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Worlds Beyond: Stars and Stellar Systems

THE COSMIC HIERARCHY

Before looking at some of the many references to stars and stellar systems contained within the Cayce readings, let’s say a few words about the cosmic scheme of things. We are living in a vast pinwheel of stars known as the Milky Way Galaxy, which is only one of an estimated 100 billion galaxies within the observable universe! Although Edgar Cayce didn’t specifically mention the Milky Way² or other galaxies in his readings, he did talk about “other universes.” Some of these may very well be references to other galaxies.³

Stars themselves are born within immense clouds of hydrogen gas in the spiral arms of galaxies, becoming ever hotter and more compressed as they condense out of these rotating nebulous masses. (As related later, Cayce actually mentions these “nebulae” and talks about the “mists that are gathering” as part of the creation process.) Like spinning ice skaters pulling their arms in close to their body, the protostars spin faster and faster as they become ever smaller, and if something doesn’t slow them down, they’ll eventually tear themselves apart. Even as the skaters slow their spin by throwing out their arms, these infant stars in essence do the same thing by shedding rings of material, which act like stellar brakes. This material in turn forms the planets and their satellites. It’s been statistically calculated that there are more stars within reach of today’s largest telescopes than all the grains of sand on all the beaches and deserts on the entire planet Earth. And we now know that virtually all of those stars must have planets as a result of their natural birth process, so we’re talking about a lot of worlds out there!

Most if not all stars are born in families. These range from orbiting double and multiple systems in which two or more suns (often of different lovely colors!) would appear in the skies of their planets, to clusters of stars—glittering stellar jewelboxes containing hundreds or thousands of suns to as many as a million in huge stellar beehivelike swarms. Our Sun is a star—our “Daytime Star” as many like to call it. And while it appears to be single, it’s believed that it may actually have a very dim distant red-dwarf companion, slowly drifting through space with it. (At the opposite extreme are double stars orbiting so close to each that they complete a mutual revolution in a matter of just hours and their outer atmospheres are actually in contact!)

Stars Named in the Readings

While references to the stars appear hundreds of times in the Cayce material, only two appear to actually be mentioned by name. One of these is Polaris, better known as the North Star or Pole Star. Within the text of the readings it appears only three times, in the following contexts:

For, as long as an entity is within the confines of that termed the earth’s and the sons [suns?] of the earth’s solar system, the developments are within the sojourns of the entity from sphere to sphere; and when completed it begins—throughout the music of the spheres with Arcturus, Polaris, and through those sojourns in the outer sphere.

441-1

(This reading actually does mention the other named star—Arcturus—and also the “music of the spheres,” both of which are discussed below.)

At the correct time accurate imaginary lines can be drawn from the opening of the great Pyramid to the second star in the Great Dipper, called Polaris or the North Star. This indicates it is the system toward which the soul takes it flight after having completed its sojourn through this solar system.

5748-6

(Note that Cayce referred to Polaris as the second star in the “Great Dipper,” which means the Big Dipper. But it’s actually located at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper. This has always caused the author to puzzle over this particular reading. It is off the top—or second—star at the end of the bowl of the Big Dipper, which may well be what Cayce meant.)

In the lead of these, with those changes that had been as the promptings from the positions of the stars—that stand as it were in the dividing of the ways between the universal, that is the common vision of the solar system of the sun, and those from without the spheres—or as the common name, the North Star, as its variation made for those cycles that would be incoordinant with those changes that had been determined by some—this began the preparation—for the three hundred years, as has been given, in this period.

In these signs then was the new cycle, that as was then—as we have in the astrological—the beginning of the Piscean age, or that position of the Polar Star or North Star as related to the southern clouds. These made for the signs, these made for the symbols; as would be the sign as used, the manner of the sign’s approach and the like.

5749-8

There are two very important astronomical terms contained in this last reading worth noting. The variation in the position of Polaris that’s mentioned is a direct reference to the Precession of the Equinoxes resulting from the slow wobbling of the Earth on its axis. The other one is “southern clouds.” It was mentioned earlier that Cayce didn’t speak of other galaxies as such. However, the term “southern clouds” is a reference to the two “Magellanic Clouds” visible only from the Southern Hemisphere. These are, in fact, our Milky Way’s satellite galaxies!

