Edgar Cayce Readings, 254-66

Time: 3:50 to 5:05 [?] P. M.

TEXT

GC: You will have before you the Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc., its officers, members and friends; together with the psychic work of Edgar Cayce which is being presented by it. You will give for those assembled at this last meeting of the second Annual Congress, and for all those who may be interested in the work to whom it will go, a message on the scope, purposes and ideals of the Association; telling us how we may have a part in making the most of the opportunities and possibilities involved.
EC: Yes, we have the Association - as an association, the work that is presented by the organization in giving that which may be helpful to those that seek through these channels for that which may aid them in the needs of the present.
As we have given, first there must come to the individuals - through that presented from time to time - that which will supply that lacking in their consciousness, whether in the material, the mental or spiritual approach to the same.
Then there must be drawn by the individuals that parallel as to whether the ideals presented are in accord with that they would endow to the Creative Forces in their experience.
For, as the individual thinketh, as contemplation is made in the material self, there is builded the hope, expectancy, desire, to present or manifest that which is chosen by self as an ideal that the individual would worship in its idea of the Creator.
Hence, as the work of the Association - in its ideals and purposes - is to pass on to others that which has been found to be of help or aid in individuals' experience, so will the leaven be made that will determine - then in groups, then in masses - as to the value of such efforts in this material world.
Thus may the efforts grow, as there is presented through the Association - as individuals, members, friends - that which is truth.
For, the lord of the Way is as but a growing in understanding and comprehension of those things, conditions and elements that would make for finding contentment in the service of Truth.
Then, the message that would be given by him, the lord of the Way:
BOW THINE HEADS, O YE CHILDREN OF MEN! FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD IS NIGH AT HAND! MAKE THINE OWN PATHS STRAIGHT, IN THAT YE WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY BEFORE THINE BROTHER, THAT YE PLACE NOT STUMBLING-BLOCKS IN HIS WAY NOR CAUSE HIM TO ERR IN THAT HE IS SEEKING TO FIND HIS WAY! LET THE LIGHT THOU HAST SHINE IN A MORE PERFECT WAY; FOR AS THE DAY DRAWS NEAR WHEN ALL MUST BE TRIED SO AS BY FIRE, FIND SELF ON THAT SIDE WHEREIN THINE BROTHER HAS BEEN AIDED!
We are through.

REPORTS

7/24/33 Mildred Davis' ltr. to Mr. [228] & Mrs. [313]:
Dear Mr. [228] & Mrs. [313]:
Just how are you good folks by now? I certainly hope Mrs. [313]'s father has greatly improved in health and that he will soon be his normal self again. Please let us know that results he has experienced in reference to his reading of June 30, 1933.
Beginning this month, the distribution of the lessons which are being prepared by the Norfolk Study Group No. 1 has been turned over to the central office. Therefore, in ordering future lessons or data, please write this office instead of Miss Esther Wynne. However, you are cordially invited to communicate with Miss Wynn on any phase of group work in which you are interested, as the Norfolk Study Group No. 1 is willing to cooperate in every way possible. The change was made by the Board of Trustees at our last meeting [6/17/33] in order to eliminate confusion in ordering lessons.
The third lesson, WHAT IS MY IDEAL?, will be mailed to you just as soon as we get some more printed. I hope you are finding these lessons helpful in your search for Truth. Please let us know your reactions and your progress in regard to them; also your ideas relative to forming a group of your own.
I am sorry to tell you that Judge [EC] has been ailing for the past week, in bed most of the time. A doctor was called twice. He had something like an impaction, which was very painful. Write him a cheery letter soon. I am sure it will boost him up considerably, something which he greatly needs at this time.
Trusting you are both well and happy, and with very best wishes over, I am
Most sincerely,
Mildred Mary Davis, Secretary ASS'N. FOR RESEARCH & ENLIGHTENMENT, INC.
8/18/33 EC's ltr. to Mrs. [541], a friend of Miss [300]'s who had heard from her, Miss [300], about the Life Readings and wanted to know more about them:
My dear Mrs. [541]: I was very glad to have yours of the 11th. The data on reincarnation is being sent to you right away. Did we send the article on the Life Readings? If not, I would like for you to see it. [A Study of Spiritual Evolution, by HLC] From the reading you say you have done I am sure you have more than an average idea of the line of thought that is being turned to more often these days. To be sure, I do not claim that the work in which we are engaged is all there is to be had on such subjects.
