The Afterlife: Life Between Lives and Past Life Studies

Of all the things I have studied and experienced during my lifelong search for truth and understanding about who we are, where we came from and what our purpose is here on the earth plane, this work has been the most transformative for me. The study of past lives or reincarnation goes hand in hand with life between lives examination. Evidence of these two provocative and intriguing topics was inadvertently discovered, for the most part, by people who did not believe in the existence of either. The two people who seemed to have had the most impact on this area of research and on me are Dr. Brian Weiss, MD, a traditional psychotherapist, and Dr. Michael Newton, PHD, a traditional counseling psychotherapist and master hypnotist. Dr. Weiss’s book, Many Lives, Many Masters, is groundbreaking regarding past life regression and I highly recommend reading it. Dr. Michael Newton took Weiss’s work a step further to include not only past life regression, but he also developed a technique that allowed him to take his clients into and even deeper level of trance, called the superconscious, to access memories of our time spent in between lives. Therefore, I will reference only the work of Dr. Michael Newton exclusively.

I will never forget the day I started reading Journey of Souls, by Michael Newton many years ago. I opened his book in the early morning hours, as my husband and I were having coffee on the patio behind our home on a beautiful summer day. Almost immediately I knew I had discovered and was about to access a huge portion of my lost soul memories. With every word my inner world opened wider revealing a wonderous journey I knew I had taken many times; the journey of my soul from physical birth, death, rebirth into spirit, and again being born into the physical world. I sat in the same spot hour upon hour, and just as the sun was beginning to set, I finished reading Journey of Souls, and my life since then has never been the same. While reading Newton’s decades long research and documentation of not only what happens when we die, but what happens when we fully cross over and enter the afterlife, I was overcome with emotion and gratitude. I knew I had finally found the ethereal key to unlock the lost memories that were swirling just under the surface of my conscious and subconscious mind. With every case Newton shared about what happens during our time in between lives, I felt a familiarity and remembrance. I knew I had been there many times and I remembered how beautiful and peaceful it is. It is a great honor to be sharing this information with you. I hope I can do it justice and that it will be as life altering for you as it was, and still is for me.

Michael Newton used hypnosis in his practice to help patients go back in time and, for example, to return to the root cause of pain, phobias, or to heal trauma from childhood. Being a certified hypnotist myself, I can tell you that undergoing hypnosis is very much like meditation. The induction part of hypnosis where we are guided into a deep trance is much like a guided meditation. You are aware of where you are and what is happening and can come out of hypnosis any time you wish. The difference in hypnosis is once you are in a trance you can be given suggestions to help you lose weight, for example. In Newton’s work, once a client was in the deepest level of altered consciousness, he was able to have his clients report to him what they saw and experienced in the afterlife. Early in his practice, Newton was traditional in his approach to therapy and had no interest in metaphysics, including past life regression or the afterlife. He was also not spiritual or religious. However, while using hypnosis regression to bring a man back in time during this life to find the source of chronic pain in his side, the man inadvertently not only slipped into a deep trance state, but he moved beyond this life to a past life where he was a soldier who was killed by a bayonet in the very place that he was experiencing pain. That discovery led to the complete elimination of the man’s pain. That was the beginning of Newton’s research into past life regression. However, it was not long before another person, a woman, who was suffering from unexplained feelings of loneliness, spontaneously slipped into the afterlife, or life between lives, and discovered her soul group there. They had not incarnated with her during this lifetime, and she missed them terribly. Discovering the source of her loneliness enabled her to begin to live a much more productive and purposeful life. I will explain what a soul group is in just a bit.

We have already discussed some near-death experiences, which for most, proves to us that there is an afterlife. Yet, coming close to death is not actually dying because we come back to our present life. One can only go so far. Michael Newton’s research took the journey further by developing a specific hypnosis procedure that guided his patients into that super conscious state where they were able to access memories of being fully on the other side. Sometimes, immediately after death a spirit is not ready or willing to move away from earth and enter the afterlife. They may be worried about their loved ones and want to make sure they are ok. People who have died suddenly or brutally may be confused and not sure they are dead. They may need a bit longer to move on but eventually they do.

