Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives (Michael Newton's Journey of Souls, 1)

OMG - this book is life changing if you believe that hypnotherapy is possible. I will re-read this book over and over again. Recommended to a few people who are like minded. Amazed that this information is available to us - it's not information that is readily available or known to many. It's easy to read, enjoyable and provides knowledge that will help you understand many of lifes quandries.

"Are you afraid of death? Do you wonder what is going to happen to you after your die? Is it possible you have a spirit which came from somewhere else and will return there after your body dies, or is this just wishful thinking because you are afraid?" --Dr. Michael Newton in Journey of Souls - Case Studies of Life Between Lives At one time or another, everyone wonders what happens to them when they die, and what lies beyond the grave. In his book Journey of Souls - Case Studies of Life Between Lives, Hypnotherapist Dr. Michael Newton chronicles the experiences of 29 people that were under deep hypnosis and their experiences between lives. Many books have been written about past lives, but this book addresses what happens between lives. Dr. Newton did not set out to regress people beyond their current earthly lives. In fact, as a skeptic by nature and one oriented towards traditional therapy, he resisted requests to do past-life regression--feeling that this was unorthodox and unethical. However, one of his clients complained of a lifetime of chronic pain on his right side, and during one of their regular sessions, the client made stabbing motions to describe the kind of pain he felt. When searching for an explanation for this client's choice of images, he uncovered that his client had a past life as a WWI solider that was killed by a bayonet in France. Through this discovery, they were able to eliminate this pain altogether. He then began to do past life regressions, but then stumbled on a discovery of enormous proportions: he found that it was possible to see into the spirit world through the mind's eye of a hypnotized subject who could report back to him about life between lives. Dr. Newton explains: "The research was painfully slow, but as the body of my cases grew I finally had a working model of the eternal world where our souls live. I found thoughts about the spirit world involve universal truths among the souls of people living on Earth. It was these perceptions by so many different types of people which convinced me that their statements were believable. I am not a religious person, but I found the place where we go after death to be one of order and direction, and I have come to appreciate that there is a grand design to life and afterlife." Dr. Newton shares actual dialogue culled from audio recordings of regression sessions between he and his clients about what happens at the gate of death, who meets us on the other side, what we do once we're there, the purpose of our life, the role of guides, the nature of karma, cluster "study groups", inter-soul communication, what happens to "disturbed" souls, aura colors, the different levels of souls, and much more. I found Journey of Souls utterly fascinating, as well as Dr. Newton's sequel Destiny of Souls. However, my experience with these books was much more than mere intellectual fascination: both my husband and I experienced an utter paradigm shift about the afterlife, the Creator, and the purpose of life. Up until reading these books, I was still on the fence about reincarnation, and my husband's perspective was "no way!" The compelling regression sessions chronicled in this book convinced us otherwise, largely because of the consensus among regressed clients and how their reports confirmed some spiritual notions we were discovering on our own through direct experience. No other model made sense to either one of us; we long concluded that there was no literal hell, but what of suffering on Earth? Are our bodies, and our lives, completely random and arbitrary? Is it really possible we live more than one life? Why are we born into the family we are, especially if it results in abuse or pain? In these books we discovered that individuals carefully choose his or her own body and life circumstances to bring about certain experiences and to draw the soul closer to the perfection of the Creator. The whole point of incarnating is for self development. Yet, no one is rushed back into incarnating, and every soul has a chance to enter a dimension of time/space to "try out" a life and decide if this is the best choice for their own path. On the other side, there is playfulness, exploration, role playing, lessons, growth, past life examination, and so on. It is a place of rest, healing, rejuvenation, and self-examination. There are "schools" and our learning is a part of a specialized soul group. We have guides who teach us how to work with energy, and others who open up "books of life" so we can scrutinize our past life performance--and decide where we messed up, and how we can best grow in future lives. A helpful aspect of this book is the explanation of why some individuals go through difficult relationships, especially as children: "When clients tell me how much they suffered from the actions of family members, my first question to their conscious mind is, 'If you had not been exposed to this person as a child, what would you now lack in understanding?' It may take awhile, but the answer is in our minds. There are spiritual reasons for our being raised as children around certain kinds of people, just as other people are designated to be near us as adults... ...whatever happens to us in life, it is important we understand that our happiness or pain does not reflect either blessings or betrayal on the part of a God-oversoul, our guides, or life selection coordinators. We are the master of our own destiny." Most encouraging though, especially to those who fear a vengeful God awaiting them after death, is that we are not condemned or punished in the afterlife. Newton writes: "All soul evaluation conferences, be they with our guides, peers, or a panel of masters have one thing common. The feedback and past life analysis we receive in terms of judgment is based upon the original intent of our choices as much as the actions of our lifetime. Our motivations are questioned and criticized, but not condemned in such a way as to make us suffer." I highly recommend Journey of Souls, especially if you're searching for answers about the meaning of your life, why things happen, and what happens after death. Truly, we are never alone and are always surrounded by a supportive "great cloud of witnesses". Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book: Picture the Past, Experience the Cards, Understand the Present (coming Fall 2008 from Hampton Roads Publishing)

