CAROL BOWMAN ON CHOOSING ONE'S PARENTS IN THE PRE-EARTHLY EXISTANCE

The options are plentiful but not unlimited. 

Frankly, I myself have wondered how or why anyone would choose a parent or partner who is abusive to them as the soul plans the next incarnation. So though I'm partial to the idea that we do have many life experiences so that we can learn and improve ourselves, I feel that there is a risk in experiencing a life that makes us a worse person. I feel careful about having a "tit for tat" notion about spiritual experiences and using reincarnation theories as an excuse for bad behavior.

But let's see what Carol Bowman had to say in her book, which I highly recommend.

Page 144 : Not all souls participate equally in the planning process. Some are actively involved and choose carefully; others are passive, drifting into their next lives without much preparation.  Some apparently never leave the earth vibration and wander aimlessly until they fall into a convenient womb.  It's not a tidy process, not uniform or predictable, follows no formulas, and is definitely not the same for every soul.

Page 145 : It seems that in choosing a life the difference in the degree of planning is dependent on the soul's maturity and awareness. Studies agree that advanced souls spend more time in the afterlife learning and weighing plans for their next incarnation than less mature souls do. Since the advanced souls have mastered a higher level of lessons and skills on Earth, they have the understanding to create more ambitious and finely tuned plans.  On the other hand, less advanced "beginner" souls rush through the afterlife without giving much thought to what they are doing and jump back into the first body that seems good enough. These lives have a smaller chance of being productive compared with those that are carefully planned. The unplanned lives are more likely to end up being drab and meaningless or chaotic, or the individual may be overwhelmed by challenges it is not equipped to handle.

Carol Bowman's book was published in 2001 and so about twenty-five years ago.  I'm sure much more has been learned about reincarnation in the Western, Christian world, since then.  I'm aware that some Christian's believe that any belief in reincarnation is wrong, even demonic. I personally do not agree this is so. 

As a genealogist I encounter many family stories, many family secrets, many family scandals, and vow to show respect for those I work with and for by not revealing these to others. There is a lot of pain and shame in some cases. I realize that genealogy is most often promoted as a way to reunite a family, but sometimes the notion of "family" is one that needs to be redefined.

C 2025  Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot

CAROL BOWMAN's NEW ESSAY SUBMITTED to BIGELOW INSTITUTE FOR CONSCIOUSNESS STUDIES

CAROL BOWMAN NEW ESSAY  This will take you to her site and the page where you link to the essay that you can download as a PDF file or read on line.

Always impressed with her work!

SEEING THE UNSEEN : RAYMOND MOODY and THE PSYCHOMANTEUM : ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW

SEEING THE UNSEEN : THE HISTORY OF USING CLEAR DEPTH GAZING FOR AFTER DEATH COMMUNICATION

Dr. Raymond Moody is famous for his lifes' work on the dying and the dead.  He focused as a psychiatrist on those who could not let go of grief and who wish to communicate with a loved one who has passed on.

I once attended a grief support group and found myself to be one of the least grief-stricken among the others. Perhaps it was because I had accepted that the person who died would die, though I didn't think so young. Several in the group had lost the person they had long been married to and were having a difficult time adjusting, though no one there wanted that person to be in any more physical pain. There was one woman though who had a father who had commit suicide.  He had long been troubled and she was an adult who had never been close with her father.  Soon enough I learned that this woman would show up late, though she'd call to say she was on her way, and as soon as she walked in, she got everyone attention.  Though she might appear with a smile, she would seemingly go into a deep depression in front of us.  I'll admit that I began to suspect that she needed to be in psychiatric care and that this support group was just not enough for her. It was run by a well meaning woman who was very religious and who said she'd had some training.  I felt that this woman showing up late was an attention grab.  Perhaps she would not let go her grief, and depression was something she had inherited. I thought of that experience as I watched this film/

A psychomanteum is a special room, pitch black and fitted with mirrors and a comfortable chair, where people can go to see their dead loved ones.  It sounds spooky.  It comes from the ancient Greeks who had a pilgrimage site where they went through a ritual to prepare them for the experience.  Moody takes you to the archaeological site and explains what happens.

It is helpful psychologically to have the experience, which is not guaranteed.  Still, some people report what I'll call a manifestation.  Clouds, mist, images, sometimes a sound.  (No one reports having an actual conversation.)  Moody does not explain in this film how or why this works for some,only that it can be healing.

I found this all quite interesting and think you will too.

I understand there is a book with the same title that tells you how to build your own psychomanteum.

