(The Soul's Return)
There is a mystical teaching that advises the reincarnating soul to reunite with others it knew in a previous life. Different versions of it exist but the most common one reads:
There are three great mysteries in the life of man—love, death, and resurrection in a new body. To fulfill love you must return at the same time and place as the loved one, and you must meet and know and remember and love them again. But to be reborn you must die and be ready for a new body; to die you must be born; without love you may not be born.
This is linked to a metaphysical concept that a soul can pick up where it left off in a specific past life. One teaching is that souls travel in groups through time. Momentum is gained through remaining in alliance with other souls who were specific people known to the soul in a past life. There is less “starting over” in this scenario, and the souls continue their work together through intentional designs and purposes. A pact with the Ancestral Spirit goes hand in hand with such returns as we will see in the pages to follow.
In terms of reincarnation there are many ideas as to its necessity or purpose. In this chapter we will explore this consideration along with various elements not often presented on the topic. One example is the question of being reborn within a specific bloodline or nationality. Is this just random, or does the soul play a part in choosing the DNA link within a flesh body?
Several years ago I had a dream in which I was dead. I waited in line with other dead people to pass through a doorway. The door was at the end of an antechamber that had many shelves along its walls. Each shelf contained a newborn infant. A spirit being within the chamber asked if anyone wanted to take a baby along when they passed through the doorway. In the dream I thought it might be comforting to hold something as I passed into the unknown that waited beyond the door. As soon as I picked up a newborn baby, the spirit grinned, snapped his fingers, and shouted “Reincarnated!'—and so I was. I had, in effect, chosen another physical form to inhabit.
This dream influenced me to look beyond all that I had previously learned about reincarnation through the decades of my studies. The idea that a soul selects its next life and its parents was always a frequent theme in books on reincarnation. The common thought is that the soul knows things about what the next material life will offer the soul's education. It also knows something about how the parents will affect the soul's experience in any given lifetime. Following the dream I began to think in terms of the DNA as a beacon. Do we choose more than what a specific life has to teach the soul? Do we also choose a genetic heritage, a lineage to which we become tied? If so, why do we make that choice?
To answer that question we need to first look at the advantages of reincarnating. One important element is how material existence impacts the consciousness as opposed to non-material reality. One way of looking at this is to compare the so-called “waking state” with the so-called “dream state” that we experience each day and night. In the waking state things are linear, connected to cause and effect, responsive in kind, and constant in nature. For example, a chair remains a chair the next day. We have to walk, drive/be driven, or fly in a machine in order to get somewhere. Gravity is constant, time is a measurement, and one action results in another. This is not the same in the consciousness of our dream state.
In dreams things change from moment to moment, and there is no reliance upon anything adhering to a linear movement. We appear in places without ever traveling to get there. Time is not a factor in the dream world, and actions can be unrelated to outcomes. You can pick up a gun to defend yourself only to discover that you are holding a watering hose and tending to a garden. Dream consciousness is all about being in the moment and going with whatever shifts take place. It is more about the message and less about the means through which that message is delivered. However, the parts of the whole are important and should not be neglected.
If we apply the idea of learning within a classroom to the concepts of the waking state and the dream state, which condition is best suited to learning something specific? The answer, of course, is the waking state. Its finite and stable nature allows us to assemble practical knowledge piece by piece. By contrast, the dream state allows us to use what we have learned about material reality within a non-material realm. When you need to do something in the dream world, you apply your knowledge of the material world. For example you might run if something is after you. You might look for something or someone in a dream that you desire to connect with. These are all material rules, and you repeatedly use them in dreams even when they are dysfunctional in that state of consciousness. No doubt you have had dreams in which the props keep changing into something else when you need them.
What this all boils down to is that souls benefit from specific experiences that are only possible in a finite reality—the waking state. The limitations of a Material Body, and the rules of a material reality, come together to provide the soul with a stable foundation upon which to build. The material world is a classroom of linear teachings and lessons. It prepares us for existence within a non-material reality that has a completely different set of rules. Abstract can only be conceived of if conventional is experienced beforehand for we define things when we know their opposites. Material reality provides the means through which we can compare, contrast, and distinguish.
One teaching is that consciousness is developed and honed through the experience of repeating cycles. Since dreams do not produce reliable repeating cycles within them for us, we turn to material reality for the needed reliable patterns. It is through the “constant” that we develop our conscious awareness of existence. Material existence, for the soul, is very much about orientations, rhythms, and impacts that cause permanent changes.
The mystic William G. Gray wrote in his book Western Inner Workings that “Consciousness is cyclical and advances around its center in helical manner like other rhythmic energies of our Universe.” He goes on to say that we perceive things as linear in the material world (and by the way we reason) because we cannot sense the curvature of consciousness through time. He likens this to us not being able to see the curative of the earth while standing on it, even though the earth is round and spinning in outer space. Now think about this: Our Ancestors once believed the earth to be flat, and that the sun revolved around it. It was not until we fully perceived the annual repeating cycles of Nature that we became able to expand our consciousness beyond our sensory abilities. These expansions led us to learn about a reality that was previously obscured by the limitations of self-focus (or more accurately by our tiny inward spirals of consciousness). We came to understand that the earth is round and that it orbits the sun; this realization became possible because we observed the repeated cycles of the seasons, and fell into rhythm with the tides and forces of the earth.
Gray states that “souls evolve through the experience of cyclical consciousness.” This speaks to the need for repeated lifetimes in the Material Realm. However, the soul eventually moves on to experience “lifetimes” in non-material realms as well, but we will explore that later in the book. For now we will keep our focus on the soul in a Material Body.
Our distant Ancestors left us many ancient symbols. Among the oldest and most lasting is the spiral. We can think of this as a cyclical symbol, and in that light it can be seen as a reminder that consciousness is connected to cycles. It is interesting to note that in Nature we find a significant spiral that is named the Fibonacci spiral. It is found in plants, in shell formations, and in the formation of some animal horns. It is also the shape of spirals that form weather pressure systems on the earth. In addition it is the spiral shape that galaxies take on. In mathematics the Fibonacci sequence demonstrates how things form and expand. It is noteworthy that in the Fibonacci design we have a joining of both the celestial and the terrestrial. So too is it with soul's journey in which its stellar nature joins with a material form upon the Earth Plane of existence.
The material form provides the soul with more than just a body to use in a given lifetime. Its DNA provides the history of a people with a story to tell through time. Every story is valuable even when it lies quietly in the spirit of someone who carries it silently and deeply within them. In each lifetime you get to add to that story and perhaps even to complete it and start another. Just like an actor accepts an offer to perform in a movie, show, or play, the soul chooses to enter into the story of a bloodline. The soul is drawn into a lineage that anchors it in a specific current within the Material Plane. There are many lessons to be gained and many challenges to temper the soul. There is also a flowing river of consciousness from the past that empowers us with knowledge and wisdom. Its fount is the Ancestral Spirit.
The metaphysical view here is that events that affected previous generations, as well as our own Ancestral bloodline, are inherited by humans. These are active currents that saturate the soul upon entry into a Material Body. We are all affected by them to varying degrees, and we are here to affect them as well. One way we can accomplish this is to unite with the cycles that our Ancestors connected with in their own time periods. These patterns are in us and they are in nature; we need only embrace them. We can do this, in part, by returning to the celebrations and acknowledgments of the things that enriched the lives of our Ancestors.
The change from a past lifestyle known to our distant Ancestors (and the adaptations to modern life) has caused humans to be dominated by linear thinking. Contemporary humans tend to think in straight lines and therefore perceive of things progressing forward in distinct stages. This mentality tends to leave things behind, and it keeps the future always as something that may or may not happen. This is contrary to the mechanism of Nature, which operates in reliable repeating cycles. For example, the Four Seasons move in a circle, not a straight line. We cannot directly perceive this anymore than our senses can directly perceive our planet as being round. Our eyes see the world as flat (but containing terrain) from horizon to horizon. But that is not the reality of the world in which we exist. Our planet is not only circular; it circles around the sun, which in turn moves with the circular spiral of the galaxy. Reality is circles within circles, wheels within wheels.
