The Sleeping Prophet

Edgar Cayce was called “The sleeping prophet” because of his going into a trance state when he gave prophecies that resembled sleep. He was born in 1877 in Christian County, Kentucky. and died in 1945. He described himself as a devout Christian and denied being a Spiritualist or communicating with spirits. Cayce is regarded as a founder and a principal source of many characteristic beliefs of the New Age movement.

Start of a New Life

Edgar Cayce once lost his voice but was able to speak while in a trance state brought on by hypnosis. At first, he said the return of his voice was spontaneous, but later, he credited treatments from osteopath Al Layne. The discovery was a turning point in Cayce’s life. The Osteopath began to employ Cayce to go into a trance and diagnose the illnesses of his patients. Later, Cayce returned to the role of medical clairvoyant, collaborating with homeopath Wesley Ketchum. Ketchum tested Cayce’s ability at clairvoyant diagnosis and was sufficiently impressed to report the results to a Boston medical conference. The New York Times picked up the story and on 9 October 1910 published an article headlined “Illiterate Man Becomes a Doctor When Hypnotized.” After a fallout with Ketchum, Cayce relocated to Selma, Alabama. Later, he moved to Virginia where he established an institute.

In addition to diagnosing, some of Cayce’s readings included recommended treatments. These treatments were supposedly passed to Cayce from the spirits of deceased doctors on the other side, but he was most likely simply tapping into the akashic records. These medical readings were often credited with helping the patients. He also spoke of people’s past lives.

By 1925, Cayce was a professional psychic with a small staff of employees and volunteers.[76] Cayce’s readings increasingly had esp, occult or esoteric themes. Morton Blumenthal (who worked at the New York Stock Exchange with his trader brother) became interested in the psychic readings, and shared Cayce’s outlook. He offered to finance his vision. Blumenthal also bought the Cayces a house in Virginia Beach.

The Association of National Investigations was incorporated in Virginia Beach on May 6, 1927. Blumenthal was the president, and his brother and several others were vice presidents. Cayce was secretary and treasurer, and Gladys was assistant secretary.

In 1932, Cayce started the Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE). The asociation is still active today and has cataloged thousands of Cayce’s “readings,” as the information he provided while in a trance was called.

Edgar Cayce, coined the phrase “Earth Changes” to refer to the belief that the world would soon experience cataclysmic events causing major alterations in human life on the planet. These predictions included changes in human consciousness, a major pole shift, and weather/climate changes.

Cayce correctly predicted the stock market crash of 1927 and the end of the depression in 1933. He also predicted how World War II would unfold, describing an unprecedented alliance between the Germans, Austrians, and Japanese.

Cayce was a fan of Theosophy and a member of the Theosophical Society for two years.

Cayce’s clients included some well-known people of the 20th-century such as Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Edison, Irving Berlin, and George Gershwin.

In 2012 his ARE earned $3.3 million in donations from 25,000 members and attracted 31,527 visitors to its holistic health center and spa. Today it is a global organization.

Some who are considered experts in the paranormal have labeled Cayce a fraud with no psychic abilities, but others stick with him. Some parapsychologists seem to expect that a clairvoyant is going to be correct all the time. That is too much to expect of anyone in any field, but especially in the paranormal where there is no school where one can learn such things. They laughed at his claim that Atlantis would rise again, not realizing that it likely meant that the advanced scientific and spiritual knowledge of Atlantis would rise again, not the country.

“Contemporary Cayce of Canada” organizes and makes available spiritually based programs and workshops based on Edgar Cayce’s Legacy.

New York City has been home to a strong “Edgar Cayce Community” since Cayce’s lifetime. Edgar Cayce himself visited NYC often and gave a number of readings here, mostly as a psychic diagnostician.

There is also a Cayce Museum in Hopkinsville, Kentucky where Cayce began his readings.

Personal Life

Cayce was one of six children in a farming family in kentucky. A poor student, as a child he played with “little folk” and allegedly saw his deceased grandfather. First taken to church at age 10, he became engrossed in the Bible, completing 12 readings in two years. He was a devout Christian and a firm believer in God. While reading the Bible in the woods in May 1889, Cayce “saw” a woman with wings who told him his prayers were answered, and asked what he wanted most of all. He said he wanted to help others, especially sick children, and to become a missionary. He was essentially an illiterate man.

The next night, after a complaint from his schoolteacher, Cayce’s father tested his spelling and knocked him out of his chair in exasperation. Cayce then “heard” the lady’s voice telling him that if he slept a little “they” could help. He rested his head on the spelling book. When his father woke him, Cayce knew the answers and could repeat anything in the book. A top student by 1892, Cayce explained he “saw pictures” of pages in books.

Cayce married Gertrude Evans on June 17, 1903, and they had three children: Hugh Lynn Cayce (1907–1982), Milton Porter Cayce (1911–1911), and Edgar Evans Cayce (1918–2013). On July 31, 1912, Cayce was elected as an officer of a Sunday School organization in Selma. In February 1915, local papers reported Cayce’s voice had returned after three months of silence. Cayce’s increasing popularity attracted entrepreneurs who wanted to use his reported clairvoyance. Although he was reluctant to help them, he was persuaded to give readings; this left him dissatisfied with himself. A cotton merchant offered him a hundred dollars a day for readings about the cotton market but, despite his poor finances, Cayce refused the merchant’s offer. On October 10, 1922, Cayce was profiled about his medical clairvoyance. On October 18, papers reported Cayce had addressed a local writers group, covering topics like reincarnation and the evolution of the soul. That month, Cayce addressed the Birmingham Theosophical Society. In September 1923 he hired Gladys Davis, who would serve as his secretary for the next two decades, transcribing his readings in shorthand.

After predicting he would be buried on January 5, 1945, Cayce died on January 3 of that year.

Biographical Books

• A 1942 limited edition preceded the first trade edition of the only biography written during Cayce’s lifetime: Thomas Sugrue’s “The Story of Edgar Cayce: There is a River,” published in March 1943.
• Gina Cerminara wrote the 1950 book,”Many Mansions,” which explores Cayce’s work.
• In 1967, journalist Jess Stearn authored a Cayce biography titled “The Sleeping Prophet.”
• A book on Cayce and Atlantis was published in 1968.
• In 1968, Curt Gentry’s novel “The Last Days of the Late, Great State of California” told of a cataclysmic California earthquake that had been foretold by Cayce in 1941.
• In 1970, David Kahn’s work “My Life With Edgar Cayce” was posthumously published.
• “Edgar Cayce: an American Prophet” by Sidney Kirkpatrick is another popular book on Cayce.
• Cayce’s two sons, Edgar Evans Cayce and Hugh Lynn Cayce, wrote
  “The Outer Limits of Edgar Cayce’s Power” in 1971.
• “The Lost Symbol” by Dan Brown features quotes from Cayce.
• A PDF Dictionary of Virginia Biography of Cayce can be found online here.
• There is now a website where you can buy a complete set of Cayce’s readings in 24 hardcover books.