Tag: spirit guidance

Soul Plan in Past Life Story of Angelina Lopes | Alfonso Lopes Reincarnation Case with Phobia & Gender Change

Angelina Lopes was born in Loures, Portugal on July 20, 1953, and died when she was 7 years old in a car accident, then she subsequently reincarnated as her younger brother Alfonso and was born on August 23, 1962 in Loures.

How Derived: Memories in Childhood

Researcher: Ian Stevenson, MD

From: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, by Ian Stevenson, MD

Article by Walter Semkiw, MD

Angelina Lopes is Hit by a Car After a Day at the Beach

iisisreincarnationresearchportugalAngelina Lopes was born in Loures, Portugal on July 20, 1953. Her mother was Irma Lopes, who as a devout Roman Catholic. Angelina had a normal childhood, though on one occasion, she stated that she wished that she was a boy.

Angelina was a very affectionate and unusually generous. She had a habit of referring to her mother, Erma, as “Dear Mother.” (1) This was in contrast to Erma’s other two daughters, who did not use this phrase.

On July 9, 1960, when Angelina was 7 years old, Erma took her and her two sisters to a beach on a river, near their home. On the way home, they were crossing a road and a car struck Angelina and killed her.

Soul Plan: Angelina will Be Reincarnated as a Boy

IISISReincarnationResearchSpanishCrossAfter Angelina’s death in 1960, Erma was extremely distraught and she wondered why God would allow such as tragedy to occur. Six months after Angelina’s death, a friend recommended that Erma see a Rosicrucian sage with psychic abilities, who was named Francisco Marques Rodrigues.

Francisco told Erma that Angelina would be reborn to her in 2 years. As a devout Roman Catholic, Erma was confused about Francisco’s prediction, as reincarnation was not part of her faith.

Francisco continued to reassure Erma. He told her to be prepared for Angelina’s return, though she may be a boy in her next incarnation.

Erma became pregnant at the end of 1961. In her seventh month of pregnancy, Erma had a dream in which Angelina communicated to her, indicating that her baby would be a boy.

Alfonso’s Past Life Memories of Events from the Lifetime of Angelina

Alfonso was born on August 23, 1962 in Loures, a little over two years after Angelina’s death. Within a few months of Alfonso’s birth, in 1963, the Lopes family moved to Lisbon, Portugal.

As soon as he could speak, Alfonso made statements which indicated that he was the reincarnation of Angelina. Erma, his mother, vowed that Alfonso had not learned this information about Angelina’s life by normal means. These statements include:

1. At 1½ years of age, Alfonso referred to Erma as “Dear Mother,” which was the phrase that Angelina used for Erma. Recall that Erma’s other daughters did not use this term.

2. Also when Alfonso was 1½, he was watching a television program in which a truck was going down a street with a child running across the street. Alfonso shut his eyes and started shouting, “No, no, no,” an apparent reaction to Angelina’s death by being struck by a car.

Alfonso’s Past Life Memories of Hernani’s Wooden Horse & Angelina’s Red Checkered Cloth

3. When Alfonso was 4 years old, neighbors the Lopes family had in Loures came to visit them in Lisbon. These visiting neighbors included a boy named Hernani, who Angelina used to play with. Spontaneously, Alfonso asked Hernani:

ReincarnationResearchWoodenHorse“Have you kept the wooden horse?” (2) When Angelina was alive, she and Hernani would play with Hermani’s toy wooden horse.

Hernani then asked his mother if they still had the wooden horse. His mother replied: “No, I gave it to Ana.” (3)

Alfonso then said: “Oh yes, To Anihas and her little son.” (4)

Erma noted that Ana was the nick name of a servant who worked for both the Lopes family and the Hernani family in Loures. Ana’s full name was Anihas, just as Alfonso had said. Angelina was very fond of Anihas. In spontaneously stating Ana’s full name, Alfonso was having a past life memory from his lifetime as Angelina.

