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Circulating FilePRAYERA compilation of Extractsfrom the Edgar Cayce ReadingsEdgar Cayce Readings Copyrighted byEdgar Cayce Foundation1971, 1993-2007All Rights ReservedThese readings or parts thereof may not be reproducedin any form without permission in writing from theEdgar Cayce Foundation215 67th StreetVirginia Beach, VA 23451Printed in U.S.A.

PRAYER CIRCULATING FILEEdgar Cayce Readings copyright 1971, 1993-2007 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation2

PRAYER CIRCULATING FILEPrayerContents:Pages:Summary5A. Prayer and Meditation10B. The Prayerful Attitude13C. All Prayer Is Answered16D. Advice to Individuals19E. Healing:1. Prayer Healing212. Prayer and Suggested Therapeutics for Abnormal Children243. Prayer for Alcoholics294. Intercessory Prayer305. Prayer for the Dead346. Group Prayer36F. Prayer and Peace38G. Thanksgiving41H. Selected Prayers from the Readings47I. “Covenant, Lesson XXIX: Prayer” by Herbert B. Puryear49J. “The 40-Day Forgiveness Prayer” by J. Everett Irion55K. “June 7, 1981, The Miracle Day” by Barbara Cummiskey58L. Related Material:1. Prayer Group Readings (Readings 281) by A.R.E. Press2. That Ye May Heal by Mary Ann Woodward3. Gifts of Healing by Hugh Lynn Cayce4. Be Still and Know by Mary Ann Woodward5. Meditation: Gateway to Light by Elsie Sechrist6. Economic Healing by A.R.E. Press7. Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicineby Larry Dossey, M.D.M. Related Circulating Files*:1. Meditation2. Peace*Circulating Files & Research Bulletins are available from A.R.E. membership services at(800) 333-4499 or: http://www.edgarcayce.org/circulating files.aspEdgar Cayce Readings copyright 1971, 1993-2007 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation3

PRAYER CIRCULATING FILEEdgar Cayce Readings copyright 1971, 1993-2007 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation4

PRAYER CIRCULATING FILEA Summary of the Circulating File on“Prayer”Edgar Cayce devoted his life to service. He served his God and Christ throughservice to others. His religious convictions and the practice of reading the Bible throughonce for every year of his life seem to have had a strong influence on the quality ofinformation that came through him in the psychic readings he gave.Prayer and meditation were the mainstays of Edgar Cayce’s personal life. Thesewere the mediums of decision making, of regaining composure, of meeting crises andkeeping work and play in balance.The readings contain valuable information about prayer and meditation, but thereis no treatise given, no long dissertation defining prayer. Each reading is an answer to oneindividual’s personal need and the questions relating to that need. The questions that wereasked ran the gamut from how to develop spirituality, through decision-making, and needfor healing, to concern for relatives who had died.At the beginning of each reading as Edgar Cayce became quiet, he was given a“suggestion” which set the limitations or bounds within which the information would begiven. These suggestions embodied the reasons for requesting the reading and determinedthe type of reading to be given. The resulting material related to physical and healthneeds, past lives, spiritual development and advice, business advice, and philosophy.It was the process of asking questions, the thinking and study of those peoplesurrounding Edgar Cayce that prompted the bulk of the information in the readings. Ifthere is a seeming gap in the information available on a given subject, one may be surethat no one thought to ask the question.We may be grateful as we study the readings that we are recipients of muchbeauty, inspiration and spiritual truth left to us through this channel.Collections have been made of excerpts on various subjects from the readings.These have been made available in booklets called “Circulating Files” which areavailable to members for study and research.The Circulating File on Prayer is a collection of excerpts from numerous readingsand four complete readings. It speaks of the situations in which we should use prayer inour daily lives, in our awareness of our relationships with others, in service to others, inresponse to worldwide events, and in cooperation with treatment of physical ills. Thiscollection also gives many examples of ways to pray, and the words to use.The purpose for prayer, we are told, is our need to attune ourselves to the spiritualforces. Prayer is ordinarily a cooperative experience of many individuals who are askedto become of one accord and one mind.Edgar Cayce Readings copyright 1971, 1993-2007 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation5

