The Life Analysis and Work of Edgar Cayce

The life of Edgar Cayce was one of fascinating duality, being that he was a divine seer on one hand, and country photographer on the other. He often sought public avenues to advertise his unique healing ability for the betterment of the world, yet just as diligently searched for anonymity and ordinariness for his family. He saw the people he helped as his equals, yet found it difficult to be treated as such, often being placed on a pedestal, taunted as an object of scrutiny, or misunderstood as a source of entertainment. Even more, he struggled with taking himself seriously as this "divine character" providing "other worldly" information that was often in opposition to what even he believed in. As a result, he lived much of his life being bumped and bruised by the abnormality of being a seer out of season.

It seemed that early on Edgar Cayce was thrust into the transpersonal experience having to understand a world beyond the five senses. But it wasn't until he learned to hypnotize himself under the direction of Al C. Layne that he would discover his healing abilities. Under self-hypnosis, he gave his first reading - for himself - as a consultation on how to revive his voice, which had been hoarse for almost a year. As others found out about his special gift the readings took on a life of their own. And it was during this time that the concept of transpersonal - the existence of a Mind that functions on an all-knowing level beyond the five senses, residing in and around all of us, providing our connection to divinity - seemed to become more and more prevalent in his life. Over time, Edgar Cayce began to live the transpersonal experience, seeking guidance from a source that provided answers to questions unobtainable by professionals in the same areas of expertise, while at the same time, boldly expressing this inner knowing outwardly, providing insight to all around him through faith and trust in what he'd learned from this source.

The accuracy of his readings made him want to push forward to help people in a more organized fashion, prompting his desire to start a hospital that would serve as a one-stop shop, complete with readings, healing practices, dietetic assistance, and even massage therapy. However, it was during these times of great wanting that his readings would lose their accuracy. In the case of the hospital, using readings for consultation proved to be frustrating as he was lead to dead-end money opportunities and difficult business partners. It seemed that his experiences were reminding him that he was still a human despite his obviously extraordinary gift.

If the challenges of the hospital were not enough, he also found himself bombarded with new ideas in the readings that showed a sharp contrast to his religious beliefs, such as reincarnation. According to Bro (1989), "Edgar was staggered at the departure from familiar biblical concepts and the Christian Church teaching of the plan of salvation," (p. 313). He thought often about what these new revelations meant to his understanding of God as he knew him: "As Hugh Lynn later told me, Cayce's greatest question was whether the new views pouring from him in trance could be congruent with biblical faith, not whether empirical evidence could be found in psychology or daily experience" (Bro, 1898, p. 313). But it seemed that these intriguing transpersonal experiences would prove to open up new thought on life after death. So his challenge then was to decide how to balance his traditional Christian beliefs with the new messages emerging from the readings that proved to be of a more transpersonal nature.

In order to get an understanding of these famed readings, I took a look at two different topics of focus in the readings, karma and planetary sojourns, to first analyze how Bro came to comprehend their meanings in his immediate dealings with Cayce in comparison to my understanding of individual readings on these topics, afterward looking at how both topics seemed to directly affect Cayce's life.

According to Bro, the readings defined karma as the result of individual souls being allowed to play on planet Earth as a recreation. Unfortunately, over time, the souls began to take advantage of the planet, consumed by their free will, and eventually lost their direct connection to God. As a result, karma was set up as a way to teach the souls, through various earth-bound incarnations, how to find their way back to God: "Karma was the appointed process to turn the whole vast venture into education, by ever stretching the quality of each soul through the challenges and predicaments, the rewards and trials, which came before the evolving person or entity" (Bro, 1989, p.199).

Bro talked about there being three different aspects of karma: talents, texture, and opportunities. Talents represent the skills we develop in our lifetimes that become our passions, often carried over to our next life: "In Cayce's trance view such talents, if well-developed, would so often surface again that life readings frequently traced for individuals two or more incarnations (out of four to six given prominence) with the same or closely related vocations" (Bro, 1989, p. 196).

