If your past life was before photographs

[melon04]

What do you remember the scenery looking like? As in, the towns, nature, buildings (including interiors), etc. and have you been able to verify these through drawings, paintings, descriptions, etc from that area and time period?

For me, I can remember seeing the town and the inside of my home. However, they were somewhat blurry (as were some other things, such as my wife's and children's faces). I can remember the town was fairly crowded, it was snowing, and there were many people. And the interior of the home was dark and drab, with mostly brown.

Oddly enough, the past life regression actually felt like looking into a bygone era, rather than just my pure imagination. And although it's been kind of difficult to verify what this area looked like during the time period, some of the artwork from around the same time period looked similar to what I saw. I was actually thinking about this in art class today, when I saw one of the paintings the teacher printed out and hung up over the dry-erase board. Weird

 

[Spiegel]

I've tried to, but it's really one of those "easier said than done" things so I usually rely on other factors too, not just appearance. Here's something I tried to verify a few days ago.

I have a memory of walking down a street, entering a building and discussing a plot with some people. It has to be the 13th century Holy Roman Empire because that is when the recipient of the plot lived, but I have no idea whereabouts.

The architecture seems to be more Italian than German (roofs are flatter, not A shape) and judging by my "mental map" the town is northwest of Bologna. It was one of the larger towns, and the name started with M. I pulled out my trusty friend Google Maps and started looking around. Milan? Modena? Both fit the criteria, but it must be Milan for various reasons.

A good source of historical images, if you have an approximate idea of where and when, is browsing wikipedia categories. Like these:
Architecture_in_Milan_by_century
Hannover_Hauptbahnhof (good for checking what a particular building looked like through history)
Architectural_elements_in_Milan (your go-to website if you want to find out what doors in Milan look like)
I've had some measure of success with this, but it's still very tedious.

I find it more helpful to find a building that existed back then, and still exists today. Then I'd do the usual google images/street view check, because period artworks are few and far between. E.g. looking for photos of extant 13th century Italian houses, instead of trying to find a contemporary illustration of one. Doesn't help that contemporary illustrations tend to focus on "important" buildings like cathedrals, castles, battlefields instead of regular townhouses.

Since it's snowing, you could look up climate maps (like this for example), then narrow it down by location and size, then check the appearance.

 

[Klaud]

From my life in Mongolia, I can recall the steppes. It's largely unchanged from then until now, so I can watch videos taken from there and feel like it's still home. The first time I saw a video it felt like my soul was going to jump out of my body and I just had this overwhelming sensation of like I want to go home.

I never really had a home though, as the culture was traditionally nomadic and lived in gers (or yurts), and I had no family to speak of.

 

[melon04]

Since it's snowing, you could look up climate maps (like this for example), then narrow it down by location and size, then check the appearance.

I actually saw snow in multiple memories!

Another memory I had where I saw snow was when I was with my wife (currently my sister) visiting my daughter's grave. And I also had this really random memory of me sitting outside selling apples in a basket and I was just looking down staring at them (I have no clue what was up with that. Very random, isn't it? I also remember they were bright red and there were 5 of them.)

About the map, I have no clue if this is really helpful or not due to climate change. There was actually a "Little Ice Age" during this time period.

But regardless, I would say that it was definitely weird seeing snow, given the fact that I live in the South where is hardly ever snows (and even then it's basically just ice).

 

[SeekerOfKnowledge]

There are rooms, a few buildings, faces, clothing, landscapes... I was surprised how intense some colors were.

Some paintings are realistic enough, I was able to find a street in Siena (on a painting from 1348, the street still looks more or less the same). There are pages about clothes. There are 3D reconstructions of Ancient places (maybe not accurate, but as close as one can get), there's Google Street View (some buildings still stand, they may look different, though, with parts removed and others added, some stuff got moved as crazy as that may sound, they may have had more and/or different colors once... nice test, though, to check if you can find your way around) and so on.
I thought I was wrong with Egypt, too much green... then I learned that up until the end of the 6.th Dynasty there was much more green. And the pyramids once were clad with white and had golden tips.

 

[melon04]

And I also had this really random memory of me sitting outside selling apples in a basket and I was just looking down staring at them (I have no clue what was up with that. Very random, isn't it? I also remember they were bright red and there were 5 of them.)

Now I'm wondering: Does anybody else have experiences with absolutely random memories like this?

