This Psychic Reading given by Edgar Cayce at the office of the Association, Arctic Crescent, Virginia Beach, Va., this 25th day of August, 1943, in accordance with request made by the self - Dr. [2067], Associate Member of the Ass''n for Research and Enlightenment, Inc.
P R E S E N T
Edgar Cayce; Gertrude Cayce, Conductor; Gladys Davis, Steno. (Notes read to and translated by Jeanette Fitch.)
R E A D I N G
Time of Reading 3:35 to 4:00 P. M. Eastern War Time. ..., New Hampshire.
1. GC: You will have before you this life existence in the earth plane of [2067] - born January 6, 1887, in Boston, Mass., and the earthly existence of this entity as Dorothy Manley in Salem during the witchcraft days. You will give a biographical life of the entity in that day and plane of earthly existence, from entrance - and how - into the earth's plane, and the entity's departure; giving the development or retarding points in such an existence. You will then answer the questions she submits, as I ask them, concerning her present work in writing and also details as to that period.
2. EC: Yes, we have the records here of that entity now known as [2067].
3. In the experience of the entity in Salem during the witchcraft days, the entity was the daughter of Edward Manley and Edna Shoemaker Manley. [GD's note: Steno misspelled name Maury instead of Manley and it was not corrected in proofreading at the time. I am making the correction.]
4. At the age of twenty-seven the entity had begun teaching school to those people in the province near Salem, some natives, some that had been brought to the colonists. There had been those experiences of individuals having direct communication with the witches, or those various experiences had by the children. Then there were the experiences of the entity itself with noises, with unusual writings that had come under the entity's notice; papers not being there when they had been left in the entity's desk or even in its own chamber.
5. Part of these experiences were pranks, part were real manifestations. The entity accepted them all as manifestations and rejected the attention of one dweller Parks [?]. This caused the greater disturbance with the entity's activities. For, with the combination of disturbances, the entity suffered those persecutions that
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were given by the leaders in those periods; and the entity was placed on the stool and dipped. Then the entity was an outcast by the father, a very stern man - who is the entity's own son in the present and he's just as stern and cussed in the present. These have been experiences for the entity to meet; to conquer self first as it did in those experiences and - in letting yourself go - for, you must ever meet yourself.
6. There was much to be gained by the entity, but stubbornness, self-centeredness, was something to be dealt with; and is a part of the entity's experience in the present.
7. Be honest with yourself if you're not with anyone else! Don't keep fooling yourself, as you did then. These were a part of the experience.
8. The activities in being an outcast brought same to the entity. And only in the associations with the families of some of the natives, as well as those questioned as to their sincerity in their activities, would the entity carry on in becoming a helpful influence; teaching the natives and the children of the poor people, during the latter portion of the entity's activities in the earth.
9. Who do I know in this life that then persecuted me? Who that were my friends?
9. When the entity was thirty-six, the entity was married to one of those peoples not of her own people but of those combinations of those settlers then. This continued to keep the entity as an outcast. In self the entity gained; in the eyes of the people, not much. Hence admonition, "Let not thy good be evil spoken of." This is as much an injunction to individuals in the present as it was to those in olden times.
10. What were my special psychic gifts and were my family in sympathy with me?
10. The activities during that period brought many troublesome times until there were greater problems politically, as well as in racial and other affairs that came upon those people.
11. Please describe my personal appearance and character as Dorothy Manley.
11. But the entity suffered most through those periods as the teacher being ducked twice for the lack of consideration, or for not giving those tenets or truths for proper relationships - between those that were pranks and those that were real.
12. Please give name and tell about my lover and what he thought of my "dippings".
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12. This same lack of consideration can in the present oft make for disturbing influences in the experience of peoples.
13. Will you describe some of the "dipping" scenes, telling my behavior, those present, and how conducted?
13. Know in whom you believe. Know in what you believe. Know the author of thy belief. How few stop to know that! We say we believe - but what? Who is the author of thy salvation? Who is the author of thy faith, of thy hope, of thy aspirations? Man? What man? Only he, who has made the test in giving himself in the service of his fellow man.
14. What great truths did I learn and share as Dorothy Manley?
14. Ready for questions.
15. (Q) Please describe my seal, giving interpretation. (A) We haven't the seal here.
15. Whom was I accused of bewitching, what were the circumstances, and did I ever as Dorothy Manley harm anybody?
16. (Q) Please give any special advice as to my present work as teacher, lecturer, writer that I may better fulfill God's purpose for my life. (A) In the activities that have been indicated for the body. The abilities are here. Get self out of the way and let the principles of that ye would present be first and foremost and not Dr. [2067]. These may appear hard words, but until self is eliminated - as a teacher, as a lecturer, as a writer - that you purpose to present can have little effect on others. You can teach, you can lecture, you can write. But SELF must be eliminated.
16. Were the witches in Salem and other parts of America burned or only hung?
17. (Q) Please comment on my book, SON OF MARY, (founded on Cayce Readings), and can you suggest a publisher? (Holt not interested.) (A) Much might be said about it. As we find, portions are good, portions are mediocre, some is very bad. This as we find may be presented through several different channels. There will necessarily have to be found those interested sufficiently to suggest the changes as would be necessary for consideration. Any press in England would accept it, with minor changes but this is out of the question. As we find, The New Age, would accept, with minor changes.
17. What is the explanation of the Salem witchcraft, how did it start and what purpose did it accomplish?
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18. (Q) Please make suggestions for my next book on the Salem Witchcraft period, (Dorothy Manley incarnation), and suggest a possible publisher? (Q) We haven't any publisher for we haven't any book - as yet! This, is too far-fetched, but begin where you are, and you may add to that in such a way as to have something that will be constructive. Little of what may be called history is acceptable in such books. That which is creative or helpful in such books may be presented so as to bring helpful experiences to many. These would be worth interpreting, but it will first need necessarily a plan, an outline, and then the following of this or the filling in. A very good love story may be put in this one, if you want it to be a bad one on yourself. The idiosyncrasies of the father - you have it very well in your son - describe him and you'll have your Dad alright. The hardships of your mother - give yourself and your own hardships in the present, then get yourself out of the way, and you will have a good character of Dorothy in that experience.
18. Did I have anything to do with Ann Putnam and her "Circle Girls" - what?
19. Did so-called witches use black magic and were they in league with the devil, causing people to be ill or die?
19. (Q) What were my dates and birthplace as Dorothy Manley? (A) Put these where you choose. We have just given as to what the dates were.
20. (Q) What was my education? Church membership? (A) That as would be called the Church of England. The education was sufficient for a teacher in that particular period, which was only reading, writing and arithmetic; or what would be called in the present a mediocre high school education.
20. Were children then obsessed by evil spirits as witches?
21. Did witches have power to control, and kill animals?
21. (Q) Did I have brothers and sisters, and what were their names? (A) You had brothers and sisters, Jim, Tom, and Harry, Anna and Joe.
22. (Q) Have I met any of the Manley family this time? What are their names now? (A) Meet them in various portions of the land. We haven't them - here we didn't look them up! Would you want these, or do you want yourself?
22. Were there "devil marks" on witches, or were they moles or birthmarks?
23. Did discarnate entities impersonate living people and
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leave marks - bites, pin pricks, wounds on bodies of their victims as reported in courts?
23. We are through for the present. [Questions not answered:
24. Were most the people who accused the witches, sincere, or did they wish to get even with them or gain property by their death?
25. What was the book the witches tried to get people to sign in?
26. Is the astral world with its obsessing entities in better control now than in the old witchcraft days? What has been done?
27. Were most people clairvoyant and clairaudient then, and did the killing of these people set the development of spiritual insight back for centuries?
28. Do you wish to recommend any authentic books on Witchcraft or that period? Mrs. C, please eliminate any of these that have been answered in the body of the Rdg.]