Premium 164: Edgar Cayce And The Sunshine Band

Hopkinsville is Western Kentucky.

Oneyedjax

Google Glasses! Tanya you’re the best!!!

Good episode, sure. Nobody should buy into the psychic grift. Appreciate you calling it burning money though.

Patrick Delaney

samesies

Patrick Delaney

this comment makes me want to stab myself

Grew up in VA with knowledge of cayce. Was treated to a phone psychic reading from an ARE affiliate last year and was very skeptical but it was really fucking weird! And cool. Would recommend the particular person to any seeker with 60 bucks to burn. Anyway. Cool episode.

and also .. i've always held the impression that the 'racist part' of theosophy was its roots in plundering knowledge traditions from egypt, china, and many other wisdom traditions from non-european civilizations. i think that tom and terence here are trying to make a case for theosophy's relevance in 'centering' wisdom traditions from outside europe. unfortunately, what's missing here for me is criticism of the theft and violence that aleister crowley and his cronies committed. just a question to consider .. what do we do with histories centering white supremacists? there are so many that it's pretty hard to avoid... is it enough to just name that the end goal of their practices was a european master race? do we need to condemn them in language? // present alternatives? (there are lots of intersecting histories in appalachia of Black and indigenous witches and witchcraft... but as white folk, do we get to share those histories?)

yallidarity. i'm dead

Lol this dude sounds like a good time but idk if I buy it

and re: hypnotism affecting memory. You don't even need a lifetime of going under hypnosis to have false memories implanted. *Any* amount of hypnotism can lead to false memories. Heck, any amount of suggestion while you are awake can also lead to false memories.

Gavin Farrell

Hey Tom, I mentioned this the first time you talked about TM but I dunno if you guys bother with these comments. But the TM folks have taken that meditation practice out of the context of older traditions. It's like if you discovered a tool shed then tried to build a house with just a hammer, discarding everything else in it. Older traditions use that sort of meditation in tandem with a larger graduated training that includes other kinds of meditation, mindfulness and philosophy, etc. Reason being that transcendental meditation practice alone can cause people to basically hypnotize themselves (see the people who think they are flying). If you want to go deeper with it, basically they are a part of a longer historical trend of interpreting Indian religions through the lens of western romanticism and transcendentalism only mixed with American individualism ($). But in small doses and with a bit of skepticism, TM can help you focus and be calm. So long as you are not giving them a bunch of money and trying to make it part of the public school curriculum, then don't worry about it! And if you ever want to nerd out in the traditions from which TM has pulled their practice (mainly various hindu and buddhist traditions), they are much richer and deeper- but also laden with all the cultural/historical baggage of any ancient tradition. Best of luck.

1:04:28 conclusion: yes. He was a charlatan.

Gavin Farrell

Parents went to his institute back in the 80s. My dad was a massive Edgar Cayce head when I was a kid. Everclear - Why I don’t Believe in God is a great song for people with mentally ill parents obsessed with Cayce.

sortition crank

Talked to father-in-law, the two families were definitely involved with each other. Edgar Jr was friends with my father-in-law's dad.

Jonathan Howard

My wife's family on one side is from Hopkinsville. Her grandad was a psychologist, his dad a doctor, his dad a doctor and HIS dad Cincinnatus Douglas, Confederate Captain. It's a strange town, historically.

Jonathan Howard

I'd be curious to find out if Houdini was able to meet up with this dude... I saw in an article that he had at least expressed interest, and this would have been around the time that he was debunking seances and charlatans. It is interesting that this dude was working for free. You'd think that he would've used his powers for a little bit more than just helping folks with their various ailments, especially around his time

Sam F