Most of us are curious about reincarnation and whether we have come to this planet “before.”
“Who was I in my past life?” is a common question asked these days and there’s no shortage of answers available.
Do a quick Google search and you’ll find a handful of fun pop quizzes that narrow down what gender you were, what country you came from, what you did, and how you died.
Spiritual Wanderer Course:
Find your deepest path and purpose in life as a spiritual wanderer. In this immersive course, you get 3+ hours of content, workbooks, meditations, a premium test, and more!
Learn More!
While these are fun ways to explore the topic, they are limited and shallow in their ability to really help us understand who we were in our past lives, and how we can use this knowledge to become more healed and whole people.
If you’re not that serious about answering the question, “Who was I in my past life?” I recommend taking the Past Life Regression Test I created instead of reading this article.
But if you’re serious about becoming a happier and more balanced person, keep reading.
First, we’ll explore what reincarnation really is.
Table of contents
Reincarnation Is Not What You Think It Is … Here’s Why
A few years ago I came to conclude that we are all divine fragments of God, Divinity, the Tao, Consciousness, or whatever you would like to call it.
I came to this life-changing realization via these 6 questions.
What Jesus, Buddha, Eckhart Tolle, Mooji, Adyashanti, Gangaji, Ramana Maharshi, and every wise “enlightened” man and woman through the ages have pointed to and spoken about is that the mind is limited. The self is an illusion. We are all One and the same at our very core.
Shadow & Light Membership:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐ "Receiving these messages is a beacon of light and hope for me in currently very challenging times. The words of wisdom speak right to my soul, guiding and encouraging me further on my path. I highly recommend Shadow & Light to everyone who seeks to develop and cultivate a relationship with the Inner Self." – Karin
Therefore, if our identity is an illusion, how is it possible to reincarnate? As Sol wrote in a previous article, “Reincarnation of an ‘individual self’ is only as possible to the extent of believing that your sense of ‘self’ – your ego – is real.”
If you believe that you are your personality and are separate from everything and everyone else, you will believe what people traditionally say about reincarnation: that your identity will be reborn into a new body and circumstance.
Personally, I don’t at all believe that this is the case.
How is it possible for “you” to reincarnate, if there is no you (other than in your mind) in the first place?
This is yet another illusion innocently perpetrated by an ego that is obsessed with its survival. After all, why is reincarnation so appealing to many of us? Perhaps because it reassures us that our egos will live on after we die.
But if you’ve come to realize that the self is a dreamlike fantasy, you will realize that this isn’t the case.
So what exactly is reincarnation?
In my understanding, reincarnation is the process of recycling energy.
The Buddhists represent this in the Wheel of Dharma which reflects the repeating cycle of birth, life, and death (called “Samsara”).
From what I have learned, the conscious essence that animates us leaves the physical body after death and is “reborn” or remade into a new creation.
All of the memories, experiences, lessons, and wounds we develop during our lives are then left in a non-physical layer which Carl Jung referred to as the “Collective Unconscious” and others refer to as the “Akashic Records.”
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this article to you, so you can come back to it later!
Your information will never be shared.
Although this new being starts off with a “fresh slate” when it is born, as it matures its job is to heal the inherited core wounds of its predecessors.
Who Was I in My Past Life? (5 Ways to Find Out)
I’ve asked and searched for the answers to this question before too, but somehow always intuitively felt that I wasn’t asking the “right” question or looking in the right place. Have you felt this before?
While I don’t believe that our identities reincarnate, I do believe that we can discover who we were in past lives (because we are all One and share the same underlying consciousness).
More precisely, we have been every person that has ever existed, but for practical reasons, we each carry a unique imprint of inherited strengths and weaknesses.
Similar to transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (big words that describe the process of inheriting physical, mental, and emotional information from your ancestors that doesn’t influence your DNA), it is also possible for us to inherit spiritual maladies of many kinds.
As life itself is about evolving, advancing, and maturing, it can also be said that our emotional and spiritual lives are maturing as well.
Collectively, we are all evolving, and discovering what inherited core wounds we have is vital in order to become happier and more fulfilled people.
In discovering our transgenerational wounds, we also work to “raise the vibrations” of the world for this generation and future generations.
What is it that your ancestors suffered from in the past that you can heal in the present?
You may find that in the process of discovering who you were in your past life, you are linked to one specific person in a single era.
On the other hand, you may have many flashbacks from many lives that all possess the same theme.
Finally, you may not have any flashbacks at all, but instead, have an overwhelming sensation that you must learn to “resolve” a certain issue.
Here are some recommendations that will help you to discover who you were in your past life:
1. Examine what attracts, interests, or creates a sense of nostalgia in you
For example, you may carry a long-time interest in South American shamanism, you may be intensely attracted to ancient Asian culture, or you may feel a deep sense of longing and inexplicable nostalgia towards the English countryside.
Make sure you record your thoughts in a journal to keep track of the signs and synchronicities you find.
