‘Ever the Same, Edgar’

In a cold, winter day in January of 1993, I was back in my hometown of Selma, Alabama, helping my father move into an assisted living facility. As we were sorting and boxing his belongings, I came across an old sepia photograph of my grandfather, Roger Butler, as a young man, standing next to another man of about the same age. I handed the photo to my father and said, “I wonder who this man in the picture with Pop is?” My father looked at the photo and nonchalantly replied, “Oh, that’s Edgar Cayce.” That statement jogged a few recollections from the recesses of my childhood memories of how this was the man my grandfather knew who could go into a sleeping trance and reveal things others could not see or know. I recalled my grandfather telling the story of how Edgar Cayce had located his “missing” sister:

It was 1921, and young Mary Butler had gone to North Carolina to visit friends. On the day she was to return home, her brothers, Roger and Alf, were at the depot to meet Mary’s train, but when it arrived she was nowhere to be found. There was no telephone service in the remote, mountainous area where Mary had gone, so Roger and Alf could do nothing but go home and wait and worry. After two more days with no word from their sister, the anxious brothers went to their friend Edgar Cayce for help. Roger conducted the trance reading in which Mr. Cayce entered his altered, sleeping state and then revealed that Mary did not come home as planned because she had been in an accident. Cayce stated that it was not a serious accident, but a painful one, and that there would be a letter waiting at home that would explain everything and tell when Mary would be arriving home.

Roger and Alf hurried home and sure enough, there was a letter waiting. It told of how Mary had been thrown from a horse into a barbed wire fence and was not seriously injured, but was badly bruised, scratched, and sore, and it further told the date that she would return. The information from Edgar Cayce’s reading was 100 percent accurate.

My father then told me that his family had been very close “church” friends with the Cayce’s when they lived in Selma, from about 1912-24, and how his father and his Uncle Alf were two of the few people outside Cayce’s immediate family that Edgar trusted enough to actually conduct his trance readings. This conversation recalling memories from long ago was interesting, but as we were busy moving, I put the photo away in the box with others and promptly forgot about it.

Ironically, my father died unexpectedly less than two months later. While I was settling his estate, I came across the Cayce photograph once again. I showed it to an older relative and she told me to send a copy to the Cayce organization in Virginia Beach. That suggestion played right to my hobby as an amateur genealogist and self-proclaimed historical research nerd, so I sent the photo to the Association for Research and Enlightenment. Actually, I didn’t expect much information or response, but hoped to find any evidence of family records to add to the genealogical files on my Butler relatives. The photo wound up on the desk of Jeanette Thomas, who at the time was administrator of records for the Edgar Cayce Foundation – the archival office that oversees the original Cayce readings. Jeanette immediately called me and as she checked her index files, we determined that I had 13 relatives that had readings done by Edgar Cayce! I could not have been more astonished and excited. Jeanette graciously offered to send me samples of readings from each relative.

Now my curiosity was really piqued, so while I was waiting for this material to arrive, I thought I would check at Barnes & Noble bookstore to see if there was a book about Edgar Cayce. Imagine my surprise to find a whole shelf of them! I bought several, and the more I read about Cayce’s phenomenal extrasensory abilities, the more amazed I became that so many of my family members had known this man personally and had actually experienced his trance readings firsthand. My excitement was heightened when the family records from the Cayce Foundation arrived. The documentation covered several decades. There were health readings, business readings, life readings, photographs, and letters all the way back to my great-grandparents. Delving into these records, I was astounded at the information coming from Edgar Cayce’s subconscious state. Some of this was information I could verify firsthand simply by knowing about my relatives’ lives, illnesses, and causes of death.

I decided then and there to do further extensive research on Edgar Cayce using my family records as a foundation. It was important to my practical, common-sense self that I could find truth and verification, and no ulterior motive, from such an unusual source of information – even though I knew my grandfather would never have associated with him if he were a “snake-oil charlatan” of deceitful character.

