Sleeping right through this one 

We have more insight than ever on this episode as it’s a lead up to some other good episodes we have planned and this was the natural starting place and where it’s going you’ll just have to find out 

As Taylor has not only alluded to but outright told you, this episode is on the sleeping prophet himself Edgard Cayce

Edgar is probably one of the most renowned psychics in history, and is most renownedly known not only as the “sleeping prophet” but also the “father of holistic medicine”, he was a clairvoyant who channelled his higher self while in a trance like state/asleep

He’s also the most documented psychic of the 20th century

Cayce’s abilities at one point or another include Astral projection, mediumship, telling prophecies, viewing the Akashic records and seeing Auras. Cayce also used astrology and dreamwork during his practice


Cayce was born on a farm close to Hopkinsville, Kentucky on March 18, 1877 to his parents Carrie and Leslie who were farmers and had 6 children, one of which was Edgar

Cayce’s abilities began to appear early in life, he was able to see and talk to his late grandfather’s spirit and he liked to play with imaginary spirit friends he called little folk and he said he could see through them

When Edgard got the the age of 10 he was somewhere… the accounts of where exactly he was vary, some say church others say the woods… the important thing is that he had an encounter at the church with a woman with wings who told him that his prayers had been answered and she asked him what he wanted most of all 

Now, if it were me, I would have probably answered Barbies or something at that age but not Edgar… he was a little frightened at first but after thinking about it a little he explained that he wanted to help others- especially sick children and decides at that moment that he would like to be a missionary. The lady disappears  

The next night Leslie, Edgars father receives a complaint from Edgar’s teacher, Edgar said he found it very difficult to focus on his lessons, and Leslie becomes so enraged he ruthlessly tested Edgar eventually becoming so enraged his knocks Edgar out of his chair

Cayce says that he suddenly heard the voice of the woman with wings again who told him that if he went to sleep they would help him. Edgar does it, he puts his head on his books and goes to sleep and low and behold when his father came back into the room and woke him up Edgard knew all the answers. He could repeat anything from the book. – Obviously Leslie thought Edgar was playing him for a fool and knocked him out of the chair again

From here on out this is how Edgar studied for school, he slept on his books and by the time he was 15 he became the best student in school and his parents were so proud, telling everyone

One day during a ballgame at school Cayce had an injury to his tailbone and began to behave strangely. That night he went to sleep, and had miraculously diagnosed a cure for himself in his sleep. His family prepared the cure as per Edgar and he was cured – this ability doesn’t return for some years after this first experience

In 1893 the family picks up and leaves the farm having noticed Edgars abilities and they move to Hopkinsville, Kentucky

Edgars education at this time is apparently sufficient at grade 9 as those are the times and his family could not afford it, so he’s left to look for work here in the new city, full of opportunity.. I think, maybe

As previously mentioned, with the angel encounter… i’m going to call it an angel you can’t stop me… he was drawn to the church, he read the entire bible once a year, every year, attended church, taught Sunday school and recruited missionaries—- he said he could see auras around people, could speak to angels and hear voices of departed relatives 

In these years he was unsure of whether these voices were good or evil

The year is now 1900; It is here that Edgard and Leslie, his father start a band, he could fucking wail on the organ … JUST KIDDING, that’s an inside joke for now but we’ll let you in on it in a few episodes. That’s why this episode is important. You may want to bookmark this to come back to

What actually happens here is that Edgard and Les form a business partnership to sell Woodmen of the World Insurance but with a plot twist Edgard is struck with severe laryngitis in which he completely lost his voice

Unable to talk to sell the insurance Edgar is stuck at home with his parents for almost a year so in that time he decided to take up photography since you don’t have to use your voice to take photos and he actually does quite a lot of work as a photographer for a good 10 years

In yet another weird plot twist in 1901 a stage hypnotist who went by “the laugh man” was performing in the area and heard about Cayce’s throat condition somehow and the laugh man offered to attempt a cure

