Famous psychic Edgar Cayce was renowned for his clairvoyant readings, which included predictions, reported healings, and dietary recommendations. Many of his nutritional suggestions are now considered staples of a healthy diet. As a result of his diverse influence, he became a guiding force of the New Age movement after he died in 1945.
(Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Obscurix earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.)
The subject of more than 100 books, Cayce and his teachings have gained a global following. The research center he founded in 1931, known as the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.), houses over 14,000 transcripts of his readings.
However, some elements of his life are less known, even among Cayce enthusiasts. For example, he had an arrest record and created a card game that’s still popular today. Additionally, one writer-educator recently linked Cayce’s abilities to Hinduism. Let’s dive into the facts.
The Chance Encounter that Would Lead to Edgar Cayce’s Fame
Thomas Sugrue was 20 years old when he commenced his studies at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA. There, he formed an unusual friendship with a classmate that would change his life, one with Edgar Cayce’s son.
Sugrue, who had considered entering the priesthood, was a skeptic in all things but his faith. Consequently, he was wary of claims about psychic and clairvoyant phenomena.
However, meeting Hugh Lynn Cayce in 1926 changed that. As roommates, they enjoyed intellectual sparring over metaphysics, ESP, psychic healing, past lives, and other related issues.
Cayce had, as they say in that part of the country, a dog in the fight. His father was Edgar Cayce, a renowned medical clairvoyant. The elder Cayce was living about 250 miles away in Virginia Beach, where he would establish the A.R.E.
Thomas Sugrue’s Journey From Skeptic to Believer
In 1927, Sugrue had two readings with Edgar Cayce. In his biography of the psychic, There Is a River, he recounts how the second reading over Christmas eliminated the doubts he held about Cayce’s abilities. The session delivered a detailed and precise account of Sugrue’s medical health.
Later, the two men seemed to go their separate ways. Cayce’s A.R.E. was growing as he did more and more readings. Meanwhile, Sugrue established himself as a journalist writing for The Herald Tribune and The American Magazine.
Even so, Cayce and Sugrue kept in touch. Eventually, Sugrue appealed to Cayce for help. He had developed severe arthritis, and from 1939 to 1941, Sugrue lived with the Cayce family while he convalesced and followed the treatments suggested in Cayce’s readings.
During that time, Sugrue wrote There Is a River, the only biography of the famous clairvoyant Edgar Cayce published during his life.
Why Publishers Resisted Thomas Sugrue’s Edgar Cayce Biography
Publishers were reluctant to print There Is a River. Only hearsay evidence supported the claims Thomas Sugrue made about Edgar Cayce’s abilities in the book. Moreover, Sugrue’s narrative was obviously sympathetic to Cayce. That said, an unverified personal experience with Cayce’s alleged psychic powers may have led to the belief needed to print a run.
William Sloane was a prominent editor at Holt, Rinehart & Winston when Sugrue submitted his manuscript. A Cayce reading allegedly diagnosed the medical problem of one of Sloane’s sons, which helped him overcome his unwillingness to publish. At least that is the story presented in the 2015 introduction to There Is a River.
Author and podcaster Mitch Horowitz, who wrote the introduction, recounts the story in detail. According to Horowitz, a 1968 New York Times interview by journalist and screenwriter Nora Ephron revealed Sloane’s version of events. However, we have been unable to find a copy of the article. Nor have we found sales figures for this Edgar Cayce biography. Although, we can say that the book boosted Cayce’s prominence and brought a flood of people to the Association for Research and Enlightenment.
How the New York Times First Brought Edgar Cayce to Public Attention with Misinformation
Thomas Sugrue’s book wasn’t Cayce’s first national exposure. A New York Times article, published in 1910, introduced Edgar Cayce to the world. In some ways, it was indicative of the bungled reporting about the psychic. It contained misinformation and relied heavily on anecdotal evidence. The article was titled “Illiterate Man Becomes a Doctor When Hypnotized.”
To be clear, Cayce was not illiterate. His education ended after the eighth grade, but he was an avid reader. According to the Christian Research Institute, he read the Bible every year of his life from the age of 10. Dr. Wesley Harrington Ketchum, a homeopathic physician, backed the anecdotal claims, likely incorrectly. It wasn’t exactly a shining reveal for the alleged clairvoyant Cayce.
Edgar Cayce’s Modest Life and Legacy: Not a Prophet for Profit
Edgar Cayce rejected assertions that he was a prophet, even being known as “the sleeping prophet” because his readings came from a trance-like state. He also rejected the term psychic, preferring to be called a clairvoyant.
He lived a modest life, and his grave, in his hometown of Hopkinsville, KY, is as unassuming as the man. Today, people put small stones and occasionally coins on the flat, ground-level marker. The latter annoys some Cayce descendants as they don’t like the idea of associating Edgar Cayce’s gifts with money.