As I carefully investigated the family health readings, I was astonished that so much of the advice given over 75 years ago was now cutting-edge, mainstream knowledge and practice in the vastly expanding area of holistic health. Impressed that Edgar Cayce was so far ahead of his time in the area of health and healing, I was inspired to pursue a doctorate in Holistic Health Sciences and to do my thesis on the holistic health tenets revealed in the readings. After completing this degree, I had no doubt as to why Edgar Cayce is known as the father of holistic health. The depth and scope of Cayce’s health related readings are astounding.

My Aunt Lenora, who was the family hypochondriac, (she once asked Cayce for a reading because she was afraid of catching a “cancer germ” from a relative who had died of the disease) had 22 health readings. I got a kick when I read that Cayce recommended massage as part of the treatment for some of Lenora’s ailments. Thankfully, perceptions of massage have changed in the past few years from being a disreputable business in a seedy part of town to a relaxing, therapeutic practice. But I can just imagine the raised eyebrows in 1930 at Aunt Lenora’s weekly bridge club gathering if she had announced, “Mr. Cayce says I need to have a massage.” But whatever Cayce instructed in his numerous readings for Lenora must have been very accurate and followed explicitly, as she lived to be almost 100!

As interesting as the family health readings were, I have to confess that the medical details were way over my head in many instances. But I thoroughly enjoyed reading the letters between Cayce and my relatives. This was like going back in time and hearing good friends talk over the back fence. In addition to chuckling about the local gossip from my grandparents’ era, I was privy to years of intimate thoughts that Mr. Cayce wrote to his close friends in Selma. In one letter to my Uncle Alf, he discussed Alf’s life reading, which chronicled several past lives. Mr. Cayce goes into detail on the dilemma he faced when the life readings revealed reincarnation as fact, which went totally against his fundamental Christian beliefs. Here is part of that revealing correspondence, written from Edgar Cayce to Alf Butler on April 3, 1925:

“Have your letter of the 29th which was quite interesting and very much appreciated. I had refrained from even going over or reading what was gotten in your life reading until after I had heard from you, for I wanted to get as far as it was possible for me to do so your point of view of the information as gotten, so just wanted as little preconceived ideas as possible.

Now, as you well know, for I believe, Alf, you know me as well or better than any other individual living does, this information as is gotten is as entirely new to me, and as foreign to what I have thought or studied as anything could possibly be. Naturally, I have tried to study quite a bit of this since we first found these readings. I only wish it were possible for you to go over all the data that we have gotten concerning these things and see what you think of it. I don’t know where it comes from. I don’t know how to piece it together, yet each individual says just as you did, ‘This is I.’ Now, I know several people who have made use of these and it has made a wonderful change in their lives. Whether every individual can do that or not, perhaps may be just as the physical diagnoses indicate; some conditions are such that to the individual case it becomes an impractical thing. Just as these and this information going back into this thing of reincarnation would become impractical to minds not open to such philosophy, or shall I say, ‘foolology’? I have one of course on myself, one on Gertrude and both boys. I’ll be glad to send them to you if you’d like to see ‘em, and if you are studying the thing. I’m sure, just as you were with the physical diagnosis, you can better judge by seeing the results. I am desirous of sometime taking an individual life reading and attempting to analyze same through readings and give an outline of that existence in the earth plane, obtaining as much of the history of the time and age as possible. This perhaps would necessitate many of such readings, but with several such analyses, we would be able to gain some very interesting information, or prove the thing bosh and merely a form of mental transference of condition. However, I see I’m wading off here. Personally, I don’t think though, Alf that there was any too high compliments paid you in the reading, but it seems to me rather saying what makes you what you are during the present experience. I certainly am in hopes that you will write me once in a while on these things. I’m sure also, as you read this from the reading you gain a different concept of the whole thing and I don’t want you to hesitate to criticize it just as severely as you will for apparently the Forces recognize in you a critic – but an honest one."