The experiment was conducted at the local throat specialists office and while Cayce’s voice allegedly returned while he was under the hypnotic trance, upon awakening it disappeared again

The laugh man had to leave to do his travelling but Cayce then catches the attention of other hypnotists who start trying to help him as well – not sure why this is going on, I also have no records of him going to an actual doctor…so

Dunan Quackenboss, for real, from New York helps… yet finds the same problem as the laugh man, and he suggests that Cayce should take over his own case while under hypnosis but he’s in New York  so now the only local amateur hypnotists Al Layne and osteopath offers to help 

Layne asks Cayce while under hypnosis to describe the nature of his condition and what the cure is and through his help Cayce had cured himself

So with the help of a shit ton of hypnotists this is where the power of Edgar Cayce is starting to be realised 

That power being that under a trance like state he could reach his higher self (AKA the entity) to help determine the ailment in specific anatomical terms as well as holistic cures which included unique combinations of osteopathy, chiropractic, electrotherapy, vibrations, massage, foods, herbal treatments and diet

They start experimenting, Layne hypnotises Cayce again and asks him what’s wrong with him and how to cure himself- to his surprise Cayce was Bang on.

So just to describe what Cayce would do… he would lie down on a couch, hands clasped on his chest and be put into a trance like state, however Cayce would not refer to it as trance like he was say more like a sleep but different from bedtime sleep… he would say “we have the body” and proceed to describe the ailment in specific anatomical terms he would have Layne at this point transcribe what he was saying 

Layne is excited and believes Edgar has a little bit of clairvoyance- he suggest to Edgar that he helps people with his gift

Cayce was reluctant because he didn’t know what he was recommending or even saying while he was under or if it was safe but he’s finally convinced by Lane to do it, on one condition- it must be free and he has great success at his readings with the local folxs

Lane sets out advertising for Cayce describing his method as "... a self-imposed hypnotic trance which induces clairvoyance" and was advertised in Newspapers and such.. Well probably just newspapers being in the time of 1901 

It pretty much took off for him by word of mouth and the advertising and such.. it was also discovered that Cayce didn’t need anyone to be there in person, when responding to letters, he just needed a name and a location of the person and he could diagnose physical and mental conditions then provide a remedy

Cayce gets more and more well known for this and people from around the world wanted a reading by Cayce, it is thought that he has done more than 20,000 readings in his lifetime


1902 Cayce moves to Bowling green, which is a town, and he lives with some young professionals, composed of a magistrate, a journalist and a couple doctors…

He marries Gertrude Evans in 1903 and they have 3 kids (not born yet) and Gertrude disapproves of Cayce’s readings, all while Edgar himself is still grappling with the morality of the whole situation of the readings

A few days after the marriage Layne reveals Cayce’s goings ons (the clairvoyance, I suppose) to his roomates whom Cayce was hiding his readings from… after which state medical authorities forced Layne to close his practice and he leaves town to acquire the proper osteopathic qualifications 

Cayce then opens a photography studio in Bowling Green, meanwhile the doctors that he had roomed with form a committee w/ some colleagues to investigate the cayce phenomenon, he cooperated

All their experiments confirmed the accuracy of Cayce's readings and when offered a lucrative business deal, Cayce declined and after the examinations got more violent Cayce refused any more and said he would only do readings for those who needed help & believed in the readings

So cut to 1906 & 1907 fires burn down his 2 photography studios leading to bankruptcy and between these 2 fires is where his first son is born

He crawls his way out of debt, however STILL refuses to make his super power into a business and finds a job at another photography place

His dad introduces him to a persistent man named Wesley H Ketchumm a physician from Hopkinsville and spread info about Cayce to various medical circles, and eventually a reporter contacts Cayce

Cayce explains to the reporter that he somehow had the ability to easily go into an intuitive sleep whenever he wanted to, and this was different from how he went to real sleep like normal people do and that it happened via the capabilities of the subconscious mind

