Category: Reincarnation


Karma

Filed Under: Destiny/Higher Plan, Karma, Past Lives, Reincarnation by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Karma

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I overheard someone mention the word “karma” today, and it got me thinking. What exactly is karma, anyway? Do you believe the concept of karma is legitimate, or do you think it’s an idea dreamed up by people who want an excuse to not take personal responsibility for their lives? I would much rather believe in free will and our ability to make better choices for ourselves as opposed to something like fate. Is karma real? Is it worth even talking about? If so, what can we do about it? Is karma “fair?” Who enforces karma – God? If I seem to be experiencing patterns of “bad luck” in my life, does that mean I have “bad” karma? I am a Christian who believes in reincarnation, but I am not sure that what I did in past lives can affect me now for better or for worse. What are you beliefs on this subject?
– Elena

Dear Elena:

In Sanskrit, the word karma means “action.” When we speak of karma, we are basically referring to the universal law of cause and effect, action and reaction. We might say an individual’s karma is the sum of his or her actions that are still awaiting reaction.

I was surprised at your slant on karma and responsibility, because it seems to me that believing in karma is not a cop out in which we blame our “bad luck” on some force outside of ourselves. Instead, believing in karma is taking total responsibility for whatever we’ve created in our lives, whether we created it recently or in some distant time and place. Further, believing in karma means we know we will have to “answer for” our choices in the future.

Some people believe that “God” or some other deity will enforce the law of karma and dole out rewards or punishments based on our behavior, but most people seem to share my view that it is simply a natural universal law like gravity.

Karma simply acknowledges the universal truth that “like attracts like.” If we send love into the world, love returns to us. If we are selfish because we fear lack, we get more lack. Working with karma is therefore not so much a matter of being “good” as it is choosing to embody and focus upon what we desire to experience. If we desire love, we must be loving. If we desire happiness, we must spread happiness. If we desire success, we must focus our resources on creating that success. This takes the need for any sort of moral judgment by a deity out of the equation.

If we replace the word karma with a more familiar term like “momentum,” it’s easier to see how karma is just a natural law. Then the questions many people have about karma become obvious. Do you believe in momentum? Who enforces momentum – God? Is momentum “fair?” If momentum is carrying me in a certain direction, is it because I was “bad” in a past life? Further, when we view karma as momentum, it’s easy to see that to end up somewhere other than where we seem to be heading, we need to exercise free will and choose to move in a new direction.

It is helpful to think and talk about karma because when we become conscious of the effects of our actions, we can learn to choose more wisely. We all have habitual reactions to most circumstances, and so long as we continue to react the same way, we will continue to get the same results. When we recognize that we are creating our experiences and we choose to respond in a more conscious way, we move into a higher level of experience and essentially free ourselves from that karmic pattern.

To do this, we must be able to honestly observe ourselves. Given the powerful role of the ego, this can be very hard to do. The ego naturally wants us to blame other people for our problems instead of recognizing that we have brought them upon ourselves. Even when we do realize we are creating our own experiences, getting past the ego can be very challenging.

A conscious spiritual path is one in which we begin to pay careful attention to our choices and what may result from our actions. It is a constant quest to uncover what is truly right and important, and to stretch ourselves past the ego to take right action. This requires great courage, tolerance, patience, humility, etc.

For many of us, the most challenging karma we deal with involves our closest relationships. When we have strong feelings of love or hate for someone, it’s usually a sign that there is a lot of karma between us.

If we want to improve our karma, the most powerful thing we can do is rise above the most negative emotion we feel. If there is a relationship that is very troubling, we can work on healing it. If there is someone we hold hatred for in our hearts, we can find a way to forgive them and make peace with them.

It doesn’t matter if others work with us or not. We can’t change another’s karma, and we will only feel the effects of our own anyway. If, however, we have wronged or hurt someone in some way, we must at least try to make things right or help them feel better. When we reach the point where we can love our enemies as our spiritual brothers and sisters and appreciate all we’ve learned through our interactions with them, then we have transformed a former enemy into a future friend.

There are a couple of aspects of karma that frequently confuse people. One is the matter of intention. Our intentions are paramount. If we “kill a bad guy” in order to save a bunch of innocent people, we don’t carry the karma of a murderer but of a hero, for our intention was to save innocent people. If we break a law in order to help or protect someone, and we hurt no one else by doing so, then we carry the karma of helping or protecting someone.

Another point that many people overlook is the matter of duty. Some passive types seem to believe that it is best to try to do as little as possible in life in order to avoid incurring bad karma. It’s my understanding that this is rather backwards, for failing to take appropriate action is just as bad as doing the wrong thing.

It is thus foolish to stand back and watch someone suffer when we could help, to stand in the way of someone trying to do the right thing, to fail to speak up for what’s right because we’re afraid, to fail to apologize because we’re too proud, etc. Further, we all have duties to fulfill. If we bring a child into the world, we have a duty to lovingly care for that child. If we marry someone, we swear to do and be certain things for that person, and it is our duty to fulfill our vows.

Also, from a higher perspective, having a “hard” or challenging life is not a bad thing. We do not incarnate to do nothing but party – we live in order to learn and grow. Believing that having lots of challenges must mean we have bad karma is like assuming that students who choose a challenging course of study in college must have been bad students before they got there. Instead, it suggests that they are ambitious and want to learn a lot in a short amount of time.

