Exploring Past Lives by Anita Burns
"There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." When William Shakespeare wrote those intriguing words, he probably had no idea that modern humans would try to prove them.
Interest in the supernatural and paranormal has rushed into our lives
like ants in a summer kitchen since the turn of the 21st century.
Anything hinting at what may be "behind the veil" or at all connected
with powers of the mind, is gobbled up and relished, even by otherwise
conservative individuals. It seems also, any religion or philosophy
having its roots in ancient history is touted as "truth. They all
differ in approaches but the one common thread through most
"metaphysical" studies is the theory of reincarnation and karma (the
law of cause and effect).
Karma, is a complex theory, and has many definitions. Basically,
it can be described as a universal plan by which a soul, created
from "God," or the "cosmos," is sent, or descends into the
physical world to live, die, and live again and again. With each
life, the soul betters itself, reaching higher and higher levels of
awareness until it reaches a point of perfect harmony with the highest
spiritual forces, i.e. God, or the universal principle. At that time,
the soul has a choice to join the universal principle or incarnate
again to help others on their path.
Karma is a universal law which states that what you think and
feel; what you do in a lifetime has consequences and effects. If
you commit an act of violence in one lifetime and don't "pay" for it,
the next life will bring circumstances to help you even the score and
learn from your mistake. For more information about reincarnation and
the laws of karma, there are hundreds of good books published that can
go into infinite detail. Since there is no "scientific proof" about
reincarnation, it, like religion, must be taken on faith and an inner
knowing of what is truth for you.
Most of the world's population has a belief in reincarnation and the
laws of karma. Only a few religions teach that we only have one shot at
perfection. Even Christianity once held a belief in reincarnation. Many
Christians still believe that Jesus preached about karma. And,
there are many passages in the Bible that can be interpreted as having
a reincarnation message. St. John said "Verily I say unto thee, except
a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." Matthew
states "But I say unto you that Elias is come already and they knew him
not. Then the diciples understood that he spake unto them of John the
Baptist." He also says, when speaking of John the Baptist, "For
all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will
receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come." Revelations
13:10 says "He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he
that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the
patience and the faith of the saints." There are many more
passages, but as with all things in the Bible, and indeed in most
scriptures, they can be interpreted many different ways.
Whether you belong to an organization teaching reincarnation or not,
exploring past lives is an enlightening experience. And, there are many
ways to do so. Psychic readings are one method. Psychics are
gifted individuals who either use their own psychic ability, spirit
guides, or the Akashic records to view your past lives. Akashic
records, also called the Akasha, or Akashic library, is believed to be
a universal recording center in the cosmos. Each person is said to have
a 'file' with a 'record' of all his or her lives. The psychic 'reads'
these records. You can also have a psychic read images in your
aura. It is a common belief among psychics that your aura is not
only an energy field of psychic light and color revealing thoughts,
feelings, and health, but carries images of all your previous
incarnations as well.
Astrology is a popular method for finding out about past lives. By
astrological calculation, a birthchart of your last life can be made.
This is supposedly an accurate picture of that personality and the
influences that beset you during that time. A good astrologer can
also predict the most likely chart for your next life.
Hypnosis is one of the most sought after methods for knowing your past
lives. Perhaps this is because you actually see and experience
your past lives as real memories. This can be a most convincing and
dramatic experience. Under hypnotic past life regression, people have
been reported to speak in dead languages, or languages in which that
had no prior knowledge. Some have recalled, in detail, a skill or
profession they had no way of knowing. Hypnotic regression works better
for some people than for others.
There are ways to enhance your past life experience in hypnosis, or
your past life readings from psychics or astrologers. By putting
together the clues about your past lives that are present in your
current life, you get a richer, fuller, and more convincing experience.
Most of us don't consciously remember our past lives. Most of us
don't remember being six months old, that doesn't mean we weren't. If
all the memories of our past lives were with us, we would have so much
jumbling around in our heads, it would be difficult to think clearly.
Instead, we are left with impressions, reactions, feelings, unexplained
preferences, and hunches to help us learn from our past.
The first place to examine for clues is your dreams. Very often,
memories of a past life are revealed in dreams. Keeping a dream
diary helps to recognize the everyday dreams from glimpses of past
lives. Unlike other types of dreams, past life dreams are not
experienced in symbols. They can be true and accurate subconscious
memories. By learning to interpret the symbols in our nightly
adventures, you are able to distinguish the symbolic dreams from the
past life memory dreams.
Next, examine the people in your life. Think of people you have met and
immediately disliked-for no apparent reason. You may be illogically
drawn to these people or unexplainably repulsed by them. You may
distrust them for no know reason, or fear them. You probably had a
negative past life encounter with these people. You may have carried
over an emotion about these people from past lives and haven't let go
of it or balanced the karma. You will continue to meet this person in
each life until your karma is neutralized.
On a more pleasant note, think of people in your life you instantly
liked or loved. You are immediately attracted to some people before
they utter a single word to you. These may be souls you have had
positive encounters with in past lives. The closer and stronger the
relationship in the past, the stronger the attraction in you present
life. These people will most likely have some of the same strong and
unexplained likes and dislikes you have.
There are also love/hate relationships, which may also have karmic
origins. You may have made an agreement to bond with another person to
work out some difficult karma. This is sometimes a last resort by
the soul to make us face an unpleasant situation for learning and
balancing karma. Often these relationships come in the form of close
family ties.
We all have strong and unexplained likes and dislikes. Consider any
attraction you may have for a particular country or culture. If you
have, for example, a fascination for ancient Egypt, or a deep love of
Italy, or you collect anything depicting old Holland, it's a good guess
that you spent satisfying times there in past lives. It's only been
recently that people have become extremely mobile, moving around from
one place to the next with ease. In the past, people generally stayed
in one place their whole lives, forming deep bonds with the culture and
the land.
