Edgar Cayce : An American Prophet

Rating:
Summary: A Skeptical Author Converted
Review: Having studied the work of Edgar Cayce for many years, I was amazed at how much I learned from this book. The author freely admits that he was a skeptic and originally not interested in writing about Edgar Cayce. However, after researching and studying the voluminous files and interviewing people for six years, this professional writer was converted to a fan of Edgar Cayce.

Kirkpatrick was the first Cayce biographer to be given unrestricted access to the Cayce archives. Since the vast majority of people who had psychic Readings from Cayce are dead, the author was allowed to use real names and publish material that was never made public before. This includes Readings that Cayce gave at the White House and Readings given for famous people, including movie stars.

But the author makes no effort to deify Edgar Cayce. His personal shortcomings and struggles are portrayed in a forthright manner. Intimate family relationships and details highlight the humanity of this gifted seer. Personally, I found I could relate to the struggles of the Cayce family members. Sometimes they made wise choices and sometimes they did not. But through it all they grew, which is what Cayce said is the purpose of our lives.

I have read most of the books available about Edgar Cayce. I recommend this book very highly.

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Summary: Breathless in Princeton...
Review: I always thought I was very well read and well informed but WOW! What Mr. Kirkpatrick tells us about Edgar Cayce, well I am very grateful to now be aware of this wonderful man (Cayce). My husband and I are planning to visit the Cayce center (The A.R.E.) in Virginia Beach, we want to learn all we can about this wonderous man. Our friends here at the University tell us that the A.R.E. is remarkable ! Friendly, and captivating. Thanks Mr. Kirkpatrick for the lovely information.

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Summary: A Gift to Mankind !!
Review: I am a nuclear physicist and I was most impressed with Cayce's instructions for the building and development of so many of the things we enjoy today. He gave formulas for the development of rubber for tires, he gave instructions for the development of fog lamps (which are used today on airlines) he was even asked by Kellogs to provide a healthy and tasty receipe for a cereal flake, thus the Corn Flake was born!! This book is a must read for anyone. The author has done mankind a service as well, by bringing this man to the forefront so the populus can benefit from his work. A wonderful book, a spectacular man!!

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Summary: a few thoughts from the author of this book
Review: I am gratified and pleased to read so many wonderful reviews of my book. Please know that I had the work of three generations of Cayce scholars to draw upon, and that above all else, this book was written under their tutelage and guidance. And although Edgar Cayce himself was not physically present to help make this book all that it could be, I am left with the distinct impression that my finished manuscript reached the publication stage in a manner totally unexpected, not because of my abilities as a writer, but rather, in spite of my limitations. The dedication of this book, to Nancy Webster-Thurlbeck, is a special expression of gratitude and affection to one such collaborator, with whom I am united by bonds of friendship and love. My sincere prayer is that this book will live up to her expectations and those numberless other guides, advisors and friends who toil under the peaceful shadow of Edgar Cayce. If you would like to contact me, learn more about this book or other books I have written, please visit me at sidneykirkpatrick.com

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Summary: The Author Responding to the Reviewer From Mass on Feb. 16,
Review: I am the author of this biography and am responding to the review of February 16, 2002: "a reader from Massachusetts."

Thank you for your interest in my book. FYI, and for others reading your review, I should like to clarify a few points:

(1) prior to taking this book project on, I was not involved in the Cayce organization at all. In fact, I was quite skeptical that there was any truth or insights to be found in the Cayce material. It was only after I began examining Cayce's original correspondence and trance readings (some 150,000 pages) that I came to appreciate the depth, scope, and truth of the material. I also came to appreciate the integrity of Cayce the man. A book which I had intended to write in two years, resulted in a seven year, 40,000 mile journey as I interviewed recipients of the Cayce readings and studied their impact and veracity.

(2) The purpose of this book was not to put Cayce in the context of other channeled material, but to present a truthful study of Cayce life and examine his work in the larger historical context of modern scientific and medical discoveries.

(3) In terms of Cayce's religious "agenda," you fail to point out that it was not until the last years of Cayce's long career that the more overtly spiritual messages began to emerge. Cayce gave some 9,000 medical readings before any past life readings came through. And Cayce himself, more than anyone around him, struggled to come to grips with these readings.

(4) To suggest that people have not gotten any spiritual growth out of what Cayce told them is to ignore the fact that Cayce could be well be considered the father of the New Age movement.

(5) Cayce's so-called "predications" are one of the most misunderstood (and misrepresented) aspects of Cayce's work. Read them for yourself! They represent less than 2% of the Cayce material, and all are prefaced by the greater spiritual message that man makes his own destiny, and that predictions can't, in fact, be given. What a person holds in their head and their heart determines their future. This is not only true for an individual, but for a community and nation. Hence, on the rare occasions which "predictions" were made, they are prefaced with a remark such as, "given the current situation... this will be the result."