PRAYER CIRCULATING FILEAs frequently occurs in the readings, a Biblical reference or parable is used asillustration. One is the comparison of the Pharisee who smites his breast and cries aloudto God in public and the man who lived the spiritual life quietly, obeying all the laws andwithdrawing into the closet of his inner self to speak with God.Be not as the Pharisees, who live to be seen of men, who make longdissertation or prayer to be heard of men. They immediately have their reward inthe physical-mental mind.Be rather as he that entered the temple and not so much as lifting his eyes,smote his breast and said, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” .Prayer is the concerted effort of the physical consciousness to become attunedto the consciousness of the Creator, either collectively or individually. Meditationis emptying self of all that hinders the creative forces from rising along thenatural channels of the physical man to be disseminated through those centersand sources that created the activities of the physical, the mental, the spiritualman; properly done must make one stronger mentally, physically . . . As we giveout, so does the whole of man – physically and mentally – become depleted, yet inentering into the silence, entering into the silence in meditation, with a cleanhand, a clean body, a clean mind, we may receive that strength and power thatfits each individual, each soul, for a greater activity in this material world.[Reading No. 281-13]Our prayers are affected by the attitudes we hold toward ourselves and others. Thequality of our attunement to God is also vitally influenced by these same attitudes. Arewe promoting our own will or attempting to align ourselves with His will? Prayingsincerely and earnestly, and waiting for His answer in our consciousness, is the effectiveway of prayer.One may not voice a blessing to God and a curse to one’s brother and expectrewards. When one holds a grudge, the God within one’s self is fighting the God withinthe soul toward whom the grudge is held.One’s relationship with God, with Christ, as it is expressed in prayer, should carrylove, joy and a longing for the attunement that brings reward.The readings constantly hold before us the beauty and glory of the relationshipwith God that is so often spoken of as attunement. Those that work for attunement withGod, as known to us in Christ, accomplish more through prayer than all of man’s earthlypower and might. When we believe in Him and His promises our petitions will beanswered.That He hears our prayers and desires to give us the best of Himself is at all timesa constant theme of the readings. For indeed He stands at the door of every consciousnessEdgar Cayce Readings copyright 1971, 1993-2007 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation6

PRAYER CIRCULATING FILEand wilt enter if we but open the door. Our petitions on behalf of our fellowman do notgo unheard.A theme recurring through the readings is that one must live as one prays. To prayhumbly, sincerely, and persistently is not enough. One must live as one professes tobelieve and as one ex presses this belief in prayer. This becomes particularly important inintercessory prayer.Those individuals who surround the life of one who needs healing, or other helpthrough prayer, must become aware of their personal participation in the spiritual life.There are times when a family must stand aside while others apply the physical treatmentfor healing. The family’s participation in the healing process is through the quality oftheir lives and the prayer that grows from it.Do not interfere, then, other than that as is understood and being applied –but prayer, sincerity AND application of prayer in the lives of those about theentity.[Reading No. 2633-1]There is an acceptance of the fact of open communication between those alive inearth and those who have died, or who have left the earth plane, in the psychic readingsof Edgar Cayce. We are told to pray often for those who have passed on. Those who havepassed through “God’s other door” [#3954-1] are oft listening for the voice of one theyhave loved in the earth. This same reading continues with the beautiful thought that ourprayers ascend to the throne of God. There our personal angel stands before the throne tomake intercession.This throne is not a physical one, but a state of consciousness in which we attain aoneness with the whole in lending power and strength to each individual for whom wepray.The state of being to which one is destined to move after death is oftencharacterized as light. Sometimes the light is referred to as the final destination,sometimes as that which illuminates, which guides the way there. In either instance, ourprayers seem to have the quality of directing the light to the one for whom we pray.Q. Please give a prayer for those who have passed on.A. Father, in Thy love, Thy mercy, be Thou near those who are in – and haverecently entered – the Borderland. May I aid, when Thou seest that Thou canstuse me.[Reading No. 281-15]Group prayer is usually understood as growing from the directive as is found inMatthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I inthe midst of them.” (King James Version) The readings support this interpretation.Edgar Cayce Readings copyright 1971, 1993-2007 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation7