The Edgar Cayce Companion: A Comprehensive Treatise of the Edgar Cayce Readings

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The only son in a family of five children, Edgar Cayce was born on a farm near Hopkinsville, Kentucky, on March 18, 1877.

Signs of his psychic sensitivities were evident as a child. He often reported seeing and conversing with his deceased grandfather and invisible playmates. Later he described some of these early experiences: "When I was possibly eighteen or twenty months old, I had a playhouse in the back of an old garden, among the honeysuckle and other flowers. One afternoon my mother came down the garden walk calling me. My playmate (who appeared to me to be about the same size as myself) was with me. It never occurred to me that he was not real, or that he wasn't one of the neighbors' children, until my mother spoke and asked me my playmate's name. I turned to ask him but he disappeared.

"A few years afterward (when I had grown to be six or seven years old) our home was in a little wood. Here I learned to talk with the trees or it appeared that they talked with me. It was there that I read the Bible through the first time, that I learned to pray, that I had many visions and experiences; not only of visioning the elves but what seemed to me to be the hosts that must have appeared to the people of old, as recorded in Genesis particularly. To describe these elves of the trees, the fairies of the woods, or - to me - the angels or hosts, with all their beautiful and glorious surroundings would be almost a sacrilege."

It was also there in the woods that he visioned an angelic lady, who asked him what he would like most of all, and his reply was, "To be helpful to others, and especially to children when they are sick." Using an unusual gift that he was soon to discover, Edgar Cayce devoted most of his life to the fulfillment of this childhood desire.

In school he was a poor student, until one evening, after wrestling with a spelling lesson and receiving many rebuffs from his father for stupidity, he got the idea that a short sleep would be helpful. After his father consented to this unexpected request, he said, "I closed the book, and leaning on the back of the chair went to sleep. At the end of five minutes I handed my father the book. I not only knew my lesson, but I could then spell any word in the book; not only spell the words but could tell on what page and what line the word would be found. From that day on I had little trouble in school, for I would read my lesson, sleep on it a few minutes, and then be able to repeat every word of it."

However, it was not until 1901, when Edgar Cayce was twenty-four that his fuller psychic potential was discovered. For no apparent reason he had lost his voice and could scarcely speak above a whisper for at least one year. Even attempts to obtain a cure through hypnosis failed because he would not respond to post-hypnotic suggestion. Edgar felt the same condition taking place when hypnotized as he did when putting himself to sleep, so a noted New York hypnotist suggested that maybe Edgar could talk about his own case while asleep.

So, on March 31, 1901, Edgar Cayce, in a self-induced state of unconsciousness was given a suggestion, by a local hypnotist, to see his body and describe the trouble in his throat. His response was, "Yes, we see the body. In the normal physical state this body is unable to speak, due to a partial paralysis of the inferior muscles of the vocal cords, produced by nerve strain. This is a psychological condition producing a physical effect. This may be removed by increasing the circulation to the affected parts by suggestion while in this unconscious state."

The indicated suggestion was given, and blood could be seen rushing to his throat. When awake, his voice had returned. This unconscious diagnosis was Cayce's very first reading. The very next day, using the hypnotist as a test case, Cayce demonstrated that he could also correctly diagnose other people.

Cayce had previously chosen photography as a vocation because it seemed compatible with his vocal handicap. In 1935, he recalled, "I finally selected photography as a life work and gave only my spare time and evenings to the increasing number of requests for readings. It was only when I began to come in contact with those who received help from following the suggestions given in the readings that I began to realize the true nature of the work which lay before me."

However, it was not until the readings saved his wife's life and his son's eyesight that he decided to use his gift full-time to diagnose illnesses. Treatments, usually involving diet, eliminations and exercise, were given to improve the over-all health of the patient, although sometimes the instructions were as surprising as the cure was dramatic.

He was initially fearful that these 'physical' readings might prove harmful, so the policy of recording all the readings for the benefit of the patient and the attending physician was initiated.

In 1923, a wealthy printer from Ohio eagerly suggested that the sleeping Cayce expand his readings to include virtually any topic, such as, the meaning and purpose of life, philosophy, psychic phenomena, astrology, and Biblical history. Intrigued by the prospect of answering questions on such universal topics, Cayce agreed to try.

The experiment was a surprising success, although the sleeping Cayce introduced subjects that were completely alien to his fundamentalist Christian beliefs. However, in time, even the theory of reincarnation became an integral part of his own thinking. In his own words, "I certainly believe that the information contained in hundreds of readings in our files helps clarify and explain the Bible for me."

Where did the unconscious Cayce get his information? He suggested that, "There would seem to be not only one, but several sources of information that I tap when in this sleeping condition.

"One source is, apparently, the record that an individual or entity makes in all its expressions through what we call time. The sum-total of that soul is written, so to speak in the subconscious of the individual as well as in what is known as the Akashic records. Anyone may read these records if they can attune themselves properly.

