Discovering A Past Life, Is it possible to find out who one was in a past life? Options

I really don't know if this is the right section of the forum to post in, but I had real difficulty finding a section that seemed to fit my question, so if I have posted in the wrong place then please forgive me! I really do apologise most sincerely if this is in the wrong area (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

The thing is this . . . I've had a spirit attached to me for around a year or so now, I haven't had any real issues with him in the slightest, in fact I rather enjoy his company, but he claims to have known me from a past life. During this past year or so I've learned a lot about his history, the history of the person he claims I am, and so forth, but this person he claims I once was isn't exactly something I'm comfortable with, because this person was very dark in their actions. It would admitedly actually explain a lot about this current life, and there have been instances where this spirit's claim has been 'verifiable'. My friend has a spirit attached to him since childhood, one who knows the spirit attached to me and my supposed past self, and I was able to tell her things that only my 'past life' self would know, and she has able to say that they were true. I'm just not sure whether my 'knowing' these things or having these 'memories' is coincedence, or if the spirit attached to me is wrong in his beliefs, or a numerous ammount of other things. Basically I feel that - for closure really - I need to know if this 'past self' really was me or not.

I have tried some excercises. I have tried some work with dreams, to try and dream about my past life or lives, but that failed rather miserably (I just have no talent for dream work!), and I have tried visualisation excercises, which (assuming they worked) gave me images of a life much, much further back than I needed to go. I'm not sure what else I can do. Are there any spirits, angels, demons etc. I could summon who might be able to help me? Are there any spells that might work? Any way of sure fire knowing?

Sorry for being a nuissance, but I just needed to ask in case someone was able to help.

Thank you all in advance,
Robin x x x

I'm sure a moderator will move your post if its at all in the wrong place, don't worry.

People's beliefs on this topic vary quite a bit, i can give you my opinion but i can't you a way to determine if what this spirit is saying is the truth.
Maybe their is a lovely old sigil hanging round in a collection somewhere that would be perfect for getting the truth out of a spirit, i hope their is because that would be incredibly useful.

Reincarnation; i'm not sure i can believe in it entirely because while the effects of karma are quite visible and including the karma of another dose normalize the observed alterations in fate
their is still the possibility that an individuals karma just finds anyone suitable when it is denied its origin,
i.e. a person can in fact be enacting karma from multiple individuals with nothing to do with the person, some similarity in these different people seem to act as a lightening rod to karma without a home.

On the whole i think it's most likely that reincarnation happens, i can't remember ever finding anything conclusive though,
spirits talk about this stuff all the time with conflicting ideas, untruth's are common place among them as they are among us.

I can see this is a tricky situation, because while this spirit is quite nice to you and you want to trust it, in trusting it you might be making yourself the lightning rod to a bunch of unnecessary pain.
On the other hand if its true you could spend your time learning the lessons of your life before you take them, thus avoiding the unpleasantness of eating a shit sandwich.

I hope you get some better advice!

I agree with Draw pretty much. Disembodied spirits aren't entirely reliable. If you want to learn more about your past lives I would think that some outside help would be your best bet. If you have the spare coin and are motivated enough there are people who help you learn about your past lives using hypnosis or guided meditation (which comes pretty close to hypnosis). I would ask around and get recommendations before forking out money.

Thank you, Draw and Goibniu, for your replies (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Draw: Yes, a sigil like that would truly be useful, but I do wonder if one exists too. Your comments on karma were really interesting, I had never before considered that karma might be an independent force able to attach itself to different people depending on suitability, it's something worth considering and opens up many new theories, it's given me something to think about. I think you summed up the situation perfectly too . . . I want to be able to believe this spirit, and to learn from the past in order to grow as a person, but at the same time by believing him I essentially open the door to a lot of pain, such as guilt. I think I've come to realise though, since posting this thread, that it's possible to learn from that life regradless whether it was me in that life or not, because either way that life still provides an example and something to learn from. It would still be nice to know one way or another, but for peace of mind I think it's best to try and stay optimistic about the situation.

