M.J. Rose

Thank you to author Hope Tarr for answering this week’s Reincarnationist Q&A!

Hope Tarr is the award-winning author of more than a dozen historical and contemporary romance fiction novels. Look for “Tomorrow’s Destiny” in a Victorian Christmas anthology with her bestseller buddies, Jacquie D’Alessandro and Betina Krahn. Hope’s most recent book is: TWELVE NIGHTS, Harlequin Historical Blaze, Dec 2009 ISBN#: 978-0373795161

THE QUESTIONS:

What is your most marked characteristic that you believe could be a hold over from a past life?
Compassion, most definitely. I did a past life regression about five years ago and instead of being regressed to my most recent life, the practioner guided me to recall the life most pertinent to the lessons to be learned in my present one. I was “John” and I’d lived (and happily survived) the American Civil War, instead dying of “natural causes,” i.e., a cancer in my mid-sixties.
In this life as “Hope,” I’m a huge “feeler,” so much so that I have to take care to protect my emotional boundaries. That said, being able to walk in the shoes of others, to empathize rather than simply sympathize, has also proven to be a big asset in my writing life.

What is your principle defect that you believe may be inherited from a previous incarnation?
According to my astrologer–he did my first natal chart in 2003 and annual followups since–in all my past lives, I’ve suffered from a polarity in my intimate/romantic relationships. Loving someone has been associated with my abandonment of path and purpose, shame and loss, betrayal…Well, you get the picture. Think of my soul as the Jennifer Anniston of the galaxy. Pretty and talented and successful though she is, when it comes to love, that girl can’t seem to catch a break.The good news is that my stars, so to speak, are aligned to afford me multiple opportunities to get “it” right this time around, to heal the rift within my soul, and to balance loving someone passionately and fully with loving and respecting myself.
And so I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that in this life I’ve been drawn to romance fiction, first as a reader and for the past decade as a writer of more than a dozen novels.  Likewise, it’s no coincidence that I was born under the Sun sign of Libra (the eternal quest for balance–remember those scales) under Venus. I believe all of these circumstances are part of my soul’s mission to work out this whole love thing in a positive way so I can move on not to Rest in Peace but to tackle the next lesson.

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Thank you Wendy Webb, author of THE TALE OF HALCYON CRANE, for answering this week’s Reincarnationist Q&A –

What is your most marked characteristic that you believe could be a hold over from a past life?

My writing ability.  Writing comes naturally to me, and it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.

What is your principle defect that you believe may be inherited from a previous incarnation?

I have an irrational fear that I’ll fall overboard when I’m on a ship in the middle of the ocean. In an odd coincidence, my mate, photographer Steve Burmeister, is rather obsessed with the Titanic. He knows names, dates, facts, every little thing about the ship and the night it went down. Were we among the people who died in those freezing seas?

Which of your favorite heroes do you think you could have been and why?

I don’t think I was anyone famous, but I do have an affinity for certain time periods and peoples. Early Native American, Victorian England, and post-World War I Paris all seem familiar to me.

What three people from history would you like to have over to dinner for a discussion about reincarnation?

Edgar Cayce, Jesus and my brother Randy, who died in 2004.

What do you think happens when we die?

The spirit leaves the body, (I do believe in ghosts, after all) but beyond that, I really don’t know.

When you come back next time, who (or what!) would you like to be?

I like the ride I’m on right now, so I’d wish for it to continue.

Wendy Webb’s site is here.

The Reincarnationist welcomes author Leanna Renee Hieber – thank you for answering our questions Leanna!

Leanna Renee Hieber is the award winning, bestselling author of the Strangely Beautiful series of ghostly, Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels beginning with The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker (Barnes & Noble Bestseller) and continuing soon with the April 27th release of the sequel, The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker.

What is your most marked characteristic that you believe could be a hold over from a past life?

My life-long obsession with the late 19th century. I was driven to start my first novel when I was around twelve years old, a Gothic novel set in 1888. Many years and projects later, I returned to that first beloved genre with a new manuscript, a ghostly, Gothic Victorian Fantasy again set in 1888, my debut novel; The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker. The Strangely Beautiful series has mythic themes of incarnations so this is a fitting dialogue for me. I’ve always fostered a keen desire to paint the difficult, gorgeous, gritty, atmospheric time that is the Victorian era, a time whose triumphs, terrors, riches and injustices, conflicts and fierce fascination with the supernatural make for a fascinating epoch that I’ve felt I’ve always known. When I travel to London, I have an uncanny sense of the city – having grown up in rural Ohio this should not have been innate. So I truly believe something of my heart and spirit belongs to 19th Century London, as it’s always had a claim on me.

What is your principle defect that you believe may be inherited from a previous incarnation?

Trying to balance sensitivity, trust, generosity and ambition – a very tricky scale to keep level.

Which of your favorite heroes do you think you could have been and why?

The first women who put pen to paper and declared themselves writers, any of the men and women of the Suffrage and the Abolitionist movements, because they were brave, right and just. And one hero in particular: Caroline Earle White who founded the American Anti-Vivisection Society in the late 19th Century to speak out against animal cruelty, elevating a discourse on human ethics. As a vegetarian and caretaker of a bunny rescued from a laboratory, that issue is close to my heart.

What three people from history would you like to have over to dinner for a discussion about reincarnation?

Jesus – I imagine he’d have some fascinating things to say about it.
Martin Luther – I’m Lutheran and so I’m curious what points he’d argue.
Queen Victoria – because I’d really love to meet her and her interest in spiritualism could make it a fascinating discussion.

What do you think happens when we die?

I’m not sure and I don’t mind the Divine Mystery. I believe energy continues on, and sometimes it may linger tied to a specific person or place, but generally it moves onto towards Peace (what that looks like or may be, I can’t presume to say) or to perhaps another go-round on the globe.

When you come back next time, who (or what!) would you like to be?

I’m really enjoying being a novelist! I think I could do it for a few lifetimes and still have stories I’d want to tell. Or a bird; flight would be lovely.

Leanna’s Links:
Website: www.leannareneehieber.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/leannarenee
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/sbsfan