This is the eighteenth chapter of David St. Clair’s Lessons in Instant ESP. You can use this to help another person remember past lives or record the actual regression text to use for recalling past lives yourself.
The technique I’m going to teach you now seems very simple–and that’s part of the problem. It’s so simple on the surface that many feel they can do it at once. They therefore start practicing on their friends without taking into consideration the dangers and the pitfalls inherent in the experience.
The exercise in which you watched your partner’s face for indications of what past lives he or she had led was just a warm-up for the one I’m going to give you now. Nothing was expected of you then except pure reporting. Your role is more vital now, and you must be constantly on the alert.
When you take someone back into a past life by this method, you must not let down your guard for one minute. You must stay with the person and lead him along. You will not guide him, or even point the way. You will simply accompany him as he takes himself into his past existences. At no time must you leave him alone. At no time must you insist. At no time must you impose your own personality. The traveler needs you on these trips, but only as a novice swimmer needs a life jacket. He must swim ahead on his own, but with the knowledge that if the water gets too deep and treacherous you are always there to rescue him.
If I’ve frightened you, I’m sorry. If I’ve made you cautious about trying this, I’m glad. As you do this, you’ll understand what I mean.
Shall we begin?
A person comes to you wanting to know about his past lives. He knows that you can take him back, he trusts you to lead him, and he expects more from you than he will get. You’ll see.
When this person starts to tell you why he wants to go into his past, he will invariably tell you which of his past lives he wants to revisit. “I want to go back to the one where I was a priest in Atlantis,” he’ll say, or “I want to see where I was a soldier in the Civil War.” Just smile at him, because the chances of his going to either of those lives–if he ever did live them–are about a hundred to one. Of all the past-life regressions I’ve ever done, nobody has ever gone to a life he or she consciously expected to visit. They have always gone back to existences they had no idea they had lived, and the shock (and delight) is always enormous.
Never promise someone you will take him to a definite life. You only accompany. You do not guide.
It’s also good to make clear to the person, right from the outset, that you will not hypnotize him. He will be in control of himself at all times. He will not be under your influence. He will be listening to you, but he will be obeying his own instincts. This is important, because many people feel that under hypnosis they will be subject to all kinds of indignities from robbery to rape. Assure the person with whom you’re working that he is in control and can revert to himself, in his present life, simply by wanting to do so.
Here, again, as in psychometry, personal readings, and healing, the person must want to be regressed. Don’t force yourself on someone who is in doubt or who is afraid. Don’t waste your energies and your time. If a person thinks this is all foolishness, don’t try to convert him. Let him go on his way and bless him.
Have your person sit in a comfortable chair, facing you. If he feels better with his shoes off, fine. Make sure he’s got things like notebooks and such off his lap and on the floor. He may want to tape his session. Fine–that way he can analyze what was said after he gets home.
Tell him that you are not going to hypnotize him. Tell him that all he has to do is open his eyes and he will be back with you. Tell him to relax, tell him there is nothing to worry about, tell him he is going to go on a marvelous trip.
There is a formula you must follow here. If the person who is being regressed has been studying this course with you, then the first part will be old hat to him and he’ll slip easily into it. If not, you must go step by step–and you must tread carefully. Each step must be taken in the proper sequence to gain the proper effect. This is one time when improvisation is not advised.
Turn down the lights in the room. Most people don’t like being in the dark, so leave one dim light burning in a far corner, giving the person the assurance that there is light somewhere if he needs it.
Important: have a glass of water ready and waiting near him.
Begin by asking the person–and this is very important if he hasn’t been studying the course with you–to close his eyes and to imagine the place where he lives. Tell him to see his home or the building he calls home. When he sees it with his eyes closed, he is to tell you, “Yes, I see my house.”
Okay, you say. Now, do you drive a car? “Yes.” All right, I want you to see that car. I want you to see yourself walking over to your car and getting into it. See the car, see its color. Do you see it? “Yes.”
Okay. Now I want you to see a circle. See it form inside your head, in the center of your forehead. It can be a hollow circle or it can be solid. It can be any color you wish. Do you see it? “Yes.”
Fine. Now I want you to erase the circle and in its place I want you to see a cross. See the form of a cross in your mind. See it there inside your forehead. See it in your mind’s eye. Do you see it? “Yes.”
Fine. Now I want you to erase that cross and in its place I want you to see a flower. I want you to see any flower that you choose, but see it plainly with your eyes closed. See it in your mind’s eye, and tell me when you have it. “Okay. I see it.”
Fine. Now turn that flower into a rose. A red rose. “It already was a red rose.”
Good. Now I am going to give you a series of colors and I want you to see these colors in your mind’s eye in the same way you saw the other objects. You don’t have to hold these colors in your mind, because that is too difficult. All I want is for you to get a fleeting glimpse of each color as I name it. Ready?
The first color is Red. I want you to see the color Red. Visualize it in any way you choose: a red rose; a red valentine heart; a red drapery at a window; a man wearing a red Santa Claus suit. The color Red. I want you to see the color Red. Tell me when you have it. Take your time. We are in no rush. Don’t force it. Just tell me when you have it. “Okay, I see it.”
Good. Now the next color I want you to see is Orange. The color Orange. Let it come into your mind’s eye. It can be a pile of fresh oranges in the supermarket, a glass of freshly poured orange juice, or a Buddhist monk in his long orange robe. The color Orange. Tell me when you see it. “Okay.”
Good. Now the next color is the color Yellow. The color Yellow. It can be the yellow of a fresh package of butter; the yellow of an egg yolk on a white plate; the yellow sun in the sky. The color Yellow. I want you to see Yellow in your mind’s eye. “Okay.”
Excellent. The next color is Green. The color Green. I want you to see the color Green: a freshly mown lawn, a tree filled with green leaves, a green plant in a window box. I want you to see the color Green. “I’ve got it.”
Now the color Blue. I want you to see the color Blue. Bring the color Blue into your inner eye: the blue of the ocean, the blue of a clear cloudless sky. The color Blue. Take your time. I want the color Blue. “Okay.”
Now I want you to see the color Violet or Lilac. Maybe an African violet growing in a pot, a lilac bush all in bloom, a lilac dress or scarf. The color Lilac or Violet. “Right. I’ve got it.”
Good. Now you can open your eyes.
The person opens his eyes, looks at you, and you smile. That wasn’t so difficult now, was it? He shakes his head and he smiles. I just wanted to see how good your inner sight was, you say. You did very well indeed. He smiles and makes some comment about the colors and how one was more difficult than the other, but he is pleased with himself and pleased that you have told him he did so well.
(Notice how you have given him the idea that he can see things with his eyes closed. This is terribly important. If the person is unable to visualize–to picture–with his mind, then you will not be successful and you might as well stop right here. Never attempt to take anyone into a past life who doesn’t have the ability to see normal everyday objects and symbols and colors in his imagination. NEVER. Got that?)
Okay, you say to the person, now let’s try it for real. Close your eyes, get comfortable, and remember that you’re not going to be hypnotized. You are in complete control of your mind and your body at all times. Okay? Now close your eyes. Relax. Let’s take the trip.
We are going to go through those colors again, but this time I’d like you to see them as layers in a rainbow. I’d like you to imagine them in thick lines, and as we go down from the top layer to the bottom layer, I want you to imagine them in a rainbow pattern. Okay?
The top color in the rainbow is Red. I want you to see the color Red. Remember how you saw it just a few minutes ago? Well, I want you to see it that way again. Tell me when you’ve got it by lightly raising your right hand. Just lift your right hand slightly when you’ve seen the color Red. The color Red. Have you got it? Okay. I’ll wait. (The right hand signals.)
Fine. Now the next color downward in the rainbow is Orange. I want you to go down to the color Orange. Orange. Remember how you brought it in the last time? The color Orange. Signal when you’ve got it. (The person signals.)