Goibniu: Yeah, I think I'm starting to agree with you and Draw about the unreliability of spirits. It's always been an issue in the past with me and those I've contacted, but in light of the current situation you may be right, and an objective outsider's help would be best. I have thought about hypnosis in the past, but the cost has always put me off, but I haven't heard of guided meditation, so I'll have to look into that and see what it's about and how much it'll cost (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I'll deffinately get recomendations before investing though as you say.

Thank you again, both, for the advice (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) It's given me something to consider and has been quite helpful.

Past life stuff can be interesting to look into; I wish I knew more about it. I can say that some astrology is supposed to help determine past life info (outer planet stuff I think) but I haven't found it very useful so I won't bother with sources ect. I think the only sure fire way to tell if this thing is real or not is to get some info out of it which you could not have known any other way, and then verify it. How exactly do you communicate with it? Other than that what Goibniu mentioned about the hypnosis and such sounds like great advice to me.

My friend has a spirit attached to him since childhood, one who knows the spirit attached to me and my supposed past self, and I was able to tell her things that only my 'past life' self would know, and she has able to say that they were true. I'm just not sure whether my 'knowing' these things or having these 'memories' is coincedence, or if the spirit attached to me is wrong in his beliefs, or a numerous ammount of other things. Basically I feel that - for closure really - I need to know if this 'past self' really was me or not.

Your friend has a spirit attached to him as well, who knows you and your spirit, and is able to say that what you are 'remembering' is true, correct?

That kind of doesn't amount to much unless you aren't explaining it well. Basically your telling your friend something and he is saying "Oh yeah, my spirit buddy says that's true!" You can see the flaw in the reasoning here?

First of all, how do you know there's a spirit attached to you? Have you demanded proof? If it's hanging around you and claims to know you, I hate to tell you, but it's not the spirit of a dead person. If it is a spirit, it should be able to prove itself by telling you things, about this life and your present world, which you could not otherwise have known about, and are verifiable. If it cannot do this, it is not real at all. If it is real, it will want to prove itself. If it tells you it cannot or will not prove itself, then it is a complex delusion and you need to go talk to someone in the very near future who can discuss therapy or medication with you. That, or it's an evil spirit that wants you to doubt your sanity.

Beyond that, your past lives don't matter. We don't remember for a reason, if they are there at all. Knowing just makes us feel guilty for getting a fresh start, because everyone would have something to be guilty about, and even in this life few people know more than a handful of genuinely Good individuals. Being obsessed with past lives takes away from this life which you can change and alter and do something about. Don't get stuck on this idea, and don't trust vagrant spirits! Dead people do not hang around the reincarnations of their friends or loved ones. This spirit might have been around you in a past life, but it was not a person, and whatever deal you might have made with it in that life doesn't hold for this one.

Good luck.

peace

That kind of doesn't amount to much unless you aren't explaining it well. Basically your telling your friend something and he is saying "Oh yeah, my spirit buddy says that's true!" You can see the flaw in the reasoning here?

Actually, that's pretty much it . . .The spirit attached to me says things about said past life, and when I have asked my friend he was able to say 'that's what my spirit says too' kind of thing. Now you have pointed it out I do see a definate flaw in the reasoning. Then again there have been things that I've remembered spontaneously and - when I asked a question in a vague way to my friend's spirit - she was able to give a specific answer that confirmed what I thought/knew. I guess there's still problems with that reasoning too, so I do fully take on board what you've said, and it'll certainly make me think twice about some of what's been said being 'verifiable'.