One particular reading given by Cayce found that a woman was largely influenced by a past life in Egypt where she became very skilled at recording the conditions of the land. According to the Cayce (31-1), "the entity gave most to the peoples through the ability to coordinate the teachings of the land and the teachings of those in power." She was able to hold an unbiased opinion while recording events and in turn became highly respected, rising to power within her vocation. As a result, in her current life she brought those skills with her, and according to the readings, should strongly consider following a similar path in her current incarnation: "were the entity to write along these lines the greater success would come to the entity through these channels," (31-1).

The second aspect of karma, texture, is "the character and temperedness, the complexity and integration, the essential desire of the whole person" (Bro, 1989, p. 198). Bro explained that "the universe was organized to help develop the potential texture of souls fashioned by the divine at the start of creation and destined to become conscious co-creators with the Most High after eons of adventures" (Bro, 1989, p. 198). In a reading given by Cayce in August 1934, a man was provided with detailed information regarding the necessity for him to entertain inner soul advancement in his current incarnation as determined by karmic obligations surfacing from previous incarnations, which would add to his values and overall soul texture. In a Persian lifetime, the man was identified as one of the Three Wise Men who was responsible for helping to evolve "the mental urges in the souls of men" (256-5). He proved to be successful and therefore, in his current incarnation would find that his interests lied in "the glorification of the Father, the Son, through the spirit of truth that abides with those that seek" (256-5). His responsibility in his current incarnation would be to keep his peers in line with God by first developing or revisiting his own mental capabilities, later expressing them outwardly toward others.

The third aspect of karma described by Bro was opportunities, which explained that many opportunities for soul development presented in current incarnations are directly related to relationships, mental and physical developments, uses of station in life, and even educational and vocational advancements occurring in previous incarnations. According to Bro, this aspect looked at life as "you reap what you sow." He described examples of cheating spouses in previous lifetimes being cheated on in the current lifetime by the partner they betrayed, people who caused mental or physical harm onto others in previous lives having to succumb to similar disabilities in the current life, and poverty being placed upon the person who misused their wealth in the name of power in a previous incarnation.

But Bro explained that karma was not just used as a painful repercussion. It was also used to bring forth rewards in current lives after properly using gifts and opportunities or honoring relationships during previous incarnations. A reading given to an individual in 1930 gave light to a previous incarnation in Egypt where the individual was very influential in building mounds and creating symbols, as well as building relationships between individuals through the Creative Force. There was much accomplished in the way of manifestation through physical means, resulting in the individual's appreciation and love of land along with relationships built during those times: In the present experience those conditions of the land mean much to the entity, and the variations as have come to the entity in the feelings as seen in the Egyptians (....) A study of same will bring to the entity a closer relationship with many that the entity associated with during that period. (24-4) In surveying these varying aspects of karma, one could draw the conclusion that karma has a definite affect and is arguably the major foundation for soul development during each incarnation. And as one's soul begins to develop fully through challenging lessons, their karmic obligations will result in response to lives well-lived in all areas of growth, until the time comes where the soul has met its final destination: oneness with God.

In reading Bro's explanation of planetary sojourns, according to Cayce's readings, between earthly incarnations we make mental visitations to other planets in our galaxy to make adjustments to our temperament before returning to the Earth school. As explained by Bro (1989), "we 'go' somewhere appropriate after earthly life to a realm which is more conscious than spatial" (p. 133). Though the Earth school is the place where we do our most significant soul growth, the sojourns to the other planets help to influence us through our emotional makeup so that we have certain desires, dislikes, and creative nudges to help us best fulfill our mission in our earthly incarnation. For example, in my own Edgar Cayce life reading, I was noted as having had soul travels to Venus and Uranus, which gave me high levels of creativity in art, music and writing, all three of which are my absolute passions.

