Discussion Post I submitted for my Atlantic University TP6140 Course – October 7, 2020
The last conference I attended at A.R.E. included a one-day presentation by Peter Woodbury on Edgar Cayce’s readings as they relate to the Book of Revelation. I was struck by how “out-of-the-box” this interpretation was for the great prophet and former Sunday school teacher, who typically doesn’t stray far from a traditional understanding of the bible and Jesus’s teachings. As John Van Auken notes, “Edgar Cayce approaches the Revelation most closely to the symbolic view, but even here he takes it far beyond the normal symbolic interpretation” (Van Auken, 2011). Upon further reflection and abandonment of biases anchored by my Christian training, the more I contemplated what Cayce said, the more it made sense. As we’re learning in all of our courses, energy is at the core of what we are, not just us, but everything in the material world. So, beginning with that premise, it’s easy to understand the leap Cayce makes from “The Seven Churches,” as presented in Revelation to the seven energy centers or chakras. And when you consider that most of his readings were health-related and focused heavily on the inner workings of the human body, it’s also to see how he can “correlate these centers to the endocrine glands. These glands secrete the powerful hormone messages directly into the bloodstream, affecting all parts of the body (Van Auken, 2011). Cayce’s use of additional Revelation symbols to correspond to other elements of the human body, desires, and ways of living then flow logically. The Four Beasts, for example, “are the four fundamental physical natures (desires) of man which must be overcome” (Van Auken, 2011).
However, Cayce’s most significant gift from his Revelation readings are the spiritual messages contained within St. John’s highly symbolic text. He notes that the Seven Lamps of Fire “represent the helpful influences that destroy hindrances to the spiritual awakening” (Van Auken, 2011). And that the Great Dragon “symbolizes that powerful urge within ourselves that originally so separated us from the Source of Life that we would fight with those very influences that would bring the spiritual awakening” (Van Auken, 2011). How St. John’s can receive the message is also an important lesson for our spirituality, which was his ability to reach a deep state of meditation or trance, where “he was caught up in the Spirit of God” (Van Auken, 2011). Cayce adds that this deep meditation allowed St. John to understand that the information and symbolism he was receiving was for his spiritual journey and for those souls who can understand Revelation as a story of a spiritual journey. Therefore, through Cayce’s physical and spiritual interpretations of Revelation, he outlines a journey from our physical body and struggles, as shown through the various symbols, to our ultimate purpose, which is “a direct, intimate union of our soul with God” (Van Auken, 2011). It is this ultimate union with God that we’re all called, and with Cayce’s interpretation of Revelation, he provides a clear road map for our journey to the promised land.
References
Van Auken, J. (2011), “Mysticism in the Revelation: mysticism interpreting the Revelation.” Retrieved from https://moodle.atlanticuniv.edu/pluginfile.php/55362/mod_page/content/29/Mysticism%20Interpreting%20the%20Revelation%20%281%29.doc.