Edgar Cayce ( / ˈ k eɪ s iː / ; March 18, 1877 – January 3, 1945) was an American clairvoyant who claimed he could diagnose illnesses and suggest treatments while sleeping. He recorded these experiences in thousands of sessions, answering questions about healing, reincarnation, dreams, the afterlife, past lives, nutrition, Atlantis, and future events. Cayce stated he was a devout Christian and did not believe in spiritualism or communication with spirits. He is considered a founder of the New Age movement and a key influence on many of its beliefs.

In 1931, Cayce created a non-profit group called the Association for Research and Enlightenment. In 1942, a widely read and supportive biography titled There Is a River was written about Cayce by journalist Thomas Sugrue.

Background

Cayce was influenced by many different traditions and ideas. During the Second Great Awakening, Thomas and Alexander Campbell started the Disciples of Christ, a church that aimed to return to the original teachings and practices of Christianity. Cayce was raised in this group.

Mesmerism inspired Phineas Parkhurst Quimby to create the New Thought Movement, which encouraged the use of medical clairvoyants. One of Quimby's patients, Mary Baker Eddy, later founded Christian Science, a new religious movement. Spiritualism influenced Helena Blavatsky, who created Theosophy. Blavatsky's writings discussed topics such as reincarnation, Atlantis, root races, and the Akashic Records.

Homeopathy and Osteopathy were types of alternative medicine that were not based on science and were common during Cayce's time. Cayce first credited his healing to an osteopath and later worked with one.

Life

Edgar Cayce first became famous locally for losing his voice but being able to speak during hypnosis. At first, he said his voice returned on its own without explanation. Later, he credited a local osteopath with helping him regain his voice. The osteopath hired Cayce as a medical clairvoyant who could supposedly diagnose patients from a distance using supernatural methods. After going bankrupt, Cayce returned to working as a medical clairvoyant, partnering with homeopath Wesley Ketchum. In 1910, Ketchum described Cayce’s readings in an article published in the New York Times. After a disagreement with Ketchum, Cayce moved to Selma, Alabama. A collaboration with printer Arthur Lammers led Cayce to Dayton, Ohio. The last years of his life were spent in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he managed an institute he created.

An October 10, 1922, article in the Birmingham Post-Herald reported that Cayce had given 8,056 readings up to that point. He later recorded about 13,000 to 14,000 additional readings. Other abilities linked to Cayce included astral projection, prophecy, mediumship, access to the Akashic records, Book of Life, seeing auras, astrology, and interpreting dreams.

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

In December 1893, the Cayce family moved to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where they lived at 705 West Seventh Street. Cayce completed an eighth-grade education, but his schooling ended in ninth grade because his family could not afford further education.

On March 14, 1897, Cayce became engaged to Gertrude Evans. In September, news reported that Cayce had taken a job with John P. Morton and moved to Louisville. He began an apprenticeship at a photography studio in Hopkinsville and became skilled in the trade.

In February 1900, a stage hypnotist named Hart performed in Hopkinsville. Hart returned to the town in 1903. Later, Hart was said to have hypnotized Cayce in an attempt to restore his voice.

According to a 1901 newspaper account, on April 18, 1900, Cayce lost his voice and could only speak in whispers. This condition forced him to leave his job as a salesman and work in photography instead. In May 1900, newspapers reported that Cayce could only speak in whispers except when under hypnosis, when his voice returned. In June, papers noted Cayce was attending business college in Louisville. On February 12, 1901, newspapers reported that Cayce awoke with his voice suddenly and inexplicably recovered.

In April 1902, Cayce wrote a public statement saying his cured voice was due to treatment by "Osteopath and Electro-Magnetical Doctor" A.C. Layne.

