I have the most exciting job in the world! I get to explore human consciousness, visit fascinating realms, and discover amazing information about the hidden past. One such exploration recently involved a past-life regression with DRT, a 43-year old man who in this earthly life makes his living in an office setting. DRT, who looks at least 10 years younger, didn’t reveal any specific goal other than curiosity for doing the regression. You can imagine my surprise when I asked him during the session what his name was and he answered, “Edgar Allan Poe.” The following are DRT’s own words describing his experience. Interspersed are my comments. I have put his words in blue and mine in black so the reader can discern who’s writing what.
Death and Rebirth on New Year’s Eve
Perhaps the best time to do a past life regression is on December 31st since New Year’s Eve is death and rebirth personified. Also, in my particular case, the sun was in Capricorn like it was when I was born in a past life in the 1800s. On the practical side, I was off from work all day and I did not have to pick up my son from school on that Friday due to the holiday. While most parents would be busy buying champagne or firecrackers or possibly both, I was more interested in getting hypnotized for the first and so far, only time in my life. I drove west on Interstate-4 toward Diane Ross’ office. I had a two-hour afternoon appointment. My wife’s Garmin provided directions to keep me from getting lost.
Honestly, I really did not know what to expect. I had seen images of hypnotism on television and the internet, but I had never seen anybody hypnotized in person. I had never met the therapist before, but I checked her website and she seemed qualified and friendly. I specifically choose her because she had a writing background and an interest in spirituality. While many different types of therapists offer hypnosis for past life regression, some of them do not believe in the procedures that they perform in their offices. This seems both greedy and absurd. The purpose of any therapy is healing and true healers can be hard to find.
Because I did not want to compromise the session, I purposely withheld information from Diane. I did tell her the truth: that I wrote a novel in 2009 about reincarnation and in order to be motivated to finish writing it, I made a promise to myself to do first-hand research. I couldn’t even risk giving her the title of my unpublished novel.
Diane was professional and spent thirty minutes with me discussing what hypnotism is and isn’t, what it can do, and what it cannot do. Finally, we were ready to begin the session. I had no control over what information my Higher Self would divulge, but I was hoping to confirm a theory of mine about one of my past lives. Of course, I chose to record the session because I believe I was a famous person who lived from 1809 to 1849 and I wanted to have as much proof of it as possible. Naturally, there is no way to prove it logically or rationally. Nevertheless, I had already accessed my Higher Self while writing my novel and it, along with my intuition, pointed to one and only one conclusion. I thought it would be potentially fun to shock an unsuspecting therapist with the fact that in one of my past lives, I was the biggest screwball and loser in world history. I am not embarrassed by that life because it’s not like I am Hitler or Jack The Ripper reincarnated. Furthermore, I could “throw down.” In many ways, I was the first rapper.
The only way I can describe being hypnotized is that it is as relaxing as a perfect day at the beach multiplied by a trillion. At least, until one starts reliving a traumatic past. The session lasted slightly over an hour. After over twenty minutes of being put under, deeper and deeper, the therapist asked what my name was in that life. I told her I was Edgar Allan Poe, but everybody calls me Eddie. Not much was going on in that scene. I was wearing all black, including a top hat. Later at home, I did research on the internet and I found out that Poe did wear a top hat. The color was not mentioned, but we all know that Johnny Cash wasn’t the first man in black. The most intriguing scene was one in which my employer, Mr. Burton, fired me for always being late. I guess flex time was not invented in the first half of the 1800s. History says that Poe worked for Burton as an editor for eleven months and then supposedly quit. Burton firing Poe is not in any book or mentioned anywhere on the internet. Further research would be invaluable. If it can be proven that Burton did, indeed, fire Poe, then skeptics would be silenced, and more importantly, I would know for sure that I really was accessing the Akashic Records via an expanded consciousness.
Most people would want to know about the mystery of my death in that life. According to the doctors, Poe died of tuberculosis. It is surprising that it has never been put forward as a theory since it is a contagious disease and caused his wife, Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe’s death. Moreover, it can be spread by other means than sexual contact. Perhaps the Poes consummated their marriage, perhaps they did not. Is it incest if you marry your first cousin, but then don’t have sexual relations with your spouse?