Finally, when it comes to karma, most people focus too much on the past – on explaining what has already happened and blaming karma for it – instead of focusing on the future and aligning with what they desire. We are wise to remember that if past mistakes can create present problems, then present wisdom can create future blessings. The law of karma teaches us that our “fate” is not out of our hands; instead, it is of our own creation.

Talking about karma reminds us that we can never really avoid anything, and it’s foolish to give up, for we will naturally have to deal with the repercussions of our choices eventually. In fact, the more we acknowledge and consciously work with the law of karma, the faster we can manifest whatever we want in our lives, whether that is a higher level of experience here on Earth, or the ultimate spiritual goal of “enlightenment.”

– Soul Arcanum

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Can Our Pets Reincarnate Or Greet Us in the Afterlife?

Filed Under: Afterlife, Death and Dying, Past Lives, Reincarnation by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Can Our Pets Reincarnate Or Greet Us in the Afterlife?

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

My question is about our beloved animal friends. I have had a number of cats who died and then came to me in wonderful dreams. I’m wondering if you believe our animals return to us as new pets with new bodies, perhaps even as other species. (Can a cat come back as a dog?) Are our pets okay in the afterlife? Do they return to us? Will we see them again?
– Becky

Dear Becky:

The controversy over whether or not animals “have souls” and continue to exist beyond physical life is a long and involved one. Naturally, I don’t know the answers to all the deepest questions in the Universe, but I can explain what I’ve gleaned via spirit communication, as well as what I’ve learned from spiritual teachers who share the views I’ve adopted via my own direct experiences.

On the question of whether or not animals have souls, one answer strikes me as patently obvious: of course they have souls! To me the natural world is shining with life force energy – with soul. It is most obvious in sentient beings such as humans and the world’s more intelligent creatures, but it’s also easy to see in all wild animals, from the intelligent ape and devoted dog down to the simple worm.

Plants are also aglow with lovely life force energy. So often human beings presume that everything exists solely for our benefit here on Earth. When we hear report after report of near death experiences in which people found themselves in heavenly gardens, we presume that this beauty was created for our benefit, but maybe it’s just the heaven plants go to when they die.

Though it’s harder to perceive, I believe that rocks and minerals have soul energy as well. It’s my understanding that the mineral kingdom is essentially “alive,” though its vibration is so low and slow that we can’t perceive anything happening in this domain. (The more evolved a being, the faster its vibration, and the more it will act of its own volition. This is why rocks seem to just sit there, plants grow very predictably in one spot, animals seem to react instinctively, and humans (hopefully) act with conscious awareness).

I’m not sure about the soul of manmade objects – perhaps any energy they do possess comes from the people who created them, though I am assured by wise spiritual teachers that every atom in the Universe is alive with energy.

Further, we are in constant communication with every living being in the Universe whether we are consciously aware of it or not. Many people report having a strong psychic bond to their pets and relay amazing stories evidential of their pets’ psychic awareness. Animals are known for being psychically sensitive to the presence of ghosts and spirits, for example, and for being able to sense when someone they love is in danger or emotional pain even when that person is physically at a distance. As animals’ ability to telepathically communicate with us transcends the laws of physical space and time, it should also transcend physical death.

Plants are also constantly “communicating” with us on both a physical and metaphysical level. Physically, we have a symbiotic relationship with them; we breathe in their oxygen while they “breathe in” our carbon dioxide. On a metaphysical level, countless experiments have shown that we can communicate with plants and have them respond to us. This is why people talk to their plants. My plants even alert me when they need watering.

In my work as a medium, I have often connected with the departed pets of my clients, so I know that animals exist in the afterlife. On top of this, I can’t begin to tell you how many stories I’ve heard and read in which people described amazing spiritual experiences they had with the spirits of their pets.

These stories reveal that just like the spirits of people, pets often come back to let their human friends know they are okay, or to comfort them when they are upset. They also tend to show up when we’re in the dreamy state between awake and asleep, which is a common time for us to be receptive to visits from spirits.

Many people with a beloved pet cat on the other side have felt the cat moving around their legs on their beds at night, just as they used to do when they were alive. Dog owners often feel the presence of their dogs by their sides. This can be so subtle and familiar that our conscious minds never even notice it until one day it hits us: we have been feeling the presence our pet as though the pet is still there, yet the pet died some time ago.

A number of people who have had near death experiences reported that they were greeted by beloved pets in Spirit when they reached the end of that tunnel of light. This makes perfect sense to me. So often our pets are delighted to welcome us home, so I can only imagine how thrilled they’d be to welcome us HOME.

It’s my understanding that all living creatures are caught up in the cycle of reincarnation because this is the natural process of evolution. Just as water evaporates, grows heavy in the clouds, and then it rains and the process starts all over again, living creatures are ever incarnating, dying, and being reborn again.

Life depends on the evolution and expansion of the Universe. We can see evidence of this in our own lives; just as we learn and grow and then move on to more sophisticated lessons, so it is with life forms. While we may have been a “lower” life form in a prior incarnation, we would not return to that existence once we had evolved beyond it. Before becoming individualized, the energy of each person passed through the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms, and when we reach a certain point, we will evolve beyond incarnation in physical form.

