This psychic reading given by Edgar Cayce in Selma, Alabama, in 1920/1921 (?).

Present: Edgar Cayce; Alf Butler (?), Conductor; Harriett McSwain (?), Steno.

REPORTS

1. 1/20/68 [5782]'s letter to HLC, after hearing him lecture in New Orleans, La., 1/19/68: I had Epilepsy - Convulsions, Grand Mal.
   I was around 10 years old at the time my mother carried me to the photo studio, which I was familiar with as we had gotten pictures there & it seems that I had been up there a lot for as I can best recollect the YMCA was at the back of the upstairs and we had to pass the studio which was in the front of the building in order to get to the YMCA gym.
   I clearly recall that the man Cayce whom I had seen a number of times before, had another young man with him & a lady shorthand clerk.
   Mr. Cayce went to the couch & lay down and as best I remember the man said nothing to him at first but let Mr. Cayce go into a trance by himself.
   I very vividly recall that he put his hands across his body instead of down by his side. After a few minutes the other man said "Are you ready Mr. Cayce?" and the reply was "No", after a few more minutes of dead silence he repeated the question & the answer was "I am ready". Then he began "You have before you the body of [5782], etc." and I don't remember anything else that was said after that.
   I was scared stiff & was frozen probably in a trance myself. I do recall that the man asked a final question "Is that all?" and the answer was affirmative & the man did not say any more to Mr. Cayce but in a minute Mr. Cayce arose & spoke kindly to my mother who offered to pay him but he refused saying it was a gift from God & he couldn't charge.
   But she did have to pay the shorthand clerk who took down the reading. Recent years have puzzled me, why I remember so clearly all that was said or went on except the words spoke of my reading. I cannot recall anything whatsoever he said about me or the remedy.
   In fact the event was completely set aside from my mind for years. I completely forgot about the reading until I was around 40 years old.
   The treatment was not used. It never got any further than the typed copy that was given to my mother. She dismissed it from her mind also & I was told by a friend years later that she lost faith in it before she ever tried it & that she threw away the prescription (copy of the reading).
   I was 21 years old when I claimed the right to do as I pleased & I began treating myself. That was around 11 or 12 years after the reading & it wasn't until about 15 years later that I was completely cured with the help of a drug dilantin which was invented between the time I became 21 & the time I got married.
   What is the A.R.E.?
2. 4/08/71 [5782]'s letter to HLC:
   Metairie, La.
   Mr. Hugh Lynn Cayce; A.R.E., Virginia Beach, Va.
   Dear Sir;
   Would you, rather the A.R.E., like to have a photograph made by Edgar Cayce in Selma, Ala.?
   I have one and would donate it if it would be placed in a collection at Va. Beach as a historic relic of Edgar Cayce.
   The idea was suggested to me by Lucille Kahn recently when she lectured in New Orleans and I showed it to her.
   I don't think that there is any doubt that it is a genuine because it has "CAYCE SELMA ALA" embossed into the paper at the side of the picture.
   I well remember when the family went to the studio and had pictures made. This picture is of me when I was around 9 years old and I am sure was made sometime between 1918 and 1920. I am not positive of the exact date but am certain that it was around that time.
   Recently Mary Ann Woodward and Ed Cavanagh saw the picture and felt that I should write you about it.
   I was raised in Selma and saw Mr. Cayce as a photographer several times and had a reading from him once.
   Let me know if you have a collection that you would like to place this picture in.
   Sincerely [signed] James B. Gwin 3108 Fortyfifth St. Metairie, La. 70001
3. 5/25/71 THIS PHOTOGRAPH [See in EC vault box of pictures] MADE IN SELMA, ALABAMA AROUND 1918 (I am not sure of the exact year but it is close to 1918)
   This is a picture of JAMES BASSETT GWIN JR. who lived at 2101 north Broad Street, Selma, Ala. I was born in 1910 and was approximately 8 years old when this picture was made which would have been in 1918.
   My whole family had pictures of this same type made at the same time. I don't know what happened to the others. I retained the picture of myself.
   I, James Bassett Gwin Jr. also had a reading from Edgar Cayce several years after this picture was taken. I believe the reading was given in either 1920 or 19221 and it took place with me, my mother, Edgar Cayce, another man about the same age as Mr. Cayce, a shorthand clerk, all in the photo studio above the stores in the business section on the west side of the street on Broad Street in Selma.
   The reading was to try to get help for me as I was afflicted with epilepsy (Grand Mal seizures).
   The remedy prescribed by Mr. Cayce, for me was never used, so my mother told me, that she lost faith in it, rather never had any faith in it to begin with and was persuaded into having the reading by a good friend of hers.
   I did not understand what it was all about and was scared stiff and so frightened that I didn't remember a thing Mr. Cayce said.
   Of course it's been a long time and I am 60 years old now but do have a vivid memory of going into the studio and seeing Mr. Cayce lie down and cross his hands over his body and go to sleep and I well remember after it was over that he refused to accept any money saying that it was a gift from God, but that my mother would have to pay the shorthand clerk for her work.
   My mother said she threw the reading away and never used it.
   After many years I was healed by faith and some years later after my healing I discovered that I had a gift of healing and it was working spontaneous. This was manifested when sudden changes came in people who were sick when I touched them or spoke to them or sometimes just stood and looked at them.
   I discovered that I possessed psychic abilities, and that explained a number of unusual things that had happened to me when a boy and I or anyone else didn't realize that it was psychic power working then. I can look back and understand strange healings that I was involved in but didn't realize it when a boy, and also dreams that I had when in my teens that were trying to tell me that I had healing powers but I didn't realize it then what they meant.

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