Journal of Advanced Research and Multidisciplinary Studies

Volume 3, Issue 2, 2023 (pp. 41-47) www.abjournals.org

EDGAR CAYCE AND THE SOURCE OF HIS PSYCHIC POWERS

Deepak Shimkhada (Ph.D)

Cite this article: ABSTRACT: Edgar Cayce, often referred to as the

Deepak Shimkhada (2023), "Sleeping Prophet," was a renowned American psychic
Edgar Cayce and the Source who captivated the world with his remarkable abilities.
of His Psychic Powers.
Journal of Advanced Research
Born in 1877 in rural Kentucky, Cayce possessed an
and Multidisciplinary Studies extraordinary talent for accessing information beyond
3(2), 41-47. DOI: the scope of ordinary perception. He would enter a
10.52589/JARMS-
5OWOXADB
deep trance-like state and offer insights into a wide
array of subjects, including health, spirituality, history,
and even future events.
Manuscript History
Received: 28 May 2023
KEYWORDS: Edgar Cayce and the Source of His
Accepted: 17 July 2023
Psychic Powers
Published: 14 Aug 2023

Copyright © 2023 The Author(s).

This is an Open Access article
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4.0), which permits anyone to
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provided the original author and
source are credited.

41 Article DOI: 10.52589/JARMS-5OWOXADB

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Journal of Advanced Research and Multidisciplinary Studies
Volume 3, Issue 2, 2023 (pp. 41-47) www.abjournals.org

Edgar Cayce, often referred to as the "Sleeping Prophet," was a renowned American psychic
who captivated the world with his remarkable abilities. Born in 1877 in rural Kentucky, Cayce
possessed an extraordinary talent for accessing information beyond the scope of ordinary
perception. He would enter a deep trance-like state and offer insights into a wide array of
subjects, including health, spirituality, history, and even future events.
Cayce's psychic powers seemed to stem from a unique source, as he claimed to have a direct
connection to the ākāśik records, an ethereal realm that supposedly contains the collective
knowledge and experiences of all human souls. In this state of altered consciousness, Cayce
could tap into this universal database and retrieve detailed information about an individual's
past lives, illnesses, and potential paths for healing and personal growth.
While Cayce's abilities were awe-inspiring, the origin of his psychic powers remained a subject
of fascination and speculation. According to Cayce himself, his gifts emerged during a
childhood accident when he fell unconscious and experienced a divine revelation. Following
this incident, he discovered that he could enter into a self-induced trance state, allowing him to
access higher realms of consciousness and provide readings for those seeking guidance.
Cayce's abilities garnered attention from various individuals seeking answers and relief from
their ailments. Over the course of his career, he conducted thousands of readings, which were
meticulously documented and stored by the Association for Research and Enlightenment
(ARE), an organization founded to preserve and disseminate his teachings.
Many books and articles have been written about him, but no concrete evidence has been
offered by any of the authors about the source of his psychic powers. In this article, I will offer
my explanation for the readers to consider.
In school, Cayce played baseball like most boys of his age. There was nothing particularly
special about that. At least, not until one fateful day, while playing a game of baseball at school,
when he was struck by the ball at the tail end of his spine, directly on his coccyx.

42 Article DOI: 10.52589/JARMS-5OWOXADB

DOI URL: https://doi.org/10.52589/JARMS-5OWOXADB
Journal of Advanced Research and Multidisciplinary Studies
Volume 3, Issue 2, 2023 (pp. 41-47) www.abjournals.org

Fig. 1.

This incident was recorded in Thomas Joseph Sugrue’s biography of Cayce in 1943, 1 but was
not discussed in any real detail; it was only recorded that it caused the young Cayce a great
deal of pain and that he acted strangely afterwards. It would have been insightful to learn more
about the specifics of this strange behavior. But because Sugrue did not provide details, we are
left to imagine what these strange behaviors might have been.
Practically all the the authors have pointed this out, but no one has ever explained the cause or
source of Cayce’s psychic powers. When History Channel decided to produce a documentary
about Edgar Cayce in December 2022, I was invited to offer a Hindu perspective on his powers.
The incident that changed the course of Cayce’s life immediately seized my attention. That, to
me, was clearly the key to his psychic powers. When I made the connection between getting
hit in the coccyx and awakening the kunḍalini, I had a moment of satori, or revelation. The
accidental strike to Cayce’s coccyx had activated his kunḍalini, and it was this that gave him
the clairvoyance to diagnose health ailments and to forecast stock markets and other events.
These abilities sent him soaring to stardom—a stardom which would also, ultimately, kill him.

1
Story of Edgar Cayce: There Is a River, 1997. A.R.E. Press (Association of Research & Enlightenment).

See also Edgar Cayce: An American Prophet by Sidney D. Kirkpatrick and Stephen Graybill (Audio Book).
Blackstone Publishing, 2019.