Since humans are at the top of the evolutionary chain here on Earth, it makes sense that as animals evolve, they are drawn toward humans. These are the animals that become our pets. Many pets seem nearly human in nature because they ARE. By living within a human family, they learn a great deal about the human experience and evolve very quickly via lessons about love, devotion, patience, etc.

Wild animals don’t need to be patient – they just do what they want, when they want to do it. With pets that are “trained,” however, one sees a far more sophisticated approach to life. For example, a pet may demonstrate great patience and self-restraint when a small child pulls its tail.

Our evolved pets aside, most animals do not have a conscious existence in the afterlife. Your average wood chuck, for example, may simple die and after a brief period of unconscious rest in the astral, emerge again in physical form, perhaps as a baby woodchuck, or if he was very good in his last life, a beaver or a hedgehog. (Just kidding – everyone knows that wood chucks are far more enlightened than beavers.)

As animals evolve toward the human end of the spectrum, however, they spend more time having conscious experiences in the non-physical, including romps in what we may call “heaven,” where they may greet us when we cross over. Some animals that are very attached to their owners may also remain earthbound for a while after they cross over, just like some people do. These are the pets that can be felt, glimpsed or heard in spirit form after they have died.

When animals reincarnate, they often return to the same owners, for they are naturally drawn to them out of mutual desire. The force that makes this happen is the one energy that death can’t make a dent in: Love. Just as with people, mutual love draws us to beings on the other side and motivates us to incarnate into each other’s lives over and over again. So if you love some departed being very deeply, you can trust that you will one day be reunited.

– Soul Arcanum

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Spirit Communication: What if the Spirit has Reincarnated?

Filed Under: Reincarnation, Spirit Communication, Spirits by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Spirit Communication: What if the Spirit has Reincarnated?

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I believe in reincarnation, and also that we can communicate with spirits. How soon do spirits decide to reincarnate? If they do choose to reincarnate, how can we communicate with them? Aren’t they in the physical plane again, and therefore out of the realm of such communication? Are souls required to reincarnate a certain number of times before they can retire to the spirit world permanently?
– Jean

Dear Jean:

No one living can answer these questions with certainty, for they are some of the deepest mysteries of life. I can only relay what I have come to understand via my own experiences with spirit communication and my own spiritual studies. Further, we must assume that our perspective is distorted from the start because of our conceptual dependency on the idea that time is linear, which appears to be true physically but NOT true metaphysically. How this may affect matters of reincarnation is downright mind boggling.

It’s my understanding that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to reincarnation, for there are many variables that would affect such decisions. Some people spend a lot of time in other dimensions before reincarnating in the physical, and some people return to Earth quickly.

Dr. Ian Stevenson is a leading researcher into evidence for reincarnation, and he has suggested that the average span between incarnations is about 15 months. The nature of his work may skew his views, however, as he focuses on children who remember their last lifetime and can visit their former homes and families to demonstrate their knowledge of those people and places. Obviously, for this to happen, one would have to reincarnate very quickly, or those family members would have departed life as well. (People who did not reincarnate quickly like this would not find themselves subjects of his research.)

In some religions it is believed that reincarnation is immediate: as soon as a person dies, he or she is conceived or born into a new life. In other spiritual traditions and cultures, an interval of many years is considered the norm.

As for the factors influencing such decisions, they appear to depend on the circumstances of one’s death: sometimes release from the physical is a blissful relief, sometimes it seems to come too soon, and there are lots of possibilities in between.

When a person had a trying life or suffered physically before death and was spiritually evolved enough to go to a pleasant spot in the afterlife, death is no doubt a relief. We might imagine it’s a bit like leaving behind a very busy work schedule and the discomfort of a frigid winter to take a lovely, relaxing vacation in Hawaii. Most people will not want to return to that cold climate again, and given the choice, they’ll put it off. Some people, however, will quickly get bored with the perfect weather and not having much to do, and will long for another adventure: a new life in a new place with a new body.

If a person had a lot of wonderful things happening at the time of their death, or if they left important unfinished spiritual business that is “haunting” them in the afterlife, death may seem to come too soon. In this case, it might be a bit like being suddenly called away on business; we might have a strong sense of responsibility pulling us to go back home and take care of things, or we may have dreams and desires we’ve left unfinished that we long to fulfill, and this could cause us to decide to reincarnate quickly.

If you think about it, there are no doubt lots of factors that would come into play. If a soul mate decided to reincarnate, you may be tempted to follow. If you’re longing for the opportunity to reincarnate with a young grandchild, you may decide to wait until that child crosses over and you can incarnate together. If you’re devoted to watching over a loved one from Spirit for the rest of their life, you may wait on moving on to a new life yourself.

As for how we could communicate with spirits of people who have reincarnated, first, we can’t communicate with ALL spirits whenever we desire – not by a long shot. It’s thus possible that when a spirit is “unavailable,” it’s because they’ve returned to the physical.

However, it’s my understanding that this is a far more complicated subject. For example, many years ago I read for a man who lived in Germany. During the reading, I had (what I thought was) a spirit named Klaus come through for him. I saw him clearly and described him as looking very much like a certain film star. I described how he dressed, that he chain-smoked cigarettes, and the rather unusual, loping way he had of walking. I also brought through advice from him about my client’s situation.

It blew both my mind and the mind of my client when he reported that he definitely could identify Klaus, but that Klaus was a living, breathing coworker of his! I could tell no difference between this “spirit” and the other spirits I frequently connected with who had crossed over.