C 2020-2025  Ancestry Worship - Genealogy BlogSpot Film Review  All Rights Reserved

THE LIGHT BEYOND - RAYMOND MOODY on NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES and SHARED DEATH EXPERIENCES : ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW

THE LIGHT BEYOND - RAYMOND MOODY on NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES and SHARED DEATH EXPERIENCES : ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW

At this time of year, the fall, we traditionally have festivals, rituals, religious events, and private prayers for the dead. So many people wish they had just a little more time with someone who was dying, so they could communicate more.  The work of Raymond Moody, a psychiatrist, on death and dying made him famous beginning back in the 1970's and opened the investigation.  From THE LIGHT BEYOND, we learn NOT TO BE AFRAID OF DEATH.

I think it's human nature to be afraid but Moody says even his own two failed suicide attempts became blessings in his life. And no, he did not make these attempts as a scientific experiment.

Whatever the culture or religious tradition, a person who almost died, or who was declared dead but revived, reports the same things of NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE.

1) Looking down from above at one's own physical body and understanding by hearing the doctor or nurse say that they have died.

2) Experiencing a tunnel or passageway and coming into a warm and loving light. To feel almost absorbed in peace and love and being welcomed by those who have previously died.

3) An increase in light.  Then, being surrounded by what could best be described by a holographic or 3D experience of every action they have done in your life.  The person feels the experience that they gave others.  The happiness or the pain.

4) What happens next I'll call "the reason for returning to earthly life."

There are four possible experiences reported.

You find yourself instantly back in your body. OR

Someone in that place tells you that you have to go back.  It is not your time. There is more for you to do. OR

You are given a choice. Some people say they did not want to come back but they knew they had to, for the sake of raising their children or some other important task.  OR

You beg and plead to come back.  Moody says this is rare.  They told God they had to come back.

Therefore, I would say that we do have Free Will or Choice, most of the time.

When people come back, they often change their values.  They know they must learn to love. They report no longer fearing death.  They say it's just another state of reality. 

But perhaps what is most exceptionally interesting is that there are people who were there at the death bed who are not ill, not dying, but report A SHARED DEATH EXPERIENCE.  People report experiences such as seeing the room filled with light.  They see apparitions of death relatives - perhaps the welcome committee. Some people say that the room itself seemed to change as if they were instead in some sort of altered or different geometry.  Some of those who are there at the death bed report co-living the life review experience.  Now, this is important, they may experience these things even if they don't personally know the dying person.  Some doctors and nurses report having such an experience!

You have to see this video to see the image of a ball of light that appeared and was photographed when a person died.

You'll want to watch this DVD at this time when death is so much on our minds.

C 2020-2025 Ancestry Worship -Genealogy

FEELING YOURSELF TO BE OTHER THAN YOUR DNA ETHNICITY OR CURRENT FAMILY GROUP

I've encountered so many people who simply feel out of place with their DNA ethnicity or current family group.  For instance, many Americans have so many intermarriages between ethnic groups in their heritage that they identify as "American," yet others relate to the ethnicity of their surname or the ethnicity of some family member who dominates the group.  (In some cases learning little about their other lines.) Others cannot relate to any of their lines.

I consider that memories from other lives, DNA, and other factors may result in feeling yourself to be, say Greek, rather than Irish. There are people who have never felt they belonged to the family they know though they certainly were born to the parents they have.

ASK YOURSELF HOW ALIKE OR DIFFERENT YOU ARE FROM THE STEREOTYPES OF AN ETHNICITY.  What ethnicity were you raised to be part of?

DO YOU LIKE FOOD THAT IS OUTSIDE OF YOUR CULTURE OF ORIGIN OR UPBRINGING?

DO YOU SEEM TO GRAVITATE TO OTHERS FROM ANOTHER CULTURE, feeling more comfortable with them?

Multiculturalism is apparent in so many countries, especially the United States and Europe, and it brings challenges but also some wonderful sharing.  

WHAT DOES ARCHEOLOGY and SCIENCE (DNA) HAVE TO DO WITH FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH AND WRITING?

If you haven't guessed by some of my postings on this GENEALOGY and FAMILY HISTORY WRITING SITE, I have an intense interest in DNA, DNA Science and Genealogy, Human History, archeology, anthropology, cultural studies, and spirituality - reincarnation; the WHO WHAT WHERE WHY AND WHEN of writing about human beings.

Genealogy research can take us only so far because it relies on records - usually written records and truly, many people are only able to go back three to five generations without loosing the trail.  Once in a while I meet someone who, because they are related to royalty or aristocracy (or maybe a Jewish rabbi who was famous) has found more convincing evidence of connections further back. Once in a while I meet someone who came to understand themselves through hypnotic regression be because they found themselves in a past life.)

