Esoteric Aspects of Edgar Cayce's Life
Some of Edgar Cayce's psychic (channeled) readings diagnosed and prescribed for people's physical ailments and disturbances. These were described by Thomas Sugrue in There Is A River (1942) as presenting "cases, hundreds and hundreds of them, wherein the treatments have been faithfully followed, and the predicted results have been achieved."
When information that was sought wasn't successfully forthcoming (such as locations for lost treasure or oil wells), Cayce and his associates were baffled. These circumstances are chronicled in the book The Outer Limits of Edgar Cayce's Power (1971) by Edgar's sons Edgar Evans Cayce and Hugh Lynn Cayce.
One chapter, "Readings for the Dead," shows that there were responses given during readings about cases where an individual had already made the transition to the afterlife yet, as explained in one reading (534-2 of April 20, 1934): ". . . there must be presented that which would be of interest on such a condition. And, as indicated by that given, the condition—rather than the individual—was given as a basis for scientific or other experimentation."
Some of the biographies about Edgar Cayce present authors' impressions of conversations between him and his acquaintances in a novel style so readers should be aware of the imprecise aspects of these endeavors. Cayce biographer Thomas Sugrue became a close friend of Edgar and his family. Sugrue wrote: "From June, 1939, to October, 1941, I was a guest in the house on Arctic Crescent, seeing and interviewing Mr. Cayce every day, and examining material from the files." Writing about the period when Cayce associated himself with Wesley H. Ketchum, M.D. and "had to make up his mind about himself and his strange power," Sugrue offered his perspective of Cayce's strange quandary —
He wanted to believe that God had given him a gift to be used to help humanity. But he was like Moses. He could not believe it had happened to him.
One thing was certain: it was a talent, not a trick, not a maladjustment, not an ailment. He was a well man; he had been well for years, except for the trouble with his voice.
All that was necessary was that he be in normal health, and that his stomach have finished with its digestion of the last meal.
Another Edgar Cayce biographer is correct upon mentioning his "high-purposed caring" yet reveals unfamiliarity with subjects usually categorized as "esoteric" or "metaphysical" upon complaining, "To lump him with soothsayers, mediums, card-tellers and assorted channels of extra-terrestrials is to lose him in never-never land . . ."
Harmon Hartzell Bro wrote the biography A Seer Out of Season: The Life of Edgar Cayce (1989). In addition to his own memories witnessing Cayce's work as a graduate student who assisted him for eight months, Bro later interviewed "scores of people who knew Cayce well" and consulted with Hugh Lynn Cayce. Bro described an anecdote shared with him by Edgar Cayce about an incident that occurred when he was staying at an estate of wealthy friends in a New York suburb —
One of the house guests was a beautiful young Hollywood actress who was fascinated with the story of his life. She invited him to come to her room and tell her more. He went. Just as he turned toward her, in the privacy of her room, the figure dressed all in white, wearing a white turban, suddenly appeared. It was the same imposing presence that had warned him of his partners in Hopkinsville. No word was spoken, but Cayce left at once. Nobody else saw the man, but the memory of him and the warning stayed vividly in Cayce's mind.
In his biography Edgar Cayce: An American Prophet (2000), Sidney D. Kirkpatrick referred to the information being articulated by Cayce as coming from "the Source." Kirkpatrick quoted from Cayce's description of the man with the turban during the earlier incident that occurred in 1910 as he was formalizing his partnership with a group that included Ketchum. The uninvited visitor was described as having the dark features of an East Indian dressed in a conventional light-colored suit. Edgar was reported to have described the events that followed:
"There was a knock on the door, when opened this figure came in, he introduced himself to each [of us] and shook hands with all . . . Asked why he was there, [he] said he came to see what they were going to do 'with Edgar.' [He] asked each their purpose in the matter, and gave each a warning."
No two warnings were the same, but at the heart of each was the same message that would come through in the first reading dedicated to the work—that "greed" and "self-serving interests" could destroy the good that could come from the partnership. The men were urged "not to lose sight of the real value that such information could be in the spiritual life of individuals." In other words, there was a higher purpose to their partnership than diagnosing disease for a profit. Having delivered his messages, the East Indian promised to join the party for dinner and then left.