43 Article DOI: 10.52589/JARMS-5OWOXADB

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Journal of Advanced Research and Multidisciplinary Studies
Volume 3, Issue 2, 2023 (pp. 41-47) www.abjournals.org

Before we return to the subject of Cayce’s psychic powers, it is important to talk about the
placement of the coccyx in the body. In the Hindu Yoga System, the coccyx is the exact
location of the muladhāra chakra, the source of the kunḍalini. Those who practice Kundalini
Yoga know how to activate the sleeping energy of the kunḍalini, in the form of a coiled snake,
through a deep breathing exercise. Once activated, the energy of the kunḍalini, like a snake,
rises through each energy center, called chakra, until it reaches the head, i.e., the crown chakra,
called sahasrāra.

Fig. 2.

After the ball game at school, Cayce went home complaining of the pain he had suffered as a
result of the strike. According to his biographer, the young Edgar diagnosed his own ailment
as he lay sleeping in bed that night, then gave instructions to his family to prepare a specific
cure for him. The rest, as they say, is history. Cayce’s ability to see things while asleep became
a pattern, as he would go on to make many predictions and diagnoses in his sleep that were
ultimately proven correct. Today, he is often described as an “American prophet who was able
to channel his higher self while in a trance-like state.”

44 Article DOI: 10.52589/JARMS-5OWOXADB

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Journal of Advanced Research and Multidisciplinary Studies
Volume 3, Issue 2, 2023 (pp. 41-47) www.abjournals.org

Fig. 3.

Now, let us again return to Kundalini Yoga. Practitioners of Kundalini Yoga believe that the
seat of psychic power, in the form of a coiled snake, lies dormant at the base of the spine
(muladhāra). Once aroused, this energy rises up through the body to the crown chakra, opening
the gateway to the universe. So, there seems to be a direct connection: once Cayce’s kunḍalini
was activated by being struck at that very spot, he was able to tap into the ākāśik records
through his kunḍalini rising.2

2
For a study of Kundalini Yoga, see Serpent Power by Arthur Avalon (Sir John George Woodroffe), originally
published in 1918.

45 Article DOI: 10.52589/JARMS-5OWOXADB

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Journal of Advanced Research and Multidisciplinary Studies
Volume 3, Issue 2, 2023 (pp. 41-47) www.abjournals.org

Fig. 4.

In a trance-like state, Cayce came to believe that all minds are timelessly connected. There are
elements in him of a Hindu yogi, who is able to connect his mind to the ultimate reality where
all knowledge and information is stored as though in a supercomputer. The ākāśik records are
this supercomputer. If one knows how to open it, then, in theory, such an individual will be
able to access great knowledge. Like an enlightened Hindu master, Edgar Cayce developed the
ability to tap into those ākāśik records, ultimately making him famous.
Lately, in the West, there has been a great deal of interest in trying to study yoga from a
scientific perspective. Is there any compatibility between science and yoga? Can yoga’s
psychic energy be measured by any scientific apparatus?
Indian and Tibetan yogis (lāmās/monks) have been subjected to various scientific probes,
including brainwave scanning via electrodes in the nation’s neuroscience laboratories.
Institutions like Maharishi International University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison
are conducting research on the relationship between meditation and the brain, and there are
more than 300,000 articles, books and websites dealing with the subject. Many independent
researchers such as Dr. Peter Bloomfield of Olive View-UCLA Hospital are also conducting
research on gamma waves.3

3
In 2018, Dr. Bloomfield reached out to me asking my help in conducting research using qEEG machines to
measure gamma waves while subjects were meditating. Unfortunately, the research couldn’t be conducted due
to the COVID-19 pandemic.

46 Article DOI: 10.52589/JARMS-5OWOXADB

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Journal of Advanced Research and Multidisciplinary Studies
Volume 3, Issue 2, 2023 (pp. 41-47) www.abjournals.org

Writing for Lion’s Roar: Buddhist Wisdom for Our Time, an online journal, Daniel Coleman
and Richard Davidson observed, “All the yogis had elevated gamma oscillations not just during
meditation but even during baseline measurements of their everyday neural activity. The study
team had stumbled onto the key to what makes meditation so special—a neural signature
showing permanent transformation in the brain as a result of meditative states.” 4 This may be
what happened to Edgar Cayce, even without meditating.
Though some skeptics attributed Cayce's abilities to his subconscious mind or latent psychic
potential, many individuals found solace and healing through his readings. Edgar Cayce's
profound impact on countless lives and his tireless efforts to promote spiritual growth and
understanding have solidified his place as one of history's most influential and celebrated
psychics. His legacy continues to inspire and intrigue seekers of truth and seekers of mysteries
that lie beyond our conventional understanding. For this, we owe our debt to Hindu yoga
system.
Photos and illustrations are taken from Wikimedia, an open source.
Fig. 1. Portrait of Edgar Cayce, 1910. Photo source: Wikipedia
Fig. 2. In front of the building in downtown Selma, Alabama, where Cayce lived and worked
from 1912 to 1923. Photo source: Wikipedia
Fig. 3. Diagram of chakra centers in the human body. Painting by an anonymous Nepali artist,
19th century. Photo source: Wikipedia
Fig. 4. Placement of coccyx in the human body. Photo source: Open source.

4
Daniel Coleman and Richard Davidson, “How Meditation Changes Your Brain — and Your Life,”
https://www.lionsroar.com/how-meditation-changes-your-brain-and-your-life/

47 Article DOI: 10.52589/JARMS-5OWOXADB

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