Editing Edgar Cayce (section)

===1942 biography===
{{main|Thomas Joseph Sugrue#There is a River}}
[[File:There Is a River Original Book Cover circa 1942.jpg|thumb|right|150px|''There Is a River'', originally published in 1942]]
A 1942 limited edition preceded the first trade edition of the only biography written during Cayce's lifetime: [[Thomas Joseph Sugrue|Thomas Sugrue's]] ''There is a River'', published in March 1943. Interest in Cayce increased.{{sfn|Sugrue|2003|page=355}}

; Angelic visitation
According to the book, in May 1889, while reading the Bible in his hut in the woods, a young Cayce 'saw' a woman with wings who told him that his prayers were answered, and asked him what he wanted most of all. He was frightened, but he said that most of all he wanted to help others, especially sick children.  He decided he would like to be a missionary.<ref>Sugrue 2003, pp. 41–46.</ref>

; Sleep-learning
According to the book, the next night, after a complaint from the school teacher, his father ruthlessly tested him for spelling, eventually knocking him out of his chair with exasperation.  At that point, Cayce 'heard' the voice of the lady who had appeared the day before.  She told him that if he could sleep a little 'they' could help him.  He begged for a rest and put his head on the spelling book.  When his father came back into the room and woke him up, he knew all the answers.  In fact, he could repeat anything in the book.  His father thought he had been fooling before and knocked him out of the chair again.  Eventually, Cayce used all his school books that way.<ref>Sugrue 2003, pp. 46–9.</ref>  
By 1892, the teacher regarded Cayce as his best student. On being questioned, Cayce told the teacher that he saw pictures of the pages in the books. His father became proud of this accomplishment and spread it around, resulting in Cayce becoming "different" from his peers.<ref>Sugrue 2003, p. 52.</ref>

; First self-healing
According to the book, shortly after this, Cayce exhibited an ability to diagnose in his sleep.  He was struck on the base of the spine by a ball in a school game, after which he began to act very strangely, and eventually was put to bed. He went to sleep and diagnosed the cure, which his family prepared and which cured him as he slept.<ref>Sugrue 2003, pp. 52–54.</ref>  However, this ability was not demonstrated again for several years.<ref>Sugrue 2003, p. 118.</ref>

; Voice restored
According to Sugrue's text, local hypnotist Al Layne offered to help Cayce regain his voice.{{sfn|Sugrue|2003|pages=116–120}}{{better source needed|date=September 2024}}  When Layne put Cayce into trance, Cayce communicated vocally. Cayce told Layne to give him (Cayce) a suggestion to increase blood circulation to his throat. Layne gave the suggestion; Cayce's throat reportedly turned bright red, and after 20 minutes Cayce (still in a trance) declared the treatment over. On awakening, his voice was said to have remained normal. Relapses occurred, but were reportedly corrected by Layne until the cure was eventually permanent.

Layne asked Cayce to describe Layne's ailments and suggest cures, and reportedly found the results accurate and effective. Layne considered Cayce's ability clairvoyance, and suggested that he offer his psychic diagnostic service to the public. Cayce was reluctant, since he had no idea what he was prescribing while asleep and did not know if his remedies were safe. He told Layne that he did not want to know anything about a patient, since it was not relevant. He agreed on the condition that readings would be free, and specified that if the readings ever hurt anyone, he would never do another. He began, with Layne's help, to offer free treatments to the townspeople. Layne described Cayce's method as "...{{nbsp}}a self-imposed hypnotic trance which induces clairvoyance".{{sfn|Sugrue|2003|page=123}} Reports of Cayce's work appeared in [[newspaper]]s, which prompted a number of postal inquiries.{{sfn|Cerminara|1999|page=[https://archive.org/details/manymansionsedga00gina/page/19 19]}}  Cayce said that he could work as effectively with a letter from an individual as with a person present in the room. Given a person's name and location, Cayce claimed that he could diagnose the physical and mental conditions of what he called "the entity" and provide a remedy. Cayce was still reticent and worried, because "one dead patient was all he needed to become a murderer". His fiancée agreed, and few people knew what he was doing. Hypnotic subjects were commonly believed to be susceptible to insanity or poor physical health.{{sfn|Sugrue|2003|pages=125–126}}