Dr. Hudson is the only one of those you mentioned that I have known personally. While we have in our home two of his books that he gave me some years gone by I am ashamed to say I've never read them. Also I have a copy of Dr. Funk's research into psychic phenomena. I've had some correspondence with many of these you refer to but have not met them in person. We must have a great quantity of data on more different subjects than could be found in but few research groups, if any. While no record was kept of the research into this work for the first few years, for the last twenty-three years a very good stenographic record has been kept of all readings.
I wish that I might talk with you in person about many of the interesting subjects. There are very few subjects on which we haven't had something. As to how good it is depends upon how valuable it has been, of course, to the individuals who have sought it.
We hope to send the Bulletin to you from month to month, and trust you will find it interesting and worth while. We are hoping to make this interesting enough to be worth while to those who have been studying or reading along these lines.
I am glad to know, for my own part and thoughts in the matter, that you are still affiliated with the orthodox church. It has never been my opinion that there is a great deal in any of this work if it takes that association away from an individual, unless something much better can be given. I think one of the most trying experiences I ever had was a few years ago when my oldest son (Hugh Lynn) started to the university [W & L]. He met there a young man of the Catholic faith who became his roommate. Naturally, my son being one who had come to believe a great deal in the readings obtained through these sources, he talked to his roommate and they had many discussions during their first term. The Catholic, of course, believed nothing of what he heard. Finally he dared my son to let him come home with him, for he was sure that he could prove it was all a fraud. Of course he was invited to come; and he spent ten days here, heard two readings every day. When he left he was ready to renounce his Catholic faith. I felt a great responsibility, for - to be sure - his family was heartbroken, but the boy remained firm. The next year he came and spent the summer months with us, listening to the readings from day to day, he and my son forming questions and asking the source of information for answers. In the course of time he finished school, took his A.B. degree and his A.M., and now is a reporter on one of the New York papers - Herald Tribune. A few months ago, when our New York members gave a dinner in my honor, this young man acted in the capacity of toastmaster. In his introductory remarks he told of his experience, but said - while he knew he was among people of all faiths - he wanted it understood that his association with this work had made him a better Catholic than he had ever been before he knew of it. Immediately after this speech a Jewish Rabbi spoke, and in his opening remarks he told that his association with the work came at a time when he needed it most, because he was at a loss to know what to do with himself and what he had been trained - or thought he had trained himself - to be; and this work had made him stronger in his faith and in his religion. I understand that a thing can be so broad as to not be worth anything, yet this work may be as a Minnonite said a few years ago when he came for a reading that had been given for his wife. Several individuals were sitting around, as he was leaving; and while he was rather inclined to be a man reserved, he spoke to those present in this way:
"I wonder if you people recognize what a wonderful service Mr. Cayce is rendering to humanity. Isn't it near akin to what we read in Acts 27? We all hear the truth in our own tongue."
Have you seen a book by Johannes Greber just recently published by the McCoy Publishing Co. of N.Y. entitled COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE SPIRIT WORLD? It is quite radical from some viewpoints and - of course - is quite spiritualistic in its presentation; but most of us - as in the churches - have forgotten that we declare in almost every breath, in our service. "God is Spirit, and seeks such to worship Him in spirit and in truth."
So, I hope you may surely find, in your contact with this work, that the Association is presenting something very much worth while. We do have wonderful reports from people all over the country, that are certainly most gratifying. Thanking you for your letter, and hoping you will let us hear from you again, I am
Sincerely, [Edgar Cayce] EC:GD
[GD's note: Mrs. [541] obtained her Life Rdg. 4/28/34. She and Edgar Cayce had regular correspondence throughout the rest of his lifetime, much of which has been extracted, and included, as a follow-up to her Life Reading 541-1.]
8/19/33 EC's ltr. to Mrs. [959]:
My dear Mrs. [959]: We were certainly very glad to have yours of the 11th, and to know that you had a pleasant visit with Mrs. Pope, and that your mother [356] is so much on the improve - and was able to stand the trip so well. We have been disappointed at not seeing you at the Beach, though, before this time. Isn't it going to be possible for you to come down sometime before you start the young folks to school again?
I know you were glad to find [son [146]] looking so well, but sorry to have missed Dr. Kirk. We will write Mrs. Pope and make the appointment for [146]'s reading, and we certainly hope we will be able to offer some suggestion that may just at this time fit in to do the very things we have been so long desirous of seeing accomplished with him.
I'm so glad that your mother responds so well to the treatments suggested. I'm sure she finds that following out the readings is the best way to get results.
Hugh Lynn hasn't returned from his Boy Scout trip. We are expecting him back, though, today or tomorrow. Our other boy was among the bunch, and we are very anxious to see them safely home again. They went to the World's Fair, then on to Yellowstone, Salt Lake, Rocky Mountain Park, Denver, Pike's Peak; then came on back through Kansas City, Mammoth Cave, Ky., and the last we heard from them they were in Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.
Yes, it is hard sometimes, Mrs. [959], to get the idea of reincarnation, but it seems to me so practical a thing that I have almost come to believe it. We have so many experiences that indicate it must be a real truth.
We have been waiting just a bit on the Congress book orders, and I think will in the next few weeks get these ready. Of course, we will be glad to send your copy. Many thanks for your interest. I realize that it is hard to get much from the little data we are able to send out, when you are so interested and can't be in close contact with what is going on all the time; but if there's anything you see in the Bulletins about which you would like more detail, so as to get a better understanding of it, please say so - and if it is possible we will help out.
We are all pretty well here now. Through July 1 had quite a bad spell, and was a little uneasy for a few days; but a man, I guess, is what he thinks he is - huh? If I think I'm no good, then I must not be much account. If I think I can be of help, possibly I can. I get mightily discouraged at times, but what have I to be discouraged about? Please let us hear from you at every opportunity. Know that we are always glad and anxious to hear from you.
With love and regards from everyone here, I am Ever the same, [Edgar Cayce]
EC:GD
8/28/33 EC's ltr. to [2457]:
Dear [2457]:-
I have yours of the 23rd and 26th. Yours of the 23rd came just when they could get the mail to us after the storm.
We are still sitting in the middle of a lake. It was very lucky for us that the boys had come home on the 19th. Of course, all the lights were out for several days, and we had no way of preparing anything to eat except on the little gasoline stove the boys used on their trip. We could boil coffee and fry eggs on it, and eat bread when we could get it. There was a great deal of damage to the Beach, not near as much - however - as between here and Cape Henry, Ocean View, Willoughby and Norfolk; they were much harder hit than Virginia Beach. Our greatest disturbance is the water in the basement, and the "reading" office room where I'm now writing looks like an express office with a lot of trunks left on hand; as we had to pile everything out of the basement and get it somewhere out of the water. The water was about four and a half feet deep. We have no back yard; in fact, for several days we could only get into the house through one door. The ocean broke through and it ran the lake into the back of our house. So, until the road up above us is fixed - and I don't know how soon that will be - we'll still be sitting in the lake.
I'm glad to say, though, we are all very well physically, and we have much to be thankful for. I'm sure all of our friends, from the messages and letters we have had, have been very anxious about us; and we certainly appreciate it very much.
I'm sorry to know you are having so much trouble again; or should I say STILL. I can appreciate all such conditions, I think, much better than many people; for I've certainly had my share of experience in that direction.
I am surprised to hear of Florence Phillip's tries. What seems to be the condition that brought it all about? Plain meanness, or lack of judgement? I'm sorry to hear of Mrs. Ackerman and Mr. Jowers. Do hope they will soon be on the improve.
I'm not very much surprised at what you say about Miss Ursa.
Thank you for all the news you gave me. Nothing particularly new here at present; just want to let you know we are alright and everything is going along very well.
Let us hear from you whenever you can. Give our regards to all who care to hear.
With love from all, I am
Ever the same, [Edgar Cayce]
EC:GD
8/28/33 GD's thoughts in meditation while using the affirmation for the preparation of the lesson OPPORTUNITY: Whenever I am sincere in desiring to help another I find that the opportunity presents itself; oftentimes very much in the manner as the opportunity was presented to Paul when he sought to Christianize the people who dedicated the altar to an unknown God.
Our very weaknesses become opportunities for our greatest strengths. "The stone that was rejected by the builders has become the chief cornerstone."
When we take advantage of an opportunity in one direction the way is opened for many others. In helping one individual we help many, for we are all links in a chain. When one is strengthened it redounds to the good of all. Like begets like.
We have opportunities presented to us of every kind. "There is this day set before thee good and evil. Choose thou." When we take advantage of an opportunity we are adding to the opportunities in that direction for ourselves and others. Therefore, it behooves us to take advantage always of the good opportunities, or those that will bring good; for thereby we are developing towards the All Good - which is God.
