Reincarnation is an old idea
The idea of reincarnation has been around from the beginnings of human culture. It is native to some human cultures comprising collectively about 14% of Earth's population including about 700 million of Hinduists, about 300 million of Buddhists, and about 25 million of Sikhs. In the Christian tradition the doctrine of reincarnation was centrally removed from the sacred books in ecumenical councils of 3rd - 6th centuries165.
One of theosophy founders, William Q. Judge writes in "Reincarnation in Judaism and the Bible" in 1894: "The lost chord of Christianity is the doctrine of Reincarnation. It was beyond doubt taught in the early days of the cult, for it was well known to the Jews who produced the men who founded Christianity." 166
Reincarnation is not a part of the mainstream religion
"Not only is reincarnation taught in Eastern religions and in occult traditions, but also in sects within Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. It is not a major doctrine in any of these religions, and it is held to be heretical by each group's orthodox teachings." 167
Judaism on Reincarnation
Judaism has the idea of reincarnation throughout the Torah, it commentaries and the Kabbalah although the fact that Judaism acknowledges reincarnation is not known to the majority of Jews and they would rather think of it as a Hinduistic idea.
"Judaism says that we get reincarnated in order to fulfill our mission in this world. So if someone did not fulfill his purpose in the world during his life time, the soul gets reincarnated in order to get another chance in doing the right thing." 168
"Kaballah, also known as the hidden teachings of Moses, can be considered the mystical heart and spiritual well spring of Judaism. It has a very long history, going back even as far as ancient Egypt. At the heart of Kaballah is the belief in reincarnation. The Zohar which is the central text of the Kaballah from mediaeval times onwards is unequivocal. In it is to be found the passage... 'The souls must re-enter the Absolute, from whence they have emerged. But to accomplish this end they must develop the perfections; the germ of which is planted in them. And if they have not developed these traits in this one life, then they must commence another, a third, and so forth." 169
Reincarnation was part of early Christianity
"Reincarnation, a tradition for centuries in the Jewish faith, as witnessed by the Kabalistic Zohar. The School of Prophets, established by Samuel, and the later School, established by Elijah at Mt. Carmel, taught reincarnation, as did the Essenes, who came from this tradition. Reincarnation was also taught by the early Christians until 325 AD, when twenty Churches met at the Council of Nicaea. Adopting the new doctrines of hell, purgatory, and the trinity, the existing references to reincarnation were changed or discarded. During this first Council, as well as at some of the later ones - especially the fifth Council of Constantinople, planned by the Emperor Theodosius I and his wife Justinian in 553 AD - entire books were removed. Belief in reincarnation was then declared to be a heresy, punishable by death. The Jews continued to teach reincarnation until 1800 AD. According to Edgar Cayce, the spirit of Jesus had previously reincarnated as Amilius on Atlantis 108,000 years ago; Adam; Enoch (also known as Thoth/Hermes); Melchizedek; Zend; Ra; …." 170
Western culture was invigorated by forgetting reincarnation
There is an idea, that the withdrawal of Reincarnation from Christian teachings was done to promote individualistic tendencies in Western culture and to invigorate negative experiences of men. If an individual believes that he lives only a single lifetime, this makes him value this life more and lessens his connection to other of his lives and thus narrows his perspective. On one hand, this seems to invigorate the individual, but on other hand, this promotes ignorance, selfishness and ecological irresponsibility.
"I was interested to read that the Druze sect in Islam, which believes in reincarnation, is today growing quite rapidly in the Middle East. One reason for this is perhaps that this particular offshoot of Islam is offering a more reasonable view of the after life. But back to the West, where once belief in the transmigration of souls was seen as the reserve for eccentrics or oddballs, these days the idea is quite commonly accepted. It is worth noting that young people, that is those in the 15 to 30 age group, are disproportionately represented in the statistics which show a growing belief in reincarnation, i.e. there exists a greater tendency among the young to subscribe to a belief in reincarnation. This trend encourages the hope that perhaps in the future, the idea of reincarnation will become the dominant doctrine concerning the nature of eternal life." Wai 171
Research
Q: What are the modern sources that support the idea of reincarnation?
A: These are hypnotic past life regressions, channeled communications, reports from contactees, remote viewers and out of body experiencers. The message about the reality of reincarnation is very consistent. It comes up very often in communications from the Other Side and is essential, central to the teachings taught to us by the celestial beings, (The Paradigm).
Even less known is the fact that Jesus referred to reincarnation few times in the Gospels and referred to the idea of reincarnation as a well understood idea of his times172. On several occasions he discussed with his students who was who in the past lives.
Glimpses into your past lives from a psychic reader
Q: I have always wondered who was I in my past lives? Is there a way to learn that?
