Inspiration for Thanksgiving from the Edgar Cayce Readings

On November 20th, 1938, Edgar Cayce was asked to give a reading for Study Group #1 on with an explanation of the true spirit of Thanksgiving. It was a challenging time, like today, and the world was filled with fear and uncertainty. Following is the text of Reading 3976-21. May it fill you with inspiration and a greater appreciation of Thanksgiving. Best wishes for a very Happy Thanksgiving from Edgar Cayce's A.R.E.

Gertrude Cayce: You will give at this time information which may stimulate in the hearts and minds of those gathered here a greater appreciation of the true spirit of Thanksgiving, and which may be to all those to whom it is sent an inspiration and an explanation for Thanksgiving even in the face of personal problems and spreading world-wide fears and hatreds that seem to dominate so many minds today.

Edgar Cayce: Yes, we have the subject here; and many there be that appear with the desire to give their own interpretation upon such a subject. But rather would we choose--from the more universal need of those here, as well as mankind everywhere that thought, that purpose, that attribute of man's choice to show, to give thanksgiving for not only the blessings as may be the experience of many but the fuller meaning of the appreciation of Life itself and the opportunity which is offered to all through same to become more and more aware of their relationship to the Creative Force or God.

It is well that ye be reminded, then, of how--in those periods when there were the preparations in the lives and experiences of a peculiar people, under unusual circumstances, in extraordinary environments--they were reminded, not in their days of plenty but in the days when each day they were given only sufficient for that day, that periods were to be, should be, set aside when thanksgiving was to be a part of their activity--their remembrances for all the joys, the sorrows, the disappointments, the hopes that were and might be theirs if--if--they would but hold to those promises; relying--as it was necessary in those days, those hours, for a complete dependence--upon the bounty of a merciful Father, who had a purpose in the bringing out, in the edifying, in the directing.

And today, as ye look back upon those experiences, ye--too--find thyselves chosen.

Have ye chosen Him? For as was given then, "If ye will be my people, I will be thy God!" This is a universal experience, then. To each soul gathered here, to each soul throughout the land, to each soul as may be in all lands: "If ye will be My people, I will be thy God!"

Then in this land--as ye understand--when in the experiences of a handful of those seeking a place where they might worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience, the bounties of the land were in such measures as to preserve their lives--then there was the proclamation that thanksgiving must be in the mind and heart of each soul. So in this land was set the precedent that has come to mean so much that year after year thy rulers of the several States, thy director in the general, have kept, do keep that precedent.

Then, to all: As ye do in the spirit of true thanksgiving come to realize, as ye find in thy daily experience with thy fellow man--he that is unappreciative of opportunity, of care, of thought, of longsuffering, to thine own mind becomes very little. What, then, will ye - as servants--yea, as children of a living God, of a living promise to thee--do about such a period, such a day?

For the day itself is as nothing. Remember how He as the Teacher of teachers gave that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath!

Then remember, Thanksgiving is thy opportunity to show thy appreciation to thy friend, thy home, thy mother, thy children--yea, most of all to thy God! As it may be truly said--of all the days for man's opportunity, of man's making, of man's concern, truly Thanksgiving should be nearer and dearer to the hearts of those who are appreciative of Life and its opportunities, under any experience! For remember, it was instituted not under plenty but under needs.

What is the need then of man in this day of disturbed mind, of anxieties?

That ye may reconsecrate, rededicate - each of you - thy heart, thy body, thy purpose, to the living God! This is the message then that should be to all.

Let this day of Thanksgiving be not only that wherein to enjoy that which may satiate the body, that which may make for the gratifying of appetites of the body, but that day when each of you may give thanks to God for being alive--with the opportunities to raise thy voice in prayer, in praise, in thanksgiving for the love He hath shown, that He showers upon thee day by day!

And as ye do this--in the spirit of love, in the spirit of truth, of patience, of longsuffering--ye will receive that awareness of His closeness to thee. And this will bring you to the greater knowledge, the greater understanding of what He would have thee do.Let thy life, thy experience then, be not without purpose.

What do ye then purpose to do with His promises to thee?

In this land ye may give praise for freedom of speech, for the opportunities to raise thy voice in whatever way and manner ye choose. For know, as He taught, the principles of life are that as ye do unto the least of thy brethren ye do unto thy Maker. Then, as ye give thanks, as ye give praise to thy friends for kindnesses, for gentlenesses, for those things that make thy experience more bearable in a cruel world--under circumstances oft where a troubled heart is made lighter--how much greater in this day, then, that is set aside by thy laws, by the judgments of thy governors and of thy president--how much more ye would give thanks to God!