4. When Alfonso was almost 6, before he started going to school, he came into the family’s kitchen where Erma was cooking. Alfonso noticed a red checked napkin. Alfonso then said:

“Look, Mama, the napkin I used to take to school with my snack. I will take it again when I go back to school, won’t I?” (5)

Indeed, Erma would make snacks for Angelina and wrap them in a red checked napkin, which Angelina would take to school. As such, Alfonso again remembered events in the lifetime of Angelina.

Reincarnation & Gender Change: Alfonso tells his Teachers that He is a Girl

5. A few months after Alfonso started school, his teacher requested a meeting with Erma. The teacher said that in school, Alfonso was claiming to be a girl and that when he spoke or wrote, he would refer to himself using feminine word forms. The teacher would try to correct Alfonso’s feminine word forms, pointing out that he was a boy. Alfonso then retorted:

“No, I am a girl.” (6)

Alfonso was apparently remembering the feminine word forms that he used when he was Angelina, which led to his confusion regarding his own gender. He stopped using feminine word forms by the age of seven.

IISISReincarnationResearchSteamstressAlfonso’s Past Life Memories of how to Mend Stockings

6. One day, when Alfonso came home from school, he spontaneously took a drinking glass and put it inside a stocking. He then took a needle and pretended that he was repairing the stocking. While doing so, Alfonso said:

“Oh, I have not done this for such a long time.” (7)

Erma then recalled that when they lived in Loures, one of Angelina’s aunts was a seamstress who would place a drinking glass inside a stocking and then mend the stocking. The glass made it easier to see the knitting of the stocking.

Angelina was very fond of this aunt and would visit her at the seamstress shop. At the shop, Angelina would pretend that she was mending stockings in the same way. Again, Erma vouched that no one had told Alfonso about these stocking mending activities that Angelina participated in.

As such, Alfonso unconsciously replicated a behavior of Angelina.

Past Life Memories: Alfonso Finds the Gypsies’ River

iisisreincarnationresearchstonebridge7. When Alfonso was about seven years old, he repeatedly asked his mother to take him to the stone bridge on the gypsies’ river. Irma did not know what he was talking about. There was no bridge where they lived in Lisbon and she could not remember any bridge with gypsies.

Soon after, Erma took Alfonso on a trip to Loures to visit a relative. Once there, Alfonso and other children left the house to play. When they returned, a playmate said that she was scared because Alfonso had said that he was going to see the bridge and he then crossed the street. Alfonso responded to this concern, telling Erma:

“Yes, I went to see the bridge; but it was quite changed, and there are no gypsies there.” (8)

Erma then asked Alfonso whether this was the bridge that he was talking about before, that he wanted to visit. He replied:

“Yes, Mama. Can you remember the gypsies that used to be there? I wanted to help them wash their clothes.” Alfonso continued, “Now there is big bridge there, completely different from the old one.” (9)

Erma then remembered that when the family lived in Loures, there was no Roman Catholic church in their neighborhood. To attend mass on Sundays, the family had to walk to a church in another community. To get there, they had to cross a river using a crude rock bridge. Erma, Angelina and the family would cross this rock bridge to go to church.

Alfonso had never seen this crude rock bridge in his contemporary lifetime, as by the time he was born, the new bridge had been built, replacing the stone bridge. As such, Alfonso was remembering scenes from Angelina’s lifetime.

8. Alfonso accurately described of the death of a small white dog with black spots that the Lopes family had when Angelina was alive.

Erma confirmed that the family did have a small white dog with black spots, as Alfonso had described. This dog had died 2 months before Angelina’s died. Erma vouched that no one had told Alfonso about this dog. As such, the memory of the dog represents a scene from Alfonso’s past lifetime as Angelina.

Alfonso’s Past Life Memories: As Vivid as in Contemporary Lifetime

IISISReincarnationResearchCarsIn 1997, when Alfonso was 35 years old, he told Ian Stevenson that his memories of the wooden toy horse, the river with the rock bridge with woman washing clothes in the river, and the death of the white dog with white spots were so vivid that it seemed that these memories were from his own childhood, rather than from a past lifetime.