A: The idea of past lives is well accepted in the New Age philosophy, among light workers and psychic readers. "Tell me about my past lives" - is a common question to a psychic reader. The readings on past lives can be verified by asking the same question to another psychic reader. The easiest way is to find a local psychic reader. Searching "Google Maps" or "Yahoo Local" for a "psychic" will give you plenty of local results. Comparing user reviews and user ratings allows picking better reader and prices can be found by calling. Typically prices are quite low (starting from $30 per session) since this work requires a natural gift but doesn't require education and is not regulated by any guilds like ones of psychiatrists, hypnotists or psychoanalytics. Of course if two psychic readers provide similar readings, it might also be interpreted that they read thoughts of a person instead of looking in distant past, but overall consistency of the stories suggests that good readers indeed obtain real stories from past lives.
Hypnotic regressions
Another way of peeking at past lives is hypnotic regression. In a session, a hypnotist assists an individual in getting into a hypnotized state (which may vary from fully conscious to fully unconscious) and the question - answer session is recorded, so you can review your answers at later time. In hypnotic regressions you don't rely on the medium it is you, your subconscious mind tells you about your past lives.
Much is known about past lives and life between lives.
Number of past lives varies. Some are discovering their past lives in Atlantean and Lemurian times. There is no restriction on gender of incarnations - individuals incarnate as both males and females. There doesn't seem to be much restriction on racial identity in incarnations: incarnations for each individual jump all over the planet and races without much order or affinity.
Surprisingly, there seems to be some affinity to the planet, although we are told that in recent times many extraterrestrials incarnate on Earth to experience and to be of service in the coming Shift. Also we are told that currently incarnated is the majority of souls of our Creator Gods, the Annunaki, Pleiadian, Sirian, Vegan and Lyran settlers and refugees who blended genetically with our ancestors in the distant past.
Schooling
Before diving into deeper detail of reincarnations, lets review the idea of schooling and of lessons that is the basis of the idea of reincarnation. The goal, the cause and the reason for incarnating is the need of the souls to learn.
Creation story
We are taught that by the majority of sources. The consensus story from many sources goes as follows: the Prime Creator (also called All There Is and Universal Consciousness) aimed at learning itself and divided itself into parts. (This might be likened to the beginning of the Torah and Old Testament where the Creator separated light from darkness). These parts interacted and as a result of their interaction, continued to split into smaller pieces. At some point down the road, the Creator decided to experience physical world and organized the process of making souls. The souls chop off as balls of light from a mass of light which is a part of the Prime Creator.
Soul Nursery
Amazing case records of past life regressions are collected and published by Michael Newton. Here is an amazing glimpse at the soul nursery. A client remembers:
"I remember being in a nursery of some sort where we were like unhatched eggs in a beehive. When I acquired more awareness I learned I was in the nursery world of Uras. I don't know how I got there. I was like an egg in embryonic fluid waiting to be fertilized and I sensed there were many other cells of young lights who were coming awake with me. There was a group of mothers, beautiful and loving, who pierced our membrane sacs and opened us. There were swirling currents of intense, nurturing lights around us and I could hear music. My awareness began with curiosity. Soon I was taken from Uras and joined other children in a different setting." 173
Michael Newton writes:
"The most revealing reports about soul nurseries come my way only infrequently from a very few highly advanced subjects. These are the specialists known as Incubator Mothers. The next case is a representative of this branch of service who is an exceptional level V called Seena.
Case 26
This individual is a specialist with children both in and out of the spirit world. Currently, she works through hospice with severely ill children. In her past life, she was a Polish woman who, although not Jewish, volunteered to enter a German internment camp in 1939. She did so ostensibly to wait on the officers and perform kitchen duties, which was a ruse. She wanted to be near the Jewish children entering the camp and to help them in any way possible. As a local resident of a nearby town, she could have left the camp at any time in the first year. Then it was too late and the soldiers would not allow her to leave. Eventually she died in the camp. This advanced soul might have survived longer if she had brought more than 30 percent of her energy to sustain herself during the hardships of this assignment. Such is the confidence of a level V.
Dr. N: Seena, what has been your most significant experience between your lives?
S: (without hesitation) I go to the place of ... hatching - where souls are hatched. I am an Incubator Mother, a kind of midwife
Dr. N: Are you telling me you work in a soul nursery?
S: (brightly) Yes, we help the new ones emerge. We facilitate early maturation ... by being warm, gentle and caring. We welcome them.
Dr. N: Please explain the surroundings of the place to me.
S: it's ... gaslike ... a honeycomb of cells with swirling currents of energy above. There is intense light.
Dr. N: When you say "honeycomb," I wonder if you mean that the nursery has a beehive structure, or what?
