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Edgar Cayce

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Edgar Cayce
Cayce c. 1910
Born(1877-03-18)March 18, 1877
DiedJanuary 3, 1945(1945-01-03) (aged 67)
Resting placeRiverside Cemetery, Hopkinsville, Kentucky
NationalityAmerican
Occupations
Known forFounder of Association for Research and Enlightenment
Spouse
Gertrude Evans
(m. 1903⁠–⁠1945)
Children3, including Hugh Lynn (1907–1982)
Edgar Evans (1918–2013)
Parent(s)Leslie B. Cayce
Carrie Cayce
Websiteedgarcayce.org

Edgar Cayce (/ˈks/; March 18, 1877 – January 3, 1945) was an American attributed clairvoyant who purported to trance and give readings, often claiming to diagnoses disease and recommending treatments for ailments.[1] During the sessions, Cayce would answer questions on a variety of subjects such as healing, reincarnation, dreams, the afterlife, past lives, nutrition, Atlantis, and future events. Cayce 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.[2]

As a clairvoyant, Cayce collaborated with a variety of individuals including osteopath Al Layne, homeopath Wesley Ketchum, printer Arthur Lammers, and Wall Street broker Morton Blumenthal. In 1931, Cayce founded a non-profit organization, the Association for Research and Enlightenment.[3]


Background

[edit]

Cayce was influenced by a variety of traditions and sources. During the Second Great Awakening, Thomas and Alexander Campbell founded the Disciples of Christ, a church which sought to restore the original Christian teachings and practices.

Mesmerism influenced Phineas Parkhurst Quimby's New Thought Movement which promoted the practice of medical clairvoyants. One of Quimby's patients, Mary Baker Eddy, later founded her own new religious movement, Christian Science. The Fox Sisters's Spiritualism influenced Helena Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy. Blavatksy's writings detailed topics like reincarnation, Atlantis, Root races. and the Akashic Records.

Homeopathy and Osteopathy were pseudoscientific forms of alternative medicine prevalent in Cayce's lifetime.[4][5][6]

Life

[edit]

Overview

[edit]

Edgar Cayce first achieved local notoriety for having lost his voice yet having been able to speak during hypnosis. After initially reporting his voice had spontaneously and inexplicably returned on its own, he later began publicly crediting a local osteopath with having restored his voice. The osteopath began employing Cayce as a medical clairvoyant who could reportedly diagnose patients at a distance through supernatural means. After declaring bankruptcy, Cayce returned to the role of medical clairvoyant, collaborating with homeopath Wesley Ketchum. In 1910, Ketchum's description of Cayce's readings was covered in a widely-reprinted story in the New York Times. When a falling out with Ketchum occurred, Cayce travelled to Selma, Alabama. An additional collaboration with printer Arthur Lammers led Cayce to Dayton, Ohio. The final chapter of his life was spent in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he oversaw an institute of his own creation.

An October 10, 1922 Birmingham Post-Herald article quotes Cayce as saying that he had given 8,056 readings to date. He recorded some 13,000 to 14,000 readings after that date.[7] Other abilities attributed to Cayce include astral projection, prophecy, mediumship, access to the Akashic records, Book of Life, and seeing auras, astrology and dreamwork.[8][page needed]

Early life in Kentucky

[edit]

Cayce was born on March 18, 1877, in Christian County, Kentucky. His parents, Carrie Elizabeth (née Major) and Leslie Burr Cayce,[9] were farmers and the parents of six children. Cayce was raised in the Disciples of Christ.[10]

In December 1893, the Cayce family moved to Hopkinsville, Kentucky; they lived at 705 West Seventh, on the southeast corner of Seventh and Young Streets. Cayce received an eighth-grade education. Cayce's education ended in ninth grade because his family could not afford the cost.[11]

On March 14, 1897, Cayce became engaged to Gertrude Evans. In September, papers announced Cayce had taken a position with John P. Morton and left for Louisville.[12] He began an apprenticeship at the photography studio of W. R. Bowles in Hopkinsville, and became proficient in his trade.[13]

1900 loss of voice

[edit]

In February 1900, Hart the Laugh King, a stage hypnotist, performed in Hopkinsville.[14] He would return to Hopkinsville in 1903. Decades later, Hart would be named as having hypnotized Cayce in an attempt to restore his voice.[15][16]