 

[Spiegel]

A while ago I had a strange memory of buying a bratwurst (grilled sausage) from a bunker underneath a train station. I found out the Hannover station has a bunker in front that's been turned into an underground market.

Another memory of unloading ...oranges? (round orange fruit) from a cart and distributing them to the villagers. Freshly imported from Spain.

From the same life as the orange memory, opening a drawer and seeing lots of silver engraved "buttons". Later found out they're my family's equestrian seals, but it was a strange memory before I realised that.

Standing in front of a building like this in confusion. Doing nothing, just standing there. Not sure why, when, where, etc.

I guess it's just how memories work sometimes. If you told me to think of my high school years, the first 3 things that pop into mind are:
- Walking past the supermarket near my school (not even on a school day, in fact I've already left school for 2 years at the time of this memory)
- A poster on the corridor that says "English is weird because eggplants don't have eggs and hamburgers don't have ham" (or something like htat)
- A view of the 1st floor corridor
So tangential things, apparently. With a bit more thought, I can finally get memories of classes and my friends/teachers, and blurry memories of what we learnt, but the first things that come to mind are seemingly random events.

 

[melon04]

A while ago I had a strange memory of buying a bratwurst (grilled sausage) from a bunker underneath a train station. I found out the Hannover station has a bunker in front that's been turned into an underground market.

Another memory of unloading ...oranges? (round orange fruit) from a cart and distributing them to the villagers. Freshly imported from Spain.

From the same life as the orange memory, opening a drawer and seeing lots of silver engraved "buttons". Later found out they're my family's equestrian seals, but it was a strange memory before I realised that.

Standing in front of a building like this in confusion. Doing nothing, just standing there. Not sure why, when, where, etc.

Standing in front of a building like this in confusion. Doing nothing, just standing there. Not sure why, when, where, etc.

Have you figured out what lives they were from?

I guess it's just how memories work sometimes.

That is true.

 

[Spiegel]

Yes, the Hannover bratwurst one was from my East German life. I was in the West as a secret agent in the 1980s, was kind of hungry and stopped for a snack.

I think the last three are from my life as Adolf, the count of some backwater place near Kiel, Germany. If you click on the link you'll see a picture of my equestrian seal. Every male in my family got one and when he died, we kept the seals in a drawer in our main castle.

In a past life before that, I lived in Sicily and we had oranges there, but no one had introduced them to Germany yet. I missed them, my favourite fruit, and managed to organise 2 special shipments of oranges from around Spain/Portugal. It proved to be rather cumbersome though, because they had to be delivered quickly to remain fresh, so I only tried twice.
At the time I thought I might've been the first to introduce citrus fruit to northern Germany but no one recorded that in the history books. (This happened in the later 1200s).

Fact-checking:
In Europe, the Moors introduced the orange to the Iberian Peninsula which was known as Al-Andalus, with large scale cultivation starting in the 10th century as evidenced by complex irrigation techniques specifically adapted to support orange orchards.[36] Citrus fruits — among them the bitter orange — were introduced to Sicily in the 9th century during the period of the Emirate of Sicily // wikipedia history of oranges

I think the random building memory was also from this life, because I was around Italy a lot too. Specifically, I have a feeling it was in 1270 or so. As I said, the life before Adolf had lived in Sicily, and my son from that life was still alive but stuck in prison--that's the person we were plotting to free, as I mentioned above. The memory is probably from my journey from Germany to Bologna (where he was imprisoned). Probably why I was confused and lost.

Alternatively, it might be in southern Italy, between 1280-1300. I used to travel a lot in Adolf's lifetime, to visit my old homeland Sicily (the kingdom) and explore the world.

(by the way I'm not just making this up, I found a historical mention of the escape attempt.)

 

[Emma66]

When I had memories of my life in Russia in the late 18th I was surprised to see me dressed like a Cossack guard but not in the steppes but coming out of a large building near a dock with sailing boats. First I didn't understand.
Later when I remembered the name of Empress Catherine II, I searched for information on Google and Wikipedia. I found a painting of the port of St Petersbourg in the 18th century, exactly what I saw with my regression.


I also remembered this sight from the main gate of Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, it's the same sight nowadays.

It's easier when you have memories of famous places and buildings that still exist but I could find nothing about the place where I was born even if I remember a name in the south of Russia. I don't know if it's real. With Google street view I can see the same kind of landscape but no old buildings. I remember my home with a yard closed by a long white wall but I can't validate this memory. I only had chills when I saw pictures of the steppes in the same area and the river nearby.

