Past Lives in My Dreams

[JON]

I’ve been keeping a Journal since 1994, a ‘tidied up’ version of notes I record on waking. Yet some entries date from the late 1980s, taken from surviving notes and drawings. By keeping such records you can spot recurring themes and images. Consistency and continuity are key things to look for. Especially if they appear to form a coherent ‘narrative’. This may run through the dreams as a sequence like TV episodes or novel chapters. Or may have to be formed from the data in various dreams. To try and identify the best candidates for ’past life memories’ I did both. And here are the most detailed, in historical chronological order:

A Roman Man: Time and Place: ? [Dreams: Mid 90s onwards]

Name: Martius Fabi[an]us.

Married to Lavinia. His poisoning by his wife and/or her [unnamed] lover is the event most replayed. And graphically at that. I know little about his life, except he was a stout, balding man of middle age when he died.

A Mayan or Aztec Youth: Central or South America. Time: ? [Dreams: late 80s onwards]

Name: Unknown.

When I was at school we had an Art exam based on the theme of Sun Worshippers. Most kids went for obvious things like beaches and holidays. I based mine on a series of dreams. At the time I had a dawning interest in Ancient Egypt, now a real passion of mine. So it was strange that my inspiration was Mayan or Aztec, about who I knew nothing, nor had any interest!

There was a city in the middle of a rainforest with paved streets lined with buildings. The widest avenue led to a large square. Some buildings were flat-roofed and colonnaded. At one side was a huge stepped pyramid with a staircase. The plaza and buildings were full of people. I’ve ‘seen’ this city several times since, but not frequently. I’ve not been able to equate it with any particular metropolis as yet. My knowledge of the Mayans is still sketchy.

My original viewpoint was very distinct - from a first floor looking down into the square and across to the pyramid. There were figures on the top, in front of a temple[?], but hard to make out due to the distance and bright sunlight. Soldiers lined the avenue and held back the crowd in the plaza. I heard music and there was a procession. A man in ornate robes was being carried in a golden chair on poles by four men. It was believed that only a king or priests could commune with the gods. The society was very much a theocracy and autocracy with a rigid hierarchy.

The occasion was a solar eclipse. [In ‘real life’ I’d never seen one before, so it was a revelation]. As the Moon’s shadow fell across the face of the Sun, day turned to night. There was a sense of awe, fear and wonder. Wails and groans filled the air. Once the Sun was obscured, the crowd fell silent. No birds sang. It felt like the End of the World.

Torches were lit, and a fire blazed on top of the pyramid. There was a haunting chanting accompanied by drums and other instruments. There were sacrifices of some kind. It was hoped that, together with the intercession of the king and priests, doom would be averted, as the gods would be appeased. I was holding my mother’s hand tightly. But I don’t know which of us was more afraid. The reappearance of the Sun was seen as a miracle.


A Medieval English Monk or Abbot. Time: ? [Dreams: early 90s onwards]

Name: Unknown.
The most frequently occurring image is a funeral. Mine. It is a misty Autumn morning on a river. A boat bearing a coffin is being rowed by four cowled figures. On arriving at a jetty the coffin is unloaded and borne in procession with chanting and incense, and headed by a large cross. A bell tolls loudly. The procession enters the Church via the West Doors towards the High Altar. A choir sings Plainchant [A Capella]. More incense. As the coffin is set upon a catafalque before the Altar, a candle is lit at each corner. And that’s all I recall.

A Young French Woman. Time: Early 18th Century [Dreams: early 90s onwards]

Name: Isabelle or Isobel Rochard or Rochart.

Daughter of Marcel Rochard and Louise Tournay. She married Jean-Baptiste, son of Jean Le Grande and Emilie Valadon. They had a son Philippe. Isobel had a lover, Francois Da[u]mier. Their son was Antoine. He was as passionate, stubborn, and artistic as his father, and looked just like him. This hot-headed idealist died tragically young, possibly killed in the Revolution fighting for the Republicans.

Isobel died in childbirth, or soon after. Her funeral is frequently ‘replayed’. The coffin is carried out of the house, followed by her family, to the waiting hearse. This is glass-sided and pulled by dark horses with black plumes. Two black coaches stand behind for the family. The cortege travels down the tree-lined drive, through the main gates into the road. Where it turns left to the local church. The road is lined by people, heads bowed, hats doffed, etc. Their grief is heart-rending.