According to a 1901 newspaper account, on the night of April 18, 1900, Cayce lost his voice and was unable to speak above a whisper. The condition reportedly forced him to leave his job as a salesman for work in photography instead.[17] In May 1900, the local paper reported that Cayce had been unable to speak above a whisper except when under hypnosis, when his voice returned.[18] In June, papers reported Cayce was attending business college in Louisville.[19] On February 12, 1901, papers reported Cayce had awoken with his voice spontaneously and inexplicably recovered.[20]

Relationship with Al Layne

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The following year, in April 1902, Cayce authored a public endorsement that attributed his cured voice to the treatment of "Osteopath and Electro-Magnetical Doctor" A.C. Layne.[21]

In May 1902, Cayce got a job in a bookshop in Bowling Green, Kentucky.[22] He returned to Hopkinsville to visit his parents in September.[23] The following January, he returned to the town to attend his sister's wedding.[24]

Cayce and Gertrude Evans married on June 17, 1903, and she moved to Bowling Green.[25] By June 24, papers published stories of Cayce going into a trance to help osteopath A.C. Lane diagnosis a patient who was not physically present. Cayce denied being a spiritualist, saying he was an active member of the Christian Church.[26] A 1904 article mentioned his refusal to charge for readings.[27]

They had three children: Hugh Lynn Cayce (1907–1982), Milton Porter Cayce (1911–1911), and Edgar Evans Cayce (1918–2013).[9][28] Layne revealed the activity to the professionals at the boarding house (one of whom was a magistrate and journalist), and the state medical authorities forced him to close his practice.[better source needed] He left to acquire osteopathic qualifications in Franklin. [29]

Cayce and a relative opened a photographic studio in Bowling Green. [30] On December 25, 1906, a fire burned down the Cayce photo studio.[31] His first son was born on March 16, 1907. Later that year, a second fire burned down his studio. In January 1908, he authored a query to the newspaper about the phase of the moon at a certain time in 1864.[32] In 1908, he declared bankruptcy.[33]

Relationship with Wesley Ketchum

[edit]
1922 oval photo of Wesley Harrington Ketchum
Wesley Harrington Ketchum. Ketchum was born in Lisbon, Ohio on November 11, 1878, to Saunders C. Ketchum and Bertha Bennett, and was the oldest of seven children. He graduated from the Cleveland College of Homeopathic Medicine in 1904,[34] and practiced medicine in Hopkinsville, Kentucky until 1912. Ketchum went to Honolulu, Hawaii via San Francisco in 1913, and opened a new practice. He returned to California in 1918 and established an office in Palo Alto, practicing there until the 1950s. Ketchum retired to southern California around 1963, settling in San Marino (near Pasadena). In 1964, Ketchum wrote The Discovery of Edgar Cayce, published by the A.R.E. Press.[35] He died on November 28, 1968, in Canoga Park.

Wesley Harrington Ketchum was a homeopath who worked with Cayce from 1910 to 1912.[36][37] Cayce found work at the H. P. Tresslar photography firm.[38]

New York Times October 9,1910 article on Edgar Cayce

On October 10, 1910, Cayce was profiled by the New York Times in a story titled "Illiterate Man Becomes a Doctor When Hypnotized".[39]

“The medical fraternity of the country is taking a lively interest in the strange power said to be possessed by Edgar Cayce of Hopkinsville, Ky., to diagnose difficult diseases while in a semi-conscious state, though he has not the slightest knowledge of medicine when not in this condition.

During a visit to California last Summer Dr. W. H. Ketchum, who was attending a meeting of the National Society of Homeopathic Physicians had occasion to mention the young man’s case and I was invited to discuss it at a banquet attended by about thirty-five of the doctors of the Greek letter fraternity given at Pasadena.

Dr. Ketchum made a speech of considerable length, giving an explanation of the strange psychic powers manifested by Cayce during the last four years during which time he has been more or less under his observation. This talk created such widespread interest among the 700 doctors present that one of the leading Boston medical men who heard his speech invited Dr. Ketchum to prepare a paper as a part of the programme of the September meeting of the American Society of Clinical Research. Dr. Ketchum sent the paper, but did not go to Boston. The paper was read by Henry E. Harpower, M.D., of Chicago, a contributor to the Journal of the American Medical Association, published in Chicago. Its presentation created a sensation, and almost before Dr. Ketchum knew that the paper had been given to the press he was deluged with letters and telegrams inquiring about the strange case. …

Dr. Ketchum wishes it distinctly understood that his presentation is purely ethical, and that he attempts no explanation of what must be classed as a mysterious mental phenomena.

