his life, Edgar Cayce claimed no special abilities, nor did he ever consider himself to be a twentieth-century prophet. The readings never offered a set of beliefs that had to be embraced, but instead focused on the fact that each person should test in his or her own life the principles presented. Though Cayce himself was a Christian and read the Bible from cover to cover every year of his life, his work was one that stressed the importance of comparative study among belief systems all over the world. The underlying principle of the readings is the oneness of all life, a tolerance for all people, and a compassion and understanding for every major religion in the world.
Today, the Cayce organizations continue the legacy begun by Edgar Cayce with an undergirding mission “to help people change their lives for the better—physically, mentally, and spiritually—through the ideas in the Edgar Cayce material.”
Edgar Cayce on Earth Changes
During the 43 years he gave readings, Edgar Cayce discussed an amazing 10,000 different topics! Whether your interest is acne or Zoroastrianism, or anything in between, there are undoubtedly insights and information contained in the Cayce material. However, in spite of this immense subject matter, perhaps the information on “earth changes” has received the greatest amount of publicity and more notoriety than anything else in the Cayce archives. Unfortunately, over the years, many individuals have incorrectly assumed that the Cayce material on earth changes could be summarized with such predicted catastrophes as a global future fraught with earthquakes, California sliding off into the ocean (potentially as far east as Nebraska), a shifting of the poles, and a calamitous disaster that would connect the Great Lakes with the Gulf of Mexico and essentially divide what remained of the continental United States into two.
This volume of verbatim readings from the Cayce files has been compiled in an effort to address some of these longstanding misperceptions, as the Edgar Cayce information on earth changes is not really about earthquakes and geological disasters but about much, much more.
In this volume, the Edgar Cayce readings on earth changes fall into five categories: 1) prehistory (e.g., ancient times); 2) the twentieth century (e.g., economical, political, societal, global and geological); 3) the future; 4) inaccurate, misinterpreted, or partially wrong readings; and 5) miscellaneous readings on topics such as the vibrations of nations, the destiny of our collective consciousness as a human family, what we are attempting to learn as children of One Creator, and ultimately the nature of world affairs.
The readings that deal with prehistory discuss such things as the origins of Creation and the entrance of humankind into the earth. This material includes the topic of Atlantis, as well as brief mention of the civilizations of Lemuria and the Mayans. It also includes information on the appearance of the world’s surface in prehistory and how some of that geological surface has changed over time. In addition to discussing hidden archaeological sites and uncovered records of forgotten civilizations, Edgar Cayce claimed that the history of humankind went back some ten million years! Although much of this material may be impossible to verify, contemporary research has uncovered evidence to confirm some of the information given in Cayce’s trance state. For example, several readings discuss the fact that the Nile had changed its course over eons and had once emptied into the Atlantic Ocean (all of which would be confirmed through satellite imaging and on-site archaeological investigations decades after the readings were given):
The Nile entered into the Atlantic Ocean. What is now the Sahara was an inhabited land and very fertile. What is now the central portion of this country, or the Mississippi basin, was then all in the ocean; only the plateau was existent, or the regions that are now portions of Nevada, Utah and Arizona formed the greater part of what we know as the United States . . .
362-13
In the one before this we find again in this same land now called Egypt (this before the mountains rose in the south, and when the waters called the Nile then emptied into what is now the Atlantic Ocean) . . .
276-2
In those periods when the first change had come in the position of the land . . . when the Nile (or Nole, then) emptied into what is now the Atlantic Ocean, on the Congo end of the country. What is now as the Sahara was a fertile land . . .
5748-6
The readings exploring changes for the twentieth century are most often associated with the concerns, questions, and inquiries of Cayce’s contemporaries. These readings discuss changes in society, changes associated with a world at war, the Great Depression, the global financial crisis, and so forth.
Readings dealing with changes for the future include a discussion of a wide range of topics, including prophecies found in the Great Pyramid and the Book of Revelation. They also include information related to the eventual discovery of records that reportedly were left behind by Atlantis, Cayce’s premise that there is a cyclical economic downtown that occurs every 24-25 years, the possibility of lasting world peace, and information related to the ultimate destiny of human consciousness.
The category exploring readings that may have been misinterpreted or may have been wrong in some measure are also worth exploring. This category includes a dream by Edgar Cayce in which he saw himself born on the coast of Nebraska in 2158 and discovered that his work from his lifetime as Edgar Cayce was still being studied. This dream has often been misquoted as suggesting that “Edgar Cayce predicted Nebraska would be the coastline” when, in fact, that is not the case at all. The dream occurred after Edgar Cayce had been arrested for practicing medicine without a license—an event which troubled him greatly. After the dream, a reading was procured and told him that regardless of what happened in the external world (e.g., being arrested), his work was important and would survive.
This category also includes readings that may have been misinterpreted. For example, in 1934, one reading included such dire statements as these: “The greater portion of Japan must go into the sea. The upper portion of Europe will be changed as in the twinkling of an eye.” (3976-15). Although interpreted by many as earthquakes, couldn’t this statement just as easily suggest the destruction of the empire of Japan and the changing map of Europe, both a result of World War II? Rather than earthquakes or pole shifts, 1936 (two years later) marked the beginning of Civil War in Spain, Hitler’s invasion of the Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, and ongoing aggression between Japan and China, which grew to an all-out war, especially in 1937. Events were set in place causing the outbreak of World War II, and the changes Cayce saw expressed themselves in the affairs of humankind. In fact, in response to a question regarding global affairs, Cayce warned a twenty-nine-year-old freight agent of catastrophic events that were building to a world at war:
As to the affairs of an international nature, these we find are in a condition of great anxiety on the part of many; not only as individuals but as to nations . . . This will make for the taking of sides, as it were, by various groups or countries or governments. This will be indicated by the Austrians, Germans, and later the Japanese joining in their influence . . . For these will gradually make for a growing of animosities.
And unless there is interference from what may be called by many the supernatural forces and influences, that are activative in the affairs of nations and peoples, the whole world—as it were—will be set on fire by the militaristic groups and those that are “for” power and expansion in such associations.
416-7; 10/7/1935
During the same reading when a question was asked about the possibility of cataclysmic earth changes, Cayce said, in part: “Tendencies
