When asked about the source of his information, Edgar Cayce replied that there were essentially two. The first was the subconscious mind of the individual for whom he was giving the reading and the second was the Akashic Records.

The Akashic Records, also known as “The Book of Life” or “God’s Book of Remembrance,” can be equated to the universe’s super-computer system–or perhaps what today would be called cloud computing. They are the central storehouse of all information for every individual who has ever lived upon the earth. These records contain our every thought, deed, word, feeling, and intent. They have a tremendous influence on our everyday lives, our relationships, our feelings, our belief systems, and the potential realities we draw toward us. Edgar Cayce referred to the records this way:

Upon time and space is written the thoughts, the deeds, the activities of an entity – as in relationships to its environs, its hereditary influence; as directed – or judgment drawn by or according to what the entity’s ideal is. Hence, as it has been oft called, the record is God’s book of remembrance; and each entity, each soul – as the activities of a single day of an entity in the material world – either makes same good or bad or indifferent, depending upon the entity’s application of self …

— Edgar Cayce Reading 1650-1

When Cayce accessed the Akashic Records of an individual, he had the ability to select the information that would be of the most help to that person at that particular time in his or her life. Frequently, a reading might suggest that only a selection of the available material was being provided, but that the individual was being given that which would be “most helpful and hopeful.”

When discussing the Book of Life, he stated that it was, “The record of God, of thee, thy soul within and the knowledge of same.” (281-33) When asked the difference between the Book of Life and the Akashic Records, he explained:

Q. [What is meant by] The Book of Life?
A. The record that the individual entity itself writes upon the skein of time and space, through patience – and is opened when self has attuned to the infinite, and may be read by those attuning to that consciousness…

Q. The Book of God’s Remembrances?
A. This is the Book of Life.

Q. The Akashic Records?
A. Those made by the individual, as just indicated.

— Edgar Cayce Reading 2533-8

Cayce indicated that these records are more than just a storehouse for the past when he stated:

Yes, we have the body here, and the record as has been made and as may be made with the will as exercised, and the condition irrespective of the will’s influence or effect as has been created. We have conditions that might have been, that are, and that may be. Do not get the three mixed up or crossed purposes of either.

— Edgar Cayce reading 304-5

Why and how are our lives affected by the Akashic Records? These records connect each and every one of us to each other. They contain the essence of every archetypal symbol or mythic story which has ever deeply touched patterns of human behavior and experience. They have been the inspiration for dreams and invention. They draw us toward or repel us from one another. They mold and shape levels of human consciousness. They are a portion of Divine Mind. They are the unbiased judge and jury that attempt to guide, educate, and transform every individual to become the very best that she or he can be. They embody an ever-changing array of possible futures that are called into potential as we interact and respond to the circumstances of our lives.

Cayce’s readings suggest that each of us writes the story of our lives through our thoughts, our deeds, and our interactions with the rest of creation. This information has an effect on us in the here and now. In fact, the Akashic Records have such an impact upon our lives and the potentials and probabilities we draw toward us that any exploration of them cannot help but provide us with insights into the nature of ourselves and our relationship to the universe.

There is much more to our lives, our histories, and our individual influence upon our tomorrows than we have perhaps dared to imagine. By accessing information from the Akashic Records, the universe’s computer database, much might be revealed to us. The world as we have collectively perceived it is but a faint shadow of reality.