Dr. Ketchum is not the only physician who has had opportunity to observe the workings of Mr. Cayce’s subconscious mind. For nearly ten years and strange power has been known to local physicians of all the recognized schools. An explanation of the case is best understood from Dr. Ketchum’s description in his paper read in Boston a few days ago, which follows:

‘About four years ago I made the acquaintance of a young man 28 years old, who had the reputation of being a ‘freak.’ They said he told wonderful truths while he was asleep. I, being interested, immediately began to investigate, and as I was ‘from Missouri,’ I had to be shown.

‘And truly, when it comes to anything psychical, every layman is a disbeliever from the start, and most of our chosen professions will not accept anything of a psychic nature, hypnotism, mesmerism, or what not, unless vouched for by some M.D. away up in the professions and one whose orthodox standing is questioned.

‘By suggestion he becomes unconscious to pain of any sort, and, strange to say, his best work is done when he is seemingly ‘dead to the world.’

‘My subject simply lies down and folds his arms, and by auto-suggestion goes to sleep. While in this sleep, which to all intents and purposes is a natural sleep, his objective mind is completely inactive and only his subjective is working.

‘I next give him the name of my subject and the exact location of the same, and in a few minutes he begins to talk as clearly and distinctly as any one. He usually goes into minute detail in diagnosing a case, and especially if it is a very serious case.

His language is usually of the best, and his psychologic terms and description of the nervous anatomy would do credit to any professor of nervous anatomy, and there is no faltering in his speech and all his statements are clear and concise. He handles the most complex ‘jaw breakers’ with as much ease as any Boston physician, which to me is quite wonderful, in view of the fact that while in his normal state he is an illiterate man, especially along the line of medicine, surgery, or pharmacy, of which he knows nothing.'”

In October 1910, a stock company was set up to make use of Cayce's entranced disease diagnoses.[40][41] In November 1910, Cayce's photography studio was advertised in the local paper.[42]

In 1911, press accounts told of Layne having cured Cayce by consulting Cayce's own reading while under hypnosis.[43]

In 1911, Cayce was briefly mentioned in an encyclopedia.[44] In 1912, Cayce and his father filed suit for $28,000 against A.D. Noe Sr. and Jr. who had been under contract to assist in the medical clairvoyant practice.[45][46]

Cayce and Gertrude lost their second child. Gertrude later became ill with tuberculosis. According to Cayce's account, in 1912 he discovered that Ketchum had gambled with their money. As a result, Cayce quit the company immediately and returned to the Tresslar photography firm in Selma, Alabama.[47][48] In March 1913, papers covered a breach of contract lawsuit involving Cayce's business.[49]

1912–1923: Selma period

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See caption
Historical marker in front of the Selma building that housed Cayce's studio, where he lived and worked from 1912 to 1923

On February 8, 1917, an event in New York was held supposedly receiving a telepathic message from Cayce, who was in Alabama.[50] In 1920, Cayce's claims were published along with a suggestion that he would soon host Arthur Conan Doyle.[51][52]

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.[53] Some people wanted to know where to hunt for treasure, and others wanted to know the outcome of horse races.[54]

In June 1922, Cayce advertised free baby picture day at his studio in Selma.[55] On October 10, 1922, Cayce was profiled about his medical clairvoyance.[56] In November, he gave a talk to a Birmingham women's group.[57]

In September 1923 he hired Gladys Davis, who wold serve as his secretary for the next two decades, transcribing his readings in shorthand.[58] By October, he was associated with the "Cayce Institute of Psychic Research".[59]

Relationship with Arthur Lammers

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Arthur Lammers, a wealthy printer and student of metaphysics, persuaded Cayce to give readings on philosophical subjects in 1923.[60] He told Cayce that in his trance state, he spoke about Lammers' past lives and reincarnation (in which Lammers believed). Reincarnation was a popular contemporary subject, but is not an accepted part of Christian doctrine. Because of this, Cayce questioned his stenographer about what he said in his trance state and remained unconvinced. He challenged Lammers' statement that he had validated astrology and reincarnation:

