View Full Version : Past lives and reincarnation...
Are you a believer? Ever have strong feelings, memories, or even tendencies, that cause you to pause for a moment, and rethink what (or who) you might have been in the past? Before this time?
Yes. There are a few people I've met who I instantly had a connection with, and believe I was connected to in a prior life. My new grand niece looked right at me at 5 days old like she already knew me. Babies aren't supposed to be able to focus at that age, but she clearly was.
I've had strange feelings like that at various times in my life. When I hear certain Spanish music, I feel almost a deep sorrow.....like I'm homesick for something. I've also felt that way a number of other times, about different countries.
fidgiegirl
12-28-11, 8:20pm
I occasionally have very strong deja vu. It's very odd . . .
IshbelRobertson
12-29-11, 5:52am
Nope!
BUT, I have an aunt who appears to have what we call 'the gift' - she 'sees' things, 'hears' them, too. She could certainly make a living as a medium - or at least that's what we say in the family!
Several years ago I broke loose of some of my simple living money for a reading by a recommended psychic. She did a reading of a few of my supposed past lives. I have to say, there were several very uncanny things that she told me about past lives that could account for my present life's interests and difficulties. I'm not sure I buy it totally, but it was interesting. Other than that, I don't know that I've have any other experiences that could say that reincarnation is valid, but it does make some sense to me.
I seem to run across those deja vu moments that are sort of wild every now and then, though I don't know if they relate to reincarnation. I do believe that there is more to what we perceive as reality than meets the eye or can be explained by science.
JaneV2.0
12-29-11, 11:55am
I told my partner years ago that I felt as if I had been incarcerated in some past life. I found out much later an ancestor of mine died in an asylum. It made me wonder about a number of things. (See Return from Heaven by Carol Bowman)
I also felt an instant connection with said partner, even though we could hardly be more different; could have been chemistry. Interestingly, I had similar feelings for a young man who could be a shirt-tail relative of his when I was in my teens.
I lean toward belief in reincarnation and found Dr. Ian Stevenson's extensive work on the subject pretty convincing, but I'm open to some other explanation, like genetic memory.
I had alot of emotional problems when I was young......one of which was a phobia about getting certain parts cut off. I thought maybe I was repressing something in my early childhood (my dad was an alcoholic and an angry man), but I also wonder if it had something to do with a past life. It just seemed like too bizarre a phobia to have just dreamed up. Then again, the mind is sooooo complex, its really hard to know what might cause what.
Deja Vu is a very interesting phenomenon. Sometimes I think its a migraine variant.
Our brains are always working, so I guess anything is possible!
pony mom
12-29-11, 10:29pm
Several years ago I tried a group past life regression class. Basically we were all sort of almost hypnotized and taken back to another life. One man said that he was a cobbler and died from a stab wound to his heart; in this life, he has a heart murmur. A woman was alone in the ocean, clinging to boat wreckage; in this life, she hates water and boats (and her late husband loved sailing and she'd go with him but was terrified).
It wasn't pleasant for me. I felt like I was very small and in a small, dark, damp space, like a boat. This boat was rocking so much, and it was so real, that I was getting physically sick. When I came out of it, I had a cold sweat and my hands were shaking. We were put under three times and I was a bit scared to do it again, but the second time, I was a man wearing sandals and a sort of short tunic and saw a tall castle-like building in the background.
I believe that I've got connections to England and/or Ireland. I've always loved anything British before I even understood that it was a different country. Irish music attracts me too. Somewhere in the past I've had to have been around horses, because no one in my family was ever interested or around them.
I've no interest at all in the Far East. Won't even try the food.
At an American Indian exhibit at Bushkill Falls, I had to leave the building. There were artifacts, clothing, even a teepee, with tribal music playing in the background. It made me so uncomfortable that I had to get out of there. There's no reason in this lifetime to feel this way, so perhaps something in another happened to me. The feeling was so strong and very upsetting.
Oh, I love everyone's stories!
Myself, seems I'm bombarded with several past life thoughts related to things that surface from time to time, like water, as I have a fear of it for the most part, and sailing, which I have always longed to do. I know it sounds silly combining the two, particularly when one considers the discomfort I feel when in or around water, but somehow I feel there's something there, because it tends to relay itself in such a distinct and acute way. So hard to discount.
