Exploring Past Life Readings and Therapies: Including the Benefits and Pitfalls

We trace how past life readings moved from ancient religions to modern therapy and weigh potential benefits against pitfalls like false memories and cultural appropriation. Emily shares two regression experiences and offers clear steps for thoughtful, ethical exploration.

• defining past life readings and why they resonate now
• Brian Weiss, Edgar Cayce, and the rise of regression therapy
• Akashic Records and the Theosophical roots of New Age ideas
• reincarnation in Hinduism and Buddhism and Western rediscoveries
• spiritualism, Kardec, and the bridge to modern practices
• benefits people report versus inconsistency of outcomes
• false memory research and suggestibility under hypnosis
• cultural appropriation risks in “past-life identity” claims
• honoring verifiable ancestors and lineage healing
• Emily’s two regressions and how symbolism offered insight
• practical guidance for vetting practitioners and staying grounded
• respectful learning from original religious traditions

Shoot me an email at emily@bloomingwand.com and let’s keep exploring these ideas together with open hearts and critical minds.

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Transcript

Setting The Stage: Past Lives

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Blooming Wand, your home for grounded spiritual content. I'm Emily O'Neill, Evidential Psychic Medium, Intuitive Healer, and Mentor, and I want to talk about exploring past life readings and therapies on this episode. And we're going to dive into the benefits, the pitfalls, the history, all that good stuff. So let's dive in. Have you ever wondered about past lives and reincarnation? Questions around these topics do come up a lot, so I thought I'd do some exploring and share some of my personal experiences when it comes to past life regression therapy. If you spent any time on social media lately, you've probably seen people offering Akashic record readings or talking about past life regression. And maybe you've heard of Brian Weiss and his book Many Lives, Many Masters, or you've been curious about exploring your own past lives. These ideas are everywhere right now, but where did they come from? And more importantly, how can we approach them thoughtfully? So I wanted to dive into what I think people are experiencing today. And obviously, this is based off of me perusing around on the internet and doing some research. And it seems like past life readings and therapies are based on the belief that our souls live multiple lifetimes and those lifetimes can influence our current life. It seems like practitioners report that these experiences offer a sense of purpose, connection to a larger narrative, and insights into present circumstances. As you scroll through Instagram or TikTok, if you're on there, or really any social media platform, you'll find countless people offering to read your Akashic records, guide you through past life regression therapy, or help you understand patterns from previous lifetimes. And those who engage in this work describe how it has helped them understand phobias, relationship patterns, or chronic physical issues. Others find comfort in the idea that consciousness continues beyond death. And I don't want to dismiss anybody's experiences. If past life work has helped you, I think that that's valid and important. I've had my own personal experiences, and I'm going to talk about those a little bit later on in this episode. What I want to explore here is where these modern practices came from and how they relate to ancient religious traditions and how to approach them with both openness and discernment. But we're going to start start, excuse me, we're going to start with the Brian Weiss phenomenon. Most people interested in past lives have heard of Dr. Brian Weiss in 1988. He published Many Lives, Many Masters, which became and remains hugely popular. I remember seeing him on what I think, if I'm recalling right, was the Oprah Winfrey show in the 1990s or some show like that as a younger person, and I was really fascinated by his work. And Weiss is a psychiatrist who believes it is possible to access memories from past life through hypnosis, and that these memories can provide insights into current life challenges and facilitate healing. His book recounts the experience with a patient named Catherine who, under hypnosis, began to recall details of past lives. What made Wees's work so influential was his credibility as a psychiatrist. He brought medical authority to past life regression, helping it gain acceptance as a therapeutic tool. He believes that addressing unresolved emotional issues from past lives can lead to healing and personal growth in the present. And this that spiritual beings or guides can offer wisdom during these sessions. If you've been with me, I just did an episode on spirit guides. I've also done one on Guardian Angels. So if you haven't watched those, go back because those are very interesting topics in and of themselves. But kind of coming back to Wees's work, following the success of his book, the 1990s and 2000s saw an expansion of training and programs in past life regression therapy. And this democratized the practice, but also meant varying levels of training and ethical standards appeared among practitioners. So you didn't always know what you were going to get depending on who you were working with. And it's important to note that while Wees' work has been influential and many people report benefits, there's no scientific consensus on the existence of past lives or the mechanism by which past life regression therapy works. There's not a lot of consistency in the outcomes around past life regression therapy. And the healing that people may experience from the therapeutic process itself could be the explanation for any benefits rather than the recalling of memories. But regardless of whether the memories are literally true or not, I think it's just really important to point out that the outcomes that patients see are not consistent. And there is evidence out there about the creation of false memories, and just we don't really know a lot about the way the mind or consciousness works, which leaves a lot of room for interpretation, which is kind of fascinating, and why I like to explore these concepts. So don't feel like you have to come on one side or the other of if you believe in past life regression therapy. Let's just like think about it, where it comes from, what it is, because I feel like a lot of us don't really know, or I didn't, and that's why I wanted to share it with you. This research that I did with you anyway. So let's dive into the Akashic Records. If you're in social media again, you've definitely seen people offering Akashic record readings. And the term Akashic Records comes from the Sanskrit word akasha, meaning sky or space, and it refers to a hypothetical universal energy field believed to contain information about all past, present, and future events. Kind of like a cosmic library of every soul's journey. The concept does have roots in ancient Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, but the term itself was popularized by the Theosophical Society in the late 19th century, and particularly through the writings of Helena Blavatsky. I want to point out that the Theosophical Society and the work of Helena Blavatsky is fascinating because it has long arms in that it had a big influence on New Age spirituality and a lot of some of the stuff that we see today that's kind of popping up in terms of channeling, in terms of this idea of ascended masters. So the Theosophical Society and the writings and works of Helena Blavatsky are coming into play even in this as well. Now, we ought to talk about Edgar Casey if we're talking about past life. So he was alive between 1877 and 1945, often referred to as the sleeping prophet, and he brought this concept into American popular consciousness during the early 20th century. He channeled information about past lives while in a deep trance state and frequently referred to the Akashic Records. My mom had Edgar Casey's books. If she had Brian Weiss, you know she had Edgar Casey. And as a child again, I loved looking through them. I thought they were really fascinating. And I just you can tell my mom was into New Age spirituality stuff. And I and I feel like they appealed to my imagination and they appealed to, you know, this idea of things being kind of mythical and I don't know, magical, maybe. And as a kid, that's kind of what my mindset was. Now it's very, very different. Now Casey provided thousands of readings where he described people's past lives, often including mundane details about their work, relationships, and challenges. And while some of his readings described dramatic lives, many were quite ordinary. He would talk about peasants, craftspeople, and homemakers, and he believed understanding these past experiences could provide insights into current challenges and offer guidance for healing. There are claims that some of Casey's historical details have been corroborated by the researchers at the Association for Research and Enlightenment. Now, this is the organization that was founded to study his work. Though skeptics argue the similarities could be coincidental or influenced by his knowledge of history. There's no scientific evidence of the existence of the Akashic records, but many people find the framework helpful for self-reflection and personal growth. Now moving on, we're going to talk about ancient religious roots. To really understand past life work, we need to look at where reincarnation comes from as a religious and philosophical concept. In Hinduism, reincarnation is absolutely central. The Upanishads, ancient Sanskrit texts, written between 800 and 400 BCE, contain detailed discussions of reincarnation and karma. And Hindus believe the soul is reborn into another body after death, cycling through samsara, the will of birth, death, and rebirth, based on karma until achieving moksha or liberation. Buddhism also embraces reincarnation, though with some differences from Hindu concepts, but one that we all know about is the Dalai Lama, who is believed to be the reincarnation of a high-ranking Buddhist monk. And there is a school of Tibetan Buddhism that was established in the 14th century that was created to establish the lineage of what would eventually include the Dalai Lama tradition. Each Dalai Lama is recognized through specific tests and signs as a young child. And so the Dalai Lama is a global figure that many people know and recognize. And that role of the Dalai Lama is very closely related to reincarnation or the idea of reincarnation. Here's something worth noting that often surprises people. It surprised me. Reincarnation wasn't exclusively Eastern. The ancient Greece philosopher Plato discussed the transmigration of souls in the 4th century BCE in works like The Republic and Phaedo. And early Christianity had discussions about reincarnation too. A theologian named Origen or Origen, O-R-I-G-E-N, in the 3rd century CE wrote that the preexistence of souls wrote about the preexistence of souls, but these ideas were deemed heretical, and at the Second Council of Constantopol in 553 CE, they were effectively suppressed. So for whatever reason, the idea of reincarnation in Western culture got suppressed back then. So it's just important to point out that Western culture once had reincarnation concepts that were actively pushed out of mainstream religious teaching. And this context is important because it shows that the 19th century rediscovery or the 19th century Western rediscovery of reincarnation was way more complex than simply borrowing from the East. How ancient beliefs became a modern therapy? So, how did religious concepts become weekend workshops and Instagram services? The bridge happened primarily through a few key movements. In 1848, the Kate and Margaret Fox claimed to communicate with spirits through mysterious rapping sounds in their New York home. This launched the American spiritualist movement, which spread very rapidly. Now I want to point out that the sisters later confessed to fraud in 1888, though they subsequently recanted their confession. This the spiritualist movement was initially focused on communication with the dead, but and by the 1870s, some mediums began channeling what they claimed were ancient spirits that were discussing past lives. This created a cultural appetite for esoteric spiritual knowledge. And around the same time in France, there was a man writing under the pen name Alan Kardeck. That's not his official name, that's his pen name. And he published the Spirits book in 1857. And this systematized the spiritist philosophy, including reincarnation as a progressive journey toward moral perfection. Very interesting. While hugely influential in Brazil and Latin America, where Spiritism remains a major religious movement with millions of followers, it's often overlooked in English-speaking contexts. Then in 1875, Helena Blavatsky and Henry Alcott founded the Theosophical Society, which really launched modern Western interest in reincarnation. Blavatsky published The Secret Doctrine in 1888. I think it's interesting that a lot of this is happening in the late 1800s. So if you think about in Western society, what's happening then? There's a lot going on just around this time frame. So I wonder if there's some kind of association that could be made between an interest in these ideas about reincarnation and what was happening in the world. I'm pretty sure there probably is. Now, the secret doctrine claimed to reveal ancient wisdom from the secret Tibetan masters, from secret Tibetan masters. In reality, she was synthesizing Hindu, Buddhist, and Egyptian concepts through a Western occult lens, creating something new from ancient traditions. She's homogenizing a bunch of different beliefs into kind of this one idea and kind of stripping them down. And I just think it's interesting how that is even happening and taking ideas from other places and then doing channeling and other things and saying that you're kind of coming up with this one grand truth. Very fascinating. Theosophy teaches that all beings are part of a universal soul that reincarnates into various forms. Each in incarnation is determined by karma, and the goal is spiritual evolution to reunion with the universal soul. The Theosophical Society is still active today with lodges worldwide and maintains a mission of encouraging open-minded exploration of philosophy, science, arts, and world religions. Now, I do find this idea of a universal soul appealing. However, it's important to note that the Theosophical Society promoted ideas of root races and spiritual hierarchy that were explicitly racist. In the secret doctrine, Blavatsky outlined a theory of seven root races with different levels of spiritual evolution, placing white Europeans at a higher evolutionary stage than other races. Yes, this is really why we need to think about where these ideas come from, right? And this created assumptions that still linger in some past life work, where certain civilizations or identities are implicitly viewed as more spiritually advanced. And we see this all the time where people talk about different entities being more spiritually advanced than others. And I think we just need to be cautious and cognizant of how the theosophical society came about, the time in which it came about, the ideas that it generated, which now bleed into a lot of spiritual concepts of today. And the reason I like to do these episodes and talk about where this stuff comes from is so we can think about it in a more nuanced and deep way rather than this is right or this is wrong. It's just it's something this past life thing is something that everybody talks about. So let's dive into the history of it and let's explore what it implies. It's really worth thinking about these things. Does the past life framework that you're using or we're using or we are thinking about carry implicit hierarchies? Does it suggest that hardship today is deserved because of past life actions? These beliefs can perpetuate inequity rather than challenge it. It can perpetuate a lot of things that I don't know if we want to perpetuate. From religious belief to therapeutic tool. What's particularly noteworthy is how reincarnation shifted from a core religious doctrine to a therapeutic modality. In Hinduism and Buddhism, reincarnation isn't optimal entertainment, it's the fundamental structure of existence, and the goal is liberation from the cycle, not exploring it for personal insight. It's a very different approach. But in the West, particularly through theosophy and figures like Casey