In this veiled experience of duality, the memories of our experiences by default are limited. Our conscious mind only recalls 5% of everything that has happened to us in this lifetime, and even then, it’s veiled by the lens of emotion and trauma. The rest of the information sits in a repository, which is inaccessible to us unless we can unlock it. But what if this veiled memory goes beyond just this current life, if who we are as spirits transcends space and time? If you believe in reincarnation, then we have lived many lives and are ancient beings. What if we could unlock more than the memories of this lifetime to expand our sense of beingness and answer the questions that elude us today?

The belief in reincarnation has been a cornerstone of many cultures and religions. In Hinduism and Buddhism, Samsara is fundamental. It tells us that the soul evolves through many lifetimes, working towards spiritual enlightenment. Many indigenous cultures, including the Shipibo, view the reincarnation process as part of the natural order of existence, where souls return to learn, grow, and fulfill spiritual purposes across different lifetimes. Although Carl Jung had a more nuanced view of reincarnation, he believed in the fundamental idea that we are all connected in our experiences through a collective unconsciousness that will often show itself as experiences in different lifetimes. That as we are all evolving together, we are uploading to a “cloud” – a repository – that when accessed can offer us a chance to resolve the cycle of life and death and provide insights on our current journey, all leading to the path of expressing ourselves fully in our divine and unique light.

This connection, the experiences that go beyond our focused reality of this lifetime, create a journey that is much bigger than our lives today. The journey throughout infinite time opens a full and colorful story where we slay dragons, overcome tremendous trauma, and love unconditionally. Our power emerges in its fullness. We are not mere specks, we are so much more – we are divine beings.

The plants often show us this: how powerful we are and the truth of our beings. They beckon and push us towards the unveiling of our ancient wisdom. The challenges and traumas today are a piece of a puzzle, not a checkbox to overcome in 80+ years. They are so much more than that. The people you recognized upon first meeting are the souls you’ve interacted with before. The love of music and the inherent talents you have today are echoes of lifetimes of work and gifts you’ve developed. These imprints, the continuation of the story, are a key to unlocking our power and fullness. Our past lives leave imprints on our current reality, weaving threads of influence that shape who we are and how we navigate the world. By accessing these memories and experiences through past life work, we unlock key threads of our soul’s journey—insights that can heal old wounds, illuminate our purpose, and spark profound transformation.

The Threads of Time: How Past Lives Show Up in Our Present Reality

If all of our experiences are connected and expand beyond this lifetime, then they ripple into the present as a continuation of our story. Dolores Cannon spent decades exploring how past lives affect our present experience. In her books, The Convoluted Universe (series 1-5), she documents the recurring themes in people’s lives. These can be traumas that need resolving, creating inherited patterns of behavior. For example, a lifetime where you discover you were burned at the stake for being a clairvoyant, can show up as a fear of showing yourself in your authentic clairvoyant self over lifetimes. People can cling to being “normal” because of a trauma that happened many lifetimes ago. The imprint carries until the fear is worked through, finally closing the loop and integrating the trauma into consciousness. These patterns aren’t here to haunt us—they’re opportunities to heal and show ourselves authentically in the world.

Talents, Passions, and the “Golden Shadow”

Natural talents and passions are usually expressed across lifetimes as well. The gift of painting, singing, clairaudience, and writing can develop over lifetimes. These passions and talents re-emerge to reengage with our essence and authenticity. Jung talks about the concept of “golden shadows” in consciousness work; a discovery of things we loved expressing that is hidden behind trauma. Often the childhood passions can be linked to a time long ago when you expressed this skill or gift in fullness, or perhaps it was repressed and needs expressing. There are stories where, despite no study, someone knows a language, or can pick up an instrument instantly, only to discover through past life work that they were a native of the country or a professional musician. Again, past life work can enrich us with the gift of knowing and feeling the connection to create a sense of power and greatness beyond our everyday experience. These insights can also encourage us to push forward with a passion despite feeling like it isn’t a “big deal” - it’s in your essence and is a part of who you are.

Physical Imprints and the Body’s Memory

Physical scars and birthmarks often reveal themselves as imprints of a physical trauma in past lives. The scar on the back of the neck from a gruesome execution, for example. Current illnesses can find miraculous healing from exploring past lives. Dolores Cannon recalls many instances of physical healing in the thousands of sessions she conducted. Healing during the sessions was immediate and profound. Migraines vanish and never return after reliving a wound during battle, or a depression lifts after a woman revisits being exiled in a past life. The subconscious mind divinely orchestrates what we see, listening and responding to our intention for the session to show us exactly what we need to get closer to the answers if we are ready for it. The healing must serve the soul’s purpose and must be at the right time to be released. This work is a sacred collaboration – bringing the masterful subconscious mind, the seeker, and the practitioner into a magical journey that can include physical healing and relief from illness.

Recognizing the Patterns: Past Lives in Relationships, Career, and Challenges

Soul contracts and karmic ties are the invisible agreements we’ve made with other souls across time. That friend who feels like family from the first meeting? They may be a part of your “soul group”, a group of spirits that come back together over and over again, creating their own story of evolution and growth as a larger unit. My first regression with Brian Weiss, author of “Many Lives, Many Masters”, revisited an old west scene where I was a train robber, part of a gang, and a romantic partner in this lifetime, killed me to join the rival group. Insight into that karmic tie led me to resolve that betrayal, eventually realizing that I deserved more in the relationship. His betrayal of me would not “kill” me again, but manifested a new life for me where I flourished. Instead of resentment, this insight created gratitude for the journey of hardship and allowed me to move forward feeling complete in its closure.

