About Douglas James Cottrell

 

"About 70 years ago, Edgar Cayce began gaining national prominence in the United States for his uncanny and otherworldly ability to solve perplexing medical questions, all while in a state of deep meditative trance. Today, that mantle has been passed to Dr. Douglas James Cottrell, who has demonstrated many of Cayce’s marvelous abilities using the exact same techniques."

-- Richard Syrett, Broadcaster, “The Conspiracy Show” and "Conspiracy Unlimited"

"Doug is considered to be like Edgar Cayce—a medical intuitive who also tells you about your past lives and helps guide you through current life issues. To do this he goes into a trance and accesses what they call the Akashic records—a collection of knowledge supposedly stored in the astral plane. Over the years he’s helped me put my life in perspective. My mom had even witnessed him give people uncannily accurate medical diagnoses."

-- Kelly Carlin, Author, A Carlin Home Companion: Growing Up with George

Douglas James Cottrell, Ph.D. (1949–present), is an ordinary man who came to demonstrate extraordinary intuitive abilities — not through belief or blind faith, but through direct experience born of personal necessity, skepticism, and disciplined inquiry.

A Journey That Began With a Child’s Life

In 1975, Douglas’s life took a decisive turn. At the time, he worked as a printing press operator at the Toronto Star newspaper and considered himself a skeptic regarding intuitive or psychic phenomena. That skepticism was challenged when his young daughter, Cheri-Anne, suffered from multiple severe medical conditions, including frequent grand mal seizures. Doctors were unable to offer meaningful help. Eventually, Douglas and his wife, Karen, were told there was nothing more to be done.

At just two years old, Cheri-Anne was sent to a children’s institution near Belleville, Ontario — over 100 miles from home. Doctors predicted a life expectancy of no more than twelve years. Despite being urged to “get on with their lives,” Douglas and Karen refused to abandon hope.

Around this time, a co-worker handed Douglas a book: There Is a River, the story of Edgar Cayce, an uneducated American man who, while in a deep trance state, described illnesses and prescribed treatments with remarkable accuracy. Though Cayce had died in 1945, his documented work suggested that there might be something yet unexplored — something capable of helping their daughter.

A Pivotal Encounter

Shortly after reading the book, Douglas experienced what he later described as a cosmic coincidence. Compelled to turn on the television, he happened upon World of the Unexplained, hosted by Allen Spraggett. That evening’s guest was Ross Peterson, an American intuitive referred to as “the new Edgar Cayce.”

Douglas and Karen arranged a consultation.

In a deep meditative state resembling sleep, Peterson accurately described Cheri-Anne’s condition from over a hundred miles away, identifying birth-related neck trauma as the cause of her seizures — information he could not have known. He offered treatment suggestions and assured them that, despite her inability to speak, Cheri-Anne was intelligent and fully aware.

On the strength of that single reading, Douglas and Karen removed their daughter from the institution and applied the recommended treatments. Her life was spared. Though she never fully recovered from the years spent institutionalized, Cheri-Anne lived a happy life until the age of thirty-eight.

That experience changed everything.

Learning the Trance State

During that same reading, Peterson told Douglas something unexpected: he, too, could learn to access this state of consciousness.
“You have been a prophet of old,” Peterson said, “and you will be a prophet of new.”

Motivated by gratitude rather than ambition, Douglas committed himself to discovering whether intuitive ability could be learned, developed, and — crucially — verified. “If only one child is helped,” he said, “it will be worth it.”

At twenty-six years old, Douglas began an intensive period of study and experimentation. He explored meditation, chakras, energy healing, dreams, and altered states of consciousness. With the support of his family physician and chiropractor — both followers of Edgar Cayce — Douglas conducted controlled experiments. Medical professionals verified that the information Douglas accessed while in meditation was not guesswork or imagination, but accurate data about real people.

As his confidence grew, he learned to enter deeper levels of consciousness, and the clarity and depth of information increased. Under Peterson’s mentorship, Douglas began offering intuitive readings to others. In time, this work became his life’s calling.

He named this process Quantum Meditation™ — a disciplined meditative state used to access information beyond ordinary awareness.

Public Work and Recognition

Douglas eventually left his career at the Toronto Star to devote himself fully to intuitive consultation, research, writing, and teaching. Over the decades, his work has been tested, observed, published, and presented internationally.