"Everyone thought that he was just a friend," Edgar later wrote. "But no one seemed to know him. Just after he had gone one of the men said, 'I forgot to tell him where the dinner was to be,' and went to call him, but no one was there an no one in the hotel remembered seeing him."
The East Indian did not join them for the dinner and the partners didn't think anything more about the curious incident. However—in years to come—his reappearance in Cayce's life would make Edgar and Gertrude wonder exactly who he was and why he had come.
Another illuminating field of investigation for Kirkpatrick were Cayce's readings addressing the stock market for Morton and Edwin Blumenthal.
Perhaps the least understood and most misrepresented aspect of these readings was that Cayce's "higher self" was not the primary source for the market information. A host of other entities introduced themselves through Cayce to provide specific information, and in more than two-thirds of the stock market readings, Cayce—in trance—was not requested to report directly on a stock's performance but asked to interpret performance based on Edwin or Morton's dreams. The purpose of such readings, according to the Source, was not to interfere or give one individual an unfair advantage over another, but to help Morton and Edwin to develop their own intuitive abilities as they applied them to their lives and their work.
In a book with more than 500 pages, Kirkpatrick presents a variety of details about Cayce's life and times, from mentioning that questions about lost treasure during a reading had brought a response stressing the importance of seeking "inner riches" to the fact that the school inspired by Cayce's readings, Atlantic University, had as a mascot a three-legged dog named Tripod.
Another passage from the readings where spiritual insight is revealed to be the true (metaphorical) treasure from the vantage point of those communicating from transcendental spheres of existence is from channeled reading 254-60 of November 22, 1931:
15. (Q) What is the treasure that will be unearthed?
(A) The knowledge of friendships and the abilities to draw upon the sources of power, help and aid, in a spiritual and material world.
16. (Q) Who is giving this information?
(A) As it is an universality of purpose, so from those of the general or universal, or Cosmic Forces, are ministering those that are being given in this present interest.
In the biography My Years with Edgar Cayce: The Personal Story of Gladys Davis Turner (1972) by Mary Ellen Carter, details about the varieties of Cayce's psychic experiences were presented although Carter's perspective of the case includes some misconceptions. Researching the readings has become simpler in the present day when one can search reading transcripts via a CD. One incident that had been recorded by Gladys occurred on September 16, 1941 when he woke up feeling bad and was resting on the couch all morning.
He had check readings scheduled for that morning but just wasn't strong enough. He lay there thinking, she recalls, about what sort of a letter he would write as an excuse to the people waiting for readings. He was feeling very sorry for himself when he had another definitely unworldly experience. As he later told Gertrude and Gladys (and wrote to a friend a short time afterwards): "Suddenly I heard the Voice—which I hadn't heard since I was a young man. It said, "Get up, get ready to give the reading. Don't you want to give any more readings? Then get up!"
"You may be sure I got up at once and got ready for the reading; have been well ever since, or so much better; think will know better than to try and make excuses anymore!"
The readings about reincarnation led Cayce to eventually realize that this idea did not conflict with Holy Bible teachings. The topic coming to prominence during his association with Arthur Lammers enabled Cayce to learn about a variety of esoteric topics by Lammers, who had researched metaphysical subjects.
In his autobiographical Stranger in the Earth (1948), Thomas Sugrue offered his conclusion after spending two summers at Virginia Beach studying the readings on metempsychosis (reincarnation) and comparing the material with what he could find on the subject in Hindu and Buddhist literature, among Greek and Gnostic fragments, and in treatises on the Jewish Cabala.
The Cayce readings, concerned as they were with detailing the component parts of particular personalities, only occasionally mentioned a general operational scheme. Each reading did, however, stress one point: the past or receded personalities combined in the present personality were only a selection from the total record of an ego's pre-existence. They represented a group of unsolved problems brought together for restatement and a new attempt at solution. Added to the group was a leaven of pre-accomplishment, sufficient to propel the ego slightly forward spiritually, providing the debt of problems first was solved. The inoperative personalities of the ego's pre-existence dwelt in recession in the subconscious.
