During this past year I have lost three friends, my chiropractor, and my next-door neighbor.  Yesterday, another friend was admitted to the hospital in critical condition.

Losing loved ones is hard.  With each passing, our life experience is diminished and our hearts are left with one more hole that used to be filled with love for and connection to another Being.

Throughout human history, mankind has created just three theories to explain life and death. Every world religion and philosophy expresses one of these, either exactly or as a “variation on a theme.”

The first is that of the Materialist–one who believes that physical existence is the be-all and end-all to life.  Man is the highest intelligence in the universe (really) and this intelligence is contained in the human brain.  When the body dies, the brain dies, and that human being is no more.

The second is that we are souls, created at the moment of our physical birth, and meant to live-on as souls after the death of our flesh and blood bodies in the realm of spirit.  Christians believe that, depending on how good or bad we have been during one lifetime, our souls will live-on in either a state of perpetual bliss (Heaven) or eternal punishment (Hell).

The third theory is that of Reincarnation. Inherent in this worldview is the belief that each soul is a unique expression of its Creator; and, once created, can transform  but never die.  If the free-will decision of a soul is to experience physical life, it will be given the opportunity to enter into many bodies and life-experiences in order to learn, grow, and express itself until a state of spiritual “Self-actualization” is reached.  These cycles of rebirth will come to an end when we come to “Know ourselves to be ourselves and yet be one with God.” (Edgar Cayce)  “Rewards” and “punishments” come by way of experiencing the effects of all we have caused through our free-willed thoughts, words, and deeds–our karma.  Each will, eventually, attain re-union with God.

The consolation most of us cling to when losing a loved one is that we will be together again one day–in the Afterlife; or, in a future incarnation.  Only the Materialist, who believes that when our one physical life ends, “That’s it,” must deal with the added burden of realizing he or she will never–ever–be with their spouse, child, or friend again.

If you know such a one, blanket them with compassion and hold them especially close during their time of grief.

Spontaneous past life recall isn’t that rare, especially in children.  Researchers who document such events find that most occur during the toddler through middle childhood years.

To an “experiencer,” such recalls can be confusing and disorienting–at least at first. I can attest to this since I was one of these from the ages of around 4 to 10.

The first of these spontaneous recalls is still a much more vivid memory than those experienced later. I can remember nothing unusual happening to bring it about; except, perhaps, that I was away from home visiting my grandparents in Southern California.

My grandfather was pushing me on a swing and I was admiring my new red sandals as my feet reached for the sky. All at once, my shoes changed from red leather to something that looked like thin, tightly braided rope. My skin changed from white to brown and I felt myself simply step out of my “Karen body” and into “another me” who was living in a desert community in Egypt during the time the Great Pyramid of Gizeh was being built.

Others that occurred did seem to be brought on by specific occurrences.  One, of a life in China, happened while reading about a child’s life in that country during an elementary school World Cultures class. While the teacher’s words droned on, I felt the familiar sensation of  stepping into “another me.”  I was wearing a kimona, funny looking sandals on stilts, and was walking through a muddy field, just enjoying the beauty of the day while examining a silkworm cocoon.  Along with this very tactile experience came an infusion of information about China and something like a fast-forward movie which showed snippets of various lives I lived in that country.  A much later life reading expanded and filled-in the details of one of these lives–the one most relevant to my current incarnation.

Another occurred when meeting a friend of my father’s for the first time.  I immediately “saw” him in an American Indian body and “remembered” him as being my father at a different time in American history. We enjoyed an immediate rapport and, though childless in this life, he later confessed to feeling deep fatherly feelings toward me since our first meeting.

These “flashbacks” provided a major impetus for exploring the theory of reincarnation at a young age. They also gave me the extraordinary gift of knowing–without a doubt–that the human soul is immortal.  Such knowledge colored and influenced my self-perception, world view, and life direction in positive and meaningful ways. Those of us who are fortunate enough to have experienced such transcendental knowledge–especially at a young age– or, who have a child with such a gift, are blessed, indeed.

