63 Years Later Still a Perfect Fit

One day, Edgar poked his head in the door where I sat typing and asked me if I'd like a reading. Of course, I wanted one. When the moment came, my heart pounded and my mind whirled. What would my reading say?

June Avis Bro D.Min, pictured here with her late husband Harmon, found her life deeply affected by working with, and having a reading from Edgar Cayce in 1943. A graduate of the Andover-Newton Theological School and the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1943, she taught on six campuses while raising five children. A concert pianist, counselor, and pastor, she has a background rich in the performing arts, Jungian studies, and the spiritual pilgrimage of women. She is also the Co-author of Growing Through Personal Crisis.

I listened skeptically as my new mother-in-law, Margueritte Harmon Bro, told the famous "Oil of Smoke" story, about how Edgar Cayce had prescribed, then located in the back room of a drugstore, a bottle of medicine for a boy with a persistent leg sore. She had just returned from Virginia Beach, and was full of enthusiasm about what she had experienced. I was planning a career in music and wasn't all that interested.

I had great respect for my mother-in-law, but how could I believe the stories she was telling? Edgar Cayce? Who was Edgar Cayce? Bach, Brahms, and Chopin were my world.

My mother in-law also reported that the manager of the Cayce work, Hugh Lynn Cayce, was now in the Army overseas, and the Cayces needed help. They talked about the possibility of Harmon serving on the staff. Harmon's own Cayce reading revealed that he had once "worked with the sources of the Information and should again." When Harmon's draft board approved of Harmon taking a year off from classes to do research with the Cayces at Virginia Beach, Harmon said he would like to go to Virginia Beach to explore the possibilities. Taken aback, I said I needed time to think about it.

Once there, Harmon wrote me a letter. Reviewing it some 60 years later, I am amazed at how thoroughly he had grasped the scope, authenticity, and goodness of this work at the age of 23. Here are a few excerpts: October 26, 1943

I can't put into words my anxiety about whether you'll be willing to go to Virginia. In Chicago you have a lovely little home, family, friends, time to practice. We eat well, have nice things and live with nice people. I'm asking you to very suddenly - in a week! - give up all the ties and move to a resort town that was just mud, drizzle and hotels yesterday.

To make matters worse, we have many ties in the Chicago area. Neither of us has finished the graduate work we started - and worst of all, we will have to cancel the dates we have set up for presenting our musical program.

But every single objection you can make simply melts like tears when we see what the work out there does for people. Thin tubercular women, crippled boys, cancerous workmen, arthritic grandmothers knotted in pain - they all find healing. But that's only the beginning - what really happens to them is what has happened to Mr. and Mrs. Cayce, Gladys Davis and some others - they find that "there is a river" of God's love flowing about us all, only waiting to be tapped by humble minds. The real miracles at Virginia Beach are the radiant, transformed lives, the people who go away realizing that they can actually find God and know Jesus and live like it. They say, "I am my brother's keeper " and their lives show it. They say, "There is only one God" and all their friends feel it. Buddhist, Muslim, Jew, Catholic, Mennonite, Christian Scientist, Humanist, Presbyterian - it goes on like the "Ballad for Americans" - they all find what they are searching for in the work of the readings and Mr. Cayce.

Don't think this is all sober business. I've laughed till I've ached during these last few days. These people who live so very sincerely seem just as near to the bubbling fountain of humor as they do to the well of eternal life. Mr. Cayce is just as much fun in his readings as he is out of them. I could go on, darling. But it gets me too excited, wondering whether you're going to knock me down or listen skeptically, or be annoyed, or thrilled, or all packed and ready to go - or what?

I was all packed when he returned to Chicago! In fact, I packed so hastily, that I left my wedding dress. My landlady gave it to the Salvation Army.

We traveled to Virginia Beach by train, ferry, and taxi. The Cayces invited us to their home. Gladys was there, too. They showed us around, and took us into the office. They proudly pointed out the wild asparagus and the rows of strawberries in the nearby field.

Gladys showed us letters stacked knee-high around the main office. Thomas Sugrue's biography of Edgar Cayce, There Is a River, and an article by my mother-in-law for Coronet Magazine, "Miracle Man of Virginia Beach," had brought in so many requests for readings that Gladys had already scheduled them two years ahead. I could see plenty of work for willing hands.

One day, Edgar poked his head in the door where I sat typing and asked me if I'd like a reading. Of course, I wanted one, but didn't feel right about barging in ahead of those already booked. I'd seen the immense pain and life-threatening situations in those letters. "Mr. Cayce, you are my last hope! My child has an inoperable brain tumor!" "Mr. Cayce, my son is missing in action. Please find him!" "Mr. Cayce, please help. I am depressed and can't find any reason to go on." "Mr. Cayce I have a continual itch that cannot be scratched."

I felt guilty. Here I was, young and healthy, with my whole life opening up in joyous, rich ways. I was relieved when Mr. Cayce assured me that it was customary for everyone on the staff to receive a reading. When the moment came, my heart pounded and my mind whirled! What would my reading say? Would it reveal selfishness and pettiness? Insecurities? Weird habits? Faults? Used and unused talents? Would he advise me to continue my music studies and aim for a professional career? Everyone in the office talked about reincarnation as though it was for-sure. Although it was a new concept for me, I immediately felt that it made sense. Now I was wondering if I had ever been famous or especially helpful.

Mr. Cayce lay down, loosened his tie and belt. Gertrude and Gladys made comments about funny things that had happened that day. Gertrude said she had made some karma for herself that morning when she'd gotten impatient with the grocer, Mr. Brothers. They did everything they could to make me feel at ease. Mr. Cayce said a prayer and then took some deep breaths. Gertrude covered his eyes. After she gave the suggestions, Mr. Cayce began to speak in his normal voice, only a little more regulated and farther back in his throat.

The first thing he said was, "Yes, what a funny little body!" I had no idea what that meant. Was he seeing my good sense of humor, or some weirdness? Mae St. Clair (Verhoeven, at the time) had helped me get my questions together. A reading from Mr. Cayce had saved her life after she had eaten some beans from her garden that had been sprayed with a toxic weed killer. She thought that remark was Mr. Cayce's way of saying that he thought I was cute! I decided to go with that.

Then Cayce said, "We have the records here of that entity now known as or called June Avis Bro. In giving the interpretation of the records as we find them, these we would choose from same with the desire and purpose that this information may prove a helpful experience for the entity." It was comforting to hear that Mr. Cayce's primary desire was to be helpful - not to shame, ridicule, or admonish me.

Then a warning. He said, "Remember, God is not mocked and whatsoever an individual sows, that must it also reap." He wanted me to know that every experience I had had so far, and those yet to come, were the fruits of my own actions and the ideals I had held in one lifetime or another.

Then he zeroed in on my personality. "One who finds that when it meets individuals, it forms its opinion right now and it is mighty hard to change." How true! I still size up people quickly, but I have been working hard on allowing myself to be pleasantly surprised.

Then he said, "In Venus, we find the appreciation of nature, and yet the entity doesn't hold very much to it." This was absolutely true. I do indeed love nature's beauties, smells, sounds, and creatures, but in the long run I am a people person. I need people and music and culture: my musical talents and tastes came from sojourns in the Venus consciousness, he said. He also mentioned Mars and Jupiter, Mars being the consciousness in which energies are harnessed and put to work, and Jupiter where one learns that the universe is one. The Jupiter experience teaches a concern for the underdog, and what it means to be just, loving, and accepting. Cayce wasn't suggesting that I had experienced lifetimes on these planets; instead, from Cayce's perspective, the planets represented focused lessons in consciousness that had occurred between earthly lifetimes.

Next, Mr. Cayce said that my life would be more harmonious and peaceful if my ideals corresponded with what God would have me do. He said, "You'll have a long list in the beginning, but eventually there will be just one." That one for me is Jesus.

Mr. Cayce emphasized that not all incarnations would be given. He said I'd see patterns with certain variations, like a theme with variations in music. The older I get, the clearer I see those patterns and the ideals they cluster around. For me, these patterns relate first to making home and family my career. Second, they connect to using my musical talents creatively in the home, and helping my husband in his work. Third, I see my deep love for the church and church music. Fourth, there is a pattern of my abiding love for God and a feeling of awe at His endless, dazzling creativity.

