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The Edgar Cayce readings describe angels in several ways. They speak of angels as spiritual beings, as expressions of divine influence, and as guides whose presence may be felt within a person. The readings do not reduce an angel to only one of these meanings.
Angels as spiritual beings
In Reading 5755-2, Cayce speaks of “consciousnesses or awarenesses” that have not been part of Earth’s physical experience, “as the angels” and archangels. Reading 900-16 adds that “man was made a little lower than the angels,” while having the power to become one with God, “while the angel remains the angel.” These passages describe angels as spiritual beings with a different place in creation from human beings. (5755-2; 900-16)
Angels as expressions of divine influence
In a discourse about angels, Cayce says that with creation came “the spirit realm and its attributes,” which are “designated as angels and archangels.” He calls them “spiritual manifestations” of attributes connected with the One Source. He also says they are “as the laws of the universe.” (5749-3)
This suggests that angels may express or carry spiritual qualities and principles. Cayce describes their influence as helping people develop mentally and spiritually through experience and understanding. (5749-3)
Guardian angels as guides and companions
Several readings describe a guardian angel as a guide, guard or companion. Reading 1695-1 speaks of “a guide or guard for each and every entity or soul,” and calls this a “developing influence.” Reading 1662-2 says the guardian angel is “before the throne of grace for each and every soul.” (1695-1; 1662-2)
Reading 1646-1 describes the guardian angel as “the companion of each soul” and an influence that helps keep the soul attuned to its creative forces, health and spiritual life. It also says, “through thy angel, through thy SELF that IS the angel,” the self speaks with its ideal. This reading links angelic guidance with both a spiritual companion and the person’s inward relationship with their highest ideal. (1646-1)
Can an angel be a thought, energy or process?
The readings use the words awareness, consciousness, influence, force and spiritual manifestation. Reading 2533-7 describes “the angel of hope,” the angel that warns and protects, and calls these “awarenesses” and “consciousnesses” of God’s presence. Reading 531-2 speaks of a “companionate force” before the Throne and advises people to listen to “those voices from within.” (2533-7; 531-2)
So an angelic influence may be experienced as inner awareness or guidance. But the readings do not say that an angel is simply a passing human thought. Nor do they define angels as physical energy. They speak of spiritual forces and influences, and sometimes of beings in the spirit realm.
One reading even says that the influence of a soul outside material life may be felt “as an odor, a scent, an emotion, a wave, a wind,” and that some call such influences guardian angels. (538-59)
A careful answer
According to the Cayce readings, an angel may be a spiritual being and may also act as a divine influence or guide. Angelic guidance can be experienced inwardly as awareness, protection, hope or a pull toward one’s spiritual ideal. The readings use all these descriptions, while leaving the full nature of angels partly mysterious.
Cayce also distinguishes the guide from the divine source. In Reading 5749-3, Michael is “the lord of the Way”—but “NOT the Way.” The angel may guide; the divine is greater than the guide. (5749-3)
Angels and Archangels (by Hugh Lynn Cayce)
Note: minor editions have been made.
Edgar Cayce’s readings suggest that beings other than human souls exist in a spiritual dimension and may sometimes influence human lives. Among the beings named are Michael, Lord of the Way; Gabriel; Halaliel; Ariel; Satan, Lord of Rebellion; and the Master of Masters, Lord of Light.
The readings describe humanity as having a distinctive relationship with these beings: “…man was made a little lower than the angels, yet with that power to become one with God, while the angel remains the angel.” (900-16)
They also describe souls becoming involved in material life: “Remember, as given, the earth is that speck, that part in creation where souls projected themselves into matter…” (5755-2)
Cayce’s readings connect consciousness with the activity of the self during sleep: “Consciousness—see—man seeks this for his own diversion. In the sleep it seeks the real diversion, or the real activity of self.” (5754-3)
Some people asked Cayce about experiences that seemed to involve angelic beings. In certain cases, the readings affirmed that an angelic influence was present. They also refer to the White Brotherhood, described as a highly evolved group of souls who help humanity’s spiritual development, sometimes through influence from other planes.
Light, temptation and spiritual choices
One reading discusses a vision involving gold and oil in a particular part of the country. It suggests that “angels of light” may use material things as emblems, while “angels of death” may use them as lures that draw people away from a spiritual path. The answer invokes this saying attributed to Jesus: “There is a way that seemeth right to the hearts of men, but the end thereof is death and confusion.”
This offers a practical way to consider dream symbols: ask whether they point toward spiritual growth or draw attention away from it.
Cayce also described the spirit opposed to truth as the anti-Christ. When asked, “In what form does the anti-Christ come, spoken of in Revelation?” he answered: “In the spirit of that opposed to the spirit of truth. The fruits of the spirit of the Christ are love, joy, obedience, long-suffering, brotherly love, kindness. Against such there is no law. The spirit of hate, the anti-Christ, is contention, strife, faultfinding, lovers of self, lovers of praise. Those are the anti-Christ, and take possession of groups, masses, and show themselves even in the lives of men.” (281-16)
The guardian influence
A central idea in the readings is that every soul has a continuing connection with the “face of the Father.” One passage says: “…for indeed the guardian angel is ever before the throne of grace for each and every soul…” (1662-2)
Cayce links this guardian influence to a person’s spiritual ideal. Asked whether God speaks to an individual through a guardian angel, he replied: “…the guardian influence or angel is ever before the face of the Father, through same may that influence ever speak—but only by the command of or attunement to that which is thy ideal.” (1646-1)
These passages leave open an important question: Is the guardian influence an angelic being, a part of the self, or part of the soul that remains connected to God-consciousness? The readings seem to allow for all these possibilities.
In reading 5754-3, Cayce describes the self that has been built through life as a companion that must be presented before the Throne: “…That self that has been builded, that that is as the companion, that must be presented—that is presented—is before the Throne itself!”
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