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True Tales from the Edgar Cayce Archives: Lives Touched and Lessons Learned from the Sleeping Prophet
There is perhaps no modern psychic more fascinating than Edgar Cayce, and no better authors to explore the intricate details and eye-opening stories of the people who received his readings than Sidney and Nancy Kirkpatrick. The Kirkpatricks, with decades of experience and research, take us on a journey into the archives and history of these psychic passages, finding the most interesting case studies and exploring the most astounding results of the Cayce work in so many people's lives. Their findings are presented in a way that reads like a whodunit that you can’t put down!
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First published June 1, 2015
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About the author
Sidney D. Kirkpatrick
12 books15 followersBooks and book publishing have long been an important part of life in the Kirkpatrick family. My grandfather and namesake was a senior editor at McGraw-Hill for thirty-five years. My mother, Audrey Kirkpatrick, was a short story writer, and studied under Vladimir Nabokov at Cornell University. Katherine Kirkpatrick, my younger sister, is a former book editor at Macmillan and the author of five historical novels. My older sister, Jennifer Kirkpatrick was a writer and researcher for National Geographic.
I was born in Glen Cove, New York, on October 4, 1955, and grew up in Stony Brook, on the north shore of Long Island. While attending the Kent School, in Kent, Connecticut, I won writing awards for poetry and journalism. Throughout my high-school years, and during college, I wrote several hundred articles for Long Island newspapers and became a stringer for Associated Press.
At Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts, I majored in Chinese language and history. After graduation in 1978, I lived in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan, where I taught ESL, directed and produced a short television documentary, and acted in two low-budget action films.
I completed my education in 1982 with an MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where I worked on several short films with classmates Spike Lee and Ang Lee, and optioned my first screenplay. While attending NYU, I wrote and directed "My Father The President" which won the 1982 American Film Festival and a CINE Golden Eagle. This film has since become a perennial favorite at over 1000 schools, libraries and museums across the country, and can be seen daily at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace at 28 East 20th Street, in New York City, and a the Sagamore Hill National Historical Site in Oyster Bay, New York.
The success of "My Father The President" caught the attention of film director Harrison Engle, who hired me to associate-produce a two hour television special, "The Indomitable Theodore Roosevelt," which starred George C. Scott. This film premiered on CBS in 1984, won a prestigious CINE Golden Eagle, and was nominated for an Emmy.
I moved to Los Angeles in 1982 and continued working with Harrison Engle, with whom I produced several short films for the Television Academy Hall of Fame, which included film biographies of Milton Berle, Norman Lear, Edward R. Murrow, and Lucille Ball.
The inspiration for my first book came in 1983, while I was collecting material at the Directors Guild of America for a film tribute to King Vidor, the legendary director of over seventy-six motion pictures. In the midst of organizing Vidor’s papers, I came across a locked strong-box containing the details of Vidor’s investigation of the 1922 murder of director William Desmond Taylor. Biographers A. Scott Berg and Edmund Morris were instrumental in helping me to obtain a publishing contract with E.P. Dutton. "A Cast of Killers," released in 1986, was on the best-sellers list for sixteen weeks, and was hailed as “mesmerizing” by author Anne Rice in a featured review for the New York Times Book Review.
After writing “A Cast of Killers,” I worked at Paramount Studios with screenwriter Robert Towne. Another screenwriter I worked with was Larry Ferguson, with whom I developed an action and adventure screenplay, “One Deadly Summer.” This film project, based on the true story of marine scientist Richard Novak’s one man war against Medellin drug lord Carlos Lehder, was optioned for actor Harrison Ford by Cinergi Films. Later retitled “Turning The Tide,” and co-written with author Peter Abrahams, it was published by Dutton in 1991 and excerpted by Readers Digest in 1992.
Research on my third book, "Lords of Sipán," was begun in 1991 in a small village on the north coast of Peru where I traced the contents of a looted pre-Inca tomb as it entered the black market in stolen antiquities. From Peru I traced the artifacts to London, New York, Beverly Hills, and
I was born in Glen Cove, New York, on October 4, 1955, and grew up in Stony Brook, on the north shore of Long Island. While attending the Kent School, in Kent, Connecticut, I won writing awards for poetry and journalism. Throughout my high-school years, and during college, I wrote several hundred articles for Long Island newspapers and became a stringer for Associated Press.
At Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts, I majored in Chinese language and history. After graduation in 1978, I lived in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan, where I taught ESL, directed and produced a short television documentary, and acted in two low-budget action films.
I completed my education in 1982 with an MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where I worked on several short films with classmates Spike Lee and Ang Lee, and optioned my first screenplay. While attending NYU, I wrote and directed "My Father The President" which won the 1982 American Film Festival and a CINE Golden Eagle. This film has since become a perennial favorite at over 1000 schools, libraries and museums across the country, and can be seen daily at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace at 28 East 20th Street, in New York City, and a the Sagamore Hill National Historical Site in Oyster Bay, New York.
