With a free and open mind I listen attentively to the Indian doctrine of rebirth, and look around in the world of my own experience to see whether somewhere and somehow there is some authentic sign pointing toward reincarnation.
― Carl Yung, On Life After Death

The two main interests of my working life are astrology and past life regression, and I have been fortunate to have worked with many people in a way that combines these two fascinating subjects. Using hypnosis to lead clients through past-life regressions, I also examine how the experiences they describe correlate to prominent themes in the birth chart, and those in the chart for the time of the regression. The results are extremely thought-provoking.
My method of working is to first put the client into a relaxed and comfortable state through hypnosis. Then I lead the client through memories of events in this lifetime and then, when they are ready, further back in time to a different memory. The hypnotised subject can ‘land’ in the past life at any point – he or she may be a child or an adult, but will often be about to experience a significant, emotional experience. My role as the hypnotherapist is to facilitate the process and lead the subject through any situation encountered during the regression, always ensuring their complete comfort and safety.
I have come to accept that my findings raise as many questions as they answer, and in truth I have no definitive answers as to what the process proves. As a hypnotherapist however, I believe that whatever the unconscious mind brings up for an individual is important to that person at that time; and as an astrologer it intrigues me to notice how the birth chart has its own way of telling the story expressed through regression. The correspondence of themes generated by the joint reference to astrology and regression raises, for me, the following questions:
• Is a regression simply the unconscious mind ‘speaking’ the natal chart under hypnosis?
• Could the story told under regression be a metaphor for something that is happening or has happened in the subject’s current life – placing the story in another time and another place?
• Could the subject be tapping into collective memory or the collective unconscious to recall these events (a kind of morphic resonance with previous generations perhaps)?
• Is it cryptomnesia (when we remember something under hypnosis that we have previously read about, heard in a story or seen in a film but which has been long forgotten by the conscious mind)?
• Is it simply the product of the unconscious mind – a story created out of the infinite, boundless, potential residing in the subject’s imagination but unique to that individual as it is filtered through their current personality as mirrored in their birth chart.
• Or, is it actually the imprint of a past life memory triggered by the transits at the time?

Of course, there are hundreds of documented cases of past life regression – the work of Dr Ian Stevenson for instance, who interviewed thousands of young children claiming to remember a previous life – he even went to the extent of reuniting some of them with their former family members. It is interesting though, that he discovered more incidences of past life memories in countries such as India and South America where belief in reincarnation is widely accepted.
Then there is the work of Dr Brian Weiss. He is an American psychiatrist who started to use hypnotic regression with a patient as a last resort because no other therapy was helping her anxieties and fears. The patient immediately regressed to a former life and as they continued to work together she regressed to many different lives and spontaneously recovered from her anxieties and fears. Weiss now specialises in past life regression.
The case of Bridey Murphy, however, must be amongst the most famous of all. It has certainly been the subject of the most scrutiny. In this, Morey Bernstein, a hypnotist in the 1950s, regressed a Colorado housewife, Virginia Tighe, to a young Irish woman, named Bridey Murphy, who allegedly lived in 19th century Corke, in Ireland. Over many hypnotic sessions she recounted details of her life and the village where she lived. Many of the details were later substantiated though some were not. The Bridey Murphy case generated much controversy, all kinds of people jumping on the band-wagon to discredit Morey Bernstein, the Hypnotist, whilst Virginia was accused of cryptomnesia (recalling something under hypnosis that has been read, seen or heard but forgotten by the conscious mind).
What I am about to show you could well open up another debate as to whether past lives are real or the product of a rich and fanciful imagination.

When I first started working with hypnotic regression, I was naïve enough to imagine that I would be able to get dates and times of birth from my regressed subjects and put up the chart of the former life. Well, I was lucky if I could get the year and who was King, never mind a birth date! So, I abandoned that idea quite early on and it was several years later that I started to look for the characters in the regression in the birth chart of the subject in this lifetime. As a result, I have a few cases which I thought were interesting and I hope you will too.

Past Life Regression of Gudren

One of my first subjects as a regression therapist recalled the life of a woman named Gudren – she came to see me on a cold October evening and I had set a warm and peaceful environment for our session, with candles and gentle background music. My subject was lying comfortably on the couch, but before I even finished my preliminary hypnotic induction she interrupted quite loudly, complaining about how her back hurt. I gently suggested she find a more comfortable position to continue, but her groans got louder until she shouted out that her back was killing her! I realised she had already regressed. It transpired that she was lying on the floor tied to a wooden stake.
I asked my subject what she was called and she almost spat the reply of “Bitch, Bitch – they call me Bitch”. She eventually told me her name was Gudren and she was accused of being a witch. As Gudren, she described a scene in which she was being held in a cold, damp, dungeon-type cell, with only a tiny window high up in the wall. Her sentence of burning at the stake was to be carried out the next morning. I asked why she had been accused of being a witch and she said “they had told lies” about her, and “they would burn her”. She said she practised the old art – wisdom – and that people would seek her out because she “knew things” and could help them; she was known as a wise woman. She added that she had been betrayed by the people she had helped.
The session progressed and Gudren described the guards coming to fetch her. She became very distressed as they led her to the platform and lit the fire. It was very distressing for me too, so I decided to end her discomfort there and move her on to another memory.

