Edgar Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet
Born on March 18, 1877, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Edgar Cayce was, perhaps, one of the most intriguing men of our time. His amazing ability was he would be asked about a specific person that could be anywhere in the world, and while he in his self induced trance-like sleep and speak in a most normal voice, be able to recite out loud what had happened to the person who's name was given to him, what was wrong with them medically and/or spiritually, and be able to recite the ways to correct their problems. Through his incredible psychic ability, his visions would be monitored and noted and the information passed on to the person(s) involved. Cayce has also been identified as the forefather of holistic medicine.
By the time he was seven years old, he was having visions in which he would talk to deceased relatives. His family just considered him a lad with a vivid imagination for several years. Edgar enjoyed reading the Bible on a regular basis and would read it in its entirety once a year throughout his life.
At thirteen years of age, Edgar had a life changing vision of a beautiful woman asking him what was the most important thing he wanted in life. He answered with helping people, especially children. Not long after, Edgar showed an ability that could not be explained as a child's vivid imagination. He could sleep on any kind of book or document and once he was awake, could recite everything written on each page of each item, no matter the length or if the words were beyond his limited education. Eventually this ability faded away and Edgar had to quit school to go to work on his grandmother's farm to help out his family.
A few years later, in 1899, Edgar was engaged to Gertrude, about to turn 23 years old, and was selling stationary, books, and insurance. After taking a sedative for a headache, he developed such a severe case of laryngitis; it would be almost a year before he could speak above a whisper.
While still in Hopkinsville, he became a photographer's assistant which he thoroughly enjoyed. He felt it would not be long before he was financially stable enough to marry Gertrude. He continued to read his bible cover to cover.
A traveling hypnotist, "Hart, the Laugh King" wanted to see how hypnosis would help the young Cayce with his laryngitis. While being hypnotized, Edgar answered Hart's questions in his normal speaking voice, but when awakened, reverted back to his whisper. Even after several sessions and post-hypnotic suggestions, Edgar always whispered.
It was not until another few months when Al Layne, who lived locally, became aware of Edgar Cayce's problem, put Edgar to sleep on his couch. When Layne asked Edgar to explain what was wrong with his voice, Edgar once again spoke in his normal speaking voice explaining what was wrong with his own voice. Edgar stated he had a” psychological condition producing a physical effect." He then described to tell him to increase his blood circulation in his upper body. Layne did so, and to everyone's amazement, they could see Edgar's body react by his skin turning red. Edgar then told Layne to tell him to put his circulation back to normal, and once again, Edgar's body responded to the instructions. Upon awakening, Edgar's voice was normal and would stay so.
With such an amazing display of psychic ability, Layne persisted in talking to Cayce to continue with this ability to assist others. In fact, Layne had an ongoing incurable stomach problem. He requested Cayce to try and go into a trance and see if he could shed light on Layne's problem. Once under, and asked about Layne's stomach disability, Edgar was able to diagnosis the problem in its entirety and prescribed herbal medicines, special foods and exercises. In one week, Layne was feeling much better, and went back to Edgar to try to talk the young man into continuing on with helping others with his amazing talent.
With consulting his fiancé and family, and his beloved bible and with prayer, he decided to continue with the readings to help people in any way he could. He had to put aside his wish for a normal life with his soon to be wife and to start a family and to work as a photographer. He had two stipulations - that if any of his readings suggested anything harmful to that person they would stop; and that he was first a photographer. He never charged for his sessions.
So his readings began, and he was able to help those injured and sick that had given up hope for recovery. Layne conducted most of the readings and wrote down everything that was said by Cayce. All Cayce needed to begin a reading was a person's name and their location to diagnose and give a course of treatment. He never remembered anything he said while in his trance.
In 1903, Edgar Cayce married his long time fiancée, Gertrude Evans, and they moved to Bowling Green Kentucky. His life was with church each Sunday and teaching Sunday school classes, and was able to open a photographic studio and formed a partnership with another photographer. He was still very active in his trance-like readings for people, all observed by his long time friend, Layne.
In 1907, Edgar and his wife suffered major setbacks with two studio fires that devastated the business. Their first child, a son, Hugh Lynn, was also born that year. Edgar moved to Alabama to look for photographic work while Gertrude returned to Hopkinsville with Hugh Lynn.