The rest of the session was primarily the spiritual lessons learned from that life. Unfortunately, I did carry over some negative patterns. On the plus side, I also brought over some of the abilities that I developed in the 1800s. I tell other poets all the time that I am very old school. Some of them may even get the joke. I would hope that careful readers would discern some stylistic similarities between the master of meter and me.
DRT
March 14, 2011
The reader certainly can read DRT’s humor! And who but himself would refer to Poe as “the biggest screwball and loser in history?” Not in my biggest imaginings would I think that one of America’s greatest poets was a screwball and loser! One of the things DRT doesn’t mention is the emotion he experienced as we moved forward in the regression to a significant event. When I asked him to describe what he was experiencing, he told me that Burton, his boss, was firing him. He told me Burton was yelling at him and firing him because Poe was habitually late for work. (DRT told me later that he’s always 10 to 15 minutes early for work in this lifetime!) He said he was shell-shocked and depressed, he packed up his stuff and left, there was nothing else to do.
When I moved DRT forward five years in the memory, Poe had already passed away. We backed up to Poe’s death scene. He was in a hospital, not lucid, and wasn’t sure what caused his death. After he made the transition, a very tall male angel was there to greet him. DRT said the angel’s job was orientation and told him to do a life review. When we went to that place of review and I asked him what he learned during that lifetime, tears created streams down his face as he told me that it was a life that he chose, a life of limitations; socially, financially and emotionally, and that these limitations were largely self-inflicted. He said it was for his own spiritual growth, what he had charted for himself.
When I asked DRT what he had learned from that, he said that we can overcome our limitations, if we so choose. He said that as Poe, he secluded himself emotionally so as not to endure emotional pain. He said he carried over many of the same patterns developed in the life of Poe, including being emotionally distant, the same interests artistically and spiritually, the same frustrations of failing to be published and when he did publish, not being able to make enough money to quit his day job.
When I asked DRT why it was important for him to become aware of Poe’s life now, he said it was because he kept pushing other people away, he wouldn’t let his wife get as close to him as she wanted to be. He said Eddie also did that with his wife.
I asked DRT if there was anything he’d like to say to Eddie. DRT said that Poe did the best he could with what he had. DRT added, “I should have relaxed a little bit more and not expected the worst all the time. He was still a good person no matter what anybody else thinks.” There was more, but because we are attempting to make this short, suffice it to say that Eddie suffered constant loneliness and felt he had an unfinished life, but that, from this higher perspective, Poe knew that he didn’t need to be alone, that other people loved him and that he was “perfect the way he was, whether other people see it or not.”
Edgar died at the age of 40 of what the doctors called consumption but what we would call tuberculosis. When I asked for DRT’s guides and angels to give him insights and clarity about that life, he said, “It’s not over. I have to carry out my mission in my (this) life . . . showing people who I am. To bring them to a deeper level of spiritual understanding.” I asked one way that he could do this and he replied, “Writing work that is so similar to the past life that it makes people understand and question reincarnation.”
I asked DRT if he had any questions for his Higher Self, guides or angels and he asked, “How do I fulfill it?” referring to his mission. He was told, “Letting the world come to me. That’s it, no details or explanations. I guess just relax and let things unfold.” At that point, I asked for permission to ask a question from his Higher Self, guides and angels. After I got a yes, I asked, How can you best open your heart? He responded, “By serving other people. Serving other people through one’s occupation, or one’s hobby or one’s example of the way they live their life.” He also wanted to ask about the best course of action regarding his marriage and was told, “Follow your heart, being either 100% into it or 100% out of it.” When I asked what feels best he said 100% into it. He said it felt light, happy, peaceful and grounded. I asked for one action he could take to make it 100% and he said to tell my wife I’m sorry for pushing her away, to keep more involvement with my son, be more patient and forgiving.
From DRT’s point of view, when he went into the session I think his main concern was finding evidence that he, indeed, was Edgar Allan Poe. I think that after the session, he may have decided to follow his heart and accomplish his mission in his current lifetime. Regardless, he is a prolific poet, and I can attest that the rhyme and meter that he writes in his current lifetime are totally reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Allan Poe. Yes or no? Who can decide?