“Ever the Same, Edgar”    

What a privilege it was to read this correspondence from Mr. Cayce to my uncle. It not only showed the close relationship between the two, but also showed Mr. Cayce’s honest, objective approach to the philosophy of reincarnation. After seeing the positive results for people who used the life readings to better understand their current circumstances, Cayce came to terms with realizing that the church doctrine, with which he had been strictly brought up, was perhaps inaccurate or incomplete in some instances, and his further study into the matter divulged how several religious doctrines had been changed or lost through the eons and numerous translations. He came to his own conclusions through careful study and seeing the favorable outcomes from people who requested life readings. He did not try to change Alf’s beliefs on reincarnation or promote his agenda, but simply said, “study and judge as you will.”

The day I came across the photo of my grandfather and Mr. Cayce, my father stated that Mr. Cayce had been his favorite and one of the most popular youth Sunday school teachers in town. He said that he never discussed or displayed any of his extrasensory abilities or attempted to incorporate them into his lessons. Even though he had these incredible intuitive capabilities, Mr. Cayce never tried to promote himself, show off, or impose his beliefs on others. I think this is why he was so accepted in Selma. The majority of townspeople saw him as a highly skilled photographer, dedicated family man, and beloved Sunday school teacher. Others acknowledged his psychic abilities with a quiet, yet distant, acceptance. And, yet I’m sure some other of the good folks in my hometown, as one of my relatives put it, “didn’t buy into that stuff.” I found it interesting that my grandmother, Lois, was probably one of those who did not understand, or perhaps even feared, Cayce’s psychic abilities. There is not one reading for her in the Cayce archives, yet her husband Roger wrote the following to Edgar on Jan. 6, 1930:

"I wish to express my deep gratification in the fact that you’ve actually put it together – the hospital and etc. I have often wanted to help you, but it seems that I can handle money matters for others much better than for myself, [Roger was an accountant] and am perennially flat. I have always been sold on the proposition of your work and am tickled to death that old Edgar Cayce has put it together. When you need that right-hand man you’re always threatening to hire Alf or me for, drop me a line. I think you’ve got the biggest thing in the world, and your service to humanity may make history for centuries to come. I’d like to help in the making – but you’d have to send railroad fare!"

“And Best Luck, Roge”     

So, even though her husband believed in Cayce enough to want to work for him, my grandmother seemed to not want to have any part of “that stuff.” It’s a shame that close-minded attitude probably led to her early death. My grandmother had rheumatic fever as a child and had a weakened heart condition as a result. She was very frail and often sickly as an adult and died of a heart attack at age 56. I can’t help but think that if she had been more open-minded, that Mr. Cayce’s readings would have offered her treatments that would have improved or prolonged her life.

The more I studied the family records and letters, the more impressed I became with what a good, caring person Edgar Cayce was, using his psychic abilities to help others. His ideals seemed to be based entirely on Truth and Service.

Following are a few more glimpses into my family’s personal readings and letters with Edgar Cayce that exemplify those ideals and specifically some that I found most interesting.

It was the winter of 1918 and my great-grandfather, Alfred B. Butler, was experiencing severe stomach pains that could no longer be dismissed as just indigestion. Alfred’s doctor diagnosed this condition as an advanced state of stomach cancer. Naturally, Alfred’s family was greatly distressed over this bleak forecast. Two of Alfred’s sons, Roger and Alf, turned in desperation to their friend Edgar Cayce for a reading. On March 5, 1918, Roger conducted the reading in which Mr. Cayce revealed that cancer was indeed present. His reading went into much more detail than Alfred’s physician’s diagnosis of stomach cancer. Cayce’s reading said that the stomach, bladder, and kidneys were all affected and the only cure would be an operation by the Mayo brothers (I assume these brothers were the eventual founders of the renowned Mayo Clinic) and to substitute the diseased parts with healthy organs from some living animal. Roger and Alf could not convince their mother to pursue this unconventional treatment for her husband and Alfred died of the disease about six weeks later.

The refusal of this unorthodox remedy was not a surprising reaction from Alfred’s wife considering this was 1918. Even though we are familiar with organ transplants today, realistically, this is still major surgery and very experimental in many areas. Imagine hearing of this in 1918, when crank Victrolas and Model T automobiles were cutting-edge technology!

