In 1970, in the Spiritualist camp of Cassadaga, Florida, I met a woman named Marguerite Card. She was a medium, a teacher, and the first person who ever handed me a book about Edgar Cayce. I was 19, and open to anything that did not require me to sit in a pew. I read the book in two days. Then I read another one. Then I started ordering the actual readings from the Association for Research and Enlightenment in Virginia Beach. I have been studying Cayce's work, off and on, for over fifty years now. Long enough, I think, to offer a report card.

Who Was Edgar Cayce?

For those who have not encountered him: Edgar Cayce (1877–1945) was a photographer from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, who discovered that when he put himself into a trance state—essentially a self-induced hypnotic sleep—he could diagnose illnesses and prescribe treatments for people he had never met, using medical terminology he did not know while awake. Over a period of forty-three years, he gave over 14,000 documented readings, about 9,000 of which dealt with health.

He was not a doctor. He had an eighth-grade education. He was deeply religious—a Sunday school teacher who read the Bible once for every year of his life—and he was troubled by his own abilities. He gave readings for free or for whatever people could afford, and he died essentially broke.

The medical establishment of his day dismissed him. The Journal of the American Medical Association, however, later acknowledged that "the roots of present-day holism probably go back 100 years to the birth of Edgar Cayce." That is not an endorsement, exactly, but it is not a dismissal either. It is the grudging respect of a profession that found itself arriving, decades later, at conclusions Cayce had stated in his sleep.

The Grades

What follows is not comprehensive. Cayce gave thousands of health readings, many of them tailored to specific individuals. But certain themes recurred so often that they constitute a general health philosophy. Here is how that philosophy has held up.

Castor Oil Packs: A-

Cayce prescribed castor oil packs in over 1,800 readings—more than any other single remedy. He recommended them for everything from liver congestion to intestinal adhesions to general detoxification, typically applied to the right side of the abdomen over the liver.

Modern research has found that ricinoleic acid, the primary fatty acid in castor oil, has demonstrated anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. A study published in the Journal of Naturopathic Medicine showed enhancement of T-11 immune cells seven hours after a castor oil pack treatment. Animal studies have found castor oil as effective as capsaicin in reducing inflammation and edema.

The mechanism appears to involve stimulating the lymphatic system and reducing substance P, a neurotransmitter involved in pain signaling. This is not exactly what Cayce said—he talked about "vibrations" and "absorption"—but the practical result is the same. He was right that they work. The why he gave was poetic rather than biochemical, which is why he gets an A-minus rather than a straight A.

Alkaline Diet: A

Cayce consistently recommended that the diet be approximately 80 percent alkaline-forming foods (fruits, vegetables, especially leafy greens) and 20 percent acid-forming foods (meats, starches, sugars). He said this decades before anyone in mainstream nutrition was talking about acid-alkaline balance.

Modern research has largely validated this emphasis, though not always for the reasons Cayce gave. The typical Western diet is heavily acid-forming, and chronic low-grade metabolic acidosis has been linked to bone loss, muscle wasting, kidney stones, and increased inflammation. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables—Cayce's alkaline-forming foods—is now universally recommended by mainstream medicine. The specific 80/20 ratio has not been clinically tested as a precise threshold, but the direction is exactly right.

Osteopathic Manipulation: A

Cayce frequently recommended osteopathic adjustments, particularly for conditions that modern medicine would not associate with spinal alignment. He saw the spine as a conduit—not just for nerves, but for what he called "life force"—and believed that misalignments could affect organs, glands, and the immune system.

Osteopathic medicine is now fully mainstream. Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DOs) are licensed to practice in all fifty states, prescribe medications, and perform surgery, just like MDs. The idea that spinal health affects overall health—which was considered fringe in Cayce's day—is now taught in accredited medical schools. The "life force" language was his, but the underlying principle was sound.

Almonds and Cancer Prevention: B+

Cayce stated that anyone who eats two to three almonds a day "need never fear cancer." He was specific: sweet almonds, not bitter, and for prevention, not cure. He attributed the effect to a substance he described in terms that map onto what we now call biotin.

Modern research has not proven that almonds prevent cancer, but it has found suggestive evidence. A 2015 study found that regular almond consumption reduced breast cancer risk by two to three times. Almonds contain amygdalin, polyphenols, and antioxidants that have shown anti-tumor activity in laboratory studies. The B-plus reflects the fact that the research is encouraging but not conclusive—and that "need never fear cancer" is a stronger claim than the evidence currently supports.