For more information on this phenomenon, I recommend a book called The Boy Who Saw True, which is the diary of a Victorian boy who was gifted with second sight. In it, he describes how he communicated with a “spirit guide” for years, only to learn as he grew older that his spirit guide was embodied on Earth. Here’s how the guide explained himself to the boy:

“You must pardon me for having disappeared so suddenly the other day, but I was called back to my body. As I gave you no reason to think otherwise, I expect you imagine I’m a dismembered spirit? But that’s not exactly the case. To be explicit, I happen to be a so-called Anglo-Indian, and I am communicating with you while out of my body, which is asleep thousands of miles away from here.”

This notion certainly opens up all sorts of possibilities!

As for what we must do to end the cycle of rebirth, in New Age parlance, we might say that we must evolve beyond the Earth’s range of vibration. That doesn’t mean we’re all done, mind you; it’s more like we’ve moved up in grades in school. If Earth life is first grade, each day that we attend first grade might be one lifetime, and when we finish that grade, we’ll move on to a new classroom. Some people take accelerated courses in which they are more challenged but may progress faster. Some find school in general easier than others. Some people even flunk out; believe it or not, if we fail to learn, eventually we can be reabsorbed by our Source.

Eastern religions teach us that we must free ourselves of karma to end the cycle of rebirth. For our purposes here, we might say that karma is that which makes us return: return to life on Earth, to certain people/relationships, or to certain experiences. If we have promises or desires to fulfill or issues to resolve, these loose ends tug at us to go back and tie them up. Through spiritual growth, right action, and transcendence of desire/attachment, we free ourselves from having to reincarnate.

For a Christian perspective, the key to spiritual freedom can naturally be found in the Bible:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew, 6:19-21

This means when we stop seeking things we can’t take with us when we go, such as money and material possessions, physical pleasures, fame and other ego-based goals, and instead focus on those things we CAN take with us, such as knowledge, spiritual wisdom, inner peace and love, then we’ll have risen above the lessons of the physical plane, and will be free to move on to subtler dimensions of experience.

– Soul Arcanum

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How Does Psychic Information Help Us Create Change?

Filed Under: Divine Guidance, Emotional Well-being, Past Lives, Psychic Ability, Psychic Readings, Reincarnation, Spiritual Growth by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on How Does Psychic Information Help Us Create Change?

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

A little over a year ago, I fell down some stairs and hit the top of my neck. It’s been a long path to healing, but when I realized that I could consciously relax this area, the level of chronic pain became much more bearable. What hasn’t really helped was the information given to me by a healer who said that the reason I hurt my neck was because in a past life I was tortured and killed by a “dark energy cult” who did something gruesome to my neck. It’s not like I find this unbelievable or even particularly frightening; I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do with it. I’ve experienced plenty of things in this life to explain why I remain inert in the face of approaching danger or why I walk carelessly down a wet spiral staircase. To what extent are we defined by our past lives? I find it difficult to imagine why I would recreate a shadow experience of something terrible. Are we even supposed to know what happened in past lives? I ask this because I have never found self-awareness to be a major impetus for behavioral/physical change.
– Karla

Dear Karla:

I think this question is really about the power of conscious awareness. Whether the experiences affecting us at a subconscious level stem from our past in this life or another life, if we are unaware of why we are doing what we are doing, then those experiences are controlling our behavior. When we become conscious of why we do what we do, then we gain the power to make a conscious choice to do something else.

Here’s a simple, classic example that is sadly all too common: Let’s say that when Sandy was little, she was molested by her father. She may have a vague recollection of this, or have totally repressed her memories of it. It doesn’t really matter, so long as she is not conscious of how those early experiences are affecting her today.

Fast forward twenty or thirty years, and now Sandy has a hard time getting close to men. As soon as a man begins to get too close, she finds fault with him or starts acting “crazy” and pushing him away.

She may come to me for a reading, asking, “Why can’t I find the right guy?” Or, if she has some self-awareness, she might ask, “Why do I sabotage these relationships? Why do I always treat the nicest guys like dirt?”

Well, Sandy learned at an early age that it is the men you should be able to trust the most – the ones who are supposed to protect you and take care of you – that you have to watch out for. When a man says he loves you, beware. Thus as soon as a guy seems to care too much, she feels panicked and starts to flail around to get out of the relationship.

If she can get conscious about why she is doing what she is doing, then she can work through the irrational, self-defeating aspects of her belief system, and choose a more empowering and fulfilling approach to relationships.

I know this works myself. When I was a teenager, like many girls that age, all I wanted was to be pretty and popular. I put a lot of effort into being skinny, attractive, etc. Then I was stalked and raped by a man who saw me as so “desirable” that he had to have me for himself.

In the wake of that experience, I blamed myself. I said things to myself like, “Well, you wanted to be irresistible! That’s what you get!” I then started gaining weight and wearing huge clothes. I stopped wearing makeup. I stopped getting a lot of male attention. I wasn’t happy being out of shape and unattractive, but I felt safer.

I woke up one day and realized WHY I was overeating, not exercising, and dressing in baggy clothes. I then decided to “empower” myself by getting very strong and fit. I started eating right, lifting weights, running, and training in karate. I became obsessed with being fit and strong.

