Edgar Cayce
Circa October 1910
Born	Edgar Cayce (1877-03-18)March 18, 1877 Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Died	January 3, 1945(1945-01-03) (aged 67) Virginia Beach, Virginia
Resting place	Riverside Cemetery, Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Nationality	American
Occupation	Psychic Clairvoyant
Known for	Founder of Association for Research and Enlightenment
Religion	Disciples of Christ
Children	Hugh Lynn (b. 1907) Milton Porter (b. 1911) Edgar Evans (b. 1918)
Parents	Leslie B. Cayce Carrie Cayce
Website
www.edgarcayce.org

Edgar Cayce (/ˈkeɪsiː/; March 18, 1877 – January 3, 1945) was an American psychic who allegedly possessed the ability to answer questions on subjects as varied as healing and wars, and had visions of the world ending.^{[citation needed]} He also gave a reading about Atlantis while in a hypnotic trance. Cayce founded a nonprofit organization, the Association for Research and Enlightenment.^[1] Though Cayce himself was a member of the Disciples of Christ and lived before the emergence of the New Age Movement, some consider him the true founder of the movement and a principal source of its most characteristic beliefs.^[2]

Cayce became a celebrity toward the end of his life, and he believed the publicity given to his prophecies overshadowed the more important parts of his work, such as healing the sick and studying religion. Skeptics^[3] challenge Cayce's alleged psychic abilities and traditional Christians also question his unorthodox answers on religious matters such as reincarnation and Akashic records. However, others accept his abilities as "God-given".

Biography[edit source | editbeta]

Early life[edit source | editbeta]

Edgar Cayce was born on March 18, 1877 near Beverly, Hopkinsville, Kentucky. He was one of six children of farmers Leslie B. Cayce and Carrie Cayce.^[4]

Marriage and family[edit source | editbeta]

Cayce became engaged to Gertrude Evans on March 14, 1897 and they married on June 17, 1903. They had three children: Hugh Lynn Cayce (March 16, 1907 – July 4, 1982), Milton Porter Cayce (March 28, 1911 – May 17, 1911), and Edgar Evans Cayce (February 9, 1918 – February 15, 2013).^[4][5]

1877 to 1912: Kentucky period[edit source | editbeta]

In December 1893 the Cayce family moved to Hopkinsville, Kentucky and occupied 705 West Seventh on the southeast corner of Seventh and Young Streets. During this time Cayce received an eighth-grade education, discovered his spiritual vocation, and^[6] left the family farm to pursue various forms of employment.

Cayce's education stopped in the ninth grade because his family could not afford the costs involved.^[7] A ninth-grade education was often considered more than sufficient for working-class children. Much of the remainder of Cayce's younger years would be characterized by a search for both employment and money.

Throughout his life, Cayce was drawn to church as a member of the Disciples of Christ. He read the Bible once a year every year, taught at Sunday school,^[8] and recruited missionaries. He is said^{[by whom?]} to have agonized over whether his psychic abilities and the resulting teachings were spiritually legitimate.

In 1900, Cayce formed a business partnership with his father to sell Woodmen of the World Insurance; however, in March he was struck by severe laryngitis that resulted in a complete loss of speech.^[7] Unable to work, he lived at home with his parents for almost a year. He then decided to take up the trade of photography, an occupation that would exert less strain on his voice. He began an apprenticeship at the photography studio of W.R. Bowles in Hopkinsville.

In 1901, a traveling stage hypnotist and entertainer named Hart, who referred to himself as "The Laugh Man", was performing at the Hopkinsville Opera House. Hart heard about Cayce's condition and offered to attempt a cure. Cayce accepted his offer and the experiment took place on stage in front of an audience. Cayce's voice allegedly returned while in a hypnotic trance but disappeared on awakening. Hart tried a posthypnotic suggestion that the voice would continue to function after the trance, but this proved unsuccessful.^[9]

Since Hart had appointments at other cities, he could not continue his hypnotic treatment of Cayce. However, a local hypnotist, Al Layne, offered to help Cayce in restoring his voice. Layne suggested that Cayce describe the nature of his condition and cure while in a hypnotic trance.^[9] Cayce described his own ailment from a first person plural point of view, "we" instead of the singular "I".^[9] In subsequent readings he would generally start off with "We have the body". According to the reading, his voice loss was due to psychological paralysis and could be corrected by increasing the blood flow to the voice box. Layne suggested that the blood flow be increased and Cayce's face supposedly became flushed with blood and both his chest and throat turned bright red.^[9] After 20 minutes Cayce, still in a trance, declared the treatment over. On awakening his voice was alleged to have remained normal. Apparently, relapses occurred, but were said to have been corrected by Layne in the same way and eventually the cure was said to be permanent.

