Could Edgar Cayce’s readings tell us anything about a third world war? His warnings about conflict still invite questions, especially when familiar places appear in passages written decades ago. But the answer from the organization devoted to his work is clear: the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) says the readings do not suggest a third world war. Its explanation of the World Affairs readings also emphasizes that Cayce described a future people could change, rather than a fixed outcome. What, then, did those passages actually say?
Who was Edgar Cayce?
Edgar Cayce (1877–1945) became known for giving what his followers called “readings” while he was in an unconscious state, according to the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.). Cayce and his supporters founded the organization in 1931, and the A.R.E. now maintains a searchable archive of more than 14,000 readings. What matters for the World War III question is the dated wording: what question was asked, when was it recorded, and how did later readers connect it to a coming war?
What did Cayce mean by Armageddon?
When Cayce spoke about Armageddon, was he describing a physical battle or a struggle over spiritual choices? An A.R.E. interpretation by John Van Auken reads the language as a conflict between spiritual influences and the choices people make within themselves. That interpretation is different from a date or a forecast of armies fighting a world war; the passages themselves are worth reading in their original context.
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Edgar Cayce and his readings
During his “readings,” Cayce is believed to have discovered much information concerning long-lost ancient civilizations on Earth. In addition to being able to peer into the future while asleep, Cayce is said to have had the ability to peer into the past. As revealed by the Edgarcayce website, this information is called “retrocognition.”
One intriguing example is the Nile. A.R.E.’s discussion of ancient mysteries connects Cayce’s description of a Nile flowing into the Atlantic with buried river valleys later revealed beneath the Sahara. What did the geological research actually uncover?
A 1986 study by John McCauley and colleagues used shuttle radar, field observations and regional geology to propose an ancient drainage system that may have crossed North Africa toward the Atlantic. However, a later 1986 review by members of the same team found no reason to connect the present Nile’s Central African tributaries with the large buried valleys in southwestern Egypt and northwestern Sudan. The buried rivers are a remarkable discovery in their own right; identifying them as confirmation of Cayce’s specific Nile claim goes further than those studies establish.
Edgar Cayce and the future
It is claimed that the Sleeping Prophet predicted World War II. In reading 416-7, dated October 7, 1935, Cayce warned a 29-year-old freight agent of catastrophic events that were building within the international community. Cayce’s readings seemed to have described an entire world war. Here’s what Cayce predicted:
“And the activities that have already begun have assumed such proportions that there is to be the attempt upon the part of groups to penalize, or to make for the associations of groups to carry on same.
“This will make for the taking of sides, as it were, by various groups or countries or governments. This will be indicated by the Austrians, Germans, and later the Japanese joining in their influence; unseen, and gradually growing to those affairs where there must become, as it were, almost a direct opposition to that which has been the THEME of the Nazis (the Aryan). For these will gradually make for a growing of animosities.
“And unless there is interference from what may be called by many the supernatural forces and influences, that are active in the affairs of nations and peoples, the whole world–as it were–will be set on fire by the militaristic groups and those that are “for” power and expansion in such associations…” (416-7)
World War III
This article was originally published in January 2020, amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iran. That was the immediate context for its question about a third world war. To explore Cayce’s answer, it helps to separate the places named in a reading from the interpretation later attached to them.
In its explanation of the World Affairs readings, A.R.E. clearly states that its interpretation of the readings does not point to a third world war. A separate passage, reading 3976-26, names several regions, including the Persian Gulf. The archive dates it to April 28, 1941, during World War II. Its opening request concerned astrological aspects for the following two weeks and how people could respond constructively. That setting matters when reading the place names today: the passage does not itself announce a third world war. The organization reproduced that passage in a post dubbed Seven Prophecies Yet to Come:
The powers of light and darkness, as then, as sixteen hundred (1600) years before. As in those periods, so today – we find nation against nation; the powers of death, destruction, the wrecking of that which has been and is held near and dear to the hearts of those who have through one form or another set ideals.
These are not to be questioned, in that as may be a helpful force; but what is coming to pass? And how may ye as individuals help? …
Strifes will arise through the period. Watch for them near Davis Strait in the attempts there for the keeping of the life line to a land open. Watch for them in Libya and in Egypt, in Ankara and in Syria, through the straits about those areas above Australia, in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.”
—Edgar Cayce reading 3976-26
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