Your Past Lives: A Reincarnation Handbook
Michael Talbot
3.72
68 ratings4 reviews
A person in touch with his or her past lives has discovered one of life's most profoundly rewarding experiences.
Contrary to popular belief, the ability to recall past lives does not require special powers or supernatural gifts.
As this invaluable book shows, almost anyone with desire and determination can learn to summon memories from previous incarnations.
This step-by-step guide will teach you how to open this illuminating window from your past: who you were, when you lived, whom you loved -- and what role it all plays in your present life.
You will learn how to call up past-life recollections in meditative states, normal waking states, and in dreams, and how to recognize past-life dreams you may already be having. With such tools as the Resonance Method, the Christos Technique, self-hypnosis and guided meditations, you will soon enter an extraordinary dimension -- a world of endless, fascinating yesterdays and enlightened new tomorrows.
"An explicit, step-by-step buide for remembering and exploring past lives . . . Will fascinate."
-- The Tampa Tribune
177 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 13, 1987
Community Reviews
3.72
68 ratings4 reviews
Yor
303 reviews · 13 followers
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August 2, 2022
This book is an excellent reading to learn more about Michael Talbot and his belief system, I used to connect dots about Michael's life and experience, also he presents an excellent writing style, clear, consciences and here you will find what techniques he recommends and how to use to explore your past lives. Read carefully with a discerning and open mind, I would like to suggest without mysticism.
Here are quotes interesting to get in mind about what the author talks about.
"For anyone who has studied the matter with a discerning and open mind there is no doubt that there exist among us talented individuals who can psychically tune in to information that they have no normal sensory means of knowing. There is also little doubt that some of these individuals can tune in to what we've been calling past-life information in this book. As for how wide-ranging is the ability of any given psychic, or how accurate is the past-life information they report, the answers to these questions are as varied as the human personality"
"I would also like to caution that when I say I believe in the reality of reincarnation, that does not mean I am convinced that reincarnation in any way represents some sort of final truth in our understanding of the universe.
If there is one thing that we have learned from the history of science, it is that our theories about the way the universe works are never permanent. Newton gave us one picture about the way the universe works, and it was and is a valid picture. However, Einstein gave us another, and quantum physics—the branch of physics which seeks to understand the behavior of subatomic particles—has given us yet another. None of them are wrong, but each has gone a step farther than the one before."
"You may find that sitting in a lotus position helps you meditate, or you may find that you have better results if you sit in an easy chair or lie down on a couch. I personally prefer to lie on a carpeted floor when I meditate, but you should experiment and find the position that suits you best."
"Thus, if you find that the picture of reality you discover in states of past-life awareness is different from the one you have grown accustomed to in your waking state, do not be too disturbed that you cannot hammer the two together. Parts of them may overlap, and other parts may not. Accept only the useful parts of each and don't worry about the rest.
"You may find that sitting in a lotus position helps you meditate, or you may find that you have better results if you sit in an easy chair or lie down on a couch. I personally prefer to lie on a carpeted floor when I meditate, but you should experiment and find the position that suits you best."
"Thus, if you find that the picture of reality you discover in states of past-life awareness is different from the one you have grown accustomed to in your waking state, do not be too disturbed that you cannot hammer the two together. Parts of them may overlap, and other parts may not. Accept only the useful parts of each and don't worry about the rest.
Or, in the words of Zen Buddhism,
accept without accepting, and believe without believing."
2022 language-read-in-english my-kindle
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From other countries
Michael
5.0 out of 5 stars It’s an interesting book if you believe in reincarnation.
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on 11 August 2022
The book is from the 80s though, so there are probably other newer books with more information on reincarnation and past life recall.
It was definitely worth reading.
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proxy
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 28 October 2018
T. Elmanovich
2.0 out of 5 stars I would like to agree with both points of view
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 8 October 2014
Michael Talbot seems to change views quite often... One moment we have the past lives, and then we do not have them, and instead we start "jumping" from one "edge" of universe to another? For some reason, I would like to agree with both points of view, if possible!
Nevertheless, the book is written nicely, and if you believe having many lives, this book is for you!
The truth can be terribly elusive, regrettably!
4 people found this helpful
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Michael Talbot's Past Lives: A Reincarnation Handbook— The Asheville Past Lives Project
October 24, 2018
I am familiar with writer/researcher Michael Talbot because of his incredible book “The Holographic Universe” but did not know until today that he was an avid past lives researcher.
In 1987 he published “Past Lives: A Reincarnation Handbook” and I can’t think of anything else in this format of a how-to book for past lives work. Talbot has obviously done a lot of his own past lives explorations, and is one of those lucky enough to remember their previous incarnations well into his childhood. This book covers keeping a past lives journal and explores a wide variety of techniques including dreaming, meditation and self-hypnosis, guided meditations (including the Christos technique, more on that below), Active Imagination, and exploring with a past life therapist or psychic. He even has his own technique called the Resonance Method and this quote from Yogananda sums up Talbot’s Resonance Method:
“Through analysis of your present strong tendencies you can pretty accurately surmise what kind of life you led before.”
Paramahansa Yogananda, Man’s Eternal Quest
Talbot describes this as:
“a special draw that you feel toward some things and not others when there is no logical reason in this life for you to feel the way you do.”
“One of the easiest ways for you to begin to decipher your past lives is simply to analyze your current psychological makeup.
“Through analysis of your present strong tendencies you can pretty accurately surmise what kind of life you led before.”