First of all, how do you know there's a spirit attached to you? Have you demanded proof? If it's hanging around you and claims to know you, I hate to tell you, but it's not the spirit of a dead person. If it is a spirit, it should be able to prove itself by telling you things, about this life and your present world, which you could not otherwise have known about, and are verifiable. If it cannot do this, it is not real at all. If it is real, it will want to prove itself. If it tells you it cannot or will not prove itself, then it is a complex delusion and you need to go talk to someone in the very near future who can discuss therapy or medication with you. That, or it's an evil spirit that wants you to doubt your sanity.

Beyond that, your past lives don't matter. We don't remember for a reason, if they are there at all. Knowing just makes us feel guilty for getting a fresh start, because everyone would have something to be guilty about, and even in this life few people know more than a handful of genuinely Good individuals. Being obsessed with past lives takes away from this life which you can change and alter and do something about. Don't get stuck on this idea, and don't trust vagrant spirits! Dead people do not hang around the reincarnations of their friends or loved ones. This spirit might have been around you in a past life, but it was not a person, and whatever deal you might have made with it in that life doesn't hold for this one.

It's hard to explain how I know he's there in a way . . . I've always been able to see spirits and commuinicate with them, but they have always pretty much been in the 'distance' and never really made contact, the only times spirits have made contact with me have been through mediums or if it isn't a spirit, but a demon or other entity. I actually tried to contact my spirit guide a year or two back, and this spirit was the one I came into contact with . . . I later learned it wasn't my spirit guide, and when I confronted him I got the rather pedantic excuse of 'I'm a spirit, and I guide, so therefore. . .' - I can see him, I can hear him, kind of in a mind's eye type way, and - although other spirits have often proved to be there with me - he hasn't really given proof, I will admit. He has told me things I couldn't possibly have known - for example he might mention a piece of music that I've never heard of that turns out to be real, or twice he's told be about a specific friend being in physical danger and when I contacted them later in the day it turns out that they were, such as nearly drowning or car accidents. It's basically little stuff that he knows, that I couldn't know, and it turned out he was right, if that makes sense?

To be perfectly honest I have doubted my sanity with it at times. My friend - like I said - is a medium and has a spirit attached to him, and has spoken to the spirt around me, and another friend has said they believed me because there's been a lot of times he's told me something about her that no one could possibly know, or done things when I'm not there that I was able to walk into a room and say 'has this happened?' because he's told me. Then again there's admitedly been a lot of mind games, he has done a lot of dark things as well as good, and some of the stories he's told I can relate to in such a way it makes me wonder if he isn't a part of my mind. I think that's why this past life thing is bugging me so much - I've started to feel crazy since he's been around in a way that I haven't before, and (pardon the pun) it's driving me mad. There has been incedents where he's scared me too - he has inflicted physical damage before, but the other day was actually quite severe, my friend was extremely worried when I told him. So yeah, I don't know . . . The idea its an evil spirit has crossed my mind too, but he's also very good at healing and doing good things and helping with certain issues, which again makes me doubt whether he is evil or not. I don't truly know. It seems like there's proof and no proof, that he does good things and bad things, and some times I can trust him and sometims I'm scared of him.

Thank you very much for the comments on the past life though. It had occured to me that we forget for a reason, and it has prevented me to some extent from focussing on this life, from 'moving on' in a sense, so I will move on from this idea and try to forget it - after all, I suppose it's a 'past' life for a reason, it shouldn't be allowed to affect this present to such an extent, right? It's also reassuring to know that I hold no real obligation to this spirit - which is actually exactly how he's made me feel! I hear so much about the 'past' from him, about previous relationships and duties and the likes that it has felt like I had to maintain whatever deal we may/may not have had. It's just good for someone to point out that this isn't the case, which makes me feel a lot easier about moving on, about forgetting the past and not dwelling on it.

Ah, sorry for the slight rant, lol, it's just rather cathartic to actually get everything out, you know? There's so few people I can talk to about it, and those I can I wonder if they truly understand how conflicting it is, so thanks to everyone here for their support and help on the matter (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) It really does mean a lot to be able to speak about things openly and to get such sincere replies.