reflecting on the issue, the family came to a decision. It was very clear that many people had been helped by the health readings. While the “new” information emerging in the readings was unusual, it also appeared to be helpful to individuals. So they decided to continue the readings until and unless anyone reported that they were hurt by them. This never happened, so Cayce continued to perform readings until his death in 1945.
Ultimately, the Cayces began to accept the new ideas, though not as “reincarnation,” per se. Edgar Cayce preferred to call it, “The Continuity of Life.” He felt that the Bible did contain much evidence that life, the true life in the Spirit, is continual. Many readings explained why there were repeated incarnations as well as how Cayce was able to access information from the past. The readings explained that everything that has ever happened, all that was done, and even things that were thought about were recorded on the Akashic Record. Many readings explained that the Akashic recording process was similar to a film of time and space. Some of these readings describe what can be interpreted as electromagnetic waves forming the record. In Cayce’s trance state, his consciousness was able to access these records and interpret them.
Eventually, Edgar Cayce, following advice from his own readings, moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, and set up a hospital where he continued to conduct his “Physical Readings” for the health of others. But he also continued this new line of readings, which were called “Life Readings.” From 1925 through 1944, he conducted some 2,500 of these Life Readings, describing the past lives of individuals as casually as if everyone understood reincarnation was a reality. Such subjects as deep-seated fears, mental blocks, vocational talents, innate urges and abilities, marriage difficulties, child training, etc., were examined in the light of what the readings called the “karmic patterns” resulting from previous lives experienced by the individual’s soul on the earth plane. The bulk of Cayce’s story of Atlantis is derived by piecing together pieces of information from these Life Readings as well as two series of readings conducted to specifically address the Atlantis story.
Problems Interpreting the Cayce Readings
Edgar Cayce’s readings present some difficulties in interpretation and understanding—especially when an individual initially tries to read them. First, they are somewhat difficult to read, mostly due to their syntax and the presence of archaic or biblical terms and style. They are written records of a verbal presentation, a process that occasionally does not carry the full intent that was expressed, and punctuation can significantly change the meaning or intent of the voiced statement. Also, most of the readings were given to specific people with uniquely personal perspectives and prejudices on the topics being discussed. Therefore, the responses in the readings were often slanted to fit the seeker’s perspective and needs. For example, in a reading for one person, Cayce recommends one marriage for life, to another he recommends never getting married, and to a third he encourages him to marry at least twice. In the few cases where a reading was purposefully done for a broader presentation to many people the “sleeping” Cayce was still somewhat at the mercy and wisdom of those directing the session and asking the questions. Nevertheless, Cayce and his wife Gertrude and their assistant Gladys were very conscientious people, always seeking to be exact and true to the original intent of the reading. As mentioned earlier, the “sleeping” Cayce would occasionally stop his direct discourse to give an aside to Gladys about the way she was recording the material, correcting spelling or giving a clarifying explanation of something he had just said. Finally, because some of Cayce’s readings cover so many points or issues within the text, it can be difficult to determine which one he is referring to when the paragraphs are so complex. Despite all of this, with practice, one can become familiar enough with the syntax, archaic terms (“thys,” “thees,” and “thous”); a repetitive use of the word “that,” and the complex thought pattern, that one can eventually learn to read and understand the Cayce readings fairly easily.
Edgar Evans Cayce’s Analysis of the Atlantis Readings
Edgar Cayce’s youngest son, Edgar Evans, was an engineer by profession who decided to evaluate his father’s material on Atlantis. His best-selling books, Edgar Cayce on Atlantis (1968) and Mysteries of Atlantis Revisited (1988), with coauthors Gail Cayce Schwartzer and Douglas Richards, contained a numerical summary of the Atlantis readings. Of Cayce’s 14,306 documented readings, 700, or 4.9 percent, contained some reference to Atlantis. According to their analysis, 21 readings concerned events related to the “First Destruction” of Atlantis, which occurred around 50,000 B.C. A total of 52 readings were associated with the “Second Destruction,” which took place around 28,000 B.C. Another 352 readings detailed events related to the “Final Destruction,” which happened circa 10,000 B.C. Atlantis was mentioned in 275 other readings, but the dates of the events detailed in these readings are indeterminate.
In 1923 only two readings mentioned Atlantis. In 1924, only 7 readings mentioned Atlantis. The years 1939 and 1940 had the most Atlantis references: 66 in each year. Over the 21 years that some of Cayce’s readings mentioned Atlantis (1923-1944), the yearly average of readings mentioning Atlantis was 33. By contrast, during these same years, Cayce averaged a total of 332 readings per year. The implication of this is that even during the time period when Atlantis became a topic in the readings, the health readings remained the most important. Many Cayce readings emphasized that service to others and living life in a correct way were far more important than knowledge about the past.
Overview of Cayce’s Atlantis
In this book, we have attempted to be as accurate as possible in presenting Cayce’s story of Atlantis. But it has to be acknowledged that a few readings could be viewed as inconsistent or, at the least, open to alternative interpretations. These are discussed in subsequent chapters. In this section our goal is to provide a thumbnail sketch of Cayce’s Atlantis.
The readings actually introduce Atlantis by discussing the first appearance of human consciousness on earth. However, according to Cayce, these “people” were more like thought forms projected into primitive life than the human beings we know today. The readings indicate that a portion of southwest America was occupied over 10 million years ago, a time when the earth’s land surface differed greatly from that of today. The land of Lemuria, or Mu, was located to the west of the Americas long before the island of Atlantis was occupied. The destruction of Mu occurred sometime around 50,000 B.C. (Cayce’s information on Atlantis is far more detailed than that he provided on Mu.) But this 50,000 B. C. destruction was directly linked to what is called the first destruction of Atlantis.
Atlantis, located in the area of the Atlantic Ocean stretching from Gibraltar to the Gulf of Mexico, was first occupied by an advanced race of humans in 210,000 B.C. By 50,000 B.C., the country had developed an advanced culture with strange technology. Cayce’s Atlantis was a maritime culture throughout its entire existence, trading with nearly all of the other lands of the world. Plentiful natural resources existed on the temperate islands, and the Atlanteans used stone skillfully and were adept at various forms of metalworking. Temples were constructed in the cities, and numerous canals were used for irrigation and navigation.
Perhaps the most public fascination with Cayce’s Atlantis concerns a mysterious crystal, which has long been interpreted to imply a laserlike device. But the use of the crystal started rather simply and gradually became a focal point of a struggle between two factions in Atlantis. In the beginning, the Atlanteans were a spiritual people ruled by a peaceful group Cayce termed the Law of One. But gradually, the Belial (self-aggrandizement) influence began to manifest. An ongoing spiritual and material battle was waged between these two groups. The Sons of Belial worshiped self-aggrandizement, sought power over others, and practiced human sacrifice. Cayce stated that they had no standard of morality, no sense of right and wrong. In contrast, the Children of the Law of One worshiped one God, sought spiritual and physical attunement with the Creator, and espoused the ideal of treating others as oneself in their day-to-day lives.
But the Belial group consistently