To this day, I still work out a lot. There are some healthy, positive reasons for this, but there is also a bit of that desire to be able to protect myself too. Maybe that’s unhealthy, or maybe it’s just wise given the nature of the world. I do know that becoming conscious of why I was doing what I was doing freed me to find the healthiest way to deal with it. I’m happy feeling strong and fit. I feel empowered.

Our past lives often do continue to affect us. The more intense/traumatic an experience in our past was, the greater its potential power over us will be. Since we don’t usually remember our past life experiences, they tend to influence us in unconscious ways.

When a big past life trauma is swept under the rug of our conscious awareness, it forms a lump in our lives that we can’t really see. We then trip over that lump again and again until we make a connection between walking in that area and getting hurt. Then we may be able to walk around it to avoid it, but of course, the hazard is still there. If we aren’t “paying attention,” we could trip over it again. If we consciously address that lump – if we lift up the rug and drag it out into the light and clean it out of there, we won’t have that vulnerability anymore.

Just because something happened in a past life, however, that doesn’t mean that we’re doomed to experience it again. While I won’t comment on the accuracy of the unusual reading you received, I find it rather strange to be seeking the reason for an accident in a past life in the first place. Accidents happen; they don’t always have some deep or higher meaning. We can have an accident if we simply fail to consciously manifest well-being. If we’re not grounded, not paying attention, not fully in our bodies, then accidents happen, and we’re snapped back to reality. If we keep finding ourselves in the same sort of pattern of experience, however, then it may be helpful to seek the metaphysical reasons why.

You asked if we’re even supposed to know about past life experiences. I found that a most interesting question. Why indeed would we generally not remember them unless there was a good reason?

I asked Spirit, and it was explained to me that we gain access to power and information as we become ready for it. Thus the more evolved we are spiritually, the more spiritual abilities we’ll gain, and the more awareness we’ll have of things like our past lives, the deeper meaning behind our experiences, etc. Spiritual evolution is a journey of ever expanding conscious awareness. We can trust that if we are made aware of something, it is natural and right for us now.

I feel that this fall sparked a big surge forward spiritually for you. Often accidents release a surge in kundalini. If you look back, you will see how this fall launched you into a period of deep spiritual questioning. That may not have been its “purpose,” but it was the result. Take it for what it is, and make the most of it. Instead of looking back and asking “Why?” look forward and ask, “Where do I want to go from here?”

We are not doomed to repeat past life experiences. In fact, the whole point of accessing past life information is to become more aware of any unconscious programs that are driving self-defeating habits so we can create what we want instead. Regardless of what happened in the past, we have the power to choose what we will create in our lives now.

We’ve all had hard times and dark experiences in this and in other lives. Becoming conscious of the deep fears we carry as a result of these experiences can empower us to release them. As all great spiritual teachers have taught, the path to realization is one of self-awareness. The more we know ourselves, the more empowered we are to consciously work with natural spiritual law.

– Soul Arcanum

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When We Bump Into People We’ve Known in Past Lives

Filed Under: Past Lives, Reincarnation by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on When We Bump Into People We’ve Known in Past Lives

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Dear Soul Arcanum:

I had a striking experience in a shop last Saturday. Someone quietly asked my husband and me if we were assistants in the shop. We turned around to answer “No, we’re just waiting for our son,” and when I saw this man, I was just transfixed. I had an overwhelming feeling that I can’t really put into words. He was a Frenchman, and while he was handsome and had a soft voice, that wasn’t the source of this overwhelming feeling. The best way I can explain my feeling is to say it was one of deep love – the kind you might feel for a child or someone very dear and special. While this was happening, I was partly conscious of my reaction and how I must appear to others, but I just couldn’t pull myself out of it, it was so warm and peaceful. He too had an obvious reaction, for he sort of shook himself after a moment like he was coming out of a daydream. Since this experience, I’ve had a feeling like I said goodbye to someone I should have embraced. I have never felt anything like this in my life. Is there an explanation for it?
– Jaki

Dear Jaki:

I love this question, for I have had a similar experience. My children and I attend two karate classes every Monday night, which makes it tough to cook dinner, so on our way home those evenings, I started to take them to a sandwich shop. The first night we went in there was a tall handsome man working the counter. Something electric happened the minute we made eye contact that was strange and special. I could feel that he could feel it too, and because I am shy (and also very happily married), I quickly placed our orders and left the shop.

Every Monday we would return, and over the weeks, I began to relax a little bit more, though I was still quite nervous around him. (I am accustomed to being the only one who can sense such things, and therefore I don’t speak of them. I often know it when I’m meeting a “future friend,” for example. It was very clear that he sensed it too, however, though I wasn’t sure how he was interpreting all that energy).

Over the nine months of Mondays that followed, we would talk bit as he was preparing our orders. He had a strong accent, and when I asked, I learned that he was from Hungary. He told me his name was “Gabor – like Ava Gabor.” As I make a habit of using people’s names often, I kept repeating “Gabor” to myself all the way home. I kept mixing it up with “Garbo” (as in Greta Garbo), and I was afraid I’d make that mistake in addressing him someday. All that night I was going around in my head, telling myself that there was a very strange connection between us, and then telling myself that I was being ridiculous, that he was just handsome, kind and flattering, etc.

