Having processed nine Past Lives through hypnotic regression with a Certified Past Life therapist, I will dispute the statement that, "we forever forget our Past Lives." As a result of doing the regression work, I am now aware that many aspects of my previous lives filtered into my conscious mind beginning at age three. However, I quickly learned from my mother's admonishment, "Now, Dorothy don't get carried way," that talking about my memories of 'previous' experiences was forbidden. Two of my Past Lives have been written about extensively. There have also been several well documented past life memories, which have been published-Across Time and Space, Jenny Cockell, Looking for Carol Beckworth, Commander Robert Snow, Thomas Andrews Voyage Into History: Titanic Secrets Revealed Thru The Eyes of Her Builder, William Barnes, The Return of the Revolutionaries, Walter Semkiw, Somebody Else's Yesterday, Jeffrey Keene, Marilyn Monroe Returns-The Healing of a Soul, Adrian Finklestein, MD.

Eastern philosophies posits that the human has not only the physical body, but a series of overlapping, multidimensional bodies. These bodies are variously described according to different traditions, but essentially they include the etheric/ electromagnetic body (seat of the chakras), the astral/emotional body (the basic formative dimension for emotions as polarized expressions), the mental body (the sphere of abstract knowledge and concrete thinking, the realm of Forms). The last is the causal body (seat of the Soul, the timeless, spiritualized agent behind sequential human incarnations).

Physical

This is self explanatory. The physical body has the lowest vibrations and is attached to the etheric and the astral.

Etheric

The etheric body can leave the physical. I think its role is a "life energy" body. When the body goes to sleep, the etheric expands, the chakras open, and we receive energy and restore our depleted supply. This is why it is also referred to as the vitality sheath or health body. When I'm tired and drained, I can lay down for half an hour, enter a trance like state and wake up feeling totally refreshed. This is not the projection of the astral body, but a charging of the etheric. If the etheric projected a great deal, our bodies would feel drained, not refreshed, upon return. When I astral project, my etheric is doing its job of replenishing my body, and when I come back, I am refreshed. The two are independent.

When people experience "duality" a.k.a mind splitting (where the consciousness resides at two locations) I believe one part of the consciousness is in the etheric and another one is in the astral.

Not everyone sees the 'silver cord.' I have seen this cord. It has been suggested that the cord is related to etheric projection, not astral. If the cord was associated with just astral projection, then we would see it every time we astrally projected.

I remember leaving my body and I looked back towards my physical body. I saw my body sitting in the chair where I was meditating. Another woman I know left her body and looked back towards her physical body. She saw her body, but it was in a totally different position than her physical body she had just left. I believe it was the etheric body that she was seeing. In the astral, we see the astral counterparts of the physical, but I think we can also see our etheric shell.

People who are sickly have reported more out of body experiences (O.O.B.Es). I think this is because the etheric is weak and the astral is able to separate more easily. Both our physical and etheric bodies are magnetic in nature and influence the pull of the astral.

When objects are moved, I think it is more from the influence of the etheric body, rather than the astral which does not share the same vibrations as objects in the physical. The etheric is of a higher vibration than the physical, but lower than the astral.

Astral

The astral body is aligned with the physical and is of a lower vibration when it is attached. To unattach, the frequencies must be raised. The astral body can transcend various levels in the astral plane. It reacts to thoughts and can see the astral counterpart of the physical world. It cannot affect physical objects because they do not share the same vibrations. The astral body can transcend time and space. There is a feeling of separation when consciously projecting from the body. People have reported feeling a rushing, vibrating, roaring, crackling and popping (to name a few). When in the astral, our filter is removed and we are able to see, hear and feel more. This is commonly where the consciousness resides upon death.

Mental

The mental body is where remote viewing happens. When you achieve bi-location during remote viewing, there is no feeling of separation as with astral projection. There is also no visual distortion as there sometimes is with astral projection (depending on where you are at on the astral plane). My first "projection" was a mental one. I went straight from the physical to the mental body which explains why there were no vibrations. I just involuntarily "popped" out and was several feet away. I also think the mental body is often independent of our physical one. Unlike astral projection, when I separate, I detach from the body and travel accordingly. In the mental, one just shows up somewhere and have done nothing to travel there. The mental body does not contain the thought "junk" of the astral. One may be able to see partial thoughts formed in the astral (as in a partially built ship), but not in the mental. When I wake up in the mental, I am usually nowhere near my body and have no sensation of a body of any kind. The mental body also transcends time and space. Advanced remote viewers, using their mental body, communicate telepathically.

Causal:

Seat of the Soul, the timeless, spiritualized agent behind sequential human incarnations.

Documented evidence of past lives, reincarnation and healing

"Many Lives, Many Masters," Weiss, MD
"Through Time Into Healing," Weiss, MD
Only Love is Real," Weiss, MD
"Messages from the Masters" Weiss, MD
"Care of the Soul, "Thomas Moore
"Does the Soul Survive?: A Jewish Journey to Belief in Afterlife, Past Lives and Living with Purpose," Ellie Kaplan Spitz and Brian L. Weiss, MD
Children's Past Lives, Carol Bowman