Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives (Michael Newton's Journey of Souls, 1) Paperback – Illustrated, July 1, 1994

I purchased Journey of Souls in April 2022, and since then, I’ve read it multiple times. Prior to owning this book, I had read Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss. While Weiss's work is widely respected, I personally didn’t resonate with his approach. His writing often incorporated religious themes that leaned into fear-based ideologies, something I couldn’t fully align with.Michael Newton’s Journey of Souls offers a very different perspective. Although it does touch on religion, it does so with neutrality and seeks understanding rather than reinforcing fear. Newton’s work provided answers to questions I had long held about death and the afterlife. After reading this book, my fear of death genuinely diminished. It gave me clarity, peace, and a sense of deeper spiritual awareness.That said, I do want to give a fair warning, this book is not for the faint-hearted, especially if you hold strong religious beliefs. Newton’s findings challenge traditional religious narratives, and some readers may find this uncomfortable or even offensive. Many people prefer Brian Weiss's work for this very reason, they feel more spiritually aligned with his tone and messaging. And that’s completely okay.We often forget that not all of us are walking the same path, and that’s the beauty of the journey. We have the freedom to explore, question, and accept only what truly resonates with us. This book may not be for everyone, but for those seeking a broader understanding of the soul’s experience beyond this life, Journey of Souls can be a transformative and deeply affirming read.

"Are you afraid of death? Do you wonder what is going to happen to you after your die? Is it possible you have a spirit which came from somewhere else and will return there after your body dies, or is this just wishful thinking because you are afraid?" --Dr. Michael Newton in Journey of Souls - Case Studies of Life Between LivesAt one time or another, everyone wonders what happens to them when they die, and what lies beyond the grave. In his book Journey of Souls - Case Studies of Life Between Lives, Hypnotherapist Dr. Michael Newton chronicles the experiences of 29 people that were under deep hypnosis and their experiences between lives. Many books have been written about past lives, but this book addresses what happens between lives.Dr. Newton did not set out to regress people beyond their current earthly lives. In fact, as a skeptic by nature and one oriented towards traditional therapy, he resisted requests to do past-life regression--feeling that this was unorthodox and unethical. However, one of his clients complained of a lifetime of chronic pain on his right side, and during one of their regular sessions, the client made stabbing motions to describe the kind of pain he felt. When searching for an explanation for this client's choice of images, he uncovered that his client had a past life as a WWI solider that was killed by a bayonet in France. Through this discovery, they were able to eliminate this pain altogether.He then began to do past life regressions, but then stumbled on a discovery of enormous proportions: he found that it was possible to see into the spirit world through the mind's eye of a hypnotized subject who could report back to him about life between lives.Dr. Newton explains:"The research was painfully slow, but as the body of my cases grew I finally had a working model of the eternal world where our souls live. I found thoughts about the spirit world involve universal truths among the souls of people living on Earth. It was these perceptions by so many different types of people which convinced me that their statements were believable. I am not a religious person, but I found the place where we go after death to be one of order and direction, and I have come to appreciate that there is a grand design to life and afterlife."Dr. Newton shares actual dialogue culled from audio recordings of regression sessions between he and his clients about what happens at the gate of death, who meets us on the other side, what we do once we're there, the purpose of our life, the role of guides, the nature of karma, cluster "study groups", inter-soul communication, what happens to "disturbed" souls, aura colors, the different levels of souls, and much more.I found Journey of Souls utterly fascinating, as well as Dr. Newton's sequel Destiny of Souls. However, my experience with these books was much more than mere intellectual fascination: both my husband and I experienced an utter paradigm shift about the afterlife, the Creator, and the purpose of life. Up until reading these books, I was still on the fence about reincarnation, and my husband's perspective was "no way!" The compelling regression sessions chronicled in this book convinced us otherwise, largely because of the consensus among regressed clients and how their reports confirmed some spiritual notions we were discovering on our own through direct experience.No other model made sense to either one of us; we long concluded that there was no literal hell, but what of suffering on Earth? Are our bodies, and our lives, completely random and arbitrary? Is it really possible we live more than one life? Why are we born into the family we are, especially if it results in abuse or pain?In these books we discovered that individuals carefully choose his or her own body and life circumstances to bring about certain experiences and to draw the soul closer to the perfection of the Creator. The whole point of incarnating is for self development. Yet, no one is rushed back into incarnating, and every soul has a chance to enter a dimension of time/space to "try out" a life and decide if this is the best choice for their own path.On the other side, there is playfulness, exploration, role playing, lessons, growth, past life examination, and so on. It is a place of rest, healing, rejuvenation, and self-examination. There are "schools" and our learning is a part of a specialized soul group. We have guides who teach us how to work with energy, and others who open up "books of life" so we can scrutinize our past life performance--and decide where we messed up, and how we can best grow in future lives.A helpful aspect of this book is the explanation of why some individuals go through difficult relationships, especially as children:"When clients tell me how much they suffered from the actions of family members, my first question to their conscious mind is, 'If you had not been exposed to this person as a child, what would you now lack in understanding?' It may take awhile, but the answer is in our minds. There are spiritual reasons for our being raised as children around certain kinds of people, just as other people are designated to be near us as adults......whatever happens to us in life, it is important we understand that our happiness or pain does not reflect either blessings or betrayal on the part of a God-oversoul, our guides, or life selection coordinators. We are the master of our own destiny."Most encouraging though, especially to those who fear a vengeful God awaiting them after death, is that we are not condemned or punished in the afterlife. Newton writes:"All soul evaluation conferences, be they with our guides, peers, or a panel of masters have one thing common. The feedback and past life analysis we receive in terms of judgment is based upon the original intent of our choices as much as the actions of our lifetime. Our motivations are questioned and criticized, but not condemned in such a way as to make us suffer."I highly recommend Journey of Souls, especially if you're searching for answers about the meaning of your life, why things happen, and what happens after death. Truly, we are never alone and are always surrounded by a supportive "great cloud of witnesses".Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book: Picture the Past, Experience the Cards, Understand the Present (coming Fall 2008 from Hampton Roads Publishing)