Our distant Ancestors learned about their world through recognizing the rhythms of Nature. Seasonal rites were created to mark these repeating events. Our Ancestors understood them to be important parts of something greater, a larger Whole. In time the seasonal markers took on spiritual significance as well as announcing the arrival of planting and harvesting opportunities (along with the observational migration of herds and flocks). From this genetic memory within us we possess that same Ancestral clock.
William Gray refers to the matching cycles of Nature within us, and he applies a model called the Cosmic Cross. This symbol, in part, represents the teaching that we should strive to be “intentionally conscious” with the “Cosmic Life Spirit” as it presents itself amidst the rising seasonal shifts. What this means is that there are connections in the earth's cycles to cycles within higher planes. This is reflected in the Hermetic axiom: “That which is above is as that which is below, and that which is below is as that which is above.” The teaching here is that the planes of existence reflect upon each other, showing us facets of the common denominator, which is the Source of All Things, the Divine Consciousness. What we need to understand is that our bodies are linked to our Ancestors, and this is the first circle we enter. From there we expand outward to meet the Universe.
The Cosmic Cross provides us with a compass of sorts, a way of connecting with Ancestral understanding and the important mechanism our Ancestors knew very well through personal experience. It is also a primitive type of calendar, and in it we see the points of the Solstice and Equinox periods that are pivotal in the Wheel of the Year. Let us examine the symbolism of the Cosmic Cross.
Looking at the symbol, the interior lines represent the following:
The Four Cardinal Points: North, East, South, West
The Four Seasons: Spring, Sumner, Fall, Winter
The Four times of Day: Morning, Noon, Evening, Night
The Four Worlds of Mystic Thought: Stellar, Solar, Lunar, Material
Enclosing the lines we see the circle, which represents spiral consciousness and the return to ways of thinking that are not dominated by linear ones. It is a reminder that we evolve outward from the center. We begin from consciousness of the body, then move to its locality upon the earth, next to the world at large, and finally out to the cosmos. Therefore being in a body connects us to cellular consciousness, which then opens in the consciousness of our entire body. Having a body gives us spatial life awareness, and animation of the body allows us to experience the world beyond our finite location. This broadening of consciousness acclimates and orients us to see the greater solar system that our world is part of, and in doing so we can see beyond ourselves. The more we evolve the wider our realizations become, and the further in space our experience extends. This eventually leads to being released from the cycle of reincarnation because the lessons learned from material existence have been exhausted. We return home to the Community of Souls.
There is more to the matter of the soul than simply being in partnership with an Ancestral lineage. A greater purpose is attached to the soul's return to the Material Realm. This realm is the most condensed concept of creation and therefore a tangible one that you can literally get your hands on. Its creation came down from the other planes of existence (much like steam condenses into water). We are, in a sense, experiencing the end product. However, we are not the purchasers; we are the test group for the manufacturer.
This view centers on the concept that the soul serves as a transmitter to and a receiver from Divine Consciousness. In this light the soul conveys to Divine Consciousness its experiences, perceptions, and reactions within the Material Plane. Through this, Divinity assesses its creation and makes adjustments (not always in favorable ways to humankind).
Informing Divinity is a great responsibility, and it requires careful and thoughtful discernment. In metaphysics there is a saying that “thoughts are things.” What this means is that our minds create realities in which we operate, and those realities affect other people as well. We are all causing ripples, and those ripples go much further than most people might think.
In material existence the soul is encumbered with the human condition. It is, in effect, distracted and can be overloaded by sensory input. This limits the full focus of the soul's consciousness. There are methods to help alleviate this situation such as meditation, self-discipline exercises, and spiritual pursuits. The goal is to create a state of consciousness that is not reactive, but is instead discerning in positive ways. In this manner we can become more effective receivers and transmitters to Divine Consciousness. This requires turning off our personal filters and suspending our preconceived notions in the moment. It is not an easy task but it is quite worthy of attainment (for our own good as well as the greater good).
