What is a Past Life Reading?This combination astrology and soul reading will help you gain a better understanding of who you are so that you can maximize your potential and natural abilities to the utmost of your ability. Real growth comes from understanding and transforming behavior patterns so that you can challenge yourself to develop in new and exciting ways based upon a knowledge of your past lives.

Your past life reading will also include an examination of the north and south nodes of the Moon in your birth chart. The Moon rules your feelings, moods, and emotional body. It is the most important planet in your chart from a karmic/past life perspective and will help you understand your karmic mission for this lifetime based upon your past lives.

Your reading will explore: • two or three major past lives • the location in the world in which you were born and lived • information about your gender and appearance • your important experiences and relationships • talents or abilities you cultivated • your ethical and spiritual development • major lessons you learned

How a Soul Reading Works: My preferred mode of reading someone's soul-energy is via distance - this allows me to focus on you, your spirit and your guides in a focused way clear of distractions. Each reading involves preparations such as meditation and yoga to help me focus. I will often pull healing stones and a card(s) from one of my four self-designed and painted oracle card decks, but unlike a tarot reading I will not actually look at the card until after your reading is finished. The card imagery and description often serve to accentuate and emphasize certain points in your reading and along with the healing stones may also give you some more tools to work with on your own after the reading is over.

Shirley comments on her reading: "I have to say, that with all of the negativity swirling around me, your readings have been the only bright spot, the only glimmer of light that's kind of giving me the oomph to keep pushing through this gunk. That probably sounds melodramatic, but I just don't deal well with stress! And I have to say...Wow. Wow! I've never had such a beautiful, insightful, and just plain interesting reading." *You can read more of her comments at the end of this post*

A Past Life Reading for Shirley *reprinted with permission *You can purchase a reading here.

I will begin your past life reading by taking a look at two of your past lives based upon a psychic/soul reading of your past life energy.

Lifetime 1

In the first lifetime I tap into I see you as a little girl by the name of Gena and you have been sent to a school/convent where a harsh nun is being very unkind to you; she reprimands you and raps your knuckles in front of the class. - You are a very high-strung child and quite the tricksie, or trickster (joker). - And you are also very unusual, in that you are able to pull out these ‘cords of negativity’ from your body that were put there by the nun. You stuff them into a small, wooden compartment/closet/box.

- You grow up very determined and quite hardened, with little patience, especially for little girls! - You like to snap your fingers and have things done immediately. - You are also very unhappy. - You live in a small town in Italy near the mountains. - You regret everything that has happened, but you can’t stop. - The time period is the 1600’s and the power of the Church was evident. - One day you decide that “Tomorrow, I will settle the score” and you return to the old school/convent, find the box (with the negative cords), open it, and blow away all the remnants of negative energy still within it. You almost slump to the ground from relief and exhaustion. - You never again return to your business, but instead work in service to create better schools and systems.

Life Lesson: Your life lesson was well learned, but not easily. You overcame hard lessons and managed to tap into your healing abilities at long last and were able to give back to your community with compassion and common sense.

I also catch a glimpse of several other lifetimes: - I see peacock feathers and dancers – it appears to be ancient times in Persia. - I see a sweet, lonely girl named Kathryn in a tower. She is pining away. - I see a horse and short, dark, good humoured male rider in a parade in Mexico. - I see a 1950’s farm wife looking out a window, and I see pigs and slop (their food).

Lifetime 2

- The second lifetime I tap into takes place in the Congo in the early second century AD and your name is Kentu (Bentu). - You are the blackest person I’ve ever seen – you have a shiny, black ebony body and you are almost naked (except for a loin cloth) and are jumping through fields. - The next image I see is of you beating a rhythm with one foot, as you form a sun pattern with your hand, all around your body. - I also see women forming in a circle around you – they are symbolizing ‘rain’ in a special ceremony. - The jungle gets quiet for just a moment as you re-enact this ancient ceremony. - This is the last time you will be doing the ceremony, because you are passing it on to someone else. - You are free now to pursue a ‘normal’ life and I see you hunting cheetahs, or leopards. - You still partake in ceremonies, but not as the Sun, instead you are a star. - You are very content and at one with yourself, your body and your tribe. - You are very lithe and skilful as a hunter and you move so beautifully in your skin. - Marriage does not exist at this time, but you do beget two children – two boys.

Life Lesson: You were completely at one with your life mission and your life this time around. This was a lifetime of singular beauty, grace and intelligence: of the body and your place in the universe. Beautiful!

I am ending this part of your reading by sending you a blessing for condensation of knowing and for sharing your beauty and beautiful ways.

Part 2 - An Astrological Analysis of the Nodes of the Moon in your Natal (Birth) Chart

Your Karmic Mission based upon past lives – Why are you here? (The Nodes of the Moon)

In astrology, the Moon rules our feelings, our moods, and our emotional bodies. It is the most important planet in our chart from a karmic/past life perspective. An analysis of the North and South Nodes of the Moon will help you better understand your Karmic Mission for this lifetime based upon your past lives.