Alfonso wasn’t born when the events described occurred. As such, these vivid memories were from Alfonso’s past lifetime as Angelina.

This is reminiscent of the reincarnation case of Carroll Beckwith | Robert Snow, in which Snow stated that his past life memories were more real than waking consciousness.

Phobia of Cars from a Past Lifetime

Alfonso developed a phobia of vehicles, a reflection of Angelina’s lifetime in which she was struck by a car, which led to her death. For some reason, Alfonso’s phobia did not manifest until Alfonso was 16 years of age.

In the Rashid Khaddege | Daniel Jurdi reincarnation case, Daniel also had a phobia of fast-moving cars resulting from Rashid’s death in an auto accident.

Principles of Reincarnation & Understanding Past Lives

Same Family Reincarnation: Angelina Lopes reincarnated into her the same family.

Change in Gender: As a child, Angelina told her mother that she wished she was a boy. Reincarnation research indicates that gender changes in only 5-10 percent of cases. It appears that the soul has a preferred gender and in this case, it appears that the soul of Angelina prefers male incarnations. When she reincarnated, she did incarnate as a boy in the persona of Alfonso.

Phobia from a Past lifetime: Angelina died when an automobile struck and killed her. Alfonso developed a phobia of vehicles.

Soul Plan & Spirit Being Guidance: When Erma was distraught over Angelina’s death, she visited a Rosicrucian mystic or psychic named Francisco Marques Rodrigues. Francisco predicted that Angelina would be reincarnated as her child. Further, he told her that Angelina may be reborn as a boy. His predictions came true. It appears that from the spirit world, Angelina was communicating to Francisco, indicating her plans for a future incarnation.

Reincarnation & Change in Religion: Erma was a devout Roman Catholic. She came to believe that her deceased daughter, Angelina, reincarnated as her son, Alfonso. As such, Erma converted from her Roman Catholic beliefs, in which reincarnation is not promoted, to a belief in reincarnation.

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Footnotes

1. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 108
2. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 111
3. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 111
4. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 111
5. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 111
6. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 111
7. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 112
8. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 112
9. Stevenson, Ian: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, page 112

Past Life Regression Story of Carroll Beckwith | Robert Snow

A regression of a retired Captain to prove the veracity of memories. The journey into the past is documented in a book, Looking for Carroll Beckwith, a totally honest, humorous and candid recollection of his regression journey.

How Derived: Past Life Regression

Researcher: Robert Snow

From: Portrait of a Past-Life Skeptic: The True Story of a Police Detective’s Reincarnation

Article from: Born Again: Reincarnation Cases Involving Evidence of Past Lives with Xenoglossy Cases Researched by Ian Stevenson, by Walter Semkiw, MD

Captain Robert Snow Goes to for a Past Life Regression on a Dare

image description

Robert Snow is a retired Captain of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, who in his career was in charge of the department of the Homicide and Robbery and the department of Organized Crime. He has written numerous books on police work. In addition, Captain Snow has written a book called Looking for Carroll Beckwith, Portrait of a Past Life Detective, which documents his reincarnation case in detail. A summary is provided below.

Bob’s story begins at a party, where a police psychologist, who had conducted past life regressions as a hobby, was describing how she would guide clients into a relaxed state so that past life memories could emerge. Captain Snow thought that these so-called memories must be fabricated, that they were fantasies, and he told this to the regression therapist.

Incensed, the psychologist dared Captain Snow to have a past life regression himself. Snow said, “Sure, I’ll do it,” though he really had no intention of following through.

The regression therapist, though, kept hounding Snow and even accused him of being “scared.” That did it and reluctantly, Captain Snow got a referral for a different regression therapist and scheduled an appointment. He decided to have the regression only so it wouldn’t look like he had “welshed on the dare.” Snow did not believe in reincarnation and did not expect to have a meaningful experience during the session.