The success of "My Father The President" caught the attention of film director Harrison Engle, who hired me to associate-produce a two hour television special, "The Indomitable Theodore Roosevelt," which starred George C. Scott. This film premiered on CBS in 1984, won a prestigious CINE Golden Eagle, and was nominated for an Emmy.
I moved to Los Angeles in 1982 and continued working with Harrison Engle, with whom I produced several short films for the Television Academy Hall of Fame, which included film biographies of Milton Berle, Norman Lear, Edward R. Murrow, and Lucille Ball.
The inspiration for my first book came in 1983, while I was collecting material at the Directors Guild of America for a film tribute to King Vidor, the legendary director of over seventy-six motion pictures. In the midst of organizing Vidor’s papers, I came across a locked strong-box containing the details of Vidor’s investigation of the 1922 murder of director William Desmond Taylor. Biographers A. Scott Berg and Edmund Morris were instrumental in helping me to obtain a publishing contract with E.P. Dutton. "A Cast of Killers," released in 1986, was on the best-sellers list for sixteen weeks, and was hailed as “mesmerizing” by author Anne Rice in a featured review for the New York Times Book Review.
After writing “A Cast of Killers,” I worked at Paramount Studios with screenwriter Robert Towne. Another screenwriter I worked with was Larry Ferguson, with whom I developed an action and adventure screenplay, “One Deadly Summer.” This film project, based on the true story of marine scientist Richard Novak’s one man war against Medellin drug lord Carlos Lehder, was optioned for actor Harrison Ford by Cinergi Films. Later retitled “Turning The Tide,” and co-written with author Peter Abrahams, it was published by Dutton in 1991 and excerpted by Readers Digest in 1992.
Research on my third book, "Lords of Sipán," was begun in 1991 in a small village on the north coast of Peru where I traced the contents of a looted pre-Inca tomb as it entered the black market in stolen antiquities. From Peru I traced the artifacts to London, New York, Beverly Hills, and
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 20, 2020
Edgar Cayce: Amanuensis of The Christ
Edgar Cayce's life work is an undeniable reproof of what is today called "modern health care" and supported by the fiction of materialism. The greed, the arrogance, and the severance in the mass consciousness from The Divine as the ever-present existential Reality is the fountains from which flow the evils of today. Chief among is the corruption of the healing art into a money-driven industry of Big Pharma drugs which bleed more money from a public made fearful and kept ignorant by the very organizations that 0740945 to help people when they are sick. This tendency to put financial profit even above human life itself is a growing, noxious cancer active everywhere in society; from crooked banks like Wells Fargo; Monsanto, which denies that it's GMOs are harmful (despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary) and who maintains a stable of political lists to do its bidding; now, even a United States President who puts his own profit above the welfare and security of the country which have him the opportunity to acquire his wealth. Although Cayce certainly deserves credit for the medical help he has made possible for thousands of the sick who were considered hopeless, I believe his greatest contribution is the portal to the spiritual world he opened in human consciousness by his living of his life guided by The Divine, wherein he received unfailing guidance, which serves to substantiate the reality of the spiritual world, from which all come and to which all return.
Edgar Cayce's life work is an undeniable reproof of what is today called "modern health care" and supported by the fiction of materialism. The greed, the arrogance, and the severance in the mass consciousness from The Divine as the ever-present existential Reality is the fountains from which flow the evils of today. Chief among is the corruption of the healing art into a money-driven industry of Big Pharma drugs which bleed more money from a public made fearful and kept ignorant by the very organizations that 0740945 to help people when they are sick. This tendency to put financial profit even above human life itself is a growing, noxious cancer active everywhere in society; from crooked banks like Wells Fargo; Monsanto, which denies that it's GMOs are harmful (despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary) and who maintains a stable of political lists to do its bidding; now, even a United States President who puts his own profit above the welfare and security of the country which have him the opportunity to acquire his wealth. Although Cayce certainly deserves credit for the medical help he has made possible for thousands of the sick who were considered hopeless, I believe his greatest contribution is the portal to the spiritual world he opened in human consciousness by his living of his life guided by The Divine, wherein he received unfailing guidance, which serves to substantiate the reality of the spiritual world, from which all come and to which all return.
August 29, 2018
** Review of Audio Format **
Enlightening
At first, I thought this book was a rehash of There Is A River by Thomas Sugrue, but about halfway through it became very interesting and unique. There are more readings in this volume. And there is a more balanced backward view of what went wrong with the first hospital. And also, more detail into Cayce's life after he embraced his psychic abilities. He had many interesting encounters throughout his life that were left out of the Sugrue's book. There is also a more in depth look at what exactly the readings told Cayce to do in order to keep his health up and more detail around the times he ignored his own readings.
It was obvious Cayce put his own health in peril because he felt so compelled to help as many others as he possibly could. He sounds like a wonderful human being and a truly gentle soul who wanted to do his best for others in his time here. In fact, I want to learn more about him and his work and, after reading another reviewer's comments, joined the A.R.E.
