Well I got to page 27 where the doctor says he is able to take down word for word what the regressed patient is saying because "While hypnotized, Catherine spoke in a slow and deliberate whisper."

Catherine then goes on to describe a past life where she says, "The year is 1863 B.C."

For those of you who don't get it, if you were back in 1863 B.C. you wouldn't know it was 1863 years before a future event i.e. the birth of Christ.

From that point I knew I wasn't reading an amazing account of someone's fantastic experience, but simply a good story.


For those open to the concept of reincarnation   July 27, 2004
 22 out of 24 found this review helpful

Weiss, Chief of Psychiatry at a large university-affiliated hospital in Miami, first met 27 year old Catherine in 1980 when seeking help for her anxiety, panic attacks and phobias. For 18 months he used conventional methods without success but then in a series of hypnotic trance states Catherine recalled past-life memories that proved to be the causative factors of her symptoms leading to her cure within a few months. She did not believe in reincarnation but acted as a conduit for secrets of life and death from highly evolved spirit entities, some of which were specifically for him. Weiss's life would never be the same again.

When the guide described artifacts at an Egyptian exhibit she found herself correcting him and at the next treatment Weiss regressed her, asking her to recall earlier ages; "Go back to the time from which your symptoms arise." "We live in a valley; there is no water; the year is 1863 B.C. The area is barren, hot and sandy. There is a well, no rivers. Water comes into the valley from the mountains. There are big waves knocking down trees. There's no place to run. It's cold; the water is cold. I have to save my baby, but I cannot; just have to hold her tight. I drown; the water chokes me." In later sessions he found that her experience of death in her many lives was similar each time. A conscious part of her would leave the body around the moment of death, floating above and then being drawn to a wonderful, energizing light. She would then wait for someone to come and help her. The soul automatically passed on. Weiss investigated references to reincarnation. "In A.D. 325 the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, along with his mother, Helena, had deleted references to reincarnation contained in the New Testament. The Second Council of Constantinople, meeting in A.D. 553, confirmed this action and declared the concept of reincarnation a heresy. Apparently, they thought this concept would weaken the growing power of the Church by giving humans too much time to seek their salvation. Yet the original references had been there; the early Church fathers had accepted the concept of reincarnation. The early Gnostics - Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Saint Jerome, and many others - believed they had lived before and would again."

Between sessions Catherine became more psychic, having intuitions about people and events that proved to be true. Her father, expressing doubt about what was happening, was amazed when she picked the winner of every race, although she gave the winnings to a poor person as she knew that her new spiritual powers should not be used for financial gain. She recalled periods between lives. "I am aware of a bright light. It's wonderful; you get energy from this light." She then spoke in a different voice. "Our task is to learn, to become God-like through knowledge. We know so little. You are here to be my teacher. I have so much to learn. By knowledge we approach God, and then we can rest. Then we can come back to teach and help others." "They tell me there are many gods, for God is in each of us." She later identified the masters, highly evolved souls not presently in body, as the source. They could speak to him through her. Although he had kept a strictly professional distance, telling nothing about his personal life, Catherine explained the deeper meaning - payment of karmic debts and teaching lessons - of the one-in-ten million heart defect that caused the death of his first born child when 23 days old. "Catherine could not possibly know this information. There was no place even to look it up." "Who tells you these things?" "The Master Spirits tell me. They tell me that I have lived eighty-six times in physical state." He pondered the miraculous messages and the implications. " The light after death and the life after death; our choosing when we are born and when we will die; the sure and unerring guidance of the masters; lifetimes measured in lessons learned and tasks fulfilled, not in years; charity, hope, faith, and love; doing without expectation of return - this knowledge was for me. But for what purpose? What was I sent here to accomplish?" He realized that faults are not important - love is. He did not need to try to be perfect or in control all the time. There was no need to impress anyone.