As reported in Mary Ellen Carter's book, Gladys Davis Turner recalled the events where the topic of reincarnation was first raised in the readings. Gladys had accompanied Gertrude and the Cayce's son Edgar Evans to arrive in Cincinnati by train from Alabama, leaving Hugh Lynn in Selma to finish the first half of his school year.
Edgar met them the next morning in Cincinnati, then drove to the Phillips Hotel in Dayton where they were to stay until their furniture arrived. Eventually a duplex apartment on Grafton Avenue in Dayton became both home and office.
Arthur Lammers, owner of the Dayton Photo Products, was deeply interested in astrology and metaphysics. Before Gladys arrived, readings had been taken down by his wife Zelda and two or three other stenographers. He had taken Edgar to New York for an astrological reading with Evangeline Adams to compare her information with that in his readings. In these, reincarnation was affirmed. Due to similarities in the data, Arthur now asked numerous questions, the answers only whetting his appetite for more.
All of this made an impact on Edgar's understanding and that of his family, including Gladys, to all of whom reincarnation was a far-fetched notion. But Arthur was excited by the Cayce readings concerning the influence of the stars and life after death. At the end of his own "astrological reading," the first Edgar had ever tried, Lammers was told that in a previous incarnation, he had been a monk. A distinction could now be drawn between two kinds of readings to be sought: the physical ones, for health matters; and the "life" readings.
They now felt that the theory of reincarnation might be valid. Perhaps they had all lived in some previous existence! Gladys began to wonder what such a reading would tell her. The boys, Hugh Lynn and "Ecken," had both been given life readings; Edgar and Gertrude agreed that there should be one for her.
The date was set for November 20, 1923. To Gladys, who was to take down the information, the occasion was a momentous one. She had not felt so shaken since the day she had transcribed her first trial reading. Linden Shroyer, an accountant with Arthur Lammers's firm, a small, thin person who had also become intrigued with Edgar's powers, was the conductor. No one else was present.
Gladys watched tensely as Edgar loosened his tie and lay down on the couch in the office, Linden seated in a chair. Linden said, "Now you have before you the body of Dorothy Gladys Davis, who was born January 30, 1905, at Centerville, Alabama. You will give a horoscope reading, a reading giving the effect of the planets upon the life and destiny of this individual. You will give the vocation in life for which this person is most adapted. You will also give the personalities and time in history of each appearance upon this earth plane. You will speak very slowly and distinctly."
Edgar responded with: "Yes, we have the conditions and record here. In the evening, you see, the soul entered this body.
"A goodly soul, and rather old, you see. One destined to bring, both from its own self and from the experiences of the past, much good to many peoples and much good for individuals who put their trust and faith in the entity, for the soul and the spirit of this entity has seen many and various phases of the evolution of the human family."
As her pencil flew, her heart beat faster and she seemed to hear the words as if they were for someone else. And yet, they were for her! ". . . Under the conditions, and the rule of these, little of Saturn or Mars enter the present entity control. This we see coming under that of Venus direct, of Mercury in the seventh house, Neptune in the eleventh house, Jupiter in the ninth house. . . .
"One in whom there will be, in the future, little of the earthly ills for itself, though one that will lend much to the assistance in the earthly ills of others.
"One who will find her greater force in the home, and the dedication of her better self to the future generations of her own strain.
"One who, with others, will draw much of the more beautiful things of the earth plane about them, and one to whom all obstacles become the steppingstones for higher development in this present earth plane."
The reading went on to say that Gladys had four incarnations which had bearing on this life, chosen because they particularly had to do with her soul development on the earth plane as it related to her present life. In the life just previous to this one, she was born into the household of royalty in the court of Louis XIV. She was surrounded then by "the pomp, the glory, the magnificence of the worldly show"; her education was of the Church. She had, however, an unhappy love affair and now finds that she has an innate distrust of men because of this traumatic experience. She went into a convent and there died at thirty of a broken heart.