Good. Now let’s go down to the color Yellow. Yellow. Signal when you have it. (He signals.)
Very good. Now the next layer down in the rainbow is Green. The color Green. Remember how you brought it in before? (He gives the signal without being asked for it.)
Okay. Now down to Blue. The color Blue. (The signal comes again.)
Now to the last color…the bottom layer of the rainbow…the final color: I want you to visualize the color Lilac. (Note: The first time around you have discovered if he has chosen violet or lilac. From now on, use the color he has selected. Don’t give him any more choices. For this illustration we’ll say that the person has chosen lilac.)
Fine. You are now in the color Lilac. This is the final color. You are also at what we call your Alpha Level. This is a state of being in which your Conscious Mind has stepped slightly away from its everyday activity and permits your Sub-Conscious and your Super-Conscious to come in more freely.
I want to remind you that you are in complete control of your mind and body at all times. If you want to stop this at any point all you have to do is open your eyes. Do you understand?
Should there be any unexpected noises like telephones or automobile horns, they won’t bother you. They are happening up here on my level, not down there where you are. Do you understand?
Good. Now I want you to take this lilac color and create a cloud of it around your body. I want you to see your body standing there enveloped in a fine misty cloud of the color Lilac. See yourself and see your body covered with this lilac cloud. Signal with your hand when you see this. This signal comes after a few seconds. Don’t rush any of this. Let the person take his time. You can afford to wait until he sees himself doing the various things you are asking. Rushing him will only create anxiety that he is not doing it correctly, and he may tell you that he is seeing those things just to please you. That you don’t need–and neither does he.
Good. Your body is now enveloped in the lilac cloud. In front of you there is a tunnel. It is not a long tunnel, and it is made of white marble. It is a friendly place. There is a white light at the end of this tunnel. Please walk through the tunnel toward the white light. When you get to the white light, tell me. (Here the person may scowl a bit and tell you that he can’t see the tunnel, or else that he doesn’t want to go in there. Remind him that it is a friendly place and not a long tunnel at all. Tell him that the white light at the end of it is a light of protection and he will feel better when he gets there. It’s surprising how many people balk at seeing this tunnel or entering it–yet it is an important part of this exercise.) “Okay,” he says, “I’m through the tunnel.”
Good. Now at your feet there is a staircase. It is going downward. Look down at your feet and tell me when you see the steps going down. “Okay.”
The staircase that is descending has twenty-one steps. You are standing at the top of the steps. When I start counting the steps I want you to see yourself descending those steps. I want you to see yourself going down the steps. Each time I count you will go down to the next step. Do you understand? (He nods.)
Okay. You are on the top step. The 21st step. Now let’s go down to the 20th step.
Down to the 19th.
Down to the 18th.
Down to the 17th.
Down to the 16th.
Down to the 15th. You are getting deeper and deeper into your Alpha Level.
Down to the 14th.
13…
12…
11…
10. Deeper and deeper into your Alpha Level.
9…
8…
7…
6…
5. You are almost to the bottom of the steps.
4…
3…
2…
1…
You are at the bottom of the stairs. You are now at a deeper level of your mind than you have ever been before, yet you are in complete control of your mind and your body at all times. Any time you decide to return up here to my level you only have to open your eyes. Do you understand?
Good.
Look straight ahead of you and you will see a door. Tell me what the door looks like, what it’s made of. Is it wood or metal or painted or plain? Tell me what the door looks like. (This door serves three purposes. It gets the person visualizing again, it eventually leads to a whole new landscape in his mind, and it gives you a chance to analyze what kind of a personality he has after he has returned from his trip. If the door is heavy, dark, and studded with large nails, then you are dealing with a person who keeps to himself, who doesn’t want others prying into his affairs–a lonely and possibly insecure person. The lighter the color of the door and the simpler the decoration on it, the freer that person is with himself, the more open to other people. The boy I spoke about in the section on healing, the one suffering from the malignant brain turnors, had a pure glass door–the first one I’ve ever encountered. He told me later that he had nothing to hide; he thought his life was over and therefore was open for anyone to examine. Of course you do not at this point give your interpretation of the door to the person. That comes afterward, if you so choose. You let him describe the door, but you make no comment.)
Now I want you to graph the door handle and open the door. (He nods, having done it.)
Now you step through the doorway and you find that you are in an open area. There is much sunlight and it is a pleasant place. Do you see this open area? (He nods.)
Now, in front of you, several feet in front of you, there is a wall. Will you walk over to the wall and tell me what it is made of and what color it is? (The wall will give you the same kind of information about the person that the door did. Its most important aspect, however, is that it will act as the focal entryway to this person’s past life.)
Okay, now that you have described the wall, I want you to reach out, touch it with your left hand, and start walking down along it, to your right. I want you to walk along the wall and keep walking until you come to another door that will be in the wall. Keep walking until you come to that doorway and then, when you get there, tell me. (This takes only a few seconds and he nods.) You’ve found the door? (He nods again or says “Yes.”) I want you to open the door and step inside.
You are now in a completely different landscape. Look around and tell me what you see. Trees? What kind of trees? Flowers? What kind of flowers? Buildings? People? Tell me what you see.
This is the point at which the person has stepped into one of his past lives and is about to relive a part of it. As of now, you must be constantly on the alert to lead the person through this particular past life.
From here on, each case history will differ. Because of this, I cannot put down exact guidelines for you to follow. Ail I can do is tell you of one exceptional case that I handled so you can see how you will have to handle your cases.
The man in question lived in Ohio and came to me because he was an artist and wanted to see his past lives from that vantage point. He was positive that he had lived in ancient Greece and in medieval France. He also had some American Indian blood that he was proud of, but that was not of interest to him on this particular day, he told me. I am now going to recreate the entire experience for you. His replies have been put in italics. He has just stepped beyond his wall:
What do you see? It’s someplace outdoors. There are trees and a mountain range off in the distance.
Have you ever been there before? I don’t know. It sort of looks familiar, but I don’t know. It could be anywhere.
Where do you think it is? I don’t know. Anywhere, I guess.
Where do you want to go? To the left? To the right? There are some trees over there. I’m going to see what’s on the other side of them. (Pause.)
What do you see now? There is nothing there. Just a river and a fiat area that leads up into the mountains.
Can you see any people? No.
Are there any buildings? No, just the trees and the river and the mountains. (Pause.) It seems very strange.
Why? There should be people here.
What do you mean? There should be people here. There used to be people here.
How do you know there used to be people there? Because I’ve been here when there were people, and now they’ve gone.
Where have they gone? I don’t know, but they aren’t here any longer.
Did they live beside the river? Among the trees? No, they lived in the caves.
What caves? The caves in those mountains, but they used to farm and graze the animals here, beside the river.
Where do you think they went? I don’t know, but I’m going to go up into the mountains. Maybe someone is in the caves.
Okay. Let me know when you get there. (Long pause.)
What’s the matter? The path has overgrown with weeds. It’s difficult to walk on it. It never used to be this bad. It was always smooth and clean. (Pause.) Okay, I’m at the entrance to one of the caves.
What do you see in there? Nothing. It’s empty.
Where are the people? I told you they’ve gone. They’ve fled.
Fled? Yes. They were driven away. Now I remember! They came and drove us away. They said they wanted the land! They drove us away and they killed many of us as we were leaving!
Who are “they”? I don’t remember.
Look at your hands. Tell me what color they are. They’re kind of dark.
Like an African native? No, like an Indian. Like an American Indian’s hands.
Look down at your body. What are you wearing? (Pause.) Some sort of animal skin thing that hangs around my shoulders and down to my knees. There is a belt around my waist. A very pretty belt.
Can you describe it for me? Well, it seems to be made out of hammered silver and there are blue stones, turquoise it looks like, set into it.
Where did you get the belt? Did you find it? No, my people made it. They made it right here. When we lived here in these caves.
Are you a member of the Navajo tribe? The what?
The Navajo tribe. I never heard of them.
Never heard of them? No.
How about the Hopis? Are you a member of that tribe? I’ve heard speak about those people, but they live far to the north of here. We never had any contact with them.
Far to the north? That’s what I said.
How far? Oh, I don’t know, maybe seven or ten days’ journey away. Maybe more.
But they live in Arizona. Where?
Arizona. I don’t know where that is.
Well, today they live in Arizona, so if you are ten days’ journey to the south, you must be somewhere in northern Mexico. I don’t know. (Long pause.)
What are you doing? I’m cleaning out one of the caves.
Why? Well, I’m going to live here, of course! (Another long pause.)
Now what are you doing? I went and got some water from the stream. We have a small stream that runs through the village and the water is so pure and sweet. Do you want some? (He hands me an invisible water gourd.)
No thanks. I don’t understand why you have come back to this place. Everyone is gone. You were driven away. Why are you back here? Because I am an old man and this is my home. I no longer fear them.
Fear who? The men with the white skins who speak Spanish. I no longer fear them. I’ve come back to my home and I shall stay here until I die. You see this cave? There are many things that must be done to it. I must put in some rushes for a bed and I must get some wood for a fire. Maybe I can find a dog that is not too wild for companionship. We had lots of dogs in those days. Maybe one or two will smell the smoke and will come to investigate. I’d like to have a dog again. Every man needs– (He broke off suddenly and let out a cry.)
What’s the matter? In the entrance to the cave. They are back.
Who’s back? The white men, and they have guns in their hands! They are looking at me and laughing. I think they are going to kill me! (Another cry.)
What happened, did they shoot you? No, it’s my stomach! My stomach is on fire. They are standing there and looking into the cave and watching me and laughing! Oh my God! My stomach is hurting terribly. (He was almost doubled up on the chair.) Do you know what they have done? They’ve poisoned the water in the stream! They poisoned the water and they are letting me die! Oh my God! My stomach!
(Here I was forced to step in.) Okay. Forget about the pains. You have left your body. You have left your body and you are floating up over it now. All the pains have ceased. (He straightened up in the chair.) Now look down. Can you see your body on the floor of the cave? Yes. (There were tears in his eyes.) I see it.
What do you feel about it? I’m glad to be rid of it. It was old and weak but it had a proud mind! It went back and died in its ancestral home and I’m proud of it.
All right, now lift up and out of the cave and return to the grassy area just inside that long wall. Do you remember that place? Where you first came in here? (He nodded.) Okay, go back there. Okay. I’m back.
Good. Now walk through the doorway. (He nodded.) You are now on the other side of the wall. You are yourself again and in this life. You are (and I used his name) and you are yourself again. Now walk back down the wall, in the direction you came from. When you get to the first doorway, tell me. (Long pause. Okay.)
Walk through that door and close it behind you. You are now facing the staircase. Can you see the steps going up? (He nodded.)
Okay, let’s start back up the stairs. See yourself going up the stairs as I count them for you.
You are on the 1st step. Go up to the 2nd one.
Up to the 3rd.
Up to the 4th.
Up to the 5th. You are going upward now.
Up to 6.
Up to 7.
Up to 8.
Up to 9.
Up to 10. You are halfway to the top.
11…
12…
13…
14…
15. Almost to the top.
16…
17…
18…
19…
20…
21
You are at the top of the stairs. Now look in front of you. There is that marble corridor. Do you see it? (He nodded.) Okay, start up the corridor. When you get to the end, there will be a Lilac light. When you get there you will be covered in a Lilac light. Tell me when this happens. (Okay. I’m in the light.)
Good. Now the color changes up to Blue. (Okay.)
Up into Green. (Okay.)
