Cayce's Concept of Reincarnation

Writing Your Past Lives
Week Two: Past Lives & Present Karma
Cayces Concept of Reincarnation

On October 11, 1923, Edgar Cayce was in Dayton, Ohio, where businessman Arthur Lammers had commissioned him to do what he hoped would be a different type of reading than the 2,000 physical readings Cayce had given up until this point in time. Lammers believed that Mr. Cayces Source could answer questions about other topics, including those related to esoteric studies. In reading 5715-1, Cayces Source shared ten words that would signal the dawn of a new direction in Cayces work. Referring to Lammers, it said: Third appearance on this plane. He was once a monk. Years later in 1964, Gladys Davis, Cayces secretary, made a notation about this reading in which she wrote: So far as we know this is the first reference in the Edgar Cayce readings to reincarnation, or at least a definite former incarnation of an individual. In 1976 she amended that to say she had found another reference to reincarnation in an earlier reading, but it seems this earlier reference was done in such a subtle way as to not even draw attention to it. But back in 1923, telling Lammers this was his third lifetime and in one of those lifetimes he had been a monk was a stunning revelation. You can imagine how Mr. Cayce reacted, for such a thought was sacrilegious to him. Here he was a devout man who had been brought up with traditional Protestant values. He had read the Bible for each of his 46 years of life. He accepted a literal interpretation of the Bible and taught it that way in his Sunday school classes. Yet there was no mistaking ithere was a reading in which his Source emphatically stated that reincarnation was a fact and not a myth. At first, Mr. Cayce feared the dark forces had taken over while he was in trance. He had vowed he would stop using his psychic powers if they were being misused in any way, or if they were harmful to anyone. Lammers felt otherwise.
He was excited about the reading and although Mr. Cayce initially had second thoughts about continuing to answer broader esoteric questions, he eventually agreed and permitted Lammers to continue. As a result, a new concept of reincarnation emerged in what would be identified as the Life Readings. Over the next 21 years, Edgar Cayce gave a total of 2,500 life readings to roughly 1,500 people who came to him to learn of their previous life histories. You may wonder what good did those readings do for those people? What is there to gain from knowing about your past lives? As with anything, knowledge is power. A serious study of your past can make a tremendous difference in your present life. Learning from past lessons and recognizing karmic patterns is essential for your soul to reach its full potential. The Life readings focused on psychological problems such as a persons fears, mental blocks, vocational talents, and relationship issues. Cayce did this in the context of what he called karmic patterns that arose from previous lifetimes. He viewed karma as the universal law of cause and effect, a system that holds you accountable for your every thought, word and deed. It is the truest definition of the adage: Reap what you sow. Whatever you do, comes back to you in some way, shape or form until balance is restored. In doing so your soul is given opportunities for physical, mental and spiritual growth, so while on Earth its advantageous for your soul to make use of successive rebirths in order to balance your positive and negative karmic patterns. The Cayce life readings give us a detailed understanding of how reincarnation works and explain the law of Karma and how that influences the experiences we have in life. You may ask if knowing about our past lives is so essential to our souls growth, why doesnt everyone remember having lived before? The truth is, we do! Everyones subconscious remembers every previous lifetime. Our souls have a
Copyright 2012 by Joanne DiMaggio. This material may not be duplicated without permission. Edgar Cayce Readings Used by Permission.
