Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives (Michael Newton's Journey of Souls, 1)

"Are you afraid of death? Do you wonder what is going to happen to you after your die? Is it possible you have a spirit which came from somewhere else and will return there after your body dies, or is this just wishful thinking because you are afraid?" --Dr. Michael Newton in Journey of Souls - Case Studies of Life Between LivesAt one time or another, everyone wonders what happens to them when they die, and what lies beyond the grave. In his book Journey of Souls - Case Studies of Life Between Lives, Hypnotherapist Dr. Michael Newton chronicles the experiences of 29 people that were under deep hypnosis and their experiences between lives. Many books have been written about past lives, but this book addresses what happens between lives.Dr. Newton did not set out to regress people beyond their current earthly lives. In fact, as a skeptic by nature and one oriented towards traditional therapy, he resisted requests to do past-life regression--feeling that this was unorthodox and unethical. However, one of his clients complained of a lifetime of chronic pain on his right side, and during one of their regular sessions, the client made stabbing motions to describe the kind of pain he felt. When searching for an explanation for this client's choice of images, he uncovered that his client had a past life as a WWI solider that was killed by a bayonet in France. Through this discovery, they were able to eliminate this pain altogether.He then began to do past life regressions, but then stumbled on a discovery of enormous proportions: he found that it was possible to see into the spirit world through the mind's eye of a hypnotized subject who could report back to him about life between lives.Dr. Newton explains:"The research was painfully slow, but as the body of my cases grew I finally had a working model of the eternal world where our souls live. I found thoughts about the spirit world involve universal truths among the souls of people living on Earth. It was these perceptions by so many different types of people which convinced me that their statements were believable. I am not a religious person, but I found the place where we go after death to be one of order and direction, and I have come to appreciate that there is a grand design to life and afterlife."Dr. Newton shares actual dialogue culled from audio recordings of regression sessions between he and his clients about what happens at the gate of death, who meets us on the other side, what we do once we're there, the purpose of our life, the role of guides, the nature of karma, cluster "study groups", inter-soul communication, what happens to "disturbed" souls, aura colors, the different levels of souls, and much more.I found Journey of Souls utterly fascinating, as well as Dr. Newton's sequel Destiny of Souls. However, my experience with these books was much more than mere intellectual fascination: both my husband and I experienced an utter paradigm shift about the afterlife, the Creator, and the purpose of life. Up until reading these books, I was still on the fence about reincarnation, and my husband's perspective was "no way!" The compelling regression sessions chronicled in this book convinced us otherwise, largely because of the consensus among regressed clients and how their reports confirmed some spiritual notions we were discovering on our own through direct experience.No other model made sense to either one of us; we long concluded that there was no literal hell, but what of suffering on Earth? Are our bodies, and our lives, completely random and arbitrary? Is it really possible we live more than one life? Why are we born into the family we are, especially if it results in abuse or pain?In these books we discovered that individuals carefully choose his or her own body and life circumstances to bring about certain experiences and to draw the soul closer to the perfection of the Creator. The whole point of incarnating is for self development. Yet, no one is rushed back into incarnating, and every soul has a chance to enter a dimension of time/space to "try out" a life and decide if this is the best choice for their own path.On the other side, there is playfulness, exploration, role playing, lessons, growth, past life examination, and so on. It is a place of rest, healing, rejuvenation, and self-examination. There are "schools" and our learning is a part of a specialized soul group. We have guides who teach us how to work with energy, and others who open up "books of life" so we can scrutinize our past life performance--and decide where we messed up, and how we can best grow in future lives.A helpful aspect of this book is the explanation of why some individuals go through difficult relationships, especially as children:"When clients tell me how much they suffered from the actions of family members, my first question to their conscious mind is, 'If you had not been exposed to this person as a child, what would you now lack in understanding?' It may take awhile, but the answer is in our minds. There are spiritual reasons for our being raised as children around certain kinds of people, just as other people are designated to be near us as adults......whatever happens to us in life, it is important we understand that our happiness or pain does not reflect either blessings or betrayal on the part of a God-oversoul, our guides, or life selection coordinators. We are the master of our own destiny."Most encouraging though, especially to those who fear a vengeful God awaiting them after death, is that we are not condemned or punished in the afterlife. Newton writes:"All soul evaluation conferences, be they with our guides, peers, or a panel of masters have one thing common. The feedback and past life analysis we receive in terms of judgment is based upon the original intent of our choices as much as the actions of our lifetime. Our motivations are questioned and criticized, but not condemned in such a way as to make us suffer."I highly recommend Journey of Souls, especially if you're searching for answers about the meaning of your life, why things happen, and what happens after death. Truly, we are never alone and are always surrounded by a supportive "great cloud of witnesses".Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book: Picture the Past, Experience the Cards, Understand the Present (coming Fall 2008 from Hampton Roads Publishing)

