As we explore our own inner landscapes, the question of who we were and where we came from seems to inevitably arise. It’s natural to have an itching curiosity about our experiences in past lives. Seekers try method after method trying to discover details of the past. Books, articles, and psychics abound, trying to help the seeker recover these lost memories.
Here’s something to think about before driving yourself nuts trying to uncover your past lives: WHY do we forget?
A fairly complete "memory-wipe" is part of the bargain in getting a new life to play with. Have you wondered why?
Now, I won't pretend to know the answer, and I won't pontificate on my own theories, but it seems clear that there is a fairly good reason that we all enter this lifetime with a clean slate.
Occasionally, rarely, there is some piece of specific knowledge from a previous life that is truly required for this current life to proceed. If needed, those memories will generally come of their own accord. These critical memories seem to be the flashes that return to us spontaneously via dreams, meditations, or the like. Pay attention to them... they've returned for a reason, so learn from them... and count yourself lucky.
Sometimes, we can at least piece together likely scenarios of past lives from various sources. Clues in our natal astrology chart, current lifetime skills and/or talents, or apparently unfounded fears and anxieties can help us get a general idea of what might have come before. Those clues can be helpful guides to our own inner nature... particularly in explaining and healing phobias or other "unfounded" anxieties.
“Past Life Regressions”, or traveling into the past via hypnosis, can be very helpful in uncovering memories, but a huge chunk of caution should accompany these practices. The possibilities for self-deception are enormous. We often see what we wish to see. Being guided by another is sometimes even riskier, because then we're vulnerable to their suggestions, and can't tell if the memory is truly ours or not.
My basic rule of thumb: If you need to remember it for the benefit of this lifetime, you will, regardless of which technique or method you choose to uncover it. If it's not pertinent to this lifetime, you'll have to drag that information out of a very well-guarded place.
And remember, it's hidden for a reason, even if we don't always know what those reasons are.
~Flame RavenHawk
September 6, 2003