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Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives

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As a reader of hundreds of books on spirituality, religion, mysticism, etc. (Robert Monroe, Jane Roberts, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Lobsang Rampa, Theosophy, Yogananda, Chuang-Tzu, Dion Fortune, Eckankar, etc., just to give you an idea of what I brought to reading this book), I can only say that I was ASTONISHED by this book. There are so many questions answered here for which I've never gotten satisfactory answers: for example, how suicide affects karma, why humans are so often evil (and what happens to them when they die), what the ultimate goal and purpose of life is (stated everywhere, especially in Christianity) but for some reason this is the first explanation that has made any sense to me.

This description of the nature of the universe and our place within it is fully compatible with discoveries in quantum physics, as well as many traditional faiths. It is simultaneously scientific and spiritual. I experienced profound shifts while it- was changed by it. I cannot recommend it enough. If you buy only one book this year, make it this one!

I felt "flashbacks," if you will, as I read this book, especially the discussion about soul groups and the schooling-type activities that go on in the spirit world. It's good that this account includes multiple case studies of those who have been regressed beyond their past lives into this other realm -- and that their answers were strikingly similar. The concept of soul development levels helps to explain a great deal about human behavior throughout the ages. The spirit world's strong sense of kinship, love, and understanding stuck with me long after reading Journey of Souls. How wonderful if these concepts could be shared universally; perhaps human beings might cease to cause each other so much physical harm? Alas, part of the order of the Universe seems to point out that this will never be possible on Earth. That gives those of us who want to contribute positively to the world something to strive for. It also offers a sense of hope, that life, "Here" and "There," is an ongoing series of lessons, and that there is always a higher level of being to reach.

Michael Newton collected interviews with some of his patients about their experiences between lives. Intriguing? You bet!

I am a mystic and have had memories of past lives, as have many people. My daughter recommended Journey of Souls, and in a conversation with her before I had received mine (her gift), I told her about my immediate past death and what happened afterwards. She was amazed as she said, "That's right." Why? The first thing I said was that I had died so many times that I knew what had happened to me. This was a familiar thread in this book because the trauma of death is exactly that--trauma; however, these interviews show hope and continuance.

My journey through this book was a confirmation of what I already believed happens right after death and of what the between-world, the place of souls, is about. So, although there was not a lot of new information for me in the first third to half of the book, it made me feel very happy just reading it because the descriptions from others paralleled my own. There is nothing so rejuvenating as corroboration from a myriad of strangers.

For anyone who wonders if there is life after death, this answers that question as well as providing insight into soul development and progression. One of the most interesting aspects were the "keys" that we memorize so that we will know certain people as they enter our lives; that feeling of "Gee, I know you," indeed is reality.

"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)

Journey of Souls is spiritual food for thought. After reading this book I found myself genuinely looking at myself, how I got here, and what reasons lie behind my life. This is definitely a book to be read with an open mind, and whether in the end you believe the premise or not, it will still provoke a more expansive view of your own spirituality. Much like another book I just finished reading called The Book of Thomas by Daniel Aber and Gabreael. However their book goes much deeper than Journey of Souls. In their book not only is reincarnation covered in detail, but so is the charting process (our souls path), soul mates (no fluffy crap like I exspected on soul mates, it actually made sense), spiritual DNA, and much more. If you liked Journey of Souls you will love The Book of Thomas by Daniel Aber and Gabreael.

As someone who no longer needs to be convinced as to the reality of reincarnation, it's unusual to find a book on the subject that interests me anymore. However, I was fascinated by this book, and I understand why Journey of Souls captivated me so: Because the world of spirit described in the book (by Michael Newton's regressed subjects) resonates, on the deepest level, with what I remember to be the truth of that world. An excellent read, highly recommended to anyone who is seeking to lift the cloud of amnesia that most of us have about life before birth. As well, Journey of Souls beautifully serves as a clear reminder that a soul incarnates with loving purpose and by choice. I await more from this author; he has written an exceptional book on the relatively unexplored subject of life between lives.

