History

     While Cayce dabbled in the otherworldly, he also had a practical side. He was said to be among the first to suggest that alternative treatments, such as castor oil packs, dietary changes, exercise and massage, can contribute to better overall health. He was one of the first people in America to recommend that people eat more fruits and vegetables, and to avoid fried foods. Author and futurist Stephan A. Schwartz thinks Cayce should get more credit for being ahead of his time. “Not only is he the father of CAM [complementary and alternative medicine],” Schwartz says, “the principles of health that he espoused have withstood the test of time.”

     Apparently so: While traditional allopathic medicine remains the first choice for most people, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) claims that 38 percent of Americans seek answers to at least some health concerns using alternative modalities. And A.R.E. is one of their destinations. Every year, say A.R.E. officials, some 60,000 people visit its sand-colored brick building on Atlantic Avenue to attend seminars (there was a recent one on the Mayan calendar and the “transformation of consciousness” as well as a 14-session course on discovering your past lives), buy books or to explore Cayce’s many metaphysical ideas. The organization has 33,000 members, including 800 in Japan, and Edgar Cayce Centers can be found in 37 countries. Besides the spa, a massage school and the visitor’s center, which houses the largest metaphysical library in North America, the A.R.E. realm also includes Atlantic University, which offers an online degree in “transpersonal studies.” Edgar Cayce died more than a half-century ago, but there is no disputing the fact that his life and his theories—he had many, and they are not light reading—still resonate with many people today.

What is his appeal?

     Roger and Joy Bloom, a handsome Virginia Beach couple in their 50s, are Cayce devotees. In Joy’s words, they’ve become “happier and healthier” since their involvement with A.R.E. The Blooms, who first met at an A.R.E. conference in 1996, follow Cayce’s dietary guidelines and have also used some material from his readings to help with health issues. Joy Bloom says that she used castor oil packs to overcome a painful bout of kidney stones.

     The summer she met Roger, Joy was living in Kentucky and received an A.R.E. brochure about a music and healing conference in Virginia Beach. She decided to attend. “As I drove here,” she remembers, “I felt literally like I was being reeled in like a fish. I felt a magnetic pull.” Within 10 months, she’d sold her house in Kentucky and moved to Virginia Beach with her three kids. “I felt like I was coming home,” she says. Roger, a retired pilot with a background in aeronautical engineering, says he was drawn to Cayce’s readings because they were so well documented. “Psychic phenomena is a glittery subject that’s very controversial,” he acknowledges. “[But] I was very taken with Cayce’s character and the fact that he never became rich. His work was not done for profit.”