An Overview of Edgar Cayce on “Meditation, Prayer and Affirmations”
The Edgar Cayce information on meditation, prayer and affirmations has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals around the world. To be sure, Cayce was one of the first sources in the Western Hemisphere to consistently recommend meditation to individuals from every religious background. The Cayce readings on prayer advance the ecumenical nature of prayer and discuss the workings and vibrations of this integral tool for personal attunement and spiritual healing. In terms of affirmations, the Cayce material frequently extols the extraordinary power of the “mind as the builder” and the premise that personal co-creation is empowered by that which the mind dwells upon. In other words, what one continues to think, one eventually becomes. With all of this in mind, it is perhaps ironic that this extremely invaluable wealth of information grew out of personal failure on the part of Edgar Cayce.
As brief background information, approximately two-thirds of the Cayce readings deal with health and the treatment of physical illness and disease. Edgar Cayce’s lifelong dream was to have a hospital where individuals could come and receive psychic readings from him and where physicians and health care professionals from every discipline and background could carry out the recommended treatments. The readings are a strong proponent of people in every school of medicine learning how to cooperate and coexist for the ultimate benefit of the patient.
For decades, Edgar Cayce sought funding for his hospital before finally receive support from two New York businessmen brothers who financed the Edgar Cayce Hospital in Virginia Beach, Virginia (the location recommended by the readings). The hospital opened in 1928, and Cayce’s dream became a reality. The dream was short-lived, however, and the hospital was lost in 1931 during the Depression. Edgar Cayce was devastated. He was 54 years old, and it appeared that his purpose for living was over.
In response to the hospital’s failure and in an effort to find another focus for Cayce’s amazing psychic talent, a group of Cayce’s friends rallied around him looking for a way to work with the readings as a group. Some of the individuals were interested in obtaining readings on how they could become more psychic themselves. Others hoped to learn how to become more spiritual, helping their families and the world at large in the process. Edgar Cayce’s readings to the group presented the unique idea that psychic development was actually a natural by-product of spiritual growth and attunement. It was for this reason that the group began receiving a series of readings that promised “light to a waiting world.”
None of the original group members could have imagined the impact their meetings would have upon the rest of their lives nor upon the lives of countless others even decades later. The group called themselves a study group, and group members worked for years to compile two books on lessons in spiritual growth that would eventually be published as A Search for God, Books I & II.1
The group activity gave birth to much more than material on soul growth and personal transformation. After the first meeting, Edgar Cayce had a dream that led to the formation of a prayer group made up of some of the original study group members. This group called itself the Glad Helpers Prayer Group2, and it was specifically interested in the possibility of group members raising personal vibration and consciousness as a means of becoming healing channels to others through prayer and spiritual healing. Essentially, the premise of the readings on meditation, prayer, and attunement is that as an individual raises his or her personal consciousness, spiritual healing can be directed to others “on the wings of thought.” In addition to having ongoing meetings, the group would receive sixty-five readings on topics including meditation, prayer, the use of affirmations, consciousness development, vibrations, and even a series of readings on interpreting the Book of Revelation.
Although we may think of prayer as telling God what we need or want, Cayce believed that true prayer was not so much a petition for things as it was an expression of one’s desire to gain an awareness of the Creator’s will in our lives. In other words, prayer invites God to work through us. Meditation, on the other hand, is clearing aside all random thoughts so that we might become more attuned to the Divine. In the language of the readings, both are explained as follows:
Reading 1861–193
For prayer is supplication for direction, for understanding. Meditation is listening to the Divine within.
Reading 5368–1
Then set definite periods for prayer; set definite periods for meditation. Know the difference between each. Prayer, in short, is appealing to the divine within self, the divine from without self, and meditation is keeping still in body, in mind, in heart, listening, listening to the voice of thy Maker.
Although some schools of thought contend that the mind gets in the way of the meditator and must therefore be blanked out, the Cayce information suggests that whatever the mind focuses upon becomes a greater portion of the individual’s core: physically, mentally, and spiritually. In fact, when used constructively, the mind is a powerful tool that allows for a greater sense of relaxation and an awareness of the closest possible attunement. For that reason, the readings recommend using affirmations while meditating.
In addition to the importance of the mind’s focus, Cayce also stated that an individual’s ideal or intent was extremely important during the practice of meditation. Ultimately, the purpose of meditation should be centered around the concept of learning how to better express divine love in our interactions with one another. Actually, the readings suggested that the entire process of meditation should be taken seriously, as it was one of the best vehicles for cultivating our personal relationship with the Divine:
Reading 281–41
Purify thy body. Shut thyself away from the cares of the world. Think on that as ye would do to have thy God meet thee face to face. “Ah,” ye say “but many are not able to speak to God!” Many, you say, are fearful. Why? Have ye gone so far astray that ye cannot approach Him who is all merciful? He knows thy desires and thy needs, and can only supply according to the purposes that ye would perform within thine own self. Then, purify thy body, physically. Sanctify thy body, as the laws were given of old, for tomorrow the Lord would speak with thee—as a father speaketh to his children . . . Know that thy body is the temple of the living God. There He has promised to meet thee!
Any individual can take advantage of Cayce’s suggested approach to meditation by following a few simple steps. First, get into a comfortable position. It’s probably best to sit in a chair, keeping your spine straight, your feet flat on the floor, and your eyes closed. Find a comfortable place for your hands, either in your lap or at your sides. In order to help with a balanced flow of energy throughout the physical body, keep your palms face down against your legs or closed against your stomach. Slowly take a few deep breaths and begin to relax. Breathe the air deeply into your lungs, hold it for a moment, and then slowly breathe it out. With your mind, search your body for any obvious tension or tight muscles. You can try to relieve the tension by deep breathing, imagining the area to be relaxed, or gently massaging any tightness with your fingertips. When you have become comfortable and more at ease than when you first sat down, you are ready to move on. You may wish to try a breathing exercise recommended in the Cayce readings to assist in even greater levels of relaxation and attunement. Very simply, it is as follows:
First, breathe in slowly through the right nostril (covering the left nostril with your hand and keeping the mouth closed), then pinch your nostrils and breathe out through the mouth. Repeat this for a total of three times. Second, with your mouth closed, slowly breathe in through the left nostril (covering the right), then cover the left and breathe out through the right. Repeat this, as well, for a total of three times.
When your breathing exercise is complete, next begin to focus your mind on a meditation affirmation or perhaps a single, peaceful, calming thought. Instead of thinking about