Ketchum again urges Cayce to join a business and after much soul searching Cayce finally says yes to the dress- but with conditions, including that he did not take money for the readings which is kind of weird to me for a business but that’s where we’re at

Cayce didn’t really put any stock into the therapeutic nature of this readings, again, odd for me since this helped his throat however it wasn’t until Gertrude came down with Tuberculosis and the doctors had given up that Cayce was able to cure her with his nap

Shortly after this it was discovered that Ketchum was using Cayce’s readings to gamble for finance. Cayce quits and goes back to Photography in Selma, Alabama.

Even though Cayce walked away he continued to do more and more readings as he was getting quite famous, in turn he asked for donations to support himself and his family so he could do this full time, that’s a profit, no?

Fun fact: he also invented the card game Pit so that he could make money

Cayce continues to work in this trance state for the rest of his life and at this point he brings in a team to help him; a hypnotist to put him in a trance state, his wife and eldest son help with the readings as well as a secretary to record his readings in shorthand

Due to the popularity of his readings, entrepreneurs, let’s call them, sought Cayce either to exploit and make money off or for readings with things such as where they could find treasure or which horse would win at the races

Cayce hated this and refused, he was quite moral

Until the right person came along that is, enter Arthur Lammers, a wealthy printer and student of THEOSOPHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY who persuades Cayce to give readings on Philosophical subjects 

Now lets just put a pin in this right here

We’ve talked about Theosophy as an offshoot of Blavatsky.. AKA HPB, go back and have a listen, mother of the occult, and many other things 

This is where Atlantis among many other very well known occult ideas came from- so just, let’s keep this in the back of our minds while I continue down this route

After the readings Lammers told Cayce that while in his trace state (remember he does not remember what happens in his trance state) he told Lammers about his past lives, which Lammers believed in

This didn’t sit well with Cayce because it didn’t align with his views, Cayce challenges Lammers and questions his stenographer who recorded this; 

 
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.

So yeah, Cayce is disputing the fact he ever said this and Lammers kind of is there to share his wealth of information on reincarnation w/ Cayce which he strongly believes in. Reincarnation had only briefly come up in Cayce’s readings up until this point… 12 years earlier he had referred to a soul being “Transmigrated” however his sessions were not recorded until 1923 it may or may not have come up more
But on the light side, this is where Cayce realises that not only can he do this with medical readings…. by doing the same thing, lying down, closing his eyes and putting himself in a trance like state that he was able to get a direct line to all of time and space, AKA the universal consciousness
He could answer such things as “What are the secrets to the universe” and “What is my purpose in life”, “How were to pyramids built” as well as how can I cure my arthritis of course

At this point Lammers asks Cayce to join him in Dayton to pursue metaphysical truth via his readings and Cayce accepts and makes the move
It is here that Cayce produces a lot of metaphysical information, which was causing him some cognitive dissonance with his belief in Christianity, the things he was saying contradicted his closely held beliefs 
In doing this sort of work in Dayton Lammers wanted to put up money to start an organisation to support Cayce’s healing methods, Cayce accepted and brings his family to Dayton in 1923 however by the time they get there Lammers can no longer afford to do this.
It’s around this time, maybe since Lammers was no longer there… that Cayce redirects his focus back into his health centred readings
Most of his readings centred around “electrotherapy, ultraviolet light, diet, crystal use, massage, less mental work and relaxation techniques” however real doctors of the American Medical Association were not a fan
Cayce decides he may want a licensed medical practitioner to join the team to legitimise the whole thing and in 1925 Cayce went into a trance and the voice reportedly told him to move to virginia beach, near the beach as the sand’s crystals would have curative properties to promote rapid healing
He does it! He packs up his family and so together we’ve arrived, Virginia Beach and this is where we’re going to leave it for this episode and on the next we will pick up where we left off on the more mature chapter of Edgars life in Virginia beach!