20 February 2009

ACROSS TIME AND DEATH by JENNY COCKELL : ANCESTRY WORSHIP BOOK REVIEW

ACROSS TIME AND DEATH C 1993 Jenny Cockell, author 

A Mother's Search For Her Past Life Children Fireside book (Simon and Schuster) 


This short simply told story is written by the woman who, even as a young child in this life, had profound memories and worries about the many children she had left behind in a past life. Mary Sutton was an Irish woman who died knowing that her children had no one to take care of them or take them in. Indeed they were dispersed to various orphanages and it was her search for them that reunited many of the siblings. As Jenny in this life, the same soul would not rest until she learned the fate of those children, now older people. 

As an experienced researcher I am struck by Jenny's lack of expertise in knowing how to go about a genealogical search. (This is a woman who belongs to MENSA, the organization for people with genius IQ.) In order to ground her memories that come spontaneously and are then added to through hypnosis, she writes to many people whose surname she responds to from the phone book, asks priests and others if they remember the family, and eventually her son in the life of Mary Sutton, "Sonny," becomes a cooperative ally. Of course some of us know only too well that those plea for help letters to strangers often go ignored. 

Cockrell is also very much afraid that she will be thought of as mentally unstable for even suggesting that she may have past-life memories, and expects the majority to brush her off. But in the end she is able to prove that some of her memories were accurate and has the satisfaction of following her memories and learning the truth. As I read this book, I could feel Jenny Cockell's own hesitation, uncertainly, and reaction to obstacles. I recommend you read it!

C 2009 Ancestry Worship - Genealogy Blogspot

Note: July 2023 I restructured this older post which did not seem to be keeping the formatting.