Pony mom. The part about, "I believe that I've got connections to England and/or Ireland", I totally relate to. Out of all possible worldly countries to visit, the UK sits highest on the list. Such a powerful attraction to me. Everything about it.
Mighty Frugal
12-30-11, 9:51am
pony I loved reading your post about the life regression-so interesting. I am loving this thread and reading the stories.
AFM I don't believe nor do I not believe-I am open to pretty much anything and don't have any answers.
One thing happened to me when I was in my mid-20s that I found quite disturbing. Not sure if it was a glimpse into a past life or an over active imagination or what but it felt so 'real' and I felt the emotions of the person, and was 'inside her' like I could feel her breathe-YKWIM?
So, once when I was zoned out (I call it 'sleeping with my eyes open) I kind of went into a trance and saw myself-I was a woman, about same age sitting on the pasenger side of a car. We were parked at the end of a road. There was a man beside me in ther drivers side. I knew he was upset with me. I knew we had a relationship. I was trying to end it. I sat there with my head bowed and my hair covering my face like a curtain. I remember grasping for words to try to explain to this angry man why I didn't want to be with him and then he said 'well you LOOK at me when you are talking to me!' And I flung my head up, turned to him almost defiantly and said 'WHAT?'
And then poof I was back to me but as I came out I remember saying in my head 'ohmygod he killed me' but I didn't 'witness' that part or how it happened, just that little vignette and then the 'WHAT' and then poof it was gone but with the realization that I was a goner
Unsure what that was but that little 'story' has stuck in my mind for 20 years. Oh, and in this life I am as jumpy as a chipmunk and do not trust anyone 100%-I always think that maybe someone could turn around, become psycho and kill me...everyone except my mom:)
I was hoping you'd drop by for a chat about this, Mighty Frugal. So happy you did. :)
Very interesting and intriguing happenings, and spooky. I often wish that I could sit down with those who do studies and research into this, and pick their brains. I'm so fascinated by this. This, and dreams.
IshbelRobertson
12-30-11, 5:41pm
I wonder if this strong 'draw' that many former colonies' citizens have to the UK is due to the pervasiveness of the British culture around the globe when we were an Empire?
I'm an historian. I have always been amazed on some Scottish sites where people from other cultures claim 'I feel a real connection to (name your UK country here) ... Scotland etc.... I am extremely sceptical that this is not learned behaviour!
I feel strong connections with a country through it's language. I grew up in Holland close to the German border so we went into Germany a lot. At very young age I picked up on German and it came very easy to me, even that trusted feeling you have when you talk to someone of your own country, yet I was born in Holland and I was raised in the Dutch language.
Even in school, were German was mandatory, I simply loved German. I didn't get straight A's because my prenounciation just wasn't exactly right. At a later age we went skiing to Austria and there I got this flash feeling that I had been there before. It still took me two year after that -that was the first time we travelled in Austria in the summer- I was certain. When we got lost in a small village close to Tauplitz I told my friend where to go, and I had never been there before. Until we got this house and I said: 'Here is where I lived, it's the Kanning family' and we stopped. The mailbox said "Karning" so not exactly what I had felt. Can you imagine my friends staring at me in the car (it was 101 degrees and the silence yelled at me through their staring eyes).
I realized later that my German in school wasn't quite right because it was Austrian, which is not 100% same as German (even in Germany there are a lot dialects of course). I had lived in Austria in Krungl, which was just a small village back then but is now part of Bad Mitterndorf. As a woman I was married to a man that was smaller than me and we had three children. In this life I was born male but transitioned because I couldn't live like that anymore. I'm not sure if that relates to that previous life but when my body changed I dreamed more and more about how it had been in Krungl, the parade in the winter. It was only until my spouse mentioned the name of that parade because she thought it had a funny name (Nikolospiel) that I had to look it up. And yes, there it was on Google, Nikolospiel!