A delightful aspect of Bob’s book is the high level of skepticism and a mischievous sense of humor that infuses the narrative. Let us share in Captain Snow’s experiences through the following passages from Looking for Carroll Beckwith. We start with the regression therapist, Dr. Mariellen Griffith, guiding the regression. Dr. Griffith begins by instructing Snow to imagine that he is relaxing comfortably in his den at home. The narrative from Captain Snow’s book follows:

“’Now, picture your higher self coming into the room to greet you,’ Dr Griffith said.

beckwith%20snow%20reincarnation%20past%20life%20semkiw%20wrI did that, too, though as I sat on the couch with my eyes closed, I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell I was doing there, particularly with she asked me what my higher self was wearing. How the hell would I know? This was her daydream. But I decided to give it a try.

‘White,’ I answered, ‘A long white gown. Wasn’t that what all spirits wore?’

‘Your higher self is standing there and asking if you’re ready to go on a trip. It is telling you that it will guide you and protect you on your trip.’

‘Oh Lord, I thought, as I tried to maintain a facial expression of seriousness, I can’t believe I’m doing this.'” (1)

Robert Snow’s Unexpected Past Life Memories are More Real than Waking Consciousness

Eventually and much to his shock, Captain Snow experienced powerful and very clear past-life memories during the regression. Captain Snow has related that his perception of the past-life events were more clear than waking consciousness. He recalled several different lifetimes, but the one that was most prominent was as a portrait painter in what seemed to be the 19th century. Captain Snow remembered 30 specific details regarding this lifetime as an artist.

One very clear memory involved him painting a portrait of a hunchback woman. Captain Snow vividly remembered the experience, of the paint strokes that were used to create that painting, and even of his questioning of why someone with a pronounced deformity would want a portrait. A summary of the most specific regression memories is provided below:Reincarnation Case of Robert Snow & The Hunchback Woman

hunchback snow beckwith reincarnation past life semkiw s1. He painted a portrait of a hunchbacked woman

2. He painted portraits to make money but hated painting portrait

3. He used the name “Jack”

4. He used a walking stick

5. His wife and he spent time in France

6. His wife could not have children

7. They were desperate for money and he argued with his wife about money

8. Despite their problems with money and inability to have children, their marriage was happy

9. He had an art studio with a bank of skylight and a row of windows

10. He once stayed at an estate with large gardens

11. A female relative died of a blood clot

12. He died in a large city with tall buildings in the fall of the year 1917

The regression had such a profound effect on Captain Snow that he became obsessed with trying to determine whether it was authentic. Captain Snow himself still did not believe in reincarnation and operated under the assumption that he had learned about the portrait painter in the past, through a book, in school or at a museum, and that the regression experience represented a forgotten memory that had surfaced.

Police Captain Robert Snow Investigates a Past Lifetime as the Painter of the Hunchback Woman Portrait

Snow investigated the regression experience as he would a police case. He methodically examined art books, visited art galleries and contacted art dealers, searching for the portrait of the hunchback woman he had seen in the regression, or to find some other clue. Captain Snow was unable, though, to identify any historical artist consistent with the regression persona.

Snow is an experienced researcher, having written six books on police management and other police topics. He is also highly intelligent; he scored straight A’s in college and earned a full scholarship for a doctorate program in psychology. Nonetheless, after a year of trying to find the portrait of the hunchback woman, he came to a dead-end. He concluded that it was unlikely that he would ever be able to identify the artist seen during his regression.

Spirit Being or Soul Guidance: Captain Robert Snow Finds the Hunchback Woman in New Orleans

beckwith snow reincarnation past life semkiw noAt that point in time, Captain Snow’s wife, Melanie, suggested that they take a vacation trip to New Orleans to celebrate their anniversary. Bob agreed.

