Edgar Cayce

Edgar Cayce (March 18, 1877 – January 3, 1945), (the surname is pronounced like "Casey") is generally remembered as an American psychic who gave trance discourses on subjects like astrology, reincarnation, and Atlantis. He may have been the source for the idea that California would fall into the ocean (though he never said exactly this). Although Cayce lived before the emergence of the New Age movement, he remains a major influence on its teachings.

Criticism

Skeptics of Cayce's claimed powers point out that the evidence for Cayce mostly comes in the form of anecdotes and testimonials, neither of which is considered scientifically rigorous. They are also irritated by Cayce's support for various forms of alternative medicine, which they tend to regard as quackery.

Related Topics:
Skeptics - Anecdotes - Testimonial - Alternative medicine - Quackery

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Cayce's followers accept that he was sometimes inaccurate, and occasionally totally wrong. Cayce's sons, Hugh Lynn Cayce and Edgar Evans Cayce, even co-authored a book called The Outer Limits of Edgar Cayce's Power detailing some of their father's mistakes. They theorize that Cayce's accuracy depended on many variables, such as the spiritual motivation of those seeking the reading. Skeptics identify these theories as excuses intended to prevent paranormal claims from ever being disproven.

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Cayce's prophecies occupy especially shaky ground. For example, Cayce stated that 1933 would be a “good year”, when in fact it was one of the worst in the Great Depression. He predicted that China would convert to Christianity by 1968. He said US scientists would discover a “death ray” from Atlantis in 1958. As mentioned before, Cayce periodically predicted massive earth changes which never occurred—either in the 1930s, 1960s, or 1990s.

Related Topics:
Prophecies - 1933 - Great Depression - China - Christianity - 1968 - Atlantis - 1958

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Cayce's supporters however point to successful predictions of a non-Communist Russia, or the establishment of peace in 1945. They argue that the "Atlantean death-ray" refers to the laser, first demonstrated in 1960 by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories in California.

Related Topics:
1945 - Laser - 1960 - Theodore Maiman - Hughes Research Laboratories

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Another common source of criticism has been from conservative Protestantism, which rejects reincarnation and other of Cayce's teachings. Most Christian critics agree with the skeptics, and doubt that Cayce possessed paranormal abilities as claimed. Some accept that he possessed such abilities, but suggest that they were Satanic in origin. Cayce himself is said to have worried about this possibility, and prayed for God to take his abilities away if it were so. In the end he was persuaded by the fact that the "fruits" (healings and so on) were good, or at least appeared so.

Related Topics:
Protestantism - Reincarnation - Satan

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The fact that by all accounts, some of Cayce's prophecies have failed has led some Christians to cite Isaiah which demands complete accuracy of any prophetic claimant, on pain of death should any prophecy fail. Cayce's supporters however point out that he did not personally claim to be a "prophet" on a par with those of the Bible.

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