Before that she lived in Persia at the time of Croesus and was killed by the sword of invaders (history records that the Greeks conquered Persia at that time) and thus she now has an aversion to all cutting instruments. The next incarnation back, she was born in Egypt but died as a small child. Gladys feels that this was the Ra Ta period when Edgar was the priest by that name in Egypt.
Previous to this, in the earliest incarnation given her, Gladys had lived in Atlantis "in that fair country of Alta, or Poseida proper," among those who "brought the highest civilization and knowledge that has been known to the earth's plane." She had helped bring this knowledge to the common people, as a member of the household of the ruler "ten thousand years before the Prince of Peace came."
This was the first mention of Atlantis in the readings. Its significance was completely obscure both to her and to the Cayces when it was given. Only later, after many allusions to the Lost Continent had been made, was the meaning brought home to them.
The fact that Gladys was born in this lifetime under the sign of Aquarius, which, according to astrologers, is the New Age we are entering, seems to be of further significance. A prophecy was given for her in this first reading that she would "be present, though not physically, when the earth is changed again." Certainly, as we study this first reading, we realize that Gladys was and is fulfilling her destiny "to bring . . . much good to many peoples."
In subsequent life readings, she was given information about her family associations and was told that she continued to feel responsible for her brothers, Boyd and Burt, and her sister Lucile especially, from similar responsibilities in past lives.
The precise wording found (reading 288-1) pertaining to the life in Egypt is:
19. In that before this we find in the lands just before the present plane, as given, in the Egyptian forces, and in the rule of the second ruler of that land, when the glory of the country was near its height, and was in the household of Potiphar but the sojourn in that sphere, was of short duration, for we find only a short span is given in earth plane.
A note from Gladys can be found in the transcript for this reading that explains: "Not knowing how to spell it, EC told me to put Potiphar, as it sounded nearest to the sound I gave him, and he thought it was the Bible Character."
Although Cayce and his companions evidently came to believe that Ra-Ta was a singular designation for him throughout his previous lives, an investigation of the Ra-Ta passages suggests the name has a metaphorical purpose.
The succession of readings presenting most of what is known about 'Ra-Ta' resulted when the request was made by Gertrude Cayce during channeled reading 294-147: "You will have before you the soul-body and the mind of Edgar Cayce, present in this room. You will give a detailed life history of this entity's appearance in Egypt as Ra-Ta, and his associations with those of that period with whom he is closely associated in the present. You will answer the questions which will be asked."
In Mary Ellen Carter's biography, a 1931 incident is mentioned that clarified a question of mine that had arose in the 1990s when I first studied mimeographed Edgar Cayce channeled readings transcripts collected in two secondhand bound volumes. There was a typo for the question in the transcript so I didn't know if the correct word was 'wrong' or 'strong'; nonetheless, I included the passage in an Introduction to a follow-up book to the case study Testament (1997). Carter wrote concerning 1931 reading 2897-4:
A newcomer to the work, uninitiated into the patient ways which Edgar, his family, and helpers had learned through the years, said on August 14 that he wished to contact Azul, another archangel.
The newcomer's request was met with: "Not under these conditions: for I, Michael, speak as the Lord of the Way" (italics added). Here Edgar's voice suddenly became thunderous: still his own, but taking on what purported to be Michael's very tone, which was, Gladys found, unforgettable. "Bow thine heads, O ye peoples, that would seek to know the mysteries of that life as makes for those faltering steps in men's lives when not applied in the manner as has been laid down . . .
The newcomer asked first, "Why is Edgar Cayce surrounded by such wrong vibrations and entities in this great work?" The response was metaphorical statements about endurance. A second pessimistic inquiry was: "Why has not success come?" The response was: "He that looketh upon the monetary conditions as success looketh in vain! It has succeeded beyond measure in the spiritual forces, is succeeding in monetary or the pecuniary manner."
One of the memorable events in the life of Edgar Cayce occurred on February 3, 1934. In the New York home of the Zentgrafs, Cayce and medium Eileen Garrett gave trance readings for one another (507-1). Here is an excerpt.
