At this time I'm announcing a Holidays Hiatus from Blogging.
I'll be back in the new year; can't image the day I'm not interested in genealogy. I like sharing what I've discovered or learned over many years with you too much to quit.
Don't know about you, but it's time to do some filing, some decorating, some entertaining, and some laying around doing nothing (OK, how about just sleeping in?) Most Americans seem to feel the same way. Google Bloggers always experiences less interest in reading and writing blogs at this time of the year.
Since I've posted so very much information in the past, I encourage you, if you're in the mood, to explore my posts by using the archive and search features on the sidebar! Most of the information is useful for your family history research and writing, or alternatively, your interest in spirituality - reincarnation.
I was about sixteen years old when I first heard about reincarnation and it made sense to me right away, but it was here and there over many years that I started reading around about it and came to understand the Hindu idea of transmutation, in which a soul progresses through the animal kingdom into humans as it advances, and read about the notions of the Buddhists and other religious and spiritual groups who have and do believe that the soul incarnates into many bodies - many lives - in order to learn and progress spiritually.
Over the last decade or so, using hypnosis, more people are exploring the possibility that they lived before. It's a mystery really, but there are some people who seem to recall quite a bit and the idea is to document as much as possible that comes out in these sessions and then do the research genealogically. There is a limitation to this, of course. The past life must have been in a time and place in which people were keeping the records we use now.
Last year I met a woman who specializes in past life regressions and she said that her interest in the subject began in her teenage years during her winters in Alaska, where there was a lot of time to stay inside and explore. Her attitude was that since regressions work to help people heal, why question how it all works.
A couple weeks ago I was sitting in a waiting room and got to talking to a stranger. He said "Someone is telling me you're very family oriented." I hadn't been talking about anything personal, not the holidays, not family, and maybe he was just trying to get to know me more, but I wondered later "Why did he say, someone's telling him? Maybe he's a natural psychic?" So I laughed and said, "I'm really into genealogy and family history research and writing." I wasn't sure he knew what I meant. Then he said "There are many people behind you." I think he meant that he saw a lot of ancestor spirits standing behind me.
Some people would be a little scared by this interaction, a stranger speaking this way, but I wasn't. I knew that it all might be a way of making me tell him personal information and I knew I didn't want to share too much with a stranger. When I got home I thought about it a lot. Of course I want to believe that my ancestors are "behind" me as in being supportive, and that there are people who I've never met in this life - and a dozen or two whom I have - that will be there for when it is my time.
I do believe the ancestors (who are not in current incarnations) are witness to some of our lives; they've got a lot of people to check up on so not all the time!
Whatever you believe, have yourself a lovely holiday season!
I look forward to 2014!
