JRT Topic: Past-life Therapy

The Trans-Gender Soul – Amy Shapiro (Is.15)

Amy Shapiro, M.Ed.

Can past-life therapy assist relations between the sexes? Using five cases of men and women who uncovered prior lives as the opposite gender, Amy Shapiro discusses how their newly reclaimed soul-memories expanded their identities to transcend gender stereotypes and prejudices. The author distinguishes between her application of the term “trans-gender” in this context and its use in discussions about trans-sexuality.

The past few decades have witnessed intriguing shifts in relations between men and women. In our search for gender truth and meaning, we struggle to understand our drives and the consequences of their activation in our evolving society. The most visible contributors to this sexual sea-change are the availability of birth control, the feminist movement, the … Read the rest

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 … Read the rest

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 … Read the rest

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, … Read the rest

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 … Read the rest

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.

A Doonesbury cartoon puts the issue in a nutshell. A therapist is interviewing Mark on the radio. The therapist says:

“It’s … Read the rest

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 … Read the rest

Soul-Mind Fragmentation and Recovery – William J. Baldwin (Is.13)

by William J. Baldwin, D.D.S., Ph.D.

Dr. Baldwin is no stranger to our pages or to members of APRT. In the paper below he presents his findings on the condition he calls soul-mind fragmentation and makes some concrete and useful suggestions for diagnosis and treatment. In this paper, he pulls recent research on Dissociative Identity Disorder, spirit releasement, past-life therapy, and fragmentation therapy together in a novel and effective way.

Soul-Mind Fragmentation and DID

The concept of divided or multilevel consciousness has been studied extensively in recent years. The divisions of consciousness have been labeled variously as ego states, subordinate personalities, subpersonalities, alter personalities, fragments, special-purpose fragments, mind fragments, inner children, compartments, parts, voices, complexes, and selves. An emotional … Read the rest

Forgiveness as a Therapeutic Tool – Henry Leo Bolduc (Is.13)

by Henry Leo Bolduc

Mr. Bolduc discusses the importance of bringing about forgiveness for past-life healing, and he suggests some concrete methods to achieve this. Some of what follows he presented before the full APRT Convention in May, 1995, at Washington, DC.

Introduction

My awareness of the overwhelming importance of forgiveness is an outgrowth of my thirty-three years’ research into past lives. My experience during those years has convinced me that we are eternal beings, souls, who are given the opportunity to return to a physical life on Earth countless times to attend the “Earth School” for our spiritual development. Why are we granted more than one life? I believe that for more than any other reason, it is to … Read the rest

Analysis of a Past-Life Therapy Practice – Hans TenDam (Is.13)

by Hans TenDam

Hans Ten Dam is a Life Member of APRT and a familiar (and much loved) presence at APRT conventions. In the paper below, he shares with us his somewhat provocative findings from a two and a half year analysis of his past-life therapy clients. Since his practice is in The Netherlands, it is especially interesting to us on this side of the pond. As Hans hints, there may be some differences.

Introduction

This article presents the results of a statistical analysis of 127 courses of treatment with 118 different clients, done over a period of 2.5 years. The group consists of 38 men and 80 women, ages 22 to 81 years, with an average age of 44 … Read the rest