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By Root 942 0

the Sleeping Prophet, Edgar Cayce (pronounced kay-see), who is credited with having made accurate diagnoses and having prescribed cures for distant patients who sent him letters—and this despite having little or no information about them. Cayce is also famous for his "life readings"—descriptions of former and present lives of people derived from their names alone. He claimed that it was all done while he slept, and that he never remembered a word of what he said while entranced. The Association for Research and Enlightenment is the result of all this, and its library of thirty-thousand case histories is great material with which to regale the credulous. Moreover, the rationalizations that Cayce and his supporters used to explain his numerous and notable failures are prime examples of the art of evasion.

Cayce was a gentle man who looked like a schoolteacher, with rimless glasses and a receding chin. When he died in 1945 he was already well on the road to psychic stardom, and thereafter his reputation took off in earnest. The current rebirth of interest in the irrational has brought forth more than a dozen books—and reprints of old ones—that tout his wonders. Bookstands are full of Cayce items, and at my lectures he is frequently cited by believers in the audience as one of the invincibles of the trade.

Of course, Cayce is remembered for his apparent successes, not his failures. Disciples claim many thousands of verified instances in which this "master psychic" correctly diagnosed illnesses and prescribed cures. But did he? I recommend that my readers perform some research by carefully studying any of the many books on the Sleeping Prophet. It must be said of Cayce's followers that they are quite unashamed of the myriad half-truths, the evasive and garbled language, and the multiple "outs" that Cayce used in his readings. In some cases these crutches were clearly stated, without any attempt to disguise them. But such is the nature of the zealot that no matter how damning the evidence of the documents, faith marches on undaunted.

Cayce was fond of expressions like "I feel that..." and "perhaps"—qualifying words used to avoid positive declarations. It is a common tool in the psychic trade. Many of the letters he received—in fact, most—contained specific details about the illnesses for which readings were required, and there was nothing to stop Cayce from knowing the contents of the letters and presenting that information as if it were a divine revelation. To one who has been through dozens of similar diagnoses, as I have, the methods are obvious. It is merely a specialized version of the "generalization" technique of fortune-tellers.

Cayce's "cures" were pretty funny. He just loved to have his patients boiling the most obscure roots and bark to make nasty syrups. Perhaps the therapy was based on nauseating the victim so much that the original illness was forgotten. And it is no secret that his cures were quite similar to the "home remedies" described in the handy medical encyclopedias that were bedside reading in many rural homes in the late 1800s. Beef broth was one of Cayce's favorite remedies for such diverse diseases as gout and leukemia. Who can fault a nice man who prescribes a cup of hot soup?

But did cures actually result from all this? The matter is hard to prove, either way. The testimony of some of his patients hardly represents the whole. Dead patients cannot complain, and those who were not cured would benefit little by writing a letter of complaint. After all, this good man had tried to help them, and just because it hadn't worked in some cases was no reason to knock the process. As for those who wrote to affirm that they had been cured, there is an important factor to consider. I'm sure you've heard the joke about the man who is found yelling at the top of his lungs in the park. Asked why, he replies that such a procedure keeps rogue elephants away. But, counters his questioner, there are no elephants around here for a thousand miles! See how well it works? is the triumphant reply. The point is