This Psychic Reading given by Edgar Cayce at the office of the Association, Arctic Crescent, Virginia Beach, Va., this 16th day of May, 1944, in accordance with request made by self - Mrs. [5090], new Associate Member of the Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc., via the book, THERE IS A RIVER.

Present: Edgar Cayce; Gertrude Cayce, Conductor; Gladys Davis, J. Fitch, Stenos.

TEXT

1. GC: You will go over this body carefully, examine it thoroughly, and tell me the conditions you find at the present time; giving the cause of the existing conditions, also suggestions for help and relief of this body; answering the questions as I ask them.
2. EC: Yes, we have the body here and those disturbances which are causing mental anxiety to the body.
3. As we find, there is little or naught physically to prevent those normal activities, normal associations and results in those associations, as is the desire of the body.
4. But if the body would be the manifestation for a greater expression of the activities in this experience, do care for the body in such manners that it may be a channel for the manifestation of the glory of the Creative Forces in this period of experience. Yes, it is practical for the body to have conception and to bring forth a normal body, and if there will be through the period of gestation the practical care of the body, through the massage or osteopathic treatments which are necessary to keep body-development, body activities, a good, clean activity with the associations of circulation between liver and kidneys, we will have little or no trouble with the periods of activity.
5. There have been, of course, physical defects in the associations of the companion of the body. But if there is the care and the attention this may be accomplished.
6. When there are those preparations for such, do this to insure conception, if this is desired at a special period (and those periods just before the menstrual period are the preferable for conception): Put into a hot basin of water a sweet gum ball about the size of a small agate, or say the end of the thumb, in hot boiling water.
7. Sit over this for some ten minutes, and you needn't fear, there will be conception.
8. We are through with this reading.

   Two copies to Self (one for the osteopath of your choice - Please let us have the name and address of the one you choose.)
   Copy to Ass'n file
   Two for indexing

BACKGROUND

1. 7/19/43 Letter: "I have just finished reading the book 'There Is A River', and I am so impressed with the story of your life...that immediately I felt you could help my husband. I feel God is working through you... So I am sure you can help us. I am active church worker, teach and always have taken an active part in the missionary society. Since last fall, I am a nurses' aid and give much time to the hospital, as I feel God wanted me to do it as my share toward the war effort. My husband had a gall bladder operation 4 years ago, and had his gall bladder removed and 2 black stones removed from the gall duct. He recovered nicely from that operation. A little over a year ago, he was hurt in a sleighing accident, had 5 ribs broken and was badly cut and bruised. He recovered from that, and I felt he was going to be all right. But there is something wrong, he just can't seem to regain his health; we have been to 5 doctors and they never find anything wrong. He did give 4 pints of blood to the Red Cross and that caused his blood pressure to drop, which we are now trying to build up. He likes to ride horseback and sometimes I feel he does too much of that. I am careful of his diet and whatever it is he is not lazy, there is something holding him back. I feel so confident since I know of your gift from God that you can diagnose his trouble and prescribe a cure... I have worried for 15 years about him, and now that I read about your help, my hopes and faith have been renewed. Prayerfully, I send this letter..."
2. 8/17/43 Letter: "In my first letter to you I asked for a reading to learn what causes are undermining my husband's health. Since that time we have decided that I am to have a physical reading first, and then his reading will come next. My trouble is wanting children. We have been married 15 1/2 years. My 4 brother-in-laws all have children, and they kid us and make us feel so depressed because we have no children. I have been to so many doctors and they say I am all right as far as they can see. I do have an acid condition which I have been treating and this condition could keep me perhaps from having children. Do you think at 39, I am too old to have a child? I am 5 feet, 1 inch, and weigh 110 lbs. - have always been well. I have prayed so much and can't help but think of God's promises to grant what we ask, as found in John 16:23 and Mark 11:24. I suppose I lack the proper faith. I prayed for years, then discouraged, stopped; then I'd pray again; but when I see women who have so many children, and single girls have babies, and here I am breaking my heart and there are many others like me... I think I have a right to be discouraged... My husband was examined and the fault is not his. The fault is mine, and I do not know what to do to correct whatever the trouble is..."
3. 5/15/44 Telegram: "Retel, my home address is ..., Pa."
4. 5/16/44 On the basis of this correspondence, the following questions were formed by IMG: "(1) Is it unwise to have children at my age? (2) Does the acid condition, which I have been treating, prevent me from having children? (3) Is it possible for me to have a child?"

