Introduction ". whatsoever a soul soweth, that shall it also reap." (Edgar Cayce reading 2153-3) When I was in college, one of my history professors called me into his office to discuss a paper I had written. He was an intimidating sort and I was terrified of him, so to be called into his office filled me with dread. I timidly sat across the desk, quietly fidgeting in my chair as he intently stared at me. After what seemed like hours, he said, "Joanne, you have the most uncanny feel for the 18th century of any student I''ve ever had." I smiled with relief. I knew it was true, even though at this point in my life, I did not attribute that "uncanny feel" to reincarnation.

Yes, I read books about reincarnation throughout my teens and yes, there were a number of clues from my childhood as to why I responded to 18th century American history as if I had lived it, but I never put two and two together. Curious about why I felt such a kinship to this time period, after graduation I convinced a friend to join me in visiting historic locales from Virginia to Massachusettas. My hope was that one of them would reveal the secret behind my unexplained attraction to early American history. I didn''t have to wait long for an answer. Just a few days into the Virginia leg of the trip, I began experiencing palpitations and shortness of breath, accompained by a strong sense of deja vu. It was very bizarre and I could not explain it except to think maybe it was something I ate. Luckily, that sensation did not manifest elsewhere on our journey and I filed it away in that part of my brain where I stored inexplicable experiences. A few years later, I married and began raising a family in suburban Chicago, living what I thought was a rather conventional existence.

That all changed after Out on a Limb, a television mini-series based on Shirley MacLaine''s groundbreaking book, aired in January 1987. Its strong emphasis on reincarnation relit my previous curiosity about past lives, so I got involved on Edgar Cayce''s Association for Research and Enlightenment (ARE) and the now disbanded Association for Past Life Research and Therapies (APRT). Over the next few years, I ardently pursued the study of every aspect of reincarnation. This exploration eventually uncovered information that gave me a plausible explanation as to why I felt such a kinship to 18th century Virginia, but more importantly, gave me a reason why issues I was dealing with in the here and now were linked to a previous lifetime. In an effort to learn more, I returned to Virginia in 1993 and retraced my steps where I had had that strong physical response some twenty-two years earlier. This time my reaction was much more debilitating than mere deja vu, as I felt a sharp burning sensation in my lower spine. The pain was excruciating and I could barely function. Somehow I got on a plane and returned home where I sought relief from a number of doctors, including my primary care physician and several chiropractors--all to no avail.

X-Rays showed nothing. Pain meds did nothing. Exercise gave me no relief. For six months, absolutely nothing worked. Finally, out of desperation, I consulted with David Roell, a gifted channeler who was able to read my Akashic Record. The Akashic Records are the equivalent of the Universe''s super computer, containing every thought, word, and deed attributed to our soul since creation. Think of it as a big library in the sky with a book that contains your soul''s biography. While some Akashic readers would have you believe only they can find and read your Book of Life, as Edgar Cayce called it, the truth is, through guided meditation, you can do this as well.

I hadn''t learned how to do that yet, so I asked David to do it for me. Knowing I had first experienced this paint while visiting an 18th century locale, I reasoned that if it were past-life related, it had to do with that lifetime. Sure enough, it did. David''s channel told me that the reason I was feeling that pain was because in that life, I had been hit in the back with a fireplace poker in the very same place where I first felt the pain. This later was confirmed by Betty Riley, another gifted intuitive I knew through the ARE. Without telling her what David revealed, she nonetheless shared the very same explanation. Soon after the source of that pain was revealed, it disappeared. Learning the origin of the pain, it was no wonder I felt that "burning" sensation--and not surprising that traditional medical intervention failed to release that pain the way the truth of its origin did.

While I never forgot that incident, I nonetheless did not think about it in the context of physical karma. That''s because when it occurred in 1993, I was not yet a past-life therapist, so case studies involving physical karma were not in the forefront of my mind. I was, however, passionate about past-life research and by then had formed my own past-life organization, called PLEXUS (Past Life Exploration, Understanding, and Sharing). Through PLEXUS, and through ARE, I met many professionals involved in reincarnation studies. They became my mentors. Upon disclosing the facts about my own past-life journey, the late Henry Bolduc, an ARE author and lecturer who was considered an expert on reincarnation, said I knew more about reincarnation than most past-life therapists, so why wasn''t I doing past-life work myself? I was flattered at the compliment, but adamant that I didn''t want to be a therapist. I was a writer and saw my role as one of observer, researcher and reporter--not as a practitioner. But Henry persisted and eventually, more to appease him than anything else, I became certified as a hypnotherapist and began seeing clients of my own.

For this, I say--thank you, Henry! As a past-life therapist for many years now, I have had a front frow seat to the miraculous transformations that occur during a regression session. Each time it happens, I am reminded about how valuable the experience is--not only for the client, but also for anyone else who would read about what ordinary men and women encounter when they explore their previous lifetimes. The magic happens in the office, but the true healing occurs when that magic is shared. And that''s what I feel led to do more than anything else. So now, why this book? I have always paid attention to synchronistic events, or as Carl Jung called them--"meaningful coincidences." A few years ago, I noticed a shift in my regression practice. Suddenly I was getting requests for sessions from individuals who suspected that their present life ailments were rooted in a previous life. These were people suffering from all manner of chronic conditions.

They had sought relief through traditional means but came up empty handed. The condition persisted. Somehow, someway, spirit led them to make the connections that their malady may be rooted in a previous life and if so, what better way to confirm this than through a past-life regression? From my years of doing past-life research, I read many reports suggesting that present-life conditions were the result of karma. It may have been acquired from a mean-spirited attitude toward someone, from an event in which someone did something harmful to another, or vice-versa. Some physical karma came from a wound recieved in batt≤ from a last thought as a wound left the body; or even from the manner of death. As a student of Edgar Cayce, the most renowned psychic of the 20th century and the father of holistic medicine, I began researching hundreds of readings he gave to individuals coming to him with physical complains--everything from acne to venereal disease. Fortunately, some of these lucky souls also had a life reading, for it is in the life readings that Cayce''s Source explained why their present-life condition was the result of actions they took in a previous life. Adding to this, I often heard my colleagues talk about spontaneous healings that occured as a result of a past-life regression.

When a client uncovered the source of their physical malady, coupled with a greater connection to spirit, it led to healing--as if a spirit was saying, "Well, now you know WHY you are dealing with this today, but it''s over and done with. You don''t need the reminder anymore so therefore, you don''t need this condition anymore" and it was gone. My skeptical side thought this was not possible--that there must be another explanation. I cringed when I thought of how the medical community would react to such a statement. Yet the part of me that believes nothing is impossible in this universe embraced the idea of spontaneous healing as a true possibility. After all, I only had to look at my own experience to know that. And then, as if to confirm this fact, I was privileged to see it happen to one of my own clients during the research I conducted for my second book, Your Soul Remembers: Accessing Your Past Lives Through Soul Writing. In his case, death by suffocation in Pompeii came back to manifest as asthma in this life as a reminder not to repeat the behavior patterns of the past that led to his death.

Since I always add a soul-writing session to the end of each regression, he was able to answer the question I posed, which was: "Ask your soul if there is anything more about that life that was not revealed in the regression." The first sentence he wrote was a question, "Asthma the result of seared lungs?" That was his ah-ha moment. He reported that the asthma disappeared soon thereafter. It had done its job and was no longer needed. This was typical of the volunteers who had come to this project and pointed to an underlying truth about dealing with physical karma.