The “Stargate” Arcturus

The other star that Edgar Cayce specifically mentioned by name is the radiant golden-orange sun Arcturus. Best seen in the spring sky, it’s the third brightest of the heavenly host visible from the Northern Hemisphere after the blue-white gems Sirius and Vega (which are best seen in the winter and summer sky, respectively). This great star is referenced more than thirty times within the text of the readings alone, all having the theme of its supreme importance both individually and cosmically. Here’s a sampling of those readings:

Also we find the Sun and Arcturus, the greater Sun, giving of the strength in mental and spiritual elements toward developing of soul and of the attributes toward the better forces in earth’s spheres.

137-4

(Q) From the information received from this source, I am from Arcturian influences. What is this influence in my present experience?

(A) As just indicated, and is as a part of that. For Arcturus is that junction between the spheres of activity as related to cosmic force, and is that about which this particular environ or sphere of activity rotates, or is a relative source of activity.

263-15

As an entity passes on, as has been given, from this present—or this solar system, this sun, these forces, it passes through the various spheres—leading first into that central force, through which—known as Arcturus—nearer the Pleiades, in this passage about the various spheres—on and on—through the eons of time, as called—or space—which is one in the various spheres of its activity …

311-2

(The Pleiades Star Cluster that’s mentioned is discussed below.)

In those experiences of the entity in its dwellings in the hills and the plains of Persia, also in Egypt, the beauties and music of the spheres sang and brought into the experience of the entity its studies of the light by day, the joy of the voices of the night, and the star that led the entity—that source from which and to which it may gain so much of its strength in the present; Arcturus, the wonderful, the beautiful! As the bright and glorious light from same set afire, as it were, its meditations in the plains, so may the illuminations do the same in the lives of those the entity contacts through its gentleness and kindness and service.

827-1

Arcturus comes in this entity’s chart, or as a central force from which the entity came again into the earth-material sojourns. For, this is the way, the door out of this system.

2454-3

Not that the sun that is the center of this solar system is all there is. For the entity has attained to that realm even of Arcturus, or that center from which there may be the entrance into other realms of consciousness.

2823-1

And Arcturus! For the entity has gone out and returned, purposefully.

5259-1

(Q) The sixth problem concerns interplanetary and inter-system dwelling, between earthly lives. It was given through this source that the entity Edgar Cayce, after the experience as Uhjltd, went to the system of Arcturus, and then returned to earth. Does this indicate a usual or an unusual step in soul evolution?

(A) As indicated, or as has been indicated in other sources besides this as respecting this very problem—Arcturus is that which may be called the center of this universe, through which individuals pass and at which period there comes the choice of the individual as to whether it is to return to complete there—that is, in this planetary system, our sun, the earth sun and its planetary system—or to pass on to others. This was an unusual step, and yet a usual one.

5749-14

And we find that the experience of the entity before that, as Uhjltd, was from even without the sphere of thine own orb; for the entity came from those centers about which thine own solar system moves—in Arcturus.

5755-1

As many of these readings make clear, Arcturus is definitely a “stargate” leading to other parts of the universe—even to its very center—and that it was actually used by Edgar Cayce himself! On a personal note, one of my wife’s brothers was a brilliant young college student in the pre-med program at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. In 1970, tragically David was killed by a drunken driver. Until we met, Sharon had little interest in or knowledge about the stars, her passion being mathematics and music. Yet she somehow instinctively or psychically knew that her dear brother had gone to Arcturus! Incidentally, David himself was an avid stargazer and very much into space and astronomy. Just a coincidence? I think not!

Before going on, it should be pointed out that Sirius (mentioned above) is indirectly referred to by Edgar Cayce as “the dog star,” which is its popular name due to its location in the constellation of Canis Major or the Big Dog. Other indirect references to stars in the readings are the “evening star” and especially the “morning star” (or “the bright and morning star” as he was fond of saying)—in both cases actually referring to the radiant planet Venus in its evening and morning appearances at dusk and dawn, respectively. Although Venus is a planet and not a star, these again are the popular names that have been given to it. And, while in fact the famed “Star of Bethlehem” (also called “His Star”) is mentioned in the readings, this pertains to no actual named star in the sky today. Many astronomers believe that this was actually a supernova explosion—the death-throes of a supermassive sun that lit up the heavens for many weeks around the time of Christ’s birth. (If this is indeed its true identity, the author finds it ironic that God would use the spectacular death of a star to announce the birth of the greatest King that ever lived.)

