# Past life regression

Source: https://spiritfold.com/Past_life_regression  
Published by the Australian Spiritual Alliance on Spiritfold, licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

**Past life regression** is a technique that uses hypnosis to try to recover memories of lives a person may have lived before this one. It takes for granted that reincarnation (the rebirth of the soul in a new body) is real, and its therapists believe that some mental health problems may begin with traumatic events in past lives.[1] Spiritualists do not agree among themselves about reincarnation, so the practice sits at the edge of [Spiritualism](https://spiritfold.com/Spiritualism) rather than within its core teaching.[2][3]

## Description

### A session

Under hypnosis, the practitioner guides the client back in time: first perhaps to infancy or to the time before birth, and then further, to earlier lives in which, practitioners believe, the client's soul lived in another body. Practitioners hold that working through events from those lives can help with present difficulties.[1]

### Hypnosis

The Victorian Government's Better Health Channel describes clinical hypnosis as deliberately inducing a relaxed state of awareness in which suggestions can strongly affect attitudes, perceptions and behaviour. It notes that hypnosis is not a treatment in its own right but is used as part of medical, psychological and dental treatment, and that a person cannot be hypnotised into doing things against their will.[4] The Better Health page does not mention past life regression.

### Literal memory or meaningful story?

Practitioners do not all understand past-life material in the same way. Two regression therapists writing in the *Psi Encyclopedia* say their approach does not try to prove that past-life stories are true; it treats the client's account as a metaphor. They also record the sceptics' view that convincing detail can come from information the person met long ago and has since forgotten, which is known as cryptomnesia.[5] How the material is presented to a client also bears on informed consent (see Safety and good practice).[1]

## Scope

### What it includes

- Hypnotic regression to childhood, to the time before birth and to what are believed to be past lives[1]

### What it is not

- It is not a recognised medical treatment. Psychiatric associations do not support past life regression, and mainstream psychiatry has traditionally rejected its central assumption.[1]
- It is not proof of past lives. Several studies have examined how past-life "memories" arise:
  - In a 2009 study, 64 young men each underwent hypnotic past-life regression three times. The more hypnotisable a person was, the more likely they were to produce past-life memories, while belief in past lives made no significant difference. Cultural background and religious ideas shaped what people reported; some, for example, described past lives as animals.[6]
  - In two experiments carried out for Korean television, a specific past-life identity, either a real historical person or a fictional character, was suggested to people under hypnosis. Five of the six participants then produced that identity, with detailed and emotional content. The researcher concluded that past-life identity was easy to manipulate and that suggestion plays a key part in forming past-life memories under hypnosis.[7]
  - A 2009 study compared people who reported recovered memories of past lives with people who did not. Those reporting past-life memories made significantly more false memory errors in a standard laboratory test of false memory (the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm), and scored higher on measures of magical ideation and absorption, while the groups did not differ in correct memory or intelligence.[8]

## Traditions and lineage

### Belief in reincarnation

Belief in reincarnation is ancient. Some early Greek philosophers speculated that the soul passes from one body to another at death, and in the East the idea became prominent in the Vedic period and in the religious reforms of the Buddha and Mahavira.[1]

### The modern technique

According to the ethicist Gabriel Andrade, the use of past life regression as therapy began with the case of "Bridey Murphy" in the 1950s. In 1952 an amateur hypnotist, Morey Bernstein, hypnotised Virginia Tighe, a woman from Colorado, who under hypnosis took on the personality of a nineteenth-century Irishwoman. Bernstein wrote a book about the case. Reporters who investigated in Ireland found that details did not match local records, and it emerged that a woman named Bridie Murphy Corwell had been Tighe's neighbour in childhood. Andrade suggests that Tighe's "memories" were stories heard in childhood and later forgotten, which resurfaced under hypnosis.[1] The publicity given to the case also helped keep reincarnation a live topic in popular culture.[9]

The most prominent promoter of the approach, according to Andrade, has been the psychiatrist Brian Weiss, whose series of bestselling books recommends hypnosis to overcome phobias that he believes stem from past-life experiences.[1]

## Context

### Within Spiritualism

Past life regression depends on belief in reincarnation, and this is one of the clearest examples of a question on which Spiritualists have long disagreed. A student should know the main positions and where each comes from.[2][10]