Your North Node is in Capricorn in the 11th House (the Aquarius House) - Your present life. Your South Node is in Cancer in the 5th House (the Leo House) - Your past lives.

North Node in Capricorn

Attributes to develop: (Work in these areas can help uncover hidden gifts and talents)

- Self-control - Staying goal oriented - Sensible approaches to problem solving - Letting go of the past - Self-care - Accepting responsibility for your success

Tendencies to leave behind: (Working to reduce the influence of these tendencies can help make life easier and more enjoyable)

- Dependence - Moodiness - Using the past to avoid the present - Isolation – spending too much time at home - Avoidance of personal risk

This lifetime is all about freedom for you, the freedom to be independent and courageous, to do your own thing and follow your own instincts. This lifetime is about getting in touch with your own vibrations and developing self-control and self-respect. It’s time to let go of moodiness, dependence and isolation.

Watch out that you don’t form emotional dependencies upon others because it’s a bottomless pit and you will never get enough reassurance to feel safe. At some point a risk must be taken and it will be time to take charge and assume full responsibility for the consequences. Once this happens, you will feel secure and in control of your own destiny. When you bring yourself into alignment with a higher principle or spiritual belief, you will feel protected and nurtured.

You will probably excel at being the boss and others are only too willing to cooperate with your goals because you approach people under your authority with sensitivity. You are better off in goal-oriented professions or positions that allow you to lovingly organize others to work toward a specific goal.

You have spent many past lifetimes as a householder; a central figure in the home, and on the farm, and thoroughly identified with your family or clan. But you have not had a lot of past life experience being out on your own. You may have difficult family karma because you were too often born into a situation where immediate family members had many emotional problems. You were so used to being the nurturer that you lost a sense of your own direction. The first step for you, in this lifetime, is to distance yourself from total emotional involvement with your family.

You may often dislike or feel alienated from one, or both of your parents. To be successful you must be willing to put your own best interests and self-respect ahead of the desire to cast your parents or others as wrong. There must be a conscious effort not to dwell on the past, and to stay focused on what makes your life strong in the present – doing things that bring you self-respect

You may feel you need a strong partner for protection and support but what you really need, is a partner who can support you in developing your own professional and personal authority. When you come from a position of neediness, your relationships break down. The fulfillment you seek can never come primarily from a relationship; it will come from actively pursuing your mission and participating in life from a take-charge position that builds self-respect.

A primary factor in the problems you may have experienced in relationships and with intimacy is your disinclination to listen. To make relationships work you must deliberately concentrate on listening. When you are focused on helping others you can bypass your emotional response and connect with your ability to see the larger picture. Not listening may cause you to miss opportunities. You consciously work on this by saying to yourself: “What opportunity is this person bringing to me, what is the opportunity in this situation?” By focusing on opportunities that are being presented, your capacity to listen will shift to a focused, take-charge mode.

Your salvation lies in becoming more objective and goal oriented in all areas of your life. Commitment is key and reaching a goal is extremely fulfilling for you because it validates your power, expertise and competence in a way that nothing else can. In the end, the self-assurance and self-respect that has been gained from the process is your true reward.

Healing Affirmations:

- “I cannot control others, but I can control myself.” - “In releasing the past, I deal more effectively with the present.” - “When I take charge, I win.” - “I don’t need to depend on anyone else to take care of me.” - “I am in charge of my inner state of being.”

North Node in the 11th House (Aquarius)

Attributes to develop: (Work in these areas can help uncover hidden gifts and talents)

- Objectivity (seeing the “total picture”) - Willingness to share unconventional ideas - Active participation in groups - Recognizing how others are special

Tendencies to leave behind: (Working to reduce the influence of these tendencies can help make life easier and more enjoyable)

- Insistence on getting one’s way - Making changes just to exercise authority - Attachments to taking risks (romance or gambling) - Melodramatic tendencies - Prideful responses based on fear

You do need to become aware of a need for others’ approval, because you will never get enough approval to feel satisfied or to feel free to be yourself. You must risk disapproval and be true to your own unorthodox ideas in order to develop the deeper and more satisfying feeling of self-approval. You may find yourself endlessly risk taking – especially in romance. If you don’t balance this romantic energy with a daily commitment to some type of humanitarian cause, it can become too intense and you may inadvertently destroy the very relationships you want so badly.

What you really want is to be in love: to be adored and share “center stage” with someone who returns your passion. To reach this goal you must learn to go with the flow – to let life (with its perfect timing) bring others to you, who will recognize and adore you. You were probably an entertainer or a King or Queen in past lives – someone who was accustomed to being “special.” But this lifetime is more about consciously focusing on the people you interact with and encouraging them to get in touch with their own needs and to manifest their own dreams! Your destiny is to come down from your isolated throne and re-establish yourself as part of the collective, to help bring in the New Age.

You are probably quite talented with groups and are able to bring innovative ideas to the public. You may have been a well-known artist or highly creative person in your past lives, developing an attachment to pride, as you arrogantly promoted your vision above all others. This can help you reach goals in this lifetime, and it also gives you innate confidence in your own power to overcome life’s obstacles. But this is not a “do it yourself” lifetime,” instead you are learning how to transform your overactive ego into a vehicle for furthering the evolution of humankind.

