The Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.), also known as Edgar Cayce's A.R.E., was founded by Edgar Cayce (1877–1945) in 1931 to research and explore subjects such as holistic health, ancient mysteries, personal spirituality, dreams and dream interpretation, intuition, philosophy and reincarnation. A.R.E.'s stated mission is to help people change their lives for the better through the ideas and information found in the Edgar Cayce readings.
Its international headquarters are in Virginia Beach, Virginia, with a regional office in Houston, Texas. It claims to have Edgar Cayce Centers in 37 countries, and individual members in more than 70 countries.
A.R.E. runs conferences, retreats and other educational activities, and publishes books relating to Edgar Cayce and his teachings under the imprints of A.R.E. Press and 4th Dimension Press. The A.R.E. also publishes a quarterly member magazine Venture Inward.
It maintains an affiliation with Atlantic University (which offers continuing education classes and a master's degree program in transpersonal studies), and runs a Health Center & Day Spa at its Virginia Beach headquarters along with the Cayce/Reilly School of Massotherapy massage school.
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A.R.E. claims to be the heir to a previous Cayce-related organization, the Association of National Investigators (A.N.I.). Dependent on the financial support of a few major donors, the ANI emphasized major institution-building projects such as the original Atlantic University and the Cayce Hospital for Research and Enlightenment, a hospital staffed with medical personnel willing to apply Cayce-recommended treatments. The name of the hospital would later inspire the name of the ARE. The ANI and its various projects folded with the onset of the Great Depression.
In 1931, Cayce called a meeting of his supporters in Virginia Beach, asking them directly whether they felt that "the work" ought to continue. The result was the creation of the A.R.E. as a successor organization to the A.N.I. This was also the beginning of a tradition of annual meetings (the A.R.E. refers to as "Congress") at its Virginia Beach headquarters and featuring talks on spiritual subjects.
Prior to Cayce's death in 1945, people seeking a reading from Cayce were asked to join the A.R.E. This helped insulate Cayce from charges of fortune-telling, which was illegal in some U.S. states, as he was not directly charging a "fee" for his services but receiving a salary from the member-supported A.R.E. Apart from supporting Cayce and his staff, a major emphasis of the early A.R.E. was the encouragement of small groups devoted to spiritual study, prayer, and meditation.
When Cayce died he left many requests for readings unanswered. His son, Hugh Lynn Cayce, returned from the Army later that year and took charge of the A.R.E. Under Hugh Lynn Cayce's leadership, the A.R.E. arrived at the basic cluster of activities and interests which it follows today. A major boost came with the rise of the 1960s counterculture and then the New Age Movement, which coincided with a plethora of popular books on Cayce.
After Hugh Lynn's death the A.R.E. was led by his son, Charles Thomas Cayce (interspersed with some periods of shared control). Charles Thomas retired in 2006. The A.R.E.'s current CEO and executive director is Kevin J. Todeschi, previously the editor of the A.R.E. membership magazine Venture Inward, and a long-time staffer at the A.R.E.
During the last few decades, the A.R.E. has focused its efforts on globalizing its activities and on attracting attention from mass media, typically cable programs from the "unsolved mysteries" genre.
Major activities of the A.R.E. include:
In addition, the ARE cooperates with several Cayce-oriented health providers, a summer camp for adults, teens and families, Atlantic University and the Cayce/Reilly Institute of Massotherapy.
The A.R.E. is led by a self-perpetuating board of trustees. The same board also heads a sister organization, the Edgar Cayce Foundation, which claims to hold the copyright to the Cayce readings and related material. (Critics point out that Cayce himself freely distributed the same material without copyright.) Books using Cayce quotes are thus expected to pay royalties.
ARE membership is conceived as a kind of subscription arrangement, in which the "member" receives a packet of goods (publications, mainly) and services (e.g., access to Cayce readings online) in exchange for an annual fee. These fees can be waived altogether for people who cannot afford the full fee. Life memberships are also available.
Within the United States and Canada, A.R.E. activities are divided into 11 multi-state / multi-provincial regions and 3 major metropolitan areas. Their relationship with Virginia Beach is basically that of a branch office to headquarters. Overseas, there are presently 29 "Edgar Cayce Centers" in 25 countries, and another 37 countries with a lesser degree of ARE representation.
Study groups and the Glad Helpers group are organizationally independent of A.R.E. headquarters (and in fact pre-date that organization). They do however cooperate to some degree. For example, A.R.E. headquarters refers inquirers to study groups, while study groups may donate money or encourage their participants to join the A.R.E.
Cayce study groups tend to meet weekly, in members' homes. About half the meeting is generally devoted to the study of some appropriate Cayce text, traditionally the two volumes of A Search For God. These consist of lessons which Study Group #1 put together with guidance from the sleeping Cayce (who refused to allow them to continue until he felt that they were successfully living the spiritual lessons already given). Often, study group members will attempt to apply the lessons in their lives, just as the first group did.
Usually, the other half of the meeting will be given over to meditation. Several prayers are often recited, including the Lord's Prayer and the Twenty-Third Psalm ("The Lord is my shepherd..."). Despite the prevalence of Christian traditions, a significant number of "Cayce people" are Jews or other non-Christians.
On the sleeping Cayce's recommendation, the old ARE symbol consisted of a white cross and dove, on a blue background. In 2007 this was changed to a dove and globe (still white on blue).