Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives

Michael Newton's 1994 case-compilation from his hypnotherapy practice — twenty-nine patient sessions in which subjects, regressed past "past lives" to the inter-life state, produced consistent reports of soul groups, life-selection councils, spirit guides and incarnational planning. Newton's claim is that the consistency of the reports, across patients without prior contact, is itself the evidence. The fifteen chapters trace the soul's passage from death and departure through the gateway to the spirit world, orientation, placement among soul groups, the levels of beginner, intermediate and advanced souls, life selection, and the choice of a new body for return to Earth.

Newton — a doctorate-level counselling psychologist and certified master hypnotherapist working in Los Angeles — developed the method by accident when a client in regression slipped into a state he came to call "superconscious," then refined it across more than a decade of sessions. The book founded a new genre, Life-Between-Lives (LBL) regression therapy, and seeded the Newton Institute, which now certifies practitioners in more than forty countries. The case-transcript format makes it readable as edited dialogue between Dr N and his subjects rather than a treatise; the inferences are Newton's, the voices are theirs.

First lines

Are you afraid of death? Do you wonder what is going to happen to you after you die? Is it possible you have a spirit which came from somewhere else and will return there after your body dies, or is this just wishful thinking because you are afraid?

Contents

Reception

The founding text of "between-lives regression therapy" as a distinct genre and a long-running bestseller within reincarnation publishing — the Newton Institute trains practitioners worldwide. Standard critiques apply: hypnotic suggestion produces internally-consistent narratives almost regardless of whether the underlying claims are true; the consistency Newton reports may reflect cultural priors more than spiritual ontology. Within the past-life and parapsychology communities, his reports' phenomenological consistency is treated as significant; outside them, the methodology is treated as a textbook example of what suggestion produces.

Frequently asked

What is Journey of Souls about?

Michael Newton's 1994 case-compilation from his hypnotherapy practice — twenty-nine patient sessions in which subjects, regressed past "past lives" to the inter-life state, produced consistent reports of soul groups, life-selection councils, spirit guides and incarnational planning. Fifteen chapters trace the soul's passage from death and departure through the gateway to the spirit world, orientation, placement among soul groups, and the eventual choice of a new body for return to Earth.

Is Michael Newton a hypnotist or a psychologist?

Both. Newton held a doctorate in counselling psychology and was a certified master hypnotherapist with a private practice in Los Angeles. He resisted past-life work for years before a client in regression slipped accidentally into what he came to call the "superconscious" state, opening the line of work that produced this book.

How is the book usually treated in academic psychology?

As a textbook case of what hypnotic suggestion produces — internally-consistent narratives that may reflect cultural priors as much as any underlying reality. Within the past-life and parapsychology communities the phenomenological consistency Newton reports is treated as significant; outside them the methodology is treated with scepticism. The Newton Institute, founded in his name, trains practitioners worldwide and treats the book as foundational.