REPORTS

1. 3/20/50 A questionniare was sent. No reply.
2. 2/11/58 GD's note to doctor on the A.R.E. Advisory Research Board:
   "Our local druggist tells me you can find Sweet Gum Ball under the name of STORAX. It is a semi-liquid gum-like substance that comes from a tree. A piece about the size of a quarter should be used. Our druggist did not have it but said it is listed in the catalog and can be obtained."
3. 3/11/76 GD's note: I xeroxed the following definitions in re Sweet Gum from THOMAS'S MEDICAL DICTIONARY, copyright, 1885, by J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, Pa.:
   Sweet Gum-Tree See LIQUIDAMBAR STYRACIFLUA.
   Liq-uid-am'bar.* [From the Lat. liq'uidus, "liquid," and the Eng.am'ber; so called because the tree yields on incision in fluid, amber-like substance.] A genus of plants of the order Hammamelaceae, comprising several species which afford a fragrant resin, called storax.
   Liquidam'bar O-ri-en-ta'le.* The systematic name of small tree, a native of Asia Minor, affording the drug called liquid styrax. See STYRAX.
   Liquidam'bar Sty-ra-cif'lu-a.* The Sweet Gum, an ornamental tree, a native of the Middle and Southern United States. It affords a fragrant terebinthine juice or resin.
   Styracaceae,* stir-a-ka'she-e. A small natural order of monopetalous exogenous trees and shrubs, found in the tropical or subtropical regions of Asia and America. It includes Sty'rax, from which fragrant gum-resins called Storax and Benzoin are procured, the Halesia (Snow-Drop Tree), and Symplocos.
   Sty'rax, a'cis.* A Linnaean genus of the class Decandria, natural order Styracacea. It comprises many species of shrubs or small trees, natives of Java, Borneo, Siam, Syria, Brazil, the United States, etc. Many of them afford fragrant resins and bear showy or beautiful white flowers. Also the Pharmacopoeial name (U.S. 1870, 1880) for a balsam prepared from the inner bark of Liquidan'bar orienta'le. It is a stimulating expectorant.
   Sto'rax.* A gum-resin obtained from Liquidambar and Styrax officinalis. A name for STYRAX, which see.
   Sty'rax Ben'zoin.* The tree which afford benzoin. (See BENZOINUM.) It is a native of Borneo, Java, Sumatra, and Siam. Sty'rax Gran-di-fo'li-a.* An ornamental shrub, a native of Virginia, the Carolinas, etc., cultivated for the beauty of its white flowers.
   Sty-rax Fer-ru-gin'e-a.* A plant, a native of Brazil. It affords a balsam similar to benzoin and storax. So also does Styrax reticulata, a native of Brazil.
   Sty'rax Of-fic-i-na'lis.* The tree which affords the balsam styrax, or storax. It is a native of Syria.
   Sty'rax Pal'li-da.* A plant, a native of Guiana, yielding a balsam similar to benzoin.
   Sty'rax Pul-ver-u-len'ta.* A shrub, a native of the Carolinas, Florida, Texas, etc. It bears fragrant white flowers, and is cultivated for ornament.
   Sty'rax Ra-ce-mo'sa.* A shrub or small tree, a native of Peru. It afford a balsam similar to storax.
4. 3/12/76 GD's note: In re sweet gum ball Penny Thweatt brought to me this excerpt from the 1949 Yearbook of Agriculture on TREES, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C.:
   180 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949
   A little-know gum product is that produced by the sweetgum or redgum tree, one of the most common hard-woods of the South, although few farmers or landowners have much use for it. Farmers in Clarke County, Ala., however, have developed a $200,000 business in the sweet gum from the tree. Known as "storax," the gum is gathered much as is the gum of the naval stores pines and, processed, is used for adhesives, salves, incense, and perfume.
   Besides the recommendation in 5090-1 of the sweet gum ball fumes via the vagina to aid conception, there were several other recommendations in the readings of the sweet gum to be taken internally. See under index cards on PRESCRIPTIONS:SWEET GUM.

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