9/14/43 [
3684]'s letter to EC:
Mr. Edgar Cayce,
Virginia Beach, Va.
Dear Mr. Cayce:-
Your kindly letter of September 6th, for which I had been
patiently waiting, on hand. You say, "we have found through
many years of experience that the degree of help obtained is
in direct proportion to the understanding and right attitude
of those seeking help."
This I can readily understand. But I am somewhat at a loss
to convey to you in what manner I have the right attitude or
the understanding to merit your cooperation, unless I lightly
touch upon some high-lights of my past. In doing this I must
call upon all my resources of understatement in order that I
may not convey to you any idea of conceit on any part.
For the last twenty years, while a bookseller, I have had the
sincere desire to be of service and help my fellow beings.
My bookshop, instead of business establishment, became more
or less a refuge for sick souls who came to me for advice,
encouragement, and a better outlook on life. None, so far as
I know, left my shop but for the better. It got so at last
that I gave away almost as many books as I sold, with the
natural consequence that I was forced out of business.
It was through the bookshop that I got in touch with the now
internationally known Paul Brunton, who with his own lips
appointed himself my spiritual adviser or guru. Since the
start of the war I have lost track of Mr. Brunton who is
somewhere in India for the British government so for the
present I must forego any communication with him.
But last March I suffered stroke, from which I am very slowly
convalescing. A week or two after the stroke I discovered
that what had for the most part been a modest, humble,
intellectual and rational desire to work with things of
the spirit, had resolved itself into experience. Something
happened. I was the same, but a changed man. I had risen to
heights of now perspectives and plumbed revelatory depths. I
seemed to carry all the burdens and sins of the world. I
knew my fellows were not vicious or sinful, but only
belovedly stupid. I knew also that each and every one of us
is in essence eternally perfect, only our awareness of that
sublime fact is clouded over with a veil of ignorance, which
sooner or later will suddenly be torn from our eyes and
reveal us as we truly are - Sons of God. I alternately
laughed and wept for months, sometimes in the same breath,
over this timeless, ageless eternal revelation.
More than ever do I want to be of help to my fellow man. But
I am now a cripple. I know only myself is responsible for
the stroke. I know the laws of karma, and I have to pay
the piper. I sit at home alone twelve hours a day and grow
somewhat restive occasionally. It's a case of physician cure
thyself, and so I turn to you in my dilemma for assistance.
It will take another year in the course of nature to restore
me to normal I know. At present I am nominally a civil
service employee of the navy. My position is being held
open for me indefinitely. By avocation I am a designer
and sculptor. I do not want to return to my job when I get
well. I am torn between helping in some way my fellows and
designing. I want to get well and normal again. I want
to do the thing I am best fitted for, not for any selfish
motives, but for the good of others. I have no desire to
earn much money - I have no ambition for power, nor do I
hanker in any way to shine in the public eye.
Therefore I turn to you and ask you for a reading. How can
I get better? What shall I do with my future? Do you
require a deposit? What are your terms? As I've wanted
nothing else in life I want your help. I have been once or
twice to reliable mediums, but I have always closed the
circuit, and they could do nothing with me. I will leave
myself open as a book for your guides to read and you to
report on to me. A few have warned me to beware of another
racket, but my heart tells me intuitively, mystically, that I
can trust you all the way.
I have order the book, "There is a River", and I enclose a
dollar bill for a copy of your "A Search For God". You must
excuse the many errors in this letter as I cannot type very
fast and must let the mistakes accumulate. This writing has
require the better part of four hours.
In some way I feel that our paths are destined to cross and
perhaps meet. I felt the same way about the author of "The
Wisdom of the Overself", and it came to pass. He was my
guest for awhile.
If there is any way in God's world I can cooperate with you
I will be only too glad to do so. Say the word and whatever
is in my power to do I will do. I call down sincerely and
tenderly the Peace and Blessings of God on you, and may your
days be long on the earth which the Lord Thy God giveth you.
