted when it makes sense to the dreamer, when it checks out with his other dreams, and when it moves him forward in his life.

More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Edgar_Cayce ]

A Personal Note from Robin

Why is this article here?? It is an excerpt from the Wikipedia article about Cayce, with only sections/segments entered here.

During the 1930s and '40s, Cayce lived in Virginia Beach, Va. According to my mother and grandmother, Cayce and my grandfather (William "Cap'n Billy" Smith) were very good friends. Cayce and "Cap'n Billy" spent many evenings sitting on the porch of the Smith's Virginia Beach house.

Cayce died in 1945, and I am told Cap'n Billy attended Cayce's funeral.

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