Up into Yellow. (Uh-huh)
Up into Orange. (Uh-huh).
And finally, up into Red! Open your eyes! You’re back up here with me. Welcome home!
The person will be a little woozy for a few moments. Hand him the glass of water and let him sip it (he will probably be very thirsty). While he’s doing so, get up from your chair, go into the bathroom and wash your hands, turn on the light–do anything to start some sort of movement around the room that will let him know that the session is over and he’s come through it in one piece.
Afterward, you can both discuss what he saw and what he experienced, playing back the tape, if you wish, and making comments about it.
The person will always be amazed that he didn’t go back to any place where he thought he had lived. If he feels that you have deliberately forced him to go to the particular place and time he did go to, you can always replay the tape to prove that he took himself there and that all you did was accompany him and clarify things as he went along.
As I have said, each regression is different, but there are many things you can do to make that particular lifetime come into sharper focus. For instance:
- To find out what the person’s name was in that lifetime, ask him. If he doesn’t know what he was called, tell him that there is a lovely woman sitting nearby. The woman gets up and walks over to him. She will open her mouth and she will say one word–that one word will be his first name. Then the woman vanishes.
- To find out the year, you can always say that there is a calendar. on the wall and the year is written on the calendar in large black letters. Have him walk over to the wall and read the date on the calendar. Or, you can have, him see a newspaper on a table. Have the person walk over to the newspaper and read the date on it. This is also a good method of finding out where he was and what language he was speaking.
- When other people come into the scene, ask him what relationship these people have with him in that particular life. After a few seconds he will tell you that they were his mother and brother, wife, and son, or whatever.
- Ask him to describe the furnishings of the house if he finds himself in one: the color of the walls, the decoration of the room, and so on. Also have him look out the window. What does he see out there? Windmills? Ice caps? Palm trees? A desert? The sea?
- Get him to describe what he’s wearing. Have him look down at his feet. Are they bare? In sandals? In high boots? In silk slippers? Wooden shoes? What is he wearing on his body? What colors? Materials? What is the fashion?
- To get a clear picture of his face, have him look in a mirror that is on the wall. Have him describe the face he sees reflected in it. Is it white? Black? Yellow? Old? Young? Smooth? Lined? Bearded?
- Ask him about his children, his wife…his husband. Oh yes! Don’t be surprised if a male sitter returns to a female life, or if the woman in front of you discovers that she has been a boy! This is normal rather than unusual in regression trips.
- Often a sitter will describe personality traits discovered in a past life that will explain certain characteristics in this lifetime. One woman I assisted found herself back in fifteenth-century England as a poor farm girl living in dirt and filth among the animals. “That’s why I’m so fussy about my house and my appearance in this life,” she told me. “I hated that lifetime and all its dirt!”
Illnesses or other physical markings or defects also can be related to past lives. An arm blown off in an ancient battle aches in this life. A present-life birthmark appears on the site where an old wound was received. Weak eyes now may be reminders of long ago blindness.
I always try to take the person up to the moment of death in each lifetime. Death is always the most memorable fact of each existence, but it must be handled with care. Tell the person he is in the last day of that lifetime. Ask him where he is, who is with him. Is he in bed? At home? In a hospital? How old is he? Does he feel any pain? Let him talk and tell you. Then take him up to the last ten minutes of that life. Then the last minute. But as soon as he has died, tell him to look down and see his body. That way he will be free of all pains and sadness. Ask him how he feels about that body and he will probably tell you that he is glad to be rid of it. Now bring him straight back to the area inside the wall. .Have him come through the doorway of the wall over to this side, and then call him by his name in this lifetime. Mention his name several times as he walks back along the wall, through the first door, and starts up the steps.
Each case you handle will be different. Each will require tact and unshakable attention. At no time should you get flustered if the person starts to cry. Simply move him into another stage of that life, saying, “Okay, let’s go about ten years into the future. What do you see now?” The tears will usually stop at once. After all, nobody can cry for ten whole years!