Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives (Michael Newton's Journey of Souls Book 1)

by Michael Newton

The emotional meetings that take place between souls at this interval in a spiritual passage are only a prelude to our eventual placement within a specific group of entities at our own maturity level.

For the present, it is important we understand welcoming entities may not be part of our own particular learning group in the spirit world. This is because all the people who are close to us in our lives are not on the same developmental level. Simply because they choose to meet us right after death out of love and kindness does not mean they will all be part of our spiritual learning group when we arrive at the final destination of this journey. For instance, in case 6, Uncle Charlie was clearly a more advanced soul than my subject and even may have been serving in the capacity of a spiritual guide. It was evident to me that one of the primary tasks of Uncle Charlie’s soul was to help case 6 as a child in the life just ended, and his responsibility continued right after my subject’s death.

As souls there are periods in our existence when we are more inclined toward one gender than another. Eventually, this natural preference evens out.

When you look into a certain person’s eyes on the ground—even people you have just met—and see a light you have known before . . . well, that tells you something about them. As a human you don’t know why, but your soul remembers.

Is it possible for souls to have private conversations that cannot be telepathically picked up by others? S: (pause) For intimacy, yes. Dr. N: How is this done? S: By touch. It’s called touching communication. Note: When two spirits come so close to each other they are conjoined, my subjects say they can send private thoughts by touch, which passes between them as electrical sound impulses. In most instances, subjects in hypnosis do not wish to talk to me about these personal confidences.

It is true that some people are convenient and receptive conduits for negative spirits who wish to express their querulous nature. This means that someone who is in a deep meditative state of consciousness might occasionally pick up annoying signal patterns from a disincarnate being whose communications can range from the frivolous to provocative. These unsettled entities are not spiritual guides. Real guides are healers and don’t intrude with acrimonious messages.

Dr. N: What do you know about this entity? What happened after this soul returned to the spirit world following that life? S: He had hurt a girl . . . terribly . . . and did not rejoin our group. There was extensive private study for him because he did so poorly while in that body. Dr. N: What was the extent of his punishment? S: Punishment is a wrong interpretation . . . it’s regeneration. You have to recognize this is a matter for your teacher. The teachers are more strict with those who have been involved with cruelty. Dr. N: What does “more strict” mean to you in the spirit world? S: Well, my friend didn’t go back with us—his friends—after this sad life where he hurt this girl. Dr. N: Did he come through the same spiritual gateway as yourself when he died? S: Yes, but he did not meet with anybody . . . he went directly to a place where he was alone with the teacher. Dr. N: And then what happened to him? S: After a while . . . not long . . . he returned to Earth again as a woman . . . where people were cruel . . . physically abusive . . . it was a deliberate choice. My friend needed to experience that. Dr. N: Do you think this soul blamed the human brain of his former host body for hurting the girl? S: No, he took what he had done back into himself . . . he blamed his own lack of skill to overcome the human failings. He asked to become an abused woman himself in the next life to gain understanding . . . to appreciate the damage he had done to the girl. Dr. N: If this fr...

The price we pay for our misdeeds and the rewards received for good conduct revolve around the laws of karma. Perpetrators of harm to others will do penance by setting themselves up as future victims in a karmic cycle of justice. The Bhagavad Gita, another early Eastern scripture that has stood the test of thousands of years, has the following passage: “Souls of evil influence must redeem their virtue.”

The key to growth is understanding we are given the ability to make mid-course corrections in our life and having the courage to make necessary changes when what we are doing is not working for us. By conquering fear and taking risks, our karmic pattern adjusts to the effects of new choices. At the end of every life, rather than having a monster waiting to devour our souls, we serve as our most severe critic in front of teacher-guides. This is why karma is both just and merciful. With the help of our spiritual counselors and peers, we decide on the proper mode of justice for our conduct.

S: For me . . . it is the vessel of healing. Dr. N: Give me as much detail as possible about what you experience here. S: I’m propelled in, and I see a bright warm beam. It reaches out to me as a stream of liquid energy. There is a . . . vapor-like . . . steam swirling around me at first . . . then gently touching my soul as if it were alive. Then it is absorbed into me as fire, and I am bathed and cleansed from my hurts. Dr. N: Is someone bathing you or is this light beam enveloping you from out of nowhere? S: I am alone, but it is directed. My essence is being bathed . . . restoring me after my exposure to Earth.

