from vagina; lack of appetite; excessive kidney activity; and the heart’s reactions which were described as a sympathetic activity. The treatments were specific and could be administered by a local physician.
The woman was so impressed that she decided to follow the suggestions in the reading. She went to a prominent doctor in Raleigh. He wisely refused to follow the suggestions until he had checked to confirm the conditions described. She was given a thorough examination including a series of X-rays. The reading was corroborated.
The doctor stated in writing his amazement in being able to confirm details of the information which had been given by Edgar Cayce without his ever having seen the woman. She made excellent progress and returned to normal health.
This is just one of literally thousands of such psychic readings given by Edgar Cayce between 1901 and 1944. It is one of the 14,306 readings for over 5,000 different people of which there are copies in the archives of the Association for Research and Enlightenment in Virginia Beach. Thousands of request letters, reports, and other documents are filed with these readings. Of this number 9,604 deal with problems of the mind and the physical body. There are also 1,919 readings dealing with vocational, psychological, and human-relations problems. These have been called “life readings.” In addition there are 956 miscellaneous readings. Copies of the earliest readings were lost. The oldest copy on file is dated 1902. Two-thirds of the readings were typed single space, and they averaged three-and-one-half pages to a reading. The actual readings themselves consist of 14.9 million words! And the Edgar Cayce database (the readings, background information and reports) equates to more than 24 million words, making Edgar Cayce the most documented psychic of all time! There was never an indication that Edgar Cayce was conscious of a single word he uttered while in the self-imposed unconscious state. All of this material seemed to come through or out of his unconscious mind.
At this point it might be well for me to acknowledge my prejudice in favor of the conceivable accuracy and possible helpfulness of information coming from an unconscious mind. Living with Edgar Cayce conditioned me. Try to put yourself in my place as you follow this story. Perhaps, along with several thousand other people, I was fooled. Maybe this man wasn’t unconscious when he gave these readings. Then, as I see it, the story is even more remarkable. For, it seems impossible to me that the conscious self I knew as a father, a Sunday school teacher, and a friend could have so split itself and kept up a masquerade before family, friends, and several thousand people for over forty years. It seems much more reasonable to postulate a trance, an unconscious state, as separate from the conscious self.
It should also be mentioned here that through the years, in observing what seemed to be accurate, checkable telepathy and clairvoyance, I have become more critical—perhaps too critical and careful at times—in expecting and continuing to search for the same kind of objectivity and exactness in dealing with other people who claim to possess psychic powers. This has not been a happy position to maintain. On one hand I find myself sympathetic to the many difficulties which any psychic person must face, and on the other I look for every possible explanation of any so-called psychic incident.
Before examining any additional data from these readings, it might be well to consider the circumstances under which they were given. Someone would request a reading by letter, telegram, phone, or in person. An appointment would be set for 11 a.m. or 3 p.m. on a specified day. The applicant did not have to be present with my father. It was necessary that Edgar Cayce be given the real name and address where the person would be at the specified time. He could be anywhere in the world. Anyone could give the instructions and ask the questions. My mother was the “conductor” for most of them.
At the appointed time Edgar Cayce would come in from his garden or from fishing, or from working in his office. He would loosen his tie, shoelaces, cuffs, and belt and lie down on a couch. His hands, palms up over his forehead, were later crossed over his abdomen. He would breathe deeply a few times. When his eyelids began to flutter, it was necessary to read to him a suggestion formula which had been secured in a reading in answer to the request, “Give the proper suggestion to be given Edgar Cayce to secure a physical reading.” It was necessary to watch the eyelids carefully. If they were allowed to flicker too long before the suggestion was read, my father would not respond. He might then sleep for a couple of hours or more and awaken refreshed without knowing he hadn’t given a reading. Here is the opening suggestion:
Now the body is assuming its normal forces and will give such information as is desired of it at the present time. The body-physical will be perfectly normal and will give that information now. You will have before you the body of [name and address]. You will go over this body carefully, examine it thoroughly, telling us the conditions you find at the present time; giving the cause of the existing conditions, also suggestions for help and relief for this body. You will speak distinctly at a normal rate of speech, and you will answer the questions which I will ask.
When the reading was concluded and Edgar Cayce would say, “We are through for the present,” the conductor would say this:
Now the body will be so equalized as to overcome all those things that might hinder or prevent from being and giving its best mental, spiritual, and physical self.
The body physical will create within the system those properties necessary to cause the eliminations to be increased as to bring the best normal physical conditions for the body.
The mental will so give that impression to the system as to build the best moral, mental, and physical forces for this body. The circulation will be so equalized as to remove strain from all centers of the nervous system, as to allow the organs of the system to assimilate and secrete properly those conditions necessary for normal conditions of this body.
The nerve supplies of the whole body will assume their normal forces; the vitality will be stored in them, through the application of the physical being, as well as of the spiritual elements in the physical forces of the body.
Now, perfectly normal, and perfectly balanced, you will wake up.
Instantly he was awake.
Who was the man Edgar Cayce?
In June, 1954, a child’s color comic book, House of Mystery, described Edgar Cayce as “America’s Most Mysterious Man.” During this same year the University of Chicago accepted a Ph.D. thesis based on a study of his psychic readings. In this thesis he was called, among other things, a “religious seer.”
Here is his story as recounted in newspapers and magazines from 1901 to 1959:
Voice RestoredEdgar Cayce Suddenly Relieved of a Terrible AfflictionVocal Organs Paralyzed a Year Ago Made Well As Ever
On the night of April 18, 1900, young Edgar Cayce, a photographer in W.R. Bowles’ gallery, suddenly lost his voice and for nearly ten months was unable to speak above a whisper.
Sunday night he recovered his voice as suddenly as he lost it. When he awoke Monday morning there was a feeling of relief about his throat and when he attempted to speak he saw he could speak as distinctly as ever.
Overjoyed, the young man hastily dressed and rushed into his mother’s room to break the good news. All day yesterday he was on the streets talking to his friends and receiving congratulations.
Mr. Cayce is a son of Mr. L. B. Cayce, and is a very worthy and deserving young man. When he became afflicted he was a salesman in a Main Street store but had to give up this business and then secured a position with W.R. Bowles. His general health has continued good and he has worked regularly at his business.
It is supposed that his loss of speech was due to paralysis of the inferior muscles of the vocal organs. At times there was stifling sensation about his throat and occasionally a little soreness. The feeling was akin to that felt by persons suffering from asthma and it was the absence of this feeling that first brought the realization of the good fortune that came to him while he slept.
Mr. Cayce during the last ten months had been under the treatment of specialists in this city, Nashville, Louisville, and Cincinnati all without benefit.