Scott Pollak does an excellent narration of great material and I enjoyed listening to this audiobook.
Enlightening
At first, I thought this book was a rehash of There Is A River by Thomas Sugrue, but about halfway through it became very interesting and unique. There are more readings in this volume. And there is a more balanced backward view of what went wrong with the first hospital. And also, more detail into Cayce's life after he embraced his psychic abilities. He had many interesting encounters throughout his life that were left out of the Sugrue's book. There is also a more in depth look at what exactly the readings told Cayce to do in order to keep his health up and more detail around the times he ignored his own readings.
It was obvious Cayce put his own health in peril because he felt so compelled to help as many others as he possibly could. He sounds like a wonderful human being and a truly gentle soul who wanted to do his best for others in his time here. In fact, I want to learn more about him and his work and, after reading another reviewer's comments, joined the A.R.E.
Scott Pollak does an excellent narration of great material and I enjoyed listening to this audiobook.
September 6, 2023
On my second reading of this excellent book, I and a few other readers have started a monthly discussion group on this and other metaphysical books. Our Zoom discussion group meeting on True Tales will be October 4, 2023 at 7 PM PT (10 PM ET). I expect our discussions will extend beyond the first monthly meeting because of the practical metaphysics in the Tales. For more information and the Zoom link, please email jmatliin@sbcglobal.net . I did not meet the Kirkpatricks during my earlier time as a volunteer and ARE Board member. However, I thoroughly enjoyed all their writing for the organization and, in particular, their editorship of the monthly Venture Inward magazine.
December 18, 2023
I loved the format, each chapter is a separate short story that flows into the overall story of Cayce's life. This is one of the easiest Cayce books to digest for that reason. Each chapter is entertaining and doesn't get too much into the weeds (like his biography does). If you are interested in Edgar Cayce, this is the book I'd recommend to read first. (I'm an avid Cayce follower and have read approximately 30 books on various Cayce subjects)
March 3, 2018
Great book. Easy read.
Bought it too learn more about Faith Harding, and whi she may be. But learned a lot more about many different people who’s lives were touched by Edgar and his team at ARE.
Bought it too learn more about Faith Harding, and whi she may be. But learned a lot more about many different people who’s lives were touched by Edgar and his team at ARE.
December 7, 2020
Fascinating.
I've read other books about Edgar Cayce.
Much of what I read here I've seen in other books, but the layout and chronologic story telling in this book makes this a great read!
I've read other books about Edgar Cayce.
Much of what I read here I've seen in other books, but the layout and chronologic story telling in this book makes this a great read!
January 11, 2023
Very insightful
June 15, 2025
What a exceptiona! Man
I loved all the book, as this is a true story and not glamorised. I would tell everybody to read
I loved all the book, as this is a true story and not glamorised. I would tell everybody to read
August 25, 2016
Fantastic book--compelling, informative, moving, insightful. I wanted to read this book after meeting Nancy and Sidney Kirkpatrick at an Edgar Cayce summer retreat where they talked about Edgar Cayce and many of the fascinating stories in this book. They've travelled to the United States numerous times to research many of Cayce's clients and to determine how the readings effected their lives. I'd read Sidney's classic book "Edgar Cayce An American Prophet" and was blown away by the amount of research put into it. It's a detailed story of Cayce's entire life, while this new book "True Tales" is a series of true stories starting from Cayce's early life, and telling the stories of people he helped through his readings. Every story gives information on how Cayce, often considered the father of holistic medicine, saved countless lives and influenced people, always in a positive way. Back in the 19th century many of Cayce's suggestions were considered ludicrous and no doctors would perform them--for example one client was in danger of having his leg amputated until Cayce suggested they actually use nails to hold the leg together--as this had never been done before it seemed absurd, until it was done and saved the man's leg. One of the most fascinating stories is the tale of budding artist Anne Newmark who was raped and ended up in an insane asylum at death's door. After several readings from Cayce she was cured and began doing art again. Not only does each chapter tell fascinating stories about the depth of Cayce's work, from Life Readings we learn more about, miracles, reincarnation, the soul, astrology, dharma, the life of Jesus, ancient history, Atlantis, energy, electricity, and holistic medicine. Cayce's readings led to the success of many famous people of his time, but he worked humbly and never charged people in need. He could have become extremely wealthy if he charged for the readings, but choose instead to lead a life of service because he believed his gifts were God-given. The final chapter chronicles how Cayce was in so much demand he was receiving more than 500 letters a month. One day near the end of this life he received a record 750 letters. Cayce tried to read and respond to everything. He was advised to do no more than two readings a day, but would give nine readings in a single day, leaving him totally depleted. If Cayce had followed his own advice he would have lived much longer. Ironically it was his kindness and desire to help and heal that led to his death in 1945. The Kirkpatrick's believe there has never been anyone as physically gifted as Cayce. Reading their book makes this imminently clear.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews