Edgar Cayce ( / ˈ k eɪ s iː / ; March 18, 1877 – January 3, 1945) was an American person who claimed to see things without using his eyes. He said he could diagnose illnesses and suggest treatments for health problems while sleeping. During thousands of recorded sessions, Cayce answered questions about topics such as healing, reincarnation, dreams, the afterlife, past lives, nutrition, Atlantis, and future events. Cayce stated he was a deeply religious Christian and did not believe in communicating with spirits. He is considered a key figure in the New Age movement and a major influence on many of its beliefs.
In 1931, Cayce created a non-profit group called the Association for Research and Enlightenment. In 1942, a well-known and very supportive biography of Cayce titled There is a River was written by journalist Thomas Sugrue.
Background
Cayce was influenced by many different traditions and sources. During the Second Great Awakening, Thomas and Alexander Campbell started the Disciples of Christ, a church that aimed to bring back the original Christian teachings and practices. Cayce was raised in this group.
Mesmerism influenced Phineas Parkhurst Quimby's New Thought Movement, which supported the use of medical clairvoyants. One of Quimby's patients, Mary Baker Eddy, later started her own religious movement, Christian Science. Spiritualism influenced Helena Blavatsky, who founded Theosophy. Blavatsky's writings covered topics such as reincarnation, Atlantis, Root races, and the Akashic Records.
Homeopathy and Osteopathy were unscientific forms of alternative medicine common during Cayce's time. Cayce initially credited his healing to an osteopath and later worked with one.
Life
Edgar Cayce first became well-known in his local area for losing his voice but being able to speak again during hypnosis. At first, he said his voice came back 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, someone who could supposedly diagnose patients from a distance using supernatural methods. After going bankrupt, Cayce returned to his role as a medical clairvoyant and worked with homeopath Wesley Ketchum. In 1910, Ketchum described Cayce’s readings in an article published in the New York Times, which was widely shared. After a disagreement with Ketchum, Cayce moved to Selma, Alabama. Later, 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 stated that Cayce had given 8,056 readings up to that point. He later recorded between 13,000 and 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 (born Major) and Leslie Burr Cayce, were farmers with six children. Cayce was raised in the Disciples of Christ religious group.
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 family could not afford further schooling.
On March 14, 1897, Cayce became engaged to Gertrude Evans. In September, news reported that Cayce had accepted a job with John P. Morton and left for Louisville. He later began an apprenticeship at a photography studio in Hopkinsville run by W. R. Bowles and became skilled in photography.
In February 1900, a stage hypnotist named Hart the Laugh King performed in Hopkinsville. He returned to the town in 1903. Years later, Hart was said to have hypnotized Cayce to help restore his voice.
According to a 1901 newspaper, on April 18, 1900, Cayce lost his voice and could only whisper. 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 above a whisper except when hypnotized, when his voice returned. In June, papers noted Cayce was attending business college in Louisville. On February 12, 1901, newspapers reported that Cayce’s voice returned on its own.
In April 1902, Cayce wrote a public statement crediting "Osteopath and Electro-Magnetical Doctor" A.C. Layne for curing his voice. In May 1902, Cayce got a job at a bookshop in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He returned to Hopkinsville in September to visit his parents and again in January 1903 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 diagnose a patient who was not present. Cayce denied being a spiritualist, stating he was an active member of the Christian Church. A 1904 article noted that Cayce refused to charge for his medical readings. In 1904, Cayce claimed he created the card game Pit and sent it to Parker Brothers.
Cayce and Gertrude had three children: Hugh Lynn Cayce (1907–1982), Milton Porter Cayce (1911–1911), and Edgar Evans Cayce (1918–2013). Layne shared details 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 Cayce to close his practice. Cayce then 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 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, establishing an office in Palo Alto, where he practiced until the 1950s. Ketchum retired to southern California around 1963 and settled 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 an article titled “Illiterate Man Becomes a Doctor When Hypnotized.” The article stated:
“The medical community is showing interest in Edgar Cayce’s unusual ability to diagnose serious illnesses while in a semi-conscious state, even though he knows nothing about medicine when awake.