He is the author of numerous books, including Secrets of Life, Gems of Wisdom, Conversations with the Akashic Field, Avatar: The Secret Life of Jesus Christ, and The New Earth. His work has been referenced in mainstream publications, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to the Akashic Record.

Douglas is also an ordained Interfaith Minister and the senior minister of the International School of the Prophets, an organization dedicated to spiritual development and intuitive awareness.

 Milestones & Highlights

  • 1977 — Retired from the Toronto Star newspaper

  • 1979 — Co-founded the Omega Research and Development Group

  • 1985 — Participated in A.R.E. psychic research (Psychic #10)

  • 1988 — Became a regular columnist for Psychic Guide magazine

  • 1989 — Presented at the Whole Life Expo, Los Angeles

  • 1990 — Participated in formal medical testing by a senior MD

  • 2004–2017 — Published multiple books and lectured internationally

  • 2009 — Ordained as Interfaith Minister; awarded Ph.D.

  • 2010–2023 — Continued international speaking and teaching (Poland, Norway, Spain, New York Cayce Center, and Cayce Annual Fellowship Conference, Canada)

Testing Douglas's Clairvoyant Ability

by Robert Appel, B.A., B.C.L., L.L.B.

During one “test” of Douglas, done in a hotel room in Toronto, Canada in the early 1990s, a medical doctor—head of the Juvenile Diabetes section at the time—read the names and addresses of five of his private patients who were not actually present in the room at the time. To the doctor’s satisfaction, Douglas described the symptoms of each. Independent testing and verification suggest that the health/medical information is accurate to approximate the 99th percentile and may, in many cases, be contemplating a link between cause and effect (as it relates to particular conditions) that even modern science is currently unaware of.

In another instance of "pushing" Douglas’s ability in a Quantum Meditation™ session, a very educated and intelligent woman came to Douglas for a dream interpretation. As was the case with Cayce, Douglas cannot only interpret dreams via this trance-like state, but he does so with specific reference to the singular and specific "archetypal library" of the individual being read. That is quite a feat all by itself. In this particular case, however, the client had forgotten the ending of the dream and was frustrated. This writer was present during the session and, on a hunch, suggested that Douglas locate the "record" of the dream, based on the arcane notion that even thoughts can, in theory, leave a residue on the universal parchment, or those mysterious "Akashic Records" that Cayce himself had referred to. Douglas then proceeded to fill the missing ending of the "forgotten" dream, which the woman agreed was fully accurate. After filling in the blanks, Douglas proceeded to interpret the dream which, in this particular instance, was quite anticlimactic.

And then there is the "sound and feel" of the reading. It can be unsettling, even to a seasoned experimenter. Douglas's natural tone, grammar, and syntax all sharpen up significantly. Even more extraordinary is the speed at which information leaves his lips (lips which, given his low respiration and heart rate, should not be able to talk at all). While today, aspiring toastmasters and speakers consider themselves lucky if they can get through a dinner salutation without an "um" or "err," Douglas, in the Quantum Meditation™ state, dumps information on the listener in an almost non-stop, contiguous fashion, pausing only to breathe.

And for those who choose to attend a reading in person and discourse with him (they don't have to, of course), there is the disturbing phenomenon of having to interact with someone who not only knows more about most things than you do; but, to an uncomfortable degree, knows more about YOU than you do. [Often, when doing the reading with the client in the room, Douglas will demur from the written questions the client is nervously reading from, and instead move ahead, offering to answer "the question held in the mind of the questioner.”]

And finally there is the fact that Douglas, as did Cayce, handles the Quantum Meditation™ entirely in the first person plural. The explanation for this? Here is an "urban legend" popular within the para-psychological community—and one which is probably based in fact. A man spends years learning to acquire a deeper and deeper trance state to experience "freedom from attachment." One day, with his wife and friends in the room, he achieves his goal. His wife then asks him, in the trance, if he has a message for her. He opens his mouth to speak and then seems to get "stuck" with his mouth wide open. This lasts for several minutes, until his worried spouse panics and brings him out of the trance. When awake, she asks him what happened. The fellow remembers the whole event (itself fairly uncommon, as most trance practitioners do not remember anything of the experience) and explains, "I tried to say the words I LOVE YOU, but there was no word for I."

When you clear the mind of ego, there is no word for I!

In Memoriam

  • Cheri-Anne Cottrell (1968–2006)

  • Karen Cottrell (1947–2016)