A real opportunity actually comes from within. The spiritual is the life, the mental is the builder, and the physical is the result. Unless we have builded ourselves toward certain opportunities we do not recognize them when they come; therefore, what outwardly might be an opportunity for another I might not recognize as an opportunity for me.
EVERYTHING is an opportunity. So, we should be on our guard, sure that we are training ourselves to recognize only the opportunities that will take us upward and onward toward our GREATEST opportunity - which is to be one with Him.
8/33 Excerpt from ASSOCIATION BULLETIN for which Hugh Lynn Cayce was compositor monthly, and editor, until he went away to W.W. 2 in mid '43 [continuing late '45]: ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - August, 1933 - Sheet #8.
STUDY GROUP WORK
The distribution of Lessons and other data will henceforth be conducted through the central office. Therefore, in ordering further material or making enquiries, please address the Secretary of the Association, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
For the benefit of those who have not yet begun these studies, below is a list of the first twelve completed lessons. It is desired that individuals begin with the first lesson:
I. COOPERATION VII. PATIENCE II. KNOW THYSELF VIII. THE OPEN DOOR III. WHAT IS MY IDEAL? IX. IN HIS PRESENCE IV. FAITH X. THE CROSS AND THE CROWN V. VIRTUE AND UNDERSTANDING XI. THE LORD THY GOD IS ONE VI. FELLOWSHIP XII. LOVE
The Norfolk Study Group No. 1 has been granted a charter by the Association, and is recognized as the official study group for the preparation of lessons. These lessons are compiled from readings given by Mr. Cayce on spiritual development, and through cooperative meditation. Members in eight states are already studying these truths, some of whom will, no doubt, become leaders in contemplated groups. As previously indicated, a special drive will be made during the next four months. The nucleus for several groups desiring to study these lessons and other phases of psychic phenomena are already in existence in New York City; Stapleton, S.I.; Hempstead, L.I.; Birmingham, Ala.; Peoria, Ill.; Norfolk, Va.; and Virginia Beach. Mr. Cayce will be glad to consider giving readings on any individual problems regarding group work. LET US BE ABOUT OUR FATHER'S BUSINESS!
SPECIAL NOTICES
To date, only a few requests have been received for the complete report of the Second Annual Congress, as offered in the July Bulletin. If there are others who desire this data (which includes readings, lectures, and events of the meetings, compiled in booklet form) please let us have your orders as soon as possible. A certain number is necessary to justify the office going to this expense.
Should you desire a separate copy of the Congress Readings, namely, "Reincarnation", "Angels - (and miscellaneous questions)", and, "Association - Work", these may also be secured in booklet form.
We have for distribution a number of copies of the Reading, "Meditation and Prayer", and "How to Study the Book of Revelation".
EXCERPT FROM A LIFE READING July 12, 1933 (373-2)
"For, with ideals - and the mental and physical body attuned to carry these out, the soul and mental development must ensue; though the body-physical may suffer or may be counted - from earth standards - as a failure.
"In every soul, this should be a warning and a direction:
"DO EVER IN SELF THAT THOU KNOWEST TO BE RIGHT, THOUGH IT MAY MAKE OF SELF EVEN AN OUTCAST TO THINE NEIGHBOR.
"KNOW IN WHOM THOU HAST BELIEVED, FOR THE SPIRIT OR RIGHT GUARDS THOSE WHO CHOOSE HIS WAY IN DIRECTING THE MENTAL AND MATERIAL LIFE."
PRICES OF CURRENT DATA Congress Booklet (complete with three readings) - $1.00 each. Congress Readings, separate (3 in booklet form) - .25 Readings, "Meditation and Prayer" 281-13 - .25 Reading, "How to Study the Book of Revelation" - .25 Association Lessons - .25 each.
(SEND ALL ORDERS TO THE ASSOCIATION OFFICE)
9/07/33 EC's letter, in part, to Mrs. [959]:
Yes, the storm was quite severe. The greater damage was done beyond Virginia Beach proper, from Cavalier Shores to Ocean View, Willoughby, etc. The sea wall here no doubt prevented a great deal of destruction. We are gradually getting out of the water ourselves. It has receded, though it has not dried up the mud; and it's raining again here today. We are hoping to make sufficient repairs to be assured of a fire in the furnace this winter; but the water was so deep in our basement that a lot of work will be required on the furnace before we can fire it up...
I'm indeed glad your mother [356] is feeling good and hope she will continue on the improve. Sincerely, [Edgar Cayce]
EC:GD