Spiritual Awakening Bundle:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐ "This was probably one of the best purchases I made in a long time … These are some of the most valuable texts I’ve ever read, and I'll never forget the path they started me on. Thank you so much for writing it and putting it out there for us to find." – Heloísa
2. Pay attention to repetition in your dreams
Also, learn to distinguish between dreams that feel dreamlike, and dreams that feel distinctly life-like – these dreams may present doorways into the collective unconscious.
Repetitive dreams, in particular, carry important messages for they reveal what our minds on a subconscious level are fixated with.
For instance, if you frequently dream about being abandoned for no particular reason (i.e., no childhood abandonment issues), you may be carrying the inherited core wound of betrayal or the fear of aloneness.
Learn more about how to understand the meaning of your dreams.
3. Set an intention – repeat
You may like to set an intention before attempting to revisit your past life. Do this before going to sleep, meditating, or practicing self-hypnosis.
For instance, your intention may be “Who was I in my past life? Please be revealed” or simply, “I want to know who I was.”
Finally, it helps to repeat your intention several times before you settle into a sleep, meditation, or hypnosis state.
4. Reflect on the people you have attracted into your life
What harsh, but powerful lessons have your friends, family members, and/or romantic relationships taught you?
Can you sense any particular theme running through your life that has seemed to be there from the very start?
It is said that we all enter this life with a soul family which is a group of beings that collectively work to resolve accumulated karma.
5. Stare into a mirror or body of water
Use your reflection as a focal point to enter into an altered state of consciousness. Get into a comfortable position, and if possible, dim the lights. Keep your intention in mind, relax your eyes and gaze at your reflection. Hold gentle but solid eye contact.
You can do this for up to ten minutes to half an hour or more. As the minutes pass by, you will find that your face begins to morph and subtly change its appearance. What can you see?
Learn more about mirror work.
***
Use a combination of all the practices above to explore your past life and inherited core wounds. Please keep in mind that there are many other techniques out there, but these five are basic and easy for anyone to try out.
This Is What I Discovered …
As a result of putting into practice the above recommendations, I discovered that I have memories from Medieval Ireland, Persia/Middle East, Rome, and Greece. My most vivid and recurring memories appear to be of a great gothic castle, a home near the cliffs and ocean, grassy paddocks, and a ragged tent in a desert. The main core wound I seem to struggle with involves a loss of control which has helped me to resolve an immense number of issues in my life.
What about you? Have you discovered what your transgenerational wound is? What are your thoughts on reincarnation? I’d love to hear below.
Three paths to inner transformation – here’s how I can help you go deeper:
1. The Spiritual Wanderer Course: Are you feeling lost, adrift, and unsure of your life's purpose? Gain clarity, focus, and direction on your inner path by uncovering the five archetypes of awakening within you. Learn how to navigate the highs and lows of your inner journey and chart your unique path with 3+ hours of audio-visual content, workbooks, meditations, and a premium test.
2. Shadow & Light Membership: Do you crave consistent support on your spiritual quest? Receive weekly intuitive guidance and learn to embrace your whole self, including your shadow side. Cultivate deeper self-love with our affordable, personalized support.
3. Spiritual Awakening Bundle: Ready to embark on a profound soul-searching adventure? Dive into our collection of essential transformative resources! Explore five illuminating eBooks and seven in-depth journals, plus unlock two special bonuses to empower your spiritual growth.
When I stared into a mirror, I couldn’t see my face. It disappeared gradually until my body (the mirror is quite big) looked like a shadow. The more I looked , the more I disappeared, I could see the wall behind me. But at the same time I felt serene, peaceful. Did I do it wrong?
There is an easy way to discover your past lives in detail. The book “Beyond Reincarnation” by Joe Slate is a practical guide to self-hypnosis and a method to awaken your past life memories. I went back four lives, in the last one I was the brother of the man I am married to now. We were German soldiers, both killed in WWII. All the things that interest me, repel me, and all my special skills come from these past lives: I was also a navigator on a three-masted schooner, an innkeeper in Scotland, and a harem wife to a brutal Bedouin. In this life I was a navigator on a sailboat, owned a B&B, and cannot stand to be in deserts or dry, sandy terrain. These kinds of ah-ha connections help you make sense of the circumstances of your current life and find great compassion for yourself, for what you have endured as a human being on a very difficult duality planet. Overall, my past lives were hard and unpleasant, so I only went back four lives and then stopped because it became very unpleasant to revisit them. Past Life Regression is very tactile: you get to relive all… Read more »
It would always end the same, even when it started so unrelated it would turn sour and end the same. Not all dreams were like this, just one repeating scenario that would happen once a month or two. I think this may be one those clues you mention, especially when i consider what my soul is drawn to. Ive always felt connected to very early times in human history, when tribes were starting to use primitive swords and discover new technology’s and explore the world. When i walk into a damp forest or somewhere far away from modern society i feel connected and at peace. But only during the day. The dream scenario is this, i am chased (at night) by some creature or thing and when it gets close enough to attack i close my eyes and wake up. Very recently i managed to turn to face the thing, which I’ve often tried to do but just couldn’t muster the courage. But this time i did, which filled me with so much terror i yelled for help, which to my surprise wasn’t needed. As i turned around the dream froze, it felt strained and paralyzed, it felt as if… Read more »
well, so in one of my past lives, I was a small girl around 7. I had dreams of this from when I was around four and I would often wake up out of breath. I clearly remember that someone pushed me down a well. it broke my leg but I didn’t die. a few days later, the person sealed up the well and I kind of suffocated – that’s when I wake up. I do remember other ones but I’m too lazy to write.