During a visit to California last summer, Dr. W. H. Ketchum, who was attending a meeting of the National Society of Homeopathic Physicians, mentioned Cayce’s case and was invited to speak at a banquet attended by about thirty-five doctors. Dr. Ketchum gave a long speech explaining Cayce’s psychic abilities, which created widespread interest among the 700 doctors present. One Boston doctor invited Ketchum to prepare a paper for the September meeting of the American Society of Clinical Research. Ketchum sent the paper but did not attend the meeting in Boston. The paper was
Legacy
Gina Cerminara wrote the 1950 book Many Mansions, which discusses Cayce's work. In 1963, psychic Ruth Montgomery shared Cayce's predictions about a major disaster she called a "polar shift." 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 large 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 readings on 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 mentioned in a book titled California Superquake: 1975-77. In 1978, Cayce's followers reported working with Stanford Research Institute, a psychic research group not connected to Stanford University. In the 1980s, New Age author Lori Toye promoted a map called "I Am America," inspired by Cayce's predictions about Earth changes.
Religious historian Mitch Horowitz says Cayce helped spread important ideas in New Age spirituality, especially the idea of religious universalism. In 2019, he noted: "Cayce's teachings combined a Christian moral view 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's statements about the power of the mind—'the spiritual is the LIFE; the mental is the BUILDER; the physical is the RESULT'—connected his ideas to New Thought, Christian Science, and mental healing."
Reception and controversy
Cayce promoted unproven historical ideas during his trance readings, such as the existence of lost lands like Lemuria, Mu, and Atlantis, and the discredited theory that different human races were created separately. In many trance sessions, he changed the way he described the history of life on Earth. One of Cayce's controversial beliefs was polygenism, which claimed that five human groups (white, black, red, brown, and yellow) were created at the same time in different parts of the world. He believed in aliens and Atlantis, stating that "the red race developed in Atlantis and its growth was fast." 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 shift in Earth's poles 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 a major source of incorrect ideas about Atlantis. Carroll mentioned Cayce's belief in a large crystal that could be powered by the sun to generate energy on Atlantis, and his claim that the United States would discover a weapon used on Atlantis in 1958.
In the 1930s, Cayce incorrectly predicted that North America would face serious problems, saying cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco would be destroyed before New York. 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 for Cayce's claimed abilities came from newspaper reports, personal stories, and books, not from scientific tests that can be checked by others. Martin Gardner noted that many of Cayce's trance readings included ideas from books he had read by authors like Carl Jung, P. D. Ouspensky, and Helena Blavatsky. Gardner said Cayce's trance readings included "bits of information from books about the occult, mixed with some new ideas from his own mind."
Michael Shermer wrote in Why People Believe Weird Things (1997) that Cayce had limited formal education and gained knowledge through reading. He said Cayce often imagined stories and claimed to speak with angels or see visions of his deceased grandfather. Magician James Randi observed that Cayce used phrases like "I feel that" or "perhaps" to avoid making strong claims. Investigator Joe Nickell added that Cayce was never properly tested for his abilities.
Joseph B. Rhine, a scientist who studied psychic abilities, was not impressed by Cayce's claims. A reading Cayce gave for Rhine's daughter was incorrect. Cayce often made mistakes, such as giving medical advice for people who had already died.
Cayce's organization, the Association for Research and Enlightenment, has been criticized for supporting unscientific ideas. Health experts oppose Cayce's unusual treatments, such as his promotion of unproven diets and homeopathic remedies, which they call fake medicine. Science writer Karen Stollznow wrote that Cayce's treatments were based on unverified stories and old folk remedies that were either ineffective or harmful. She noted that Cayce could not help his own cousin or his son, who died as a baby. Many of his readings occurred after patients had already passed away.
Cayce promoted unscientific ideas about food, such as food combining and the alkaline diet. He believed people should eat 80% of their food from sources that make the body more alkaline. He said certain foods should not be eaten together, like milk and citrus fruits, coffee and cream or milk, or sugary foods and starchy foods. He also claimed that even healthy foods could harm the body if a person was in a bad mood.