Edgar Cayce’s Occult Connection

Edgar CayceMD asks: “Who was Edgar Cayce and was he New Age?”
Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) was not only one of the fathers of the New Age, he was also heavily involved in the occult.
An American psychic who claimed to be a devout Christian, Cayce gave psychic readings to thousands of people, usually while in an unconscious state, and had the ability to diagnose illness, reveal alleged past lives, and predict the future.
According to the website, Edgar Cayce A.R.E. (Association for Research and Enlightenment) he is sometimes referred to as the “sleeping prophet” and the “father of holistic medicine” along with being one of the most documented psychics of the 20th century.
Born on a farm in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, his unusual abilities surfaced early in life. As a child, he claimed to be able to see and talk to his late grandfather and often played with “imaginary friends” whom he said were the spirits of the deceased. He was also able to memorize the pages of a book simply by sleeping on it.
However, it was not until later in life that he discovered the ability to put himself into a sleep-like state by lying on the couch in a state of relaxation and meditation which enabled him to “place his mind in contact with all time and space – the universal consciousness, also known as the super-conscious mind,” the website reports. People would then ask him questions ranging from “How were the pyramids built?” to “What can I do to help my arthritis?”
Cayce made many predictions that came true, such as predicting the stock market crash in 1929 and World War II. He also foresaw future medical advances that would make it possible to make a diagnosis from a drop of blood – something that was unheard of when he made this prediction in 1927. A year earlier, in 1926, he made the connection between temperature changes in deep ocean currents and weather changes, a phenomenon now known as La Nina and El Nino.
Needless to say, his uncanny abilities brought him international fame and hundreds of books have been written about him and his prophecies. Considered one of the fathers of the New Age, his writings – composed before 1945 – are littered with now familiar terms such as “holistic health”, “auras”, “Akashic records”, and “soul mates.”
Although best known for his writings on the treatment of illness, his readings discuss nearly 10,000 different topics which have been narrowed down into five general categories: (1) Health-Related Information; (2) Philosophy and Reincarnation; (3) Dreams and Dream Interpretation; (4) ESP and Psychic Phenomena; and (5) Spiritual Growth, Meditation, and Prayer.
Perhaps most disturbing of all is that Cayce claimed to be a devout Christian who attended church regularly and taught Sunday school. He vowed to read the Bible every year of his life – a feat he was said to have accomplished at the time of his death in 1945.
Unfortunately, this has led many to believe that Cayce’s powers came from God, but even Cayce doubted this until 1923 when he was persuaded to do a reading for a student of metaphysics and the occult named Arthur Lammers. The reading included information about astrology and reincarnation, something Cayce knew conflicted with Christianity.
According to Christian Answers for the New Age, Cayce’s doubts were resurrected but he was finally convinced by the entity, or “trance voice,” that was feeding him the information. “’Ultimately his trance voice . . . also supposedly dialogued with Cayce and finally persuaded him to continue with these kinds of readings’. Thus, Cayce allowed himself to be deceived by the very voice he had been doubting!”
Christians should strictly avoid his writings, regardless of how uncanny his predictions might seem. The devil is a preternatural being who has more than enough power to facilitate predictions/healings such as those Cayce is credited for. In Deuteronomy 18:10 God makes it quite clear what he thinks of mediums – they are an “abomination” to him – so nothing that comes from a medium is coming from God.