There are, of course, other ways by which to gain knowledge of your soul’s history on earth and reawaken past life memories, such as those discussed in earlier blogs.  But, if spontaneous past life recall in children interests you, a few reliable resources you might wish to use when beginning your research are:  Anything written by Dr. Ian Stevenson; research and books by Carol Bowman (www.childpastlives.org ), and Thomas Shroder’s work, Old Souls:Compelling Evidence From Children Who Remember Past Lives (Fireside, 2001).

If you’ve had past life recalls yourself, I’d love to hear about them!

I’ve received several emails from readers during the past 2 weeks on the possibility of reconnecting with a pre-deceased loved one and the difference between a soul mate and a twin soul.

With regard to the former:  Since energy never dies, just transforms; and, since Love is the most powerful “connector” of distinct energy fields, when we lose a loved one, this is just a physical separation. The spiritual bond endures and can be accessed through the heart and Mind–rather than the human brain and reason–by way of prayer, meditation, and contemplation.

A method available to access the history of your soul’s involvement with another person is to locate a licensed, professional hypnotic life-regressionist.  Personally, I wouldn’t allow myself to be hypnotized/regressed by anyone not possessing a M.D. in Psychiatry or a Ph.D. in Psychology.  When you give-over so much self-control, you want to be absolutely CERTAIN that your mind and spirit are in capable, ethical hands.  The only time I have ever experienced hypnosis was when I was in the audience, listening to a speaker who demonstrated his process with a subject on stage! Once I realized how susceptible I was to the “suggestions” of hypnotists, I resolved to never turn over so much self-control to anyone.  Yet, When I read about the work Dr. Micheal Newton has done regressing patients who were in the Theta state of consciousness, I do think I would at least consider turning myself over to someone trained in his methodology–possessing impeccable credentials and references–if ever there arose a  subject I felt a deep need to explore and could not find resolution by going within.

Another path to exploring the history of your connection with others is to obtain a Life-Reading. People who offer these refer to themselves as mystics, seers, sensitives, and, most often, psychics. “Psychic” derives form the Greek, psychikos, and simply means “of the soul.”  But, again, you should do your homework before obtaining a life reading from anyone.  Because I am positively impressed with the body of work of the early 20th century psychic Edgar Cayce, I went through the Association for Research and Enlightenment when searching for a person to do a life reading on myself.  And, when I received it–from a distance and via tape–there was no doubt in my mind that the soul history being accessed and “downloaded” from the Akashic Records was my own.  It was too detailed and specific to question; and, it was extremely edifying and helpful to me in tying together multifarious life-experiences, relationships, propensities, and past-life memories.

The subject of soul mates and twin souls is one I touch upon in my novella, Enduring Destiny, and will discuss in next week’s blog.

In the meantime, never fear! The bonds of love are strong, transcend materiality, and will only be broken if you and/or your beloved choose to break them.

Many wonder, “What proof is there that reincarnation is a ‘fact of life’?”  In Karma:How To View It, Use It, and Lose It, I refer to various organizations, individuals, and traditions that have been researching and approaching the tenets of reincarnation and karma from different starting points and perspectives–one of these being insights gleaned from individual mystics and “seers.”

I currently live in Virginia Beach, Va. which is home to Edgar Cayce’s Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.).  This is the city in which Cayce (1877-1945), one of the world’s most credible psychics, lived, gave many of his well-documented “life readings,” and where the library of these readings, Atlantic University, the Cayce-Reilly school of massotherapy, and the A.R.E. conference center are located, today.  They also run a summer camp for children, teens, families, and adults in the mountains of Virginia. Attending a weekend conference at the Beach, a week-long camp session , or exploring the Cayce readings/teachings online at: are@edgarcayce.org are all sound options if you are interested in receiving a good, reliable introduction to the subject and methodology employed to obtain life readings. Cayce gave his “Readings” by going into a trance-like state, “seeing” the person’s body, and “reading” their soul’s history from the “Akashic Records,” which I can only describe as a kind of permanent library of all that ever was located in the etheric realm.

Additional research being done to expand human knowledge about, or “prove” that reincarnation really is a fact of life, is being done in the fields of documented near death experiences (NDE’s), spontaneous past life recalls (especially by children), and hypnotic regression conducted by therapists and other licensed professionals. Each will be touched upon in future blogs and are explored more fully in my book.