Personification of the Stars

There’s a long tradition of poets, writers, visionaries, and even some scientists referring to the stars as if they are living entities rather than just inanimate matter as is widely believed. Indeed, as will be discussed in the next chapter, there are even those astronomers who believe that we’re actually living in a “bio-cosmos” and that the universe itself is a colossal living “organism”! This idea has such profound implications if true that it’s well worth examining it further before looking at what Edgar Cayce had to say about it. Here are several of the author’s favorite literary references to what I personally believe to be an actual fact (based on communing with the stars for more than fifty years as a stargazer):

“But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.”

(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

“I never behold the stars that I do not feel that I am looking into the face of God.”

(Abraham Lincoln)

“The stars we love best are the ones into whose faces we can look for an hour at a time, if our fancy so leads us.”

(Martha Evans Martin)

“A star looks down at me, and says: ‘Here I and you stand, each in our own degree: What do you mean to do?’”

(Thomas Hardy)

“More beautiful, the stars in the vault of heaven remain watching over mankind asleep.”

(Maria Valtorta)

“We have enjoyed knowing the stars. We are among the thousands who have found them old friends, to which we can turn time after time for refreshing thoughts and relief from the worries and troubles of every-day life.”

(Dorothy Bennett, Hubert Bernhard, and Hugh Rice)

“The stars bind together all men and all periods of the world’s history. As they have seen all from the beginning of time, so shall they see all that will come hereafter.”

(Alexander von Humboldt)

Over the years, the author has been told by a number of people that Edgar Cayce claimed that when we pass on we become stars. While I haven’t actually found a direct statement to that effect in the Cayce material, there are at least two indirect references to this in the readings (the italicized emphases being mine):

As to the astrological aspects for the entity, these are not influencing because the entity was born under this or that sign, this or that planet or star being in a certain or given position. It is true that there is a guide or guard for each and every entity or soul, or a developing influence that may be from the entity’s own activities as a new star in the universe. [Author’s emphasis]

1695-1

Ye can sow seeds and work them in self, but God gives the increase. He adds those that should be added from the activities of their own opportunities, such as are worthy of becoming stars, yea, even as blossoms in the garden of God, in the garden of love. [Author’s emphasis]

3954-1

In addition to the quotes above, which hauntingly hint at the astounding concept that the stars are living entities, another example is found in the poem Sparks by an unknown author:

Surely in the future

far Man himself will be a star,

Shining by eternal light

Guiding pilgrims through the night.

Music of the Spheres

In the many references to stars contained his readings, Cayce frequently talked about them singing and the “music of the spheres.” While this concept is apparently rooted in antiquity, it’s best known from this famous Bible passage found in Job 38: 1-3: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who laid the cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” A more recent example comes from the noted astronomer, astrologer, and mystic Johannes Kepler, who often talked about hearing the music of the spheres and who saw harmony in the movements of the planets in their orbits. (Regarded as one of the leading lights in the history of science for his formulation of the three laws of planetary motion that bear his name, Kepler, upon discovering them, excitedly exclaimed “O God, I am thinking Thy thoughts after Thee!” He obviously realized that he had tapped into the very mind of God itself in unveiling these fundamental secrets of the cosmos.)

Here now are just a few examples of the many passages found in the Cayce readings about this celestial music:

Then enter into meditation, in the wee hours of the morning, when the world at large is quiet—when the music of the spheres and the morning stars sing for the glory of the coming day, and ask the soul; and let the spirit of self answer.

440-4

In that before this, we find in the beginning, when the first of the elements were given, and the forces set in motion that brought about the sphere as we find called earth plane, and when the morning stars sang together …

294-8

And as there was followed the receding of His Star, and the flight into Egypt through the devious ways and manners in which there came the news through word of mouth, yet in awe and quiet kept, it made for that in the experience of the entity—when it sits alone in the twilight, and there is almost again felt the music of the spheres, the singing of the morning stars, as the earth is quieted—there enters oft again that peace, that is only troubled by the cares of a workaday world.

