Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life between Lives

“I wish to add to my knowlege of healing and bring people closer to the higher creative power available within themselves. My larger mission is to combat fear of death by offering people understanding about the nature of death by offering people understanding about the nature of their souls and their spiritual home.”

Dr Michael Newton’s practice involved easing his clients into a state of hypnotic regression to allow for exploration into both previous lives, and life inbetween lives. He wrote several books on the topic, becoming the president of the Newton Institute, an organisation dedicated to ‘the intriguing and expansive world of inter-life exploration’, before his death in 2016. Journey of Souls was his first book, and the result of a decade of labour intensive work with a wide variety of over 7,000 clients. He states on his website - “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.”

The book was recommended to me by my dad, who has always encouraged openness towards other-worldy ideas, especially when they relate to spirituality. With that in mind, I tried to hold back my skepticism as I read the book, whilst also bearing in mind it was published the same year I was born. It wasn’t a particularly easy read in that the style is more akin to a psychology paper with lengthy transcripts. It also contains summaries that feel too simplified and conclusive, a style now held in disregard by most contemporary academic circles owing to its tendency to feel egotistical and arrogant. However, being twenty-six years old and a seminal piece of work at the time, I mostly reasoned myself out of disliking the content based on these factors.

The book is structured around the journey every soul undertakes, stage by stage, according to Newton’s research. It eases the reader in first by exploring the place that exists for all souls as the ultimate home - a space we return to in between lives on earth. He uses case studies in each chapter to develop this knowledge, expanding on spiritual guides, soulmates or soul clusters, self-development, how and why we choose our bodies and circumstances ahead of time, how our souls mature and change, our capability to re-incarnate in other realms, planets or beings, and longstanding, ultimate goals. He cites soul development as the main reason we reincarnate, with each life planned out to a certain extent in order to allow us to learn specific lessons.

“Without knowing why, most people believe their life has a plan. Of course, they are right. Although amnesia does prevent having full conscious knowledge of this plan, the unconscious mind holds the key to spiritual memories of a general blueprint of each life. The vehicle of life selection provides a kind of time machine for souls, where they see some alternative routes to the main road. Although these paths are not fully exposed to us as souls, we carry some of the road map to Earth.”

Newton’s clients often came to him with long-standing pain, relationship issues or identity crises. During hypnosis, they sometimes discovered an injury in a previous life to be the cause of the discomfort, or they would reach back into the place between lives where they chose to be in a certain relationship so as to learn about humility, control, or balance. In many situations the client gained peace of mind or easing of pain through this personal revelation. There is a strong argument for karma in this book, although it is made clear that the roadmaps created before birth are chosen by the individual themselves.

“If we have just come off an easy life, making little interpersonal progress, our soul might want to choose a person in the next time cycle who will face heartache and perhaps tragedy.”

There are several factors that really stood out for me throughout this read. First of all, according to Newton, we each choose our gender before we reincarnate. Souls are not gendered in themselves, and our overall name (in life between lives) are gender-neutral. Secondly, we are ultimately responsible for our own life satisfaction; we cannot blame others for our choices. This is particularly important for those born into poverty, abuse or tragedy. Irrespective of our circumstance, we are here on earth to learn lessons and/or to further each other on our journeys. Particularly memorable were Newton’s thoughts on abortion: he writes that nothing happens by accident. If an unborn baby dies, irrespective of the cause, it is because the mother needed to experience this loss, indeed - they chose to experience it. It’s a bitter lesson, and one that someone experiencing grief may not be able to accept as truth. Lastly, ours is always a collective journey.

“The highest forms of expression are acts of kindness. Our soul may be travelling away from a permanent home, but we are not just tourists. We bear responsibility in the evolution of a higher consciousness for ourselves and others in life.”

Despite its shortcomings and my initial displeasure at having to wade through long sections, I find myself reflecting on the ideas in this book far more often than I would have thought. Reading it during a global pandemic has certainly provided a context Newton couldn’t have predicted. However if he was still here, I’m sure his work would have provided him with a foundation of calm we could all benefit from. It has certainly left me feeling hopeful and more open to the difficult choices and challenges that lie ahead. I’m intrigued as to what karmic lessons I could be trying to teach myself, why I chose this body and the people I surround myself with. I’ve often felt like I was born an old soul; now I wonder if that actually is the case.

I think that even if reincarnation seems utterly unrealistic, or if it stands in opposition to your beliefs about life after death, it is still worth a read. Consider it spiritual development. As Newton wrote -

“To those readers who find the material offered in this book too unprecedented to accept, I would hope for one thing. If you carry away nothing except the idea you may have a permanent identity worth finding, I will have accomplished a great deal.”