THE READING
✜
THIS PSYCHIC READING, 5749-1,
WAS GIVEN BY EDGAR CAYCE ON JUNE 14, 1932.
The conductor was Gertrude Cayce.
EC: The Lord’s Supper—here with the Master—see what they had for supper—boiled fish, rice, with leeks, wine, and loaf. One of the pitchers in which it was served was broken—the handle was broken, as was the lip to same.
The whole robe of the Master was not white, but pearl gray—all combined into one—the gift of Nicodemus to the Lord.
The better looking of the twelve, of course, was Judas, while the younger was John—oval face, dark hair, smooth face—only one with the short hair. Peter, the rough and ready—always that of very short beard, rough, and not altogether clean; while An-drew’s is just the opposite—very sparse, but inclined to be long more on the side and under the chin—long on the upper lip—his robe was always near gray or black, while his clouts or breeches were striped; while those of Philip and Bartholomew were red and brown.
The Master’s hair is ’most red, inclined to be curly in portions, yet not feminine or weak—STRONG, with heavy piercing eyes that are blue or steel-gray.
His weight would be at least a hundred and seventy pounds. Long tapering fingers, nails well kept. Long nail, though, on the left little finger.
Merry—even in the hour of trial. Joke—even in the moment of betrayal.
The sack is empty. Judas departs.
The last is given of the wine and loaf, with which He gives the emblems that should be so dear to every follower of Him. Lays aside His robe, which is all of one piece—girds the towel about His waist, which is dressed with linen that is blue and white. Rolls back the folds, kneels first before John, James, then to Peter—who refuses.
Then the dissertation as to “He that would be the greatest would be servant of all.”
The basin is taken as without handle, and is made of wood. The water is from the gherkins [gourds], that are in the wide-mouth Shibboleths [streams? Judges 12:6], that stand in the house of John’s father, Zebedee.
And now comes “It is finished.”
They sing the ninety-first Psalm—“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust.”
He is the musician as well, for He uses the harp.
They leave for the garden.
THE SECOND COMING
The second coming of Christ is perhaps the most significant of all the prophecies made in the Cayce readings. It was a topic of deep personal interest to Edgar Cayce the man, too. The following reading, 5749-5, was given to help him prepare for a scheduled lecture on the subject.
The Cayce readings, of course, are hardly alone in looking for such a great event. “Many . . . have preached concerning this Second Coming,” as he puts it. What is special about this reading are some of its themes about the meaning of Christ’s return.
Note the unusual way this reading begins. The opening paragraphs serve to introduce Cayce himself, as if he were some master of ceremonies introducing a speaker. It’s not clear who, or even what, this introducer is—another aspect of Cayce’s soul, a spirit speaking through an entranced Cayce, or something else. In this introduction is a remarkable label for Cayce and his work: “forerunner of . . . Christ Consciousness.” We might presume that this phase refers both to the teachings found in the readings and to the clairvoyant sensitivity Cayce demonstrated.
Also mentioned is Cayce’s visionary dream, which came during another reading that very morning. (This phenomenon happened many times, that one aspect of his mind could give a reading while another aspect dreamed.) In the dream, he was traveling on a luxurious train with a white and gold interior with several famous evangelists, each deceased, heading for a place where John, the Beloved Disciple, would be teaching. The dreaming Cayce asked one of the evangelists if he remembered him. To which the evangelist replied, apparently referencing in a symbolic way that he, Cayce, was still alive in the physical world: “Oh yes, but you are not just like we are. . . . You are on this same train with us right now, but don’t forget you have to go back and don’t you get too far away.” This dream was directly related to Edgar Cayce’s concerns about the meaning of the Second Coming.
The heart of reading 5749-5 begins on page 228 with the paragraph that opens, “Ye, my brethren.” It includes many elements central to Cayce’s theological position on Christ. For example, Christ is the first to conquer death (that is, to “put on immortality”). And he came not to judge and condemn us, since we condemn ourselves already by our willfulness and our separation from God.
As if to answer definitively the question about Christ’s possible return, Edgar Cayce presents a theme that is echoed later in the reading: Christ has come once before, and he will come again in any age when there is need. In the history of humankind, there have been windows of opportunity, periods of possible breakthrough. He intervenes directly in our affairs whenever we are ready to attain a new level of understanding and application of the one basic principle, that our creator is spirit, and any worshipful approach of that creator must be based on right understanding and truth.
In reading 5749-5, Cayce also presents the broad view of Christ as being intimately involved in human evolution for many millennia. Instead of a single remarkable visit to earth through the body and personality of the man we know as Jesus, Cayce’s Christology describes him as a guide and sustainer of long standing. In this light, we might be more accurate in wondering about another coming instead of only a second one. With each coming, humanity is nudged back toward the divine plan for spiritual evolution—what Cayce refers to here as “continued activity toward the proper understanding and proper relationships . . . [to] Him.”