Cayce: I said all that? ... I couldn't have said all that in one reading.
Lammers: No. But you confirmed it. You see, I have been studying metaphysics for years, and I was able by a few questions, by the facts you gave, to check what is right and what is wrong with a whole lot of the stuff I've been reading. The important thing is that the basic system which runs through all the religions, is backed up by you.[61]

Cayce's stenographer recorded the following:

In this we see the plan of development of those individuals set upon this plane, meaning the ability to enter again into the presence of the Creator and become a full part of that creation.
Insofar as this entity is concerned, this is the third appearance on this plane, and before this one, as the monk. We see glimpses in the life of the entity now as were shown in the monk, in this mode of living. The body is only the vehicle ever of that spirit and soul that waft through all times and ever remain the same.

Cayce was unconvinced that he had been referring to reincarnation, but Lammers believed that the reading "open[ed] up the door" and continued to share his beliefs and knowledge with him.[62] Lammers seemed intent upon convincing Cayce, because he felt that the reading confirmed his own strongly-held beliefs.[63]

Lammers asked Cayce to come to Dayton, Ohio to pursue metaphysical truth via the readings, and Cayce eventually agreed. Cayce produced considerable metaphysical information in Dayton, which he tried to reconcile with Christianity.[64]

Lammers, who wanted to determine the purpose of Cayce's clairvoyant readings, wanted to put up money for an organization supporting Cayce's healing methods. Cayce decided to accept the work, and asked his family to join him in Dayton as soon as possible. By the time the Cayce family arrived near the end of 1923, however, Lammers was in financial difficulties.[65]

At this time, Cayce directed himself to readings centered around health. The remedies reportedly channeled often involved electrotherapy, ultraviolet light, diet, massage, less mental work and more relaxation. They were noticed by the American Medical Association, and Cayce felt that it was time to legitimize his operations with the aid of licensed medical practitioners. He reported that in a trance in 1925, "the voice" advised him to move to Virginia Beach, Virginia.[A]

Relationship with Morton Blumenthal

[edit]
Large white building with many steps and blue awnings
The Cayce Hospital in 2006

By 1925, Cayce was a professional psychic with a small staff of employees and volunteers.[67] Cayce's readings increasingly had occult or esoteric themes.[68] Morton Blumenthal (who worked at the New York Stock Exchange with his trader brother) became interested in the readings, shared Cayce's outlook, and offered to finance his vision; Blumenthal bought the Cayces a house in Virginia Beach.[69]

The Association of National Investigations was incorporated in Virginia 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. To protect against prosecution, anyone requesting a reading was required to join the association and agree that they were participating in an experiment in psychic research. Moseley Brown, head of the psychology department at Washington and Lee University, became convinced of the readings and joined the association in early 1928.[70] In August 1928, Dr. Edgar Cayce was listed as bible class teacher affiliated with the local presbyterian church.[71] On October 11, 1928, the dedication ceremony of the hospital complex was held. The complex contained a lecture hall, library, vault for storage of the readings, and offices for researchers. There was also a large living room, a 12-car garage, servants' quarters, and a tennis court. It contained "the largest lawn, in fact the only lawn, between the Cavalier and Cape Henry". Its first patient was admitted the following day.[72]

The facility enabled checking and rechecking the remedies, Cayce's goal. There were consistent remedies for many illnesses (regardless of the patient), and Cayce hoped to produce a compendium for use by the medical profession. Shankar A. Bhisey, a chemist who also used "clairvoyant knowledge" to produce medicines, collaborated with Cayce to produce atomidine.[73]

The raison d'être for the cures was the "assimilation of needed properties through the digestive system, from food taken into the body ... [All treatments, including all schools and types of treatment, were given in order to establish] the proper equilibrium of the assimilating system."[74] Salt packs, poultices, hot compresses, chromotherapy, magnetism, vibrator treatment, massage, osteopathic manipulation, dental therapy, colonics, enemas, antiseptics, inhalants, homeopathy, essential oils, and mud baths were prescribed. Substances included oils, salts, herbs, iodine, witch hazel, magnesia, bismuth, alcohol, castoria, lactated pepsin, turpentine, charcoal, animated ash, soda, cream of tartar, aconite, laudanum, camphor, and gold solution. These were prescribed to overcome conditions that prevented proper digestion and assimilation of needed nutrients from the prescribed diet. The aim of the readings was to produce a healthy body, removing the cause of a specific ailment. Readings would indicate if the patient's recovery was problematic.[75]