Well, the day after I learned his name, I got a story submission here at Soul Arcanum. The subject of the story was the author’s phenomenal connection with Ava Gabor. (I kid you not!) That was a message from Spirit, telling me to trust my feelings and quit second-guessing myself. After that I would go into the shop planning on speaking to Gabor, but I didn’t know what to say. (“Do you know we’re spiritually connected? Can you feel this energy?”) One day my husband visited the shop with me, and I could feel that HE could feel the energy too. In fact, he went outside to wait for me, he was so uncomfortable. That’s when I knew I should not encourage whatever this connection was.

Not long after that my kids and I visited the shop, and Gabor seemed very sad. He just kept staring at me like he wished he could say something, but in my anxiety about not encouraging him, I hurried out. I learned later that this was his last day there – that he had returned to Hungary, and would not be coming back. I felt this profound sense of sorrow, like I’d found an old friend and been given the chance to reconnect, but I’d blown it.

So, what is my explanation for these strange feelings? Just try for a moment to estimate how many people you have had some kind of relationship with in this lifetime alone. Go way back to childhood, to the children you played with and attended school with, the teachers you spent your days with, the neighbors who were friendly to you, or whom you helped in various ways. Scroll forward through all the years of your life, including not just friends and relatives and lovers, but also coaches, teammates, coworkers, doctors, dentists, nurses, therapists, bosses, ministers, mentors, etc. Now let’s say that you’ve had a hundred or so past lives here on Earth, and multiply all those relationships accordingly. Then try to imagine that you’ve also had other “lives” in other dimensions, relationships while in the non-physical, etc. to try to get some concept of how many other souls you have connected with at some point, somewhere, sometime.

I’m trying to illustrate that the odds that we will run into people we’ve known “before” in our current lives is very high. The experiences that you and I had are very similar to what one experiences when they meet a “soul mate” or new best friend. It’s like “love at first sight,” but without the subsequent relationship. So if nothing more comes of them, why do these encounters happen?

Sometimes I think they’re quasi “accidental.” If someone we’ve had a strong tie to in some other time is in the vicinity (and the odds of this happening are very high, remember, given how many people we’ve been in relationship to before), then I believe that natural spiritual law creates sort of a gravitational force that draws us together. The stronger our bond is with someone, the stronger the gravity will be that draws us back together again. (This is how we “find” soul mates again in future incarnations).

This is what I think is happening in the two stories mentioned here. That Frenchman gravitated toward you because it was natural to do so. Perhaps I chose that sandwich shop because I was drawn there by the unconscious gravity of my connection to Gabor. Sometimes these are past life connections, but there is an even deeper resonance when we meet up with someone from our soul family.

When we are between incarnations, we review and assimilate our experiences much as one might in school here, and we do that in groups. The souls in each such family form profound bonds, and share a very distinct vibration. We also continue to work with these soul families while we’re incarnate via dreams and unconscious interactions. We might compare the intimacy of these spiritual relationships to what might develop if we were in “group therapy” with the same people for hundreds of years. These are indescribably powerful connections. When we meet up with those souls, we recognize each other at a very deep level.

So given the sum of our experiences throughout our existence, we are connected to a vast number people. When we “bump into” someone who inexplicably touches our souls, we may pick up the relationship where we left off in some other time and place. When we don’t, however, we are at least reminded of how magical a place the Universe can be, and how we never know when serendipity will place a special soul in our paths.

If I ever have an experience like this one again (and I expect to), I’ve learned that I’d rather seem a little weird than let an old friend slip through my fingers. I won’t let myself be so shy next time. Those strange feelings exist for a reason. They’re our inner homing device telling us that we’re in the presence of a kindred spirit, that something special is taking place – and that should be honored.

So, dear reader, if you’re ever in the throes of an undeniable, unexplainable connection to an apparent stranger, I hope you will be wiser than I was and do something about it!

– Soul Arcanum

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When We Bump Into People We’ve Known in Past Lives

Filed Under: Karma, Past Lives, Reincarnation by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on When We Bump Into People We’ve Known in Past Lives

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I had a striking experience in a shop last Saturday. Someone quietly asked my husband and me if we were assistants in the shop. We turned around to answer “No, we’re just waiting for our son,” and when I saw this man, I was just transfixed. I had an overwhelming feeling that I can’t really put into words. He was a Frenchman, and while he was handsome and had a soft voice, that wasn’t the source of this overwhelming feeling. The best way I can explain my feeling is to say it was one of deep love – the kind you might feel for a child or someone very dear and special. While this was happening, I was partly conscious of my reaction and how I must appear to others, but I just couldn’t pull myself out of it, it was so warm and peaceful. He too had an obvious reaction, for he sort of shook himself after a moment like he was coming out of a daydream. Since this experience, I’ve had a feeling like I said goodbye to someone I should have embraced. I have never felt anything like this in my life. Is there an explanation for it?
– Jaki

Dear Jaki:

I love this question, for I have had a similar experience. My children and I attend two karate classes every Monday night, which makes it tough to cook dinner, so on our way home those evenings, I started to take them to a sandwich shop. The first night we went in there was a tall handsome man working the counter. Something electric happened the minute we made eye contact that was strange and special. I could feel that he could feel it too, and because I am shy (and also very happily married), I quickly placed our orders and left the shop.

Every Monday we would return, and over the weeks, I began to relax a little bit more, though I was still quite nervous around him. (I am accustomed to being the only one who can sense such things, and therefore I don’t speak of them. I often know it when I’m meeting a “future friend,” for example. It was very clear that he sensed it too, however, though I wasn’t sure how he was interpreting all that energy).

