The Path of the Soul

Nothing so glamorous as what the title says, but it did give me a few goosebumps nevertheless.

I was in the middle of Reincarnation by Roy Stemman and also watching with an eye one of the funny episodes of Boston Legal. I'm not sure which season it is or which episode (we're a bit behind the US when it comes to broadcasting the latest), but it was when the two main characters were sitting at their usual balcony spot with their usual cigars and drinks in their hands. So Allen asks suddenly Danny 'Do you believe in reincarnation?' and then they have a short - silly - discussion on the subject. I got goosebumps.

I know that these kinds of coincidences happen quite often with everybody, but let me just say that I haven't touched a book on reincarnation in almost a year now. However I just felt like suddenly wanting to read on the subject again, and this is not like a fantasy or romance novel that you pick up whenever you feel like. Thus it was rather a big thing for me to pick up a book on this very subject.

Now is this coincidence or synchronicity? Goosebumps they were...

A while ago I posted on my jewelry blog about my roots as a szekey. And although I don't regret it, I did get to change my views recently on the whole idea.

I'm reading now The Return of the Revolutionaries, a massive book choke full of cases of reincarnation and also with the author's insights about reincarnation, about the organized religion, and similar issue. While reading this book, I started to see various things from a different perspective. The popping up cases for reincarnation are so many that one can really no longer ignore them. Ian Stevenson's thorough research, Brian Weiss's hypnosis regression sessions, Carol Bowman's experiences with hers and other children, Jenny Cockell's memories even since she was a kid of a past life of Mary Sutton who died too early and left behind 8 children in Ireland - all this verifiable after years and years of research, down to the smallest detail, all these are just too big to ignore this major issue any loner.

The author of The Return of the Revolutionaries has a point when he says that it's all moot, putting one's roots above others is wrong, simply because in each new incarnation we will come back in another community, another environment, to another group of people. While in one life I might be a white Christian, in the next life I might be a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Mormon in America. So what does all this prove? It proves that we're equal no matter where we were born in this lifetime. Nobody is superior to another, no society, group of people is more than others.
Plus refering to my particular post, even if my 'roots' are szekely, that doesn't really say anything, because my soul might have been just in my previous life an Arab in Saudi Arabia for all I know, with a completely different family, or a Hindu in India. In that life Szekely didn't really matter, just as in my next life it won't matter anymore either.
The post is good in explaining one about what szekely is in the history of its development, but not in explaining my personal roots. While I'm living on Earth through all my incarnations, I'm human, no more, no less than that.

I've just finished reading The Unbelievable Truth by Gordon Smith and I quite liked it. He is a famous medium in the UK and I had his books on my wishlist for a while now.

He writes about how he became a medium, the book it's sort of an autobiography, but he also writes about other subjects and what he thinks about them, about myths on life after death, heaven and hell, ghosts, altered states, reincarnation, etc. I particularly liked the chapter on reincarnation, and he rebuffed some myths about it. He also warns about some the so-called psychics who tell their 'customes' that they were previously Cleopatra or Napoleon, etc. Then ironically he adds 'why they don't tell anyone they were street sweepers in the 1920s' I really liked his dry sense of humour throughout the book.

He went on to describe a flashback he had when he went over to France to a small town and he knew exactly where the pubs were, where the church was, etc. And he says he has never been abroad before in his life. This description was just like many experiences described by regular people who remembered past lives in the PL forum.

He wrote about Carol Bowman's experience with her children, and mentioned her book as well. I was smiling as I was reading that part.
He also mentioned Ian Stevenson and Brian Weiss.

Although the chapter on reincarnation is only about 20 pages or so, I found myself nodding in several places while reading this, actually I was nodding through pretty much all of his book

If you want to read this book, you can get it here: The Unbelievable Truth - Gordon Smith