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

Cayce married Gertrude Evans on June 17, 1903, and she moved to Bowling Green. By June 24, newspapers reported that Cayce entered a trance to help Layne diagnose a patient who was not physically present. Cayce denied being a spiritualist, stating he was an active member of the Christian Church. An article from 1904 noted Cayce’s refusal to charge for medical readings. In 1904, Cayce claimed he had created the card game Pit and sent it to Parker Brothers.

Cayce and his wife had three children: Hugh Lynn Cayce (1907–1982), Milton Porter Cayce (1911–1911), and Edgar Evans Cayce (1918–2013). Layne shared information about Cayce’s trance readings with professionals at a boarding house (one of whom was a magistrate and journalist), leading state medical authorities to force him to close his practice. Cayce left to earn osteopathic qualifications in Franklin.

Cayce and a relative opened a photography studio in Bowling Green, but it burned down on December 25, 1906. His first son was born on March 16, 1907, and a second fire destroyed the studio later that year. In January 1908, Cayce asked the Nashville Banner newspaper about the phase of the moon at a specific time in 1864. In 1908, Cayce declared bankruptcy.

Wesley Harrington Ketchum was born on November 11, 1878, in Lisbon, Ohio, to Saunders C. Ketchum and Bertha Bennett. He was the oldest of seven children. Ketchum graduated from the Cleveland College of Homeopathic Medicine in 1904 and practiced medicine in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, until 1912. In 1913, Ketchum moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, via San Francisco, 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. In 1964, Ketchum wrote The Discovery of Edgar Cayce, published by the A.R.E. Press.

Ketchum was a homeopath who worked with Cayce from 1910 to 1912. After declaring bankruptcy, Cayce found work at the H. P. Tresslar photography firm.

In the fall of 1910, Cayce gained more attention for his medical readings. On October 9, 1910, The New York Times published a story titled "Illiterate Man Becomes a Doctor When Hypnotized" about Cayce.

On October 20, 1910, Hopkinsville newspapers announced Cayce’s return to town, with

Legacy

Gina Cerminara wrote the 1950 book Many Mansions, which examines Cayce's work. In 1963, psychic Ruth Montgomery made Cayce's predictions about a major Earth event, called a "polar shift," more widely known. In 1967, journalist Jess Stearn wrote a biography of Cayce titled The Sleeping Prophet. A book about Cayce and Atlantis was published in 1968. In 1968, Curt Gentry's novel The Last Days of the Late, Great State of California described a major earthquake in California that Cayce had predicted in 1941.

In 1970, David Kahn's book My Life With Edgar Cayce was published after his death. That same year, a book about Cayce's interpretations of the Dead Sea Scrolls was released. In 1971, Cayce's two sons, Edgar Evans Cayce and Hugh Lynn Cayce, wrote The Outer Limits of Edgar Cayce's Power. In 1974, Cayce's predictions were included in a book titled California Superquake: 1975-77. In 1978, followers of Cayce reported a partnership with Stanford Research Institute, a group that studies psychic phenomena and is not connected to Stanford University. During the 1980s, New Age author Lori Toye promoted a map called "I Am America," inspired by Cayce's ideas about changes to Earth.

Religious historian Mitch Horowitz says Cayce helped spread key ideas of New Age spirituality, especially the belief that all religions share common values. In 2019, he noted that Cayce's teachings combined Christian moral ideas with beliefs about karma and reincarnation from Hindu and Buddhist traditions, as well as the Hermetic idea that humans are connected to the Divine. Cayce also emphasized the power of the mind, stating, "the spiritual is the LIFE; the mental is the BUILDER; the physical is the RESULT," which connected his ideas to New Thought, Christian Science, and mental healing practices.

Reception and controversy

Cayce promoted unproven historical ideas during his trance readings, including the belief in lost continents like Lemuria, Mu, and Atlantis, as well as the discredited theory of polygenism. In many trance sessions, he described different versions of Earth's history. One of Cayce's controversial ideas was polygenism, which claimed that five races (white, black, red, brown, and yellow) were created separately and at the same time in different parts of the world. He believed in the existence of aliens and Atlantis, stating that the red race developed in Atlantis and grew quickly. He also thought that "soul-entities" on Earth mixed with animals to create beings like giants, who were as tall as 12 feet (3.7 meters). Cayce predicted "Earth Changes," a series of major events, including a polar shift that would cause Atlantis to rise from the ocean.

