by Bruce Johnson
Bruce Johnson has over 30 years of study in the fields of Ancient Wisdom and occultism. He has taught classes on a wide range of topics, from Atlantis to mediums to Zoroaster. He is also a Spiritualist minister, with a background in spiritual astrology. He lives in Colorado with his wife and their cat.
Reincarnation takes place under the Law of Rebirth which is initiated by the Law of Evolution and closely related to the Law of Cause and Effect. The purpose of cyclical physical reincarnation is to evolve and develop the consciousness of the lower self, or personality, into a perfect vehicle for the expression of one’s soul. Through reincarnation, individuals learn important life lessons, work out karmic causes, and unfold their divinity. Additionally, souls reincarnate through all the 12 astrological signs, starting each new life exactly at the point where the previous lifetime left off. Love and hate equally bind individuals together over different lifetimes.
Group rebirth is the rule, with individual reincarnation being a minor part of group reincarnation. Like individual rebirth, group rebirth has the same evolutionary purpose, is connected to the Laws of Evolution and Karma, is cyclical in manifestation, and is governed by the 12 astrological signs and their related color rays. With vicarious atonement non-existent, individuals as well as small groups, cities, regions and nations, must work out their own karmas and spiritual salvation. Love and hate tie groups to each other like they do with individuals.
Rebirth involves a symbolic out-breathing and in-breathing by one’s soul. During out-breathing, the immortal soul externalizes a portion of itself called the personality, into dense physical matter for a portion of time. At the in-breathing, the physical body dies and the externalized personality, containing its earthly experiences, is drawn back to the soul, and reabsorbed into it. One physical incarnation of activity, plus an interval of rest in the spirit world constitutes one cycle of out-breathing and in-breathing of the soul. This cycle is repeated for every lifetime.
On its own plane, the soul is sexless, having no male or female sexual characteristics. It is only in form manifestation that human sexual duality exists. The majority of people generally have lifetimes that alternate between male and female sexes, and like all reincarnating souls, balance karma, grow and evolve soul consciousness through experiencing both feminine and masculine physical experiences and expressions.
A rarer pattern of reincarnation is one where a soul incarnates many successive times in one sexual expression before changing. This pattern is more often seen in gays and lesbians, for example. A soul with many consecutive feminine incarnations would likely display strong feminine characteristics when they eventually incarnated into a male body, and visa-versa. Today’s men have been women and today’s women have been men in past lives.
By recognizing the Law of Rebirth, and its close interaction with the Law of Cause and Effect, we can understand not only our individual and group purpose in life, but that individual and group karmas with causes initiated in past lives are being resolved now. Knowledge of reincarnation will eventually give the solutions to many of humanity’s problems and the answers to many of its questions.
Reincarnation also sheds a much-needed light on the subject of abortion. Opponents of abortion need to understand that the physical body is a container containing the spirit or person, and not the person themselves. There is no set time when the incarnating spirit enters the physical body. The spirit often inhabits the new body at quickening, just prior to, or even after physical birth. Souls that are temporarily not allowed to incarnate through any particular mother will have other opportunities in which to incarnate. People must be able to have control over their own physical bodies.