Remembering Past Lives
Fire Moons: Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius
The post on the Bardo generated a request for help in discovering past lives . . . and also a number of emails about correcting a word, thank you! It’s nice to know others are on their toes when I am slipping!
There have already been a number of posts on memory, but a tiny recap will help us to get started with the specific question about how to remember events from previous incarnations.
First, we have to differentiate between memories that are essentially karmic and those that refer more to destiny, let’s call them dharmic. When we are in a learning mode and have yet to master the art of living in the third dimension, we tend to create some waves, sometimes intentionally and sometimes without even realizing what we are doing. All those waves have to be harmonized.
Surfing can be a lot of fun, but it can also be reckless and dangerous to oneself and others. Karmic memories are symbolized by the Moon in the horoscope. First, there is the sign of Moon, then the relationships of the Moon to the planets, and then the house position and nakshatra if using the Vedic system of astrology.
The Moon is the clue to deep persuasions, interests, and issues. The basic temperament will be revealed by the element associated with the sign of Moon. The sequence in astrology is fire, earth, air, and water, and there are three signs associated with each element. The elements, in turn, are related to specific emotions. We all have the potential for experiencing a wide range of emotions, but one might say that the first emotion to arise will usually be the one associated with the element connected to the Moon. For example, fire wants to defend itself so it may become angry, aggressive, argumentative, or even combative. Mastering this instinct may take many incarnations and a lot of maturity in the current lifetime.
For most people, fire feels dangerous, but if we dig a little deeper, we will understand two points that are usually missed by those who are not fiery. First, fire is intuitive and hence responses may leap ahead of formal logic. Second, the goal is to set things right. Now, let’s use the Maui fires as an example. The short-term response may have been to defy the authorities who were blocking escape routes. The longer-term response has been to use the Hawaiian concept of “pono” to set things right. This has taken a formal role in which ceremonies were held to release the ghosts who lost their physical bodies as a consequence of the fires. The ongoing effort has been to respond to the needs of the survivors through emergency relief. Again, in some instances, it was necessary to defy authorities who were confiscating what was needed by those who lost everything.
Being myself fiery, I can say that the initiative to team up with kindred spirits to make sure the intentions were fulfilled has involved some defiance, but this is justified on the grounds of “pono” because people have needs that were not being addressed by the so-called relief agencies. Yes, sometimes, it is necessary to create alternatives to the formal pathways, and here is where fire can perhaps be appreciated. It is courageous and willing to take risks. It has initiative and leadership, and it has passion for what it believes is correct. If fire is weak, there will be more suffering because the neglect will be accepted without being fixed. Fire functions very well with similarly aligned fire. If the alignment is lacking, fire will either struggle to prevail or ignore the issue on the grounds that the energies are reserved for other battles.
If you related to any of the statements or feelings in the above paragraphs, you already have your finger on the pulse and can guestimate how much or how little fire is present in your constitutional make-up.
To understand this even further, we can ask, if you are fiery, what will provoke you to action, and what will you let pass? This provides further insight into values and how much mastery one has over oneself as well as what is truly important. Is the contentious issue personal, professional, political, religious?
The three fire signs are Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius. Let’s take a common domestic issue. The important other has been unfaithful. Someone like Henry VIII, Aries Moon, will take this harder because the bloodline of the throne is, to the royal mind, critical. However, if independence is more important than heirs, then perhaps there is an easy-come, easy-go attitude. If statistics are to be trusted, then this example is more than likely to arise in one’s life experience so the question is the reaction. This will vary depending on what is valued the most: security, keeping the family together, love and attachment, trust, loyalty and fidelity, fear of what others will think, etc.
Next, let’s see what fire will confront. We have teams, such as sports where there is competition. We also have political battles over issues and elections. How passionately will one push a topic through all the obstacles of the opposition? How far will one go to win?
We also have academic and religious disagreements, some leading to fierce battles and even Inquisition-like risks. It is not unusual for someone who suffered acutely in a past life for adhering to one’s beliefs to be more cautious the next time around. Then, there may be an internal dilemma. The subconscious may feel strongly about something, but the conscious self is in favor of temperance, playing it safe. We have three selves, but the key to the past lives is in the feelings so unless we allow ourselves to feel, the key will not turn in the lock.
If you do not see yourself in any of the above, then most likely, you do not have a fire Moon. However, if you do have a fire Moon, then the next step is to use your imagination and creativity. When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up? How did this change by your teens? by early adulthood? by middle age?
Were there major interests you put aside in order to fulfill the expectations of your family or society? A young person with an Aries Moon may be wild and adventurous, but did one explore? Then, there are types of exploration as well as projections. For instance, Angelina Jolie may put her Aries energies into dare devil roles whereas Steve Jobs may have explored the outer realms of technology.
If one does not follow one’s bliss, there is a chunk of self that is put aside. We have a long list of excuses about why we do this.
All memory works through a process of association. However, we do not always recognize how this works. Do you have a favorite color or food? Is there a place you always wanted to visit? Is there something you saw in a film or learned in a history class that caught your attention.
I will give a little example from my own life. Around 1974-1975, I had an out of body experience in which I saw an event in a past life. Later, I had a dream in which someone told me different details about that very same past life. Some time later, I was at a beach party and several people commented, “Where is your husband?” I was never married in this lifetime, but they were referring to a group from a past life and there was an important missing person.
Rewinding to a decade earlier, I was engaged. We had a little routine that when my fiancé visited, we would play the Haydn Cello Concerto. When, he left, we would play my choice, the Boieldieu Harp Concerto. At that time, I had no direct connection with the harp, but I loved the music. This is the first movement of the concerto.
Roll forward to the mid-1990s when someone asked to meet me when visiting Santa Fe. She was performing the world premier of a new harp piece for the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. She was hosted by one of the patrons of the singers and invited me to her guest quarters to meet her harp. She played a piece by Bach, and tears rolled down my face. Imagine, I was sitting so close to the harp that I could touch it. This event was a private feast for the soul.
Gail and I became best friends and spent the holidays regressing each other into past lives and peeking into the future. We also facilitated sessions for countless students and patients. Neither Gail nor I were novices at the point when we met. She had been working with Virginia Satir and various harp healing groups, and I had already written a book on past life recalls called Shadows on the Soul, still unpublished after almost 40 years.
An avalanche of memories from countless previous lifetimes, some going back thousands of years, surfaced over our two decades of sharing in this lifetime. Since the altered state is timeless, it is difficult to move backwards or forwards without someone to guide the process.
The point is that no affinity or aversion is to ignored because each has a history. In the horoscope, one can see the areas of experienced that have been mastered and those that pose challenges . . . but this being long, perhaps it is the place to end. Clearly, to be fair, there must be sequels dealing with the other three elements.
Copyright by Dr. Ingrid Naiman 2023 || All Rights Reserved
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