Natal chart for Gudren

Correlations with the nativity
• One of the most notable elements of this subject’s natal chart is the culmination of Pluto on the Midheaven. It is conjunct the North Node and opposing Chiron which reflects the session scene of pain and torture inflicted upon her. The chart supports a theme of persecution and betrayal by others who feel threatened by her powers.
• Even if we just talk ‘key words’ this is heavy stuff – intensity, passion, transformation and threats to our survival for Pluto; and wounding, suffering and seeking ways of healing our wounds for Chiron. According to Liz Greene, when Chiron meets Pluto, the archetype of the scapegoat is likely to be activated, and those born with Pluto conjunct or opposite Chiron will at some point in their lives experience a sense of alienation and scapegoating. They feel ‘different’ and are often victimised and wounded as a result.
• The effects of this opposition will be especially powerful in a chart where Pluto is angular on the Midheaven. Pluto’s conjunction with the North Node is also of interest to those who recognise the nodes as being relevant for issues connected to past-life karma, where the North Node points towards soul growth and development.
• The Midheaven degree is also aspected by Neptune in the 12th house, which fits neatly into the scenario where Gudren’s mystical, spiritual and psychic gift of ‘knowing things’ isolated her, and made her vulnerable to malicious lies from unknown sources.
• The chart also has Uranus opposing Mercury, describing someone with a progressive mind who is interested in the alternative viewpoint: an independent thinker who seeks the truth through unconventional and radical methods which challenge the established world view; unusual enough for her to be known locally as the ‘wise’ woman.
• Another powerful natal-chart theme is the Moon’s opposition and mutual reception with Mars (Mars in sign of Moon; Moon in exaltation of Mars). This describes someone who is emotionally excitable, hot blooded, fiery tempered, and who tends to meet many conflicts in life – of course, Mars in the 8th house is descriptive of the regression’s death by fire.
• Venus is also an interesting planet to consider. Placed in Aries, its sign of detriment, it is exactly on the square of Saturn which is close in its conjunction with Jupiter. This relates to Gudren’s experience of being ‘cast out’ and ‘turned against’: the very people she had helped and sought to please, condemned and punished her. For Gudren there was no-one to turn to, no-one to help her – she was alone with her fear and her pain.

My next step was to consider the transits at the time of the regression to note how they trigger the major birth chart configurations in ways that had perhaps precipitated the request for the regression session.

Gudren’s chart (inner wheel) and Transits for time of regression (outer wheel)

My observation was as follows:
• The Pluto/Chiron opposition in the birth chart was highlighted by the fact that at the time of the regression these two planets had become conjunct (an occurrence which only occurs about every 60 years). Pluto and Chiron together indicate fanatical intolerance and destructiveness (Pluto) and the suffering of the ‘outsider’ or the minority group (Chiron). Their conjunctions have been characterised in periods of history by ethnic cleansing and the victimisation or extermination of minority groups.
• The Pluto/Chiron conjunction opposes Jupiter and squares Mars, which falls upon the degree of the subject’s natal Midheaven. The whole Pluto/Chiron/Mars theme echoes the story of brutality and fear which manifest in the regression as the subject relived Gudren’s condemnation as a witch.
• The Mercury/Venus conjunction in the transits conjoined the subject’s natal 12th house Neptune, so brought resonance to her sense of innate psychic abilities – the cause of her undoing.
• The transiting Moon conjoined the natal Saturn/Jupiter conjunction and squared the natal Venus, triggering those deep-seated feelings of being disappointed and let down by others.

Past Life Regression of Magdeline

My subject this time was a lady who had asked for past-life regression because she had heard that it was possible to connect past-life trauma with physical symptoms in the present day. She had suffered all her life with neck problems which seemed to be worsening as she got older. She was not aware of any childhood injury or accident which could have caused her symptoms and had seen many doctors with no lasting benefit. She wondered if regression to a previous life would reveal any answers.

Using hypnosis to get the subject into a relaxed and comfortable state, I led her back through events in this lifetime and then further back in time to a different memory. She regressed to a five-year old girl, Magdeline, who described dying together with her mother, who was a committed Christian, at the hands of the Romans.