 

[Klaud]

Now I'm wondering: Does anybody else have experiences with absolutely random memories like this?

Definitely yes. I have a few memories from what looks to me like the 1970s through the early 1990s, but I can't ever place them or who I was. For the record, I was born in the later 90s.

I had a dream once where I was lying on a bed talking to a friend in the room and the room was very 90s in its decor, but I couldn't get anything else out of it. A few flashes and that dream, and that's it.

 

[melon04]

A while ago I had a strange memory of buying a bratwurst (grilled sausage) from a bunker underneath a train station. I found out the Hannover station has a bunker in front that's been turned into an underground market.

Another memory of unloading ...oranges? (round orange fruit) from a cart and distributing them to the villagers. Freshly imported from Spain.

From the same life as the orange memory, opening a drawer and seeing lots of silver engraved "buttons". Later found out they're my family's equestrian seals, but it was a strange memory before I realised that.

Standing in front of a building like this in confusion. Doing nothing, just standing there. Not sure why, when, where, etc.

I guess it's just how memories work sometimes. If you told me to think of my high school years, the first 3 things that pop into mind are:
- Walking past the supermarket near my school (not even on a school day, in fact I've already left school for 2 years at the time of this memory)
- A poster on the corridor that says "English is weird because eggplants don't have eggs and hamburgers don't have ham" (or something like htat)
- A view of the 1st floor corridor
So tangential things, apparently. With a bit more thought, I can finally get memories of classes and my friends/teachers, and blurry memories of what we learnt, but the first things that come to mind are seemingly random events.

In your opinion, do you think that spontaneous and seemingly random memories only make past life memories more credible?

 

[Spiegel]

I would say so, but it's sort of like the background of a tapestry as compared to the "main subject". Memories of random things are great for filling in your claim, adding that little bit more depth that makes it more believable. E.g. I found an undated photo of me, I knew it was taken on a Tuesday in December in 1987. I checked the occasion (an anniversary celebration on the 15th of Dec) and indeed, it was on a Tuesday that year. I love these small verifications, they make me feel less insane. But tbh they're not helpful for figuring out who you were, unless you have a distinct one.

I think the most credible memories are the ones that can be undoubtedly verified, and I'd base my claims on that and add the seemingly random memories on top for extra confirmation. Like the icing on the cake. By "verified memories" I mean the ones you make a record of before looking up any information, the events/people you remember even though you ought to have no knowledge of. It's easy to read a wikipedia page and go "ahh that sounds familiar, but do I really remember it or am I just overthinking things?". Happens to me all the time so I try to write down all I remember before doing research, so I can point at any verifications and say "look, it's a real memory, I knew it before!".

I have a lot of spontaneous memories, so most of my claims are based on those. Some small, some big. Yesterday I found a photo of a piece of headgear I used to have, it triggered a memory of me examining it, looking at the engravings and putting it on. A bigger spontaneous memory from that life was travelling to Münich to give two presents to my godfather one Easter in the 1150s. Oddly specific, but for whatever reason, this event was recorded so I could verify it. It was actually Münster (not Münich) in 1156, but I'd say that's credibly verified (everything other than the town name was correct). I've also read a bit about some events I know I was part of, it all sounds familiar but I'm worried I'm just feeling a false sense of familiarity when there is actually none. Which is why I like spontaneous or random memories like those.

Regressions don't really work for me, I keep falling asleep hehe, but if they do, that's another good source. There's always the possibility of imagined regressed memories though, but that's why we verify things eh?

(wasn't sure if you were asking about spontaneous vs regressed, or small random memories vs major events so I tried to cover both. Hopefully I gave a somewhat helpful answer )

 

[melon04]

(wasn't sure if you were asking about spontaneous vs regressed, or small random memories vs major events so I tried to cover both. Hopefully I gave a somewhat helpful answer )

I'm talking about during regressions. Since you said you don't do regressions, then how are you able to still get memories? I don't get memories while conscious, and meditation is difficult for me.

I'm talking things such as like me with the apples, or you with the bratwurst.

 

[Spiegel]

They come to me like regular memories from my current life. So I might see an object/place/person I recognise which makes me remember some things to do with them; or my brain randomly goes "hey remember that time when you had an argument with your brother about chicken bones??" I looked it up, this did happen. My brother at the time lost an eye due to an accident with a chicken bone.

