son had once been two leaders from the past: Alexander the Great and Thomas Jefferson. Although his soul had gained in its incarnation as Jefferson, he had lost as Alexander. (See also “Jefferson, Thomas.”)
Before that we find the entity was in that land during those periods when there were the activities that made for the rise and fall of many lands, in the Grecian, the Persian, all of the eastern lands; when that entity now known as Alexander the Great made for the conquering forces of the earth—the depleting that there might bring to self the exaltations.
Here the entity lost. For these will become in the experience of the entity those influences that might makes for right, or power making for indulgences. And if these are not conquered in the experiences as the principles that are set in its earthly experience, these may run as wild in the very activities of the entity—even as then.
1208-1
As if foreseeing coming events, the reading warned the parents that their child’s opportunities for fame or “those of defame, will be as one.” At least seven times in the reading, Cayce reminded the parents of their important role in guiding and directing this child. Unfortunately, [1208]’s parents had an extremely difficult relationship so that the boy never received the stable upbringing he required. Until he was fifteen, he was shuttled among relatives’ homes in different states (and various schools) so frequently that he was rarely in the same place for even a year. His difficult childhood made it impossible for him to obtain the potential promised in his reading. Confirming Edgar Cayce’s statement that he would “belong … to the world,” his life took him to such places as Japan, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Africa. Although he was personable and people liked him, much of his life seemed spent in trying to find himself.
Audubon, John James
1785-1851
Case 410
John James Audubon was an ornithologist, a naturalist, and an artist who became known for his drawings and paintings of North American birds. His classic work, The Birds of America, contains more than 400 handcolored plates. The National Audubon Society, founded in 1905, was named after him.
In April of 1934, a forty-two-year-old widow was told that she had an innate talent for seeing “the beauties that are seen in nature … The song of the bird, the beauty of the rose, the buzz of the bee, the activities of those things that give forth in themselves the expressions of the joy of just using—for the time being—a portion of God in their activity.” Apparently, she had once been Audubon:
Before this we find the entity was among those peoples that came into this land, where there might be a refuge from the trials first of that they had experienced in the rough voyage on the sea, and in what is now known as Louisiana.
The entity then was among those peoples that found a haven there, and brought to those lands in the latter experience the joys of many, and builded for much that has given joy and peace to the minds and hearts of many who have loved God’s little folk in the bird kingdom.
Then, in the name Audubon, the entity made for a home; and when turmoils and strifes came, even through those trials of those that made war—and the changes in the associations, the entity brought to many the faith and hope still in those same powers and influences that had preserved them from the water and from the billow and from the storm; that though the forces in nature may roll and rage they may destroy only the body, and the soul may live on in that which has been the desire.
410-2
Mrs. [410] was told that she possessed broadness of vision and could deeply appreciate anything that grew, anything that was alive or anything that was beautiful to behold, whether it was “the blessings of the afternoon rain or the morning sun.” Her talents as an artist and her love for nature had developed in Chaldea when she had learned to appreciate the beauties of everyday life. In ancient Egypt, she had learned of purity and had worked in one of the temples.
In the present, [410] possessed talents as an artist and was encouraged to direct her skill into such things as the creation of booklets or greeting cards and pictures which could bring beauty into the lives of those who were sick, depressed, or in need. She also maintained an interest in a flower business.
Augustus
63 B.C.-A.D. 14
Case 1266
Originally named Gaius Octavius (also known as Octavian), he was the nephew of Julius Caesar. When Octavian was only eighteen, Caesar was assassinated, but in Caesar’s will Octavian was named adopted son and heir by his uncle and given the name Gaius Julius Caesar. In the power struggle that followed Caesar’s death, he became one of three individuals charged with reorganizing the republic. Shortly thereafter, he and Mark Antony defeated Caesar’s assassins and divided the empire amongst themselves. An affair with Cleopatra led to Antony’s downfall; and after Gaius Julius Caesar had conquered Egypt (leading to the suicide of both Antony and Cleopatra), he became sole ruler of the Roman Empire. He was given the name Augustus (the Exalted) by the Senate and became known as the first Roman emperor.
Augustus added new territories to the empire and, after years of fighting, managed to bring peace to the country (the Pax Romana). Considered one of the great administrative geniuses of history, he overhauled every aspect of Roman life, bringing prosperity and stability to the empire. During his rule, Augustus revived religious customs and restored a stern sense of morality to the country. As emperor, he sponsored the leading artists and writers of his time and led his empire during what has been called a golden age. After death, he became deified.
In 1936, the son-in-law of a seventy-six-year-old manufacturer convinced his father-in-law to obtain a life reading. Experiencing financial and business challenges, Mr. [1266] was the head of a large rubber company in the middle of a restructuring and takeover. Cayce began the reading by stating that [1266] had made some progress in overcoming a soul tendency to place himself above others. In a life just previous to the present, he had been named Samuel Goldenson and was very active in the cause which brought the colonies together in order to overcome British rule. In fact, Cayce stated that it was Goldenson who first uttered the statement, “taxation without representation is tyranny.” In a life in France, he had also fought against taxation by the ruling class at the expense of the common people.
Apparently these two lives had helped to balance a tremendous ego and the sense that [1266] was somehow better than others. Cayce stated that this individual had been the Roman emperor Augustus:
Before that the entity was as Caesar Augustus, who made for the great expansions of the Roman land not only for power but for the gratifying of the ego of self; and those periods when the great expansions of that land arose.
The entity then was that one who builded for that empire.
And there is felt innately in every move that those peoples of that land, that are of the Roman and not the Italian mixture, are superior in some manner or way. This is innate, and yet there is known and must be known within self that the spiritual purposes, the spiritual desires must be those that make for the greater forces that manifest in and among men.
1266-1
In Israel, Mr. [1266] had apparently served as a counselor. His talent with manufacturing and rubber had first developed in Atlantis when he became involved in the production of various products from trees. He was told that even at seventy-six he still had a work to do which was “in helping others to know their true relationships to their Maker or to the Creative Forces, and in the ways and manners of giving expressions of same toward their fellow man.” It was a statement which [1266] himself felt drawn to because he later told Mr. Cayce that one of his innate urges was to help people “find their source of power.”
Mr. [1266] died in 1955 at the age of ninety-five.
Barrington, George