If we envision our thoughts as energy forms, what kind of energy is most beneficial to generate? What do our thoughts and feelings communicate to others and to the Universe about our state of being? The Universe is, in effect, listening to us. What you spend most of your time believing or disbelieving becomes your reality. The Universe matches your energy with like kind. If you spend time and energy thinking of gain, then the Universe adds to it. On the other hand if you spend time and energy thinking of lack, then the Universe pours that into your life as well. It does not reason or think in human ways or with human judgment; it simply responds to energy in like kind. Try not to think of this as reward or punishment because it is not. Think of it as “cause and effect” because that is what it really is all about. All this being said, it should be noted that the free will of other people inserted into our lives can impact what we work to create and manifest. This can be in undermining ways as well as in positive ways. For example someone can withhold or deny you money you are due just as someone can loan you money you don't have.
In being transmitters and receivers, we are like brain cells in the mind of the Divine. This idea was touched upon earlier but there is more to the concept. We not only inform the Source of All Things, we can become its means of changing the status quo. It may well be that we are the only beings on Earth that consciously set about accomplishing such a task. This is a great responsibility. It requires careful expansive thought and vision.
Affecting material existence cannot be left in the hands of those who see the earth (and other planets) as a resource that can be plundered for financial profit. If you think of bloodlines, then it will not surprise you to know that certain ones control a great deal of wealth. This wealth weighs heavy on the backs of those who are not part of its lineage or heritage. If we envision a world in which greed does not pay and in which fairness and equality are the norms, we can focus our energy and send waves towards manifestation. The alternative is to be passive and allow others to create the world and the reality in which we live. We have a choice even though there are people who do not want us to know or experience that reality.
One metaphysical concept we touched on earlier is that souls travel in groups and reincarnate in number. They can and do come into specific time periods for a reason. In our own century the souls of the Old World and the Old Ways are returning and creating a difference. This entry is a balance shift; it is a spiritual reaction to centuries of being constrained and fitted with blinders by dominating religions and organizations. The Neo-Pagan movement is but one example of this shift, and in it we are seeing a return to pre-Christian religions as well as a membership increase in non-Christian ones. Our Ancestors have a vested interest in the world of the Living, and they are calling for souls who are the allies sharing the vision for healing and protecting our planet, our world. Other souls long for the end of the world, a destruction that leads to a realm of paradise set aside exclusively for them. The Universe is listening and counting votes.
The number three represents an active principle whereas the number two represents balance as in a state of stasis. The principle of “three” releases the finite and liberates expansion. This is one of the meanings of the term “triformis” and we see it as a symbol that is well-known to our Ancestors.
The triformis nature is often regarded as a symbol for transformation. It works in joining the soul to material form, and then releasing it back into non-material existence. However it also plays a role during each physical lifetime. We experience this through the principles of what is known in metaphysics as space, time, and event—in other words, where we are, when we are, and our perception of what is happening where the two intersect in our lives. Let us examine each element.
The simple definition of space is the point or place at which you are conscious. It is where you are and where you can be found. However, the greater purpose of spatial awareness is orientation. As humans on the earth we orient to directions such as north, east, south, west, above, below, and in-between. These are agreements of consciousness shared by humans. These things do not actually exist outside of our perspective. For example in outer space there are no directions, no above or below. So we agree as humans that directions exist and we adhere to them in our navigation. The same is true of our spiritual landscapes during our explorations (while tied to material existence). It is our sense of space that allows us to map a connection to our Ancestors (we as here, and they as there).
Next in triformis order is time. On the surface time is the awareness of “now” and the projection backward to the “past” and forward to the “future.” It is another agreement of consciousness shared by humans for points of reference. The soul does not relate to the concept of past and future but is instead centered in now. The personality worn by the soul in each lifetime perceives existence as linear: past, present, future. For metaphysical purposes time is the awareness of cycles that present themselves. The Four Seasons, for example, are catalysts to our awareness of the parts that make up the whole (the Year). Time is the means by which we interface with space. This allows action when joined with the concept of direction (we can go there and meet here). This principle can be seen in marking out a site with a stone circle (space) and then treading (time) to cardinal points within the structure.