built-in database containing details about our former selves and with the proper tools we can access that information. In week one you already experienced that for yourself when you went to the Akashic Records. We learned, as Cayce said, anyone can read these records. Cayce sincerely believed that there wasnt a person anywhere who didnt have the same ability as he did if they learned how to attune themselves properly. The reason so many people can easily dismiss reincarnation is because, unlike our subconscious minds, our conscious minds have no recollection of previous lifetimes. Thus those who choose to live on the surface and are not inclined to explore the depths of their souls are not aware of the treasure-trove of information there is for them to discover. There are a lot of misconceptions about reincarnation. Karma, for instance, is often misconstrued as being solely retributionof having to pay for less than stellar behavior in the past. But karma isnt one way or the other. Edgar Cayce equated karma to memory and said that the laws of cause and effect were not rigid and inflexible, but were, in fact, pliable. That means that depending on how you behaved in the subsequent lifetime, your karmic debt could be reduced. One lifetime in service to others may equal multiple lives where your soul did nothing. It should be noted here that often we see individuals who are struggling in this lifeespecially those dealing with disabilities or extreme poverty. You might assume that soul is dealing with a lot of negative karma when, in fact, it could be just the oppositethat they accepted this role in order to gain stature from the experience, or for the lessons they teach to those who interact with them. Think of the lessons that a physically or mentally challenged child teaches its parents, godparents, siblings and other family members. They are the way they are and in that particular family because thats what they chose to do. Knowing that in this life you face particular circumstances and are dealing with specific people because
of your choices in previous lifetimes means you cannot blame others for your current reality. You are not a victim. Whatever is going on in your life now is the result of a decision you made in your pre-life planning session to give your soul and the souls around youan opportunity to advance. Just as you bring in issues to work on, you also bring in skills and talents. When Cayce did a life reading, he often spoke about gifts and talents that were acquired in a previous life and available to the individual in the here and now. For example, a 23-year-old amateur artist was working in a dead-end mechanical job because he had no confidence in his craft. Cayce told him that in previous lives in Egypt, Greece and Rome, he had designed frescoes for the temples, courts and government buildings. As a result of that reading, this young man went to art school and traveled the world to study architectural design, which he later put into his own practice. It was a natural progression of his skills and talents from those past lives into his present one. You see, you do not lose abilities that you acquire in past lives. When I conduct regressions, I often find a correlation between talents that were first developed in a past life that are manifesting again in this life. For my own part, I have been a writer for multiple lifetimes. The same can be said of healers, musicians, teachers, and others who resonate to a particular vocation. I wish I had been around in Cayces time so that I might have had the privilege of having a life reading. The readings are fascinating in that they provided such a wealth of information to the recipient. Individuals were told of usually three to four past lives that were impacting their current one and how their soul gained or lost ground as a result of the actions they took in those lifetimes. What an extraordinary learning tool this isa true roadmap to knowing what areas needed improvement and what talents could be drawn upon again in this life. A question that is asked often in past life work is whether or not a person has had a famous past life. Celebrities of history represented only a very small
minority in the life readings. Cayce suggested that the majority of souls achieved their greatest spiritual advances while living uneventful, average lives in relative obscurity. All souls are equal so regardless of who you were, you are judged based on how you are doing in your current lifenot on a life you led hundreds of years ago. The life readings gave recipients a microscopic view of their inner being. They described experiences from previous lives that were relevant to their current life and they exposed patternsphysical, mental, emotional and spiritualthat were the direct result of actions taken in those previous lifetimes. Yes, the Cayce readings are filled with accounts of individuals who led famous past lives, but these people will tell you that having that knowledge was not an easy thing to bear in this life, especially if they felt they were not living up to the potential their previous lives had earned or couldnt live down some of the rather unsavory things they did before. Reviewing our past lives does not give us a picture of a steady upward climb. As Cayce points out in the readings, souls make advances but often lose some ground as well. Cayces own past life history evidences this. He went from great heights to nondescript plateaus where he was neither exalted nor especially gifted. From high priest Ra Ta to the gambler John Bainbridge is quite a roller coaster ride for any soul. When studying reincarnation, the question always comes upwhy are we here in the first place? There have been several books written about Cayces version of the creation story, so if youre interested in really digging into the story of how and why our souls first came into physical bodies, I encourage you to read Edgar Cayces Story of the Soul, by W. H. Church or Edgar Cayces Origin and Destiny of Man by Lytle Robinson. Cayce called souls the offspring of a Creator. In reading 5753-1 he provided a comprehensive discourse on reincarnation before the Second Annual
Congress of the A.R.E. He told the group the why of why we came into being. His Source stated: The first cause was, that the created would be the companion for the Creator; that it, the creature, would through its manifestations in the activity of that given unto the creature show itself to be not only worthy of, but companionable to, the Creator. So according to Edgar Cayce, the reason for our being is to be co-creators and companions of God. Reincarnation enables us to earn that privilege by giving us opportunities to grow into our fullness as spiritual beings. Souls are students in the three-dimensional classroom we call Earth. Some souls are still in what we could equate to elementary school, while others are working on their PhDs. Which grade you are in is not determined by how many lifetimes youve had, but instead by how many courses youve passed. When you are between lives, you work with your guides who act in much the same way as school guidance counselors. With you, they review how well you did with the courses you took in the last lifetime. For example, if you signed up to work on issues of humility, were you in fact, humble in that lifetime or did you continue to operate from a place of selfcenteredness and ego? How well or poorly you did determined whether you passed or failed that class. If you pass the course and thoroughly learn the lesson, you dont have to repeat it again. But lessons that you fail must be taken again. We all want to move up a grade level, but often we have to repeat a class depending on how seriously we took our studies. Sometimes we have to repeat a course multiple times until we learn the lesson. Earth isnt the only school in the planetary system, however. Cayce said that souls travel to other planets as well. After his life as Ujhltd, he went to the system of Arcturus before returning to earth. However, Cayce made it clear that any
karma that is acquired on earth has to be resolved on earth. In reading 5749-14 he was asked: Must the solar cycle be finished on earth, or can it be completed on another planet, or does each planet have a cycle of its own which must be finished? In his answer, Cayces Source gave one of the most important precepts of reincarnation in the very first sentence: If it is begun on the earth it must be finished on the earth. The solar system of which the earth is a part is only a portion of the whole. For, as indicated in the number of planets about the earth, they are of one and the same and they are relative one to another. It is the cycle of the whole system that is finished, see? Regardless of where the soul chooses to study, the catalog of classes is huge. School sessions on earth are designed for those working on issues of love, power, finances, relationships, honesty, responsibility and patience to name just a few. I occasionally hear someone brag that this is his or her last lifetime. What they fail to understand is the mere fact that theyre bragging means theyll have to come back and sign up for that humility class I mentioned earlier! So one can see, just by the sheer number of issues we face while in physical bodies, that ascension to the point of not having to incarnate again takes much longer than a handful of lifetimes. But dont worry. Each soul is granted as many lifetimes as it needs to complete its development. Some souls are quick learners, while others struggle to master lessons. For that reason, the term old soul is misleading. Most people believe an old soul is someone who is very wise because theyve led many lifetimes. In truth, theyve led many lifetimes because they didnt pass the courses they signed up for. So you might say, an old soul is really just a slow learner! Old soul or not, there is comfort in knowing that youre never alone. Not only do we come in as individual souls signing up for a particular class, but also
there are members of our soul family who come with us, often signing up for the exact same class, either as a fellow classmate or as a teacher. Your soul family consists of souls who have been with you before, but their roles change from lifetime to lifetimeso the sister you have now may have been your husband before; your current son may have been your mother in another life; your present father may have once been your child. We come back with each other to work out the issues that arose from our previous time together. Out of love for each other, we agree, in our between-life planning session, to come back to provide the circumstances to enable each other to master the lesson and pass the course. Sometimeson this side of the veilour relationships are problematic and painful, but when looked at from the other side, they were designed to be that way so that we may learn the necessary lessons presented by those relationships. If, for instance, you have an issue with abandonment or need for approval, you can be sure that you will choose to come into a family and have a circle of friends who will exasperate that feeling of abandonment. You wont get much approval from them if approval is what you are working on. What better way to teach you that approval comes from within than by souls agreeing not to provide that to you during your next lifetime? Challenging? Oh yes! But so rewarding in the end because, remember, once learned, the lesson need not ever be repeated again! We make our choices about life fully and freely. Thats why we cannot blame others for the challenges we faceespecially our parents who often labor under that burden of blame. Who and what you are is because you chose your parents, your friends and family members, knowing full well the lessons and opportunities they would provide. Cayce confirmed this when, in reading 5759-14 he was asked about patterns made by parents at the time of conception: Should it
be said that this pattern attracts a certain soul because it approximates conditions, which that soul wishes to work with? To which his Source answered: It approximates conditions. It does not set. For, the individual entity or soul, given the opportunity, has its own free will to work in or out of those problems as presented by that very union. Yet the very union, of course, attracts or brings a channel or an opportunity for the expression of an individual entity. Besides our soul families, there are larger karmic soul groups who incarnate together. Countries have karma, too, so theres a national karma as well as individual karma. I heard it stated that 98 percent of Americans are former Atlanteans. Think of the ramifications if that is indeed true. Weve had over 10,000 years to get it right and we are still struggling with much of the same issues we did back then. In discussing reincarnation, there also is much to say about soul mates and twin souls, and that is something that well get into in greater detail next week when we explore karmic relationships. This course is to show you how to access past life information through inspirational or soul writing. The Cayce readings say there are several ways to acquire past life information, including psychic readings, through the subconscious mind and through everyday life experiences. All of these methods work well when used in conjunction with soul writing. Lets look at each of them for a moment. I am sure that many of youmyself includedhave gone to a psychic, channeler, tarot reader or other esoteric practitioner to have a reading telling you about your past lives. You just show up, sit back, and are entertained with fascinating scenarios of whom you may have been and what you may have done. Then you write a hefty check for this information and leave. But how accurate do you think this information is? While there are a few highly reputable and gifted