“He was a simple person. He could have become Pat Robertson or Jim Bakker, but he never made more than $85 a week,” futurist Stephan A. Schwartz told Virginia Living in 2009. Of course, $85 in the 1930s is equivalent to $1,636.20 today, according to the CPI Inflation Calculator. But it was nothing compared to televangelists like Robertson and Bakker, who made hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars each year.
His youngest son characterized Cayce as “a normal (man) 90 percent of the time.” A direct contrast to what many might expect from a famous clairvoyant.
For the record, Pat Robertson was a televangelist who lived in Virginia Beach long after Cayce died. Robertson earned $435,000 annually, according to a 2023 Esquire Magazine profile. Roberson also owned the Christian Broadcasting Network, a multi-million dollar venture, founded Regent University, and owned several for-profit enterprises, including the Ice Capades.
Bakker, another televangelist, served almost five years of an eight-year sentence in prison for wire and mail fraud. He started with a program on Robertson’s network before branching out on his own. At the height of their success, Bakker and his then-wife Tammy Faye were pulling in over an estimated $1 million a week in donations.
From Farm Boy to Famous Psychic: Cayce’s Early Life
Cayce was born on a farm south of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, on March 18, 1877. Today, you can still see places he lived around Hopkinsville. You can even visit the church where he began teaching Sunday School at age 16.
Incidentally, Edgar Cayce’s devotion to Christianity remained all his life. He continued as a Sunday School teacher at the First Presbyterian Church after moving to Virginia Beach. Later, he even served as a church elder.
Before moving to Hopkinsville in 1894, Cayce experienced two pivotal events. At age four, he witnessed his grandfather’s death in a riding accident. Later, Cayce reportedly communicated with his deceased grandfather.
The second dramatic occurrence was an alleged visit from an angel. The short book The Vision and the Promise by Vada F. Carlson recounts these occurrences. Cayce purportedly found he could absorb the contents of books by sleeping on them following the angel’s appearance.
The Mysterious Origins of Edgar Cayce’s Psychic Abilities
Many considered Cayce to be a strange child. As a youth, he maintained he could see and talk to his dead grandfather, and he played with unseen children. However, it may have been a baseball accident that boosted his alleged psychic abilities.
Cayce was struck at the end of his spine by a baseball at about age 15. Some say he later entered a trance-like state in which he diagnosed his injury and prescribed a cure. That was his first supposed psychic healing.
There have been many efforts to explain Cayce’s purported abilities. He always considered them to be a gift from God. Although he also claimed to have a direct connection to the Akashic (ākāśik) Records, according to Josephine Hardman, Ph.D.
Akashic is a Sanskrit term referring to a universal energy that encompasses all events, thoughts, words, emotions, and intentions of all life forms.
Some theorize that Cayce accessed these records to obtain information about a subject’s ailments, past lives, and recommendations for healing and personal growth.
Kundalini Awakening: A Hindu Explanation for Casey’s Psychic Abilities
A 2023 article in the Journal of Advanced Research and Multidisciplinary Studies (JARMS) by Deepak Shimkhada, Ph.D., draws upon Hinduism to explain the origins of Edgar Cayce’s powers.
Referring to Cayce’s baseball injury, Shimkhada writes, “That, to me, was clearly the key to his psychic powers.”
The ball striking Cayce’s tailbone allegedly switched on his Kundalini, awakening his clairvoyant powers, according to Shimkhada. “Kundalini” is a Sanskrit term for a source of dormant energy housed in the base of the spine. It is associated with enlightenment. According to experts in the practice of Kundalini yoga, when the Kundalini is activated, it leads to a state of bliss and union with the divine. In theory, this could explain Cayce’s alleged abilities.
The Clairvoyant Process and the Edgar Cayce Archives
Edgar Cayce channeled his clairvoyant resources, regardless of their origin, using the same process for over 40 years. He unlaced his shoes, loosened his belt and tie, unbuttoned his shirt collar, and lay on a couch. Then, he folded his arms across his chest and lapsed into a trance-like state.
His wife Gertrude often attended readings, submitting questions. Stenographer Gladys Davis Turner recorded the readings in shorthand. Turner later typed two copies of the readings, one for the client and one for the Cayce archives.
The Association for Research and Enlightenment is still mining these archives for information. In 2019, Jessica Newell, M.A.L.S., discovered a new reading. She is the first professional archivist of the Edgar Cayce Foundation.
The foundation, established in 1948, stores and protects Cayce’s readings and archives. The Don and Nancy deLaski Education Center on the A.R.E. campus contains a vault housing original readings, correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, and other Cayce materials. The visitor’s center also houses a separate library. Guests are free to study copies of readings, as well as peruse one of the largest collections of metaphysical books in the world.