Layne had read of similar hypnotic cures by the Marquis de Puységur, a follower of Franz Mesmer, and was keen to explore the limits of the healing knowledge involved with the trance voice.^[10] He asked Cayce to describe Layne's own ailments and suggest cures and reportedly found the results both accurate and effective. Layne suggested that Cayce offer his trance healing to the public. Cayce was reluctant, but he finally agreed on the condition that readings would be free. He began, with Layne's help, to offer free treatments to the townspeople. Reports of Cayce's work appeared in the newspapers, which inspired many postal inquiries.^[10] Cayce was able to work just as effectively using a letter from the individual as with the person present. Given the person's name and location, he said he could diagnose the physical and mental conditions and provide a remedy. Cayce soon became famous and people from around the world sought his advice through correspondence.

1912 to 1925: Selma, Alabama period[edit source | editbeta]

Historic marker in downtown Selma, Alabama, in front of the building in which Cayce lived and worked from 1912 to 1923.

Cayce's work grew in volume as his fame grew. He asked for voluntary donations to support himself and his family so that he could practice full-time. To help raise money he invented "Pit", a card game based on the commodities trading at the Chicago Board of Trade, and the game is still sold today. He continued to work in an apparent trance state with a hypnotist all his life. His wife and eldest son later replaced Layne in this role. A secretary, Gladys Davis, recorded his readings in shorthand.^[10]

The growing fame of Cayce along with the popularity he received from newspapers attracted several eager commercially-minded men who wanted to seek a fortune by using Cayce's clairvoyant abilities. Even though Cayce was reluctant to help them, he was persuaded to give his readings, which left him dissatisfied with himself and unsuccessful. A cotton merchant offered Cayce a hundred dollars a day for his readings about the daily outcomes in the cotton market; however, despite his poor finances, Cayce refused the merchant's offer.^[11] Some wanted to know where to hunt for treasures while others wanted to know the outcome of horse races.^[12] Several times he was persuaded to give such readings as an experiment. However, when he used his ability for such purposes, he did no better than chance alone would dictate. These experiments allegedly left him depleted of energy, distraught, and unsatisfied with himself. Finally, he decided to use his gift only to help the distressed and sick.^[10]

In 1923, Arthur Lammers, a wealthy printer and student of metaphysics, persuaded Cayce to give readings on philosophical subjects.^[13] Cayce was told by Lammers that, while in his supposed trance state, he spoke of Lammers' past lives and of reincarnation, something Lammers believed in. Reincarnation was a popular subject of the day but not an accepted part of Christian doctrine. Because of this, Cayce questioned his stenographer about what he said in his trance state and remained unconvinced. He challenged Lammers' charge that he had validated astrology and reincarnation in the following dialogue:

Cayce: I said all that?... I couldn't have said all that in one reading.

Lammers: No. But you confirmed it. You see, I have been studying metaphysics for years, and I was able by a few questions, by the facts you gave, to check what is right and what is wrong with a whole lot of the stuff I've been reading. The important thing is that the basic system which runs through all the mystery religions, whether they come from Tibet or the pyramids of Egypt, is backed up by you. It's actually the right system.^[14]

Cayce's stenographer recorded the following:

In this we see the plan of development of those individuals set upon this plane, meaning the ability to enter again into the presence of the Creator and become a full part of that creation.

Insofar as this entity is concerned, this is the third appearance on this plane, and before this one, as the monk. We see glimpses in the life of the entity now as were shown in the monk, in this mode of living. The body is only the vehicle ever of that spirit and soul that waft through all times and ever remain the same.