I have read all Newton's major books which have been fascinated and very helpful in giving new insights especially in regard to in-between lives. Having personally experienced non-stress related out-of-body and white light experiences such research has re-enforced and expanded my understanding. I was hoping to find satisfactory answers to some questions that all my life have caused me much heartache despite all my readings still do not make sense even in the big picture and continue to go unanswered: 1. What purpose does it serves individuals who die suddenly or from indiscriminate natural "disasters? 2.Prior to having the ability to learn from the experience in their present lives why do the very young suffer and die? 3. Since animals do not have free will as humans and live mostly by instinct, what purpose does their suffering serve? ...And why would a compassionate creator allow a natural system of carnivores/predators causing so much ongoing stress, fear and suffering in the animal kingdom? 4. Why do so many people with so much talent and skill find themselves in circumstances with little opportunity to use those special abilities to make this a better world...Why do not the spirits not work along side us for the greater good rather then allow us to become so discouraged and allow others of greed and cruelty to continue to dominate and decimate our planet? 5. Why does prolonged suffering occur amongst animals ...how could they be learning anything to further there spiritual evolvement since unlike man they are instinctual beings without free will ? 6. It seems that“lessons” can often be so hard, and or prolonged as to severely traumatized a person and loved ones causing understandable bitterness and regression, especially when earthbound the reasons are unfathomable yet still not revealed to them, which seems counter-productive and cruel ? Christ knew with certainty where he came from, his purpose and where he was going and why he was being crucified while God in spirit by his side, giving much needed comfort and fortitude etc. ...so why not the rest of us ? 7. Childhood would seem waste of time rather then starting at a mature age or where one left off from their last incarnation. Children being more prone to engage in abuse (...and further bad karma) cause unnecessary suffering, especially toward the defenseless such as animals? It would be a great relief as well as remove a substantial hindrance to my spiritual progress if any anyone could answer these questions as specifically as possible or give me references to some text that does, or if unable to ask someone appropriate during your hypnotic therapeutic questionings who could, such as a spiritual guide which if published would be of great interest and worth to others as well. Thank you such much for your time and considerations, Brad Kalita “Sum greater than parts”: The multi-faceted elements of human beings as a whole may be more comprehensible to make a comparison to the facets of water. Water is probably the most wondrous of substances having several distinct forms/properties depending the environment: Solid, liquid and vapor. Solid State…which we know well. Humane similarities in liquid state: Potential to let go, and just flow...exampfied by the wise elder who fell into a raging river surviving by not struggling and exhausting himself but rather flowing over the rapids until reaching calmer waters. Vaporous State …ethereal/spirit state, as in transcending or “passing over.” In scientific terms; Matter and energy never lost but transformed ...“having continually evolving integrative emergent qualities”. Such deductions may be comforting as well as enlightening since they coincide with laws of physics, thereby lending fascinating possibilities to human transformative potential. Life after Life based upon personal and thousands of documented case studies: Evidence: Those experiencing an“Out-of-body” often see/report things that they couldn’t possibly have seen/known. Core experiences independent of pre-religious etc. beliefs. Very young unaculterated children have same experience as adults. Contrary to claimed as stress induced, experiences are often situationally non-threatening spontaneous events. “The Unified Field”: Before returning earthbound “Near-Deaths” are often met by loves ones and animals experiencing surroundings of luminous radiant harmony and great beauty. Any questions/concerns are satisfactory answered telepathically, then consciously deleted. A detailed review is made of ones life during a wonderful restful period prior to corrective co-strategy...including race, gender, planet etc. for next incarnation. For teaching progressive/evolvement purposes unless prior reconciled, abuses inflicted are likewise experienced. “Ye shall do even greater things” – Jesus: Through further effort, varied life situational experiences and resulting acquired wisdom, eventually an ultimate magnificently blissful eternal multi-dimensional state of incredible opportunities and abilities is achieved.

Most of what is mentioned by the hypnotized subjects in this book does align with general themes and principles of what we do feel or sometimes “see” of the spiritual realm. I highly recommend this book to anyone questioning life’s purpose or even for those who believe we “just die” when we die. The only reason this review is 4 stars and not 5, is because of the casual mention of rape throughout the book with no real line of questioning to follow up on the karmic return for such a heinous act of violence, destruction, and humiliation against another human being. I found the tone around this subject to be disturbingly and disgracefully casual. This tells me that the author has inserted his own personal feelings into his book, which taints what could have been a great discovery of the afterlife’s more negative consequences for our actions in life. In fact, it seems the author may be running or hiding from his own wrongs, as his pursuit to answers around any true evils committed by humanity are weakly sought, at best. He asks souls what happens to a “tainted soul,” receives vague answers around “recycling,” and then mysteriously drops the subject and glazes over it throughout the book.

Si todos leyéramos este libro, la humanidad sería más armoniosa!

Charming experiences of regressive hypnosis

A must-read for anyone who is ready to uncover deeper truths beyond what we know. Be open minded and you shall understand that everything that happens in our lives, is something we chose.

Please, don't challenge your "realistic" and "skeptical" mind, just try past life regression yourself! And you will find answers to your questions not only about to this book, but about yourself! Make an experiment! A.Z., MD, PhD

A fabulous little book that has given me hope! No one could possibly invent the information in this book that established religions will hate! Keep an open mind.