Isobel was a very popular young woman, vivacious and attractive, in appearance and nature. She had a passion for hats and fine clothes, especially in white and pastel colours. Isobel is associated with mirrors a lot, and I first saw her face in one. Long dark silky hair, dark lively eyes and a fresh [’rosy’] complexion. She is petite in height and build. Kind, considerate, loving, and very animated.

The Rochard house [Maison] is two-storied with white-washed ivy-clad walls. Each floor has seven windows. Two panes wide and four tall, with shutters. The roof is blue-grey slate, with dormer windows and a tall chimney at each end. The Maison’s style it is about 1705-10. The Stable Yard stands to the right. It has a gated arch with a clock above. It struck three as the cortege departed.

A terrace leads down to gardens at the rear, These have parterres and lawns bordered by paths, trees and hedges. There are neo-classical statues. Fountains play in round basins. The terrace is accessed via doors in the Dining Room, Drawing Room and Hall. They are lit by chandeliers and candles in gilded sconces. The décor is in the Late Baroque/Early Rococo style of the 1730s. The Dining Room [Salle a Manger] is green and white. Near the French Windows, below an ornate mirror, is a distinctive table, The green marble top is supported by a gilded eagle with spread wings on a rock. ‘Roche’ is French for rock, a pun on the family’s name. The Drawing Room [Grand Salon] is crimson and white, again with decorative plasterwork border to the white ceiling. The house-wide Entrance Hall has black and white-tiled floor, and a curving stone staircase with a wrought iron balustrade.

Question: are these past lives, or not? I'd like to know peoples' opinions on these please....

JON

[Wolfjk]

Hi Jon,
I have been studying dreams for a very long time. My conclusion is that dreams do an important job; they keep you alive. It is very easy to trivialise dreams, since nobady really knows how they work.
If you believe that you had previous lives, you will dream about them and your subconscious will create a convincing story that will entertain you while you sleep, and gives you something to think about while you're awake. In short, your dreams will kid you on!
From your post it is easy to tell that you are well read about history - ancient and modern. Your dreams will use any information you might have read and long forgotten to create a deception and diversion for you that satisfies your desire and increases your self esteem at the same time. If you believe in past lives, you must also believe in fairies!
Cheers Wolfjk

[JON]

Thanks for you feedback, Wolfjk. You've made some interesting points there. It's been said that we don't forget things, just 'file them away' in another part of our brains. Maybe dreams, once we are away from the outside world and its stimuli, are 'tapping into' those areas. Thus, our 'forgotten data' is retrieved, and our imaginations have 'free reign' to do as they please.

That said, though, I don't think Past Lives can be so easily dismissed as being akin to elves and fairies. After all, millions around the globe believe in reincarnation and karma. And all civilizations have concepts of an Afterlife. I've recently read a good book on reincarnation - True Stories of Past Lives by Roy Stemman, a journalist specalising in the Paranormal. He's looked into cases from around the world, and the evidence is compelling. Though it's very much a matter of personal belief as to how you interpret it.

I'd like to know your views on ghosts and UFOs.

Regards, Jon.

[blueberrysummer]

Hi Jon i found your post very interesting and is a subject much discussed, from my understanding dreams will relay all manner of information for our conscious minds to grasp. To believe in past lives is to believe that we are much more than the biologial beings that darwins theorys and current science suggest. Past lives is a topic explored greatly through the ages and by all major religions and is also a subject intergrated into the cultural tendecys of the Tibetans wherby the choosing of their political leader is based on recognition of their former possesions from a previous incarnation.

The soul memorys contained from all lives often reveal themselves to us as and when it is deemed necessary, for some it leads to an awakening for others it brings profound insight as to how past life influences are affecting current day circumstance. Much 'grounded' research has been done into pastlives and how we process them by a Man named Roger Woolger, here is a link to an article you may find intersting on his site -

Roger Woolger--Past Life Therapy, Trauma Release and the Body

we can often pinpoint particular themes within our dreams while many relay the nuts and bolts of our current life circumstances Dreams also reflect a platform for our more refined spiritual selves to emanate appealing to the concsious mind for its attention and directing it inwardly.

Humanity seems to be going through an accelerated period of growth whereby many are becoming aware of a spiritual source within themselves that carrys the vibration of much love and light a quality much needed at this time, Our soul growth it seems is to anchor this spiritual light here by moving through all our blockages mental, emotional and spiritual that is causing us much angish in our lives. By viewing our dreams in this light we are able to understand and intergrate more fully what it is that 'blocks' us including tensions and unresolved emotions from previous incarnations.