Two years ago I tried to get more information on this Kanning or Kranning family but that turned out to nothing. I had many dreams about how we lived there, we lived a bit up the mountain, on a street we called Gondling but I could only find Upper Gongling road and Lower Gongling road, but I'm 100% sure back then it was only Gondling. My spouse thinks it's a bit creapy when I give her the details and I can switch into that Austrian dialect easily. I am glad I had this encounter in the past, I know now that my life has a purpose. Having had children before feels like a rehearsel of parenthood. And another thing is that I can't "see" everything, but what I see always comes back as the moments that I was happy. I walked down the mountains to get milk (even when I'm typing this I am correcting myself because I type Austrian words) my children would run in front and behind me and they yelled at me. They were very happy children and when that happened I felt incredibly happy and safe. That's what I see in my dreams. But I also feel that when I am in similar situations here in Canada with my children in this life. The safe feeling comes from the knowlegde that children can scream and yell and play in the summer without the fear of causing an avalanche, which occured quite often in that area. I could probably talk for hours about this, but let's leave it at this. I plan to travel to Krungl in future and see what I can find although I don't have to be convinced that I lived there before.
Ishbel. Considering I have limited education surrounding worldly travel and wasn't at all exposed to such travel abroad as a child, this leaves much to explain in the way of my strong sense of attraction (and belonging) related to Europe. It's as if have roots, still there, and in place.
Juicifer. One word, fascinating! The mailbox event is sending shivers running up and down my spine.
pony mom
12-30-11, 11:56pm
Wow. Such amazing stories here.
One of my clients met a guy who calls himself a shaman and he told her about her past life. He said that she was very promiscuous and had a drug addiction. In this life, she isn't, but her twin sister is exactly like that. I told her that it's like in this life, she separated herself physically from that person, which became her sister. She wants me to meet this guy (he's a healer of sorts too) so maybe I'll find out things about myself.
As a child, a former coworker of mine used to build pyramids out of sand, dirt, mud, whatever was around. She thought everyone was interested in them; I mentioned that she possibly lived in Egypt in another lifetime but she doesn't believe in that stuff. I believe that we're drawn the places and things that we're most familiar with from other lives.
I've always felt at home in London. Often, tourists would ask me for directions, not knowing I was American. My facination might have started with Davy Jones of The Monkeys : )
catherine
12-31-11, 9:18am
One of the maybe silly questions I have about past lives and reincarnation is the simple mathematics of it. If there are so many more people on the earth now, are some people "new souls" vs. "old souls"? If so, where did those "new souls" come from? Lower life forms? If you go by Einstein's theory, new souls have to come from some energy source, but what? Or, do the older lives break apart when they die like pollen from a plant and so maybe we have more "cousins" than we think we do--maybe two people share the same former life?
Can someone explain that to me?
As for me, I am interested in the possibility, but I don't prescribe to it necessarily, simply because I don't pin my beliefs on any particular future. But seems kind of cool to think about. The only "past life" exploration I've done is through Ancestry.com to find out more about my great-grandparents, but I stopped when I learned that one grandfather was probably very addicted to alcohol to the point where he lost his family and his brother put him in an asylum (where many people would just get warehoused back at the turn of the century) and he lived there until he died. Meanwhile, that brother made a tone of money in real estate, had all kinds of social connections and homes, one on Riverside Drive in NY, but then was caught in an scam. It wasn't a felony, but the people he sold homes to yelled so loudly he wound up as kind of a Bernie Madoff and fled town, living the rest of his days in California. I always wondered why a branch of my family lived there, because all of the rest of us came from Connecticut/New York.
So, I stopped doing that kind of exploration. Unlike Ashley Judd, seems my relatives were not real heros.
Pony mom. The more stories I read, the more my intrigue grows, and the more questions I have. (And, of course, the more stories I want to hear).
Catherine. You've touched on something (in mentioning the whole mathematics scenario of this) that I never once gave so much as a single thought to, ever. Now I'm extra intrigued.
The multiverse seems to be infinite, and quantum mechanics suggests multiple dimensions all around us that we're oblivious to, so numbers may not matter much.
And I couldn't care less how squirrelly my ancestors were--the more colorful the better! (I just read that one of mine--a lighthouse keeper--was known for chronic diarrhea. Good grief. Just how you want to be remembered.:help:) Another one presided over witch trials. If I were you, Catherine, I'd just figuratively put the ones you don't like in a box and keep looking. Baby with the bath water, and all that.
