Every once in a while, usually during a casual conversation about diet and nutrition, someone may mention an Edgar Cayce reading in which the future value of blueberries is extolled. Because the wording of the comment varies somewhat from one individual to another, I decided one day to look up the reading itself to get the exact quote. Here it is:
"In the diet—keep to those things that heal within and without. A great deal of celery, lettuce, tomatoes, and especially use the garden blueberry. (This is a property which someone, some day, will use in its proper place!) These should be stewed, but with their own juices, little sugar but in their own juices.” (3118-1)
This dietary advice, suggested to a 56-year-old woman with multiple sclerosis and anemia, was offered in a July 28, 1943, reading. It’s the comment in parentheses that caused all the speculation.
Looking at Possible Meanings
Does the word “property” refer to the “garden blueberry”? Or did Cayce regard “property” as a concept or principle which he mentioned in the first sentence: “those things that heal within and without”? What does Cayce mean by using it (the blueberry or the concept) “in its proper place”?
Since in the sentence following the parenthetical expression Cayce elaborates on how to prepare and use blueberries (“stewed, but with their own juices”), it is logical to suggest that “property” refers to the blueberry itself. At times, Cayce in the trance state used rather unusual or non-ordinary words to describe and explain something. So he may have meant that a certain property of the blueberry or the berry itself would in some future time be used properly by someone.
Looking at Additional Readings
Searching in the readings for other references to the blueberry to discover what may be meant by this elusive “property” was unsuccessful. Surprisingly, there are only four readings in which blueberries are mentioned, and three of those references are among notes added to the reading by Gladys Davis, Cayce’s secretary, to help the recipients of the readings follow their dietary advice. For example, in two readings, 560-2 and 813-2, iron was needed in the diet, so Gladys added a listing of foods containing iron; blueberries were included in that list.
In several places, Gladys quoted from a booklet entitled Scientific Weight Control by Dr. James M. Booher (published in 1925 by Continental Scale Works in Chicago). The listing of foods is identical from one reading to the next. Blueberries make the list of principal foods that contain iron, sulphur, and potassium.
Other Nutrients
In addition to fiber, blueberries, a North American native, are rich in vitamins C and E, as well as beta-carotene. They are also one of the best sources of antioxidants, a group of chemicals that help fight disease by neutralizing unstable molecules called free radicals that do damage to healthy cells. One type of antioxidant, anthocyanin, is a pigment that gives berries their red, blue, and purple hues; blueberries are well supplied with this potent antioxidant.
The fruit of Vaccinium myrtillus, the blueberry bush, can be eaten raw with milk or sugar, and made into jams, wine, or jellies. As a tasty snack, blueberries can also be added to yogurt, cereal, smoothies, and salads.
This small sub-shrub can reach a height of about 20 inches (50 cm) and is commonly found in peat bogs or shady woods. Its quadrangular, pale green stems are profusely branched, and in its axils (the upper angle between a leaf and a stem) spherical green flowers flushed with red produce eventually the blue-black berries in the summer.
The blueberry is also called bilberry, whortleberry, or huckleberry. A tincture of its leaves has been used traditionally as a remedy for dysentery and diarrhea. An extract can be applied to burn emergencies, scalds, and eczema lesions. It has also been used as a preventative for urinary tract infections, for circulation problems, and to lower elevated blood sugar.
Blueberries have been known to improve arterial function; they support the eyes and protect the brain. In experiments with rats that were served a diet rich in blueberries, the rats demonstrated improved spatial memory and suffered less age-related loss of nerve cells. Because they are among those foods highest in pesticide residues, organic blueberries should be eaten whenever possible.
Just which of these nutrients or characteristic uses would constitute the “property” to which the Cayce reading was referring? Increased attention nowadays is placed on the presence of antioxidants in foods, so could the “property” be the anthocyanin that is a potent component of the blueberry? Or possibly could it be something else? Perhaps time will tell. Nevertheless, the blueberry would make a nutritional addition to anyone’s diet.
Excerpt from the Summer 2016 Newsletter available to A.R.E. Members online at EdgarCayce.org/Members.