She described finding herself holding hands with her mother, in a long, dark, tunnel underneath what seemed to be an amphitheatre. They were in a line of people, also Christians, who were going to be led out into an arena above them to be savaged by lions.

Whether it was an act of defiance or just to keep their spirits up, they all sang in chorus right up until the end. She could hear the roar of the crowd as they waited in line and then the cheers and uproar as those in front were led out into the arena.

Her mother tells her to keep hold of her hand and to look only into her eyes.

They follow the leaders into the arena and form a circle, still singing. As instructed, she looks only at her mother. She is one of the first to be attacked by a lion and the bite comes to the neck quite quickly. She remembers falling to the ground and death is almost simultaneous.

Magdeline’s birth chart

Correlations with the nativity

There were two notable features in this subject’s natal chart, the first of which is the culmination of the Moon and North Node on the Midheaven opposing Pluto.

• That there is a strong psychic connection to the mother is reflected by the Moon conjunct the Midheaven in Pisces and this encompasses the religious connotations too.
• The Moon is also opposite Pluto on the IC which reinforces the intense feelings; life and death issues; and a strong, powerful, connection to the mother.
• For many Astrologers, the North Node points towards soul growth and evolution in a particular lifetime. It represents karma and destiny. The Moon conjunct the North Node suggested that my subject’s destiny and that of her mother were interwoven.

The other striking element of the natal chart was Chiron opposite Sun/Uranus and square to Mars.

• This configuration seemed to describe a sudden ferocious attack and persecution because of who she was, ie her identity as a Christian. Even though she was only a child she was included in that group with her mother.
• The Sun conjunct Uranus often describes someone who has to deal with sudden and unexpected circumstances. This configuration square to Mars usually shows a fearless fighter or warrior and someone who may meet with violence, physical injuries and accidents. In this situation, as a five year old child, she didn’t really understand the horror of what was happening. As a result, the attack was all the more shocking for her.
• Another point of interest in the natal chart is Mercury conjunct Jupiter which usually shows a positive and cheerful outlook. This may perhaps reflect the subject’s experience of the group singing together in spite of the ordeal they faced, not only to serve as a distraction but as a way of staying positive.
• And lastly, it is noteworthy that Saturn, ruler of the 8th house of death, is in Taurus the part of the body associated with the neck.

My next step was to consider the transits at the time of the regression to note how they trigger the birth chart configurations.

Magdeline’s birth chart (inner wheel) transits of the regression (outer wheel)

My findings were as follows:

• The natal Pluto was being squared by transiting Chiron. Pluto and Chiron together indicate fanatical intolerance and destructiveness (Pluto) and the suffering of the ‘outsider’ or the minority group (Chiron). This echoes the story of the persecution of a minority group (Christians) in the regression.
• On the day and time of the regression, there is an exact Sun square Pluto which resonates with the strong natal Pluto theme and the Moon is transiting the natal Ascendant.
• In addition, both the Ascendant and Midheaven at 4° of Cardinal signs at the start of the regression together trigger one of the key aspects in the natal chart – ie the Sun conjunct Uranus opposite Chiron and square to Mars. I felt these triggers could not be discounted as they brought into focus at that particular day, time and place the whole meaning of the natal configuration manifested in the brutality and fear which accompanied the sudden fatal attack in the regression.
• Interestingly, there was also a double whammy with transiting Neptune exactly square natal Saturn and transiting Saturn opposing natal Neptune. Noting that Saturn was the ruler of the subject’s natal 8th house of death. Perhaps these two transits reflect the theme of death and sacrifice manifest in the story told under regression.

Regression of Gunther

My next subject was a lady in this lifetime who regressed to the life of a young Austrian soldier of 19th years of age, named Gunther. It was the second World War and he was fighting the English in France in 1942.
As he entered the life, the battle was still raging, there was lots of noise …… from the planes, gunfire and shouting ….. there were many bodies and casualties. He was lying down in the sand, hiding and petrified.
He was concerned about his 21 year old brother, Fabian, whom he thought might have been killed in the cross fire.
I asked him to go back and tell me about his early life before the war and he said his father had been abusive towards his mother but had left the family home a long time earlier.
His mother had died when he was 15 and he and his brother Fabian and their younger sister, Girter, had lived with their grandmother in Innsbruck since then.
I brought him back to war time and he started to tell me about a young Belgian girl that he had discovered hiding in a farmhouse while the battle raged. He told me that he had raped the girl in the presence of an old man, whom he presumed was her father or even her grandfather.
When I asked him why he had done such a thing, he replied ‘because I don’t care any more’. He then told me that, just before he had raped the girl, he had received a letter telling him that his girlfriend, Tilda, had been killed.