This is an awesome site and an awesome post.
Just the other day we were talking about reincarnation at a family gathering. When I was between the ages of 3 to 6, I told my parents about my previous past lives. Thank goodness, they were open to it. I even brought them to a place I once lived that was not close to where we lived. I described the place I lived and sure enough, there it was. My mother questioned all of our family members if they ever brought me to that area. They asked her why would they do that for? That was not a place to really bring a child.
Again, really interesting.
I was avoiding commenting in these deep articles lately, but, well, here I go. In my case since young I started to revive some past lives but quickly they become very intense and was to much for me, so I block them and never wanted to know more or revive or anything about the past. But like you say, the overwhelming sensation always is there. I always tried to focus in my present and don’t dwell too much in the future (difficult one) and my main theme is abandonment and betrayal. Nevertheless there are always these things like deep longing of being in the forest and mountains, deep fixation with medieval times and Celtic culture and relationships with people that feel the same, like my former partner, a redhead witch. So until now I manage to be oriented with that kind of signs without the trauma of revive anything. You made me remember with the step five, that in adolescence I always saw my face blurry in the mirror and without light even more and really became another face. I had to focus a lot to really see my face or I had to see me in a picture. I… Read more »
I have always been fascinated by England and during a trip several years ago I seemed to know my way around London and its environs very well. As it happened, a few months ago I unexpectedly came into contact with a mystic seer who also happened to the owner of an antique shop. After convincing me of his ability, I come to find that two of my past lives came to the forefront. One past life, as a man, I was Lord of a castle in the late 13th century and was instrumental in creating British Parliament (took a second to digest that one). Apparently my spirit guides also gave him a great physical description of me in action which was interesting….and rather shocking! My second past life revealed me as a woman in charge of a manor house in the 1890s. I apparently died of cholera a short while later. He was also quite shocked that I was an extremely old soul with numerous lifetimes. Apparently these two lives stood out. In any case, knowing this information has been a blessing for me as I have begun to put the puzzle pieces together in THIS lifetime. I have helped… Read more »
Most of what you are saying, I agree with, but in a bit of a different way. What I feel is not what you describe. And I feel it very deeply on a soul level, not an ego level. But that doesn’t mean anything. Just that two people can feel different things. They are not always mutually exclusive. There was one dream I had that was very vivid in a strange sort of way in that every single thing in it was true to the time period. The cast of the whole dream/scene was yellow like an old picture. It was in the depression, everything was in drought, the house was small and rough, I was wearing a blouse with big polka dots and a black skirt, and very pregnant with a suitcase by someone that I wasn’t suppose to be pregnant by. I was young. A man, my husband, came in a car true to the time period. I got into the back seat and down on the floor appeared a mystical animal with big gold eyes like a Tarsier and it talked to me. I didn’t know what it said except that it was a warning and to… Read more »
I have always wondered who I was in past lives. It’s only been 8 months since I began my spiritual quest but I’ve always intuitively known that reincarnation is real. Like you I don’t delve into the question so much because it feels wrong to ask that, almost like I don’t want to find out who I was. There is one memory that I dreamed from my past life. I was running through an Alpine German or Austrian village (lots of white houses with visible beams). It was morning and the sun was just rising. I was running through narrow streets and over a small bridge shadowing an Alpine creek, past the bridge I ran around a corner to the left. There I stopped instantly, there was a woman (25 – 30 years old, Caucasian and brown hair) who held a pistol (M1911) right to my head. She shot and I woke up, bathing in my sweat and still hearing the shot ringing in the bedroom. Everything in the dream was realistic and appeared normal, it felt more like a memory than a dream. Next to that I most certainly have an interest in medieval, Roman and Greek architecture and… Read more »
I had no idea these kinds of core wounds were a thing.
I began discovering past lives a long time ago, one in particular. I avoided it until I was older because I discovered it so young (5? 6?) and it was so confusing to me. I remember sitting on the swingset in my backyard thinking that I couldn’t possibly be my parent’s child if I was also this other person, and what had happened to their real child? I just couldn’t make sense of it.
I used to see parts of it awake and then wonder how I ever didn’t know. Like it had been right in front of my eyes all along and just for a second some veil of obscurity was lifted. Sometimes there were years I didn’t remember anything.
Eventually I tried to leave it behind a second time, wanting to “start over” (I was not a good person in that life) and stop struggling with resolving my various beliefs about science and spirituality. If core wounds can be inherited from the past I guess that’s not going to happen.