Wednesday Woo-Woo ~ Past Lives

This topic takes us waist deep into tangled woo country. In common with most other woo-ish subjects, it offers opportunities for fascinating journeys into mysterious and mist-ridden mental landscapes. Nobody can possibly know for sure whether human beings have the capacity to recall a past life, whether their conciousness existed before this current sojourn here on Earth. Even those people who have experienced vivid flashes of deja vu, or under hypnosis have been able to reveal minute details of another lifetime, cannot be absolutely certain that what they experience is proof of past life - or something else.

Belief in past life is a feature of some Eastern religions. Astrologers have found a way to relate the theory of past life to configuration of the natal chart. Some tarot readers relate certain cards to past life. Regression hypnotists and therapists seem to have no lack of clients. None of this, however, makes the idea of past life any more valid. I'm not trying to denigrate the theory - simply trying to arrive at balance. There's equal chance of us having lived before as there is of the idea being nothing but imagination and/or wishful thinking. This phenomenon, in common with all of woo, resides in that vast grey area incapable of proof.

A point that comes to mind: if, as we now suspect, time is circular, or spiral, rather than linear, and there's a possibility of our consciousness being "re-used" multiple times, we should be able to experience future lives too. News along these woo-ish lines doesn't seem to have surfaced yet.

Among several well-publicised examples of past life recall, the one that springs to mind first, for those of "a certain age", is the case of Bridey Murphy. The following is a concise rundown of the case from about.com, where several other instances of past life recall are listed, as well as a possible scientific explanation of the phenomenon.

Perhaps the most famous case of past life recall is that of Virginia Tighe who recalled her past life as Bridey Murphy. Virginia was the wife of a Virginia businessman in Pueblo, Colorado. While under hypnosis in 1952, she told Morey Bernstein, her therapist, that over 100 years ago she was an Irish woman named Bridget Murphy who went by the nickname of Bridey.

During their sessions together, Bernstein marveled at detailed conversations with Bridey, who spoke with a pronounced Irish brogue and spoke extensively of her life in 19th century Ireland. When Bernstein published his book about the case, The Search for Bridey Murphy in 1956, it became famous around the world and sparked an excited interest in the possibility of reincarnation.

Over six sessions, Virginia revealed many details about Bridey's life, including her birth date in 1798, her childhood amid a Protestant family in the city of Cork, her marriage to Sean Brian Joseph McCarthy and even her own death at the age of 60 in 1858. As Bridey, she provided numerous specifics, such as names, dates, places, events, shops and songs - things Virginia was always surprised about when she awoke from the hypnosis. But could these details be verified?

The results of many investigations were mixed. Much of what Bridey said was consistent with the time and place, and it seemed inconceivable that someone who had never been to Ireland could provide so many details with such confidence. However, journalists could find no historical record of Bridey Murphy - not her birth, her family, her marriage, nor her death. Believers supposed that this was merely due to the poor recordkeeping of the time. But critics discovered inconsistencies in Bridey's speech and also learned that Virginia had grown up near - and had known well - an Irish woman named Bridle Corkell, and that she was quite likely the inspiration for "Bridey Murphy." There are flaws with this theory, too, however, keeping the case of Bridey Murphy an intriguing mystery.

Suspicious minds would wonder about the money Mr. Bernstein stood to make from his book and spin-offs, including a 1956 movie. Still though, even if the guy made his name from it all, and a nice pile of dosh, it doesn't mean that Virginia Tighe's experience was an attempt to defraud the public. Skeptics have picked holes in the story over past decades. Doubts remain as to its true significance.





Still from the movie based on Bernstein's book



There's an odd lack of photographs of Virginia Tighe on-line, the only one I can find of her, with her grandchildren, is at this website:
http://www.corbisimages.com/Enlargement/U1315681INP.html

Virginia Tighe's birth date is available, so a look at her natal chart might reveal whether she'd be the type of person likely to lapse into daydreams or become seriously delusional: some heavy Neptune aspects perhaps?

Born on 27 April 1923 - no location, or time given, so I've used Pueblo, the town where she lived, and 12 noon to construct a chart. This will suffice to show most planetary positions, though the ascendant and angles will not be accurate.





It's a well-balanced chart - all elements and modes are represented just about as equally as possible. Sun in Taurus, Moon in Virgo (unless born in the last minutes of the day). Sun and Moon in Earth signs indicate a grounded nature, not usually given to flights of fancy.

I notice that Mercury at 25 Taurus is conjunct Fixed Star Algol - the star astrologers look on as the most unfortunate of all the stars. I don't know whether this carries any significance here. Because the personal planet involved is Mercury, planet of communication, it's worth noting. For this to be especially significant though it would be necessary to check the charts of others who have experienced past life recall, to see whether Algol/Mercury played a part in their charts.

Neptune, planet of dreams, illusions and delusions needs careful investigation.
Neptune in Leo is in square (challenging aspect) to Sun and Mercury in Taurus and square Jupiter in Scorpio, setting up a "T-square" involving Sun/Mercury Neptune and Jupiter in antagonistic configuration to one another. (See below).

There's also a Grand Trine harmoniously linking Uranus/Pluto/Jupiter in Water signs. Water signs are the emotional, occasionally psychic signs, and here we have a linked circuit of them.

A Yod (Finger of Fate) formed by a helpful sextile between Saturn and Neptune, each linked via quincunx (150*) to Uranus represents a kind of chanelling of the "flavours" of Saturn and Neptune (Saturn = work/business/time/tradition and Neptune = imagination/illusion/delusion) through Uranus in Pisces, planet of eccentricity and the future, in the sign ruled by Neptune.












Putting all of that together what've we got? A grounded, well-balanced personality with also the potential for emotional and intuitive bahaviour (via the Water Grand Trine), with her solid Earthy Sun and Moon holding back any exaggerated flights of fancy. The Yod is the mysterious configuration here. I could read it as dreams of history and time funnelled through the future, with Saturn representing time and history. But Saturn also represents business, and Uranus is in Neptune's domain - which makes this even more confusing and open to a variety of interpretations.


So what's the verdict? I'm still stumbling around in that vast and murky grey area!