Over the nine months of Mondays that followed, we would talk bit as he was preparing our orders. He had a strong accent, and when I asked, I learned that he was from Hungary. He told me his name was “Gabor – like Ava Gabor.” As I make a habit of using people’s names often, I kept repeating “Gabor” to myself all the way home. I kept mixing it up with “Garbo” (as in Greta Garbo), and I was afraid I’d make that mistake in addressing him someday. All that night I was going around in my head, telling myself that there was a very strange connection between us, and then telling myself that I was being ridiculous, that he was just very handsome, kind and flattering, etc.

Well, the day after I learned his name, I got a story submission here at Soul Arcanum. The subject of the story was the author’s phenomenal connection with Ava Gabor. (I kid you not!) That was a message from Spirit, telling me to trust my feelings and quit second-guessing myself. After that I would go into the shop planning on speaking to Gabor, but I didn’t know what to say. (“Do you know we’re spiritually connected? Can you feel this energy?”) One day my husband visited the shop with me, and I could feel that HE could feel the energy too. In fact, he went outside to wait for me, he was so uncomfortable. That’s when I knew I should not encourage whatever this connection was.

Not long after that my kids and I visited the shop, and Gabor seemed very sad. He just kept staring at me like he wished he could say something, but in my anxiety about not encouraging him, I hurried out. I learned later that this was his last day there – that he had returned to Hungary, and would not be coming back. I felt this profound sense of sorrow, like I’d found an old friend and been given the chance to reconnect, but I’d blown it.

So, what is my explanation for these strange feelings? Just try for a moment to estimate how many people you have had some kind of relationship with in this lifetime alone. Go way back to childhood, to the children you played with and attended school with, the teachers you spent your days with, the neighbors who were friendly to you, or whom you helped in various ways. Scroll forward through all the years of your life, including not just friends and relatives and lovers, but also coaches, teammates, coworkers, doctors, dentists, nurses, therapists, bosses, ministers, mentors, etc. Now let’s say that you’ve had a hundred or so past lives here on Earth, and multiply all those relationships accordingly. Then try to imagine that you’ve also had other “lives” in other dimensions, relationships while in the non-physical, etc. to try to get some concept of how many other souls you have connected with at some point, somewhere, sometime.

I’m trying to illustrate that the odds that we will run into people we’ve known “before” in our current lives is very high. The experiences that you and I had are very similar to what one experiences when they meet a “soul mate” or new best friend. It’s like “love at first sight,” but without the subsequent relationship. So if nothing more comes of them, why do these encounters happen?

Sometimes I think they’re quasi “accidental.” If someone we’ve had a strong tie to in some other time is in the vicinity (and the odds of this happening are very high, remember, given how many people we’ve been in relationship to before), then I believe that natural spiritual law creates sort of a gravitational force that draws us together. The stronger our bond is with someone, the stronger the gravity will be that draws us back together again. (This is how we “find” soul mates again in future incarnations).

This is what I think is happening in the two stories mentioned here. That Frenchman gravitated toward you because it was natural to do so. Perhaps I chose that sandwich shop because I was drawn there by the unconscious gravity of my connection to Gabor. Sometimes these are past life connections, but there is an even deeper resonance when we meet up with someone from our soul family.

When we are between incarnations, we review and assimilate our experiences much as one might in school here, and we do that in groups. The souls in each such family form profound bonds, and share a very distinct vibration. We also continue to work with these soul families while we’re incarnate via dreams and unconscious interactions. We might compare the intimacy of these spiritual relationships to what might develop if we were in “group therapy” with the same people for hundreds of years. These are indescribably powerful connections. When we meet up with those souls, we recognize each other at a very deep level.

So given the sum of our experiences throughout our existence, we are connected to a vast number people. When we “bump into” someone who inexplicably touches our souls, we may pick up the relationship where we left off in some other time and place. When we don’t, however, we are at least reminded of how magical a place the Universe can be, and how we never know when serendipity will place a special soul in our paths.

If I ever have an experience like this one again (and I expect to), I’ve learned that I’d rather seem a little weird than let an old friend slip through my fingers. I won’t let myself be so shy next time. Those strange feelings exist for a reason. They’re our inner homing device telling us that we’re in the presence of a kindred spirit, that something special is taking place – and that should be honored.

So, dear reader, if you’re ever in the throes of an undeniable, unexplainable connection to an apparent stranger, I hope you will be wiser than I was and do something about it!

– Soul Arcanum

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Can You Have More than One Soul Mate at a Time?

Filed Under: Past Lives, Reincarnation, Relationships by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Can You Have More than One Soul Mate at a Time?

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

My lover Ellen and I share a deep connection. Recently, she met another man she also feels connected to. Whenever she sees him or talks to him, she becomes very distant. We have talked about this, and it seems to me that she has a problem dealing with feeling connected to two men. I have an intimate relationship with her and her children, while this other man is a close friend. She can’t handle it when we are in the same place at the same time. She tries to separate us, and even avoids one when time has been spent with the other. Many times one of us has told her how rude she is being. Her behavior has begun to cause a lot of disharmony in our relationship. I understand that she has a connection with this person and I respect that, but how do I deal with my feelings of jealousy and anger for how she is handling this? Is it possible to have one soul mate as a friend and another as a lover in this lifetime?

