Atasha Fyfe - 11 Dec

First published and distributed in the United Kingdom by:
Hay House UK Ltd, Astley House, 33 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3JQ
Tel: +44 (0)20 3675 2450; Fax: +44 (0)20 3675 2451
www.hayhouse.co.uk

Published and distributed in the United States of America by:
Hay House Inc., PO Box 5100, Carlsbad, CA 92018-5100
Tel: (1) 760 431 7695 or (800) 654 5126
Fax: (1) 760 431 6948 or (800) 650 5115
www.hayhouse.com

Published and distributed in Australia by:
Hay House Australia Ltd, 18/36 Ralph St, Alexandria NSW 2015
Tel: (61) 2 9669 4299; Fax: (61) 2 9669 4144
www.hayhouse.com.au

Published and distributed in India by:
Hay House Publishers India, Muskaan Complex, Plot No.3, B-2,
Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110 070
Tel: (91) 11 4176 1620; Fax: (91) 11 4176 1630; www.hayhouse.co.in

Distributed in Canada by:
Raincoast Books, 2440 Viking Way, Richmond, B.C. V6V 1N2
Tel: (1) 604 448 7100; Fax: (1) 604 270 7161; www.raincoast.com

Text Atasha Fyfe, 2015

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise be copied for public or private use, other than for fair use as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews, without prior written permission of the publisher.

The information given in this book should not be treated as a substitute for professional medical advice; always consult a medical practitioner. Any use of information in this book is at the readers discretion and risk. Neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for any loss, claim or damage arising out of the use, or misuse, of the suggestions made, the failure to take medical advice or for any material on third party websites.

This book was previously published under the title Past Lives (Hay HouseBasics series); ISBN: 978-1-78180-265-6

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-78817-245-5
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-78817-253-0

Interior images: Bruce Rolff /123RF

I hold that when a person dies His soul returns again to Earth; Arrayed in some new flesh-disguise Another mother gives him birth.

JOHN MASEFIELD

Your past lives are not dead and gone. They are a living part of your greater identity. Just knowing this can change your life. You see reality in a new, expanded way; you no longer fear death; and you understand so much more about your self, your relationships and your current life.

Even before you know about them, your past lives are a strong influence in your life. This influence is usually positive but sometimes it can also be negative. The golden key that heals those bad effects is finding out about the past life when the problem began. Past-life therapy has shown beyond doubt that this can resolve an amazingly wide range of issues.

As you get to know about your past lives, youll also be bringing in all their positive effects. Your past selves have great gifts for you the many prizes you won through experiences and tests that you passed along your soul path. Its invaluable to know about this positive side of your history as well. So how do you start?

Theres an old saying: When the student is ready, the teacher appears. Ive found this to be just as true about remembering past lives. When were ready to meet them, they step forward and start to introduce themselves. Not all at once, of course that would be too much to handle.

Its a gentle process that happens little by little, like a flower opening up one petal at a time. The seed of that flower may have been planted much earlier, staying dormant for years until conditions were right for it to grow.

For example, one of my regression clients told me that the first time she ever heard about past lives was in a magazine story. It was a tale about how an old love had returned from a previous life. She said shed enjoyed the story, but didnt delve any deeper into the idea of reincarnation.

It was only many years later that she began to wonder about her own former lives. Issues with her partner were bothering her, so she came for a regression. She discovered that their problem really had come from a previous lifetime together. With that knowledge, she was able to sort things out. The seed planted by the magazine love story had grown and flowered at just the right time for her.

The first time I heard about past lives was from my Scottish father. He wasnt at all religious or mystical but was convinced that hed had a past life in America. On looking back I think he was probably right. It would explain why he was always reading books about the Wild West, and why his favourite magazines were the Saturday Evening Post and The New Yorker.

Sometimes he made passing remarks about his past-life theory. He might as well have said it was chilly for the time of year for all the attention it ever got. But although we never discussed it, we also never opposed the idea.

I think now that this must have been when the seed of past-life awareness was first planted in my childhood. Of course, I had no idea what strange flowers that seed would later produce.

The first sign I had of the past-life drama that lay in wait for me was at the age of 17. I had a vivid dream that Ive never forgotten. It was during the French Revolution. I was about to be guillotined. When I put my head on the chopping block, I was shocked to feel the wet blood of previous victims on my throat. At that point the dream suddenly ended, and I woke up with a gasp.

Since then Ive had many more dreams about the French Revolution. Ive also found out about the past life I had at that time. I wasnt an aristocrat, but was part of the new middle class. As an idealistic young man, I believed in the revolution and tried to promote its ideals.

But in the end, like so many others, I was arrested, given a show trial, and sent on my way to the next world. After that experience, I decided that I would never again speak out openly about what I believed in. It was far too dangerous.

That fear created an unconscious block in my psyche that then held me back like invisible chains. Becoming aware of that, and dealing with it, was a major part of my journey towards writing about past lives. If I hadnt understood that problem and where it came from, this book would never have been written.

This is how dramatically past-life awareness can change our lives. Although Ive summed it up in a few short paragraphs, this process took a while. These important changes are too big to happen overnight. So theres no need to push the river. Your past life plant will grow in its own way and its own time. The fact that youre reading this now is a sign that its already flowering for you.

You also dont need to remember every single past life you ever had. Even if you only find out about one or two, youll automatically receive the great gifts that past-life awareness has for us.

Those gifts are the many ways in which your life will become enriched. Simply knowing that you had past lives creates a happier, more meaningful and more fulfilled experience of life in the present.

An expanding new consciousness is now taking place in the world. Im convinced that past-life awareness is an important part of that. It brings personal and spiritual benefits for everyone. It has the power to change our lives. It fosters more tolerance and understanding of others. And it will ultimately transform the kind of world we live in.