To explore further, analyze your feelings about these places more
carefully. Are you attracted to just one part of the country?
What time period do you find most alluring? Do you find life as a male
or female in that country holds more interest for you? What crafts,
trades, or interests do you like about those places? Make a list
of these, and any other items you can think of, and a pretty clear
picture of the positive side of that life will appear.
All of our lives, unfortunately, weren't satisfying and happy.
Sometimes you are repelled or uncomfortable about a certain country or
culture. It is likely you led an unhappy or tragic life there.
Explore your feelings about this in the same way you did about your
preferential country or culture. Make a list of what particularly
bothers you. This may not be as pleasant a task, but it will help you a
great deal helping you to let go of a lot of bad feelings you have no
present reason to have. Once you realize your personal feelings are
caused by something that is not a part of your life now, you can work
through it and let it go.
A more pleasing exploration is in the area of personal talents. It has
been said that all people have a talent, even if it is undeveloped.
That may be true, but what makes you want to develop it? A talent is an
intense interest in, and complete comprehension of, any subject. This
can occur at any age, but a true karmic talent is often discovered in
childhood. If you were a wiz-kid at math, or played the violin like
Stravinsky at six or seven, or put on ice skates for the first time and
took off as if you were born in them, you are carrying over interests
and accomplishments form past lives. Even if your talent is a mediocre
one, it can indicate a carry-over from a past life. Perhaps you paint
fairly well, or have an above average mechanical aptitude. You
may be a good marksman, or equestrian. The stronger the talent, the
more lifetimes you've probably spent developing it. Just as in this
life, practice improves your skill at whatever you are striving to
develop. Practice throughout many lives keeps improving your talent.
For example, if you first picked up a paintbrush in the year 1440 and
just dabbled in it, not being very good but enjoying yourself
nevertheless, in your next incarnation, you may also paint. This time
you are above average, but not an overly talented painter. With each
successive lifetime that you paint, you get better and better until you
are no longer considered a painter, but an artist. The effects are
cumulative, even if you don't paint in each lifetime.
Once you reach perfection in a skill, you have the choice of continuing
it or dropping it altogether to develop something else. Examine your
skills and talents to get another piece of your past life puzzle.
Now ask yourself if there are any subjects, countries, cultures, and so
forth, you have no strong feelings about. If you haven't guessed
already, these probably are areas you never explored in past lives, or
have no karma left with. So, if you draw a blank when it comes to
mathematics or art, it is likely you were never a mathematician or an
artist, or you are completely finished with it. With the latter, it's
sort of a "been there, done that" attitude. For the former, you may yet
develop an interest in these areas, but your past lives have been
occupied with other things.
Anything in your personality in the way of likes, dislikes, interests,
positive and negative feelings, and such may be carry-overs from past
lives. These are things you cannot attribute to environment,
upbringing, or genetics. These are karmic inheritances, brought with
you from past lives.
There are also physical traces of past lives. Birthmarks, unless
inherited from bloodlines, can be signs of a wound from a previous
life. For example, a small white birthmark on your back may indicate a
bullet, arrow, or spear wound. A large, irregular birthmark may
indicate a severe burn. A long, thin birthmark could have been
inflicted by a knife. You carry these reminders with you until you work
out the negative karma by balancing the karma between the person or
persons who gave you the wound.
Example:
Ms. Smith had a recurring dream seeing herself running down a narrow,
winding staircase. She was panic stricken in her dream. Someone was
chasing her, but she was never able to see who it was. She was
somewhere near the sea. She knew that, if she were caught, she would be
killed. She appeared to be a child of about thirteen years old, with
long, blond braids. She was wearing a peasant's dress from the era of
around the mid 1700's in Holland.
After keeping a dream diary for about a month, Ms. Smith was able to
see that this dream didn't fit into any of the symbolism present in her
other dreams. She has always had an attraction for Holland of that
era. She has always had an attraction for the ocean and paints
pictures of seascapes. She doesn't like being in the water, but loves
to watch it. She has a fear of putting her face in water. She is also
uncomfortable in high, tight fitting collars. They give her a
feeling of choking and suffocation. These feelings appeared to her at
about the age of thirteen. From these clues, Ms. Smith put together the
pieces of her past life in Holland. She apparently lived a happy
childhood in a village near the sea. Tragedy struck her family when she
was about thirteen. She was running from her murderer, trying to hide.
But, in the end, she was caught, strangled and drowned. These pieces of
her life triggered other feelings and memories that were brought out in
dreams. She had witnessed her murderer kill a prominent political (or
royal) figure (she also has an aversion to anything connected to
politics). She was sought out and murdered so her story would never be
revealed.
Ms. Smith has confirmed the details of this life with astrology and
past life regressions. The experience has helped her understand her
fears and let them go. She has been able to balance the karma with her
murderer by forgiving him. Now, she won't have to meet him in another
life.
Going through these steps is an adventure into your inner self.
Make it as fun and enjoyable as possible. Utilize all the available
tools such as psychic readings, regressions, dreams, and
astrology. Put the pieces together and learn about your past for
the betterment of your future.
Suggested reading:
Encyclopedia of Occultism by Lewis Spence
The Windows of Tarot by F.D., Graves
The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception by Max Heindl
Autobiography of a Yogi by Parmahansa Yogananda
Psychic Healing Book by Amy Wallace and Bill Henkin
The Search for Bridey Murphy
The Search for the Girl with Blue Eyes by Jesse Stearn
Sigmund Freud on Dreams by Sigmund Freud
Seeing with the Mind's Eye by Mike Samuels, M.D. and Nancy Samuels
Grist for the Mill by Ram Dass