There was a months-long waiting list.[76] Blumenthal and Brown had ambitious plans for a university dwarfing the hospital and a "parallel service for the mind and spirit", rivaling other universities in respectability. The university was scheduled to open on September 22, 1930. On September 16, Blumenthal called a meeting of the association and took over the hospital to curb expenses. He ended his support of the university after the first semester, and closed the association on February 26, 1931. Cayce removed the files of his readings from the hospital and brought them home.[77]

During the Depression, Cayce turned his attention to spiritual teachings. In 1931, his friends and family asked him how they could become psychic. Out of this apparently-simple question came an eleven-year discourse which led to the creation of "study groups". In his altered state, Cayce relayed to the groups that the purpose of life is not to become psychic, but to become a more spiritually-aware and loving person. Study group number one was told that they could "bring light to a waiting world", and the lessons would still be studied in a hundred years. The readings were now about dreams, coincidence (synchronicity), developing intuition, the Akashic records, astrology, past-life relationships, soul mates and other esoteric subjects.

Non-profit formed

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On June 6, 1931, 61 people attended a meeting to carry on Cayce's work and form the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) In July, the new association was incorporated; Cayce returned his house to Blumenthal, and bought another.[78]

People seeking a reading from Cayce were asked to join the A.R.E. This helped insulate Cayce from charges of fortune-telling, which was illegal in some U.S. states, as he was not directly charging a fee for his services but receiving a salary from the member-supported A.R.E. Apart from supporting Cayce and his staff, a major emphasis of the early A.R.E. was the encouragement of small groups devoted to spiritual study, prayer, and meditation.[citation needed]

In November 1931, Cayce, wife Gertrude and secretary Gladys Davis were was arrested for "pretending to tell fortunes."[79] Charges were dismissed.[80] In February 1932, Cayce gave a public lecture on the "Lost Continent of Atlantis".[81]

In 1935, they were again arrested, this time in Detroit for practicing medicine without a license; Cayce was given probation. [82]

His son Hugh Lynn proposed that they develop a library of research into the phenomena and sponsor study groups, with Cayce doing two readings a day. The association accepted this, and Hugh Lynn began publishing a monthly bulletin for association members. The bulletin contained readings on general-interest subjects, interesting cases, book reviews on psychic subjects, health hints from readings, and news about psychic phenomena in other fields.[83]

Hugh Lynn narrowed the mailing list to about 300, and the association's first annual congress was held in June 1932. He procured speakers on metaphysical and psychic subjects, and included public readings by Cayce. Members left the conference eager to start study groups in their own areas. Records were kept of everything which went on in the readings, including Cayce's attitudes and routines. Everything was then checked with the subjects of the readings (most of whom were not present during the reading), and the data was published in a study entitled "100 cases of clairvoyance". However, the scientific consensus was that the experiments were not conducted under test conditions.[84] Hugh Lynn continued to build files of case histories, parallel studies in psychic phenomena, and research readings for the study groups.[85]

Association activities remained simple. Members raised funds for an office, library and vault, which they added to the Cayce residence in 1940–41.[86] Association membership averaged 500 to 600, with the annual turnover about 50 percent. The other half was a solid basis for research, an audience for case studies, pamphlets, and bulletins, including the congress bulletin, which was a yearbook and record of congress events. A mailing list of several thousand served people who remained interested in Cayce's activities.[87]

Members were drawn from a wide variety of Christian denominations, theosophy, Christian Science, and Spiritualism. A.R.E. did not oppose any religious organization.[88]

Both sons served in the military during World War II, and both married: Hugh Lynn in 1941, and Edgar Evans in 1942.[89]

National fame

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A 1942 limited edition preceded the first trade edition of the only biography written during Cayce's lifetime: Thomas Sugrue's There is a River, published in March 1943. Interest in Cayce increased.[90] Cayce attained further national prominence in 1943 after the publication of "Miracle Man of Virginia Beach" in Coronet magazine.[67]