According to Bro (1989), the eight planets, aside from Earth, have some type of unique influence on our temperaments: "Mercury represented the realm of the mental, the intellectual. Venus stood for a sphere of beauty and harmony, both in objects and relationships," while others like Neptune and Pluto focused more on the psychic realms, Uranus delved into extremes and self-sacrifice, Jupiter focused on compassion for mankind, and Saturn focused more on self-improvement and renewal (Bro, 1989, p. 132). These influences help to keep us in line as we learn our karmic lessons. For example, Mars symbolizes "a realm of action and energy as well as anger and aggression," (Bro, 1989, p. 132) so a person who has taken a planetary sojourn to Mars between earthly incarnations may have a tendency toward a bad temper, something that may have to be worked out in the present incarnation due to karmic obligations from a previous incarnation.

A reading that Edgar Cayce gave for a woman in 1934 explained that due to planetary sojourns to Jupiter, Uranus and Venus before her present incarnation, she would have a tendency toward "filial and material love," leaving her with the responsibility of conquering "self in its material desires" (259-8). If she weren't to conquer this influence, "the material things about the body will remain oft in strain" (259-8).

Another reading found that a woman who had made a planetary sojourn to Mercury before her present incarnation would be influenced in the way of "activity of the mental forces, of a mental acumen, giving abilities within the individual in the present that become exceptional in the manner of discernments" (510-1). The reading, however, suggested that she needed to be careful to use her gift appropriately or she would abuse her talents and hinder her soul's development. While all of our planetary influences push us in certain directions during our incarnations, Bro explained that all influences could be overridden by our free will. According to Bro (1989), "no influences of temperament or disposition, correlated with distant spheres, could ever surpass the human will" (p. 134). This means, no matter how much we are influenced by our "negative" innate characteristics, we can always move passed them to a new disposition. And in turn, we can always replace our more "positive" traits with those that are negative. It is our choice.

In Cayce's own life, it is evident that both karma and planetary sojourns were influential in his present incarnation. In particular, Bro gave many examples of Cayce's string of karmic relationships with his wife Gertrude, as well as relationships with his stenographer, Gladys and office volunteer, Mae. The subconscious memories of his past relationships caused a bit of stress in his present life, as he had to learn to diffuse intimate urges toward both ladies in honor of his current relationship with Gertrude.

In another account, the readings asserted that the "central public struggles of his life, in the building and loss of the hospital named after him, came partly from failing in his leadership there [Troy] long ago" (Bro, 1989, p. 227). Bro also mentioned a suicide in his Troy lifetime that strongly affected him in the present. According to Bro (1989), "the self-violence of suicide had magnified, the readings indicated, a tendency to a 'quick temper,' with its 'unexpected' flashing out at even those closest to him" (p. 226).

In the realm of planetary sojourns, Bro (1989) found that Cayce was affected by Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter and Mercury, giving him the drive to "push so far in service" as in previous lifetimes in Egypt and Persia, though he was also inclined to "push just as forcefully in other directions not so promising" (p. 226 - 227). Again, the karmic obligations and planetary influences show that Cayce was not exempt from lessons necessary on the path to soul development. Throughout the duration of Cayce's life, he seemed to be held captive by the enormous demands of his transpersonal experiences. His readings were amazing in essence and detail, but left Cayce, the human man with flaws and the divine, existential narrator, to balance two very different, yet co-dependent worlds. His major ups and downs leave one to feel compassion for his determination to stay afloat during the stormy seas of a spiritual off-season. But I think we can rest assured that if he is on the "other side" reviewing this earthly incarnation, he is smiling fondly on his strong attempts at honoring his unique calling by living a life of service, and becoming what Bro (1989) called the "ultimate purpose of the whole vast drama": a person "of stature, on fire with such love as the Christ had known" (p. 207).

References

Bro, H. H. (1989). A seer out of season. New York: NAL Books. Cayce, Edgar. (1928).
Edgar Cayce Readings. Virginia Beach: Edgar Cayce Foundation.Cayce, Edgar. (1930).
Edgar Cayce Readings. Virginia Beach: Edgar Cayce Foundation.Cayce, Edgar. (1934).
Edgar Cayce Readings. Virginia Beach: Edgar Cayce Foundation.