Humbly and gratefully yours, [
3684]
10/04/43 [
3684]'s letter to EC:
Dear Mr. Cayce:-
Your letter of recent date arrived, but I have waited a week
for what you promised "under separate cover". Since time is
the essence of my condition, and since I am patiently this
minute awaiting a friend's arrival who will take me for a
week's stay in the back-country, I must take time by the
forelock to tell you that I WILL join your association
whenever the necessary blanks arrive and that I want you
to put my name on your list for a reading, immediately.
Since I don't seem to be improving in any way I was wondering
if it would be asking too much to have you put me on your
emergency list. If I were to wait a year for a reading I'll
most likely be crippled for life or out of the body entirely.
But, of course, I will have to leave this entirely to your
kind offices. Whatever the fees are, or any additional dues
required, I will forward them to you by money-order as soon
as I am apprised of the amount required.
I have received and am reading your "A Search for God", and
I have received from my jobber "There is a River", which I am
also reading. I am pleased with both copies, especially "A
Search for God", which I believe to be the first and perhaps
only book that gives a technique and discipline from the
Christian angle that offers illumination for hungry and
searching students. I have read and studied and practiced
a great deal of the Buddhistic, Hindu, Sufistic and Taoistic
methods but never yet have come across anything quite so
luminous as your little book. I know I shall treasure
it. As for "There is a River", I never cease to marvel
at the intolerance, stupidity and ignorance of otherwise
well-balanced people who cannot, or will not, accept any
evidence of God's power or purpose except that which they
can feel with their fingers and visibly see with their eyes.
Since you are working by the Grace of God, and it is by Grace
of God that you are to give me a reading I cannot assume the
arrogance of dictating to or unduly urging you to place me on
your emergency list, but if any way it were humanly possible
to do so I would consider it privilege and honor for you
to do so, not to mention the physical hazards which I am
undergoing. May you for many years to come continue to
pour out good to that portion of humanity who come as
little children through that God-given gift of yours.
Faithfully and humbly yours, [
3684]
1/20/44 [
3684]'s letter to EC:
Dear Mr. Cayce:
According to your correspondence with me you will be giving
me a reading at 10.30, your time, February 21, 1944. I
am still badly in need of that reading and I am presuming
nothing has come up to unsettle this schedule. And so at
your request I am submitting a number of questions about
my health, and on the above stated date I will be found in
bed at ... Avenue, ..., California, in deep meditation and
prayer.
Some of the questions that occur to me follow:
1. Would a change of climate be beneficial to my condition?
2. Can you suggest a locale, if you suggest such a change?
3. Would a change of diet make for any improvement in my
condition?
4. If so, what should I eat and what should I avoid eating?
Particularly, what should I avoid eating.
5. Will smoking four or five cigarettes a day be harmful?
i.e., retard my complete recovery.
6. If I faithfully follow your advice will I ever fully
recover, or am I destined to be an invalid and a burden to my
family?
7. Have I really had a cerebral thrombosis, or has there been
a blood clot somewhere in my system other than the brain? I
ask, because there seems to be considerable dispute among my
doctors on this point, and I would like to have it cleared
up.
8. If there is nothing to be done to hasten my recovery how
long, in the course of nature, will nature require to
insure return to normal? Approximately, of course.
9. I am terribly emotional since I had the stroke. Is this a
natural consequence, or should I use an unusual amount of
will-power to overcome this condition?
10. I have a doctor who will prescribe anything you suggest.
Is there anything special you want me to tell him?
11. In short what must I do to get well again? Please inform
me if there are any vital questions left unsaid, and please
advise me accordingly.
I believe implicitly in the powers that aid you in answering
these questions, and I look forward to the time when your
letter will give me more hope. In tears I pray for your
welfare and the furtherance of your efforts to help humanity.
Humbly, gratefully and sincerely, I am yours, [
3684]
REPORTS
3/04/44 [
3684]'s letter:
Mr. Edgar Cayce,
Virginia Beach, Va.
