One of my clearest memories of Dr. Gladys McGarey is when I attended A.R.E.’s Seabeck conference with my parents with I was 19. My parents, Charles Thomas and Leslie Cayce, were speaking at the conference with Jess Stearn and Gladys. Every time I saw Gladys over the course of the several day conference, I would inexplicably begin to cry. It was horribly mortifying. She was so calmly regal with her gray crown braid, turquoise jewelry, kind, sparkling eyes and flowing dress. I wanted to talk with her so badly, but tears would always come, and I couldn’t speak. She was entirely unphased by my emotions. She would smile at me and place her hand on my back or say a little something to me. Maybe it was a past life thing, or maybe it just moved me on an unconscious level to be with someone who was close to my grandfather Hugh Lynn and who was so courageously living and teaching ideas from the Cayce readings. Whatever the reason, I left that conference with an unshakable love and reverence for Dr. Gladys.

The last time I was physically with her, we were sitting in the living room of parents’ house. My father had recently passed away, I was grieving, raising two small children and feeling lost. Between wowing my children with stories of what it was like to be 99 years old, she asked me about my path and purpose. Feeling overwhelmed with difficult dynamics and fearful about other people’s perceptions, I said at one point, “I’m not sure what I can do to help.” She looked me in the eye so clearly as said, “You can do whatever you want to do.” Those words made such an impression on me. They pulled me out of a quagmire of limited thinking into the vast, wide view of my soul’s longing. She reminded me that something much bigger is at play that my own insecurities and I have all the power I need in my own life.

Rereading Gladys’ books and listening to her interviews since her passing, I think perhaps these two tiny memories of her exemplify two core pieces of her impact on thousands of people, and her lasting legacy.

1. You are welcome just as you are. You are worthy of being loved and seen always.
2. We are a conduit for all good and all healing in our lives, all is possible. There is nothing to fear.

Dr. Gladys’ life is a testimate to this. Internationally recognized as the Mother of Holistic Medicine, she was the co-founder of the American Holistic Medical Association, as well as the co-founder of the Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine. She was the first to utilize acupuncture in the U.S. and trained other physicians how to use it. Dr. Gladys held a family practice for more than sixty years and tirelessly pioneered work in holistic medicine, natural birthing, and the physician-patient partnership. In 1970, she co-founded the A.R.E. Clinic in Phoenix, Arizona, where she and her former husband pioneered the integration of allopathic and holistic medical practices, laying the groundwork for the cultural shift of recent years that recognizes alternative and holistic medical modalities.

In her Venture Inward column “Women’s Wellness” Gladys wrote, “It was actually my exposure, many years ago, to the Edgar Cayce material that helped open my mind to a different approach to healing. It involves so many basic human philosophical concepts. Edgar’s son, Hugh Lynn, approached me and my husband at the time, William McGarey, and asked us to do something with the Cayce medical work. Year after year we turned him down until we finally got it. We are not talking about diseases here; we are talking about people. When we just “heal” disease, we miss working with people.” An ASFG study group member beginning in 1959 and continuing throughout her life, Dr. Gladys was one of our greatest teachers of the Cayce material.

Dr. Gladys Taylor McGarey’s work lives on through The Foundation for Living Medicine, which has helped to expand the knowledge and application of holistic principles through scientific research and education. The Foundation is honoring Dr. Gladys’ legacy by leading the charge to effect the paradigm shift in medicine that changes the current disease model to one that focuses on the individual and the wholeness of life.

Dearest Dr. Gladys, you have lighted the way forward. The world is better because you lived in it; we are forever grateful and filled with love.