Christ and his influence have been experienced in different ways in different eras. Not always has it been a direct incarnation, although in 5749-5 there are clear references to the possibility of his coming again “in body,” “in the flesh.” But it has sometimes been his spirit inspiring and directing men and women who have served as leaders of their people. The work of such individuals is bound to upset those whose values and ideals are rooted in materialism (“contention in the minds and hearts of those that dwell in the flesh”). The Christ impulse counteracts the forces of selfishness, prejudice, hate, and the other shortcomings listed by Cayce near the end of the reading.
We might well ask ourselves two questions about the possibility of another coming of Christ . First, are we at a time in human history that is ripe for Christ’s influence to engage us directly once again? That is, are we ready for a breakthrough, a quantum leap to some new application of the divine plan to evolve toward oneness? Many would argue yes and point to certain promising signs—for example, the evident potential for science and spirituality to come together, which surely would be a breakthrough for humanity. Another hopeful sign is the ecumenical outlook of many religious leaders, a deep appreciation of and respect for the value of all traditions, again another breakthrough.
Second, what can each of us do as individuals to make a return of Christ possible? This is not the only reading in which Edgar Cayce claims that preparations were made in advance of Christ’s coming two thousand years ago, and such preparation would be needed just as much today. Christ’s return becomes reality only “as there is prepared the way by those that have made and do make the channels for the entering in.” Our little acts of tolerance and kindness play a big role in paving the way for such a coming.
THE READING
✜
THIS PSYCHIC READING, 5749-5,
WAS GIVEN BY EDGAR CAYCE ON MAY 1, 1934.
The conductor was Gertrude Cayce.
GC: You will have before you Edgar Cayce, present in this room, and his inquiring mind in relation to the talk which he expects to give next Monday evening on the “Second Coming.” You will give what he should present at this open meeti
ng on this subject.
EC: That which crowds in at the present may be well for those present, but would it be well for those in open meeting? From this experience, though, there may be gathered that which has been given and that which may be helpful to many in the comprehension of that which is the experience of those that seek through such channels to have for themselves the experience that may be had by those here in this room in the present.
Be mindful then, each of you, of that ye may inwardly experience in that which may be given you.
For, those experiences that have been told you of the vision [E.C’s dream of that a.m.] of the gathering of those that were known to many in this present land and in the lands abroad were in reference to just those things that may be said respecting the Coming.
Many of these have ministered, have preached concerning this Second Coming. Not a one but what has at some time left the record of his contemplations and experiences in those environs, whether made in the heart and mind of his hearers or in the written word; yet here today, in what ye call time, ye find them gathering in a body to listen to that as may be given them by [Edgar Cayce?] one who is to be a forerunner of that influence in the earth known as the Christ Consciousness, the coming of that force or power into the earth that has been spoken of through the ages.
Listen, while he speaks! [Edgar Cayce?]
Ye, my brethren, in your ignorance and in your zeal have often spoken of that influence in the earth known among men as the record made by those that would influence the activities in the religious or spiritual life of individuals through the ages, as a record of the Son of man as He walked in the earth. Rather would ye listen and harken to those things as He spoke when He made those inferences and illustrations as to how those had closed and did close their ears to what was actually going on about them; yet they knew Him not! He, our Lord and our Master, was the first among those that put on immortality that there might be the opportunity for those forces that had erred in spiritual things; and only through experiencing in a manner whereunto all might be visioned from their greater abilities of manifesting in the various phases, forms and manners as they developed through that ye know as matter, could they come to know how or why or when there was made manifest in any realm spirit that was good and spirit that was in error. For, He gave thee, had ye not known the Son ye would not be condemned in thine own self. For, condemnation was not in Him, but “ye are condemned already.” And in the coming into the influence of those that would open themselves for an understanding might there be the approach to Him. He has come in all ages through those that were the spokesmen to a people in this age, that age, called unto a purpose for the manifestation of that first idea.
Readst thou how the sons of God came together, and Satan came also? “Hast thou considered my servant? Hast thou seen his ways?” And the answer, even from the evil force, “Put forth thine hand—touch him in those things that pertain to the satisfying of desire that is flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.” Then, “He is in thine hand, but touch not his soul—touch not his soul!”
So we see how that the coming into the earth has been and is for the evolution or the evolving of the soul unto its awareness of the effect of all influences in its experience in the varied spheres of activity; and that only in Him who was the creator, the maker, the experiencer of mortality and spirit and soul could this be over come.
Then, the necessity. For, has it not been said, has it not been shown in the experience of the earth, the world, from any angle it may be considered, that He has not willed that any should be lost—but has prepared the way of escape in Him, the Maker?
But who is the worthy servant? He that has endured unto the end!
Then, He has come in all ages when it has been necessary for the understanding to be centered in a new application of the same thought, “God is Spirit and seeks such to worship him in spirit and in truth!”