Dear Mr. Cayce:
I want to take this opportunity to thank you from the
innermost core of my heart for having taken time out to
give me a reading. I have received the transcript of the
proceedings under trance and while some of it puzzles me, the
fact that with a change of mental attitude and the appliance
which was recommended gives me an outlook for recovery and
usefulness in the not-too-distant future.
I have, however, inquired of several doctors and osteopaths
where to locate exactly the ninth dorsal plexus, and so far
received only vague answers. Most of them have not heard
of it. Is it by any chance a plexus lying near or above the
ninth dorsal vertebrae? If you could find a moment to spare
I wish you tell me exactly.
I have written to your friend Mr. Godfrey, asking him to
send the wet cell appliance if you so recommend doing at
this time.
The urgency of Exodus 19:5 appeals to me tremendously and
gives me occasion for good cheer. St. John 14, 15, 16 & 17
too give me much to think over and I know that in time the
particular message to be conveyed to me personally will be
received. I am still puzzled as to whether the message is
admonitory or corrective. In either case I feel humbled and
contrite for any unintentional misuse of my psychological
factors in the past.
I still hope you will find an opportunity to give me a life
reading. I have asked for such a reading several times, but
to date, due to your extreme preoccupation with matters of
perhaps greater importance I have had no reply. For what you
have already done for me I am extremely grateful and pleased
and can only call God's blessings upon you. I seem so
helpless to do much else. With deep affection and the hope
that at some near-future I will be able to do something
tangible, I am,
Sincerely, humbly and eternally yours, [
3684]
3/10/44 GD's note: Wrote him card, telling him 9th dorsal
vertebrae IS the same as 9th dorsal plexus, also saying we
would write him soon making appt. for Life Rdg.
4/30/44 [
3684]'s letter:
Dear Mr. Cayce:
Mr. [...] will forward this to you along with his request of
one of your readings. Mr. [...] is a personal friend of mine
of many years standing and I can vouch for his integrity and
the high quality of his spiritual background. We belong to
a group of earnest and sincere questers after truth, and I'm
sure he will measure up to the standard you require in order
to give a satisfactory reading. Mr. [...] will tell you that
he has a bowel trouble of long standing that he would like to
have you help him clear up. We are taking these measures in
order to eliminate the waste of precious time, and to hope
for as early a date for a reading as it possible with your
overworked calendar.
As for myself I am progressing toward recovery in such
splendid strides that sometimes I catch my breath, but
always stand in awe and reverence of the miracle worked in
me through your intercedence and co-operation. My gratitude
knows no bounds, and my prayers are with you.
Humbly and devotedly yours, [
3684]
6/29/44 [
3684]'s letter to EC:
Dear Mr. Cayce:
This is a note reporting my progress, and enclosing a
cashier's check for $20.00 to cover the life reading set
for November 22. Last February when you gave me my physical
reading I spent the early hours of the morning in prayer and
meditation, when unaccountably at the moment you started the
reading I fell sound asleep and as unaccountably woke at the
exact moment the reading was over.
After the wet cell low vibration appliance came to me about
the first of April I immediately felt the beneficial results
of treatments. As I said in my last letter to you I found
myself improving by leaps and bounds. I find myself somewhat
handicapped, however, in having my back massaged. I have
only my good wife to do that for me and since she must
of necessity be the breadwinner for some time yet, she
frequently comes home so deadly fatigued that I send her
straightway to bed to recuperate.
I speak of all this improvement on my part in the past tense,
because several weeks ago when a party of nine of us were on
our way one Sunday morning to hear Krishnamurti speak, a tire
blew out, killed one of our party and injured more or less
seriously six others, myself included. Since then, with
only minor injuries, I have suffered from shock. My
blood-pressure rose some forty points and I seem to be
experiencing all the symptoms I had before my stroke fifteen
months ago. My blood pressure had returned practically to
normal prior to the accident. It is with regard to this my
present condition that I was wondering if you did not think
advisable for me to be submitted to a check-up reading at
your earliest convenience. I am continuing with the wet-cell
treatments and perhaps in time may return to the state of
convalescence I enjoyed before the mishap. Knowing full well
how busy you are and what the demands upon your time must be
I leave this matter of a check-up reading entirely in your
hands. I am so grateful to a merciful God for having brought
your Christlike gifts to my attention and benefit that I
sincerely hesitate to call on you for a further reading
and will leave this matter entirely to your discretion
and convenience.