Then Mr. Cayce repeated a phrase, "For as indicated, ye enter not by chance but are chosen; then use, do not abuse, the opportunities which are thine in the journey through this experience."

It is hard to estimate how well I have done with this challenge. It hasn't always been easy living up to the guidance in my reading. Between the demands of a large family and a husband who lived on the cutting edge of ideas and communities, I often forgot that I was here to learn about God's ways in the midst of changes and demands.

Mr. Cayce next went into my past lives. He talked about a lifetime in the Chicago area when it was known as Fort Dearborn. Evidently I found great disturbances there during the French and Indian Wars. I was allowed to stay because, according to the reading, I was "able to make friends with both the French and the Indians, and proved to be a helpful influence." I connected with this incarnation in two ways.

First, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Native Americans. As a child, I'd walk out of the theater in the middle of a movie whenever I saw Indians being mistreated. At the Girl Scout camp I attended when I was young, I spent most of my time with a Native American called Gaw-Gee-Gaw-Bow, as he sat whittling bows and arrows for our target shooting. I loved hearing his stories.

Second, I have always loved anything French. For my 80th birthday, friends gave me a trip to France. My visit felt like a homecoming after a long time away. Edgar Cayce's source had scored a hit!

Then my reading cited an incarnation in the Holy Land, when Paul and the Disciples were building churches. Mr. Cayce said I was in the church at Laodicea, and when it threatened to split over differences in interpretations of Jesus' teachings, I tried to hold it together by psalm singing. Learning about this incarnation explained two deep passions: First, my love for the church, even though I can clearly see its weaknesses. It still seems to me that the church is the optimum community for keeping God in focus and meaning in our lives. I think my deep love of the church began in that incarnation in Laodicea. Second, my love of sacred music. I truly believe that singing helps resolve people's differences. In this incarnation I am continually either singing in choirs or directing them. Cayce told me that for most of that incarnation I gained, "bringing helpfulness to the work of the church through those areas."

Mr. Cayce cited an earlier experience with Joshua in the Holy Land as he set out to conquer Canaan. I was a sister of Rahab, whose family entertained the Israelite spies as they tried to get the lie of the land. Rahab hid them on her roof and when the walls of the city came down, she and her family were taken into the tribe of Judah. Mr. Cayce said that "in the name then, Adjar," I learned "wonders, and trusts in the God, Yahweh, through the ministry of Joshua." When I was 35, I had an experience that connected me with that incarnation.

I became utterly entranced by a TV movie about the biblical Ruth and Naomi, and Naomi's kinsman, Boaz. I laughed and cried and couldn't get it out of my mind for weeks. Ten years later, I was in seminary on my way to becoming a minister, studying the Gospel of Matthew. I began with the first chapter, wishing I could skip the boring "begat" verses. When I read, "Salmon begat Boaz by Rahab," I blinked. I understood in a flash why I had gotten so caught up in Ruth's story. Boaz was my nephew, and undoubtedly I was at his wedding to Ruth - drinking, singing, praying, and celebrating.

My reading included an incarnation in Egypt in which I held a station in the Temple Beautiful, preparing women for motherhood and other home-building activities. I was an instructor in the "art of living, of caring for the body, of preparations for the varied activities in the earth."

At the time of my reading, my children were not yet born, but as I look back over the years, I realize that I have always been fascinated by motherhood. As a teen I always enjoyed babysitting. And I remember at my own five children's births, wanting to know how every other mother in the ward was doing. I was interested in each child in the nursery, and I found my own endlessly fascinating. Once my doctor and nurses didn't tell me that my roommate was unmarried and had to give her baby up for adoption. I kept asking her when the nurses were going to bring her baby to her, and why her husband hadn't come to see her. She always avoided me. On my last day in the hospital, the nurses told me the truth. I cried. My roommate couldn't have missed my own delight with the new child in my arms, and how happy I was when my husband visited.

Out-of-wedlock babies were hush-hush in the '50s. I felt sad that I had made that young mother's life harder, and I grieved with her over the loss of the child she would never hold in her arms. My Temple Beautiful incarnation became a reality for me.