The final aspect of triformis is what we call event. Simply understood, events are the things that happen to us or the things we engage in. Metaphysically speaking, events are moments of change (most of them permanent). Events affect our experience of time and space. Some events are random occurrences while others are directed to us. An auto accident, for example, can change everything in your life in one single moment. The willful act of another human being can do the same. It is important to understand that these things offer us reactions to them. The “why” of it pales in connection to the way we respond and deal with the matter. One example I use in classes is the alligator in the swimming pool scenario. Most people in this position will first fixate on why there is an alligator in the pool, and how it got there to begin with. This is all irrelevant to the situation because the setting calls for a reaction, which is getting the alligator out of the swimming pool. Our reactions shape us, and in them we have opportunities to embrace a spiritual emanation. It is as William Gray wrote about space, time, and event:
The guiding principle behind them all is to make yourself intentionally conscious of the Cosmic Life Spirit in keeping with its prevailing presentation to humans at the particular period. That is to say you have to attune yourself to however God appears as an Event coinciding with your Time and Place.—Western Inner Workings, page 164
To better understand the mechanism of space, time, and event we need to understand the roles played by the soul and the host personality it inhabits. Earlier in the book I discussed the difference between the waking state and the dream state. This is very much like the relationship between the soul and the persona/personality. The latter experiences and reacts based upon human nature whereas the soul sorts through it all in search of the lesson to be gained and integrated. There are two different things happening as a result of the same event. The soul must correctly interpret the event. The success or lack thereof results in an energy emanation that flavors the spirit. It also colors the aura; it dissolves into the quintessence. When people read or sense someone's aura, they are feeling the results of the interplay between soul and spirit. The persona can pretend how it feels but the aura cannot reflect anything other than its energetic/spiritual condition.
The role of the persona is to experience finite reality, and through those experiences to challenge the soul's discernment. The persona symbolically represents what the soul has yet to fully understand and integrate into its being. It is a constant reminder and a teacher (as only a pupil can be). The soul symbolizes to the persona all that is worthy of attainment. For better or worse we all must deal with the struggle between soul and persona, spirit and body. It is all about movement and evolution through outgoing spirals of awareness and realization. The teaching we encountered earlier is that the Universe has no plans for our destruction; it has only plans for our successful spiritual evolution. This is key and central to the theme of reincarnation, the return of the soul to the experience of the body.
Everything that affects the soul affects the spirit, and what affects the spirit affects the body. In part, this causes a ripple that stimulates the Ancestral awareness of you. It is like a signal sent out from the DNA. The Dead are attracted as well. Have you ever noticed the phenomena that humans can be at their best when things are at their worst? At such times we can be heroic, actively compassionate, demonstratively generous, and completely selfless. Why do you suppose that is? Might it be our Ancestors and beloved Dead empowering us as allies from a higher plane of existence? Perhaps it may even be the soul taking the reins when the consciousness of the persona is stunned into inaction.
At the core of everything discussed in this chapter is the immeasurable value of communication. When our Ancestors created gestures and language, they were able to share information. They were able to inform others of things not directly experienced by those on the receiving end (there is food over there, a passage around this, enemies coming from that direction, etc.). The spiritual counterpart of this became mysticism, shamanism, mediumship, and even religion. Later in this book you will find several techniques that can help you communicate with those who have gone before you. Your Ancestors are further up the road you have yet to travel. You need their help to understand the journey you are on. Did you know that some of them need your help as well?
Many people carry regrets with them through life. This can be founded in the way they mistreated someone, things they never accomplished, or failures that defeated them. Regrets can also come from things we never took time for or from opportunities we let slip through our hands.
When I was a teenager I used to walk along the shore of Lake Ontario on a summer's morning. Each day I passed an old man sitting on a log as he looked out upon the water. We routinely exchanged a smile and a wave of the hand, and then one day I stopped to talk with him. I asked him what advice he might have for me as a young person. The old man replied: “There are many things I did and didn't do in my life. Now I've fewer years ahead of me than behind me. Every day I sit here thinking of what I never did in life. Advice? Live your life so that in the end it doesn't all come down to sitting on a log wishing you had lived your life more fully.”
It is a metaphysical teaching that our life's “energy resonance” stays with us after the death process is completed. It adheres to the Spirit Body and is the “vibration” of the persona. This vibration is taken into the Ancestral Spirit because of its Earth Plane resonance. In other words it is attached to the same source of life that was part of our Ancestors' experience when they were living in human form. In metaphysics this is akin to the principle that “like attracts like.” Therefore, the resonance of the persona, along with the sentience of the persona, is absorbed into the Ancestral Spirit. In effect a “copy” is left with the soul, which then assimilates this into its being. This is not unlike you having the experience and the memory of once being any given age in your life up until now.