On the last day of their trip, Bob wandered into an art gallery in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Here, he had another profound experience. This incident demonstrates how people can be guided, apparently by spiritual sources, in discovering past lives. In the gallery which Captain Snow had walked into by apparent “chance,” he discovered the portrait of the hunchbacked woman he had seen in his regression. Captain Snow describes the scene:

“Whirling around, I stared open-mouthed at the portrait, reliving an experience I’d had once when I grabbed onto a live wire without knowing it, the current freezing me in my tracks as huge voltage surged up and down my arms and legs . . .

hunchback snow beckwith reincarnation past life semkiw sFor the next several minutes, I didn’t move from in front of the portrait, but instead continued closing my eyes to see again and again the scene of me painting this very portrait in my studio, and then opening my eyes to see the actual finished portrait. The situation began to feel surreal, more like a very vivid dream that you wake up sweating from, a dream that you have to keep telling yourself over and over again was only a dream. It wasn’t real.

Bob wonders if He has had a Stroke

Finally, even though I knew with absolute certainty that this was the same painting I had seen while under hypnosis, I convinced myself that stumbling onto it by accident like this was simply too bizarre to be true. I toyed with the idea for a few moments that perhaps I’d had some kind of stroke and just thought I stood in front of this portrait, when in actuality I was in a hospital bed somewhere or maybe even in a nursing home.

After giving this possibility a few moments’ consideration, I realized how very desperate I had become to find a rational answer for what was happening. But desperate or not, things like this just didn’t happen in real life. What were the chances, after all the months of systematic searching, that I would just happen onto the painting like this? What were the chances that Melanie would just happen to want to go to New Orleans, and that we would just happen to visit this gallery, just when they happened to have this painting for sale? ..

During my 30 years as a police officer, I have always searched for the truth. Sometimes the truth didn’t turn out to be what I expected, but still, the truth was what I had always searched for. And now, here I was seeming to be facing the truth I had been looking for, but at the same time trying to deny it, trying to find any way to deny the truth of what I had found. . . . Supernatural things didn’t happen to real people. Maybe they did in the movies, but not in real life.” (2)

From the portrait, Snow learned that the painter’s name was J. Carroll Beckwith. Snow’s rational side then took over again. He reasoned that he may still have seen this portrait of the hunchback woman at a museum or at an exhibit. He asked the gallery worker if this was possible. Snow describes the response.

Beckwith Snow diary reincarnation past life“No,” the man said giving his head a slight shake, “you haven’t seen this work before. This portrait has been in private hands for years. And besides, let me be honest with you, I don’t think there has been an exhibition of Beckwith’s work in the last 75 years. He wasn’t that famous.” (3)

Spirit Being or Soul Guidance

Please note that it is likely that Captain Snow did not find the portrait of the hunchback woman by chance or accident. Rather, I believe that a spirit being or Bob Snow’s own soul sent a telepathic message to his wife, Melanie, to go to New Orleans. Similarly, once in New Orleans, I posit that a spirit being or Bob’s own soul telepathically led him to the art gallery so that he would find the portrait of the hunchback woman, which, as described below, was the key to solving his reincarnation case. As such, a spirit being or Bob’s own soul was responsible for making this past life identification.

Captain Snow Finds his Past Life Portrait Painter’s Diary

Snow later found that Beckwith’s last exhibition was in 1911, well before Snow was even born. Snow also found that though Beckwith wasn’t a famous artist, he was a good administrator, as is Bob. Beckwith became the President of the National Academy of Design, in New York. The Academy had kept Beckwith’s diaries, as well as an unpublished autobiography.

From Beckwith’s diary and autobiography, Snow was eventually able to validate all thirty of the specific memories from his regression, including the twelve specific items listed above.

Though initially reluctant to accept reincarnation as the basis for his regression experience, Captain Snow finally came to the conclusion that he had been Carroll Beckwith, who had indeed used the name Jack, in a prior lifetime. He has stated that he has proven reincarnation and that if this were a police case, the evidence he compiled would stand up in court and that no plea-bargaining would be entertained.