You also work well in positions that require objectivity; scientist, astrologer, electrician, technician, computer expert, or in any occupation where the ability to see the future and bring it into the present is an asset. You are successful and happy in work that brings innovative ideas to the public. Broadcast work in radio or television is another field in which you have innate talents. But if you willfully enter professions that spotlight you rather than a higher principle (eg. movie star, corporate head), it leaves you hardened and unable to relate to others with equality.

You are learning to trust the Flow. You are very generous, and life responds to you with generosity. If you don’t get your way – or if someone says “no” to you – you need to expand your vision to see what other opportunity life is bringing. You must let go of your limited picture of what will make you happy and be open to life’s bounty – then a wealth of new experiences will bring you unexpected pleasure.

Healing Affirmations: “When I do what’s best for everyone involved, I win.” “Once I decide what I want, the universe will bring it to me.” “I don’t have to dominate others to feel okay about myself.”

Shirley's Comments:

Lifetime #1: Gena: The only thing that stood out to me was her unhappiness; that's something I've dealt with all too often in this lifetime, without a doubt.

Katheryn, who you saw pining away in a tower: My twenties were rough, and I often felt as if I were trapped in a metaphorical tower. I'm also all too familiar with that pining away feeling, that longing for a better life.

The male in Mexico: This didn't surprize me all that much! My heritage is German-Hungarian, but as a pre-teen I became obsessed with the band Menudo, and I'd sing along with them not knowing a lick of Spanish, and was able to more or less understand what was being sung. When I take the time to learn (and practice), Spanish comes fairly easy to me, and I've been told my pronunciation was pretty spot on for a white chick!

Lifetime #2, Kentu (or Bentu): This was really interesting to me; the idea that I was a warrior or sorts! I wonder if the ceremony you saw was Goddess-centered; it would certainly explain my draw to her.

Nodes of the Moon: Things to develop: Yes, yes, yes, and yes to each and every one! I need to work on each and every one of those things. I don't think I ever learned how to do any of those things in any real way.

Things to leave behind: Again, spot on.

"This lifetime is all about freedom for you; the freedom to be independent and courageous, to do your own thing and follow your own instincts. This lifetime is about getting in touch with your own vibrations and developing self control and self respect".

This truly resonated with me, because I don't have the freedom that I've always craved. The lesson, I suppose then, is that I'm to learn how to find it. That means standing up for myself for a change. I usually end up being viewed (and treated) as an emotional punching bag rather than a daughter.

"You may have difficult family karma because you were too often born into a situation where immediate family members had many emotional problems".

I don't know about any other lifetimes, but you certainly hit the proverbial nail on the head in this one.

"You may often dislike or feel alienated from one or both of your parents".

Oh, gosh, yes. Very much so. I often feel like I was born to the wrong people. Especially my mother.

North Node in 11th House: All of the above! The groups thing...now, that's really hard for a loner type like me! I have a tendency to fade to the background in groups.

To leave behind: I don't take very many risks, especially in relationships/friendships. I've been burned so many times before that it takes me a while to really trust that someone's being honest rather than using me. I will say, though, that I do have a tendency toward the melodramatic. More than I care for, really.

"You do need to be aware of a need for others approval..."

I'm very aware. It's a hard habit to break. For most of my life I've been put down and told how worthless I am, and I've found that it manifests itself in that need-to-please mode. I have a hard time saying, "This is me, the hell with everyone else".

"What you really want is to be in love..."

Yes. Above all else, yes. This really hit me in the face when I was looking over my vision boards (I do them in a huge spiral bound sketch pad). When I compare them to examples I've seen in books, mine are overwhelmingly love/marriage related, whereas everyone else's is money and success. (Those things are in mine, too, but love wins out hands down!)

I definitely want to give the healing affirmations you included with both a try, too.

The only thing that truly didn't resonate with me was in the past life reading, the farmhouse wife in the 1950's. Although as a teen I was intrigued with that era (I used to pester my mom to take me to local car shows so I could drool over the Ford Fairlanes and I was really into the music, too), that part didn't really strike a chord in me. And I'm not sure I really understand Gena's (the little Italian girl) ability to remove cords of negativity and store them away, only to release them later. I wonder if she was a witch? Was that metaphorical or metaphysical?

The simple fact that you want feedback - both good and bad - shows how much you care about what you do and those you read. That goes a long way in my book!

I have to say, that with all of the negativity swirling around me, your readings have been the only bright spot, the only glimmer of light that's kind of giving me the oomph to keep pushing through this gunk. That probably sounds melodramatic, but I just don't deal well with stress!

And I have to say...Wow. Wow! I've never had such a beautiful, insightful, and just plain interesting reading.

And thank you for being a little bit of a bright spot for me in what's turning out to be a really crummy week! Now, more than ever, I'm ready for it to finally be my season, my time to really live instead of just survive. You gave me a little hope. Thank you.

You can purchase a Past Life Reading here.