Martha Wildman - My Connection with Edgar Cayce
An interview by Peter Woodbury, A.R.E. Visitors Center supervisor,

Martha Louise Wildman was born on December 9, 1920, in Hamburg, Alabama. When she was an 18-year-old college sophomore she had a life reading from Edgar Cayce. She had become familiar with Cayce's work, as both her mother and aunt had obtained readings of their own. Three years later she obtained a relationship reading, trying to discern the past-life connection between herself and her boyfriend. During the course of the second reading, Cayce acknowledged that there was a karmic connection between the two, as the couple had been brother and sister twice previously. Although there were obviously issues to be worked out, marriage was not advised because the reading stated each had the "weakness of being able to be overpowered by the personality of the other." Martha's first life reading described her talents and abilities, and according to Martha, her second reading gave her "self-confidence; assisted in my learning to look within for guidance and self-knowledge; and bolstered my determination not to marry until I was very sure the relationship was a good one."

Peter Woodbury: Mrs. Wildman, it is an honor to have the opportunity to meet with you and talk about your time with Edgar Cayce.

Martha Wildman: Please call me Martha. I am honored to have the opportunity to reflect on my time with the Cayces.

PW: You, your mother, and your aunt all had readings. Maybe we can start with how you came to know the Cayce family?

MW: My family was living in Selma, Alabama at the time. My grandmother wanted a photographer to take some family pictures. She had heard of a good photographer named Edgar Cayce. I was three. That picture behind you was taken by Mr. Cayce. I look a little upset in that picture and I remember why. On the train to Mr. Cayce's office, my mother had referred to someone as a jackass. Well, when we got out of the train, I began to hop and skip, singing, "jackass, jackass." My mother became quite cross with me, which led to my upset look in the photo.

PW: So you first met Mr. Cayce as a photographer. Did your family know anything else about him?

MW: Not at the time. It wasn't until years later that we came to know about his psychic gift. After living in Selma, we moved to New York, but the Depression had hit and so we then moved to Virginia; eventually we ended up in Virginia Beach. I was 15 at the time, and we hadn't known that the Cayces were in Virginia Beach, as well. I taught Sunday school at the local church and one day, leaving church, the woman I was walking with asked me if I had heard of a Mr. Edgar Cayce. I said I had not. That woman turned out to be Gladys Davis. Gladys was very sweet, naïve, you could say. She'd do anything for you. Well, when I got home I asked my mother if we knew a Mr. Edgar Cayce. My mother said we only knew the Cayces from Selma - the photographer and his family. We didn't know it was the same man until my Aunt Zena wrote us from Europe and said that she had heard there was a man in Virginia Beach who was giving readings.

PW: Your Aunt Zena had heard of Edgar Cayce in Europe before you had, even though you were all living in Virginia Beach?

MW: Yes, Aunt Zena was studying to be a doctor in Cairo. She had met an Egyptian fellow in New York, and ended up following him to Cairo. It's interesting that her life reading referred to a memorable lifetime in Egypt, so it may have all been fated, so to speak.

PW: What do you recall from your first reading?

MW: I remember that Mr. Cayce was a very warm person, a very kind man. He was just comfortable in his own skin and he made you feel the same way. They were very down-to-earth people. The reading was extremely helpful. It reinforced things that I already felt, and kept me balanced. It encouraged me. It was comforting. It reinforced many things I had already felt about myself. It encouraged me to have no fear. It was quite amazing to be seen like that from the inside - like being told things I had never actually put into words, but when I heard them, I knew they were true. It made me feel known, loved; I would have to say, it was a very profound experience.

PW: Can you think of some of the ways that your life reading played a part in your life?

MW: Yes, one example is that I have no fear of death. There is no death, as most people think of it. My son died suddenly in his early 40s. The doctors said it was an undiagnosed heart condition. But shortly after his death, he came to visit me. I felt him, his presence, as strongly as I always had. I felt him in this chair. I still feel him from time to time. Sure it's sad when someone enters another dimension, but there is no death. I'm very sure of it and at peace with it. Another example is that the readings are very clear on how to use dreams or your intuition when making decisions. For myself, I always know that the right answer will come and so I don't have to worry about it. I might consider it at night, but by morning the choice is clear and I don't look back. No need to. I have always felt comfortable that I have made the right decision.

PW: Your life reading suggested that you should be involved in teaching or instruction. Did that work out?

MW: I taught Sunday school, but nothing else formally. However, the reading alluded to how others would do what I did, merely because they were able to see me do it. That was certainly the case as a wife and mother. It also suggested I would have a happy home. I have been very fortunate. I have enjoyed my life. And I continue to, as well.

PW: Your reading also suggests that you were among the Essenes and had a personal relationship with Jesus, even being blessed by Jesus himself? Have you felt a close relationship with Jesus during your life?

MW: Yes, my relationship with Jesus sustains me. Just thinking about how Cayce describes that experience from the past sends shivers up my spine. I have been blessed. I have often felt Jesus with me. It is hard to describe. His presence ... His peace ... He has always been with me, even growing up. I can remember a time back in school. There was a student who had been caught cheating on a test and there was a meeting to decide what to do. The students were invited to give their feedback. Well, my classmates were out for blood, so I spoke up and asked, "What would Jesus have us do?" I was kind of let down because another student stood up and said, "Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple!" But I felt compelled to speak up knowing from the reading that Jesus was directing me and that anger wasn't the answer. For me, the essence of Jesus' teaching has always been about love. We still don't really get that. Do we really love? Do we really want the best for those who hate us? Do we understand that how we react, what we teach to the other person is infinitely more important than what happens to us. Jesus taught and lived that time and time again.

PW: It seems that you've been gifted with an internal "knowingness" that you can call forth when you need to?

MW: Yes. In fact, I think my readings were really the first place to give me that assurance to trust within. In terms of marriage, the reading also gave me the confidence to wait until I found what I was looking for. I wanted sparks; I wanted to really be in love. Thankfully, I waited. I had a wonderful husband, and wonderful children. I was so inspired by Mr. Cayce. I just knew I liked him - you couldn't help liking him. Everyone loved him. Mr. Cayce was such a kind man; a person you felt you could trust, very unassuming. I used to see him fishing at Holly Lake. He "rebuilt" himself at those times, I'm sure, when he was alone, fishing. His wife Gertrude seemed frail, not quite well. I think the readings took a toll on her. I know she had had tuberculosis, and perhaps that kept her fragile, but I always felt that she didn't like Mr. Cayce to give so many readings. I think it took a lot out of him and she felt she couldn't stop him and that must have taken a lot out of her, as well. My mother was still living in Virginia Beach when Mr. Cayce died. She brought over some violets the day he passed. She knew he was ill, but it was just by chance that she came that day. Later Gladys told her that Mr. Cayce had been buried holding those violets. That meant a lot to my mother. I also knew Tom Sugrue. He was a close friend of my mother's. He was a very intelligent man, a great poet, he liked to write limericks. He would tease me with them. One I recall went: "There once was a lad named Larson/ Whose heart was a victim of arson/ When he heard Martha's name/ He burst into flame/ And cried, 'Oh my God, get a parson!'" Tom Sugrue was bedridden most of the time when I knew him. It seemed that Hugh Lynn Cayce, his friend, was taking care of him. He had some strange paralysis. The readings helped, but he ended up dying in his 40s. My connection with Mr. Cayce and all those connected with the Cayce work was really a wonderful experience. I've had a wonderful life.

PW: Thank you for your time. I've really enjoyed our talk.

MW: You're welcome. So have I.