Trying valiantly to stay on point: Rabbi Yonassan Gershon has written at least one book on reincarnation and the Holocaust that might be worth a read--especially for baby boomers.
IshbelRobertson
12-31-11, 1:58pm
Maybe it's the fact that I still live near where my family have lived since records began that I feel no affinity with this 'need' of belonging? I can wander graveyards and see evidence of my family from a few hundred years ago. I can visit homes where my family live today and where they have lived since the 1500s. I know where I come from...
While over here, we're a nation of wanderers. I'm not sure that makes much difference if what's calling you is a separate life in a separate reality. I don't know about "a need of belonging." I'm more interested in unraveling mysteries.
Not only did many of our forebears set off for a new continent, they didn't stop moving once they got here. Happy wanderers, that's us! And if we wandered through time as well, all the merrier!
Having generations all together in one place would certainly make a genealogist's job easier, though.
One of the maybe silly questions I have about past lives and reincarnation is the simple mathematics of it. If there are so many more people on the earth now, are some people "new souls" vs. "old souls"? If so, where did those "new souls" come from? Lower life forms? If you go by Einstein's theory, new souls have to come from some energy source, but what? Or, do the older lives break apart when they die like pollen from a plant and so maybe we have more "cousins" than we think we do--maybe two people share the same former life?
Can someone explain that to me?
If you are going to get into the Einstein of things, maybe time isn't linear and all souls existed in THE beginning, whenever that was or will be :-).
pony mom
12-31-11, 11:45pm
I read somewhere years ago that the people who protested Viet Nam had fought in the Civil War.
I use an animal communicator for my pets and there are a lot of stories of departed pets coming back to their former family.
There are theories that we come back to the same people to learn lessons we've missed before. These people could be related to you differently. That's why you feel an immediate connection with some people and none with others.
IshbelRobertson
1-1-12, 9:26am
Don't get me wrong - the Scots have been pioneers the world over.... just LOOK at how many of them were instrumental in founding the USA, Canada, NZ and Australia, for instance! Not even mentioning South Africa... There are mountains, lakes, plains etc all named for Scots town/cities or Scotsmen in all those countries! It's often said that the Scots are like the Jews;we wander the face of the earth!
I have lived and travelled all over the world - from Australia to Singapore to Germany to Greece to UAE - and lots of points in between. BUT, 'East, West, haim's best' is a Scottish saying that I totally agree with!
Some of my Scots ancestors--Stewarts--came to Oregon in covered wagons. Not all of them made it.
"I use an animal communicator for my pets and there are a lot of stories of departed pets coming back to their former family. "
I've read this and hope it's true. I miss my defunct cats a lot. I'm always hoping to open my front door and find one of them in some new guise.
I love this thread!
JaneV2.0. Thank you for the read recommendation. The multiple dimensions theory is totally trippy isn't it. I too, possess the nature of wanting to unravel mysteries.
Ishbel. You may be onto something. History really does have a way of cementing roots deep.
Rogar. Food for thought.
Pony mom. So very interesting.
Wow what great posts and thoughts/stories. Me, I got nothing to tell like this. Not that I would not want to feel something along this line, but nothing. Maybe I was just boring in the past lives.
The Leininger family's memoir of possible reincarnation--Soul Survivor--was pretty interesting, I thought. It seems the best clues to past lives may emerge "from the mouths of babes."
There are a couple of cheap reincarnation reads available for Kindle. I just downloaded We Are Our Ancestors and The Singer's Wife.
I can't say I'm thrilled by the prospect of having to go through repeated bouts of childhood. And surely, one adolescence is enough.
I seem to be a slow learner, so I'm probably in this thing for the long haul...
Originally posted by Ctg492.
Maybe I was just boring in the past lives.See, now I didn't at all think that, but instead, maybe you are a newcomer to this planet, starting off for the first time. :) Unlike the rest of us who have been around for generations, maybe even centuries. :laff:
Originally posted by JaneV2.0.
I can't say I'm thrilled by the prospect of having to go through repeated bouts of childhood. And surely, one adolescence is enough.
I seem to be a slow learner, so I'm probably in this thing for the long haul... I'm hoping you're wrong, because I'm a slow learner, too. My dream is that I move on (to another dimension).
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