In the first half of the 20th century Edgar Cayce attracted widespread popular interest in reincarnation and psychic healing through his readings, and his work remains popular today. His story is fascinating and deserves telling. Cayce was born into a farming family in 1877 in Kentucky and died in 1945. He received an eighth-grade education and left the farm for his first job at a dry goods store. Throughout his life, Cayce struggled to find good employment and earn enough to support his family. He was a deeply religious man who, as a member of the Disciples of Christ, taught Sunday school and recruited missionaries. Once for every year of his life he read the Bible. The story goes that throughout his life as a psychic he struggled with whether his psychic abilities and the teachings he received were spiritually legitimate.
When he was 23 Cayce began selling insurance with his father. However, soon thereafter he experienced such severe laryngitis that he lost all ability to speak. In an effort to find work that would be less straining on his voice, he began an apprenticeship in a photography studio. A travelling stage hypnotist happened to be performing in Hopkinsville, where Cayce was living, and, upon hearing about his condition, offered to attempt help him. Cayce agreed, and on stage in front of an audience he was hypnotized. While in trance his voice returned but then disappeared when he awoke.
Since hypnosis had appeared to be somewhat successful, if only very briefly, Cayce was receptive when a local hypnotist, Al Layne, offered to help. Layne suggested that when in a trance Cayce describe his own condition and a cure. What then transpired was a description of his own difficulty from a first person plural perspective, using the word “we” instead of “I.” According to the reading psychological paralysis was the cause of his voice loss, which could be corrected by increasing the blood flow to the voice box. Layne gave the suggestion that this happen. Cayce’s face is said to have become flushed with blood and his chest to have turned bright red. After 20 minutes, still in trance, Cayce said that the treatment was over. He was awakened, and his voice was normal. In spite of a few minor relapses that were corrected by Layne in the same way, Cayce’s voice remained normal throughout the rest of his life.
Layne was intrigued by what had occurred, and he asked Cayce to describe his own ailments and suggest a cure. The results were accurate and effective. Layne then encouraged Cayce to offer trance healing to the public. Cayce reluctantly agreed only on the condition that the readings be free. With Layne first putting him in trance Cayce began to offer treatments to the townspeople of Hopkinsville. He enjoyed great success, and soon requests for help were pouring in. The person to be treated didn’t even have to be physically present. Cayce could work just as effectively providing a diagnosis and corrective remedy with only a letter giving the person’s name and location. Cayce by then had developed a routine in which he would lie down, enter what appeared to be a light trance, and be given the questions of the person seeking assistance. He then would give the reading, often starting by saying, “we have the body.” Cayce’s wife, Gertrude, generally conducted or guided the readings. Once awakened Cayce generally claimed to not remember what he had said while delivering a trance reading. He explained the process by saying that the unconscious mind has access to information unavailable to the conscious mind.
Cayce invited those receiving readings to test the suggestions rather than accept them on faith. Furthermore, the readings should only be considered to the extent that they led to a better life for the recipient. Although Cayce was widely acclaimed for the success of his readings, some were clearly inaccurate. His sons actually wrote a book detailing some of his mistakes, which they believed could be accounted for by such factors as the spiritual motivation of the seeker. Skeptics immediately saw this as simply an excuse to prevent Cayce’s paranormal claims from ever being disproven.
Over his lifetime Cayce gave at least 21,000 readings, some 14,000 of which have been preserved. They deal with several themes. Most numerous are readings addressing questions about health, which contain many alternative health concepts and practices. Common prescriptions include poultices, osteopathic adjustments, message, colonic irrigation, various forms of electric medicine, patent medicines, prayer, and folk medicine. Often there were specific recommendations involving special diets and exercise.
In response to the urging of some of those following his work, Cayce began to give readings addressing more esoteric questions. These readings emphasized the reality of reincarnation and karma which are instruments of a loving God, not blind natural laws. The purpose is to teach spiritual lessons. Between lifetimes our souls may spend time on other planets or their spiritual counterparts, and, as astrology asserts, the position of the planets at our birth conveys these influences.
When readings of this nature first appeared, Cayce, given his strong Christian beliefs, was deeply troubled. Although the subject of reincarnation was popular at the time, it was not an accepted part of Christian doctrine. Apparently the “we” of the readings, his “trance voice,” dialogued with him, his “waking personality,” and persuaded him to continue with these kinds of readings. From then on his readings increasingly came to deal with esoteric themes.
In terms of the origin and destiny of humanity the readings indicated that human souls are created with a consciousness, that they are one with God, and that they should find their way back to Him. Some have fallen from this state of awareness. Others led by the “Jesus soul” volunteered to save them. The earth was created as an arena for spiritual growth. Cayce distinguished between Jesus and Christhood. Jesus was a soul like us who experienced many lifetimes over which he grew spiritually by making and correcting mistakes. Christhood is a condition that He was the first to manifest through His material life. We should also aspire toward Christhood, looking to Jesus as an elder brother and example.
Our dreams, Cayce believed, can be an avenue through which God speaks to us, and he devoted many readings to dream interpretation. Psychic experiences are natural by-products of soul growth. However, he did not fully endorse mediumship because entities contacted might not be particularly lofty. What is important is to focus on Christ and His teachings.
Cayce enjoyed great acclaim during his lifetime although he remained a humble and deeply religious man. His influence has continued to this day with tens of thousands of Cayce students and Cayce centers in 27 countries. The major organization promoting interest in Cayce, The Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE), has headquarters in Virginia Beach.