Reincarnation

[Angharad]

An exchange I just had with wise Rishi evoked this discussion. Although it's not directly related to being gay, there are aspects of reincarnation that can make sexuality and how it connects to your essential essence (soul, if you will, or spirit, to Catholics) an interesting thing to ponder.

Do you believe in reincarnation?

How do you think it works?

Do you have any feelings or experiences that you want to share?

Okay, people....I'm about to jump into the deep end.  

[Angharad]

I'll go first. Please man the safety nets....

To make a loooooong story short, I have had memories of two past lives--one in particular. The memories of that life came flooding into me, like water pouring into a pitcher, while sitting in a movie theater in 2000.

For several years, I remembered it in GREAT detail, from childhood until death. I even spoke a language I hadn't learned in this life. Now the memories have faded, although some remain crystal clear.

I am a sceptic by nature. Oddly, I believe that everything is possible, but I want empirical proof of a claim. That's pretty hard to do with reincarnation, especially because, in my experience, recorded "facts" can conflict with one's memories, which one tends to believe.

My "proof," such as it was, was that my girlfriend at the time had the same flood of memories that I had at the same moment. In the darkened theater, she turned to me and called me by my name in the past. I thought my heart was going to explode. And while she didn't remember with the same clarity, her memories matched mine.

Since then, people have come to me from everywhere...strangers, casual aquaintances, lovers...who remember that life. It's like they are assembling for some reason, although I can't imagine what it would be.

The homosexual angle...and the part that has made me ponder sexuality more deeply...is that my sex changed. I was a man in the life I remember so clearly. Here's the complicated scenario: My girlfriend (in 2000) had been the wife of my closest friend in the past...I had loved her then, although from afar. In this life we were both women, but my feelings for her were very masculine. My memories made the reason for that obvious.

My fiance was my best friend in that life, from childhood. Although he and I were "straight" in that life, our deep love and devotion, and a particular highly charged situation, had led us to a profoundly emotional and sexual relationship. I realized at the end of that life, much to my surprise, that he had been my great love. Our relationship in this life is sexually polar--I am both male and female with him. He is straight, once again, in this life, but the desire from the past has overcome us both at times. Words cannot adequately describe our love. It is infinite. It is amazing. Powerful. Transcedent. Our bond cannot be broken.

My Girl was my woman in that past life. She also has gut-wrenching memories of us and of her life then. Our relationship then was dynamic...She was a very strong and independent woman who resisted giving herself to anyone. I was a man who believed that I had no home, and had no right to ask for one, beyond the life I lived and the men I lived it with. We both wanted something that our psyches wouldn't let us achieve. The relationship was fiery, passionate, filled with angst and yearning. It still is. 

Does the soul have gender? Or is it pure energy that allows for all possibilities? Is love infinite and without predjudice or preference?

I've talked enough for now. You guys pick it up from here....

[Angharad]

Oh, ma fille douce. Je suis heureux que je ne suis pas le seul.

[Rishi]

No you are not alone, ma fille douce.

[Rishi]

My beloved husband now has a stark facial  resemblance of one of my lovers from the past as he knows every passionate and desirous part of me.

[Angharad]

Of course, you understand. My Beloved looks, and feels, very much in this life as he did in the past. It adds a dimension that is impossible to explain to people who have not experienced it. 

[Angharad]

I agree, Rishi. So many questions, so many seeming inconsistencies, fell right into place when I remembered that life. I've had many. "ah, so THAT"s why I did what I did" moments.

[Maricel Evasco]

According to AOL reincarnation quiz and one psychic I spoke to several years ago....I was very bad in the past....misuse of power which I had a lot of...and I hurt men which is why I seem to be paying the price now...a solitary, monkish life. I don't know if I can believe that or not, but I do sense that I have or have had latent powers untapped into. Perhaps residual from past lives. I know I am an old soul and have been told so by several readers.

[Angharad]

Do you believe in a karmic sort of act now, pay later thing?

I have a sense of something I find difficult to explain. It is as though we bring with us what we believe we must work out, rather than what some higher power or cosmic equation determines. We may choose traits or specific actions to work through that would not be obvious to those who knew us. For instance, a man who seemed humble to those who knew him may choose to deal with pride in his next life.

What I've observed is that the most evolved souls are hardest on themselves. Sort of on the principle that the finer the blade, the more difficult the process to hone it further.

But I think it all works out. The soul knows its needs.