Paramahansa Yogananda, Man’s Eternal Quest
Talbot describes this as:
“a special draw that you feel toward some things and not others when there is no logical reason in this life for you to feel the way you do.”
“One of the easiest ways for you to begin to decipher your past lives is simply to analyze your current psychological makeup.
Many past-life researchers believe that past-life origins can be found not only for current emotional and physical problems, moods, habits, talents, and ways of relating with people, but even for food preferences, clothing tastes, nuances of personality, facial expressions, and body language.
By determining which of these various pieces of yourself are holdovers from other lives, you can begin to formulate certain pictures of who and what you've been before. This is what the Resonance Method will help you do…
As you use the Resonance Method, remember one cardinal rule: No single piece of information means anything. Pieces of information only start to mean something when they fit together into larger pictures.”
Interestingly, he references the Christos Technique as one of the best methods for 2 person explorations, and even mentions “a Massachusetts couple named Diane and William Swygard” as the originators. But in a pre-internet age, with William Swygard’s death in 1981 and the books out of print, Talbot had no way of knowing that the Christos Technique was Swygard’s technique, using the same instructions that the Swygard’s mailed from their Miami, Florida home in the previous years. At the very least Talbot says in print what I have been saying in my presentations: “Whatever its origins, the Christos Technique has become an established part of the past-life-recall repertoire, and variations of it can now be found in numerous sources”. More on Christos in a future post.
Going deeper into the book, Talbot offers this excellent advice on the method of working with a psychic:
“Just as a talent to play the piano in itself tells you nothing about the integrity or wisdom of the person playing the piano, a talent for paranormal functioning does not necessarily imply an equal gift in the areas of compassion, ethics, or spiritual wisdom…(N)o matter how talented a sensitive is, the information he channels will always be at least slightly colored and distorted by the mere fact that it is passed through him.”
Then Talbot writes one of the rare criticisms of Edgar Cayce for his “tendency to tell a statistically preponderant number of the people who came to him for past-life readings that they had had a lifetime in which they had known and talked with Christ.” Boom!
Which leads to this advice on discernment:
“(I)f you see an image of Marilyn Monroe, do not automatically assume that you have some sort of past-life association with Marilyn Monroe. Instead, ask yourself what Marilyn Monroe represents to you on an archetypal or symbolic level, and see if that image helps you unravel the message your unconscious is giving you.”
Talbot was obviously influenced by the work of various channels who deliver wisdom from beyond the mortal perspective and speaks highly of Jane Roberts’ Seth. He seems to have been in communication with what he calls a “trance entity” named James who was channeled by Jane Roberts’ longtime editor Tam Mossman. I was unfamiliar with “James” but an internet search revealed that Mossman published his own book, Answers from a Grander Self, in 1990 which I will add to the ever growing list of books I need to read. “James” has some interesting ideas on time and suggests that instead of past lives they be referred to as adjacent lives. That’s a rabbit hole I’ll be exploring in the future.
Talbot, who passed away in 1992, has written an excellent guide to past lives explorations. This out-of-print book is an awesome addition to my ever expanding library and is highly recommended.
Your Past Lives - A Reincarnation Handbook, 1987
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Interestingly, he references the Christos Technique as one of the best methods for 2 person explorations, and even mentions “a Massachusetts couple named Diane and William Swygard” as the originators. But in a pre-internet age, with William Swygard’s death in 1981 and the books out of print, Talbot had no way of knowing that the Christos Technique was Swygard’s technique, using the same instructions that the Swygard’s mailed from their Miami, Florida home in the previous years. At the very least Talbot says in print what I have been saying in my presentations: “Whatever its origins, the Christos Technique has become an established part of the past-life-recall repertoire, and variations of it can now be found in numerous sources”. More on Christos in a future post.
Going deeper into the book, Talbot offers this excellent advice on the method of working with a psychic:
“Just as a talent to play the piano in itself tells you nothing about the integrity or wisdom of the person playing the piano, a talent for paranormal functioning does not necessarily imply an equal gift in the areas of compassion, ethics, or spiritual wisdom…(N)o matter how talented a sensitive is, the information he channels will always be at least slightly colored and distorted by the mere fact that it is passed through him.”
Then Talbot writes one of the rare criticisms of Edgar Cayce for his “tendency to tell a statistically preponderant number of the people who came to him for past-life readings that they had had a lifetime in which they had known and talked with Christ.” Boom!
Which leads to this advice on discernment:
“(I)f you see an image of Marilyn Monroe, do not automatically assume that you have some sort of past-life association with Marilyn Monroe. Instead, ask yourself what Marilyn Monroe represents to you on an archetypal or symbolic level, and see if that image helps you unravel the message your unconscious is giving you.”
Talbot was obviously influenced by the work of various channels who deliver wisdom from beyond the mortal perspective and speaks highly of Jane Roberts’ Seth. He seems to have been in communication with what he calls a “trance entity” named James who was channeled by Jane Roberts’ longtime editor Tam Mossman. I was unfamiliar with “James” but an internet search revealed that Mossman published his own book, Answers from a Grander Self, in 1990 which I will add to the ever growing list of books I need to read. “James” has some interesting ideas on time and suggests that instead of past lives they be referred to as adjacent lives. That’s a rabbit hole I’ll be exploring in the future.
Talbot, who passed away in 1992, has written an excellent guide to past lives explorations. This out-of-print book is an awesome addition to my ever expanding library and is highly recommended.
Your Past Lives - A Reincarnation Handbook, 1987
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