"Some people think the information coming through me is given by some departed personality who wants to communicate with them, or some benevolent spirit or physician from the other side. This may sometimes be the case, though in general I am not a medium in that sense of the term. However, if a person comes seeking that kind of contact and information, I believe he receives it."

In a lecture given by Cayce in 1933, he alludes to the Book of Life, or the Akashic Record, as the readings call it. "I would like to give an experience which I have had at infrequent intervals for many years, during the time when I am in the unconscious (so-called) or superconscious state. The experience has come eight or ten times while giving life readings for individuals. I remember nothing of the reading, but have a very vivid impression of the following. This may help you to understand your own experiences.

"I knew my spirit, mind or soul was separated from my body and that it was seeking information for another. I passed into outer darkness, so dark that it actually hurt - yet there was a stream of light that I knew I must follow, and nothing on either side of the light must detract from my purpose to receive for that other what it was seeking in the way of aid for itself.

"As I passed along the line of light I became conscious of forms of movement crowding toward the light. Coming to the next plane (if we choose to call it such), I realized that the forms of movement or figures were taking shape as humans . . . rather the exaggeration of human desires. Passing a little farther, these forms were gradually lost; still I had the consciousness that they were seeking the light - or more light. Then the figures gradually took form, continually coming toward the light.

"Finally I passed through a place where individuals appeared much as they do today - men and women - but satisfied with their position. The number of individuals in this state of satisfaction continued to grow, and then there were homes and cities where they were content to continue as they were.

"Still following the light, which grew stronger and stronger, I heard music in the beyond. Then there came a space where all was springtime, all was a-blossom, all was summer. Some were happy, some desired to remain, but many were pressing on and on to the place where there might be greater understanding, more light, more to be gained. Then I reached a place where I was seeking the records of the lives of people that lived in the earth.

"Don't ever think that your life isn't written in the Book of Life! I found it! I have seen it! It is being written; YOU are the writer!"

The readings typically describe the source of information as: "In this state the conscious mind becomes subjugated to the subconscious, superconscious or soul mind; and may and does communicate with like minds, and the subconscious or soul becomes universal. From any subconscious mind information may be obtained."

In his global predictions, Cayce foresaw the end of Russian Communism as we knew it. In 1932, he stated that "changes are coming, this may be sure - an evolution, or revolution, in the ideas of religious thought. The basis of it for the world will eventually come out of Russia; not Communism, no! - but rather that which is the basis of same, as Christ taught - His kind of Communism."

In 1943, Cayce predicted that serious international disputes, due to religious and economic differences, would eventually arise. Apparently, the increased economic interdependence, that is taking place, will be aggravated by the lack of a stable international currency, to such a degree, that "there may indeed be another war over just such conditions."

Frequently while in trance, Cayce spoke in other languages, and on one occasion a Greek scholar asked him to speak in Greek; he broke out in Homeric Greek, as if he were living in that period.

Even in the waking state, there seemed to be no limit to his clairvoyant and psychic powers. His ability to see and read auras made him keenly aware of people's emotional state and health.

On more than one occasion, he reluctantly used his telepathic powers to demonstrate the awesome potential power of the mind to direct and influence the actions of other people without their knowledge. He didn't continue such mental exercises because he thought it was wrong and dangerous. His clairvoyance interfered with his total enjoyment of card games. If he made a concentrated effort, no card in the deck was hidden from him. Asleep or awake, very little seemed hidden from him, as he demonstrated by reading someone else's mail while asleep, or by writing down the correct combination to a bank safe in the presence of the stunned banker.

Many humorous incidents and spectacular cures are contained in several fascinating biographies of his life; in fact, the University of Chicago accepted a Ph.D thesis based on his life and work.

His life was not easy; there were times when he was faced with the laughter of ignorant crowds, the scorn of tabloid headlines, the cold smirks of self-satisfied intellectuals, the anger of accusing doctors, and the indifference of greedy businessmen who wanted to exploit the readings.

Cayce charged very little for his readings because of his sincere desire to help the needy and the suffering. Consequently, the Cayces were desperately poor at times, but this did not sway him to accept offers of fame and fortune, by those who wanted to commercialize the readings.

In most cases Cayce never met the recipients of readings who were usually hundreds of miles away. His wife, Gertrude, would suggest to the sleeping Cayce to direct his mind to the recipient of the reading and after he replied "Yes, we have the body," she would ask the questions. Cayce's delivery seemed effortless even though trance readings are energy depleting. His lifelong secretary, Gladys Davis Turner, recorded everything in shorthand.

By 1943 the demand for readings was mounting so he unselfishly gave four to six readings a day, instead of the usual two. In August, 1944, suffering from over exertion and edema of the lungs, he collapsed, and the following month had a stroke. His last reading given for himself, was not followed by the doctors in charge and so on January 3, 1945, Edgar Cayce's soul was freed to continue its celestial journey.