The best of luck to you in your dreaming

Marce

[JON]

Thank you for your comments, Marce. They were greatly appreciated. The cause of my keeping a Dream Journal was a very sad one - the death of my last grandparent [my Dad’s larger than life and uniquely eccentric mother] in December 1994. The shock of her passing almost killed my Dad who was undergoing treatment for a heart condition. My only great aunt died the following Spring. Though I didn’t know her so well, it still came as a great shock. It was these three events so close together that ’opened’ some kind of ’window’, I believe, to allow the information to pass through. The French dreams were the first contemporary entries in the Journal [now voluminous], and, not surprisingly, with a funeral.

Thanks also for that link, which I’m currently looking at. More recent events, esp within the last five years, have made me a more spiritual person. My near-fatal car accident in 2002 in particular changed the way I view life and the world around me. I probably had an Near Death Experience. Everything went dark at first. Then I saw a bright white light with a glowing golden centre. But I couldn’t make out any detail. I heard a voice, gentle and reassuring, neither really male nor female. I was told everything would be OK. It was then knew something [or someone] had saved me. A Guardian Angel, perhaps?

I’m doing research on those Past Life Memories to try and verify [if I can] the accuracy of the data in them. It will take time [a long one, no doubt], and won’t be easy. I shall also keep tabs on my Journal to try and identify any more data. I am especially interested in the Mayan and Medieval ones, as they have little detail as yet.

Regards and Best Wishes, Jon

[Wolfjk]

Hi Jon,
Thanks for your post.
Quote:
I'd like to know your views on ghosts and UFOs.
Unquote

I have had many experiences that would count as paranormal. However reality and perception is very difficult to define. A paranormal experience might happen during micro - sleep and could be regarded as a dream.
In one of my experiences a friend visited me at an old English pub which was reputed to have a ghost. Many of my relatives seen her and felt her presence.
We were drinking after opening hours. The pub had the gents lavatory outside and the ladies inside so at the late drinking sessions we all used the ladies toilets. My friend wanted to use the lavatory and asked me where the gents toilet was. I checked that the the women were all in the room and told him to use the ladies toilets. However he soon emerged and told me there was a woman with long hair coming it in the mirror.
Since it was my friends first visit to the place and at the time he could not speak English and would have been impossible for him to know about the ghost, it must be an indirect, or independent confirmation.
Regarding UFO, it would be naive to think we're alone in this vast universe.

Quote:
My near-fatal car accident in 2002 in particular changed the way I view life and the world around me. I probably had an Near Death Experience. Everything went dark at first. Then I saw a bright white light with a glowing golden centre. But I couldn’t make out any detail. I heard a voice, gentle and reassuring, neither really male nor female. I was told everything would be OK. It was then knew something [or someone] had saved me. A Guardian Angel, perhaps?
Unquote

I have been studying dreams for over 60 years and I belive dreams are our guardian angels. The experience you describe above happen every time we go into a deep sleep. When we reach the lowest poit of consciousness in sleep, the first sign of a dream is always a spot of light, followed by colour and dream storyline. Dreams are the super computers of the spiritual world that control our sleep time.
One of my observations about dreams is this: a dream faithfully observes and follows the sleeper's state of health and it is tailored to comfort him or her during any crysis. If you were at deaths door your dream would have been comforting and soothing. The purpose of the dream is to calm the sleeper so he or she does not get alarmed by the misfortune.
In violent nightmares when the purpose of the dream is to wake the sleeper very quickly, the dream often turns less threatening to ellicit a less alarming awakening.

Quote
I've recently read a good book on reincarnation - True Stories of Past Lives by Roy Stemman, a journalist specalising in the Paranormal. He's looked into cases from around the world, and the evidence is compelling. Though it's very much a matter of personal belief as to how you interpret it.
Unquote

Reincarnation and the survival of the soul is a devout wish of many people. However the quantum nature of life ensures the survival of everything in the universe in one form or another. One of the most important facts of life is the interchange between matter, energy and intelligence.
Cheers Wolfjk

[JON]

Thanks for your feedback, Wolfjk, and for relating that ghost experience. I've had several 'paranormal encounters' [including Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Canterbury Cathedral and Glastonbury Abbey], but never actual saw a spectre.

