CAYCE AS OUR EXAMPLE is the theme of this month’s lesson in A.R.E. HQ’s monthly Enlightenment Series.
In the July Enlightenment lesson, John Van Auken looks at some Cayce readings that provided a window into Cayce’s psychic work and the energies and dynamics that were involved. (The Enlightenment Series is a membership benefit available to members of the national A.R.E. on HQ’s website.)
John begins with a reading on an extraordinary occurrence during a reading:
“(Q) What caused the extraordinary physical reaction [Cayce’s body flipped over] with Edgar Cayce at the close of the reading {254-67} this morning, at the beginning of the suggestion?
“(A) As was seen, through the seeking of irrelevant questions there was antagonism manifested. This made for a contraction of those channels through which the activity of the psychic forces operates in the material body; as we have outlined, along the pineal, the lyden {cells of Leydig} and the {spinal} cord—or silver cord. The natural reactions are for sudden contraction when changing suddenly from the mental-spiritual to material.
“For, as evidenced by that which has been given, there is the touching—with the mental beings of those present in the room or at such manifestations—of the most delicate mechanism that may be well imagined.”
John Van Auken explains what happened:
“Cayce was lying on a table in the middle of the room with people sitting around him. Edgar’s wife Gertrude was conducting the reading. A person sitting across from Gertrude thought of a new question he wanted her to ask Edgar (an “irrelevant” question as it turns out), so he wrote it on a piece of paper and reached over Edgar’s physical body to give the question to Gertrude, but he struck something invisible hovering above Edgar’s body.
“When he struck the invisible body, Edgar’s physical body flipped up and over! When Edgar was finally awakened from the trance-state, one side of his physical body was bruised!
“However, the questioner never struck Edgar’s physical body, the strike hit Edgar’s invisible subtle body. Yet, when his subtle body reentered his physical body, a bruise appeared at the location of the strike.”
Back to the reading:
“As has been crudely given, a hen may lay an egg, but the shell once cracked or broken CANNOT be made to produce that it contains. [Clearly, the strike to his subtle body broke the connection to the spiritual realm.]
“When the thought, the activity that is being made manifest, is broken, that which is creative or constructive—once touched by thought or suggestion—is hindered, wavered.”
As John points out, two things happened to cause Cayce’s body to flip over. The hand of the individual passing the paper across Cayce’s body was one factor. The other was the irrelevant thoughts and question from that person.
Cayce’s body-mind was a finely-tuned instrument indeed!
How is this extraordinary occurrence an example for us?
Well–while Cayce was more finely-tuned than most of us, we are all the same kind of “instrument” Cayce was, and incidents such as this show us something about our own capacities. Cayce always said that “thoughts are things,” and whether or not we are conscious of it, our thoughts affect others around us–and their thoughts affect us.