S: Um, yes ... although the nursery itself is a vast emporium without seeming to be limited by outside dimensions. The new souls have their own incubator cells where they stay until their growth is sufficient to be moved away from the emporium.
Dr. N: As an Incubator Mother, when do you first see the new souls?
S: We are in the delivery suite, which is a part of the nursery, at one end of the emporium. The newly arrived ones are conveyed as small masses of white energy encased in a gold sac. They move slowly in a majestic, orchestrated line of progression toward us.
Dr. N: From where?
S: At our end of the emporium under an archway the entire wall is filled with a molten mass of high - intensity energy and vitality. It feels as if it's energized by an amazing love force rather than a discernible heat source. The mass pulsates and undulates in a beautiful flowing motion. Its color is like that on the inside of your eyelids if you were to look through closed eyes at the sun on a bright day.
Dr. N: And from out of this mass you see souls emerge?
S: From the mass a swelling begins, never exactly from the same site twice. The swelling increases and pushes outward, becoming a formless bulge. The separation is a wondrous moment. A new soul is born. It's totally alive with an energy and distinctness of its own.
Note: Another one of my level made this statement about incubation
"I see an egg - shaped mass with energy flowing out and back in. When it expands, new soul energy fragments are spawned. When the bulge contracts, I think it pulls back those souls which were not successfully spawned. For some reason these fragments could not make it on to the next step of individuality."
Dr. N: What do you see beyond the mass, Seena?
S: (long pause) I see this beatific glow of orange - yellow. There is a violet darkness beyond, but not cold darkness ... it is eternity.
[This is maybe a closest glimpse at the God Source we have.]
Dr. N: Okay, now tell me, when you embrace each new soul-dry them out-does this give them life?
S: (reacts quickly) Oh, no. "Through us" - not "from us" - comes a life force of all - knowing love and knowledge. What we pass on with our vibrations during the drying of new energy is the essence of a beginning - a hopefulness of future accomplishment. The mothers call it "the love hug." This involves instilling thoughts of what they are and what they can become. When we enfold a new soul in a love hug it infuses this being with our understanding and compassion.
Dr. N: Does each new soul have an individual character at this point? Do you add or subtract from its given identity?
S: No, this is in place upon arrival, although the new soul does not yet know who they are. We bring nurturing. We are announcing to the hatchling that it is time to begin. By sparking its energy we bring to the soul an awareness of its existence. This is the time of the awakening." 174
Further steps
At early stages of soul formation they are directed at simple incarnations where the lessons they learn are very basic. As they learn, they start to participate in the choice of incarnations. Each soul goes on average through about 100-160 incarnations on Earth. As it accumulates the experience the style of lives becomes more and more mature. Early lives are devoted to play and learning the rules, then they are more of an adolescent style, then more adult style, finally these are lives of wisdom. After going through sufficient number of lessons on Earth, the soul moves onto a next level for which is not clear where it takes place. It may be fourth density, it is not clear.
Souls diving down
There is a very interesting image, a very poetic representation of how do souls incarnate. We don't know whether this is how it happens in reality, but it seems like a great visualization anyway, even if in reality it looks quite different. Imagine the sun and the planets spinning around it. The Earth is spinning around the Sun and around Earth's own axis which is tilted. The moon spins around the Earth. The souls ready to incarnate hang as orbs of light making a circle around the solar system and watch the Earth as it spins and pregnant women on the surface and the fetuses growing in their uteri. As the planets revolve around the sun, the astrological charts of these fetuses are being calculated and the souls choose best charts and best parents for the lessons they want to take and as time comes, they jump into fetuses they have chosen and this is the process of incarnation.
Return to the Source
The soul moves through multitude of incarnations, levels and densities until it joins back to the God. This way the God, in a sense of "All There Is", is experiencing itself in all possible ways. Our physical world is only one of many ways in which God is experiencing itself.
Darkness is inseparable
As one can see that presence of evil, darkness and destruction at our level is part of God's idea of getting all possible experiences. The darkness is therefore, we are told, an inseparable part of every being in our plane of existence.
Higher coherence
Moreover, we are told that the lessons each soul has to learn don't have to be learned in a positive, creative way. We are told that any way the soul chooses to react to the lesson is fine as long as the lesson leads to the raise of the soul vibration. Typically, the raise of vibration, we are taught, corresponds to our understanding of "good" although a raise of vibration we are told can be sometimes achieved by purification of evil as well. In either case, even if in a result of negative experience, the soul is elevated in the direction of higher harmony and coherence, it is raised in vibration.
Hostages of sensuality
Therefore it is experience that All-There-Is-God is after and the raise in vibration is clearly what the souls as after. We are, therefore, in a way, hostages of our sensual souls which are thriving on our experiences, either positive or negative.