The most frightening occurred at the Red Lion Inn, St Albans. I didn't know it was haunted until the chambermaid told me the following day. The bangs and crashes in the room next to mine [empty at that time like most of the hotel] were probably the ghost of the man who'd hung himself in there many years before!

I should’ve made it clear the car accident was a real one! I lost consciousness for about 20 minutes or so, and came round to find the ambulance and paramedics waiting. The bizarre part was this. It turned out the male medic had been a classmate of mine over a decade before! I’d not seen him since School. Was this coincidence or intended?

I’m with you on the UFOs. It would be arrogant of us to thing We Are Alone in the Universe. The odds are very much against that....

Yet Science doesn't have 'all the answers', although scientists might like to think that everything is quantifiable and explainable by 'rational means'.

Best Wishes, Jon [aka Giovanni d'Acuto]

[JON]

Extra on the Mayan Youth

Mayan names are rather evocative, and a little odd. His was probably Xaman-ik [North Wind]. His father was Ix-Jal or Bahlam-Jal [Jaguar Speaks or Talking Jaguar]. His mother’s name probably translated as Gentle Deer. He had a sister called Na-Ben-[Pi] [Water Reed Bundle]. And other relations - not sure how, though - called Chan-Aku [Sky Turtle] and Kal-Tul [Moon-Hare]. How these people got their names, I don't know. One Mayan noble was called Smoking Squirrel, another Smoking Frog - the mind boggles!! And I’ve still not identified the period North Wind lived in, or the city.

Extra on the 18th Century

The Rochards

Their Maison features most, as Isobel is the focus of these dreams. Her family may’ve been ‘less socially elevated’ than her husband’s [the Le Grands], but were cannier financially. Thanks mainly to Louise Tournay, her mother.

Isobel [how she spelt her name] was one of five children, but I’m not sure of their age order, and know little about them: Claudette, Marie, Daniele [a boy, BTW], and Pierre. The last was the youngest, and Isobel was fondest of, and closest to, him.

The Le Grands

In English terms they would’ve been gentry [ie ‘lesser aristocracy‘], though not necessarily titled]. They had a strong sense of Family Honour and Noblesse Oblige. The latter is the belief that with wealth and power come Social Responsibilities, especially to those ’less fortunate than yourself’. Then it was seen as ‘being philanthropic’. Now we might regard it as snobbish and condescending, especially as it was sometimes done in a patronising fashion. The Family Honour might be seen in the same light, especially how the marriage of Jean-Baptiste Le Grand [J-B from here on] and Isobel was ‘arranged’:

1) He was hopeless with money. She came from a more ‘financially responsible’ family, and also richer.
2) It would ‘raise the Rochards social standing‘.
3) Isobel was pregnant. This was the most complex issue, and I’m not fully sure of the exact resolution. Either:

The Rochards and Le Grands knew the father was Francois Daumier, and ‘paid him off’. Firstly, for his silence. Secondly, hoping he would ‘disappear’. Or J-B thought [or was led to believe] he was, and decided ‘to do the honourable thing’ in marriage. Or Isobel and J-B knew and made their own pact with Francois. There are several other options!

4) J-B had always admired Isobel, and it saved him plucking up the courage to ask her!

He was not a complex man. Direct and down-to-earth. Even if he’d known the child wasn’t his, he wouldn’t have dishonoured himself and his family, and moreover Isobel and hers. If there was any slight, it was to Francois. Especially as Antoine would be brought up as J-B’s own son.

J-B proved a devoted husband and loving father, especially after the birth of their actual son, Philippe. The untimely death of Isobel during the birth [or soon after] of their daughter [?] left him devastated. How he resolved matters with Francois, I’m not sure…. J-B’s fate is unknown.

The Daumiers

I know little about this family beyond their son. Francois was as much a Man of Honour as J-B, but more impetuous and more ready to take offence. But his grievance would’ve been justified as his beloved married another man. Then his son was not acknowledged as his. And if he had been ‘bought off’ as well to keep quiet.

But he did maintain his silence, but I think he did it because he loved Isobel, and didn’t wish to disgrace her. Whether he challenged J-B to a duel at some point, I don’t know. Not that he knew one end of a sword or pistol from another! He was an idealist, artistic and a dreamer.

Even after the marriage he and Isobel still saw one another, but I’m not sure if J-B knew. But if he’d done so, I suspect there would’ve been a duel. Isobel’s loyal maid, Minette, certainly, yet said nothing. In fact, knowing her, she probably 'aided and abetted' the liaison! Francois’ fate is unknown.