Cayce was quite unconvinced that he had been referring to the doctrine of reincarnation, and the best Lammers could offer was that the reading "opens up the door" and to go on to share his beliefs and knowledge with Cayce.^[15] Lammers had come to him with quite a bit of information of his own to share with Cayce and seemed intent upon convincing Cayce now that he felt the reading had confirmed his strongly-held beliefs.^[16] It should be noted, however, that 12 years earlier Cayce had briefly alluded to reincarnation. In reading 4841-1, given April 22, 1911, Cayce referred to the soul being "transmigrated". Because Cayce's readings were not systematically recorded until 1923, it is possible that he may have mentioned reincarnation in other earlier readings.

Cayce reported that his conscience bothered him severely over this conflict. Ultimately his trance voice, the "we" of the readings, also supposedly dialogued with Cayce and finally persuaded him to continue with these kinds of readings.^[17] In 1925 Cayce reported that his voice had instructed him to move to Virginia Beach, Virginia.^[18]

1925 to 1945: Virginia Beach period[edit source | editbeta]

The Cayce Hospital 2006

Cayce's mature period, in which he created the several institutions that would survive him, can be considered to have started in 1925. By this time he was a professional psychic with a small staff of employees and volunteers.^[19] The readings increasingly came to involve occult or esoteric themes.^[20]

In 1929 the Cayce hospital was established in Virginia Beach, sponsored by a wealthy recipient of the trance readings, Morton Blumenthall. Morton Blumenthall was a wealthy New York stockbroker who had had the most extensive readings with Cayce, some 468. He is said to have made considerable gains through insights into the market at these readings.

Cayce gained national prominence in 1943 after the publication of a high-profile article in the magazine Coronet titled "Miracle Man of Virginia Beach".^[19] He said he could not 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.^[21]

Edgar Cayce suffered a stroke at the age of 67 in 1945 and died on January 3, 1945.^[22] He is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.^[23]

Purported psychic abilities[edit source | editbeta]

Cayce has variously been referred to as a "prophet" (cf. Jess Stearn's book, The Sleeping Prophet), a "mystic" and a "seer". While giving a reading for a seeker he at times referred to consulting the Akashic Record (the etheric imprint) of that soul's experience. The only biography written during Cayce's lifetime was There is a River, by Thomas Joseph Sugrue.

Cayce's methods involved lying down and entering into a sleep state, usually at the request of a subject who was seeking help with health or other personal problems. Subjects would not normally be present, and their questions would be given to Cayce, who would then proceed with a reading. Initial readings dealt primarily with the physical health of the individual; later readings might be given on past lives, business advice, dream interpretation, and mental or spiritual health.

Until September 1923, his readings were not systematically preserved. However, an article published in the Birmingham Post-Herald on October 10, 1922, quotes Cayce as saying that he had given 8,056 readings as of that date and 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, Cayce generally claimed that he did not remember what he had said during the reading. The unconscious mind, according to Cayce, 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 guided the readings.

Cayce said that his trance statements should be taken into account only to the extent that they led to a better life for the recipient. Moreover, he invited his subjects to test his suggestions rather than accept them on faith.

Other abilities that have been 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.^[24]

Supporters[edit source | editbeta]

Cayce's clients included a number of famous people such as Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Edison, Irving Berlin, and George Gershwin.^[25]

Gina Cerminara published books such as Many Mansions and The World Within. Brian Weiss published a bestseller regarding clinical recollection of past lives, Many Lives, Many Masters. These books provide broad support for spiritualism and reincarnation. Many Mansions elaborates on Cayce's work and supports his stated abilities with real life examples.

This is an example from Gina Cerminara:^[26]

Cayce once gave a reading on a blind man, a musician by profession, who regained part of his vision in one eye through following the physical suggestions given by Cayce. This man happened to have a passion for railroads and a tremendous interest in the Civil War. In the life reading Cayce gave, he said that the man had been a soldier in the South, in the army of Lee, and that he had been a railroad man by profession in that incarnation. Then he proceeded to tell him that his name in that life was Barnett Seay, and that the records of Seay could still be found in the state of Virginia. The man took the trouble to hunt for the records and found them in the state capitol at Richmond: that is to say he found the record of one Barnett Seay, standard-bearer in Lee's army who had entered and been discharged from the service in such and such a year.