- **Rejection.** The National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC) in the United States answers "NO!" to the question of whether people must be reincarnated, teaching instead that the mistakes of earthly life can be put right in the spirit world without a return to the physical plane.[2] The *Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology* says that Spiritualism in America and England has traditionally opposed reincarnation, preferring the idea of continuing contact with the departed through mediums, yet some NSAC members and leaders have professed the belief, which has caused controversy within that body.[11] This matters for past life regression because, on the traditional view, the dead continue their progress in the spirit world rather than returning to earth.[2]
- **Spiritism.** The French writer Allan Kardec's Spiritism differs from Spiritualism chiefly because it holds that the spirit progresses through a series of compulsory reincarnations.[12] Kardec's books of the 1850s and 1860s led many French speakers to accept reincarnation, whereas American and English Spiritualists rejected it, at least in the movement's first decades.[13]
- **Theosophy.** Paul Gillen suggests that, although Kardec's teaching came before Theosophy, the idea of reincarnation may also have re-entered Spiritualism by way of Theosophy.[14] Matt Tomlinson likewise names Theosophy as a major influence on Spiritualists' acceptance of reincarnation.[15]
- **Channelled teachings.** J. Gordon Melton writes that, after nineteenth-century hostility to the idea, channelled works brought reincarnation and karma into American Spiritualist thinking during the twentieth century.[16] (See [Channelling](https://spiritfold.com/Channelling).)
- **Widely held, but not essential.** In a Montreal Spiritualist church, the anthropologist Deirdre Meintel found reincarnation among beliefs that many Spiritualists now hold but do not regard as integral to Spiritualism, many of them borrowed from other traditions.[3]
- **Left to the individual.** The Spiritualists' National Union in Britain has historically been sceptical, but a publication of its Philosophy and Ethics Committee notes that reincarnation has never been firmly proven and that spirit communicators have said different things about it, and leaves each Spiritualist to decide.[10] The Spiritualist Association of Great Britain's website includes a page on which a practitioner, also an SAGB healer, describes running past life regression workshops.[17]

Spiritualist writers have also questioned hypnotic past-life recall directly. Gillen cites a 1975 article in the British Spiritualist newspaper *Psychic News* which pointed out that people who seem to recall past lives under hypnosis remember nothing of the time between lives. Its author took this as support for explaining such cases by ESP or by spirit possession instead.[18]

### In Australian Spiritualism

In Sydney in the late 1970s, Paul Gillen found that a majority of the mediums at the church he studied believed in reincarnation. He suggests the idea appealed for two reasons: its long and respected history, and its fit with the Spiritualist stress on individual responsibility and unending spiritual progress. Some Spiritualists rejected it as un-Christian or poorly evidenced, and Gillen observed that in Australia these differing views existed side by side within churches, whereas in the United States and Britain the disagreement was reflected in rival organisations. One medium there believed that memories of past lives lie in the subconscious and can be drawn out with the help of a psychically gifted person.[9] Today the Victorian Spiritualists' Union includes reincarnation in the field it covers,[19] and leaders of the Canberra Spiritualist Association have held it to be a well-established fact, while knowing this differs from the position of the SNU, which many Australian Spiritualists regard as authoritative.[10]

### A Spiritualist perspective

Reincarnation is one of the questions on which Spiritualists honestly differ. Some hold it as settled, some reject it, and within Australian churches differing views have sat side by side. A Spiritualist teacher would respect each of those positions and would not present any one of them as the Spiritualist answer. What Spiritualists do share is the conviction that life continues after death; past lives are a further question, and a student is free to keep an open mind on it.

Whatever one believes about past lives, the cautions on this page apply. Hypnosis is a powerful state, and suggestion can shape what people seem to remember, so a practitioner must take great care not to lead. Anyone offering regression should be open that it rests on belief rather than proof, should not present it as therapy for mental health problems, and should encourage anyone who is struggling to see a qualified health professional. A teacher might add that the life we are living now is the one that most asks for our attention.

## Past life regression in Australia

## Safety and good practice

### False memories

The Better Health Channel lists false memories among the rare unwanted side effects of hypnosis, along with dizziness, headache, anxiety and stomach upset. It considers hypnosis safe when carried out by a qualified and experienced practitioner.[4]

Andrade argues that the greatest risk of past life regression is that the hypnotist may implant false memories, even without meaning to, through leading questions, and that because of the person's suggestibility these memories may come to feel real. He compares this with the 1980s, when hundreds of people in the United States underwent hypnosis to recover memories of alleged ritual abuse, and many came to believe in traumatic events that had not happened. He also argues that clients cannot give properly informed consent unless they are told that there is no scientific evidence for reincarnation.[1]

### Who should avoid hypnosis

Better Health advises that hypnosis should be avoided by people with severe depression, psychosis, a drug or alcohol problem, or chronic pain that has not been investigated and diagnosed by a doctor. It recommends asking a doctor for a referral or contacting a professional association, telling the hypnotherapist about your medical history and treatment, and telling your doctor about any hypnosis treatment.[4]

## Related modalities

- [Spiritism](https://spiritfold.com/Spiritism)
- [Channelling](https://spiritfold.com/Channelling)
- [Akashic Records](https://spiritfold.com/Akashic_Records)
- [Mediumship](https://spiritfold.com/Mediumship)