Captain Snow Doesn’t Realize there is a Past Life Physical Resemblance

Interestingly, Captain Snow was not aware of a physical resemblance that exists between himself and Carroll Beckwith. When I met first Captain Snow at a meeting of the International Association for Regression Research and Therapies (IARRT) in September 2000, I offered to take his picture and compare it with Beckwith’s. I knew from experience that these comparisons are best done by lining up images side by side in the same pose.

Robert Snow past life regression reincarnatoin caseIn the image comparison, Beckwith is on the left side and Captain Snow is on the right side. Though Captain Snow is a bit older and heavier in the photograph than Beckwith was at the time of the portrait, facial architecture is very similar between the two. Both even chose to maintain a similar mustache.

Captain Snow’s case demonstrates a characteristic phenomenon that occurs when one becomes concretely aware of a specific past lifetime. The past-life information often triggers a traumatic reaction in a person, followed by a period of integration. When one faces the reality of reincarnation, a reevaluation of how one views the world is required.

Over a lifetime, we all develop a unique way of understanding the world. That belief system may involve a spiritual aspect to life, or an atheistic view may be held. We usually come to our philosophical understanding of the world in our twenties and we generally are resistant to changing our point of view.

Evidence of Reincarnation can be Disturbing

Regardless of what one’s belief system is, concrete evidence of reincarnation demands an alteration of one’s belief system. Even if one already believes in reincarnation, the shift from a belief in past lives to becoming aware of objective evidence of reincarnation can be a shock.

Recall that Captain Snow did not believe in reincarnation at the time of his regression and that following his past-life experience, he tried to find a logical explanation for his memories. Even after stumbling into the portrait of the hunchback woman in the art gallery in New Orleans, Captain Snow still explored the possibility that Beckwith’s work had been displayed in a museum and that at some point in his lifetime he had viewed it.

Snow was falling back on the theory that his regression experience represented repressed memories from his current lifetime. Let us revisit Captain Snow’s reaction when the gallery salesman in New Orleans told him that he could not have previously seen the portrait of the hunchback in a museum or exhibit. Snow explains:

“As the gallery worker’s answer dashed my seemingly logical explanation for what had happened, the vertigo returned. My whole belief system was not only teetering. It was falling. Everything around me had such a surrealistic feeling to it that I could have been in a Kafka novel. And so I simply stood there open-mouthed, feeling numb and detached from reality.”

snow beckwith grave reincarnation past life semkiwWe will collectively need to adjust our belief systems as objective evidence of reincarnation comes into the world. Overall, the news is good, but it takes some getting used to.

Captain Snow’s Knee Shakes when He visits his Own Past Life Grave

In the image provided to the right, Robert Snow visits the grave of Carroll Beckwith, that is, Snow is visiting his own grave from a past lifetime. Snow writes in his book that at Beckwith’s grave, his left knee started to shake uncontrollably and he became drenched in sweat, much like when he was a rookie cop in a life threatening situation. Snow has mused that in the line of duty, he has been shot at and suspects have tried to stab him, but nothing has unnerved him as much as discovering a past lifetime.

View a Video of Robert Snow telling his Story in a Hilarious Manner: Robert Snow Video

Principles of Reincarnation & Understanding Past Lives

Physical Resemblance: Even though Robert Snow at first didn’t realize there was a resemblance between him and Beckwith, a resemblance does exist.

Spirit Being or Soul Guidance: The breakthrough in validating this reincarnation case came when Captain Snow found the portrait of the hunchback woman in New Orleans. It is my contention that this did not happen by coincidence but rather, that Bob was lead to the painting through guidance by spirit beings.

It is likely that a spirit being or Robert Snow’s own soul telepathically inserted the thought into his wife’s mind that they should visit New Orleans for their anniversary. Once in New Orleans, Bob was intuitively guided to the art gallery where he found the portrait of the hunchback woman.

From the portrait, he learned the name of the artist, Carroll Beckwith, and he then was able to find Beckwith’s diary, which allowed him to validate his past lifetime as Beckwith. Many reincarnation cases feature such apparent guidance by spirit beings.

