Book Review: Past Life Prompts by M. Belanger

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When I was a freshman in high school, I started having vivid "flashbacks" involving Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte. At the time, I wasn't entirely sure what these memories were until my world history teacher mentioned in class one day how she believed she was a close friend of Anne Boyelyn in a past life. She described having very real recollections of walking palace hallways and laughing with other noble women. She did not think she was Anne, though, believing she would have remembered having her head cut off. I giggled right along with everyone else in class, but it struck a chord. Were my experiences the same as my teachers'? I fell into a rabbit hole as a young teen, trying to learn as much about my experience as I could, exploring history right alongside past life work. 

I have mentioned before that I have clairolfactance (also known as clairalience), or the ability to "clear smell." Sometimes this is accompanied by quick visuals (clairvoyance) and even a little bit of just knowing things (clairsentience), but by and large, I rely on smells to help me figure things out. It is a wild gift to possess, especially when you smell an odd odor and think, "Did the cats pee somewhere odd?" or "Did someone fart in here??" But I digress. The reason I mention this is that the more I pushed to figure out what was happening, the more smells that came to me, which triggered more and more memories. After months of research and "soul searching," I came to the conclusion that I was a very close friend of Josephine, Napoleon's wife, and I loved Napoleon greatly, but secretly. This love was not acted upon, let alone returned, but I was devoted and loyal nonetheless. I don't know who I was exactly, only that I played an important role in their life.

In the early 2000s, it was difficult to find information on past lives. In fact, there wasn't much information at all, and much of what I was finding seemed very "out there," even for a young teenager. Today, however, information abounds, including M. Belanger's latest book/journal Past Life Prompts: A Journal of Memory Work.

In this journal, Belanger offers over 130 prompts to explore your past lives, if you have any. These prompts are designed to trigger potential memories, even if they are only memories of this life. As Belanger mentions in the introduction, sometimes we cannot recall specific details about our past lives, but instead themes that have echoed through our lives. These patterns or echoes can be explored through the prompts after your initial journaling. Prompts range from "Tears well in your eyes. What just happened?" or "Your prayers have been answered. Where do you go to worship?" I found each prompt extremely thought-provoking and wish I had had access to such a journal when I was first exploring past lives.

Belanger doesn't leave us completely hanging when it comes to answering the prompts, however. The journal opens with a brief guide that explores the what, how, and why of past life exploration. She also includes a brief guide to assessing your style of memory and how to determine if your "remembering" is "real" or not. My biggest complaint about the introduction is that it's too short. I wish there had been a more detailed guide with some examples of how to read and interpret your responses. I know others will likely struggle to figure out exactly what to do once they have answered a prompt or all of them.

Despite the lackluster guide, the prompts alone in Past Life Prompts: A Journal of Memory Work is worth the purchase if you are interested in exploring your past lives. However, I strongly encourage you to use this journal in conjunction with another resource that delves deeper into past life exploration.

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