Rating:
Summary: Edgar Cayce: An American Prophet
Review: I believe this is the best book I have read on Edgar Cayce. Sidney Kirkpatrick should be commended on the indepth information concerning this amazing prophet.

Rating:
Summary: Wow, What an Amazing Book!
Review: I had heard of Edgar Cayce for many years but had never read anything about his life before I read this book. I thumbed-through the book, saw how detailed and precise it was with highly-substantiated information, read the praise about the book from previous authors of books on Cayce, and decided that this was the book for me.

The open channel that Cayce was to a higher form of consciousness was truly incredible. The accurate predictions he would make about others' lives and the cures he would come-up with for people who were given virtually no chance to live were indeed remarkable too. Oftentimes doctors would believe that his prescriptions for cures were totally ridiculous and those doctors would be proven wrong again and again.

With the documentation provided by Kirkpartick, one can only conclude that there truly is a higher form of consciousness that exists at all times. And Cayce clearly was very gifted in being able to constantly access this higher form of consciousness.

The gift was not without its downside, though, as Cayce continually experienced hardship in his own life in the areas of money, health, and a series of business partners who clearly took advantage of both him and his great gift to connect with "the source."

If you are at all interested in the arena of metaphysics I highly recommend this book to you.

Rating:
Summary: Uncritical - Only for True Believers
Review: I have had extensive personal experience with trance mediums doing work similar to Cayce's. I have also read many volumes of the Cayce material published by his son.

With this background, I found this book disturbing because the author has left out or seriously underplayed anything in the existing record that would cast doubt on the usefulness of Cayce's material. The author has not made clear to the casual reader his own biases or involvement with the ARE (Cayce's group). From what he chose to focus most of his attention on, it seemed pretty clear that the author is writing his book to promote the highly questionable "Jesus material" which makes grandiose claims that Cayce and those in his circle were major Players in the Jesus story.

Since just about every successful trance medium from a Christian background comes up with readings that identify other people as being the same people in the circle around Jesus, this is highly unlikely. I have been in the room when people who had been told they were one disciple by one medium duked it out with those told that THEY were the same disciple by another. All these mediums had told people other, very true and useful things that only the person themselves would know or performed other impressive psychic acts.

But since the author here makes no attempt to put Cayce's material in the context of other channeled material, the reader who has not encountered this phenomenon may be left either disgusted (as some reviewers here were) or amazed and converted to the questionable religious agenda involved.

Similarly, the author makes NO attempt when discussing the supposed past lives of the circle around Cayce to see if they match actual historical records. If such research was done, it would have become very clear that they don't. I believe that past lives are real and important but not that your average person was a noble, priest, or famous person in their past life. Everyone Cayce ran into seemed to have been, and few of the people that Cayce gave the most readings to seem to have gotten any spiritual growth out of what Cacye told them since their focus seems to have been mostly on making money the easy way.

The author also dismisses with a few vague paragraphs all of Cayce's extensive predictions of world-wide earthquakes and upheavals in the 1980s. None of it happened, but I can remember that in the 1970s those predictions were the main thing you were hearing about from the Cayce folks. The ludicrous Mu material is also missing completely and the Atlantis material edited to avoid the details that would make it clear that Cayce was way off base there too. (Cayce located it in a region that detailed research has shown shows no signs of a sunken continent. You can read all about this in any number of Atlantis books.)

Trance mediumship is a real phenomenon but one that is not at all understood. Because our mainstream culture completely dismisses all psychic phenomena, when one shows up that looks real, the tendency is to take such psychic phenomena completely at face value without exploring what might really be going on. A study of Cayce could do a lot to help us understand this, because his readings were so well documented. But alas, that was not the goal of the author here. His book is for true believers only . It misrepresents the record so badly that it does a serious disservice to anyone who is really trying to learn more about the phenomenon of trance mediumship.

Rating:
Summary: America's contribution to the Metaphysical world
Review: I love this book! I've been a student of the Cayce readings for 15 years and a member of the A.R.E and have read Sugrue's and Bro's biographies. Harmon Bro is a personal friend and both of the previous biographies are great works, but this one surpasses both of them. The detail is absolutely amazing and the devotion to the truth about this amazing man and his work is awe inspiring. Cayce came from very humble beginnings and went on to save many lives through the medical readings. He also brought the metaphysical world to our very fingertips with the life readings. All this in America, the land of great skepticism. Read this book and come away convinced for once and for all that we are much more that just a body!

Rating:
Summary: Impressed by Kirkpatrick and Cayce
Review: I'm normally not interested in books about psychics or psychic phenomina. But I happened to see Mr. Kirkpatrick interviewed on News 12, New Jersey, and was impressed by his sincerity and depth of knowledge. I was even more impressed when I read his book. Edgar Cayce comes to life in Kirkpatrick's hands--the psychic is not the card-board figure as portrayed in the "Sleeping Prophet," but a flesh and blood husband and father coming to grips with a gift beyond his (or anyone else's) comprehension. This book should be on everyone's reading list!