[Hermes]

Hi Jon,

very interesting what you describe here. Some dreams of myself also point to past lives, others are visions or memories raising to consciousness.

There are various dreams which indicate that death is not the end, but a transformation, and the soul may return to Earth in another body, in another century, so long until a stage of enlightenment is reached. This also gives very interesting consequences on how to live one´s daily life. For example, how can we condemn another nation and be at war with it, when in our next life, we may incarnate exactly there?

I am from Germany, and I know of a technique called "Rückführung" where one can go back and experience past life memories. Unfortunately, I do not know it´s English name, but people who did it told me that it was tremendously moving on an emotional level. When people are dissolved in tears and suddenly recognize they have done this or that in a past life, one sees from the degree of the reaction that this cannot just be "imaged", there has to be more behind it.

Perhaps you can search the internet for the technique. It would literally translate as "Leading back".

Good luck
Hermes

[Jennings]

Hermes, would the English name be 'regression' or 'past life regression'?

Jon, I continue to feel that you are discussing fiction that touches on the paranormal but I stand to be corrected. Whatever it may be, may I compliment you on your story-telling ability.

We recognise that the mind is a fascinating organ that possesses a broad utility; it is almost like an antenna that is constantly searching for information; it never seems to be vacant.

When one considers past-life regression, to those who have experienced it, could they distinguish between whether it is an actual past-life of theirs or some other entity or phenomenon?

My own experiences lends some support to some of what has been said but beyond this, once more, one becomes a 'doubting Thomas'.

About 4 years ago my wife and I stopped overnight in a B&B establishment in an ancient looking village, in an equally ancient old house, in a valley in the Yorkshire Moors. It was a friendly, clean, comfortable establishment; one that had recently been renovated. Our room had a modern-styled bed which had a space of about 18 inches high between the floor and the mattress. On the floor at on one side of the bed our Norfolk terrier lay on his mat while my wife was in bed asleep. I got into bed, switched-off the bedroom light and lay beneath the duvet. Shortly afterwards there were distinct noises of movement beneath the bed identical to someone being there. My immediate thought was that there was someone hidng beneath the bed; there had to be in view of those noises and the sound of the movement. I switched-on the bedlight and quickly dropped to the floor to find nothing beneath the bed. The dog, lying at the otherside of the bed looked at me with an old-fashioned look from beneath the bed as if to say, "What are you doing there, silly" so obviously he never heard anything. Trying to convince my wife of what I had heard was difficult. When I related this to the proprietor at breakfast next morning he was delighted to have a spirit to add when advertising his business.

That is just one incident of many that I have experienced but more apropos, I have witnessed twice, apparitions, which I may relate later but what I would like to describe now is an experience few, if any, will be able to believe.

After 45 years of togetherness, I lost my first wife to BC. That was October 1998. Her passing was, at its end, a peaceful one but spiritual which is another story. What I want to introduce is an occurrence that happened 8 weeks to the day after this event. If I recall correctly it was the 6th December. It was a Sunday morning that was sunny but cold. I was ensconsed in a lounge chair next to the sittingroom widow. It was 10.30am and I was imbibing a well-brewed cup-of-tea. I was managing my grief and at this moment felt at peace with myself and the world at large. Outside, the street was empty, and everywhere silence prevailed. I was looking at the gardens of the other houses in the street when I felt this outside pressure begin to surround the top of my head. I was not afraid of the sensation even though it continued to move downwards towards my shoulders. Although being obvious it seemed otherwise benign. My late wife's voice came through, clear and distinct, and this is what was said, "I have come to say goodbye. I have to move on. Louise has already moved on. Your friends who have always looked after you will continue to do so".

Louise was our 16 year old grand daughter who failed to survive an epiletic fit 20 months earlier to that of my wife's passing. The reference to 'friends' was our description of the spirit entities which seemed to populate our lives. In relation to our belief about a spiritual existence, neither of us could see any connection between this phenomenon and religion and hence the reason for the use of the term 'friends'. We had believed that everyone has a spirit family that exists on an intermediate plane and waits there for our return so that together we could all move forward. Those friends tend to act as 'threshold guardians' in our lives. It was our belief, and still is mine, that the Garden of Eden of which we are all in search is the 'here and now' on this secular plane. This may account for part of the justification for reincarnation. My late wife was conventionally religious while I am an agnostic.

Many members of my wider family tend to be psychic.