M.J. Rose

Here is some interesting reading on reincarnation as discussed in the amazing Edgar Cayce material. Enjoy!

Edgar Cayce and Reincarnation: Past Life Readings as Religious Symbology

J. Gordon Melton

J. Gordon Melton is the author of numerous scholarly articles and books on New Religious Movements (NRM’s), and is the editor of several standard reference works including the Encyclopedia of American Religions. Dr. Melton heads the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, and is frequently approached by the media for his perspective on alternative religious movements. He earned his Ph.D. in religion from Northwestern University, and is a United Methodist minister. This article originally appeared in Syzygy: Journal of Alternative Religion and Culture (vol. 3 no. 1-2, 1994), and is based on a paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion at Virginia Beach, Virginia on Nov. 9-11, 1990.

When Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) died, he left behind a unique resource, complete transcripts of over 1600 readings he had given in the last decades of his life to the hundreds of people who came to him for help and advice. Subsequently, under the leadership of his son Hugh Lynn Cayce, the Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE) and the Edgar Cayce Foundation mobilized thousands of people to explore and study the transcripts which were cross-indexed and proved the inspiration for numerous books which have attempted systematically to present the information and teachings scattered in bits and pieces haphazardly through the readings. Thus by compiling the many life readings on Atlantis, ARE writers developed a coherent picture of what Cayce taught about that lost continent.

In more recent years, the publication and spread of the Cayce literature became a major factor in the emergence of what is loosely termed the New Age Movement. For example, one can trace the speculation on crystal power which has emerged as such a prominent teaching among New Age groups directly to the compilation into a booklet of Cayce’s rather meager and scattered references to crystals in the readings.

Among the major themes in the readings are several other key New Age concerns including alternative health (possibly the most explored material in the Cayce readings), astrology (the least explored in relation to the significant amount of attention Cayce devoted to it), and reincarnation. Reincarnation, as developed in the hundreds of past-life readings given by Cayce, could be seen as the single most prominent concern of the Cayce materials. For over thirty years, Cayce went into trance and offered people information on “previous lives lived in planet earth” while interpreting their significance for present existence. These life readings, along with readings which specifically asked for elaboration on the material given in the life readings, presented a cosmic metaphysics which many have accepted and used for guidance in their lives. (1) The importance of the reincarnation theme in the Cayce readings has taken on added dimensions in this present generation with over 20 percent of the American public now professing a belief in reincarnation.

The emergence of reincarnation and Cayce’s past life readings

The idea of reincarnation and the possibility of exploring past lives did not just suddenly emerge in the Cayce readings…

For the rest, please click here.

The Seth Material is a system of philosophy presented by Jane Roberts and her husband Robert Butts as a consequence of the trance communications of an entity named Seth. The origin of the material, however, is far less significant than its scope. It has logical consistency, and the validation it receives, as millions of people read and use its ideas in their lives, is growing daily. During our current period of worldwide stress and conflicting ideologies, it makes sense of our situation and gives hope. Between 1963 and 1984, Seth communicated through Jane discourses which have appeared in the twenty volumes that comprise the Seth Material. (Quoted from this site.)

Here is what Seth has to say about the topic of reincarnation. Whether you believe in spirit channeling or not, there is no disputing the inherent logic and wisdom contained in the words and concepts of whomever originated these thoughts. Enjoy…

“Reincarnation involves the historical periods that you recognize, and the seemingly sequential progress of events. Your reincarnational selves more or less belong to the same probability, translated into historical terms. Since all time is simultaneous, however, all frameworks of historical nature are being formed at once. In those terms you are born in the past with your knowledge of the future held in unconscious abeyance, and you are born in the future convinced that your knowledge of the past comes only from history books.” – Seth

Read the rest, Here.

Hey, ever wondered how physicists have achieved a kind of teleportation thanks to a bizarre quantum phenomenon called entanglement? New Scientist Tech present ten things that were once considered utterly impossible that are now, well, completely scientifically possible! As much as I appreciate when formerly mysterious things are decoded by science, I do think that if ever scientists were to figure out the workings of the human soul, that I’d be a bit let down. There is something really compelling about a good conundrum. If we all knew exactly how and when we were going to reincarnate, for example, wouldn’t the fun of imagining the phenomenon fade a bit if the obscurity were eradicated?

Check out the complete list, here.