Interestingly enough, death did not end Edgar Cayce’s contact with my great-grandfather. Alfred “returned” to Edgar in a dream on Dec. 12, 1919. In the dream the two men first discussed issues of the First Christian Church, of which they were both dedicated members, and then Alfred told Edgar to advise his son, Alf, that he should take the job with a motion picture house when he returned from France and World War I. The very next day Edgar went into the local bank, and lo and behold, there was Alf back at his pre-war job as a teller in the bank. Edgar immediately told Alf of his dream of his father and his career advice to his oldest son. Upon hearing this amazing dream, Alf told Edgar that when he was on the way home from Washington he had stopped to see a friend in Atlanta and was offered a position managing a motion picture theater there. He initially turned the offer down, but after hearing his father’s advice from beyond the grave, Alf immediately telegraphed his friend in Atlanta accepting the position. If Alf did not have extreme confidence in Edgar Cayce’s extrasensory abilities, I doubt he would have based a career decision on information coming from his dead father in a friend’s dream!

Another relative on the cousins’ branch of the family tree, Mamie Butler Gray, had two very interesting health readings. In 1930 she wrote to Edgar for a reading where she described having a hard lump in her left breast. Edgar immediately gave a reading where he stated that, “Conditions are not so well with the body.… Those conditions…through the activity of forces made manifest in a physical body are beginning to become in the manner of producing within the system an element as of its own resuscitation, living upon the life of the body physical. That’s a very good description of cancer isn’t it? For it is malignant in its nature and has already attacked the mammary glands, and is going to be rather fast in its operation unless there are means taken as to check same.” 2457-4 Cayce went on to suggest corrective measures by changes in diet and nutrition and the injection of a serum that “has not been made yet.” He went on to describe how to make this serum by extracting cells from a hare, then culturing the cells and injecting them into the affected area. He said, “This would be most effective in at least 50 percent of such ills.”

Amazingly, in 1981, researchers at Johns Hopkins reported the following: “A revolutionary cancer treatment has quadrupled the survival rate of stage three ovarian cancer. The new treatment uses antibodies that are taken from rabbits. The animal makes antibodies in its own blood to fight tumor cells. These antibodies are then taken from the rabbit and injected into the patient where they attack any remaining cancer. Patient survival rate increased from 11% to 43%.” This is essentially the same treatment Edgar suggested for Mamie over 50 years earlier!

One can only wonder if the medical profession had taken information given from a psychic in 1930 seriously how many more lives would have been saved in the ensuing 50-some years! As for Mamie, I doubt she had the serum made, but she strictly adhered to the diet and nutrition advice. Something definitely worked in her favor as she never had any further advances of breast cancer and lived until 1966, to the age of 75, when she peacefully died in her sleep.

Mamie had another health reading that resulted in a very remarkable outcome. She wrote to Edgar on Dec. 19, 1931: “Say, don’t you laugh at me. Here I am at 40 years old and can’t get a line to what ails me.” Her doctor had indicated her “ills” were due to menopause. Edgar gave her a check reading on Jan. 8, 1932, indicating it was not change-of-life symptoms, but in fact, she was pregnant. The happy confirmation of this Cayce reading showed up on July 5, 1932, when an eight-and-a-half-pound boy was born to the Grays. He was named Edgar Wood Gray after his father, Wood, and family friend, Edgar Cayce, who, in an altered state of consciousness, had bested the physician with a correct diagnosis.

These are just a sampling of numerous family readings that I have been able to authenticate. And even with the advantage of 13 relatives and their records to validate Cayce’s psychic accuracy, it is not necessary to have a personal connection to benefit from the wisdom of the most documented psychic of our times. In addition to over 300 books written about Cayce, everyone has access to the 14,000+ psychic readings merely by joining the Association for Research and Enlightenment, the organization he founded. Edgar Cayce gives us a remarkable window into a realm at which most of us only marvel – a realm where he was able to transcend time and space, as we know it, to access knowledge far beyond his conscious level. He used his incredible gift to help thousands who came to him for readings.