Supernatural Magazine

Living Many Lives: Theory on Reincarnates

A skeptic will explain that claims of evidence for reincarnation originate from selective thinking and the psychological phenomena of false memories that often result from one’s own belief system and basic fears, and thus cannot be counted as empirical evidence.

The main objection to reincarnation is that there is no evidence of a physical process by which a personality could survive death, and travel to another body. Researchers such as Professor Stevenson and Dr. Hans Holzer of Life Beyond: Compelling Evidence for Past Lives and Existence After Death, recognize this. Another fundamental objection is that most people simply do not remember previous lives, although it could be argued that only some, but not all, do reincarnate. Again, we are left to our own devices whether or not we believe. What are we afraid of?

If you experience it you believe even if it is based in past, present and future lives. Having some sort of belief in anything is comforting even if it is intangible, and based on feelings, emotions from digging deep within yourself. We have too many negatives in this world not to believe in something positive.

I truly believe we are inter-connected with our past. I do feel if we have visited a place, that it can become a part of our subconscious, but there’s a reason for it. For myself, I’d like to believe a hidden message or meaning. I always equate it to going ‘back’ to search deeper until we pass. Some may never know this information, but after reading Edgar Casey’s book on the Akashi files, explaining that life files are stored for us, made me think a bit more on the topic of our past lives. Is there more to this then meets the eye?

Transgression and past lives may mix with current lives going about their day-to-day affairs. The after life is one thing, but deja vu and that feeling one gets of familiarity, is quite often disturbing. I do believe that we have lived many lives, that there are those tapping into the past. Dr. Holzer and many others use hypnotherapy to regress individuals, but I feel unless personally experienced, it is hard to convince others that we have been here before.

Portals in fiction is a magical or technological doorway that connects two distant locations. They are a common concept in sci-fi and fantasy fiction. Either you must step through the frames of an object (a mirror, a gateway etc.), which serves as a portal, or, when they stand alone, the portal will commonly appear in the form of a vortex of energy. Energy is linked to any ghost or spirit thus leading you down the path of orb phenomena and all the others following suit. All to confuse you of course!

A less common portal form is what is called the Portkey, and is simply used when it is touched; whisking the person off to the place the Portkey was linked to. I wonder where it’s link was hooked up to in order to create that effect?

Almost like the hose and nozzle at your local gas station, you know where it begins, where it fits and where it remains once your done using it. But, does a vortex remain open or can it close? I’d imagine they are mobile and move about as everything else in the universe or stay still or remain the same. Life is in constant motion and we are on the back of its short ride, until we have to get off for the next crew to take a spin and continue.

Perhaps we need to ask the questions what is a portal and where does it link. Does a portal link to a different spot in the same world (in which case it might be an alternative for teleportation); a parallel world (inter-dimensional portal); the past or the future (time portal); and other planes of existence, like heaven, hell or other afterworlds?

Now, what if you don’t believe in an after world or another world other then the one you currently reside in? That is acceptable as this is based on past experiences, theories, science and so nonetheless very informative information. I find it exciting to learn about the “what ifs” and “could it really be” thought process. There is nothing wrong with a little bit of imagination and belief into the unknown. Portals are similar to the cosmological concept of a wormhole.

This branches into out-of-body experiences in which we leave our body still connected by a thin (umbilical-like) cord that will link us back to our body when done traveling. I equate this unconsciously to bungee jumping.

Reincarnation, literally meaning, “to be made flesh again,” is the belief that some essential part of a living being (in some ways only human beings) survives death to be reborn into a new body. This is referred to as the Spirit or Soul, the ‘Higher or True Self,’ ‘Divine Spark,’ ‘I’ or the ‘Ego’ (not to confuse you with the ego definition by psychology terms.) According to these beliefs, a new soul begins again for each life in the physical world, but some part of the being remains constantly present throughout these successive lives. Is it possible that our past portals are our doorways to reincarnations? Is this the bus we get on when it’s time to hit the next stop?

Belief in reincarnation is an ancient phenomenon. However, we have adapted it into our society, as there are many good reads on the subject itself. It is just as fascinating as ghosts only more so, by ways of thinking that we could recycle ourselves like a can of Coca Cola. The majorities, who believe, come from Indian religious traditions, such as Hinduism (including Yoga, Vaishnavism, and Shaivism), Jainism, Sikhism, Ancient Greek philosophers and many modern Pagans.

New Age movements, along with followers of Spiritism, practitioners of certain African traditions, and students of esoteric philosophies such as Kabbalah, Sufism and Gnostic and Esoteric Christianity, also believe. The concept of Rebirth (reincarnation) comes from the Buddhist. New Age movements feel there is no “self” (or eternal soul) to reincarnate. As you can see, every culture has its way in describing their thoughts and beliefs on this topic.

During recent decades, significant minorities of people in the West have developed a belief in reincarnation. It appears in the field of entertainment, contemporary books and popular songs: where the subject reincarnation is, regularly mentioned, as well as “coming back” or “I have been here before.” Some researchers, such as Professor Ian Stevenson and Dr. Hans Holzer Ph.D., have explored the issue of reincarnation and published suggestive evidence. Skeptics are critical of their work and others say that more reincarnation research is needed. For all we know, there’s a UFO portal station, lingering about space in some alien named Henry in charge.

Like reincarnation, there is pre-incarnation, which is the belief of reborn in a new body. Oppose the reborn with former personality, pre-incarnation is the reborn with future life’s new soul. Futurist visionaries are the examples of pre-incarnational thought. The belief in reincarnation was probably commonplace among the Vikings, since the annotator of the Poetic Edda wrote that people used to believe in it, but that it was in his (Christian) time considered “old wife’s folly.”

In one of many reported cases, we learn an example by Professor Stevenson of a boy from Beirut and his experience. “A boy in Beirut spoke of being a 25-year-old mechanic, thrown to his death from a speeding car on a beach road. According to multiple witnesses, the boy provided the name of the driver, the exact location of the crash, the names of the mechanic’s sisters and parents and cousins, and the people he went hunting with - all of which turned out to match the life of a man who had died several years before the boy was born, and who had no apparent connection to the boy’s family.”

It was felt that this strict method ruled out all possible “normal” explanations for the child’s memories. However, it should be noted that a significant majority of Professor Stevenson’s reported cases of reincarnation originate in Eastern societies, where dominant religions often permit the concept of reincarnation. Following this type of criticism, Stevenson published a book on European cases suggestive of reincarnation.

Alexandra Holzer

Alexandra Holzer

Second Generation Ghost Hunter and Writer, Alexandra Holzer, is no stranger to the world of the supernatural, publishing or art. She attended The Fashion Institute of Technology following her mother Artist Countess Catherine Buxhoeveden (related to Catherine the Great), who also attended. She follows in her late famous father’s (Parapsychologist Dr. Hans Holzer) ghostly footsteps (Original Ghost Hunter, NBC’s In Search Of, Amityville Horror, WOR Radio with Joe Franklin.) Hans Holzer was also an Assistant Professor of Parapsychology at the New York Institute of Technology, Research Director of the New York Committee for the Investigation of Paranormal Occurrences, and a member of the College of Psychic Studies in London, as well as a lecturer at leading colleges. Alexandra is co-founder of her global organization, The Hunt with Holzer, in which her research continues into the unknown. For further details about this author, please visit: www.alexandraholzer.com