M.J. Rose

Thanks go out to Kaitlin O’Riley, author of several excellent historical romances, for answering our Reincarnationist QA today! Kaitlin O’Riley’s new novella, “Immortal Dreams” in the anthology Yours For Eternity, with the authors Hannah Howell and Alexandra Ivy, involves a love that endures past lives.  Please visit her at www.KaitlinORiley.com

THE QUESTIONS:

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

My inner sense of calm is pretty strong.  Sometimes I feel that I’ve been through the worst and nothing will ever be terrible enough not to survive.  So I guess in some previous life I lived through some horrific events and my current life seems mild in comparison!

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

For someone who has grown up on the shore, always near the ocean or a river, I have an inexplicable fear of deep water, which makes me believe that in a past life I drowned.  Maybe I was on the Titanic?!

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

Margaret Mitchell, because I can’t even imagine writing a novel as long as Gone With the Wind by hand or on an old typewriter!  That is a woman determined to write!

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

This is a tough question, especially with a limit of three!  Historically I think it would be fascinating to talk with Anne Boleyn and get the inside story of what really went on with Henry VIII.   It would also be interesting to talk to Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers, about what he thinks of the United States now. I recall learning in history class that he was supposedly handsome and charming as well, which are traits always welcome at a dinner party.  Lastly, I would love to invite Dean Martin, because naturally he would bring Frank and Sammy and to hang out with that whole Rat Pack crowd would be so much fun.  And of course to have him sing to me, well, that would be just amazing…

What do you think happens when we die?

I think, or would like to think, that our souls go to a peaceful and beautiful place where we are reunited with the other souls we have loved, before we are placed into new bodies to live life again and learn new lessons. In a sense we are always with those we love and that is very comforting.

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

Is saying a princess too predictable?  No, actually, I would love to come back as someone very adventurous or historically significant — the first person to do something new, invent something, cure a disease, or travel to some unexplored place.

Thank you to author Kate Maryon for answering this week’s Reincarnationist Q&A! Kate is the author of ‘Shine’ (HarperCollins) – her second book, ‘Glitter’ comes out in September and ‘Sparkle’ in March 2011…

THE QUESTIONS:

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

Mmm, I would say a sense of peace. Friends have often said that they like spending time with me because I’m calm and peaceful, my internal experience of it is a feeling of serenity/spaciousness. Although I don’t practice any religion I’m always very at home in monasteries, temples, churches etc. When I was in India once I heard some chanting drifting out onto the street and just had to follow it. The sound lead me to this huge tent, which was full of about a thousand Hari Krishna, I felt totally at home. I lay down in the middle of the space and just soaked it all in. It would have been an okay place to die. I also have an attraction to the sound of bells, any sort of bells, I love them.

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

Fear of snakes, definitely.

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

Mmmm, tricky, I don’t really have any heroes but if I were to pick someone I think it would have to be Mother Theresa. I really resonate with her ability to be touched by suffering.

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

Ooooh, I’d like to bring my mum back from the dead (she died 14 years ago) and get the inside goss on the subject, then I’d have Doris Stokes and Jesus and of course a wonderful feast.

What do you think happens when we die?

MMmm, lovely question, I often wonder about this. I imagine there to be a sensation of allowing all the holding on to life to slip away, which I guess might feel like a sense of deep relaxation and peace, a kind of settling back and back and back and back and so far back into yourself that you’re just here, no longer attached to your physical body, but with a strong sense of the vastness that is the hugeness of consciousness. I imagine there must be some force, stronger than the life force, that invites you, kind of pulls you closer. And maybe a sense of lightness and an experience of merging back into truth.

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

Someone who was born into love – I’d love to experience what it might be to have a safe, held and wonderfully carefree childhood. That’s something I missed.

For more information about Kate and her books, please visit her website:

www.katemaryon.co.uk

Thank you Silver James for answering this week’s Reincarnationist Q&A! Silver is the author of a series of books based on a Celtic concept of reincarnation and binding vows that enable a couple to meet again lifetime after lifetime…

THE QUESTIONS:

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

Without sounding all noble and full of BS, that characteristic would be my sense of duty and loyalty. I am slow to befriend people, and not very trusting, but once I give my friendship, I stick by that person through thick and thin. Along with that, comes the belief a person owes the world a certain amount of payback for the good that comes our way, to return the favor as it were. I’ve always volunteered or worked in public service. I’m not sure which previous life that might have come from, but I felt that way as a small child and remain so well into my life.

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

After a great deal of reflection, I think my quick temper. I flash to white-hot anger in a heartbeat, especially when confronted with stupid people. I’ve fought my temper all my life. When I lose the battle, I lash out, my words meant to wound. I think maybe that’s why I’m a writer this time around—I need to use words to heal, to uplift, to transport, rather than hurt.

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

Am I strange to say none of them? Two women in history have always fascinated me—Anne Boleyn and her daughter, Elizabeth. I believe I’ve met Anne’s reincarnation this lifetime. While I don’t think I lived either of their lives, I suspect I was there, serving in the court of both. When asked for a name in a past-life regression hypnosis session I participated in, I mentioned Elizabeth Plantagenet, daughter of Lord Lisle.

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

Arthur Conan Doyle

Albert Einstein

Katherine Hepburn

The first two are fairly self-explanatory, I would think. The last one? I just want to talk to her about anything and everything. I suspect she would have some interesting ideas about the subject.

What do you think happens when we die?

How many hours do we have to discuss this today? I was raised with the Christian concept of heaven and achieving peace everlasting once you die—and that you get one shot at “this life.” Through the years, my belief system has evolved and melded into an eclectic blend from the tenets of Celtic Druidism, Christianity, and Buddhism. Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), a Christian religious philosopher, believed that a person passed “whole” from the natural state to the spiritual state—that thoughts and memories are retained, leaving behind only the physical body. A close friend, brilliant and far more philosophical than I, believes God, (or the Universe, the One, whatever label you wish to use) created a collective consciousness that is a blending of all souls. To stay, one must give up all sense of self and the soul bathes in the river of…well…everything. All the love, all the pain—everything that God feels, thinks, does. The soul truly becomes one with God. Not every soul is ready for this complete surrender, hence they reincarnate. I believe the soul remains intact and when “presented” to the Universe, it can either seek a time of rest and peace, or it can return to the natural state, born again into a new body, with a new set of trials to face.

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

Anybody rich. Or skinny. Just kidding—sort of. I look at my dogs and the lolcat who rules us all and think they have a terrific life, but then I see all the abandoned critters in shelters. What a sad life that is. Would it be trite to say I want to be “me”? I want to keep my imagination. Wild, warped, and wacky as it may be, my imagination has saved me in ways I cannot begin to innumerate. I want to be an honorable person, one who cares for the world beyond the four walls of her personal existence. (And being rich would be okay…really. I wouldn’t gritch much. <wink>)

You can find Silver James hanging around the internet at www.silverjames.com.

Silver’s book, FAERIE FATE, the story of a woman sent back in time by the faeries to relive a former life and get love right, is available in both paperback and ebook from:

The Wild Rose Press

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

And in ebook only from: All Romance ebooks and Fictionwise

The second book in this series, FAERIE FIRE, will be available September 17, 2010.