Postscript: The depictions of the hunchback provided in the above article are not from the painting of the hunchback woman done by Carroll Beckwith, which was bought by an anonymous individual. If you are the owner of the Beckwith painting of the hunchback woman and would be kind enough to allow an image of the painting to be posted on the ReincarnationResearch.com web site, please contact Walter Semkiw, MD at: walter@ReincarnationResearch.com

Footnotes

1. Snow, Robert: Looking for Carroll Beckwith, Daybreak/Rodale Books, 1999, p. 12-13
2. Snow, Robert: Looking for Carroll Beckwith, Daybreak/Rodale Books, 1999, p. 79-84
3. Snow, Robert: Looking for Carroll Beckwith, Daybreak/Rodale Books, 1999, p. 89

Past Life Story with Physical Resemblance, Phobia & Geographic Memory: Reincarnation Case of Margaret Kempthorne | Gladys Deacon

A personal account of her experience and the details of a personal interview by Dr. Ian Stevenson were the bases for this child reincarnation story case. Gladys Deacon the person who experienced the child reincarnation detailed her memories of her past life and corroborated it with evidences she has collected. in a story she wrote herself.

How Derived: Geographic Past Life Memory

Researcher: Ian Stevenson, MD

From: European Cases of the Reincarnation Type, by Ian Stevenson, MD

Article by: Walter Semkiw, MD

The subject of this case, Gladys Deacon, wrote an account of her story that was published in a London newspaper, the Sunday Express, on June 2, 1935. In addition, Ian Stevenson, MD, interviewed her in 1963. As such, we have two sources of information regarding this very interesting case.

Past Life Phobia: Gladys Loves the Name Margaret & has a Phobia of Falling Down

Gladys Deacon was born on January 25, 1900 in Leicestershire, England. Her father was a carpenter and her parents were Roman Catholic. Gladys had a sister and a brother. She had a fondness for the name Margaret and later learned that her parents had considered naming her Margaret. As a young girl, she had a phobia of falling down

Geographic Past Life Memory: Gladys Recalls a Past Life Fall on a Hill

IISIS Site of ReincarnationWhen she was 11 years old, Gladys and her brother were taken on a trip by their mother from Northamptonshire, where they were living, to Dorset. They were going to visit relatives over Christmas. Gladys describes a scene that occurred during their journey:

“After leaving Yeovil our train stopped for some time, and to my surprise I found the country quite familiar to me, especially a hilly field opposite.

I said to my brother, ‘When I was quite a little girl I lived in a house near here. I remember running down a hill in that field with two grown-ups holding my hands and we all fell down and I hurt my leg badly.’

Here my mother broke in to scold me for telling deliberate untruths. I had never been that way before and certainly never lived there. I insisted that I had, and that when I ran down the hill I was wearing a white frock down to my ankles with little green leaves on it, and the persons holding my hands were wearing blue-and-white checked frocks.

I said, ‘My name was Margaret then.’” (1)

Validation of Gladys’s Past Life Memory of Falling

iisisreincarnationpastlifeevidencecarThe source of Gladys’s memories of an apparent past lifetime remained a mystery for the next 17 years. Then, during another trip to Dorset in 1928, when Gladys was 28 years old, she unexpectedly received confirmation of her past life memories. Let us again let Gladys narrate the turn of events:

“I was motoring in 1928 with my then employer through Dorset. While having a tire changed, we went to a cottage not far from Poole where a young woman got us tea.

Spirit Being Guidance: Gladys Sees Herself in an Old Portrait & Receives Validation of her Past Life Memory

While waiting for it, I saw an old portrait on glass, and to my amazement I saw it was myself as I was then, running down that hill, a child of five with a plain, serious face, in a long white dress sprigged with green.

I exclaimed, ‘Why that is me.’ And of course both my employer and the woman laughed. The woman said, ‘Well, that child died years ago, but I guess you were just like her when you were small,’ and my employer agreed.

