10 minute read
Reincarnation Pt 1
Reincarnation – Experiences
By Jane Offer
The concept of many lives, reincarnation, has been my belief for as long as I can remember. It has brought me derision and a lack of understanding, even from my own mother. When asked by a client in my early 40’s, “Has she always been like this?” My mother’s reply, “Well, she’s always been odd?” It was the first time it was spoken out loud and made sense of her approach to me in childhood.
My earliest memory was of waiting for a family of two brothers and one sister and fully engaged parents, from whom I believed I had been separated. I spent hours lost in the memory I could see and feel, willing them to come and collect me and welcome me home. This of course, did not happen and as I grew older and understood the connection, the memory faded into normal thought, far and distant. I must say I look forward to reconnecting with them at some point in spirit form – who knows when!
My fascination with the Bible and the stories therein was stimulated from my first day at school. I hadn’t heard any of it before, yet I could sense a deeper meaning behind the words. I was convinced of a hidden message and that it was being ignored. That early experience was magnified aged eight by joining Sunday School. Mine was not a religious family, and I rather suspect this was the perfect way for my parents to have a peaceful afternoon, free from my constant questions.
I was obviously under the wrong impression, as the experience was short-lived. I remember the day I was sent home for entering into a ‘discussion’ with the teacher regarding the story of the feeding of the five thousand. I listened to her interpretation and offered her my ‘correct’ version. It was 1954, so a child’s opinions were not sought or welcome. Rather snippily, I thought, she asked me how I knew that. “Well, I was there!” was my reply. As you can imagine, it was not received with openness, and I was removed forthwith, never to return. Many years later, I went to Israel and stood on the spot where this event supposedly happened – a profound experience I will never forget.
This began my next step, based on my growing awareness that reincarnation was the only sensible idea to interpret the meaning of life. Science says we are the most sophisticated life form on Earth, so what would be the purpose of living a life that ended with no specific outcome, only procreation. That is the reason for animals and plants, yet for us humans? Surely there is more to it. Also, religion talks of returning to Heaven, to God, indicating to me that if we are to return there, then surely that is our place of origin. And so, the search started.
Over my life, I have engaged in diverse Past Life remembering’s:
s of Far Memory
deep meditation, inspiration flashes involving places and people, past life regression and random events that have become part of the tapestry of my physical experience. My first adventure was meeting Jenny Cockrell, author of Yesterday’s Children, recording the events from her childhood, where she remembered very detailed and intimate details of a previous life in Ireland.
Jenny spoke of her children and how, on her death, they were separated and placed in an orphanage by their father. Eventually, the BBC picked up her story and took her to the Irish village recognisable from the maps she began drawing at 6-years old. On this first visit to Ireland, the village had not changed, and its layout matched her maps exactly. The researchers also took her to Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital, where she identified the room where she died, information backed up by the hospital records. More amazingly, she met five of her children, some of whom were unaware of the existence of any siblings. She was 45 at the time, and they were well into their 80s, and as they discussed memories of their childhood with their reincarnated mother, they agreed that with her knowledge of their lives, she was who she purported to be.
This event led me to read The Search for Bridey Murphy, a book of similar past life experiences by Virginia Tighe, with details endorsed by records and people surviving from that life. Many books on Near-Death Experiences give accounts of people who have moved close to death, an experience my grandmother had way after my early explorations. Many are written by doctors and researchers, reporting on experiments concerning these events. The largest of its kind was based in Southampton University in 2008, involving 2060 patients from 15 hospitals in the UK, USA and Austria.
Books such as Life Beyond by Hans Holzer, provide evidencebased support for the reality of reincarnation, and Dr Michael Newton founded an Institute dedicated to the same principles. Whilst these are interesting, there is certain doubt cast by many on the hypothesis: Do the individuals have a religious belief in an afterlife? Is it drug-induced, as some doctors believe? Is it based on their own reading or research? These questions are largely answered by books on children having these experiences, many too young to have been externally influenced.
During this time, I came across Brian Weiss, an American psychiatrist, hypnotherapist, and prolific author who
specialises in Past Life Regression. He had no belief in reincarnation until he worked with one of his staff, who had a condition that was not responding to treatment. He suggested hypnosis, and immediately the patient began giving information that was not within her physical experience. On investigation, it became clear that she had entered the Inter-life, the place between lives. His future work became based on the knowing that reincarnation is, for him, a reality. I had the privilege of attending a seminar and again received a past life regression that healed a persistent shoulder injury influenced by a past life experience.
Past Life Regression is not to be taken lightly; it is not a game. I was lucky enough to have regressions delivered by a spiritualist minister who was also a hypnotherapist. I had two profound memories, one very short, as I was overcome by fear at what I was experiencing and he pulled me out very quickly; a situation that can still generate a vague fear. The other, minutely detailed, had me living in London with an aunt, uncle and cousin who had taken me on at the death of my parents. I was able to give details of the streets around St James Park with great accuracy, a place I had never visited. He also randomly asked for specific dates and years, which I supplied more quickly than my mathematically challenged brain could possibly calculate. Years later, I met a girl who felt we had a past life together, and she proceeded to tell the same story, from the viewpoint of the cousin, she was to me in that life. The details matched exactly, yet I had never met her or had any mutual contacts. This incident was mirrored in a deep meditation group. One of the participants apologised to me for her negative actions causing me harm in the past life she had remembered in her meditation. She told the story, and the details matched exactly what I had also seen. I had never met this lady either!
On another adventure, I volunteered for a Jewish psychiatrist who didn’t believe in reincarnation. Over several sessions under hypnosis, I told him the stories that were playing out in my mind. It was similar to watching them on a large screen, graphic and detailed but with no emotional connection to any of them: it was simply telling a story. He researched the details, which
were verified, yet they had no connection to me. This led to my understanding that the lives we remember spontaneously have a connection to the purpose of this life. Those forced are simply meaningless memories, at least for this lifetime.
The last professional regression I experienced verified the information and added much more to the Sunday School incident, some 40 years later. When I was brought back from the hypnotic state, the therapist and I were both in tears with the overwhelming feeling of peace and joy generated in the room. A random event was my final confirmation that we meet people from other lives for a purpose, and they are not necessarily close to us in this life. One day, we were driving along our street, having just left home, when I noticed an elderly lady walking slowly carrying a heavy bag. As we drew level, she dropped a £5 note. We stopped the car, and I picked it up, following her up the road. Without me calling out, she turned, looked at the note and then straight into my eyes. “You did it right this time, and the debt is paid.” Her words struck deep into my heart. Before I could reply, she turned on her heel and moved off. I looked towards the car in confusion and then back to her - she was gone – just disappeared! There was nowhere for her to go, no paths to houses, only a grassy bank leading to fields. Over the long period of my life, I have learned not to question, simply accept events such as these.
Little did I know these 40 years were a preparation for a much more impactful set of experiences, which were just about to come to light.
I’ll cover more on this in the June 2022 issue.
Jane Offer M.Msc is available for individual and couple counselling, Soul Mastery readings and facilitates classes/workshops on many metaphysical subjects. Please ring for an appointment 0431 168 027. NDIS clients are welcome.
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