From June 1943 to June 1944, Cayce did 1,385 readings. [91]

Death

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In August 1944, Cayce collapsed. When he took a reading on his situation, he was instructed to rest until he was well or dead. He and Gertrude went to the Virginia mountains, where he had a stroke in September. He died on January 3, 1945, at age 67.[92] Cayce was buried in Riverside Cemetery in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.[93] His wife Gertrude died three months later.[94]

Legacy

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Cayce's clients included Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Edison, Irving Berlin, and George Gershwin.[95]

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.[96][97] A book on Cayce and Atlantis was published in 1968. His sons, Edgar Evans Cayce and Hugh Lynn Cayce, wrote The Outer Limits of Edgar Cayce's Power in 1971.[98]

Reception and controversy

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Cayce advocated pseudohistorical ideas in his trance readings, such as the existence of Atlantis and the discredited theory of polygenism.[99] In many trance sessions, he reinterpreted the history of life on earth. One of Cayce's controversial theories was polygenism. According to Cayce, five races (white, black, red, brown, and yellow) were created separately and simultaneously on different parts of Earth.[99] He accepted the existence of aliens and Atlantis (saying that "the red race developed in Atlantis and its development was rapid"), and believed that "soul-entities" on Earth intermingled with animals to produce "things" such as giants which were as tall as 12 feet (3.7 m).[99]

In his 2003 book The Skeptic's Dictionary, philosopher and skeptic Robert Todd Carroll wrote: "Cayce is one of the main people responsible for some of the sillier notions about Atlantis."[100][101] Carroll cited some of Cayce's discredited ideas, including his belief in a giant crystal (activated by the sun to harness energy and provide power on Atlantis) and his prediction that in 1958, the United States would rediscover a death ray which had been used on Atlantis.[100][101]

During the 1930s, Cayce incorrectly predicted that North America would experience existential chaos: "Los Angeles, San Francisco ... will be among those that will be destroyed before New York".[102] He also predicted that the Second Coming of Christ would occur in 1998.[103]

Science writers and skeptics say that Cayce's reported psychic abilities were faked or non-existent.[101][104][105][106][107][108][109] Health experts are critical of his unorthodox treatments, such as his promotion of pseudoscientific dieting and homeopathic remedies, which they consider quackery.[B]

Evidence of Cayce's reported clairvoyance was derived from newspaper articles, affidavits, anecdotes, testimonials and books, rather than empirical evidence which can be independently evaluated. Martin Gardner wrote that the "verified" claims and descriptions from Cayce's trances can be traced to ideas in books he had been reading by authors such as Carl Jung, P. D. Ouspensky, and Helena Blavatsky. Gardner concluded that Cayce's trance readings contain "little bits of information gleaned from here and there in the occult literature, spiced with occasional novelties from Cayce's unconscious".[112]

Michael Shermer wrote in Why People Believe Weird Things (1997), "Uneducated beyond the ninth grade, Cayce acquired his broad knowledge through voracious reading and from this he wove elaborate tales."[106] According to Shermer, "Cayce was fantasy-prone from his youth, often talking with angels and receiving visions of his dead grandfather." Magician James Randi said, "Cayce was fond of expressions like 'I feel that' and 'perhaps'—qualifying words used to avoid positive declarations."[C] According to investigator Joe Nickell,

Although Cayce was never subjected to proper testing, ESP pioneer Joseph B. Rhine of Duke University—who should have been sympathetic to Cayce's claims—was unimpressed. A reading that Cayce gave for Rhine's daughter was notably inaccurate. Frequently, Cayce was even wider off the mark, as when he provided diagnoses of subjects who had died since the letters requesting the readings were sent.[113]

Science writer Karen Stollznow wrote,

The reality is that his cures were hearsay and his treatments were folk remedies that were useless at best and dangerous at worse ... Cayce wasn't able to cure his own cousin, or his own son who died as a baby. Many of Cayce's readings took place after the patient had already died.[114]

Cayce's Association for Research and Enlightenment has also been criticized for promoting pseudoscience.[106]