Career Setbacks and the Lost Royalties of Pit
It was not always rosy for Cayce. He had to give up a promising insurance career when he developed severe laryngitis, and an oil venture he entered to raise funds for a hospital failed. Additionally, he did not capitalize on a card game that he had created.
The card game is called Pit. Players act as commodity traders, swapping cards representing agricultural goods such as wheat and coffee.
Edgar Cayce created a prototype of the game and sent it to Parker Brothers, who began selling it in 1904. Unfortunately, Cayce had not secured a copyright, and the toy company refused to pay him royalties.
Today, over 120 years after its debut, the game is marketed as Deluxe Pit and is still available for purchase.
Arrested for Fortune-Telling and Practicing Medicine
Edgar Cayce encountered legal troubles in 1931, the same year he established A.R.E. According to the Library of Virginia, authorities arrested Cayce in New York, along with his wife and secretary, on charges of fortune-telling. A judge, however, dismissed the case since Cayce was functioning as part of an incorporated ecclesiastical organization.
Police arrested Cayce again in Detroit in 1935. This time, they also arrested his wife and secretary and his oldest son, Hugh Lynn Cayce. Authorities convicted Cayce of practicing medicine without a license after a medical reading. Later, they released him on probation.
How Accurate Were Edgar Cayce’s Prophecies?
Cayce is best known in mainstream culture for his predictions, according to The Virginian Pilot. Some of his readings accurately forecasted the 1929 stock market crash, World War II, the deaths in office of two presidents (Roosevelt and Kennedy), and the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, among other events.
However, some prophecies have not materialized. Among those are the discovery of the lost continent of Atlantis and the prediction that parts of America’s coastline will sink into the oceans, including California and New York City.
A couple of predictions were pinned to exact years, making them exactly wrong. Cayce said that by 1968, China would be predominantly Christian and that Jesus would reappear in 1998. But inaccuracies like these are common among alleged clairvoyants like Edgar Cayce.
Health, Diet, and Healing in Edgar Cayce’s Readings
It might surprise the casual visitor to the A.R.E. library to know that most of Cayce’s readings were not forecasts. His trances produced information on a wide range of topics, including reincarnation, dream interpretation, astrology, ancient mysteries, and spiritual matters. But the majority of Cayce’s readings focused on health, wellness, and medical diagnosis and treatment.
Around 70 percent of Edgar Cayce’s psychic readings were for people requesting help with health or medical conditions, according to the A.R.E. Many physicians were and are skeptical of Cayce’s abilities to diagnose illness and prescribe treatments. Nevertheless, some of his advice, especially dietary, was ahead of its time, even if many don’t believe it stemmed from psychic phenomena.
Cayce spoke out against processed foods and refined sugar in the 1920s. He also advocated drinking six to eight glasses of water a day, eliminating fried foods, and limiting the intake of red meats and starches. In addition, Cayce championed both eating raw vegetables and whole grains and the idea of mindful eating. A.R.E. says that Cayce’s eating plan aligns with the now-popular Mediterranean Diet.
Cayce’s readings on the connection between health, diet, and the mind, as well as his advocacy for natural healing methods, eventually made him a cornerstone of the New Age movement, as noted by the Cork Healing Centre.
Alternative Healing Practices at the A.R.E
Many of Edgar Cayce’s non-traditional health practices continue at the A.R.E. today.
The facility offers a variety of treatments based on Cayce’s alternative medical beliefs. These include massage, bodywork, various hydrotherapies, acupuncture, castor oil packs, and other pseudoscientific practices. The A.R.E. also presents regular lectures on Cayce’s readings and teachings, as well as other areas of metaphysical research.
Leadership of the A.R.E. After the Cayce Family
Edgar Cayce and, later, one of his descendants ran the Association for Research and Enlightenment until 2006, when Thomas Charles Cayce retired. Kevin J. Todeschi was the first non-family member named president and CEO of the association. The current CEO is Christopher W. Naughton, a former New Jersey prosecutor, six-time Emmy award-winning producer, and host of The American Law Journal television program.
Coincidentally, Cayce’s grandson, who died in 2016, was on a different career path when he joined the A.R.E. staff. Thomas Charles Cayce held a Ph.D. in Child Psychology and taught at the University of Maryland when he joined the family enterprise. Even so, Edgar Cayce didn’t take a hard line about his readings, and his grandson followed that thinking.
“There’s nothing in the readings that you have to believe in,” Dr. Thomas Cayce told Virginia Living. “It’s such a big tent, a conglomeration of Eastern philosophy, Christian mysticism, and Christian theology. It’s simply information to be tested and tried.”
Verified owner