In his 2003 book The Skeptic's Dictionary, philosopher and skeptic Robert Todd Carroll wrote that Cayce was responsible for some of the more unusual ideas about Atlantis. Carroll mentioned Cayce's belief in a giant crystal on Atlantis that could harness energy from the sun and his prediction that the United States would rediscover a death ray used on Atlantis in 1958.

During the 1930s, Cayce incorrectly predicted that North America would face major destruction, saying cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York would be damaged. He also claimed the Second Coming of Christ would happen in 1998.

Science writers and skeptics argue that Cayce's reported psychic abilities were not real. Evidence of his supposed clairvoyance came from newspaper articles, personal statements, and books, not from scientific testing that can be checked by others. Martin Gardner wrote that many of Cayce's trance readings included information from books he had read, such as those by Carl Jung, P. D. Ouspensky, and Helena Blavatsky. Gardner said Cayce's readings included small pieces of information from these books, mixed with some new ideas from his own mind. Michael Shermer wrote in Why People Believe Weird Things (1997) that Cayce, who had limited formal education, gained knowledge through reading and used it to create elaborate stories. Shermer noted that Cayce had a tendency to imagine fantastical events, such as speaking with angels and seeing visions of his dead grandfather. Magician James Randi observed that Cayce often used phrases like "I feel that" and "perhaps" to avoid making strong claims. Investigator Joe Nickell also criticized Cayce's work.

Cayce's organization, the Association for Research and Enlightenment, has been criticized for promoting unscientific ideas. Health experts have questioned Cayce's unusual medical treatments, such as his support for unproven diets and homeopathic remedies, which they consider unreliable. Science writer Karen Stollznow wrote that Cayce promoted unscientific ideas like food combining and the alkaline diet. He believed that people should eat 80% of their food from sources that make the body more alkaline. He also claimed certain foods should not be eaten together, such as milk with citrus fruits, coffee with cream or milk, or sugary foods with starchy foods. Cayce also believed that even healthy foods could harm the body if a person was in a negative mood.

Timeline

• 1901 – Reported losing his voice
• 1902 – Moved to Bowling Green
• 1903 – Married Gertrude Evans on June 17
• 1904 – Opened a photography studio in Bowling Green
• 1909 – Moved to Alabama
• 1910 – An article in the New York Times titled "Illiterate Man Becomes a Doctor When Hypnotized" was published about Cayce
• 1910 – Returned to Hopkinsville to work as a medical clairvoyant
• 1911 – Reported that his voice was restored through his own medical clairvoyance
• 1912 – Moved to Selma, Alabama. Worked with the Cayce Petroleum Company to find oil in Texas. Gave a national lecture tour
• 1917 – The Association of National Investigators Inc. (ANI) was founded in May
• 1923 – Met Arthur Lammers
• 1925 – Moved to Virginia Beach in September
• 1929 – The Cayce Hospital opened in February
• 1930 – Atlantic University was chartered in May
• 1931 – The ANI, hospital, and university collapsed
• 1931 – The Association for Research and Enlightenment Inc. was formed
• 1935 – Cayce, his wife, and son were arrested in Detroit. Cayce was convicted of practicing medicine without a license and received probation
• 1942 – A biography titled There Is a River was published in December
• 1943 – An article titled "Miracle Man of Virginia Beach" was published in the September issue of Coronet
• 1944 – Cayce suffered a stroke in September
• 1945 – Cayce died on January 3
• 1999 – Cayce’s autobiography My Life as a Seer; The Lost Memoirs was published posthumously.