15. (Q) Is there any way in which Mrs. Garrett may be of special service to the work of Edgar Cayce?
(A) As their channels of activity cross or run one into another, in the various phases of experience, there may be those aids that will be for the common good of all. Rather than that it may aid any individual work as of Edgar Cayce or any other source. Rather those who give themselves (as both may be found to be doing) for the common good of mankind, as they merge in their efforts in these directions, may there be the aids rather one for the other. For, as has been given, in the union there is strength; whether this be applied in those things pertaining to the least in the earth or the greater in the realm of the spiritual activity. Hence, as each in clear purpose of desire to be of aid to their fellow man, not for self - but that the glory of God may be manifested in the hearts and souls of men, THUS may each aid the other. For, as He has given, whether in body, in mind or spirit, ye come seeking to make known the love of the Father in the earth to the sons of men, ye may aid one another.
During Eileen Garrett's trance, the speaker identified himself as Uvani, an Arab. Here are two excerpts from the transcript of Uvani's communication.
We are all part of a great universal God, a great God, greater than the intelligence of many at this stage can scarcely comprehend. This is how one first becomes aware of the comprehension within self of the greatness of the universe, that we desire in our humbleness to enter into this and face ourselves for the greater knowledge, and so because we are part of that great enterprise, if you will, it is within the heart of each of us to understand what is good and you know very well that we have only to ask ourselves and be strong enough to obey the word. If we do that, we are then filling out the pattern, of course; and therefore I say that I am telling you, my friend, in all sincerity, that I KNOW that this strength is behind you - but it is for you ALWAYS to say whether YOU feel that it is right for you. Absolutely free will to each one, to fulfill his part of the pattern.
Be to your daily hour yourself. DARE to be yourself. Dare, my friend, to speak the truth and be yourself. And if you be true to yourself and work out your own pattern, you will not have time to find flaws in your neighbor's pattern, for you will see yourself with true vision. And when you call children into being, call them into being without fear, and to those who are coming towards that moment when the great awakening is coming. Glorify God every moment, for you are all a part of His great will and understanding, and within each is that voice - that eternal voice that calls to you in every moment, "Do that that is true," and if you do that then all that happens happens right.
W. H. Church's correspondence with Hugh Lynn Cayce included scrutiny given to a few passages in the life readings where there were found potential duplications of names or circumstances. Plausible explanations were found and delineated in an article by Church and Cayce published in the May 1979 edition of The A.R.E. Journal: "The Life Readings: A Look at Some Puzzling Cases." Hugh Lynn Cayce observed in this article:
By one of those stunning coincidences that became quite common in my father's experience as a psychic—and which should really not be looked upon as "coincidental" at all but part of an established pattern in both a spiritual and a karmic sense—a number of the actors in this live drama of the past found their way at different times to Edgar Cayce and obtained life readings from him. This has inevitably created some confusion in trying to sort out the various participants. But, in addition to [559], who has already been identified as the 12-year-old daughter of Jairus raised up by the master, we appear to have [1246], Fillipe, as her mother; [1968] as the second wife, or concubine, named Maipah; and her illegitimate daughter, [421], who heard the voice calling "Talitha, Talitha, Arise!" (but who apparently was not present in the chamber of her half-sister; nevertheless, she gained from the experience). Then there was another, [2485], who was apparently a witness to that remarkable healing and gained much, although her status is not clarified; and also [5347], a son of Jairus, named Julius; and [3307], a hired mourner, whose name then was Elada.
Hugh Lynn Cayce reminded that Edgar was left to interpret the information found in the readings just as everyone else: ". . . Dad was always somewhat in awe of his psychic self . . . He accepted the fact, quite simply, that he was a human channel through which the Universal Forces, as the readings sometimes referred to them, could somehow operate while he was in the unconscious state."
As I've mentioned previously, when a researcher of unexplained phenomena during a previous epoch, John Dee, sought information about hidden treasure from his skryer (medium) gazing into a crystal ball on December 22, 1581, the angel Anael's reply was recorded in Dee's diary (in Latin). The English translation from Mysteriorum Liber Primus is: "Don't bother for these are trifles."
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