DNA can help us understand more about how the people who passed on their genetics to us traveled the world and settled, and of course DNA tests are allowing us to learn more about our ethnicity as well.  Our notions of who we are have a lot to do with ethnicity.

DNA tests can help us connect with other people who may be related to us. (Everyone on earth is related in some way, but that's a very big concept to understand.)

RAYMOND MOODY and REUNIONS Visionary Encounters With Departed Loved Ones

Raymond Moody, whose book LIFE AFTER LIFE came out about 1973, was a ground breaker in the field of past life recall. In 1993 he followed that book with REUNIONS, written with Paul Perry.

REUNIONS is a good book about an ancient art updated; MIRROR GAZING. This is a means to revisit with passed on loved ones, through visions. It's something the Greeks once did, maybe the Egyptians too, and there's a way to build a little room with a mirror in it to get the same effect.

On page 100 they write: "Like the ancient Greeks, I had designed a psychomanteum, to which people would come to consult with the spirits of the deceased. It was clear that given the proper preparation, people could see apparitions of departed loved ones using these techniques.

I found this to be an exciting and useful notion. People who are saddened by the loss of a loved one could handle their grief in a more direct way. Instead of telling a therapist how they feel about losing a spouse or child, they could talk to the loved one directly.

Through my work in near-death studies I know that seeing departed loved ones is tremendously therapeutic. Encountering dead relatives is one element of the near-death experience that keeps it from being a frightening or traumatic event. Research has shown that near death experiences transform people's lives by making them less fearful of death. One reason they become less fearful is that they see that dead relatives are happy in the afterlife.

LINK TO RAYMOND MOODY BY CLICKING ON THE TITLE ABOVE.

A 57 minute Google Video is linked to the right!

DISCOVERING YOUR CHILD's IMAGINARY PLAYMATE is an ANCESTOR

I've heard of this happening more than once. What's the proof? More than one family roots searcher has found the unusual name of a great grandparent or other family member they knew nothing about - until they did their research - coming out of the mouth of a child when they go playing with their imaginary playmate.

I think it's time to consider that children aren't just making up their playmates as they go. Rather, I think the child sees or remembers from his or her time on The Other Side, another soul (maybe from a family or other "soul group") that is serving as a sort of guardian for him or her in youth.

PSYCHIC ROOTS by HENRY Z. JONES - HELEN HINCHLIFF'S Forward

Excerpted:

By Helen Hinchcliff, in PSYCHIC ROOTS - Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy
by Henry Z. Jones C 1993
published by Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc.

"In 1983, in honor of my recent discovery of genealogy, my brother, Timothy Hinchcliff, made a yarn painting for me entitled Old Soul. Without really knowing a genealogist's sources or methods, Tim used thousands of colored threads to depict his view that I am a sojourner between the living and the dead. Coincidentally, the picture captured the essence of this book. In the lower left corner, lighting my path with magic crystals is Old Soul, most easily imagined as a friendly white ghost. In the center are my ancestors, ranged in a circle. They are connected by a mysterious umbilical cord to Old Soul and to a second circle composed of my living relatives who reside in the upper right corner. Guided by Old Soul, I trace a path between them, learning from each, communing with each."

SAME FAMILY REINCARNATION From RETURN FROM HEAVEN by CAROL BOWMAN

RETURN FROM HEAVEN by Carol Bowman C 2001 EDIT Beloved Relatives Reincarnated Within Your Family HarperCollins Publishers

Page 140-141, hardback about how a soul selects its next life...

"All the regression studies agree that the planning process is done in collaboration with the spiritual guides. The guides present the soul with options for the next life. The soul's previous actions, or karma, determine the parameters and limits of its options. based on its past performance, the soul is offered a menu of lives that will teach it what it needs to learn next. It does not have unlimited choice. If that were the case, why would anyone choose a life of hardship or tragedy.'

"Even with karma limiting the options, the soul still has a mind-boggling number of lives to choose from. The coordination it requires to choose the right one is complex, a matter of balancing multidimensional factors in intricate ways. The decision must consider not only the needs of the soul, but must also coordinate its choice with the needs and plans of other souls it expects to join - particularly the parents... Relationships are vital to our learning and spiritual growth. So, arranging to reunite with certain souls in the coming life is a central element of the reincarnation plan. All the studies agree that we often reincarnate with souls we have been close to in other lifetimes. We may choose to return to those who nurtured and supported our growth in the past... To learn forgiveness, we may elect to return to someone who hurt us or did us wrong. ....Because relationships are so important, and because family relationships are so intense, it makes sense that a soul would have many, many reasons to return to the family it just left. This is why, I believe, same-family reincarnation is so common."

Note: December 2024.  Just got this book from my library and reread it! 

C 2009-2025 Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot