Discussion Post I submitted for my Atlantic University TP6100 Course – February 26, 2020.
What are the natures of Cayce’s and Garrett’s psychic sources? How would you know if they are what they claim to be?
On February 3, 1934, when both Edgar Cayce and Eileen Garrett went into trance and held a session with Hugh Lynn Cayce as the questioner, each provided clues to the source of their psychic information. Garrett began her trance by declaring, “It is I. Uvani.” According to the First Spiritualist Temple, Uvani was a “fourteenth century Arab soldier,” who controlled her mediumship. In addition, she channeled three other entities, including Abdul Latif, “a seventeenth century Persian physician,” who helped with healing messages. The other two were Tahotah and Ramah, who spoke “very seldom and on more philosophic and spiritual matters” and “claimed no earthly incarnations” (https://www.fst.org/garrett.htm).
When Cayce, in trance, was asked about the source of Garrett’s psychic information, he replied, “A portion is from the soul development of the entity, that has made and does make for a channel through which spiritual or psychic forces may manifest in a material world; and thus giving that to which the seekers may find in their own particular field of activity. Also from those influences from without that are either in those attitudes of being teachers, instructors, directors, or those that would give to those in the material plane the better comprehension of the continuance of a mental and soul activity” (Cayce, 507-1).
Cayce, on the other hand, does not appear to channel a limited number of specific spiritual entities, as does Garrett. In her trance, when asked about Cayce’s psychic work, Garrett says he is “peculiarly intuitive [and] supersensitive” and that “he has one very strong Egyptian contact” plus and Indian contact who he apparently “protests against” (Report of Reading 501-1, p. 1 and 3). Edgar Cayce’s A.R.E. notes that Cayce “attributed the source of much of his remarkable information as being the Akashic Records (https://www.edgarcayce.org/31761/)
Historical records are the best way to determine whether a spiritual entity is who they say they claim. For example, when I was at Arthur Findlay, for our last night, one of our mentor’s went into trance for us. One of the individuals who came through was a professor from a college in England during the late 1800s. He was a relatively new entity channeled by our mentor, and she was in the process of researching this man and gathering all the information she could from those who took notes during the session so she could verify his existence. This obviously becomes more difficult as time passes since ancient records aren’t nearly as detailed as modern ones.
Another way to tell whether the individual is who they say they are is to verify the information they bring forth about a sitter or future events. If the information is accurate and more importantly, beneficial to the sitter, whether they are who they say becomes less important. I had a reading once by a woman who channels a man named Dr. James Martin Peebles. She has a complete bio on him on her site, and when she was in trance, she/he talked in colloquialism from his time period, In the end, however, it was the quality of information as it related to my life that made it one of the best sittings I’ve experienced.
What opinions do Cayce’s and Garrett’s sources have of each other?
Garrett had very strong opinions about Cayce’s approach as well as what he was doing to himself physically by how he conducted his work. She said he has a “passive personality” yet he’s not willing to reach out and ask for help. She adds “that it would be helpful for him to stimulate his clairvoyant vision, so that he might become aware of the strength of the people who do work with him” (Report of Reading 501-1, p. 1).
From her comments, you get the sense that she felt Cayce is “white-knuckling” what he does, taking the burdens of the world on his shoulders, and as a result, is losing a piece of himself with every reading, as Sidney Kirkpatrick relays in his lecture (Parapsychology Foundation, 2016). Garrett, under trance, adds, “He should STAND up and permit of help; I mean that, because I do feel that he is not himself ENTIRELY strong enough to carry the load of these responsibilities any further” (Report of Reading 501-1, p. 6).
In terms of Garrett’s work, Cayce, under trance, says that she’s been given her powers as an “opportunity for the soul to use that it had builded within self to make for a manifestation in a material world of those influences that are without and within” (Cayce, 507-1). Kirkpatrick boils down Cayce’s comments to the fact that Garrett is here to make the “unseen world seen” (Parapsychology Foundation, 2016). Cayce does add a warning regarding information she gleans, along with anyone else involved in such work, and she should not use or abuse the information for “self indulgencies [and] self-aggrandizement, the fruits of these must be contention and strife, inharmony and the like” (Cayce, 507-1).
What is the best method for psychic development and/or contacting psychic sources and why?
A medium’s approach is very personal to their particular personality. As Kirkpatrick notes, Cayce had a whole routine where he must loosen his tie (apparently his throat swells during a session), he lays on a couch and needs someone to place a suggestion in his mind as he went into trance (Parapsychology Foundation, 2016). Kirkpatrick compared that to Garrett, who without much fanfare, fell almost immediately into a trance, and away she went (Parapsychology Foundation, 2016).
From watching my Arthur Findlay instructor’s session, I picked up some iron-clad rules from our other instructor who coordinated the session. First, don’t be late and therefore disturb the medium! She was adamant that people would not be allowed in the room once the session began. Also, the curtains were drawn, even though it was in the evening, and the lights subdued, so a quiet and dim ambiance is an important requirement. As we see with Garrett and Cayce, conversations are certainly permitted, but I’m assuming they are in a lower and even tone so as not to disturb the medium too much. Finally, from Cayce’s readings, it’s clear he hits a wall at a certain point. Cayce’s reading was signficiantly shorter than Garrett’s, and he simply ended it, “We are though” (Cayce, 507-1).
How should psychic abilities be used?Edgar Cayce, himself, provides the ultimate answer to this question, and that’s for the good of others. Even in his own life, when he was entangled with family and friends who attempted to use his gifts for selfish purposes, the information inevitably proved to be unreliable, and more telling, on a few occasions, Cayce lost his psychic abilities for a period of time after his powers were misused. Psychic abilities are best used for healing and helping others, and lightening people’s hearts by allowing them time to enjoy each other.
As we have seen throughout this semester, the range of positive uses for psychic abilities is limitless. Cayce obviously spent much of his time on providing detailed medical cures for many hopeless cases, police rely on psychic information to locate missing persons and to solve crimes, and I’ve witnessed countless times where a grieving soul has received consoling message through a psychic from a deceased loved one. As long as a psychic’s motto is “due no harm,” the sky is the limit on how their gifts should be used.
References
Cayce, E. (1934, Feb. 3), Reading 507-1, Atlantic University Course TS 502 Supplemental Material.
First Spiritual Temple (n.d.), Eileen J. Garrett (1893 to 1970). Retrieved from https://www.fst.org/garrett.htm
Garrett, E. (1934, Feb. 3), Report of reading 507-1, Atlantic University Couse TP6100 Material.
Parapsychology Foundation (2016, May 27). Dueling psychics: Edgar Cayce & Eileen J. Garrett. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/E5dhY9ba1dw