Psychiatrists use high doses of tranquilizers and antidepressant medicines to treat people with Catherine's symptoms whereas under Weiss's hypnosis treatment she became radiant, serene, and happy beyond his wildest hopes. This book will be of interest to anyone open to the concept of reincarnation and the thought that each of us may have lived multiple lives. Could it be that we never die but pass through different phases? Could it be that time is not as we see time, but rather in lessons learned. Could it be that guardian angels want to help us, especially to overcome the fear of death? Could it be that acts of violence and injustice will have to be repaid in kind in other lifetimes? Could it be that greed, manipulation and self-centeredness retard the progress of the soul? Could it be that our body is just a vehicle while our souls and spirit last for ever?



Bunk   January 4, 2002
 21 out of 31 found this review helpful

This book is of the worst kind. It's author's credentials would lead one to believe that this is a scientific study. It is the most subjective, self absorbed accumulation of drivel that I've ever seen. I would have no objection to this, had it not been promoted as science. There are NO substantial or verifiable facts in the entire book. Please don't waste your time or money.


Most inspirational and life saving book I've ever read   October 16, 1999
 19 out of 22 found this review helpful

My husband commited suicide in '92 in front of me and my two year old daughter. From that day I prepared myself to die. Until, that is, my mother sent me this book. It put me at ease to know what my husband was actually experiencing. I'd always heard that if you commit suicide you go to hell and that thought consumed me. It was so relieving to know that he was making his own passage. I prayed for my husband to be born again through me so that his ending wouldn't be the same. A year later my son was born and my current mate said he looked like my husband. I never told him of my prayer. This book literally saved my life. The words provided me comfort when I needed it the most. Instead of alcohol, I learned to turn to books. I highly recommend this book for all of the people that have yet to find the'r way in life, or their life seems to have no meaning. It made me pick myself up and start looking for "my reason for being here".


disappointing "rapture" where objectivity is best exercised   November 4, 1999
 19 out of 27 found this review helpful

Weiss is a Doctor practising at the most fragile interface of being- where the emotional, mental, and psycho-spriitual meet. While it is refreshing to find a doctor prepared to deal forthrightly with a whole area of metaphysical experience common to many, but rarely talked about except with discretion, this book both titilates the interest while it causes grave concern: Firstly, it is disconcerting to find him gushingly enthusiastic to the detriment of objectivity. We see this P54-7 where his amazed reaction to mediumistically delivered information on his son, Adam's death, leads him to unquestioningly accept this comes from a benevolently inspired "Master". He never considers the possibility that these communications which interrupt the hypnotic sessions with his patient may have undesirable origins, such as those the Tibetans call Pretas, or which any medium will warn of. Thenceforth, whenever one of his therapy sessions is inturrepted in this manner fom an extraneous source he assumes each different voice to be a diffefernt "master" speaking (see p 121-2, 139-40, P159-60 for more pretentuous and fatuous comments presented by the "Masters", or p185 where a further facile communication interrupts the session) But Weiss uncritically accepts these interupting communications as "..to talk with the "gods" and to share their wisdom. We were eating from the Tree of Knowledge, no longer forbidden" p162. The second concern this book provokes arises from the impression that at times the patient is used as a medium for the therapists purpose, while he is waiting for words from the "Masters". It was a definite impression of this reader that the therapist sidetracks from the process of therapy into pursuing his own metaphysical interests. In addition to this ethical question, there is also the issue of possible dangers to the patient by allowing (even encouraging) them to become the vehicle for mediumistic communication. As an account of therapy under hypnosis the book fails to satisfy. The hypnotic sessions are unstructured and any healing is a directionless byproduct of the sessiion, rather than resulting from the therapists guidance. For example the "cure" of the patients fear of swallowing arises by the patient breaking the course of the sessiion to bring it up and deal with it herself. But as a contribution to the influence possible former incarnations may have on this life, forget it! The book's real interest lies in depicting one man's uncritical infatuation with mediumistic advice from supposed "Masters".