Most of the time I have to think about it a bit. I found a picture of Kalinin one day (while looking for historical footage of Lenin) and he looked quite familiar. Now where have I seen that guy before? After thinking about it a bit more, I realised I'd talked to him a few times, he was my go-to person in the Soviet Politburo when I needed to discuss foreign affairs.

The bratwurst one was from a dream, I dreamed I bought a bratwurst from the bunker market then suddenly I was trying to hurry my family through the train station to catch a train. Then the snow disappeared off the ground and we were in Luhansk all of a sudden. Obviously a dream, but when I woke up and wrote it in my journal, I realised I had gotten a bratwurst from an underground market at one point. So I found the location, and seeing it made me recall all the background info (the why, how, and what). So from a fragment of real memory from a dream, I remembered most of what I did in Autumn 1986.

Don't know why the memories keep getting triggered so easily, it's hard to deal with sometimes. I'd be going about my daily business then suddenly be hit with a wave of new memories that I have to sit down and process.

 

[melon04]

I wonder why some people get memories while conscious but others don't.

And even if I did happen to have some, I would worry about whether or not they were real or fake.

 

[Spiegel]

Me too tbh, I was only convinced about the bratwurst one after hours of scrolling through historical pictures of Hannover station and finding a written record of me going there.

 

[fireflydancing]

I wonder why some people get memories while conscious but others don't.

Mostly because of triggers. At least in my experience. The best triggers are people. This is not as weird as it sounds because seemingly we tend to hang around each other. You meet someone and your system gets affected by the exchange of energies. And spontaneous recalls might happen.

Or the triggers come from another angle. A few weeks ago, I had to slow down because of a thick knee. So, to avoid boredom, I started an online search for validation and understanding of my life as a Maya girl. For two entire days, I was glued to my laptop screen, diving into pre-Columbian Maya life and culture. The night of the second day, I went to bed a little overstimulated by my search. I closed my eyes, and almost immediately I was in the past. Not only that, I was in my past life body. I didn't see spectacular things, or better say, my former self was absorbed by other interests than my current self would be. I was walking in a street and there was a kind of market. My vision was crystal clear, with colors, and a moving perspective. My former self was not interested in buildings or buying things or looking around. The entire attention went to some spot that seemed to sell children's toys made of wood. This experience was so lively and clear and real to me.

(Problem: according to historians the old Mayas didn't use money/coins and I haven't found any evidence of market life in that era. Still, they did trade, that is a proven fact. )

edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_in_Maya_civilization
According to wiki, they did sell woodcarvings and toys at the markets.

 

[Emma66]

I wonder why some people get memories while conscious but others don't.

And even if I did happen to have some, I would worry about whether or not they were real or fake.

I don't know why some people get memories while conscious but I had some and It is very disturbing for me.
Before my first YouTube regression last year I had only feelings, déjà-vu experiences and I was just saying to myself as a joke:" did that in my past life!". My first regressions brought me details, names, places and I was able to validate many memories. So I started to believe it was real. Maybe a door is open or I have a connection to my PL memories but I gave up regressions. I have spontaneous memories only for two lives and that's enough. Often at night, suffering from insomnia, just when I wake up or when I calm down or meditate.
Sometimes it's triggered by a picture, a song, a daily gesture ( now holding a beer reminds me my last evening before leaving for Vietnam, taking care of my horses and I'm back in the 18th century and I remember the place where I was doing the same thing). On the 7th of September was the battle of Borodino in 1812. I was there. No more memories of the battle on that day but I remembered what I was thinking just before the battle while we were waiting in the reserve cavalry. I was thinking about my family, my friends, who was going to make it home, a kind of self-examination.
With a regression you know that maybe something is going to happen, with spontaneous memories you don't know when and having bouts of crying I can't explain to others is disturbing.
I stop writing here or I think it's another topic.

 

[Spiegel]

Emma, what you've described was very similar to my own experience! I also started with vague feelings/familiarities but on the day I did my 3rd successful regression and saw my own past life photo (so maybe 4 months after I first started my PL research), I started spontaneously remembering everything I did in two lives. After a few months the memories started to slow down and I thought I was off the hook, but then I started spontaneously remembering a third life....then fourth, fifth.......etc. Ahhhh!

(Just wanted to squeeze in a small reply here because of how well you've put into words your experience. Hopefully I haven't contributed too much to the derailing of the thread.)