Michael Newton talks about how, through hypnosis, people are taken to the part of the mind (not brain) where we remember everything, including our time spent in between incarnations, (in fact, he found out that MOST of our eternal existence is not in body, but in heaven— "the afterlife," where we learn, grow, evolve, and LIVE.) He, though regressing hundreds of people over the years, learned MUCH about God's realm, and eagerly wrote everything down that he learned. While I recognize that it COULD be all untrue, it seems true to me, and plus what one gains if one absorbs this information is a new way of living more spiritually. It is perfectly combined with the study of Near Death Experiences, which has a similar effect. So, while with NDEs, you can listen to the experiences of people who have "been there" and seen that light and had their lives change, this book is by the hypnotist ABOUT the experiencers, and he doesn't write much about his own regressions, so it's more a question of faithful believing. But his other 3 books contain even more about people who have undergone this journey to that place we can't remember, and found out their life purpose and changed their lives for the better, in ways that they feel, "YES, this is right, this is what I was meant to be doing. " I was brought up by atheists and, while discovering God for myself, I didn't believe in life after death and never subscribed to any religion. I think that maybe I was meant to remain open to embrace these newer understandings, which stand the tests of current experience in helping people. Well, of course the regular religions do this, too, but some of us just can't seem to grasp the truth in them—they are so old and creaky. To try and wring wisdom from the Bible is so much harder than to read newer stuff written in modern language about the way God means it to be. So simple, and what we all know, but with a special spin of authenticity, and extra information, too—like, did you know that some souls incarnate on other planets? That we do evolve and progress in the spirit world? and especially, that we are each here on earth to learn special things that our souls have been having trouble grasping? And you know, look around, how much this knowledge is needed. Instead of lying and manipulation for power, as we have seen in the last four years (it's 2021 now) done spectacularly—(and it goes on, even after the term of office is over, not just one person, but thousands.) For one thing, you can see that these people need to have their sights set on living good lives, and not on fighting and arguing and protesting, and they are here to learn things that, God help them, they might want to start learning—and that if, in our culture, it became in general something we all had in mind, how much better things would get, fast—as we discovered how to love and help each other instead of cut and compete. One hopes that mainstream science is going to get on board with these discoveries (especially NDEs) but meanwhile, we can each set our own lives on a better course by learning more about God's reality and God's truths. It helps me a great deal in the face of adversity to turn my mind to "What do I need to learn from this?" I think that's the most important gist of why learn all about heaven and the purpose of our lives and the evolution of our souls. Michael Newton and others founded a center which continues his work. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating."Let's hope he is still communicating with those of us on earth who have that gift of being able to hear deceased souls!! (I'm not one of those! I have to read about it, and so I just ordered some more books about spiritualism!) It's hard to understand, while viewing ALL these books about this field that Most People are still basically atheists (even the religious ones) and laugh at the whole idea that the mind separates from the body at death and lives on. I just cheerfully say "Wait, you'll see!"