Elimination and Colonics: B

Cayce placed enormous emphasis on elimination. He frequently prescribed colonics, enemas, and laxative foods, arguing that a sluggish colon was the root cause of many chronic conditions. He said toxins reabsorbed through the colon wall were responsible for arthritis, headaches, skin conditions, and fatigue.

The modern gut microbiome revolution has vindicated Cayce's general emphasis on intestinal health, though not his specific methods. We now know that the gut is intimately connected to the immune system, the brain, and overall inflammation levels. Colonics remain controversial—mainstream gastroenterology generally does not recommend them—but the underlying principle that gut health is foundational to overall health is now well established.

The Endocrine System and Spiritual Centers: B+

One of Cayce's more esoteric claims was that the endocrine glands—the pineal, pituitary, thyroid, thymus, adrenals, cells of Leydig, and gonads—were the physical counterparts of spiritual centers in the body. His mapping corresponds remarkably well to the traditional Hindu chakra system, which he almost certainly had never heard of.

Modern endocrinology has confirmed that these glands form an interconnected system far more complex than was understood in Cayce's time. The pineal gland produces melatonin and responds to light cycles. The thymus is central to immune function. The adrenals mediate the stress response. The idea that these glands form a unified system affecting mood, consciousness, and health is now mainstream endocrinology. The "spiritual centers" part remains unprovable by scientific methods, which is why the grade is not higher. But the anatomy was right.

Meditation and Prayer: A

Cayce consistently recommended meditation and prayer as components of health—not as alternatives to treatment, but as essential complements. He said the mind and body were not separate systems and that emotional and spiritual states directly affected physical health.

This is now so thoroughly validated that it barely requires citation. Thousands of peer-reviewed studies have demonstrated that meditation reduces cortisol, lowers blood pressure, improves immune function, reduces chronic pain, and alters brain structure in measurable ways. The field of psychoneuroimmunology exists largely to study the connections Cayce was describing in his trance states eighty years ago. Straight A.

Attitudes and Emotions: A

Cayce repeatedly warned that anger, resentment, fear, and worry were as destructive to health as any physical toxin. He called them "poisons" that the body produced in response to negative mental states. He was not being metaphorical. He meant it biochemically, decades before the biochemistry existed to explain it.

We now know he was right. Chronic stress elevates cortisol, which suppresses immune function, promotes fat storage, raises blood sugar, and accelerates cellular aging. Chronic anger is associated with cardiovascular disease. Loneliness is as deadly as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day. The body does not distinguish between a physical threat and an emotional one; it produces the same stress chemicals either way. Cayce's "poisons" are cortisol, adrenaline, and inflammatory cytokines. He was right.

The Misses

It would be dishonest to pretend Cayce's record is unblemished. Some of his specific remedies—like Atomidine (an iodine solution) taken internally, or the use of radial appliances (low-voltage electrical devices)—have not been validated and in some cases could be harmful. His readings sometimes contained anatomical descriptions that do not correspond to known physiology. And his insistence on very specific, idiosyncratic formulations (particular brands, exact proportions, ingredients that are no longer available) makes many of his prescriptions impractical to replicate or test.

He also gave some readings that were simply wrong. Not every diagnosis was accurate. Not every treatment worked. Cayce himself acknowledged this and attributed failures variously to the patient's attitude, the wrong osteopath, or interference with the trance state. These explanations are unfalsifiable, which means they are not scientific explanations at all.

The Report Card

After fifty years of reading Cayce, trying some of his recommendations on myself, and watching medical science slowly catch up to conclusions he reached in his sleep, here is my assessment:

Overall GPA: somewhere around a 3.4. That is a solid B-plus. For a man with an eighth-grade education who was asleep when he said all of it, I would call that remarkable.

What I Learned from Marguerite

Marguerite Card did not just hand me a book. She taught me how to think about the invisible. Not to accept it uncritically—she was sharper than that—but to stop rejecting things simply because they did not fit the model I had been given. The model is always incomplete. The map is never the territory. And sometimes a man from Kentucky, asleep on a couch, can see things that take the rest of us a hundred years to verify.

I still eat my almonds.