S: By reaching into . . . my being. I’m so tired from my last life and with the body I had. Dr. N: Are you saying the ravages of the physical body and the human mind leave an emotional mark on the soul after death? S: God, yes! My very expression—who I am as a being—was affected by the brain and body I occupied. Dr. N: Even though you are now separated from that body forever? S: Each body leaves . . . an imprint . . . on you, at least for a while. There are some bodies I have had that I can never get away from altogether. Even though you are free of them, you keep some of the outstanding memories of your bodies in certain lives.

Dr. N: Does the shower have the same effect upon everyone? S: (pause) When I was younger and less experienced, I came here more damaged—the energy here seemed less effective because I didn’t know how to use it to completely purge the negativity. I carried old wounds with me longer despite the healing energy.

who is always ready to work with you as long as you continue to try. When you don’t, everything remains stationary in your development. Nothing can be hidden by students from their spiritual teachers. No subterfuge or deception exists in a telepathic world.

Dr. N: Why are you going to see Clodees now? S: I am going to have to make some kind of . . . accounting . . . of myself. We go through this after all my lives, but this time I’m really in the soup. Dr. N: Why? S: Because I killed myself. Dr. N: When a person dies by suicide on Earth, does this mean they will receive some sort of punishment as a spirit? S: No, no, there is no such thing here as punishment—that’s an Earth condition. Clodees will be disappointed that I bailed out early and didn’t have the courage to face my difficulties. By choosing to die as I did means I have to come back later and deal with the same thing all over again in a different life. I just wasted a lot of time by checking out early. Dr. N: So, no one will condemn you for dying by suicide? S: (reflects for a moment) Well, my friends won’t give me any pats on the back either. I feel sadness at what I did. Note: This is the usual spiritual attitude toward suicide, but I want to add that those who escape from chronic physical pain or almost total incapacity on Earth by killing themselves feel no remorse as souls. Their guides and friends also have a more accepting view toward this motivation for suicide.

The painful emotional memories from our past do not die as easily as our bodies.

What more would you have me do? You didn’t reach far enough inside yourself. I placed thoughts in your mind of temperance, moderation, responsibility, original goals, your parents’ love—you ignored these thoughts and were stubborn to alternative action.

Dr. N: (I move my subject into the present while she remains in the superconscious state) Let me understand your reason for choosing to be a woman in this life. You wanted to help the same sort of people who you were unable to help as a man in your previous life—is this correct? S: (sadly) Yeah, but it’s not the best way. It’s not working out for me like I thought. I’m still too strong and macho. Energy is pouring out of me in the wrong direction. Dr. N: What wrong direction? S: (wistfully) I’m doing it again. Misusing people. I chose the body of a woman who is intimidating to men, and I don’t feel like a woman. Dr. N: Give me an example. S: Sexually and in business, I’m in the power game again . . . pushing aside principles . . . getting offtrack as before. (as Ross) This time I manipulate real estate deals. I’m too interested in acquiring money. I want status. Dr. N: And how does this hurt you, Hester? S: The influence of money and position is a drug to me, as it was in my last life. My being a woman now has done nothing to change my desire to control people. So . . . stupid . . . Dr. N: Then do you think your motivations were wrong in choosing to be a female? S: Yes, I do feel more natural living as a man. But I thought as a woman this time around I would be . . . more subtle. I wanted this chance to try again in a different sex, and Clodees let me take it. (client slumps down in her chair) What a blunder. Dr. N: Don’t you think you are being a little hard on yourself, ...

Most of my subjects select the bodies of one gender over another 75 percent of the time. This pattern is true of all but the advanced souls, who maintain more of a balance in choosing to be men and women.

Regardless of the circumstances that lead souls to make gender choices, this decision was made before arriving on Earth. Sometimes I find that gay people have chosen in advance of their current lives to experiment with a sex that was seldom used in former lives. Being gay carries a sexual stigma in our society that presents a more difficult road in life. When this road is chosen by one of my clients, it can usually be traced to a karmic need to accelerate personal understanding of the complex differences in gender identity as related to certain events in their past.