Edgar Cayce, known as “the Sleeping Prophet,” was a successful psychic healer who gave up his job as a photographer to publish healing readings and perform “life readings” and predictions. He accessed the Akashik records in a trans state to issue readings. Skeptics argue his accuracy was no better than chance, but believers say his accurate predictions and medical diagnoses outweigh the odds. Cayce died in 1945, but his life and prophecies continue to be studied.
Edgar Cayce (1877-1945), also known as “the Sleeping Prophet,” was the world’s best-documented and perhaps most successful psychic healer. A photographer by trade, Cayce eventually gave up his job to publish full-time healing readings for which he would only accept donations. In addition to healing readings, Cayce also performed “life readings” or reincarnation and made predictions about the future. A devoted disciple of Christ who read the Bible at least once a year, Cayce often disagreed with himself about his personal experiences versus his religious teachings.
Edgar Cayce was born on March 18, 1877 in Beverly, a small farming town outside of Hopkinsville Kentucky. After completing high school, young Cayce took various local jobs and eventually worked as an insurance agent and book seller. Shortly afterwards he was stricken with a condition which deprived him of his voice. Despite his search for medical attention, nothing helped and he took up photography, apprenticing at a local portrait studio in Hopkinsville.
In 1901 “Hart, the King of Laughter,” a traveling entertainer and hypnotist was performing in Hopkinsville and heard of Cayce’s laryngitis. He offered to heal Cayce on stage during a show. Cayce agreed and was put under trans hypnosis and given a suggestion that his voice was healed. Presumably Cayce’s voice returned, but the affliction remained when he was taken out as trans. Hart tried a post hypnotic suggestion which failed.
While Hart had to move to other cities, a local hypnotist named Al Layne agreed to treat Cayce. On the advice of a New York specialist who had heard of the case, Layne suggested that Cayce describe her condition and treat her while she was under trans hypnosis. Cayce used “we” when he referred to himself in the trans voice, a characteristic third-person reference that would mark future sessions. The “third person voice” reported that the ailment was psychosomatic and could be cured by increasing blood flow to the larynx. Layne issued a hypnotic suggestion to increase blood flow, and Cayce’s voice reportedly returned after applying this suggestion for about twenty minutes. Although Cayce suffered relapses, he presumably reapplied the technique to eventually affect a permanent cure.
Layne had a keen interest in exploring the limits of the “trans healing voice” and asked Cayce to describe his own illnesses and suggest treatments. Cayce’s diagnoses of Layne and suggested treatments were reportedly effective and were published in local newspapers. Layne told Cayce that he should perform healing services for the public, to which Cayce finally agreed on the condition that the readings would be free. Initially the readings were local, but Cayce was soon inundated with mail from all over the world. Eventually he asked for donations to support him and his family, allowing him to read full-time.
In a typical sitting Edgar Cayce reclined on the sofa, hands folded on his chest, eyes closed. Cayce said that by entering a trans state he could access the Akashik records, a proposed non-physical plane that contains all knowledge, past, present and future. Cayce believed the Akashik records were accessible to anyone who could tap into the right state of mind. From this state Cayce issued readings in response to letters read by an assistant, usually his wife.
In addition to healings, Edgar Cayce also interpreted dreams and gave life readings in which he supposedly conveyed information to people about other lives and relationships. A common theme of Cayce’s was the Atlantean period, during which he claimed to have lived. He also believed that many contemporaries were reincarnated souls from the Atlantean period.
Cayce has also made predictions about the future, some of which have not come true. These include references to earth changes that suggest a possible pole shift and the destruction of California by falling into the ocean, which some Cayce devotees say should have occurred by 1998. However, Cayce equally emphasized free will and its ability to change or alter things to come, even events that seem predestined.
Of her readings, Cayce is quoted as saying that people should only join the readings if it made the recipient a better person. Edgar Cayce reportedly gave approximately 22,000 readings during his lifetime, of which approximately 14,000 have been preserved. Upon exiting the trans Cayce claimed she was unaware of what was said, but the task was physically exhausting and Cayce fell into poor health. Nonetheless he continued, citing great pressure to account to the many people who solicited his help. Edgar Cayce died on January 3, 1945 after suffering a stroke the previous day. Cayce was 67 years old.
Skeptics argue that Cayce’s accuracy was no better than chance and that much of his success can be attributed to a kind of “true believer” syndrome. Many skeptics of his time tried to uncover the deception, but none were successful. Believers say the many accurate predictions and thousands of medical diagnoses of Edgar Cayce, a man with no medical training, far outweigh the odds. Examples from his vast body of work seem to defy explanation according to modern science.
Today Edgar Cayce remains an enigmatic figure with a devoted following. Some consider him the father of the New Age movement and the most prolific channeler of modern times. Many continue to study his life and his prophecies.
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