Dave

Dear Dave:

Yes! Everyone we’ve ever truly loved, whether in this life or another, is a “soul mate.” They can be friends, lovers, children, parents – even arch enemies.

While a mainstream approach to your situation might dictate you deal with this as an “emotional affair,” you’re obviously spiritually beyond the mainstream. In fact, your dilemma is a common thoroughfare on the journey to spiritual enlightenment, for as we evolve spiritually, we begin to identify less with the fear-based “laws” and “rules” of man, and open more to what is “natural” both here and beyond. When we study other cultures and animals, for example, it becomes clear that monogamy is relatively rare and therefore probably a cultural construct. In spiritual realms, there is also much more freedom; in the astral, free love is the norm. The details that separate us here in the physical such as race, gender, religion, marital status, etc. all fall away in the astral, where we are so engaged in the moment that we are open to pretty much everything.

So as we evolve spiritually, we naturally begin to question societal norms and to listen for the truth in our own hearts. While we’re ultimately moving toward greater embodiment of love, compassion, truth, etc., at first it’s like we’ve got spiritual training wheels, and we tend to tip too far one way and then the other as we make choices that are a mixture of spiritual idealism, guilt, love, fear, generosity and selfishness. We may grasp the right idea, for example, but embrace it for the wrong reasons.

I feel that all three of you have entered this spiritual territory where right and wrong fade into endless shades of grey. It’s actually a sign that you’ve become self-actualizing, which is what this publication is all about. Some of the traits of “self-actualizers” include: extraordinary openness to new ideas, experiences and people; being extremely non-judgmental; being highly conscious of your experiences and reflecting deeply on them; being self-aware and self-honest, and thus able to live in harmony with your true values; searching for “truth” and genuineness in relationships and experiences; honestly seeking “reality” as opposed to avoiding, repressing, etc.; loving and accepting yourself, others, nature, the universe; unpretentiousness, simplicity, spontaneity; gentleness, shyness; self-direction and self-validation; having few but very deep relationships; high creativity; a deep sense of spirituality often accompanied by mystical experiences; a strong sense of ethics that is personal as opposed to learned; endlessly exploring questions that have no clear or definite answers.

As you can imagine, questioning cultural values, living in the moment and being extraordinarily open to new people and experiences will tend to lead to some interesting relationships and situations, such as the one you three are now in. While you’re all attuned to the boundless nature of love, Ellen has gotten stuck in that grey area where spiritual truth collides with practical reality. She has tipped too far to one side in embracing the “right idea” for the wrong reasons.

Meanwhile, your spirit is telling you that even if there is enough love to go around, something here is just not right. To your credit, to be in relationship, it helps to have an idea of where you stand. If this guy is really just a friend, why can’t all three of you be friends together? If he’s more than a friend, then when you have needs, will she be there for you, or will she be off with the other guy? These are valid questions. While you can respect her right to love as she loves, you must also respect your right to have emotional needs and desires of your own.

While free love may reflect a higher spiritual truth, the bottom line is that it is very hard to make it work here on earth, even when everyone involved is happily enrolled. I have seen many attempt it but no one truly succeed long-term. Years ago I personally went through a period of intense awakening when it seemed like I had more spiritual/ sexual/ creative energy than I knew what to do with. I was perpetually “turned on” by life itself, and so afire with creative energy that I barely slept. Mystical experiences were commonplace, and I “loved” everyone I met. As I got swept up in this fiery transformation, I became blind to others’ feelings just as Ellen seems to be. From this experience, I learned that I must master my energy instead of allowing it to master me. As we all know, power is neither good nor evil; it’s what we do with it that matters. If we don’t channel our desire/ energy constructively, it will become destructive.

Over time, the shine and thrill of relationships naturally diminishes, both because we’re bored with the “same old thing,” and because in order to keep them going, lots of rules and compromises have diluted our pleasure. When relationships begin to feel smaller than our passion and energy, then people who don’t know how to make the relationship bigger and deeper become restless and have affairs or explore free love or start nitpicking and provoking fights to have something to do. People eventually break up, and then of course, the same pattern repeats itself in every subsequent relationship, which is why so many people are frustrated in their quest for “true love.” Personally, I have come to see the wisdom in focusing my efforts and energy on a monogamous spiritual partnership. While I may have many “soul mates” like Ellen’s friend in my life, in the spiritual partnership I share with my husband, he comes first. Because we’ve learned to go deeper and deeper with our connection, this feels like a blessing, not a sacrifice.

As I see it, you have two choices. You can communicate how you want to be treated, and then if she doesn’t want the same things you do, let it go and open up to something better. As I can feel you really love her unconditionally, however, and sense that she’s a true kindred spirit, you could hang in there and help her find her way through this by seeking out that deeper path and gently leading her there. For information on how to do this, I recommend books by David Deida, as well as the practice of tantra, especially as concerns relationship as a spiritual path. Another great resource is the book The Unimaginable Life: Lessons Learned on the Path of Love by Kenny and Soul Arcanum Loggins, which details the authors’ own journey through this grey area. It’s available at amazon.com. Read it together; I was delightfully surprised by its honesty. Perhaps if you offer Ellen a relationship path that promises all the new ideas and intensity she can handle, she’ll be turned on by your depth and devotion, and intrigued by the prospect of exploring whole new worlds of experience with you.

– Soul Arcanum

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