(From book cover) This remarkable book uncovers--for the first time--the mystery of life in the spirit world after death on earth. Dr. Michael Newton, a hynotherapist in private practice, has developed his own hypnosis techniques to reach his subjects' hidden memories of the hereafter. The resulting narrative acts as a progressive "travel log" of the accounts of 29 people who were placed in a state of super-consciousness. While in deep hypnosis, these subjects movingly describe what has happened to them between their former reincarnations on earth. They reveal graphic details about how it feels to die, who meets us right after death, what the spirit world is really like, where we go and what we do as souls, and why we choose to come back in certain bodies.

After reading Journey of Souls, you will gain a better understanding of the immortality of the human soul...and you will meet day-to-day personal challenges with a greater sense of purpose as you begin to understand the reasons behind events in your own life. While in a state of deep hypnosis, 29 people recalled their experiences between lives as eternal spirits. Through their extraordinary stories, you will learn specifics about:

Dr. Newton believes that the hypnotic responses of his subjects concerning the afterlife provide credible information because of the great consistency in their reports, even using the same words and graphic descriptions, because he has no indication of anyone attempting to fake their spiritual existence, because he treats each case as if he is hearing the information for the first time, and because of his efforts to corroborate specific functional activities of souls during regression sessions.

Key Results

• People's memories of the initial activities of the soul just after final death on earth parallel the recollections of people returning from a near-death experience (NDE)
• Souls are generally anxious to move away from the earth after death, but in many cases may stay a few days for their funeral.
• Most souls initially pass through a tunnel towards the light of heaven.
• The appearances of physical structures or other remembances of earth on entry of the soul into heaven are intended to ease their transition.
• Souls have the capability of projecting former life forms in communication with other souls.
• Immediately after their death on earth, souls are met initially in heaven by their spirit guides or someone with whom they were close in their previous life. They meet others that were important to them previously.
• Spirit guides continue their protective role in heaven.
• Communication in heaven is done with telepathy
• A private form of consciousness between spirits exists through touch.
• Ghosts are spirits who have chosen to remain within the earth plane, generally with a high degree of discontent. They can be dealt with by various means, such as exorcism, to get them to stop interfering with human beings.
• Souls who were unable to turn aside a human impulse to harm others will go into seclusion upon entering the spirit world and remain for quite a while. A following reincarnation may be as a victim in a karmic cycle of justice.
• An arriving soul can enter a place of healing as part of the restoration of the soul after a lifetime on earth.
• A life review is conducted, first with spirit guides and later with a Council of Elders.
• Souls travel to their initial destination in heaven through a large staging area.
• Souls proceed to their cluster, small groups of soul energy that appear like a cluster of transparent bubbles or translucent bulbs. They contain entities who often shared past lives with the arriving spirit.
• Group placement is determined by soul level.
• Secondary groups have some contact with a primary group.
• Opportunity for socialization and travel exist for souls living in their group.
• Once a soul group is formed no new members are added.
• Souls are grouped with others of similar characteristics.
• At higher levels of soul evolution more independence takes place from group activities.
• Spirit lights demonstrate color that correlates with their state of spiritual evolution.
• The spirit world resembles one great schoolhouse with a multitude of classooms under the direction of teacher-souls who monitor progress.
• All souls have a personal guide who may be with them for thousands of years and many lives.
• Junior guides are often assigned as well, later in the development of a soul.
• Guides can appear as humans as well as spirits.
• Most souls in the world today are in an early stage of development.
• Spirits can experience two lives on earth at the same time.
• A dormant part of our soul remains in heaven during incarnations.
• Souls learn the techniques of creation of physical items by thought, starting with simple assignments.
• Souls incarnate on worlds other than earth.
• The evolution of souls can continue way beyond the level where incarnation no longer takes place.
• Souls are reincarnating more frequently in recent centuries, and today would have roughly two lives during the past century.
• Souls are not required to reincarnate but considerable pressure is brought to bear by spirit guides when the time is considered right.
• Souls go to a place of life selection in order to examine alternative lives to lead.
• There is a tendency for spirits to reincarnate in the same geographical area they were in during past lives.
• The effort required to overcome a physical disability accelerates spiritual evolution.
• Souls learn prior to a new reincarnation to recognize future earthly signs from other souls they may encounter on earth with whom they have been close in the spirit world.
• Souls leave heaven for entering the body of an infant through a tunnel.
• The physical shock of birth is greater than that of death.
• Souls can arrive in the infant's body anytime before, during or slightly after the moment of birth.

Dr. Newton's work has provided the most comprehensive model of the afterlife that is available, based upon hypnotic regression sessions from a large number of subjects. Although direct proof of hypnotic recall of the period between past lives is seemingly impossible, there are a number of cases with other investigators where the details of past lives have been proven accurate, as discussed in the Reincarnation section. The strongest reason for belief in this model is the great degree of similarity in all subject reports. It provides a framework of fact and spiritual organization that can be used for comparison with similar information derived from other sources.