I asked him to move forward in the life to age 20 but he said he didn’t make it to that age. He said that, after he had raped the young girl, the old man at the farmhouse had shot him in the head with a shotgun.
I usually ask my subjects to go beyond the point of death and review the whole of the life and tell me what they think it was about; what they have learned etc.
Gunther said he was relieved and glad he had been shot. He was scared ‘We all were’ he added – scared of Hitler and scared of being asked to do any of the things that he had seen being done.
He said there was a deep, deep sorrow attached to the life, sorrow for the loss of the people he loved and sorrow because he knew it was wrong to hurt someone else because he had been hurt so much himself.

Gunther’s natal chart

Correlations with the nativity

There are two major configurations in this chart:
Firstly, Pluto conjunct the North Node opposite Mercury, Chiron and Sun.
• The North Node can be interpreted as the kind of experiences we need to work with in order to fulfil our destiny or karma. When the North Node is conjunct Pluto in the 7th house, it is in the area of relationships that we either seek change and transformation or have it thrust upon us, sometimes as a death/rebirth experience but always making us face our darkest fears.
• Pluto opposite Mercury gives a secretive suspicious and probing kind of mind – someone who seeks to find the motivation behind people’s actions. It could also represent the loss of his brother, whom he never found and was presumed dead, killed in action.
• Chiron conjunct any personal planet shows our deepest wounds. When it is conjunct the Sun, there are invariably issues around the father which lead to a sense of feeling helpless and powerless. Gunther felt completely unable to influence the situation he found himself in.
• The whole configuration trine to Mars may even depict the rape as an effort to exercise some power and control over someone else as retaliation for the hurt he felt.
The second major aspect worthy of note is Jupiter conjunct Saturn square to Moon.
• A Jupiter/Saturn conjunction occurs every 19 years and lasts for a considerable period. Those born under it are usually conventional and orderly and while Saturn can tone down the enthusiasm of Jupiter, so Jupiter can accentuate the harshness of Saturn.
• In Gunther’s chart, the square to the Moon reflected the deep sorrow, regret and guilt that he felt – and may also show the loss of the two women he had loved most in his short life, his mother and his girlfriend, Tilda.
All these configurations together show how wounded he felt in body and soul by the circumstances throughout his life.
It is interesting that he was shot in the head – Mars being the dispositor of the 8th house ruler and significator of both the firearm and the head. That he was glad and relieved about it shows the nature of the trine perhaps.

I then turned my attention to the transits for the time of the regression

Bi-wheel – Gunther’s natal chart (inner wheel) and transits (outer wheel)

• What I noticed immediately was the Chiron transit to the natal Jupiter/Saturn conjunction square to Moon, reviving the emotional wounds of the past.
• Another major transit over a significant natal configuration is transiting Uranus conjunct natal Mercury and opposing the North Node and Pluto – it was yet to retrograde back over those degrees again. Uranus is known as the awakener – could this transit have unlocked the secrets of the mind and brought to light what had been hidden in the past with Pluto opposite Mercury?
• Transiting Saturn is square the natal Venus adding even more sadness and regret to the picture in terms of loss of loved ones and as lessons to be learned about relating.
• Lastly, it is fascinating that a story told under regression about rape and violence towards others comes up with transiting Mars conjunct the Descendant.

Summary

I know my findings here today are likely to raise as many questions as they answer. If the past lives can be shown to resonate with the current life’s birth chart, what does it mean?
• Is it cryptomnesia? – remembering something you saw, read or heard in a film or story that has been long forgotten by the conscious mind?
• Could the story told under regression be a metaphor for something that is happening or has happened in the subject’s current life – placing the story in another time and another place?
• Could the subject be tapping into collective memory or the collective unconscious to recall these events?.
• Is it simply the product of the unconscious mind – a story created out of the infinite, boundless, potential residing in the subject’s imagination but unique to that individual as it is filtered through their current personality as mirrored through their birth chart?
• OR, is it actually the imprint of a past life memory triggered by the transits at the time?
I will leave you to make up your own mind!!


Sources:
Dr I Stevenson – Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation (University Press of Virginia 1966) Children Who Remember Previous Lives (McFarland & Co Inc., 1987)
Dr B Weiss – Through Time into Healing (Piatkus 1998) Same Soul, Many Bodies (Piatkus 2004)
Morey Bernstein – The Search for Bridey Murphy (Doubleday & Co. Inc 1956)
Dr Liz Greene – ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – The Chiron-Pluto conjunction’ (CPA Apollon Journal, January 2001).