I was raised in a religious family, but something didn't feel quite right in all those rules. I stopped going to church and doing anything religious for a time because I just felt like it wasn't the answer.
On the other hand, I DID feel there was something that I needed in my life to balance everything else out, and that was my understanding of the meaning of life.
I have spent several decades in this search for truth. Until now, no one had been able to answer my questions. From the very get-go, this book leaves you with wanting more. I read it in 4 sittings (and that's probably only because I have a child!). This book touches on everything you have always wanted to know including ghosts, intuition, child death, crippled people, personal guides (before I was afraid they were 'evil spirits in disguise),time between past lives, why we choose certain bodies, certain familes, and certain talents all the while maintaining our free will in life & our body. This books touches on the union bewteen the mind & soul, when the soul comes to the baby, and abortions. Of course as the title explains, the book elaborates on all aspects of what exactly happens from the time our body dies until (and if) we choose to take an other.
This book is VERY conforting to those who :
*feel a void in their lives
*are searching for meaning
*are depressed
*have lost someone close
****Please remember that all of the author's case stuies come from hypnotized subjects. If you don't *believe in* hypnotism, you'll find this a waste.
This is an excellent book and I have recommended it to several of my clients( I am a Life Coach).

This book helped me to uncover my real priorites and get back to the *important* things in life. You won't regret buying this book!

It took many years after leaving the monastery for me firmly to decide that the Catholic Church was just another corporation driven by power and money. I threw out the baby with the bath water.

Many years later I read Dr. Raymond Moody's "Life After Life" which introduced me to a spiritual world I might be able to understand and rationalize rather than just believe. Dr. Moody interviewed over 100 people who were declared clinically (brain and heart) dead, and later revived. He tells their stories. Dr. Newton's "Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives" picked up where "Life After Life" left off, and takes a giant leap toward understanding the life of the immortal soul.

I'd like to live my life looking toward that "last judgment" I learned about in school. Dr. Moody tells how a "being of light" asks a non-verbal question which none of his subjects is able to reproduce precisely in words. This early discovery of Dr. Moody was published in 1975. Dr. Newton's 1994 "Journey of Souls" explains the process more thoroughly. Dr. Newton hypnotizes people, and helps them explore their past lives and their spiritual existence between lives while under hypnosis. The non-verbal question is far more complex than "What have you learned?", "How have you loved and been loved?", or "Was it worth it?" -- the approximations interpreted by Moody's subjects.

Dr. Newton, through summaries and transcripts of his hypnotherapy sessions, helps us learn about spirit guides, (guardian angels), our welcoming into the spiritual world after death (judgment), and the maturation of the souls (karma/nirvana/the beatific vision).

I've looked for this kind of guidance for years in the monastery, in Europe, in Asia, in the Middle East, in scriptures, books, fellowships, churches, temples and synagogues. Life After Life and "The Journey of Souls" and has caused changes in the very foundations of my beliefs, and helps unite the concepts of Christianity, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and other religions. For my own journey toward an understanding of the meaning of life and death, Dr. Newton has offered sign posts in poorly charted territory.

If you are interested in spiritual life beyond the doctrines of the organized religions that are based on power and money, "The Journey of Souls" is a must read.

... it has been interesting. I've been voraciously reading about reincartnation. As with many people I was told about a book called "Many Lives, Many Masters" which started me down this path. I've read all of Brian Weiss's works on past-lives and have now started reading Michael Newton's books but it's going to take a bit longer. The biggest word to describe this is "CLINICAL"! The author writes as though he is presenting his work to a room full of collegues rather than the average reader. Having said this, I have found his case studies extremely interesting as they serve to augment (for me) Brian Weiss's works. Brian focuses on the actual past life experience while this book focuses on the time inbetween to bring us a more complete image of our exsistance. I look foward to reading "Destiny of Souls".

Building upon the work of past life regression pioneers like Dick Sutphen, Newton has managed to produce possibly the most advanced text on soul theory. Students of metaphysics will no doubt gain much from this book. Having studied this subject myself for a number of years, this book helped me to finally solidify many of my own views and theories on the subject. Newton's research should provide a lot of inspiration to those searching for meaning in their lives. I can understand the skepticism that is rampant in this field of study, but I am confident that Newton's work will be regarded as one of the most important contributions to metaphysics in the coming Millenium. Indeed, Newton clearly communicates that there is a divine order to the universe that many of us are just beginning to comprehend. Because this material can be so overwhelming, I suggest that people who are new to this subject first read books written by Dick Sutphen and then follow up with this book. Highly recommended.