readers out thereand Ive worked with several of themthere are also many who are far les reputable and whose gift seems to be in their ability to deceive you. Cayce said, all answers lie withinso if that were the case, why would you seek answers outside of yourself? You have the ability to access that information on your own, but make no mistake about it; it does require work on your part. Still, if you do the work yourself, the benefits are enormous. You have a Source you can trustyour own soulso the information is not being filtered by someone else whose own perspectives may taint the purity of the message they convey. Even an outstanding psychic can inadvertently distort the information and provide an inaccurate account. You cannot assume that a source, other than your own soul, can provide you with the definitive truth, and even then there may not be 100 percent accuracy. Edgar Cayce himself advocated testing the accuracy of his readings. On the flip side, accessing past life information through your subconscious means the images and sensations we receive have come from your soul, the repository of past life memory. You communicate with the subconscious by entering an altered state of consciousness, such as a hypnotic regression, where the regression therapist acts as your guidenot your informertaking you back in your memory until you reach an earlier lifetime. We will do just that with the regressions you will do in the next three weeks that will guide you in exploring various aspects of specific past lives. People often ask whether what they saw, felt or sensed in their regression was their imagination. Did I just make that up? Information that comes through while in an altered state is a product of your subconscious. It comes from within. Through meditation, you reach a deeper level of awareness and are able to pull out information that resides in your soul. Whether you do it verbally in a regression session or allow your subconscious to write the information out for you through
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soul writing, in the end you have a very real and fairly accurate representation of a previous lifetime. For beginners or for those who are hesitant about using hypnosis to acquire past life information, there is another way of learning more about your past lives that is a gentle, non-threatening technique and does not require an altered state of consciousness. It is called The Resonance Method and it has proven to be an effective way for new seekers and skeptics alike to begin his or her past life exploration. Whether done consciously or subconsciously, everyone experiences resonance before discovering the reality of their past life. This is the door opener; the method that gets you to start asking questions, to start wondering about how everything is connected, and most of all, to get answers to the why of everything in your life. You resonate to something when it "feels" familiar to you even though there is no logical reason for it to be so in this lifetime. You have a special draw to it, a yearning for it that you cannot explain. Somewhere in the deepest part of your soul, it feels special, but its specialness lies on a completely different level of consciousness. It's there. You know it's there. But you don't have a clue about its origin or why you feel the way you do. That's resonance. If you accept the premise that you are the sum total of all you have been in the past, it shouldn't surprise you to learn that by examining your current emotional, physical and relationship problems, habits, tastes, talents, moods, body language, etc. you can trace their origins back to a past life. The resonance technique looks at every aspect of your being, compiling the data through a simple, yet in depth psychological analysis of who you are today. Through that analysis, you begin to put together bits and pieces of a puzzle that will give you the first glimmerings of a past life identity. The most exciting aspect
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about the resonance technique is that it works for everyone, even individuals who have no memories of a past life and aren't sure past lives even exist. Everyone knows what he or she likes and doesnt like. Perhaps you gravitate to a particular type of architectural design, or you detest the taste of certain foods, or youre drawn to a specific time period. When working with resonance, all that is required is to make a list of how you feel about certain common place things, such as foods, cities, physical traits, books, movies, architecture, religion, hobbies, art, music, etc. and then look for a pattern that connects your likes and your dislikes. Once that is revealed, you can use soul writing to fill in the blanks. If you put down Denver as one of your favorite cities, you may ask something likewhat is the significance of my resonating to the American west? Questions like these can jumpstart the writing session. It is a fascinating process and can be a powerful, enlightening first step toward exploring the journey of your soul. Regardless of which method you choose, using soul writing to acquire or expand on past life information is a valuable tool to understand why were here, locate both positive and negative karmic patterns, and receive guidance on how to master the courses weve enrolled in for this lifetime. And if, after all this, you still question whether reincarnation is a fact or a myth, I can only quote Cayce when in reading 956-1 he was asked: What will convince me of reincarnation? His Source answered: An experience. In this eGroup, you will have many such experiences, beginning with the regression and writing session you will experience this week. But for now, return to the Lesson Plan and continue with the next assignment.
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Cayce's Concept of Reincarnation

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Writing Your Past Lives

Week Two: Past Lives & Present Karma