During this time, Edgar's father, Leslie, introduced Edgar to Dr. Wesley Ketchum, who was new to the town suffering from an ailment diagnosed as appendicitis. Edgar did a reading for Ketchum, and gave forth a totally different diagnosis and treatment which proved to be correct and cured the doctor.
Because of this, Ketchum went to Cayce for his most difficult cases. In 1910, Ketchum submitted a paper about Edgar Cayce's amazing talent to the American Society of Clinical Research. News about Edgar's psychic talent traveled fast. Edgar moved back home to be with his family and with Ketchum, his father, and a hotel owner formed the Psychic Reading Corporation. Edgar was able to reopen a photographic studio and did readings in his spare time. He was at his happiest when he was his is photographic studio.
They had a second son, Milton Porter in 1911. Unfortunately, he died within two months, Edgar bitterly regretting not doing a reading for his own son until it was too late, to affect a cure for the infant. Gertrude fell seriously ill soon after for several months. When her diagnosis was changed to TB and death imminent, Edgar went into his sleep-like trance and did a reading with a treatment for his wife. Within a few days she was showing incredible improvement and within a few weeks fully recovered.
In 1912, Edgar dissolved his partnership and returned to Alabama and was able to purchase the same studio he had worked not long before. There, in Selma, Alabama, Edgar was able to achieve some of the normal life he so craved with his family and love for photography. That is, until a horrible accident almost claimed the eye and sight of his first born son, Hugh Lynn.
Hugh Lynn was in the studio playing with flash powder and severely burned his eyes. Doctors did what they could and told the Cayce’s that he would be permanently blind and that they wanted to remove one of his eyes. Edgar went into his trance and did a reading, stating his son's sight was not lost, and prescribed a means of treating his son's eyes and to not perform the surgery. Soon, Hugh Lynn's eyesight returned. News of this went like wildfire and Edgar's fame increased, with more requests for readings of all kinds came pouring in from all over. In 1918, the Cayce’s welcomed another son, Edgar Evans.
In 1923, Cayce began to add readings about reincarnation/astrology to his medical and physical readings. This caused him some inner turmoil with his strict Christian faith. He consulted others and his beloved bible, then realized how the idea and philosophy of reincarnation was compatible with Christianity and many other faiths. So, Cayce began life readings which expanded from the medical and physical to mental, spiritual, meditation, past lives and even dream interpretations.
In 1925, the Cayces moved to Virginia Beach.
In 1927, the Association of National Investigators was formed. The purpose of this association was to explore and experiment with the information obtained in Cayce's readings. The motto was "That We May Make Manifest Our Love for God and Man."
In 1928, a hospital and an university was opened by the newly formed association to assist with the seemingly unorthodox treatments that doctors over the years were hesitant to treat after Cayce's readings. Such treatments were unknown and unheard of in his day. With the Great Depression that began in 1929, the hospital was unable to continue operating and closed its doors 1931 with the university closing a few months later.
In 1931, the Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc. (A.R.E.) was formed and still exists to this very day. The association was formed for delving into and trying to understand the readings done by Cayce. The Association delves into Holistic health care, along with ESP and meditation, life after death, reincarnation and spiritualism. According to Cayce, if a person became more spiritual, they would be able to achieve a higher level and find their own psychic abilities "for psychic is of the soul." Cayce wanted people to incorporate and interpret the readings into their own religious beliefs.
Over the years, Cayce was able to achieve the same readings in a waking state and not having to completely go to sleep. He also developed the ability to see peoples' auras, and incorporated this ability for their mental and physical conditions within the readings.
A biography was written by a strict Catholic, Thomas Sugrue, who came to Cayce to debunk him, but ended up being a devote believer of Cayce and his abilities. During World War II, bags of mail full of requests for Cayce's help piled up. There was over two years worth of readings contained in those mail sacks.
In 1944, Cayce began to weaken. He actually gave himself his own reading with his wife, Gertrude, at his side recording the session. She had begun to record his sessions a few years before. Gertrude asked Cayce how long he had to live and Cayce answered "until he is well or dead." Not long afterward, he had a stroke and died on January 3, 1945.
There are over 14,000 readings cataloged and took over twenty years after his death to finish the indexing and cataloging them with over 10,000 different subjects. Hugh Lynn worked with the Association until his death in 1986. A.R.E. now has thousands of members from all over the world. Edgar Cayce was a simple man, large in his Christian faith, never finished school, and had a love of photography and the rare and unsurpassed psychic ability to assist thousands of people.
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