With your answer please include copies of your mimeographed
booklets Life Readings and Physical readings and I will remit
the money upon receipt, along with any required fee in the
likelihood of a check-up reading. I have such implicit
faith in your gifted ability and feel so keenly the merits of
your unparalleled work that I would I were in the position of
endowing your institution without any strings attached. As
it is I can only wholeheartedly recommend your works to my
many friends and by proxy, as it were, pass on your good
Samaritan altruism as a living example of the Grace by
which you are employed. God bless you and keep you.
Devotedly and humbly yours, [
3684]
8/09/44 Friend Mr. Wm. P. Wise's letter: "Mr. [
3684]
continues to improve tho he had a setback because of a
severe shake-up in an automobile accident in which one
of the occupants of the car was killed."
9/26/44 Friend Mrs. Carrol Reed's letter: "Mr. [
3684] seems
to be getting along nicely."
11/16/44 [
3684]'s letter to EC:
Dear Mr. Cayce:
I have before me your letter of March 30, 1944 in which you
state that the appointment for my life reading has been set
for Wednesday afternoon, November 22, 1944, EWT, between 3.30
and 4.30.
Having received no recent confirmation of this reading I do
not know whether you are sufficiently well to carry out your
appointment, but in the event you plan to give me a reading
here are a few questions:
1. What can I do best to help my fellow-mortals for their
spiritual welfare.
2. I have of necessity returned in a small way to
bookselling; should I continue, or are any of the several
other lines of endeavor in which I am efficient more suitable
to the well-being of my fellows and myself?
3. I SEEM to be at a standstill in the progress of my
convalescence. Am I overtaxing my system with my activities?
Heaven bless you. Whether you give me a reading or not I
trust you are well enough to carry on, and that your days
in the land thy Lord God giveth thee will be many.
Sincerely, [
3684]
11/22/44 GD's letter to [
3684]:
Dear Mr. [
3684]:-
Due to Mr. Cayce's continued illness we are unable to get
your reading on Nov. 22, 1944. In consideration for his
health, Mr. Cayce will not return to work for some months.
For this reason we are unable to offer you another
appointment at this time. If you still wish to have a
reading, let us hear from you in six to eight months,
at which time your request will be given its proper
consideration, in light of your previous contact with us.
In view of the above, we are returning your membership fee in
the amount of $20.00. If you again apply for a reading, do
not send the membership fee until three weeks before your
appointment date.
It is our hope that you will keep in touch with us through
subscribing to our Monthly Bulletin, which carries news of
the Association activities and extracts from readings, or
our Weekly Letter, which consists solely of extracts from the
readings. We will send you either of these for six dollars a
year or both for twelve dollars a year.
Financial aid through gifts, whether small or large,
constitutes a fund which makes it possible for us to carry on
the research work, so that we may develop our publications in
order to help all who are not fortunate enough to have their
individual reading.
Appreciating your interest and hoping we may soon hear from
you in regard to some phase of our Publications and Research
Program, I am
Sincerely, [signed] Gladys Davis, Secretary, ASS'N FOR
RESEARCH AND ENLIGHTENMENT, INC.
Encl. Ck. $20.00. Kindly bear in mind that this manner of
taking care of our correspondence is necessary in order to
meet present financial needs. Thank you!
The indications are that Mr. Cayce will not return home for
several months in consideration for his health.
7/31/51 Reply to Questionnaire [by someone at his address]:
"Died Dec. 14, 1949."
Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation