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Healing the Wounded Child From Past Lives – Margaret Lento (Is.14)

by Margaret Lento, Ph.D.

Margaret Lento presents some ways to heal the client who was wounded as a child in a past life, using three clients’ cases as examples. Especially interesting is the way she follows her client’s lead as to the best way to heal the child and then to bring the child’s good qualities into the client’s “here and now.”

 The benefits of current-life inner-child healing are very well known and accepted. But uncovering and reliving a traumatic experience as a child in a past life may reveal fears that have been built up over the years, over many existences. These fears must be eliminated before the regression can be permanently beneficial. I refer to it as “transforming the wounded child into the wonder child.”

It occurred to me from my work with clients who relived a past-life trauma as a child that the same negative energy that was present in the past life remained in the cellular memory of the client. This realization prompted me to develop techniques that would allow the client to go back into the lifetime, retrieve the child, and remove that negative charge or belief by releasing any residue that was still affecting the client in the present life. I have found that the client knows the best way to do this, and combining the client’s insights with my own techniques, I found that this release was rapid and effective. After the client experiences a past-life trauma as a child, I ask the client’s inner mind and higher wisdom to take them to a place where they can heal that little wounded child. Three cases illustrate this technique.

Beyond Bereavement – Daniel Hutt (Is.14)

by Daniel Hutt, C.S.W., B.C.D.

Daniel Hutt addresses the problem of dealing with severe grief in this moving paper. The client was a young man, racked by guilt and grief, who was helped by Hutt’s use of past-life therapy following other, more conventional, approaches. Hutt shows us the healing process of the young man in a clear, concise way.

 Who among us has not experienced the loss of a loved one? And who among us has been able to use this experience to enhance their lives? Sounds paradoxical? This article proposes a clinical practice model for therapists whose job sometimes entails helping in the face of helplessness, and a way to go beyond bereavement.

Sometimes a client comes along who presents a particularly moving portrait or a problem which challenges the therapist on many levels. Such a case creates a visceral, core emotion evoking feelings within the therapist that may mirror the client’s. These powerful feelings transcend the boundaries of countertransference. They tap into a deep level of universal empathy that is part of a collective consciousness. The depth of the pain felt by the client, and sometimes the therapist, can be bottomless. Although the therapist may be well trained, skilled, adept at the art of psychotherapy, sometimes the questions arise: “How can I really help? How can I help this person find a degree of relief? Can I help them go beyond ‘relief?’ Can I be a true agent of change and not a superficial or benign presence offering what any traditional therapy might?”

When a Fetus Dies Unborn – Alice Givens (Is.14)

by Alice Givens, Ph.D.

Alice Givens calls our attention to the importance of prenatal experiences from past lives. Although many therapists explore the prenatal experience of the present life, Givens finds that a trauma endured as a fetus in a past life, especially a prenatal death, may have equally powerful consequences. She discusses her findings and presents several cases in illustration.

 I first learned about the soul that kept returning to the same mother while working with Malcomb. He came to see me because his business and family were falling apart. He said he worked all the time but nothing was effective. He fought with his business partners and his wife and nothing was going right. Everything he had worked for — his business and his family — were crumbling beneath him.

 

“Anything Else But” Past Lives – Robert T. James (Is.14)

by Robert T. James, J.D., C.Ht.

Robert James Fights Back! In this well-researched article, James discusses the “Anything Else But” syndrome, a mental state that seems to afflict many critics of all things parapsychological, including past-life regression work. He makes some solid criticisms of his own in this astute analysis of some of our critics’ own research. Let the critics beware!

 In a recent talk given in Colorado, Dr. John Mack (1995), the Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard Medical School psychiatrist and author of the controversial book Abductions: Human Contact with Aliens (Mack, 1994), commented on the vigorous efforts on the part of his detractors to find that the alien abduction phenomenon is due to a cause other than that the experiences of the abductees are real. He described the efforts of his detractors as seemingly being affected by an “Anything Else But” Syndrome. A review of the literature indicates that the “Anything Else But” Syndrome is also an excellent description of the behavior that seems to motivate many of the detractors of the past-life phenomenon.

Two Notions: Snugging Into Paradigms – Thelma B. Freedman (Is.14)

by Thelma B. Freedman, M.A.

In this article, Thelma Freedman speculates on ways in which past-life narratives, if real reincarnation memories, might fit within already established models of the world. Her interest is to stimulate conservative model-making based on what we really know.

 Past-life therapy is at a decisive moment in history, both its own history and the history of humanity. Past-life therapy is not about to move into the mainstream: It is already on the march, as we see more therapists every day discovering this magical approach to healing. That is all to the good. We also see that more and more people are accepting reincarnation as their personal belief system, and that is probably a good thing, too. In the next century, reincarnation may well become as common a Western belief as it is today in other cultures, and it can be a freeing one for humanity itself if it is used in freeing, non-hierarchical ways. But precisely because of these developments, we, as a community of past-life therapists and researchers, have a special obligation. Can we ground this therapy and our ideas about reincarnation in more than airy fantasy?

Learning Through Happy Past Lives – Pierre Dubuc (Is.14)

by Pierre Dubuc, M.S.W.

Pierre Dubuc adds a new dimension to past-life therapy with his suggestion that healing can occur from examining happy and successful past lives as well as traumatic ones. Drawing upon his long experience as a therapist, he discusses his approach and stresses the need for “accentuating the positive” in utilizing past lives in therapy. A welcome new writer to the Journal’s pages, Dubuc practices past-life therapy in Quebec, Canada.

 It is interesting to observe that in the literature of past-life therapy little attention has been given to the concept of happy past lives whereby one achieves success and develops positive qualities and strengths. Very little attention has been paid in the literature to the idea of recognizing those past strengths in order to retrieve them and to benefit from them.

It is true that many past-life therapists utilize the spiritual possibilities of past-life therapy, such as meeting one’s spiritual guides, one’s soul, or going into the interlife. This is a specificity of past-life therapy and a contribution to the field of psychotherapy which complements the clinical aspect of it. I recognize that the clinical and spiritual modalities are closely linked. But for the sake of this article, I would like to focus on the clinical aspects of past-life therapy in a positive sense.

The Influence of the Therapist in Past-life Therapy – Rabia Lynn Clark (Is.14)

by Rabia Lynn Clark, Ph.D.

Rabia Clark recommends that past-life therapists question some of their fondest assumptions about past-life therapy. Like David Ritchey in this issue of the Journal, she discusses the “false memory syndrome” controversy as it may relate to our methods of practice. Clark suggests self-examination and a further dialogue on the subject.

The “false memory syndrome” is a controversial issue right now, and one very relevant to us, as past-life therapists may encounter serious repercussions if they create false memories in their clients. Perhaps they should re-examine their techniques to avoid being thought unethical.

Rememberings from Somewhen: Brain, Mind, Memory, & Other Lives – David Ritchey (Is.14)

by David Ritchey, Ph.D.

In the following paper, David Ritchey, as does Rabia Clark in the next article, discusses the “false memory syndrome” and its relevance to past-life therapists. Among other things, Ritchey reviews the history and definitions of false memory syndrome, the arguments “pro” and “con” that circulate around it, and the possible states of consciousness that are involved. Like Clark, Ritchey ends with a warning for caution in our interpretations of “past lives.”

 Introduction

While this paper is specifically directed toward those who work with memories of “other lives” (a term I will use henceforth in lieu of “past lives,” so as not to limit too narrowly the boundaries of my thesis), the dynamics involved apply as well to other transpersonal experiences. I will, therefore, be using the terms “other lives” and “transpersonal experiences” interchangeably.

The “Recovered Repressed Memory” or “False Memory” syndrome controversy is likely to go down in history as the controversy which defined psychotherapeutic dynamics in the 1990s. This issue is causing unprecedented conflict between psychotherapists and their clients, between these clients and their families, between the clients’ families and psychotherapists, and between psychotherapist and psychotherapist. It has also brought into the mainstream of our vocabulary such terms as “adult children,” “codependency,” “abuse survivor/victim,” “perpetrator,” and “retractor.”

Extra-Terrestrial Contact Experiences: How Regression Therapy Can Help – Barbara Lamb (Is.13)

by Barbara Lamb, M.S., M.F.C.C.

The following paper deals with a highly controversial topic, extraterrestrial abductee reports. Although this topic may seem altogether too controversial to some of our readers, the Editors suggest that you put skepticism aside as you read this paper. We did, and we’re glad we did. The author is a noted authority on the phenomena of abductee reports and their treatment, and her paper is full of valuable information. We think it is also fascinating, and hope you do too. Ms. Lamb begins the paper with the following quotation, and it is a good one to begin with.

 There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. (William Shakespeare, Hamlet)

 Introduction

 Regression therapy is the most helpful and effective way I know for getting to the source of a continuing problem, whether past or present life. Sometimes, however, the source of people’s distress is experiences that they may have had with extraterrestrial beings. These beings cause various responses in the people whom they contact, ranging from wonder, awe, and enlightenment to extreme anxiety, phobias, and sometimes, inability to function. For people with any of these responses, regression therapy and integration work can help them assimilate and make sense of their bizarre experiences and function well in their lives, even though these experiences may continue to happen to them.

Interaction between extraterrestrial beings and humans may have been occurring for thousands of years, according to many ancient sources. In our time, contacts and abductions have been reported since the late 1940’s; according to recent polls, at least five million Americans have had these experiences, and it is a world-wide phenomenon.

Sacred Aspects in the Treatment of Trauma – Gail Carr Feldman (Is.13)

by Gail Carr Feldman Ph.D.

In the following paper the author describes using past-life and spirit releasement therapies with clients who have been severely abused in childhood. Dr. Feldman refers to the work of Shengold and his concept of “soul murder” in discussing these clients and their courage in therapy; she also points out that with these clients, therapists are “called upon to be guardians of their souls.”

 Judith Herman (l992) reportedly said, “No one can face trauma alone.” The therapist is called upon to bear witness to a crime. I believe that no one can face recovering from trauma alone. The therapist is also called upon to bear witness to a healing. I believe that it is a sacred experience to be a participant in the healing process. After nearly thirty years as a psychotherapist, I realize that the healing process is the process of growth and any time we facilitate someone’s growth we do so at the risk of awe. Have you ever noticed your own sense of deep respect bordering on reverence for some of your trauma clients? For what they have been through and the intensity with which they work to heal?

I think this happens because with these clients, more than with others, we know we are working with the human soul. If you remember, “psyche” actually means “soul.” In our deepest, most connected relationships with children and loved ones, we know we are being touched by souls; with our children, called upon to be guardians of their souls; with clients, helpful guides.