1152-3

This awoke within the entity that as may be found in the present, how all nature—the face in the water, the dew upon the grass, the tint and the beauty of the rose, the song of the stars, the mourn of the wind, all proclaim—now—the mighty words of a merciful, a loving God.

587-6

Listen to the voice within, as it is awakened to the music of the spheres by the incoming of those forces that protect in those relationships through astronomical, astrological, and the influences as builded by self in its application of that known as to the relationships now.

539-2

In the experience there came that great overshadowing desire within the entity to become attuned, as it were, to the heavenly song, the heavenly music, the vibrations as it were of the spheres when all nature proclaimed the joyous event into the experience of man!

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Who may tell a rose to be sweet, or the music of the spheres to harmonize with God?

2408-1

In the present abilities we find the latent and manifested urge for the love of outdoors, of nature—as in voice, as in sound; whether the waves upon the seashore, the wind in the pines, the song of the birds, or the music as of nature and the spheres combined.

2450-1

Think, for a moment, of the music of the waves upon the shore, of the morning as it breaks with the music of nature, of the night as it falls with the hum of the insect, of all the kingdoms as they unite in their song of appreciation to an all-creative influence that gives nature consciousness or awareness of its being itself. And harmonize that in thine own appreciation, as to bring music akin to the song of the spheres.

2581-2

The name then was Melsanteudendt. The entity gained much, which is expressed at present in the interpretings of those things prompted by listening to the voice within, and of the activities of things pertaining to spiritual attitude—as the listening not only to the promptings from without but to the music of the spheres, or of the stars, or of nature itself.

2700-1

For the entity turned to nature, to nature’s mysteries, to nature’s beauty, to the songbirds, to flowers, to music of rain patter on the roof, as well as the music of the spheres for its inspiration.

3201-2

Faint not because of oppositions, but do keep the music of the spheres, the light of the stars, the softness of the moonlight upon the water as upon the trees. For nature in its song, as the birds, as the bees make music to their Creator, contributed to man

5265-1

The astronomical, the numerological, the environs of the creations in the vibrations from metals, from stones, from those of every form, have—through the experience of the entity at times had their influence; and thus bear for the entity something that must be used as an omen, or as an experience that may aid the entity in making the proper interpretations of those things that to many an one are not lawful to be spoken in materiality—hence come only to those who have eyes to see, through the spiritual realms, or who have ears to hear the music of the spheres, the growing or the beauty in all the relationships to man that make for expressions of the divine that may be, and is, a portion of man’s experience.

No man, no physical matter, has ever seen God at any time; only the manifestations of Him.

707-1

Such references to the music of the spheres and the stars singing to us (however moving and lovely they may be) have for the most part been taken only figuratively and as “poetic license.” However all celestial objects—including the Sun, Moon, and planets of our solar system, all of the stars, and even other galaxies, including our Milky Way—give off radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. And this includes not only ultraviolet, infrared (or heat), and visible light, but for many of these bodies radio waves as well. The radio emissions themselves can be converted to sound waves, making it possible to actually “listen” to the cosmos with our ears as well as look at it with our eyes.

Much of what is received for the most part sounds like static, hissing, or beeps (in the case of pulsars—spinning neutron stars). However, thanks to today’s amazingly sensitive, huge radio telescopes, the incredible number-crunching capability of Cray supercomputers, and very sophisticated Moog electronic synthesizers, radio astronomers have found that some of the stars are emitting cyclic harmonic vibrations—not radio “noise” or random static—into space. This means that they in a sense are “singing” to us! Here, of course, we’re talking about using giant “radio ears” and elaborate equipment to physically perceive it. But apparently it’s possible to hear the celestial music without their use, for these modern marvels obviously didn’t exist in Johannes Kepler’s day—and yet he heard the music of the spheres! So did a number of the people for whom Edgar Cayce gave readings. In this regard, note especially what he had to say in some of the readings above concerning tuning into this music spiritually as well as physically. And just for the record here—I have had many people tell me at conferences where I was speaking that they have also heard the stars singing to them!

More About Stars

Before discussing entire families of suns, here are a few more of the author’s favorite excerpts from the many psychic discourses by Edgar Cayce that mention stars:

Who may tell the lily to represent beauty? Who may tell the violet to blush, even in the shady dell? Who may tell the stars or the sun and moon to worship God? The entity has seen, has found those things that answer within. Would that all would do likewise.

4065-1

Who may tell the rose how to be beautiful? Who may tell the stars or the moon in its course how to raise in the heart and soul of man the longing to know the Creator of all? `

2600-2

As the sun, the moon, the stars would be given for signs, for seasons, for days, for years in man’s experience—then it would not be amiss that these would indicate the symbols as they were represented in those stages or phases of experience in the earth.

288-50

Study also astrological subjects, not as termed by some, but rather in the light of that which may be gained through a study of His word. For, as it was given from the beginning, those planets, the stars, are given for signs, for seasons, for years, that man may indeed (in his contemplation of the universe) find his closer relationships.

5124-1

Train the entity in higher mathematics as will have to do with the electronics and dealing with the forces of the spheres. For the astronomy in the study of light, the study of the rays that are a part of each individual planet, each individual star, each individual asteroid are all a part of the forces in universal activities.

4081-1

He is the Alpha and Omega, the bright and morning star …

792-1

Hence we look out and see the heavens, the stars; and, as the psalmist has said: “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handiwork, as day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge.”

262-56

Star Clusters: Stellar Jewelboxes and Beehives

As mentioned earlier in this chapter, stars are typically born into families ranging from double- and multiple-sun systems to much larger groupings known as star clusters. Cayce mentions the latter in one reading: “… when the priest then began to show the manifestations of those periods of reckoning the longitude (as termed now), latitude, and the activities of the planets and stars, and the various groups of stars, constellations, and the various influences that are held in place, or that hold in place those about this particular solar system.” (294-150) It should be mentioned here that star clusters and constellations are two different types of celestial object; the former are gravitationally bound systems, moving through space together, while the latter with few exceptions are unassociated chance alignments of stars moving in different directions. Also, many well-known star patterns like the Big Dipper are not in themselves actually constellations, as widely believed, but rather are “asterisms.” These are distinctive figures making up only a part of a constellation—in the case of the Big Dipper, Ursa Major, or the Great Bear.

Of the two basic types of star groupings, “open clusters” contain several hundred to more than a thousand members. And of this type undoubtedly the most famous of all is the magnificent Pleiades Star Cluster, more popularly know as the “Seven Sisters.” It lies above the constellation Orion in the winter sky and appears as a misty little dipper-shaped cloud of stars to the unaided eye. Binoculars transform it into a wonder of the night, its stars appearing like blue-white sparkling diamonds against black velvet! (Incidentally, such glasses can reveal every major type of celestial object—ranging from the mountains, craters and valleys of our Moon, the four bright Galilean satellites of Jupiter, and comets to star clusters, nebulae, and even many of the brighter galaxies, including the majestic starclouds of our own Milky Way Galaxy.)

Edgar Cayce was certainly well aware of the Pleiades and mentioned it more than a dozen times in his readings (all within astrological contexts). In addition to that already given in 311-2 concerning Arcturus, here are a few of the more interesting references to this starry commune:

In entering the earth’s plane, we find the entity comes under the influence of Mercury, Jupiter, and of Mars, with the Pleiades and the Orion in the benevolent influence of the life.

5454-3

In taking the position in the present plane, we find the urges, and the manifest and latent, are from those of Jupiter, with Venus, Mercury, Mars, and of the Pleiades.

2698-1

In entering the earth’s plane in the present life, we find the entity comes under the influences of Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, with the adverse influences of Venus and Saturn; the assistance in the influence of Uranus and of the Pleiades.

2675-4

In taking the position in the present earth’s plane, we find under the influence of Jupiter and Venus, with Mercury and Uranus in the distance. In the adverse influence then of Vulcan and of the Pleiades.

569-6

In coming to the present earth plane, we find the entity taking its position from that of Venus, with those of the Pleiades, Jupiter and of Mercury, and with the benevolent influence of Saturn’s forces in the degree that is seldom seen in the earth’s plane. One with the adverse influence in Mars and in Vulcan’s forces.