I've started watching this tv series (which I think in the US is already canceled, like all the good tv series, keeping instead the mindless reality shows), and it's pretty good so far.
Basically there is this guy, a cop, who wakes up one day just to end up in prison, as he is framed for killing a district attorney. He gets to see his girlfriend shot and his sister and her son almost abducted. And then the day ends.
Next day he wakes up, and has a deja-vu feeling that he's been here before, he's heard the same words from his girlfriend for a morning greeting, etc, only to discover that he is actually reliving the same day. He tries this time for a different approach, but still, he ends up seeing his girlfriend getting shot, etc, etc, and he wakes up...and the story goes on.
However after a few episodes he realises that running away won't solve anything, because come the night, he falls asleep, he'll wake up again reliving the very same day. So he tries instead to solve the murdery mystery on his own. For example, there is a post box that he needs to get to as there's a package for him. One 'day', he gets there but it's too late, the package is no longer there. So he says 'no problem, I'll get tomorrow earlier here'. His girlfriend, of course looks puzzled as to what he means.
With every new episode, he puts together more and more pieces of the puzzle, tries new tactics and comes closer to solving the case.
Which made me think of reincarnation, past lives.
They say we come back again and again to learn new lessons, try new 'skins', until we finally get it right and the puzzle is solved.
Every time we come back, even though we don't remember consciously our past lives (although there are ways to remember, through meditation, dreams, hypnosis or even spontaneously), we do carry with us what we have learned from a previous life, the knowledge is there, in us. All those gifts and talents that many of us have in all aspects of life, are there because we have already learned them in a previous life. Have you ever touched a violin, or a guitar, or a pencil and paper, or tried to sing, only to realize that this particular art comes so natural and easy to you, while you do have to struggle to learn all the others.
For me it's making jewelry using silver wire, and also learning languages, particularly one, German. I've lived in Germany close to 2 years and I speak, read and write the language quite well, without having gone to a German school. However I've been living in Cyprus for over 12 years now, and do you think I speak the language? Very very broken, and I'm reading like a second grader. And don't even ask me about writing *grins*.
So why couldn't I learn Greek in 12 years while I've learned German in less than 2 years? I'm reading German novels just like English, sometimes I don't realize the difference in language, I'm that fluent. My grammar might not be proper, since I'm lacking formal education, but give me one week in a German speaking country, and I'll even pick up and speak with the right accent.
It makes one wonder, doesn't it?

In a nutshell, the book is about a Captain in the Indianapolis Police Department called Bob Snow, a very down to earth, no-silly type of person, for whom anything 'spiritual' is something not to spend or waste time on.

Due to some strange circumstances, he ended up one day making an appointment with a past live regression therapist. Highly skeptical, he kept putting off this appointment until eventually he went for it.

I found his account of the regression really funny and entertaining, how his sobering thoughts kept coming in between the regressionist's attempt at 'getting him under', until eventually it all clicked and he got the surprise of his life!

Although the whole book was very interesting, I found this part to be the most relevant and important for me, as I have never experienced a past live (or this life) regression and was always curious what the person actually feels and thinks in the process.
I have read many accounts written by regressionists, but haven't read so far a book written by somebody sitting on the couch and experiencing it.

Once the regression was over, he was shocked to realise that he had indeed experienced past lives. But still, not convinced that the memories weren't really pieces of good old imagination, he went ahead to find proof that the lifetimes (particularly one lifetime as a painter) he recalled were just memories of some paintings he has seen somewhere before, and his mind simply put a story together of him painting them.

Next we go along with him on his journey to find the proof that past lives do NOT exist.
And much to his total surprise, what he found was exactly the opposite: not just clues, but proof that he was, indeed that not so famous, actually quite obscure painter, that hardly anyone knew in his time or after.

Not to give away any further storyline, all I can say is the book is worth reading, as much for the strong proof of reincarnation, as for his style of humorous writing, which left me chuckling several times.

I got this weekend my box of books from Mary, who is so kind and organizing me book mbags from the US. This way I have also access to great books that I wouldn't otherwise here in Cyprus as shipping would be just way too much for me to buy directly from there.
Besides some gorgeous jewelry (wire wrapping and chainmail) books, I also got some books on past lives.
Someone Else's Yesterday is a book I can't wait to read, along with Looking for Carroll Beckwith.
I've seen a video on youtube about the the police officer who set out to prove a myth that reincarnation just doesn't exist, it's a bunk, however, proving himself wrong in the process :-D. If you're even remotely curious about this subject, this youtube video is worth checking out.
Also one of the forums I like to hang out at is children's past lives, guess it's the biggest one of this kind around on the net.

I've decided to split my original blog in two, based on my two main interests. The first remains devoted to displaying my artisan jewelry (jewelry which can be purchased directly from my blog), and the second, this one here, will be the pen to record my online spiritual journey. Here can be anything, results of meditation sessions, book reviews, thoughts on spiritual, metaphysical and occult, weird experiences, pretty much anything out of the regular daily life.

All my life I have been an atheist - not by choice, but by location (think ex-communist Eastern Europe), so I had no - or almost no - contact with anything religious or spiritual.
Coming to Cyprus many years ago I had a strong culture shock, as Cyprus is a very religious country (Cristian-orthodox).

I did adjust eventually, and had time to get in contact with organized religion as well. But somehow this did not appeal to me at all, it's something I cannot embrace, I don't feel comfortable around church and very religious people. Could be because of my atheist upbringing, or something from a past life that I still need to deal with...

At the same time I didn't find atheism and materialism very convincing either, so I started my search for something else, something that made more sense to me. I'm still searching, and you can follow me on my journey on this blog.

Some of the things I've 'dabbed' into during the last few years, or at least I've read several books about:
- astrology
- tarot
- ouija
- psychic development
- remote viewing (related to the previous)
- contacting the other side through mediumship and EVP
- which finally lead me to reincarnation and past lives

From all these subjects, I seem to have 'stuck' throughout the years with interest in psychic abilities and the 'other side'/past lives.

Let's see where this journey will take me...