Planetary Influences & Sojourns. Edgar Cayce
earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The universe He called into being for purposes that the individual soul, that might be one with Him, would have…those influences for bringing this to pass or to be in the experience of every soul. For hath it not been given that the Lord thy God hath not willed that any soul should perish? but He hath prepared with every temptation a means, a way of escape. Hence…the period of the entrance [birth] is not ruled by the position [of sun and planets] but it may be judged by the position as to the influence…upon an entity's experience because of the entity's application of self's abilities relative to its position in the universal scheme of things…
Reading 254-21
(Q) What is a horoscope reading?
(A) That in which the planets and their relative forces [here] having to do with the planets that, control the actions without respect of will or without respect of the earthly existences through which the body has passed.
(Q) Do horoscope readings include former appearances in the earth plane?
(A) Not at all. The former appearances and the relation of the solar forces in the Universe have their relations to what might be termed life readings…[while an astrology chart indicates] the science of the solar system and its relation to various phases of earth's existence [as it] may mean for anyone. In life existence in earth's plane, and the entity's relation to other sphere [as in a life reading] a different condition, for the sojourn in other spheres than earth's plane controls more the conditions or the urge of the individual, just as we see…an individual controlled by the surroundings, or by the circumstances…yet the urge, the latent forces…[of] two individuals raised under the same environment, of the same blood, would have different urges. These received from experiences the spirit entity gains in other spheres, correlated with that of its present circumstance…for…a horoscope is only the mathematical calculation of earth's position in the Universe at any given time, while in the life reading would be the correlation of the individual with a given time and place, with its relative force as applied and received through other spheres and manifested in earth's sphere in the flesh, and the development being the extenuation of the soul's development manifested in the earth plane…
Reading 5755-2
…though there may be worlds, many universes, even much as to solar systems, greater than our own that we enjoy in the present, this earthly experience on this earth is a mere speck when considered even with our own solar system. Yet the soul of man, thy soul, encompasses all in this solar system or in others…
But hast thou conceived—or canst thou conceive—the requirements of the influence to meet all the idiosyncrasies of a single soul? How many systems would it require? In thyself we find oft one friend for this, another for that, another for this relationship, another for the prop, another to arouse. Yet all are the work of His hand, are thine to possess, thine to use…
Is God's hand short, that there would not be all that each soul would require?
Reading 4035-1
For the entity finds itself a body, a mind, a soul—three; or the earth consciousness as a three-dimensional plane in one.
So man's concept of the Godhead is three-dimensional—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The communication or the activity or the motivating force we find is three-dimensional—time, space and patience. Neither of these exists in fact, except in the concept of the individual as it may apply to time or space or patience.
Reading 633-2
Just as the entity's attending this or that university…would make for a parlance peculiar unto itself. Even though individuals may study the same line of thought, one attending Harvard, another Yale, another Oxford, another Stanford, another the University of Arizona, they each would carry with them the vibrations created by their very activity in those environs.
In the same way emotions arise from…activity in a particular sojourn, and are called the spirit of the institution to which the entity may have carried itself…
So we find those astrological sojourns making these vibrations or impressions in the present entity…
Reading 2823-1
Then there are the sojourns in other realms of the solar system which represent certain attributes. Not that ye maintain a physical earth-body in Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus or Saturn; but there is an awareness or a consciousness in those realms when absent from the body, and the response to the position those planets occupy in this solar system…
Thus ye oft find in thy experiences that places, peoples, things and conditions are a part of self as if ye were in the consciousness of same.
Each entity is a part of the universal whole. All knowledge, all understanding that has been a part of the entity's consciousness, then, is a part of the entity's experience.
Thus the unfoldment in the present is merely becoming aware of that experience through which the entity, either in body or in mind— has passed in a consciousness.
2
The Akashic Record or Book of Life
Editor's Note: Here is how Edgar Cayce described his inner journey to get information and how it appeared to him during one of his psychic readings.
Reading 294-19
I see myself as a tiny dot out of my physical body, which lies inert before me. I find myself oppressed by darkness and there is a feeling of terrific loneliness. Suddenly, I am conscious of a white beam of light. As this tiny dot, I move upward following the light, knowing that I must follow it or be lost.
As I move along this path of light I gradually become conscious of various levels upon which there is movement. Upon the first levels there are vague, horrible shapes, grotesque forms such as one sees in nightmares. Passing on, there begin to appear on either side misshapen forms of human beings with some part of the body magnified. Again there is change and I become conscious of gray-hooded forms moving downward. Gradually, these become lighter in color. Then the direction changes and these forms move upward and the color of the robes grows rapidly lighter. Next, there begin to appear on either side vague outlines of houses, walls, trees, etc., but everything is motionless. As I pass on, there is more light and movement in what appear to be normal cities and towns. With the growth of movement I become conscious of sounds, at first indistinct rumblings, then music, laughter, and singing of birds. There is more and more light, the colors become very beautiful, and there is the sound of wonderful music. The houses are left behind, ahead there is only a blending of sound and color. Quite suddenly, I come upon a hall of records. It is a hall without walls, without ceiling, but I am conscious of seeing an old man who hands me a large book, a record of the individual for whom I seek information.
Editor's Note: The Cayce readings make it quite clear that each soul is constantly adding to his or her record, whether in the dimensions of Earth or in planetary dimensions. A typical reading began as this next one.
Reading 1990-3
Yes, we have the entity here, and those records that are a part of the entity's experience through the earth's plane, as well as through those interims of sojourn in the environs about the earth…
Editor's Note: The akasha is not necessarily a total record of the individual's deeds mixed in with the whole of humanity, although a nation, as an entity, might have its own record. In fact, the Cayce readings indicate that this is true. The individual's soul record is one's own and like no other.
Reading 1292-1
Each soul, each body, each individual, is an individual entity; and that done, that thought, becomes as a living record of the experience of that individual entity…in