780-6

As these reading indicate, Cayce saw the astrological influence of the Pleiades as being mainly benevolent. This brings to mind Tennyson’s famous lines about this lovely stellar jewelbox in his poem Locksley Hall:

Many a night from yonder ivied casement,

Ere I went to rest,

Did I look on great Orion, sloping slowly

to the west.

Many a night I saw the Pleiads,

rising thro’ the mellow shade,

Glitter like a swarm of fireflies

tangled in a silver braid.

Also, note in the last two readings Edgar Cayce’s reference to “Vulcan.” This is the name astronomers centuries ago gave to a planet believed to lie in the same orbit as the Earth but on the opposite side of the Sun from us—and, therefore, which could never be seen from here. From many lines of evidence (including spacecraft that have actually been there!) we know that Vulcan doesn’t exist. But here’s what Cayce surprisingly had to say about this mythical planet:

(Q) Is there a planet anciently known as Lilith or Vulcan?

(A) Pluto and Vulcan are one and the same. No Lilith. Lilith is a personality.

826-8

What an amazing connection—given that Pluto itself wasn’t discovered until 1930!

One other interesting fact concerning the Pleiades needs to be mentioned here. Many ancient cultures (especially Asian ones) claim that their ancestors came from this star cluster! This includes the Japanese, who have even named a car after it—the Subaru. The author has personally met a number of people in this country over the years who make the same claim. In fact, more than once following a lecture where I’ve set up my telescope and given those attending a view of the Pleiades, someone has burst into tears and said to me “That’s my home!”

The second basic type of star grouping is that of the “globular clusters.” These are enormous beehivelike swarms containing anywhere from 100,000 up to a million suns! Edgar Cayce didn’t actually mention any of them by name as he did the Pleiades—probably because even the brightest of them are only barely visible without optical aid, due to their great distances from us. But I truly hope he may have had the opportunity of seeing one of these starballs through a large telescope. The incredible spectacle greeting the eye of hundreds of thousands of remote suns staring back at you is quite beyond any words to describe! And we can only imagine what the night sky must look like to anyone living on a planet within such a cluster. (This is, in fact, the basis for Isaac Asimov’s Nightfall—one of the greatest science fiction short stories ever written. Based upon the immortal lines in one of Emerson’s essays—“If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years …”—it’s a story about a planet that has multiple suns in its sky, causing it to become dark only once in several centuries. When it does, its inhabitants find themselves living inside of an immense globular cluster with countless numbers of blazing stars shining in their heavens like a starry blizzard!

In the author’s opinion, the ultimate reference to stars and clusters of stars (and all things celestial!) is the late Carl Sagan’s classic work Cosmos (Random House, 1980) and the visually stunning thirteen-part PBS television series based upon it. Both the book itself and a 2005 version of the video presentation, updated by Sagan’s wife and noted writer Ann Druyan, are available from the PBS Web site at pbs.org. It’s estimated that at least one-fifth of the human race—well over a billion people—have watched Cosmos! Sagan truly was an eloquent spokesman for planet Earth and for the universe itself. As such, he is sorely missed. But he is at home among the stars he so loved.

²The word galaxy does appear in one reading: “(Q) The ‘Primitive Man in Light’ looked out from the earth and saw us within the sphere of the Universe with its constellations which combined to form his consciousness. He knew then, that a ‘Way of Escape’ from the rounds of Reincarnation opened beyond this Universe—beyond the Galaxy—beyond the opening in the forehead of Cepheus. Will you explain this ‘Way of Escape’?”

“(A) We do not find it so. For we have this: These are the basis of—Let’s get what is the first principle here. These are concepts, these are not the activities of individuals who look out upon that; not as the earth as the center of its activities, but as the own solar system, here. It is true that the activities so far as in this sphere or Galaxy of activities of the planetary forces within this present solar system, the earth first became as the indwelling of the consciousness of the race or the man in this particular sphere …” (1602-3) Here it appears that the word galaxy refers to our own Milky Way Galaxy.

³Galaxies used to be known as “island universes”–a term that Edgar Cayce may well have been familiar with, as it was widely used in his day.