Cayce, Charles Thomas Taylor (1942-)

Charles Thomas Taylor Cayce, the president of the Association for Research and Enlightenment, (ARE) also president of the Edgar Cayce Foundation, (ECF) and the grandson of seer Edgar Cayce, was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on October 7, 1942, the son of Hugh Lynn Cayce. The Cayce family had lived at Virginia Beach since 1925. Charles Thomas grew up there and worked in his father's office. He attended Hampden-Sydney College and later did graduate work at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Maryland, from which he received his Ph.D. in child psychology in 1968. He taught college for several years and worked for the U.S. State Department before returning to Virginia Beach in 1972 and joining the ARE staff as the youth director. As a teenager, Cayce had become alienated from the ARE and had decided to pursue a career elsewhere. However, after delving into his grandfather's work, he found ideas and concepts personally helpful to him. His continued study of the readings made him both open and then supportive of the work.

Four years after Cayce began work at ARE, his father had a heart attack. In the wake of Hugh Lynn's illness, immediate plans for succession were made. With the approval of the board, Charles Thomas was named president of the corporation. In that position, Charles Thomas initially emerged as an administrator, rather than a writer or speaker like his father.

Throughout the 1990s and at the beginning of the 21st century Cayce evolved into one of the key writers, lecturers, and key spokesperson for the ARE and the ECF. He traveled across the United States, and internationally spoke on behalf of his grandfather's work, as well as his own work with children and youth. Both he and his wife, Leslie Cayce, devoted their time and talents to furthering the ARE's work with younger people. He has developed a research program testing gifted youth and studying the role of meditation and dreams in furthering psychic development. Cayce served on the Board of Advisors for the National Association for Transpersonal Psychology, with other notable psychologists, including Dr. Bernie Siegal.

In an interview with Daniel Redwood in 1995, Cayce talked about his grandfather, the ARE, and the programs and schools that have emerged from it. Much of his excitement was focused on the possibilities of the Internet as he gradually worked to make his grandfather's readings available online. Cayce noted that Edgar Cayce's readings were not meant to encourage a person to make a decision based solely on a reading. Rather, "The readings suggested that our purpose on the earth is to learn to make our will one with God's will. This is a simple little phrase, but very complex when we try to apply it. I think if we forego the opportunity to make decisions, and try to get psychics to do that for us, then we are foregoing opportunities to grow spiritually on the earth, forgoing our major purpose for being on the earth."

At the beginning of the 21st century, Cayce continues to participate in workshops and seminars at the Virginia Beach headquarters, offering such topics as, Your Soul's Purpose in the New Millennium, and Potential of the Human Mind and Finding Your Mission in Life. ARE Headquarters at Sea, offers cruises with Cayce and his colleagues for the Edgar Cayce Cruise of Enlightenment, on a regularly scheduled basis.

In the Redwood interview, Cayce emerged the idealist along with his role as the benevolent administrator when he stated that: "…my fondest dream for the A.R.E…would be for the A.R.E. to go out of business…the role of the A.R.E., through my grandfather's readings, is to help people awaken to their spiritual nature, to help people see ways to manifest that spiritual nature in this physical world…It would just be wonderful if that were to happen more and more, to the point where those structures weren't necessary, including the A.R.E."

Sources:

"Association for Research and Enlightenment." http://www.are-cayce.com/. April 11, 2000.

Redwood, Daniel. "A Daniel Redwood Interview with Charles Thomas Cayce," 1995. Available at: http://www.drredwood.com/interviews/cayce/html. April 11, 2000.

Smith, A. Robert. Hugh Lynn Cayce: About My Father's Business. Norfolk, Va.: The Donning Co., 1988.

Zuromski, Paul. "A Conversation with Charles Thomas Cayce." Psychic Guide (September-November 1984): 14-19.