Deliriously happy about her outrageously bizarre mode of self-discovery, Kate can’t wait to tell Julianne. She has never been cheated on, but Kate has always had trust issues and has never understood why. She wonders if her mistrust of men originated from this life; a ghost memory from an ancient time that has been festering in the deep recesses of her mind.
‘You’ll never believe what I found out!’ Kate messages her best friend. She hears the blip sound of the notification as Julianne messages her back straightaway.
‘What?’
‘That I’ve lived before. Twice!’ This time, the reply isn’t instant.
Her phone rings. ‘Kate, are you okay? I was in a meeting. I’m in the toilet.’
Kate gives a short laugh. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. Yes, I’m fine. We have to meet for coffee. So much to tell.’
Julianne sighs noisily. ‘Thank goodness for that. I thought for a minute you’d taken something inappropriate. Again.’ With a pause, Julianne says, ‘What do you mean you’ve lived before? You need to tell me now.’
Kate grins, taking pleasure in her mild mischievousness. Offering a morsel of her monumental discovery will likely frustrate her friend. ‘One o’clock tomorrow at that gorgeous little vegan café in Teed Street?’ Kate hears the faint click of Julianne’s tongue.
‘All right, but no sparing any details.’
◊.◊.◊
Kate looks at her phone. There’s just enough time before her flatmate returns home. She makes herself comfortable and plays a meditation audio. Minutes in she is slack-jawed and separated from reality. The smooth relaxing voice tells her it is a grounding technique to get her energy flowing, to dissolve any blocks, and to keep her connected to the physical plane. While Kate is taken deeper, the voice informs her soothingly it will increase her sense of well-being and her power of manifestation. Further along, Kate is reminded that the more she meditates, the more likely she will access the spiritual world, and the more likely visions will manifest. In her deep, relaxed state of mind, she knows she will learn more about herself — about her selves.
◊.◊.◊
From deep within, she hears the heavily accented, male, Italian Russian voice. Kate begins to feel a homely type of fondness for him, as though he were her grandfather, and she is thrilled he has come through again.
‘Your physical self is a portion, an identity, of your higher self, and your higher self is what you return to when your physical self dies. You still, and forevermore, will have a valid consciousness.
‘Ahead of time, your higher self will choose its parents and the circumstances in which its identity will live in that lifetime. It also chooses its identity’s lifespan. There can be many lifetimes; your higher self can have as many as it chooses before it moves into other spheres of reality. However, the choices of the higher self are all probable choices. It means that although identities will be born into environments and circumstances that their higher self has chosen, it does not mean it predetermines the circumstances of each lifetime. There will be variants and deviations of particular events and situations. You do not have a set path. You choose life-paths for your own reasons, knowing in advance, where your strengths and your weaknesses lie. You bring through strengths and weaknesses from your earlier lifetimes. This is for a good reason. Past traits and experiences lead you to insight and wisdom. You learn the power of discernment and hindsight, revealing the effects of your actions, good and bad. This is all part of your overall progress of experience and development.’
◊.◊.◊
The Italian Russian man’s voice falls silent and Kate blinks opens her eyes, gathering her thoughts, digesting his message. The voice confirmed her speculations about the root of her misgivings concerning boyfriends. When Kate realises this, she feels a strange release — like a physical release, as though she has finally been freed from the thing. She remembers reading a paragraph in the same book where she read about regression therapy, of instances where patients were regressed to the root of their trauma. Once this was revealed to the patients, and it could have originated several lifetimes earlier, their pain and suffering miraculously disappeared.
Kate knows she’s onto something.
◊.◊.◊
Over her soy latte, Julianne, a Megan Fox look-a-like with her diamond-shaped face, shiny-brown hair scraped into a high ponytail which accentuates her cheekbones and narrow jawline, widens her Lake Tekapo eyes, her expression a mixture of amazement and incredulity, while Kate begins to recite her adventures. Momentarily distracted, she notices a man in his thirties enter the café. He does a double-take at Julianne and walks straight into someone.
‘Where’d you get it?’
Kate returns her attention to her friend. ‘Where did I get what?’
Julianne leans forward and lowers her voice. ‘The weed.’
‘You know I don’t smoke. Look, if you don’t want to take me seriously, that’s fine, I get it.’
Julianne apologises. She knows how Kate can be sensitive, and gives her the benefit of the doubt, even though her skeptical lawyer’s brain thinks Kate’s story is highly implausible.
‘Well, can I watch you meditate?’
Kate stares dully at her friend. ‘That’s just creepy.’ Julianne is a corporate lawyer who wears pencil skirts and stilettos and whose weekdays in a city law firm are taken up with meetings and business negotiations. Today she wears a breezy summer blue and white top with a shoulder exposed, distressed jeans and flats, as she asks if she can come to her house and watch her meditate. In truth, this is what Kate loves about Julianne; her organic, down to earth nature. This is the real Julianne.
‘Well, let me know who you are next. Or were next. Or were before, I mean.’
Kate grins. ‘I surely will.’
◊.◊.◊
When the coast is clear, Kate plays her audio, goes through the breathing exercises and lets the comforting male voice of the therapist take her through a magnificent door, ‘four, three, two, one, you are there.’
A vision of a boy comes into view, blurry to begin with, then emerging clearly. The boy wears a brown tunic over lighter brown trousers, and an animal skin belt around his waist. Kate is a twelve-year-old boy in Norway.