Karmic Patterns and Their Role in Daily Life

Karmic Patterns can reappear that aren’t tied to certain people, but show up to highlight an emotion or fear that holds us back. I’ve been a part of several past lives where the person has an entire tribe or town turn on them. They’ve learned they can’t trust anyone and would be better off hiding in the shadows, never expressing themselves authentically. This karmic pattern, shown in many ways, creates a situation that needs resolution to move past. With insight and observation, we are now armed to recognize the particular block/fear in our daily lives. We can observe how it manifests. Recognizing these ties offers a chance to heal and rewrite the story.

In our professional work, past lives can illuminate both our strengths and our stumbling blocks. A knack for leadership might echo a lifetime as a village elder, while a persistent fear of public speaking could stem from a past where your voice was silenced or mocked. One woman I worked with struggled with impostor syndrome in her role as a healer. Through past life regression, she discovered she’d been a revered medicine woman, and that knowledge empowered her to step confidently into her calling today.

When it comes to unexplained phobias, past lives can explain the unexplainable. A deep-seated fear of drowning might tie back to a shipwreck in another era, while a fear of snakes could trace back to being killed by one. Insight into phobias is perhaps one of the most dramatic changes in a person’s current reality. Tracing it back to an incident often offers instant relief from the problem.

The Healing Power of Past Life Exploration

The magic of past lives is, just as we work to bring the unconscious into our consciousness from this life, opening the door to our larger story, bringing the unconscious into consciousness from all of our lives. In that work, we identify the root cause of wounds, traumas, and behavioral patterns. We discover the gifts and power we’ve cultivated throughout the story of our ancient existence. We connect with the essence of who we are to move towards completeness and full, authentic expression. In breaking the patterns of our traumas through insight, we get to manifest a new path for ourselves, living the life we were meant to live today.

Our plant medicine teachers push us to discover the fullness and the richness of who we are. Past life work is a powerful supplement to our work with the plants. Imagine getting information from Ayahuasca that we have a deep history with her and discovering through past life work that we are connected to the medicine from ancient times, in various capacities. Perhaps we even served her medicine. The connection is deeper than just this lifetime; it invigorates our bond and affirms our magic with our plant allies. Even if our connection is from this lifetime, the plants love to take the information we’ve opened and expand on it. It offers a more powerful foundation of knowledge for them to work with in our journeys today.

Working with a Guide to Access Your Past Lives

Past life sessions are a deeply personal experience. Working with past lives through hypnosis techniques such as Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique (QHHT) offers the chance to not only remember a past life or lives, but is also a method for directly speaking to the higher self (the subconscious mind). The four-hour sessions are a place for exploration, guided by questions prepared by you beforehand. But past lives can be worked with in many other ways as well. In dreams, for example, or during meditation. Ayahuasca loves to explore past lives, although the journey is guided by her hand. In hypnosis, the journey is guided by your higher self, which allows for a more focused experience. One that is merging both your conscious desires and questions with your subconscious (higher self) wisdom. This modality is one of the only modalities where I’ve seen the subconscious be able to speak directly to us in language (versus in images, symbols, etc.). However, paying attention to the images, emotions, and shifts in energy is just as important during this process. It’s a sacred, step-by-step dance—listening, revealing, releasing—guided by your inner wisdom. A guide trained in this approach isn’t just a facilitator; they’re a partner in your healing journey.

Closing the Loop and Living More Fully

Self-awareness is not limited to this life; it spans time and space and is just as dynamic and quantum as we are. Understanding your soul’s journey clarifies your soul’s path and pieces together a complex and interwoven puzzle that includes people and places. Past life work provides a sense of deep knowing of ourselves. It’s an expansion of our energy outward, creating alignment with our powerful beingness. We honor our soul’s path by embracing the fullness of who we are, shadows and all. This work isn’t about getting lost in the past; it’s about using its wisdom to live more fully now.

Connect to Your Past Life and Explore Your Soul’s Evolution

Your past lives are the storylines that guide your soul’s evolution, whispering lessons and truths into your current reality. By exploring them with intention, you can release what no longer serves you, heal past life patterns, and align with your deepest purpose. I invite you to join me on this sacred journey—to listen, heal, and grow together in session.

About the Author

Marwa Mitchell has been working with Plant Medicines for many years, and is well versed in helping people set clear intentions and feel safe and excited about the journey into altered spaces. Her degree in psychology with an emphasis in neuroscience gives her both clinical and spiritual expertise. Marwa is also a certified past life regressionist (PLR) in both Dolores Cannon’s QHHT methodology and the Beyond Quantum Healing (BQH) modality, as well as a Reiki practitioner. A lifelong student of consciousness exploration, Marwa is particularly adept at understanding how the subconscious mind operates in connection with the universal consciousness to reflect our traumas and illuminate our paths to growth.

What Our Past Lives Tell Us About Our Current Reality