happened within me and I knew that I would have to see her again.” He pursued her from that moment on. At the time, he was twenty-nine; she was twenty-six.
Katherine, however, was not interested in a relationship with Hans beyond friendship. She was seeing Richard, another young man who shared many of her interests, but she didn’t feel drawn to the idea of a permanent relationship with him either. She liked having friends, but marriage seemed another matter. Katherine’s Aunt Betty had obtained a life reading for her niece previously in which the two women were told that because of past experiences, Katherine was innately torn between a desire to be loved and her desire to remain free.
In her most recent lifetime, Katherine, in terms of her personal talents, apparently had been skilled with weaving, design, and needlework. In Rome, she had been involved with directing activities for various groups of people. From that, she had developed a great love for the outdoors, games, and sports. In Persia, she had also exercised an influence upon many people and representatives of various nations. At the same time, she had also worked with weaving, brocades, and silk. In ancient Egypt, she had worked in the temples, assisting individuals in discovering their purpose in life. Most of her past lives, however, seemed to involve something to do with decorating and design. It was information that fascinated Katherine because she had specialized in textile design and decorating in the present and had won a scholarship to decorating school—information with which Cayce was not familiar at the time of the reading.
Aunt Betty became a good personal friend of Edgar Cayce. In 1943 she wrote to tell him of the two men who seemed interested in her niece and of Katherine’s reluctance to commit to a relationship. Betty told him, “The two boys are thoughtful, spiritually minded, lovers of nature, etc., very much alike in SO many ways—both will be ideal husbands to whomever they may marry.” In referring to Hans, she added:
I thought he was NOT serious—but that is not the case. He is very much in love with Katherine—in fact, he proposed to her and she refused him. In hurting him, her own EMOTIONS have been aroused (for the first time) and Hans has decided that he spoke too quickly and he is willing to wait—with the hope that he can change her mind. He is being transferred to San Francisco . . . and he’s hoping that Katherine will follow him by the New Year.
Katherine has written Richard about Hans—of their outings together—riding, swimming, etc., and suddenly, in his letters, you begin to feel that he is getting worried. But he does not express his own feelings for Katherine and she feels that he has only a deep feeling of friendship for her.
In terms of Katherine’s feelings for Hans, she saw their relationship as just a natural friendship. Although she enjoyed being with him—hiking, horseback riding, or simply having a conversation—she was not interested in marriage. Hans would have to be content with a friendship that shared a love of the outdoors, a similar philosophical outlook on life, and a joint interest in spirituality. In January 1944, Aunt Betty’s letter to the Cayces provided an update:
Hans has been transferred . . . He is such a fine boy, and so in love with Katherine. There must be some reason why she doesn’t respond—for as far as I can see, he would bring great happiness to her. Perhaps she is unaware of what “Love” really is. Poor Richard . . . he is so despondent—we wish that he would consent to a reading, but in his present mental state, no one or nothing seems to reach him. It’s really very sad . . . Of course, Katherine is disturbed and has tried to write him the sort of letters which would encourage him to rise above this mental depression. But it seems hopeless at the moment at least. Case 1770-8 Report File
Because of their interest in the Cayce work, Katherine and Betty loaned Hans the Cayce biography, There Is a River. After reading it, Hans became convinced that he had met Katherine before, “in the long ago.” As a result, he requested a life reading. Because of Edgar Cayce’s busy schedule, the reading could not be scheduled until April 1944. Aunt Betty looked forward to the reading as much as Hans did because she believed that “a reading might release Katherine in analyzing her own true feelings.”
When April finally arrived, the reading confirmed that Hans had many talents. His life was destined to include much travel, international relations, trade, and diplomatic initiatives. He was told that he was very intelligent and was capable of being entrusted with great responsibility, important relationships, and was innately a skilled leader:
For the entity has lived so as to be entrusted with and capable of directing the affairs of great organizations, corporations, states or nations. Then if the entity chooses spiritual and mental ideals . . . little should prevent the entity from making this material experience a light and a help to others as well as bringing harmony, peace and development spiritually and mentally in this particular sojourn. 4053-1
In his lifetime immediately previous to the present, Hans had been involved in the shipping trade between Denmark and the United States. In Persia, he had been a director of trade for goods traveling between Egypt and the Gobi. In ancient Egypt, he had been chosen by the government to be a representative of the country. In addition to other lifetimes when they had obviously known one another, it was in Persia that Katherine had become his wife. She had been his friend, his companion, and his trusted advisor to whom he often looked for guidance and counsel.
Hans was told that he would always hold his companion in awe and reverence. Cayce stated that it would be a good idea for Katherine and Hans to marry in the present and continue the relationship they had once shared in Persia. Apparently much had not been completed in their previous experiences with one another. According to Hans, he believed it was because of the advice given in the reading that finally, “Katherine surrendered and we were married in October 1944.”
After their marriage Hans became commercial attaché and helped his country with the procurement of large quantities of urgently needed commodities, such as fuel and fertilizer. In 1947, when Denmark obtained a $40-million loan from the International Bank for reconstruction and development, Hans was chosen as the contact between Denmark and the International Bank and was authorized to withdraw and disburse funds from the loan. After the war and the reconstruction initiative of the Marshall Plan, Denmark received about $280 million in economic assistance between 1948 and 1953. Hans negotiated the programming of these funds and supervised all financial aspects of their procurement. At the end of 1953, he changed jobs and became U.S. representative for the Danish meatpacking industry.
He once stated, “My business called for me to travel abroad extensively; throughout, Katherine trusted me without any doubt—and I responded in kind. And [each] coming home was like another honeymoon.”
In the 1950s Hans wrote: “I regard my vocation as an agency through which I can better fulfill my purpose in life. It is not just a place where I get the wherewithal to buy my house and feed my family, but a place in which I can express my purpose . . .” In 1964, he was knighted by Denmark for outstanding service to the Danish meatpacking industry.
Over the years Katherine and Hans provided updates to the Edgar Cayce Foundation regarding their life together. In 1998, after more than fifty years of marriage, Katherine wrote: “We are so in tune with one another. I think we’ve had many lifetimes together during which we rubbed off the rough corners, for this lifetime together has been a smooth sail.” Of course, the couple had their share of difficulties; she added, “One doesn’t have four children and not have challenges.” Those challenges included a son’s attempted suicide and his disclosure of homosexuality and their daughter’s falling in love and wanting to marry a man of a different race, both situations occurring at a time when society frowned upon such relationships. For their own part, however, Hans and Katherine met all challenges “with support for each other, support for the child, applying our spiritual beliefs, and working with such things as forgiveness and acceptance. We sustained each other through challenges with prayer and trust.”
Looking back on their marriage, Hans stated: “Our life together
