Which specific Edgar Cayce predictions had target dates and what were their stated timelines?
Executive summary
Edgar Cayce made a handful of statements that included specific years or tight timelines: a near-term self-prediction about his death in January 1945, a forecast tying a pole shift and “New Age” to the years 2000–2001, and a prediction naming 1998 as the year of Christ’s Second Coming; other widely cited “timed” forecasts are more ambiguous or come from later interpreters rather than clear single readings [1] [2] [3] [4]. These items are the clearest examples in the record where dates appear; many other Cayce “earth changes” or geopolitical locational references lack firm calendar endpoints or rely on post-hoc interpretation [5] [6].
1. A short-term personal prediction: burial in early January 1945
Cayce reportedly told an inquiry on January 1, 1945 that he would be buried in “four more days,” and he died of a stroke two days later, a detail collected in secondary compilations of his predictions and noted on retrospective lists summarizing Cayce’s recorded utterances [1]. The citation used here originates from popular compilations of Cayce lore rather than a primary transcript published in the A.R.E. corpus in this dataset, so it should be treated as a documented claim within Cayce literature rather than independently verified archival fact in these sources [1].
2. A millennium pole shift and the New Age: 2000–2001
A reading commonly quoted gives a precise-seeming timeframe: when asked “what great change… in the year 2,000 to 2,001 A.D.?” the answer cited a “shifting of the poles” coinciding with the beginning of a new cycle—framed by Cayce proponents as the start of the New Age (reading 826–8, cited by an A.R.E.-affiliated summary and popular retellings) [2]. Supporters point to modern discussions of geomagnetic variation to contextualize the reading, but the source here is a modern retelling that links the specific reading number and date range to Cayce’s corpus rather than offering independent geophysical corroboration [2].
3. The Second Coming named as 1998
Some lay compilations of Cayce’s prophecies assert a prediction that the Second Coming would occur in 1998; these claims appear in secondary websites summarizing Cayce material and are presented as part of a longer catalogue of end-times dates attributed to him [3]. Critics highlighted in those same summaries note that 1998 passed without the event described, and that such attributions are often contested by scholars and skeptics reviewing the Cayce archive [3].
4. “Earth changes” and catastrophic city predictions with dates or eras
Cayce’s readings include forecasts of dramatic “Earth changes,” including alleged predictions made in January and March 1936 about destruction in Los Angeles, San Francisco and later New York City, and a reported dream placing Cayce’s rebirth in 2100 in a seacoast Nebraska—items that have been cited in biographical and encyclopedic summaries of his life [6]. These entries are presented in the literature as dated statements or dreams; however, the broader “earth changes” corpus is often couched in cyclical language rather than tight calendar precision, leaving room for broad interpretation by later promoters [6].
5. Ambiguities, interpretation, and source agendas
The clearest date claims in the available sources derive chiefly from proponents (A.R.E., Medium essays) and popular compilers rather than neutral archival presentation, which introduces interpretive bias: the A.R.E. material highlights prophetic continuity and places readings into a purpose-driven narrative of spiritual evolution [5] [2], while popular websites and books sometimes compress, round, or reframe readings into headline dates such as 1998 or 2000–2001 for public consumption [3] [4]. Encyclopedic summaries like Wikipedia collect these claims and note both Cayce’s influence and the contested, sometimes apocalyptic nature of his “earth changes,” but they also show how later authors amplified or tied Cayce to ideas such as Atlantis and polar shifts [6].
6. Bottom line: which predictions had explicit timelines?
Within the sampled reporting, three predictions stand out as having explicit target dates or tight ranges: the January 1945 burial statement (near-term), the pole-shift/New Age linkage cited for 2000–2001, and the assignment of 1998 for the Second Coming; other commonly cited forecasts (e.g., 1936 warnings about California cities or a 2100 rebirth dream) carry dates but are more episodic and often reinterpreted by later authors [1] [2] [3] [6]. The record available here does not resolve debates about accuracy or original wording; it shows that date-specific claims are relatively few and typically come with layers of later exposition and contestation [5] [4].