Then, as there is prepared the way by those that have made and do make the channels for the entering in, there may come into the earth those influences that will save, regenerate, resuscitate, hold—if you please—the earth in its continued activity toward the proper understanding and proper relationships to that which is the making for the closer relationships to that which is in Him alone. Ye have seen it in Adam; ye have heard it in Joshua, Joseph, David, and those that made the preparation then for him called Jesus. Ye have seen His Spirit in the leaders in all realms of activity, whether in the isles of the sea, the wilderness, the mountain, or in the various activities of every race, every color, every activity of that which has produced and does produce contention in the minds and hearts of those that dwell in the flesh.
For, what must be obliterated? Hate, prejudice, selfishness, backbiting, unkindness, anger, passion, and those things of the mire that are created in the activities of the sons of men.
Then again He may come in body to claim His own. Is He abroad today in the earth? Yea, in those that cry unto Him from every corner; for He, the Father, hath not suffered His soul to see corruption; neither hath it taken hold on those things that make the soul afraid. For, He is the Son of Light, of God, and is holy before Him. And He comes again in the hearts and souls and minds of those that seek to know His ways.
These be hard to be understood by those in the flesh, where prejudice, avarice, vice of all natures holds sway in the flesh; yet those that call on Him will not go empty-handed—even as thou, in thine ignorance, in thine zealousness that has at times eaten thee up. Yet here ye may hear the golden scepter ring—ring—in the hearts of those that seek His face. Ye, too, may minister in those days when He will come in the flesh, in the earth, to call His own by name.
We are through.
SUMMARY of Edgar Cayce’s Esoteric Christianity
Edgar Cayce invites us to consider a new way of understanding Christ. At the heart of his Christology is a distinction between Jesus, the most recent incarnation of a soul who had many lifetimes on earth, and the universal Christ Consciousness, the awareness of the oneness of all life. Jesus is “our elder brother” in the sense that he is a soul like us who has been on the long, difficult journey of growth of the soul. And Christ Consciousness is not something far off but instead resides already in the unconscious mind of each soul, waiting to be awakened by free will.
CHAPTER EIGHT
SOCIAL VISION
EDGAR CAYCE BECAME FAMOUS IN THE LATE 1960s WITH SUCH books as The Sleeping Prophet that crowned him a prognosticator in the Nostradamus mold and as the visionary of a new world order. Had he lived to see his legacy understood in this way, he probably would have been uncomfortable—not because his readings lacked prophetic insight and social vision, but because they made up such a tiny percentage of his life’s work. He would wish us to place less weight on the prophecies, more on his pioneering work with holistic healing and his simple, direct methods for achieving personal spirituality.
Even though only about one percent of the readings address world events or social issues, they are an important part of his teaching and essential in understanding his message to the world. He saw the problem as people who were trying to force “one portion of the world to think as another” (3976-8). This sort of intolerant coerciveness was bound to lead to suffering on an unprecedented planetary scale unless counterbalanced by a more humane vision. He saw how the world could evolve in a constructive way.
In this chapter, we explore several of Cayce’s famous visionary readings. They have been saved for last because it keeps them in perspective, having already examined the other elements of his philosophy. Taken out of context, these readings can mislead the reader who is looking for the sensational in Cayce’s work.
Two key principles are worth keeping in mind.
First, Cayce’s prophecies have a long-term perspective. Admittedly, some, especially the early ones, targeted 1998 as a pivotal year. For the most part, they didn’t come true. Instead, Cayce’s insights unfolded and even changed somewhat as he grew older and his vision matur
ed. It makes more sense to look at his later work and invest it with more credence than the earlier work. For example, many of the predictions from the late 1920s and the mid- 1930s involved catastrophic changes to the earth. From the late 1930s to early 1940s, we find the changes predicted are more likely to be gradual than sudden. Here’s a case in point from September 1939:
Q Three hundred years ago Jacob Boehme decreed Atlantis would rise again at this crisis time when we cross from this Piscean Era into the Aquarian. Is Atlantis rising now? Will it cause a sudden convolution and about what year?
A In 1998 we may find a great deal of the activities as have been wrought by the gradual changes that are coming about. These are at the periods when the cycle of the solar activity, or the years as related to the sun’s passage through the various spheres of activity become paramount or Catamount [?] [Tantamount?] to the change between the Piscean and the Aquarian age. This is a gradual, not a cataclysmic activity in the experience of the earth in this period. 1602-3
Looking further into Cayce’s long-term perspective, one interesting passage deals with the year 2158. In March 1936, Cayce had a dream on a train coming back to Virginia from an ill-fated trip to Detroit where he was briefly thrown in jail for practicing medicine without a license. In a reading after that, he was asked to interpret the dream, and he said it had two meanings: to give Cayce himself hope that his legacy would be remembered and available two hundred years hence; and to offer a prophetic picture of what the world might be like in the mid-twenty-second century. Here is the dream:
The Essential Edgar Cayce Page 22