## References

1. Andrade, Gabriel. "Is past life regression therapy ethical?". *Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine* 10 (2017): 11. Full text at [PubMed Central](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5797677/), read via Europe PMC (accessed 11 October 2026).
2. National Spiritualist Association of Churches. ["Frequently Asked Questions"](https://nsac.org/faq/). NSAC (no date shown; accessed 12 October 2026).
3. Meintel, Deirdre. ["When There Is No Conversion: Spiritualists and Personal Religious Change"](https://cas-sca.journals.uvic.ca/index.php/anthropologica/article/download/2436/2224). *Anthropologica* 49 (2007): 149–162, p. 152 (accessed 12 October 2026).
4. ["Hypnosis"](https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/hypnosis). Better Health Channel, Department of Health, State Government of Victoria. Produced with the Australian Society of Hypnosis; reviewed 31 March 2015 (accessed 11 October 2026).
5. Tomlinson, Andrew and Peter Mack. ["Regression Therapy"](https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/regression-therapy/). *Psi Encyclopedia*. Society for Psychical Research (accessed 12 October 2026). Written by practitioners of regression therapy.
6. Pyun, Y. D. and Y. J. Kim. "Experimental production of past-life memories in hypnosis". *International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis* 57, no. 3 (2009): 269–278. [doi:10.1080/00207140902881031](https://doi.org/10.1080/00207140902881031). Abstract read via [Europe PMC](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/19459088) (accessed 11 October 2026).
7. Pyun, Y. D. "Creating past-life identity in hypnotic regression". *International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis* 63, no. 3 (2015): 365–372. [doi:10.1080/00207144.2015.1031557](https://doi.org/10.1080/00207144.2015.1031557). Abstract read via [Europe PMC](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/25978087) (accessed 11 October 2026).
8. Meyersburg, C. A., R. Bogdan, D. A. Gallo and R. J. McNally. "False memory propensity in people reporting recovered memories of past lives". *Journal of Abnormal Psychology* 118, no. 2 (2009): 399–404. [doi:10.1037/a0015371](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015371). Abstract read via [Europe PMC](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/19413413) (accessed 11 October 2026).
9. Gillen, Paul. *[The Spiritualists: Gnosis and Ideology](https://figshare.mq.edu.au/articles/thesis/The_spiritualists_gnosis_and_ideology/19431146/1)*. PhD thesis, School of Behavioural Sciences, Macquarie University, 1981, PDF pp. 34–35 (accessed 12 October 2026).
10. Tomlinson, Matt. *[Speaking with the Dead: An Ethnography of Extrahuman Experience](https://doi.org/10.53288/0465.1.00)*. Earth: punctum books, 2024, pp. 126–127. Open access under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (accessed 12 October 2026).
11. ["National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC)"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/national-spiritualist-association-churches-nsac). *Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology*, 5th ed. (Gale, 2001), via Encyclopedia.com (accessed 12 October 2026).
12. ["Kardec, Allan (1804–1869)"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/kardec-allan-1804-1869). *Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology* (Gale), via Encyclopedia.com (accessed 12 October 2026).
13. Buescher, John B. ["Spiritualism"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/other-religious-beliefs-and-general-terms/miscellaneous-religion/spiritualism). *Encyclopedia of Religion*, 2nd ed. (Gale, 2005), via Encyclopedia.com (accessed 12 October 2026).
14. Gillen, Paul. *[The Spiritualists: Gnosis and Ideology](https://figshare.mq.edu.au/articles/thesis/The_spiritualists_gnosis_and_ideology/19431146/1)*. PhD thesis, School of Behavioural Sciences, Macquarie University, 1981, PDF p. 54, note 13 (accessed 12 October 2026).
15. Tomlinson, Matt. *[Speaking with the Dead: An Ethnography of Extrahuman Experience](https://doi.org/10.53288/0465.1.00)*. Earth: punctum books, 2024, p. 140. Open access under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (accessed 12 October 2026).
16. Melton, J. Gordon. ["Western Esoteric Family II: Spiritualism & New Age"](https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/western-esoteric-family-ii-spiritualism-new-age). *Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions* (Gale), via Encyclopedia.com (accessed 12 October 2026).
17. Spiritualist Association of Great Britain. ["Counselling, Regression and Hypnotherapy"](https://www.sagb.org.uk/counselling-regression-hypnotherapy.htm) (no date shown; accessed 12 October 2026).
18. Gillen, Paul. *[The Spiritualists: Gnosis and Ideology](https://figshare.mq.edu.au/articles/thesis/The_spiritualists_gnosis_and_ideology/19431146/1)*. PhD thesis, School of Behavioural Sciences, Macquarie University, 1981, PDF p. 36 (accessed 12 October 2026).
19. Victorian Spiritualists' Union. ["About VSU"](https://www.vsu.org.au/about-vsu) (no date shown; accessed 12 October 2026).

## Further reading

- Andrade, Gabriel. ["Is past life regression therapy ethical?"](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5797677/). *Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine*, 2017.
- Better Health Channel. ["Hypnosis"](https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/hypnosis). Department of Health, State Government of Victoria, 2015.
- Meyersburg, C. A. et al. ["False memory propensity in people reporting recovered memories of past lives"](https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015371). *Journal of Abnormal Psychology*, 2009.
- Pyun, Y. D. ["Creating past-life identity in hypnotic regression"](https://doi.org/10.1080/00207144.2015.1031557). *International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis*, 2015.
- Pyun, Y. D. and Y. J. Kim. ["Experimental production of past-life memories in hypnosis"](https://doi.org/10.1080/00207140902881031). *International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis*, 2009.