IISISReincarnationPastLifeEvidencePortriatSeeing I was interested, the woman called her mother to tell me the story of the child.

She said the child was Margaret Kempthorne, the only child of a farmer. The mother of the story-teller at that time was employed at the farm as a dairymaid.

When Margaret was about five she was running down a hill with this dairymaid and another, when one of the grown-ups caught her foot in a rabbit-hole and they all fell, with the child undermost.

Her leg was badly broken. She never recovered and died two months after…’” (2)

Past Life Memory: Location of Margaret’s Past Lifetime, in Yeovil, is Confirmed

Gladys inquired where the farm, where Margaret fell, was located. The old lady replied that she didn’t know the exact location of the farm, but that it was near the market town, Yeovil, where their milk and farm products were sold.

Gladys asked when this happened. The old lady responded by taking the portrait down and handing it to Gladys, who looked at the back of the portrait where a piece of paper with writing was found glued to the portrait. Gladys narrates:

“I read there, ‘Margaret Kempthorne, born January 25, 1830, died October 11, 1835” (3)

Recall that Gladys was also born on January 25, in the year 1900. Given these dates, Gladys was born 65 years after Margaret had died.

Principles of Reincarnation & Understanding Past Lives

Geographic Past life Memory: Gladys’s past life memories were stimulated by traveling through the physical location of her past incarnation in the area around Yeovil, England.

Physical Resemblance: Gladys, her employer and the young woman in Dorset, where the painting of Margaret Kempthorne was found, all agreed that there was a strong physical resemblance between Margaret and Gladys.

Phobia from a Past Lifetime: Margaret died from a fall which resulted in a broken leg, which led to her death. Gladys, as a young girl, had a phobia of falling down.

Spirit Beings: This case was validated by Gladys fortuitously finding the house where a witness to the life of Margaret Kempthorne lived. There, a painting of Margaret was hanging on the wall, which Gladys recognized as herself in a prior incarnation. In this portrait, Margaret was wearing the same frock that Gladys saw in her past life memories, a white frock with green decorations.

The witness to the life of Margaret, described as an “old lady” by Gladys, was the mother of the owner of the house. This old lady’s mother, the grandmother of the owner of the house, was one of the very people that Margaret was with when she was running down the hill and fell, breaking her leg, which led to her death.

What are the odds of finding this house by chance? Gladys found this house because the car she was traveling in with her employer had a flat tire, which required repair.

It is proposed that the flat tire occurred at that very spot because spirit beings caused that incident to happen, which allowed Gladys to validate her past life memories. This type of proposed spirit being intervention was also observed in the cases of Carroll Beckwith | Robert Snow and John B. Gordon | Jeff Keene.

Planning of Future Incarnations: In reviewing this reincarnation case, we observe a common date of birth. Margaret Kempthorne was born on January 25, 1830 and Gladys Deacon was born on January 25, 1900. Though the common date of birth of January 25 could be simply a coincidence, it could also represent Margaret, from the spirit world, planning her birth on that date to draw a tie from her past incarnation to her future one.

There are cases in which the date of an individual’s reincarnation has been predicted from the spirit world. In the reincarnation case of Felix Fresnel | Cristophe Albert, Felix, from the spirit world, predicted the date, place and family of his coming incarnation. In the reincarnation case of Jaako Vuorenlehto | Taru Javi, Jaako, from the spirit world, predicted the date of his reincarnation.

Change of Religion: Gladys was born into a Roman Catholic family and her mother was quite surprised when Gladys, at 11 years of age, started to describe incidents from a past lifetime. In this case, a Roman Catholic girl became a convert to a belief in reincarnation.

 Footnotes

1. Stevenson, Ian: European Reincarnation Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, pages 52-53
2. Stevenson, Ian: European Reincarnation Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, pages 53
3. Stevenson, Ian: European Reincarnation Cases of the Reincarnation Type, McFarland, 2003, pages 53