Are you surprised to see a blog about the biology of reincarnation? It does seem strange, but it was researched by the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry. The primary researcher was Ian Stevenson, M.D. Doctor Stevenson published 14 books on reincarnation and 300 formal papers on the subject. In his book Where Biology and Reincarnation Intersect, he provides us with eleven cases in which a person’s body had marks and scars from a past-life event. My video and lesson show slides of his amazing photos along with case histories. You have to see these photos in the Member Section, they are rare evidence of physical carryovers from previous lives.
The theory is that our bodies actually build memory in their cells, cellular memory. This memory carries over into a future incarnation, affecting the future body’s cells. Of course, the future body develops according to the gene pool of the future parents, but as it grows the memories in the soul-mind influence cellular growth in both shape and pigment. Sometimes this is simply a “birthmark” but it can actually be a malformation or a scar appearing on a newly born body! Dr. Stevenson interviewed hundreds of children in cultures were reincarnation is an accepted occurrence – India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Turkey (Druze), Burma (now Myanmar), Alaskan Tlingit natives, Canadian Gitxsan Tribe, and others. He found that young interviewees had clear past-life memories and could explain their marks and scars. Strangely, he found that when he returned to these same children when teenagers, they could no longer remember! In fact, some couldn’t remember having told their past-life story to Dr. Stevenson. Presumably, the present life had become so consuming that they lost all memory of the past life. It was like a veil dropped and the information was no longer accessible.
Edgar Cayce’s reading of the Book of Life of various souls who came to him for help supported the idea that souls carry forward marks and scars from their past lives. Here’s one example from his files: “Question: What was the cause for the birthmark on left hip? Answer: Few individuals there are who do not carry a mark of some character or nature. This is a mark from a former experience, from former activities in the earth plane” (2175-2 for a 29-year-old female). As you can see, Cayce is explaining that many of us carry birthmarks on our new bodies that are a result of experiences in former incarnations. In one case he said that the person had a scar in his psyche that appears on his body only when he got angry! (272-4 report). The scar was his soul’s way of reminding him not to let his anger growth into rage, for he had done that in a previous life and regretted it.
Interestingly, most of Dr. Stevenson’s cases were sudden deaths followed by very rapid reincarnations. Cayce taught the soul requires time to process an incarnation experience and to absorb the temporary personality back into the whole “individuality” of the soul being. This amount of time was called a “cycle,” and Cayce indicated that it was at least 33 years, but could be many “cycles” lasting as much as 10,000 years! He explained that many Atlanteans did not reincarnate for thousands of years because there was nothing in this world to interest them!
If this cycle does not occur, then the projected personality either becomes a haunting ghost or quickly reincarnates. Examples in the Cayce readings are of children being born in New England only months after being killed in the bombings of London during World War II.
Cayce further explains that some souls are deeply involved in Earth experiences and therefore have many incarnations while others are not and have few. The fewest incarnations for a person in the Cayce readings were four, the most were many hundreds!
Cayce’s visions do affirm the significance of birth scars and marks, as well as the coming and going of marks when stimulated by emotion. He explained that incarnate life memories have emotion attached to them, therefore emotion will cause their appearance or disappearance. In some of Dr. Stevenson’s cases the person had been murdered, and that trauma carried lots of emotion over into their next life. Some had died of illness despite their desire to remain with their family. Upon reincarnating, they quickly sought out their former family and still had emotional feelings for them. You may have read how Shirley MacLaine (author of the past-life books Out on a Limb and I’m Over All That) would have past-life flashbacks during a deep-tissue massage. This supports the idea that our body carries past-life memories in its cells and tissue.
As you can see, there is a biology to reincarnation. Cayce’s recommendation for recalling past lives of our soul is through dreams, intuition, and deep reflection. He taught that the memories are in our mind, but it’s our subconscious mind. He explained that the subconscious works through the deeper nervous system in our bodies, the Autonomic System which contains the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic systems. We mostly function consciously in our Central Nervous System, the Cerebrospinal System. When we seek within, we may enter our subconscious and our body’s deeper memories.
This blog is part of our 2020 Enlightenment Series. Members can access all of the available material, which includes an online video and downloadable monthly lesson, in the Member-only section of our website at EdgarCayce.org/members. Not a member? Join now.