The Dictionary of American Religious Biography writes about Cayce:^[8]

As a humble individual full of self-doubts, Cayce never profited from his mystic gift. He read the Bible every day, taught Sunday School, and helped others only when asked. Many did ask, and over the years he produced readings that diagnosed health problems, prescribed dietary regimens, dealt with psychic disorders, and predicted future events such as wars, earthquakes, and changes in governments. He spoke, moreover, of reincarnations, the early history of Israel, and the lost civilization of Atlantis. Enough of his diagnoses and predictions proved true to silence many skeptics and to develop a wide following.

Controversy and criticism[edit source | editbeta]

Cayce advocated some controversial and eccentric ideas from his trance readings. In many trance sessions he reinterpreted the history of life on Earth. One of Cayce's controversial claims was that of polygenism. According to Cayce, five human races (white, black, red, brown and yellow) had been created separately but simultaneously on different parts of the Earth. Cayce also accepted the existence of Atlantis and claimed that "the red race developed in Atlantis and its development was rapid". Another claim by Cayce was that "soul-entities" on Earth had intercourse with animals to produce giants that were as much as twelve feet tall.^[27][28]

Olav Hammer wrote that many of Cayce's readings discussed race and skin color and that the explanation for this is that Cayce was not a racist but was influenced by the occult ideas of Madame Blavatsky.^[29] Robert Todd Carroll, in his book The Skeptic's Dictionary wrote, "Cayce is one of the main people responsible for some of the sillier notions about Atlantis." Carroll mentioned some of Cayce's notions, which included his belief in a giant crystal ball used to power energy on Atlantis and his prediction that in 1958 the United States would discover a death ray that had been used on Atlantis.^[30]

Criticism[edit source | editbeta]

Skeptics say that the evidence for Cayce's powers comes from contemporaneous newspaper articles, affidavits, anecdotes, testimonials, and books. Martin Gardner, for example, wrote that while Cayce's trances did happen, most of the information from his trances was derived from books that Cayce had been reading by authors such as Carl Jung, Ouspensky, and Blavatsky. Gardner's hypothesis was that the trance readings of Cayce contain "little bits of information gleaned from here and there in the occult literature, spiced with occasional novelties from Cayce's unconscious".^[31]

Skeptics are also critical of Cayce's support for various forms of alternative medicine, which they regard as quackery.^[32] Michael Shermer writes in Why People Believe Weird Things, "Uneducated beyond the ninth grade, Cayce acquired his broad knowledge through voracious reading and from this he wove elaborate tales."^[33] Shermer wrote that, "Cayce was fantasy-prone from his youth, often talking with angels and receiving visions of his dead grandfather." Shermer further cites James Randi as saying "Cayce was fond of expressions like 'I feel that' and 'perhaps'—qualifying words used to avoid positive declarations."

See also[edit source | editbeta]

• Atlantic University
• New Age Spirituality

References[edit source | editbeta]

Further reading[edit source | editbeta]

• Cayce, Edgar Evans. Edgar Cayce on Atlantis, New York: Hawthorn, 1968, ISBN 0-312-96153-7
• Cerminara, Gina. Many Mansions: The Edgar Cayce Story on Reincarnation. orig. 1950, Signet Book, reissue edition 1990, ISBN 0-451-16817-8
• Kirkpatrick, Sidney D. An American Prophet, Riverhead Books, 2000, ISBN 1-57322-139-2
• Kittler, Glenn D. Edgar Cayce on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Warner Books, 1970, ISBN 0-446-90035-4
• Puryear, Herbert B. The Edgar Cayce Primer: Discovering The Path to Self-Transformation, Bantam Books, New York, Toronto, Copyright © September 1982 by Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc. ISBN 0-553-25278-X
• Stearn, Jess. The Sleeping Prophet, Bantam Books, 1967, ISBN 0-553-26085-5
• Sugrue, Thomas. There Is a River, A.R.E. Press, 1997, ISBN 0-87604-375-9
• Todeschi, Kevin, Edgar Cayce on the Akashic Records, 1998, ISBN 978-0-87604-401-8