As personas enter the Ancestral Realm, their energy imprint merges with the Ancestors. This in turn has an effect upon the consciousness and condition of the Ancestral Spirit. What is not commonly considered is that the vibration within the Ancestral Spirit also affects the living descendants. It is the metamorphic field and resonance mechanism operating within the Living River of Blood. This is not unlike the biblical principle that the “sins of the father” are punished on future generations, as found in Exodus 34:7, Numbers 14:18, and Deuteronomy 5:9 (among others). The primary difference is that in metaphysics there is no punishment and there is no reward. There is only the seeking of balance and harmony. Establishing that is not always an enjoyable experience.
It is the persona that acquires the resonance of positive and negative in a lifetime, but this does not exclude an impact upon the soul. The persona's resonance within the Ancestral Spirit is tethered to the soul, which can result in the soul being drawn back into specific bloodlines. The purpose is to either resolve the negative or to advance the positive. This is also true of any spiritual lineage as opposed to genetic lineage. For example, a soul born to Catholic parents can move with the persona as it converts at some point to another religion or spiritual path. After the death of the persona, the soul may discover this spiritual marker has a stronger pull on the reincarnating soul than does the genetic ties. The point to remember is that soul has a mission, and this mission takes priority over the vessel or the means it uses to accomplish it.
When the Ancestral Spirit moves to call a soul back, it is because a need exists to resolve or restore something; it can also intend to complete something unfinished in the lineage. A completion results in balance and harmony, which is the state of consciousness desired by the Ancestral Spirit.
Earlier in this section of the chapter I mentioned regrets. When a persona holds regrets or is troubled by its previous deeds in life, this affects the hive-mind of the Ancestral Spirit. The work of the incarnate soul is, in part, to heal the persona and/or the Ancestors who are in need of it. In some spiritual systems this is known as “redeeming” the Ancestors. This involves an offering or the performance of a service intended to “pay off a debt” or make amends on their behalf. In a later chapter you will find detailed information about how this works.
An excellent example of redemption appears in the Lord of The Rings movie trilogy. The hero Aragorn seeks out the ghosts of men who died cursed and ashamed for breaking an oath they took in life. He needs them to join in a great battle. To that end he promises to hold their oath as fulfilled if they come to his aid. This act promises to release them from remaining a cursed ghost army forever. They agree and fight for Aragorn, who honors his word, and in the end the Dead are redeemed. They vanish in glory from the battlefield and join their Ancestors.
One side benefit of healing or redeeming the Ancestors is that it liberates the soul of the person performing the act. For example, when my father (who was physically and emotionally abusive) died, I said to the “Universe” that if anything is owed by his spirit on account of his mistreatment of me, I cancel the debt. In that moment I felt his spirit lighten, and I also felt something lift off of me and dissolve away. It was an act of liberation for me, and the beginning of healing for him. However, on a larger scale, the inherited stream of abuse within the family lineage that touched his life was diminished. Forgiving those who abused him, and those who abused the abusers before him, changes the past. That is to say it changes the momentum, alters the morphic resonance, and redeems all generations (past, present, and future).
Look at events in the world today. Old and ancient feuds fuel violence, ill intentions, and warfare. Generations have been at war for centuries, and each new one is taught intolerance and vengeance. In this there is no peace or harmony for the Dead or for the Ancestors, no redemption. In return, the living generation has no healthy roots to draw upon for healing, no resonance to bring about change. It can only ingest the toxins left behind in the Ancestral Spirit.
The work of key souls in the living generation must be applied to the past and the present. The past must be re-envisioned so that the present is changed in accord. The living must do what the Dead failed to do, and the arriving soul must work to redeem the Ancestral Spirit; it and the Spirit of the Ancestral Lands must be purified. The living generation mistakes the voice of the Spirit of the Land as crying out for vengeance. It is the Dead who cry out to be avenged; the Ancestors call out for life as they have a vested interest in the Living. Part of that vested interest is in not being forgotten; for when something is forgotten, a part of the future dies with it.