When we cross fully into the afterlife, we are usually met, in what Newton calls The Gateway, by a loved one, a spirit guide, an angel or another being of light. This helps us feel more comfortable and peaceful as we reorient ourselves back into our true home. Young souls may take longer to make the transition. Older souls often do not even need to be met by anyone. They know exactly what to do and where to go because they have made this journey many times before. If one’s life has been extremely difficult a soul may need a period of recovery or restoration before they can move beyond the gateway and travel further within the afterlife to their soul group. We may spend some time with our guide going over the life we just lived and experiencing both the good and the bad choices we made and how they may have affected others or the earth. People like Hitler or Osama Bin Laden will most likely be isolated until they can come to understand the consequences of such a life and prepare to reconcile the karma they incurred by their behavior. Newton’s research has given no indication that hell, in its description of everlasting suffering, exists in the afterlife. Souls, however, must balance karma if they want to evolve and sometimes that can lead to a sort of hell on earth. Yet, it is always the soul’s choice to accept such a life. It is not considered punishment and there appears to be no judgement in the afterlife except perhaps, self-judgement of a newly returning soul who feels he or she may have failed in accomplishing their life purpose. He also found that no souls are ever destroyed. We are energy and energy cannot be destroyed, but it can be reconfigured if a soul continues to spend many lifetimes in cruelty and destructive behavior.

Our guides play an essential role in our lives both here on earth and in the afterlife. Spirit guides are souls who have lived many lifetimes and have evolved to a point where they are entrusted with younger souls to help them on their journey lifetime after lifetime. Everyone has a spirit guide. We may wish to contact our guide or not. Either way, we receive information from our guide all the time through our thoughts and our imagination. Whether we are aware of them or not they are always there and are completely dedicated to the development of our soul. Many yeas ago, I wanted to know the name of my guide. I entered a deep meditative trance and asked for my guide’s name. In my mind’s eye I saw the letters KAMA. It was unusual and weird, and I was disappointed. I wanted it to be … well, anything except KAMA. Nevertheless, that is what I received, and I wondered if it meant anything. I took a huge unabridged dictionary and looked up KAMA. It said, “In ancient Hindu mythology KAMA is the god or goddess of love.” I was suddenly ecstatic. “That is so cool,” I thought. “My guide is all about love. I can’t do any better than that.” KAMA has been with me and has helped me many times in my life. He often comes through in my journaling when I am having difficulty understanding the lessons within some of my challenges. Our guides are also an important part of our reorientation to the afterlife especially if the life we just lived was difficult or traumatic.

Once any restoration or healing of energy is completed a soul moves further and is reunited with its soul family. Souls created alongside other souls creates our soul family. There are other soul families who are connected to us as well and they are called soul clusters, according to what was explained to Newton many times during case studies. We may continuously incarnate with souls from these clusters. We also connect with like minded souls or souls with similar interests which forms a sort of study group where we hone our skills. Your soul groups and clusters do not necessarily include people who were part of your family and friends while on earth, though many times they do. Our energy and vibration shift as we mature and evolve. If we are not at the same level of maturity as our mother, for example, we will not be in her soul group, nor would we want to be, though we may visit each other. If we evolve more quickly than others in our study group, for example, we may move on to a more mature group whose energy and vibration lines up with ours.

The last thing I would like to discuss is that understanding the bigger picture and the entire journey of our souls makes living on this dense, confusing, and often violent planet a bit easier. It helps us be more compassionate toward souls who are not behaving particularly loving or kind. We do not know their entire history or the reasons they are behaving the way they are. We also begin to view our time here as if we are attending a most difficult school. Yet, if we work hard, awaken, and evolve, we will eventually graduate and perhaps be given the opportunity to help other souls who are taking the journey a few steps behind us yet on the same path.

There are many other things I would like to discuss regarding this topic, like the library and akashic records, the council of elders and the hall of prebirth planning where we gather with other souls to plan our next incarnation, which I have personally experienced. In Newton’s second book, Destiny of Souls, he discusses how we spend our leisure time, for example, by socializing, playing games and visiting the earth plane, other planets and realms. However, this blog is already a bit lengthy. I will save those topics for another time and I would appreciate it if you would let me know if you would like to discuss this information further.

I hope this dialogue has more than piqued your interest and that you pick up a copy of Michael Newton’s book and enter a new world of enhanced possibility. In this sacred space you will most likely experience a higher consciousness, an awakening, and the ability to reach beyond the physical plane to the nonphysical where you can perceive things you cannot see, hear, touch or sense with your five human senses.

Please take with you that it is not my intention ever to convince anyone of anything. I am simply sharing what I have learned and have come to understand and believe. I think each of us has the intuitive ability to decide for ourselves if something we hear, read, or experience is something that can or might be useful in our life and is thus worth exploring further. I offer my words, my thoughts, and love without any expectations except perhaps, that you may feel my soul’s intention to be of service.

Namaste! In other words, the divinity in me recognizes the divinity in you.