Timeline

[edit]
  • 1901 - Report on having lost voice
  • 1902 - Moved to Bowling Green
  • June 17 1903 - Married to Gertrude Evans
  • 1904 - Opened photography studio in Bowling Green
  • 1909 - Moved to Alabama
  • 1910 - New York Times article on Cayce: "Illiterate Man Becomes a Doctor When Hypnotized"
  • 1910 - Returns to Hopkinsville to work as medical clairvoyant
  • 1911 - Report on having his voice restored by his own medical clairvoyance
  • 1912 - Move to Selma, Alabama
  • Cayce Petroleum Company to find oil in Texas
  • National lecture tour
  • 1923 - Met Arthur Lammers
  • Sept 1925 - Move to Virginia Beach
  • May 1917 - Association of Nation Investigators incorporated
  • Feb 1929 - Cayce hospital opens
  • May 1930 - Atlantic University chartered
  • 1931 - ANI, Hospital and University collapse
  • 1931 - Association for Research and Enlightenment incorporated
  • 1935 - Cayce, wife, sone arrested in Detroit; Cayce convinced of practicing medicine without licence given probation
  • Dec 1942 - Cayce bio There is a River published
  • Sept 1943 - Cayce article "Miracle Man of Virginia Beach" published in Coronet
  • Sept 1944 - Cayce suffers stroke
  • Jan 3, 1945 - Cayce dies

See also

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References

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Notes

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  1. ^ "Eventually Edgar Cayce, following advice from his own readings, moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, and set up a hospital."[66]
  2. ^ "Some quacks, such as Edgar Cayce, attributed their powers to God. Cayce, who made his diagnoses while in trance, claimed that his healing powers came from God. To treat patients he used spinal manipulation as well as Red Bug Juice and Oil of Smoke in his cures."[110][111]
  3. ^ "The matter of Edgar Cayce boils down to a vague mass of garbled data, interpreted by true believers who have a very heavy stake in the acceptance of the claims. Put to the test, Cayce is found to be bereft of powers. His reputation today rests on poor and deceptive reporting of the claims made by him and his followers, and such claims do not stand up to examination."[101][105][108][109]

Citations

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  1. ^ Robertson, Robin (2009-02-19). "A Review of "Channeling Your Higher Self." (1989/2007). By Henry Reed". Psychological Perspectives. 52 (1): 131–134. doi:10.1080/00332920802458388. ISSN 0033-2925. S2CID 144635838.
  2. ^ York 1995, p. 60.
  3. ^ "About A.R.E. and Our Mission". Association for Research and Enlightenment. Archived from the original on July 23, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
  4. ^ "Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment". NYU Langone Medical Center. 23 July 2012. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  5. ^
    • Tuomela, R (1987). "Science, Protoscience, and Pseudoscience". In Pitt JC, Marcello P (eds.). Rational Changes in Science. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Vol. 98. Springer. pp. 83–101. doi:10.1007/978-94-009-3779-6_4. ISBN 978-94-010-8181-8. ISSN 0068-0346.

    • Mukerji N, Ernst E (14 September 2022). "Why homoeopathy is pseudoscience". Synthese. 200 (5). doi:10.1007/s11229-022-03882-w. eISSN 1573-0964. S2CID 252297716.

    • Baran GR, Kiana MF, Samuel SP (2014). "Science, Pseudoscience, and Not Science: How do They Differ?". Healthcare and Biomedical Technology in the 21st Century. Springer. pp. 19–57. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-8541-4_2. ISBN 978-1-4614-8540-7. within the traditional medical community it is considered to be quackery

    • Ladyman J (2013). "Chapter 3: Towards a Demarcation of Science from Pseudoscience". In Pigliucci M, Boudry M (eds.). Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem. University of Chicago Press. pp. 48–49. ISBN 978-0-226-05196-3. Yet homeopathy is a paradigmatic example of pseudoscience. It is neither simply bad science nor science fraud, but rather profoundly departs from scientific method and theories while being described as scientific by some of its adherents (often sincerely).
  6. ^ "Homeopathic Physician Licensure". OLR Research Report. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  7. ^ EdgarCayce.org
  8. ^ Bro 2011.
  9. ^ a b "Edgar Cayce's Life Chronology, 1877–1945". Association for Research and Enlightenment. Archived from the original on November 27, 2011. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
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