11/46 A.R.E. BULLETIN, Vol. XV No. 3
PSYCHIC FINDINGS IN EPILEPSY, By Henry George, III
On May 8, 1943, a fifteen year old boy lay quietly on a couch
in his home. In appearance he was like any other lad of his
age, but behind his brooding eyes was a problem that worried
him and his family. Since the age of twelve he had been
subject to the severe convulsions of epilepsy, that dread
blighter of lives. Now as he lay quietly at ease his
thoughts were in a hopeful, prayerful mood, for he was about
to undergo a new experience, an experience enjoyed by only a
few thousand people throughout the entire world. He was
about to have a psychic examination by Edgar Cayce, the
Virginia Beach mystic and clairvoyant and he hoped that out
of these psychic findings a cure to his ill, a solution to
his problem, might be found. His parents had been told that
he had a form of epilepsy of unknown origin, that the disease
might clear up when he passed through puberty or attained
manhood, but at best there was no guarantee or promise for
the future, and the best that medicine had to offer was
luminal, a palliative, that might lessen the severity and
frequency of the seizures, and delay the development of the
epileptic personality, the problem of which is often more
trying and difficult to cope with than the convulsions
themselves.
Quietly the boy gave himself up to a feeling of peace while
his dear ones near by prayed that he would be helped. In
their communications with Mr. Cayce they had been informed to
be quiet and to pray at the time of the reading, that prayer
not for self but that the boy might better "do the Master's
service" would help the psychic examination.
At this same time in the office of the Association for
Research and Enlightenment at Virginia Beach, Va., several
hundred miles distant from the young epileptic was a small
group of earnest people, consisting of Edgar Cayce, the
reader who was to ask questions that the family had wanted
answered, a secretary who was to take down the findings, and
two witnesses. Edgar Cayce looked at his watch, it was 3:50
p.m., the boy in New England would be hoping and praying. He
strolled into his study, undoing and removing his collar,
loosening his cuff links and belt, while the others filed in
after him and took chairs where they could watch him. He
glanced around to see that all was in order, then with a
wistfully sad look he lay down on a couch flat on his back,
closed his eyes and for a few moments was lost in silent
prayer, a prayer that he would be able to help the young
supplicant. And then he seemed to be in a profound sleep,
his extraordinary personality having projected itself into
the unknown.
The findings in this case of epilepsy are recorded in the
files of the Association for Research and Enlightenment.
Edgar Cayce found a congestion in the lacteals, the
intestinal lymphatics that carry chyle, a milk white fluid
picked up during intestinal digestion from the jejunum and
ileum and emptied into the mesenteric glands, the efferents
of which end in the preaortic glands. He found that this
lacteal duct involvement had upset the boy's neuro osseous
system resulting in vegetative nerve imbalance with vertebral
segmental lesions, or imbalances in the upper cervical, the
lumbar and the coccygeal areas, which in turn resulted in
cerebrospinal storm.
After giving his findings so specifically and in such detail
Edgar Cayce gave his suggestions just as specifically. The
boy was to have a special diet that would not irritate the
lacteals, he was to receive physical medicine consisting of
osteopathic manipulations in the vertebral segmental levels
indicated, and the use of castor oil packs over the lacteal
region of the abdomen according to specific directions, and
was to take an infusion made from the Passion Flower and the
directions as to how this was to be made were very
meticulous.
This boy followed the directions given him by a man who had
never laid eyes on him. He followed the directions, and was
subsequently discharged by his physician as being free of
Epilepsy and later was inducted into the armed services of
his country, a healthy man. [
2991]
Were this all, this case would be of interest to all those
interested in psychic phenomena, and to the healing arts, as
a medical oddity. But this case, while of paramount
importance to the erstwhile epileptic, may be of yet greater
significance to those who never heard of Edgar Cayce and may
never know that such a man existed, but who afflicted as was
this boy, dare not drive a car, or swim, cannot sleep in a
room by themselves, dread the mortification of a seizure in
public, hesitate to marry or have children, and fear that
this unexpected but ever present menace may cost them their
jobs. These people by the thousands may yet try out for
themselves the findings Edgar Cayce established.
Physicians from all schools of the healing arts have carried
out the suggestions given by Edgar Cayce in the treatment of
disease, and have been mystified by the findings and results.
Accordingly those who have attended cases and have been
interested in following it up, not just as an isolated case
but in the effort to establish etiological factors as to the
case of epilepsy, and many other diseases, have undertaken
the task of abstracting and synthesizing the Cayce findings,
or briefing this treatments and in so far as possible
checking on the later results of the cases that received the
readings and treatments.
In a series of 34 cases of epilepsy so studied and abstracted
in which there were 17 cases of each sex represented, with an
age range from five years to sixty-four years, four were of
petite mal, two of each sex, one was petite mal resulting
from a brain scar and 29 cases were grand mal or Jacksonian
epilepsy.
It is of great significance that the findings of all these
cases had certain conditions in common. For example, Edgar
Cayce found involvement in the lacteals in all the cases
except where a brain scar or tumor was the etiological
factor. Likewise he found lesions in the cervical or neck
segments in all these cases, and in the coccyx, adjacent to
the chorda-equinus (the great sympathetic nerve plexus at the
tip of the tail bone). Then he found lesions in the dorsal
(thoracic) segments and lumbars next in frequency, while
involvement of the cecum, pineal glands, ovaries and gall
bladder were infrequent.
As in the findings so in the treatment, specific measures
were repeated again and again. Manipulation and mobilization
to free up lesions in the cervical and coccygeal areas were
given. The use of the infusions of passion flower were given
in approximately fifty per cent of the cases, while castor
oil packs over the lacteals was almost a hundred per cent
routine, while the use of Insulin shock, brain surgery,
hysterectomies, the use of bromides and luminal or dilantin
were most infrequently indicated.
The therapeutic significance of Edgar Cayce's readings must
now be taken in a general manner for many cases, whereas
during his life time they were intended for specific cases.
It is the hope of the Association and its affiliated group of
physicians that these findings and indications may be
utilized to help many suffers of this disease syndrome. They
hope to give the public the psychic findings in the diagnosis
and treatment of epilepsy, and it is presumed by those who
have treated cases under this method that the same help and
relief that attended many of the psychic acquaintances of
Edgar Cayce may heal a much vaster number in the years to
come.
Edgar Cayce always contended that of himself he could do
nothing, that the findings and directions as given through
his readings came from a higher source, requiring the
whole-hearted cooperation of the patient and his physician.
The unique demands made by Mr. Cayce still hold for those who
would be helped by his methods. All must seek with an open
mind and a prayerful spirit.
12/23/51 Mrs. [
2454]'s letter: "I saw [
2991], remember?
Such a wonderful experience - now married, cashier
in...perfect health, mental and physical."
2/19/54 Mrs. [
2454]'s verbal report: "[
2991] wet the bed
from the time he was born, and was still wetting the bed when
I first knew him at the age of 14. He seemed very flighty to
me, and he had lots of skin eruptions, more than the average
adolescent. The family doctor (cousin of the father) said he
had epilepsy, and said nothing could be done for him but to
give him belladonna, and in all probability the attacks would
increase as he became older and would become true epilepsy.
The parents, being Catholic, didn't think much of getting or
using a reading, but one afternoon he fell from his bike in
front of the house and was taken to the hospital before the
mother knew it, and they didn't know whether the boy had been
hit by a car or what. The hospital determined that it was a
seizure, and in desperation the mother decided to ask me to
ask Mr. Cayce for a reading. I believe the reading was
followed as closely as it was humanly possible for it to be
done correctly. He never had another attack. He then in due
course went into the Navy. When he came out he married and
has a daughter. He has now taken a position with the ...
Company. It's my opinion that the suggestions given in the
reading were followed over a period of about a year. He's a
different person now. All of his troubles cleared up, and he
is now a happy, well adjusted young man."
7/60 In Dr. W. N. Pahnke's breakdown of 96 cases of epilepsy
from the Edgar Cayce records, Case [
2991] was classified in
Group II.
Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation