This psychic reading given by Edgar Cayce at his home on Arctic Crescent, Virginia Beach, Virginia, this 25th day of April, 1935, in accordance with request made by the self - Mr. [826], Active Member of the Ass'n for Research & Enlightenment, Inc.

Present: Edgar Cayce; Gertrude Cayce, Conductor; Gladys Davis, Steno. L. B. and Hugh Lynn Cayce.

TEXT

1. EC: Yes, we have the entity here, also those records as made by Esdena - of Persia and Arabia, or Arabia now; yes.
2. In interpreting the experience of the entity or soul in Esdena, it is necessary that somewhat of the conditions which existed during that activity be reviewed; in part, at least.
3. With the establishing of what might in the present be called a Center (with a capital C), we find there were many of Uhjltd's people that were gradually attracted to the surroundings. And among those of Uhjltd's father's tribesmen was this young man, Esdena; among the kinsmen in the flesh to the leader, or Uhjltd. As is termed in the present, the entity was a cousin; being of the family of the father's brother.
4. As a child of twelve years of age did the entity come under the influence of Uhjltd, being healed at the time of what would in the present be called in the name of the desert fever, or malarial fever; in its nature akin to that of the dengue type.
5. The entity lived in those surroundings much the same character as many do in the land of the present day. Tents of goatskin and of the animals of the desert and hill. And being in straits owing to the breaking up of the tribesmen by the revolt of Estrides and of those that had been destroyed or pursued by the king then of what is Persia and portions of Mesopotamia or Chaldea, or those that later made so many periods of cultural activity of various types or natures.
6. Esdena sought first for the comforts of the material experience, and after being healed became as one of the household of Uhjltd; being trained by the leader that had joined Uhjltd in the activities that bespoke gradually of that as grew into the city in the hills and plains.
7. The entity showed its greater aptitude in gathering data from the various groups that came, for the one purpose or another, to that Center (as we will call it). For the varied groups, as of the period, brought the fruits of their individual lands or vicinities as in exchange for that given out in the healings or the teachings or the counsel, the advise, the awakening of the possibilities in that which would arise in the experience of individuals and groups. For the cooperative forces were those things that made for the greater interest to Esdena, as he began the compilations of what might be well termed in the present a diary of happenings in and about that city; and particularly as pertaining to the character of advice and counsel that was given by Uhjltd, in the manners especially of the various groups, depending upon the elements in the soil, the air, the sun, the water. For what would become the sustaining forces for the bodies, first; and for the minds by the occupations in the creative forces of a universal activity among the individuals that so applied themselves. And the men and women of the group became as the co-workers.
8. Hence we find (This aside) the variation in the relationships that arose from Zan and Zoroaster, as to the head of the household and those helpmeets in same, and from the Indian or Mongolian land; or even those of that same period of the Egyptian, though naturally based or drawn upon from these sources more - that come closer to that as presented by Him that WAS the Representative, the Son of the Maker of the heaven and the earth, in that land and in others.
9. The entity then, Esdena, began this rather as that of advice from the leader Uhjltd, who aided in recalling the varied incidents and classifying the activities as to the manners in which the various groups from the various lands were included. Those that bore the vine, the fig tree, corn, the fruits of the fields, the fruits of the herds, and those as applied in the experience of individuals; including, to be sure, those adornments of body, those spices of preservation, those that are called condiments in foods, cosmetics in adornment, and money in exchange. These all were included in those activities, you see, that were set for the various groups; that later - under the supervision of others - made for the opening of the place of exchange between the varied lands that gradually became represented by various groups and individuals, as there began the correlations of what had been gathered by the entity.
10. So the entity rose gradually in authority or power, or as to those things wherein there might be the more reliance put in what was given as to the activities of those in the varied lands, as well as their own. This made for that which was injected in that given respecting the entity, that he became the "right hand man" of the leader Uhjltd.