The most comforting message from this remarkable book may be its convincing evidence that we are not alone. First published in 1994 and now with the astonishingly small number of 300,000 copies sold, Journey of Souls probes the previous lives of 29 people who underwent regression hypnotherapy by Michael Newton, PhD, a certified master hypnotherapist.These disclosures riveted my attention, because 15 years ago I was transported in a near-death asthmatic crisis to the edge of the realm Newton and his 29 subjects describe. See The Soul Factory on [...], for a description of what two churchmen have since told me was probably a "revelation."That experience showed me, in fragments, what Newton has skillfully sewn together in Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives -- proof that we are not alone in the universe, that we all have souls, that we return again and again to chaotic Earth and to other worlds in an infinite scheme of evolving Creation, the elusive purpose of which is to build perfection. Even plants and animals have souls in this common, eternal quest, Newton reports -- albeit souls of a less-developed nature than ours.This work is not anti-Christian or anti-religion. Indeed, it reinforces most of the main themes found in the main religions. But it does depart sharply from beliefs many live with, such as the coming of a Day of Judgment, and Eternal Hellfire and Damnation as punishment.These are not true, Newton tells us. In the evolving eternity of time and space, our souls grow and develop, and are not judged or damned. Most of the Bible should not be read literally as a truthful record of actual events, but as a profoundly meaningful collection of moral, ethical and spiritual messages wrapped in stories or parables as their vehicles.For an excellent, short, lay-language overview of Newton's discoveries and a portal to diverse other sites and experiences in the timeless realm of souls he discovered, visit [...]. It could take you a lifetime to explore everything that has been experienced and retold about this subject; indeed, it took Newton 10 years to produce his book.Which leads me to an intriguing question: Why have only 300,000 copies been sold in five editions since 1994?One answer may be Newton's choice of publisher -- Woodbury, Minnesota-based Llewellyn Publications, which its Website [...] reveals to be heavily invested in works about witchcraft, astrology, tarot, paganism, the paranormal and the like.Mainstream publishers, fed on celebrity and "how-to" blockbuster titles, may have found Journey of Souls an unlikely candidate for mass appeal, thus pushing Newton into a smaller but friendlier, alternative publishing niche.Another answer may be that not many people are open to "new" ideas, however well authenticated, to the question: "What happens to us when we die?" Since infancy, most have been satisfied with the comforting answers parents for centuries have given: "you go to Heaven to live with Jesus forever" -- an answer that every church reinforces in greater and lesser measure throughout our lives. It's repeated in every religious funeral service.Newton's book doesn't debunk this idea, either -- rather, it gives a much more "scientific" and to me, believable version of it.Since the first Sputnik and views of distant heavenly bodies and galaxies began appearing in every child's schoolbooks, the idea of Heaven as a place in the clouds populated by white-robed angels behind the Pearly Gates has long been unbelievable to modern minds.And from that simple disillusionment to its grimmer next step -- that God is not seated on a throne there with Jesus at his right hand and the Holy Ghost at his left -- may seem a quantum leap to many.So we shrink from it. This is something we don't spend a lot of time wondering about as we go about our daily lives and habits, including the rituals and liturgy of church on Sundays."Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come ..." We believe this prayer, even as we know the greater reality that there is no Heaven and no Kingdom -- at least, not above the clouds or anywhere else our telescopes can see. Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer before there were any telescopes.Although speculation persists, some Bible scholars even insisting they have found heaven physically located within our Solar System ([...]), the modern church does not teach us where Heaven and the Kingdom of God are located. Instead, it invites us to imagine them in a spiritual context, open to a vast array of future possibilities, including their joint establishment here on Planet Earth after Judgment Day -- to which I can only wonder: If we have to wait until then to see it, where is it now and where has it been since God, in the Book of Genesis, created Heaven and Earth?These are difficult theological questions to which organized religion has no satisfactory answers. And since it has no satisfactory answers, most of us don't think about it. We either have faith in the unknowable, or we don't -- and increasingly large numbers of us don't.That's where Newton's descriptions can fill a void, if you can be bothered looking for the answers to theological questions that you may have for so long given up asking in your faith. If you're like me, you have been "treading water" in this area for long time.Michael Newton began his research as a self-admitted atheist. His research, he says, made him a believer in an infinitely evolving universal Creation and in its single Creator, who, he admits, might well be God.Reading Journey of Souls reminded me not only of my own still-vivid encounter 15 years ago and the indelible impressions that left in me, but also of so many of the eternal themes of the Bible, and of the fundamental teaching of other religions.The spirit world where souls eternally learn and strive to improve, revisiting Earth and joining new human lives in their quest as part of continuing Creation, is based on love, according to Newton and others whose own observations and experiences support his narratives. Vengeance, hatred, envy, greed, lust and other vices are -- like punishment and retribution -- all human deficiencies not found in the realm of souls that Newton and others describe.Although Christianity and other religions do not directly address this, their positive teachings and the universal rules for living a good life in harmony with each other here on Earth, all broadly comport with what is found in the Journey of Souls.

If you are into past lives etc then this book will help you understand. The author clearly explains this.

I enjoyed all of Michael Newton's books. They give really interesting insight into life-between-life regression therapy. Near Death Experiences are fascinating and are a domain unto themselves, this book examines the "otherside". Which describes it as a civilization of sorts, without war or extreme negativity. It's a place of learning, at times sarcasm, and essentially where we all return to.It helps frame a reality we can look forward to after this life. There is almost zero religious affiliation in this written work and research. Jesus rarely, if at all, appears, because the realm of the otherside isn't based on earth narrative, but rather a more holistic non-body existence, one of pure consciousness.It does depict the reason we all choose to come to earth - to learn and develop - and also enjoy. The physical realm does offer experiences and sensations that the otherside does not. God is not an identity, but rather an environmental force of sorts. There are thought leaders, mentors, guides, that have a hierarchy of wisdom, often depicted as a council made up for 3-4 wise beings that evaluate our lives with us. There is no HELL or punishment, but honest rational learning.