and Weiss, reincarnation becomes separated from its religious context and reframed as a tool for healing, self-understanding, and personal growth. This is both the appeal and frankly the complication. The therapeutic use of past life regression doesn't require you to believe in literal reincarnation to potentially find value. Some therapists view it as a way to access symbolic or metaphorical content from the unconscious mind. And whether the quote memories are literally true or creatively generated by your own psyche or imagination, the therapeutic process of exploring them could still offer insights. We need to talk about when this is helpful and when it's problematic. Those who work with past life modalities report positive experiencing, including relief from anxiety or trauma, understanding, they report understanding of current behavioral patterns, a sense of connection to something larger than themselves, and enhanced self-awareness and personal growth. And these benefits are real for those who experience them, and I don't want to dismiss that. However, there are some pitfalls to be aware of. Some practitioners make exaggerated claims that past life therapy can cure all ailments or provide definitive answers to life's questions. This can lead people to become overly reliant on past life work while neglecting other important healing modalities or professional mental health support. Hypnosis can sometimes lead to the creation of false memories. This is well documented. Our brains are remarkably poor at distinguishing between real memories, so things we've read. So our mind has a hard time distinguishing between real memories, things we've read, movies we've watched, and imagination. And research by psychologist Elizabeth Loftus and her colleagues has demonstrated that the memories, that memories are not fixed recordings. They're reconstructive and easily influenced by suggestion. In her famous Lost in the Mall study and subsequent research on false memory implantation, Loftus showed how easily people can come to remember events that never happened, especially under conditions involving authority figures and suggestive questioners. So, your practitioner would be viewed as the authority figure. Under hypnosis, when critical thinking is relaxed, we're especially vulnerable to creating memories that feel completely real but may not be accurate. This doesn't mean past life memories are worthless, but it does mean we should hold them lightly rather than treating them as literal historic fact. And I see people do that a lot. I was a past in a past life, I was XYZ, and then feeling like they can claim access to a certain culture because they say they lived a past life as so-and-so. And this is where we get to the cultural appropriation question. Here's why I need to be direct about something that concerns me. I've heard many people claim they were from another culture in a past life. It happens all the time, and then use that to justify claiming a connection to that culture today in this one. And the most common example is people claiming to have been like a Native American in the past. I don't know why this is one is so popular, but it does seem to be a popular one, or like an Egyptian or like Cleopatra, you see this coming up a lot. Just read the comments on social media about past lives and you'll see this. And then using that to justify participating in indigenous practices. And when this happens with marginalized cultures, especially by people from privileged backgrounds, it can trivialize the ongoing experiences of oppression that these communities face. If you've experienced a past life from another culture, that's worth exploring personally, but you're living in your current body in current times within your current cultural context. A past life experience doesn't grant you access to practices, ceremonies, or identities from cultures where you frankly don't belong. I ask people to consider this. If that past life was so impact of impactful, what are you doing today to support people from that community in respectful, appropriate ways? Are you learning from their contemporary struggles? Are you supporting Indigenous sovereignty, for example, rather than just wanting to access their spiritual practices? The other question I have is what about your actual ancestors? Consider the alternative. What about your own ancestral lineage? Your great-great-grandmother's life, whether ordinary or extraordinary, so washing clothes, raising children, surviving hardship, that's the legacy running through your veins. That's a connection that's verifiable and doesn't require appropriating anyone else's culture. Some of her DNA is in your body right now. That's not a metaphor, it's biology. And when I work with clients on ancestral connection, we focus on their actual lineage and we work to heal intergenerational wounds, to honor the resilience of how those who come the resilience of those who came before, and to understand how trauma and strength both get passed down. And this work is grounded, specific, and honors real people whose lives made yours possible. This doesn't mean that you can't explore past lives, but don't let that exploration replace the profound work of connecting with your actual ancestors. I've also seen people use their past life experience as kind of a way to maybe dissociate from their current reality and they kind of become obsessed with their past lives and really want to connect with and embody that more than the life that they're living today. So that's also something to kind of be conscientious of. And now I want to talk about my personal experiences. So I've had two past life readings, each using a different technique. My first was probably four years ago or more, and I she didn't really tell me exactly what she was doing, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a Kashic record reading. The intuitive described a life where I was a little girl and I was running through the woods being tormented by older boys. She mentioned a life where I was hung at a young age, and another where I worked as a housemaid for a wealthy family. As she described each scenario, I did feel some emotional resonance. I've been bullied in this life, and I could relate to the past life where I was harassed. The life of a housemaid resonated too. I do a ton of housework still. And I'm often in, that's because I'm often in caretaker roles, and actually I technically find housework calming. I love to have the house tidy and in order. But did this provide healing or increase self-awareness? Not particularly. It was compelling, but it didn't offer insights I couldn't have arrived at through other forms of self-reflection. And that's the thing, it's like I've tried a lot of stuff in terms of like some of these spiritual things and with in regards to new age spirituality, and the majority of it wasn't as helpful as I hoped it would be. It was interesting and, like I said, compelling, but it didn't really help me to tend to my own inner landscape to explore both my wounds and my treasures. And to be honest with you, there's been a few things that have been really helpful to me, but this wasn't one of them. My second experience was involved hypnosis, and the practitioner guided me into two past lives. In the first, I was a man living in quiff dwellings, in like those in the American Southwest, I was a craftsperson specializing in bright beads. I lived largely alone, but traded with the community. When the community had to leave, there was some reason everybody had to leave, I was too old to travel and I died on the journey, telling others that it was okay to leave me behind, and they did. The second experience was completely different. I was a mute woman living alone on the outskirts of a village, and others brought me food and water, and I seemed to have healing abilities. People would come to me and make offerings. I was well taken care of, even though I was mute and I don't think able to take care of myself. A snake eventually bit me and I died, and I welcomed that death without fear. The practitioner noted that in both lives I seemed to embrace death rather than fight it. This observation was striking to me, but here's what I think was really happening. My subconscious was creating narratives reflecting themes already present in my current life. I do feel like an outsider sometimes. I value solitary work, I'm not afraid of death, and none of this required a past life to explain. These stories my brain created, at least that's what I believe, were drawing from who I already am. And whether they are literal past lives or symbolic explorations of my psyche, they were a compelling experience, just not necessarily what they claimed maybe to be. So how do we move forward thoughtfully? What are your thoughts on past lives? And here's what I encourage. In past, if past life work helps you, that's wonderful. Just approach it thoughtfully. Ask yourself, is this helping me understand myself better or is it helping me avoid dealing with current life issues? Am I using this work to claim identities or access to cultures that aren't mine? Am I treating the practitioners' interpretation as absolute truth, or am I holding them lightly as one possible perspective? If you're considering past life therapy, research practitioners carefully. Look for someone with proper therapeutic training, not just a weekend certification, and consult a mental health professional about what this approach whether this approach is right for you, especially if you're dealing with a lot of intense trauma. And many of us are. Remember that therapeutic benefit doesn't prove literal truth. So therapeutic benefit doesn't mean truth. And the healing might come from the process of exploration, from feeling heard, from creating meaning, regardless of whether the memories are really accurate. And please honor the religious traditions where reincarnation originated. If you're drawn to these concepts, learn about Hinduism and Buddhism with respect and depth, not just taking what's convenient and discarding the rest. What other new age spirituality topics are you guys all interested in? Do share, you know, I love to hear from you. In the last couple of weeks, we've covered some of the ones that I've heard you guys ask the most about, including guardian angels, spirit guides, where I also talk about channeling and now past lives. If there are other other topics you want to explore, shoot me an email at emily at bloomingwand.com and let's keep exploring these eyes to ideas together with open hearts and critical minds. Don't forget that if you want to see my sources and further reading recommendations, you can find them on my blog at bloomingwand.com. Click explore and glow to the blog. Be sure to like and subscribe wherever you are listening to this, whether it's YouTube or your favorite podcast streaming channel. And if you want to stay connected, do sign up for my newsletter. That's the number one way I like to stay connected with the community. I'm definitely more of a writer than anything else. And you know what I'm gonna say now take good care of yourselves, get those journals out, and I will see you soon.