For it is in Him indeed that ye live, that ye move and have thy being. Let thy heart then be glad. And as has been indicated, let each raise his voice in thanksgiving for all that has, that may come to pass in the experience of each soul that prays, "Thy will, O God, be done in me--now. Not as I will, but as Thou would have me go." 

Pray that peace may be in the minds and hearts of those who direct the destiny of the many, throughout the world. For they are not in power of themselves, but that ye--too--may learn a lesson to do, and to seek to do, the will of thy Father; and not to do that which is IN direct contradiction to that of praise to thy Lord, thy God.

Keep then that Day in praise, in thanksgiving, in such ways, such a manner that ye show to thy conscience that what ye worship as thy God is aware of thy appreciation of life!

We are through.

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The Continuing Search for Edgar Cayce’s Mother Pool
by Sidney D. Kirkpatrick

In my biography of Edgar Cayce, and in two previous articles for Venture Inward, my wife and I wrote at length about Edgar Cayce’s search for the Mother Pool, an enormous untapped sea of oil which was identified in the readings as being located in the vicinity of San Saba, Texas. Edgar and various partners, on a few occasions in the 1920s, undertook to find this oil with the goal of raising funds to build a hospital where patients could go to receive Cayce health treatments. Due to various forms of sabotage and insufficient funds, Edgar Cayce and his partners were never able to reach the Mother Pool. After Cayce’s death, numerous attempts were made to follow in his footsteps without the benefit of personal readings by Cayce.

The decision to try to use the Cayce trance readings to find the legendary Mother Pool was a bold and risky move. Cayce himself was well aware of not only the potential good that might come from such an endeavor, but also the risk. Over the course of his career, Cayce offered both advice and caution to those who would follow in his footsteps. Before even giving his first oil reading in 1919, he consulted the source about the morality and ethics of using psychic information to find oil, natural gas, and minerals. After all, experience had taught him that giving certain types of non-medical readings didn’t generate much long-term good, and could actually be quite harmful to not just himself but those who obtained them. Using psychic power to gamble at the race track or poker tables amounted to taking an unfair advantage over others. The same could be said for using psychic power to locate buried treasure. Hidden gold or other valuables didn’t necessarily belong to the person or people who went seeking it. The source, however, reassured Cayce that using the readings to help people find oil and natural gas could be a good thing. Petroleum, or riches from the earth, belonged to the people who owned the land it could be found on. Nothing was wrong with the notion of helping people—for a fee or percentage—to locate it, just as Edgar’s grandfather, a douser, had used his talents to help farmers find water.

Over the years, Cayce went on to give several hundred oil readings, many of which survive in the Cayce vault at A.R.E. headquarters, and many others which have been lost. The first requests came from people and companies looking for help drilling their own wells. The fantastic success that came from giving these early oil readings—several notable individuals became millionaires and one became a multi-millionaire—inspired Cayce to join friends and family to create his own oil prospecting partnership. Its purpose, from Cayce’s point of view, was to generate income to build a hospital where the readings could be used to heal the sick and help build a community that could, as he said, “Manifest the Love of God and Man.”

With this in mind, the Cayce Petroleum Company drilled at least two wells in central Texas in 1921, leased thousands of acres where he intended to drill, and gave readings on many different locations where earlier readings indicated oil could be found. But by 1924, Cayce had all but abandoned his dream of funding a hospital with revenue from oil prospecting. Time had proven that the Cayce readings seemed to help others in their search for oil, but while they pinpointed oil for Cayce, he and his partners could not seem to get to it and bring it to the surface. In several instances, his company was underfunded. At other times, outside interests resorted to devious means to undermine his work. Hugh Lynn Cayce often told the story of how one oil driller hired by Cayce dropped a tomb stone into a well shaft to make it look as if he had fulfilled his contract by drilling “down to the granite.” There was also suspicion that the sabotage occurred so that the Cayce leases and money to renew them would run out before they struck oil, and then the saboteurs could step in and find the oil for themselves. This may be one reason that in trance, Cayce instructed them to purchase 99 year leases, one of several suggestions that were ignored. On a more spiritual level, what may also have been true, however, was that Cayce and his partners did not share a psychic “accord” which the readings said was necessary if success was to be realized on a material level.

Oilman and one-time Cayce partner Curtis Willmott, perhaps more than anyone connected to Cayce’s oil ventures, understood this principal in both the abstract and literal sense. “All hands,” he told Edgar, “have to be pulling together with a common purpose.” Moreover, their common purpose couldn’t be the desire for riches, but “God’s purpose,” or the “First Purpose.” As Edgar himself later acknowledged: “There are cosmic or...[Divine] laws just as we have a penal law. [Treasure hunters must give up the idea of finding great wealth until] each one has come to the consciousness of making himself right with the Creative Forces”—a provision repeated many more times in the readings in years to come. The moment the “material” side of life takes over from the spiritual,” the source admonished, “conditions are materially turned,” and the seekers will lose, and literally become the enemy of one another.

Over the last several years, interested Cayce followers have been drawn together to support the search which initially began with David Mangum (a member of A.R.E. Houston) with the help of his son, Darin, who were subsequently joined by a Canadian and US based oil company, Integrative Energy (IE). IE, whose principal Rick Hatala is a long time member of the A.R.E, has been overseeing the project with the help and support of a small, highly dedicated management team and staff, board of directors, and board of advisors. Among the company’s unique features is their intention that profits are not only to be shared by the investors, but also to be used to develop clean alternative and new energy sources, provide education in the form of an Integrative Leadership & Learning Center, and to help fund Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment (the A.R.E.).

Using the Cayce readings to locate the correct drilling location and obtaining the necessary leases to drill on property identified in the readings has turned out to be a daunting task with many internal and external conflicts that were resolved by adhering and acting in accord with universal principles of relationship. In Integrative Energy’s most recent drilling attempt last August, several locations where Cayce had previously drilled had been identified, but the specific leases that Cayce Petroleum drilled on in the 1920’s, could not be acquired. The company then relied on leading edge technologies to find nearby locations that might contain geological fractures which would, IE believed, connect them to the same Mother Pool discussed in the readings. Although in their first attempt they found oil, it was not in commercial quantities.

The lessons learned from the most recent drilling attempts has resulted in the team going back to conduct research in old land files, maps, the Cayce readings, and many other sources. The goal was to identify a new location—one more directly linked to where the readings indicated oil would be found. They now believe they may have identified several locations recommended by the readings, and are in the process of obtaining any leases on locations they don’t already have. This next well will be funded jointly by Integrative Energy and investors buying an interest in the Cayce well itself, with a continuing interest held by past IE investors.

If you would like to learn more about Edgar Cayce’s oil years, you can download a free copy of our booklet, “Riches from the Earth,” at www.integrativeenergyusa.com/cayce.

As both investors, and supporters of the Cayce work, my wife Nancy and I are waiting in earnest for drilling to begin again. We desire, like so many Cayce supporters, to see the readings once again be proven out and the Cayce legacy strengthened, and to see profits from oil go, perhaps for the first time, to a community that will use them for the betterment of mankind.

Sidney D. Kirkpatrick
Author of Edgar Cayce: An American Prophet 

When Will the Changes Occur?
Kevin J. Todeschi

We have become so accustomed to change that we no longer recognize it when it happens. Ours is the age of the worldwide web, interactive social networks, and virtual reality. We possess the ability to find the answer to virtually any question at the touch of a button. Our grocery store checkout lines read prices with lasers, we don’t have to even leave our home to buy virtually any product or service online, and all 14,000 Edgar Cayce readings are available instantaneously on the worldwide web. Whether in medicine, relationships, technology, ecological-awareness, or internationalism, the earth today is very different than it was even 10-15 years ago.

There are wars and rumors of war broadcast around the globe in the blink of an eye. We hear of floods and famine and hate-crimes as they occur; and a day doesn’t pass when we don’t see renewed evidence of gang-wars or drugs or our inhumanity to one another. But all of this information has become so common that we may often simply shrug our shoulders, change the channel, or turn the page. In many places, the world has become more fractured than ever before, as politics, race, sexuality, culture and especially religion divide us. Countless thousands of individuals have been killed, are dying, or have given up all sense of hope. The dis-eases of our time have crippled bodies, tortured minds, or imprisoned souls. And yet, in spite of the fact that change is all about us, some of us continue to wait for the Big One as evidence of “changing times.”

On a more positive front, our age of change has also had more life-affirming ramifications. Many events have been hope-renewing: the collapse of Communism, the formation of the European Economic Community, a renewed sense of hope in solving such issues as the oil crisis, the healthcare crisis, and the ever-growing awareness that we must bind together as one planet to heal the ecological world we call home. There has even been a renewed sense of faith in God for hundreds of thousands. We are now allies and friends with those we once fought. We have the technology and the desire to bind together in the face of natural or man-made disaster, helping those who have been impacted with food lifts, medical supplies, and restoring hope.

Many changes are underway that seem to suggest our potential unity as one human family. Actually, more than anything else this is what the Cayce readings suggest is at the heart of our collective future.

Kevin Todeschi is A.R.E.'s Executive Director and CEO. As both student and teacher of the Edgar Cayce material for thirty years, he is the author of over twenty books, including his most recent, God In Real Life: Personal Encounters with the Divine, and the bestselling Edgar Cayce on the Akashic Records. Known for his ability to explain complex subjects in a straightforward and easy to understand manner, Kevin is popular for his insight and his sense of humor.

Copyright 2009, Kevin J. Todeschi