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Biography -
Edgar Cayce was born into a farming family on March 18, 1877 near Beverly, seven miles south of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. One convenient way to divide Cayce's life is according to geography:
1877 to 1920—the Kentucky period.
In December 1893 the family moved to Hopkinsville, Kentucky and occupied 705 West Seventh, on the south-east corner of Seventh and Young Street. During this time Cayce received an eighth-grade education; discovered his spiritual vocation; left the family farm to pursue various forms of employment (at Richard's Dry Goods Store, then in Hopper's Bookstore both located on Main Street).
Cayce's education stopped with the eighth grade, not because of his incapability but because his family could not afford the costs involved. Additionally, at that time a great deal more advanced material (especially in mathematics and practical sciences) was presented at an earlier level in public schools; an eighth-grade education might be the equivalent of high school today, at least in some subjects, and was often considered more than sufficient for working-class children. Much of the remainder of Cayce's life would be characterized by a forlorn search for employment and/or money.
Throughout his life Cayce was drawn to church as a member of the Disciples of Christ. He read the Bible once for every year of his life, taught at Sunday school, recruited missionaries, and is said to have agonized over the issue of whether his psychic abilities--and the teachings which resulted--were spiritually legitimate.
In 1900 he formed a business partnership with his father to sell Woodmen of the World Insurance but was struck by severe laryngitis in March that resulted in a complete loss of speech on April 18. Unable to work, he lived at home with his parents for almost a year. He then decided to take up the trade of photography, an occupation that would exert less strain on his voice. He began an apprenticeship at the photography studio of W. R. Bowles in Hopkinsville.
A travelling stage hypnotist and entertainer called "Hart-The Laugh Man," was performing at the Hopkinsville Opera House in 1901. He heard about Cayce's condition and offered to attempt a cure. Cayce accepted and the experiment took place on stage in front of an audience. Remarkably, Cayce's voice returned while in a hypnotic trance but disappeared on awakening. Hart tried a post-hypnotic suggestion that the voice would continue to function after the trance but this proved unsuccessful.
Since Hart had appointments at other cities, he could not continue his hypnotic treatment of Cayce. However a local hypnotist, Al Layne, offered to help Cayce in restoring his voice. Layne suggested that Cayce describe the nature of his condition and cure while in a hypnotic trance. Cayce described his own ailment from a first person plural point of view — 'we' — instead of the singular "I." In subsequent readings he would generally start off with "We have the body." According to the reading, his voice loss was due to psychological paralysis and could be corrected by increasing the blood flow to the voice box. Layne suggested that the blood flow be increased and Cayce's face became flushed with blood and his chest area turned bright red. After 20 minutes Cayce, still in trance, declared the treatment over. On awakening his voice remained normal. Relapses occurred but were corrected by Layne in the same way and eventually the cure was permanent.
Layne had read of similar hypnotic cures effected by the Marquis de Puységur, a follower of Franz Mesmer, and was keen to explore the limits of the healing knowledge of the trance voice. He asked Cayce to describe Layne's own ailments and suggest cures, and reportedly found the results both accurate and effective. Layne suggested that Cayce offer his trance healing to the public but Cayce was reluctant. He finally agreed on the condition that readings would be free. He began with Layne's help to offer free treatments to the townspeople. Reportedly he had great success and his fame spread. Reports of Cayce's work appeared in the newspapers, inspiring many postal inquiries. Supposedly, Cayce was able to work just as effectively using a letter from the individual as with having the person present. Given the person's name and location, he could diagnose the physical, mental conditions and provide corrective remedy. Cayce's accuracy in diagnosing the problems and providing effective cures made him more popular and soon people from around the world sought his advice through correspondence.
Cayce's work grew in volume as his fame grew. He reluctantly asked for voluntary donations to support himself and his family so that he could practice full time. He continued to work in an apparent trance state with a hypnotist all his life. His wife and eldest son later replaced Layne in this role. A secretary, Gladys Davis, recorded his readings in shorthand.
The trance reading produced a visible strain on Cayce's health. He attributed the occasional failure in his accuracy to the stress involved in his work. He was scrupulous in giving refunds to unsatisfied clients.
1920 to 1923—the Texas period
The growing fame of Cayce coupled with the popularity he received from newspapers attracted several eager commercially minded men who wanted to seek a fortune by using Cayce's clairvoyant abilities. Even though Cayce was reluctant to help them, he was persuaded to give the readings, which left him dissatisfied with himself and unsuccessful. A cotton merchant offered Cayce a hundred dollars a day for his readings about the daily outcomes in the cotton market. However, despite his poor finances, Cayce refused the merchant's offer. Others wanted to know where to hunt for treasures; some wanted to know the outcome of horse races. Several times he was persuaded to give the readings as an experiment. However he was unsuccessful several times when he used his ability for such purposes. These experiments left him depleted of energy, distraught and unsatisfied with himself. Finally he came to the conclusion that he would use his gift only to help the distressed and sick.
He was persuaded to give readings on philosophical subjects in 1923 by Arthur Lammers, a wealthy printer. While in his supposed trance state, Cayce spoke unequivocally of past lives. Reincarnation was a popular subject of the day, but is not an accepted part of Christian doctrine. Cayce reported that his conscience bothered him severely over this conflict. Lammers reassured and argued with Cayce. His "trance voice", the "we" of the readings, also supposedly dialogued with Cayce and finally persuaded him to continue with these kinds of readings. In 1925 Cayce reported his "voice" had instructed him to move to Virginia Beach, Virginia.
1925 to 1945—the Virginia Beach period
Cayce's mature period, in which he created the several institutions which would survive him in some form. By this time he was a professional psychic with a small staff of employees and volunteers. The "readings" increasingly came to involve metaphysical or esoteric themes.
In 1929 the Cayce hospital was established in Virginia Beach sponsored by a wealthy beneficiary of the trance readings, Morton Blumenthal.
Cayce gained national prominence in 1943 through a high profile article in Coronet. Feeling he couldn't refuse people who felt they needed his help so desperately, he increased the frequency of his readings to 8 per day to try and make an impression on the ever growing pile of requests. Eventually this took a toll on his health, as he said that it was emotionally draining and often fatigued him. The readings themselves scolded him for attempting too much and warned Cayce that more than 2 readings a day would start breaking down his physical health and would result in his death. Unfortunately when he finally stopped in order to recuperate his failing strength, it was too late.
Edgar Cayce suffered a stroke on January 2nd, 1945. He died a day later on January 3rd.
Edgar Casey
had a unique view of life as being more than what the eyes
see or the ears can hear. He was gifted beyond the standard
view of man and this makes him worthy of the great Ancient
Minds. His gift of healing and insight were far beyond the
realm of man and he was someone to look up to and admire.
The only downfall is the visions of destruction. My new ways
of thinking lead me to believe that w create our universe as
we go along. So in seeing distruction, we encourage it.
Ancient Uniqueness -
Edgar Casey
has the gift of insight and visions. He could see into
people and find illnesses and cures for them. He could also
see into the essence of men. He was gifted and it eventually
killed him. It is with honor that we add him to the list of
Ancient Minds.
Please note that this site is strictly a hobby site. The authors of any pages do not have degree's nor wish to be accredited for any work. We are just stating that there is more out there than what you may realize. All information is food for thought.
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