Here, in a nutshell, is what my reading did, and continues to do for me. First, it gave me an intimate, precise direction for this incarnation, and at the same time gave me a long view of where my soul is headed. I don't have to ask myself whether I chose the right vocation. I know I did. "Do make the home the career for this is the greater career any may have in the earth. Those who shun same will have much yet to answer for. Use your abilities as in music to help your husband in his chosen profession." I may not have done it perfectly, but I entered into the work of building a home with all my heart, and I was thrilled to use my music working with my husband.

Second, it has laid to rest many fears, especially the fear of death. I don't have to wish I could be sure of life after death - I know. Like a family tree of past incarnations, my reading has established long lines of relationships to the primary people in my life. I know we will continue to meet and work on important issues. And I don't have to ask in desperation, Who am I, Where am I going? I know.

Third, it has made me aware of limitations and temptations. When I asked Cayce whether Harmon and I should go to St. Olaf College to study the choral music that had brought us together, he said, "If the college will teach you how to entertain, forget it! If it teaches you how to build a home, do it!" Somewhere down the line of past lives, I had evidently deserted my family and been drawn into dancing and singing, probably as a nightclub entertainer in Jericho. Harmon and I were accepted at St. Olaf College, I took courses on how to use color and design in the home, and we both sang in the choir. As we sang, I feel certain that memories of the church in Laodicea were floating near.

Fourth, it warned me of a need to keep my husband "in line." He was intelligent, attractive, dynamic, and complex. Though we'd been married only a few months, I knew it would be hard for me to keep up. I tried, but didn't believe in myself enough. Harmon could be very persuasive, insistent, and assertive. He was a visionary and a reformer. When authorities couldn't see how valuable his suggestions might be, Harmon would feel dispirited and quit. We moved 47 times.

Fifth, my reading encourages me in difficult times. It reminds me of the words of Jesus, "If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, then I tell you most solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward." Mr. Cayce picked out this Bible verse especially for me, and my whole being said, "Yes!" When the people close to me are being selfish or thoughtless, it urges me to make a response that will bring refreshment and healing. I remember the cool, sweet taste of water when I was berry-picking with my dad in Ironwood, Michigan, in the hot days of August, and feeling thirsty. In those days we could drink out of the cool stream nearby. The cup has become a touchstone symbol for me. When I bring it to mind, it immediately centers and quiets me. Then I can tune in to someone else's pain and willingly and lovingly offer that "cup of cold water."

My reading steered me toward what has brought life's greatest fulfillment - the home and children. "You should have lots of little ones." Luckily, Harmon wanted them, too. Today, my grandchildren are an endless delight.

Every bit of information in my Cayce reading is precious to me. Sixty-three years have passed, and I am still stunned by the close fit of my reading. In the early years I wished Mr. Cayce had given me lifetimes of world-famous personages who had once been me - people who had helped transform this world into something better, or who had given the world great gifts of music or pieces of art. But what came through, came straight from my soul and the traces I had left in the Akashic records. It showed me a picture of my soul's progress.

Not a day goes by that I do not feel the influence of Edgar Cayce's work. I was 23 when I went to Virginia Beach. For 10 months I was part of a courageous, God-directed, groundbreaking educational effort. The wisdom in the readings has shaped my life like nothing else except the Bible and the church. Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics and the music to a love song called "Not a Day Goes By." In it, the lover is worried that the relationship might end, because it is just too good! Instead, the tie between them gets stronger, as their relationship grows richer, and deeper, and freer, and clearer every day.

This, of course, is referring to a love relationship. Well, so am I! Sondheim expresses exactly how I feel toward Edgar and Gertrude, Gladys, Hugh Lynn, Edgar Evans, Charles Thomas and Leslie, Jim Dixon, and many others. It is with the same passion that I give thanks every day for the helpfulness in these readings. My heart sings when I think of the study group work, the A.R.E. Camp, the A.R.E. Clinic, the Cayce/Reilly School of Massotherapy, the magazine Venture Inward, and the clues they give us for leading richer, more balanced, and focused lives.

The gratitude I feel has increased, not diminished, in 63 years. My Cayce reading set before me the reason I came into the earth at this time. The source knew me better than I knew myself - my inner being, my persona, my childhood, my idiosyncrasies, my past lives, my weaknesses, my reason for being. Later my insights and self-discoveries have shown how snugly my reading fits. It warms me like a beautiful, expensive coat that never gets threadbare and never goes out of style.