11. As to the periods of spiritual and mental and material advancements, the entity rose as of a natural growth in same. And there was a development until those later periods when there were the invasions from the LOVELY Grecians! With those activities the entity then began to first make the attempts to make for peace, overtures - that were a portion and are a portion of the entity's inner self. Not that the fires of passion, nor the fires of justice did not burn, and do not burn within the inner experience of the entity in the present; but these failing (that is, the attempts for peace), there was the reverting to the call of those activities to which the entity's forefathers (in the flesh) had been trained as to PHYSICAL self-defense. Yet never did the entity resort to the aggression, or to the manners in which there had been the early trainings of those peoples - and of the entity in particular. For the entity adhered more to the watchful waiting, as it has been termed in the present by those that rejected - yea, rejected - that as presented by the spirit of the Son of man, in Him that once ruled or governed this land in which the entity, [826], then sojourned.
12. As to the period of transition, this came after there had been much destruction brought. And in the attempts to again call upon other lands to aid in the defenses, to aid in the restoration, the entity began its travels to the various lands. First it resorted to the Egyptian, then to the Caucasian, and then to those of the Indian land; and in the Indian land there came into the experience those things that made for what may be termed the first turning away by the entity to that which brought the retarding influences in the experience. For using many of those of the opposite sex as a defense brought turmoil between the leader Uhjltd and Esdena. This made for a division in their activities for the while. But when there came the periods that Uhjltd made the last of the admonitions to the peoples, the entity Esdena came again; and though there had been implanted that which made for in the third and fourth generation the breaking up, there was the reverting to the tenets of the earlier experience in that particular land.
13. The entity's transition came at the age in years - as would be called in the present - of a hundred and seventy and eight (178). For those things in the diets that were as a portion of the entity's activities, clean living as to the relationships of the soil, of the air, of the sun, of the water - as may be a portion of the writings in the present - were those tenets that were presented by the entity during that sojourn; passing as one honored by those when there had been the restoration or the activities of the Grecians (as they are later known) to the activities under Zan and, later, Zoroaster.
14. As to the application of that experience by the entity in the present; it makes for that which may be turned to by the entity in its abilities to give from WITHIN, in its OWN SOUL DEVELOPMENT, as paralleled with the teachings of Him that walked in Galilee, Him that taught in the mount, Him that cleansed the temple. Cleanse thou thine own temple and make for that which is CLEAN living in the experience of those that thou wouldst assist in the word of mouth or the written page. For these are the manners in which the greater advancement may be made. And, most of all, cleanse the MINDS of the moral and social relationships in sex!
15. Ready for questions.
16. (Q) Should I publish my books under the name [826], Charles [...], Ernest Austen, or should some other name be used?
    (A) Ernest Austen.
17. (Q) Should I publish and advertise my books myself or should I get some publishing house to publish and advertise them on a percentage basis?
    (A) Best, as we find, that the first book be published by self; and the manners or the usages of same make for such an activity as to be sought - as well as seeking for the book WHEAT that must later be written. Then, this may be published by Simon & Schuster; Doubleday, Page; or MacMillan. Simon and Schuster will publish this, if presented properly.
18. (Q) At what price should I sell my first book?
    (A) A dollar, or a dollar and a quarter.
19. (Q) Should I attempt to sell this first book to a magazine before publication?
    (A) Not best. Publish same. Later, it may be run as a serial; but these should be of such power, such force! for the FIRST may be adopted by the economic schools, or those that have the CHAIRS of this nature - as a parallel course of study, see?
20. (Q) What should this book be called?
    (A) As the last chapters are finished, as we find, it will present ITSELF - rather than as from here. For this will depend upon the manner of the anticlimaxes, and the climax into what is to be DONE ABOUT that presented, see? Not only offer that as a way, but what to do ABOUT the way!
    As He has given, let this be ever the guide. Abiding in truth, in virtue, in understanding, the awakenings of the APPLICATIONS come IN as the experience of those that apply same.
21. (Q) Should WHEAT be a book of fiction? [See 826-2, Par. 37-A.]
    (A) Of fiction, but with the basis of its activity in all the varied lands - and as the staff of life in the material world.
22. We are through for the present.

    Copy to Self
    Copy to Ass'n file

BACKGROUND

1. See 826-2 on 2/21/35.

REPORTS

1. 7/06/35 See 826-5.

Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation