Post by oldsoul on Nov 18, 2012 13:40:23 GMT -5
I just found this website and wanted to share my experience because maybe it can help others make sense of their own.
When I was 19 years old, I had a series of reccurring dreams about living in the North of France in the late 1930s, early 1940s. They were kind of like movies actually things occurred in sequence like in everyday life with remarkable detail that I could not have invented from specific locations that I had never seen.
I would like to preface that before this series of dreams when I was 19, during all of my teenage years and early 20s, I had reccurring dreams that I was running away from something or some people. Constantly with the fear of God of getting caught and what would come if i was caught. I would always wake up frightened to death and relieved that it was just a dream. But I always found these recurring dreams to be highly intense and unusual since I grew up a pretty comfortable, uncomplicated and fortunate life in the suburbs of NY.
So to begin with my first flash back of my previous life. The dream wasn't anything special at first. Events occurred in sequence like they would in real life. I was in a field surrounded by a forest of pine trees in a deserted area. I was alone, no family or friends. I don't know how, but in the dream it was like I was living the life of this person. Like I knew what she was going through and I could tell that I had no family or at least that I had not seen them in a long time and that I was on my own for the time being.
In the field was a tall abandoned building (maybe 4 to 6 stories?) which had classical architecture almost like an old palace or something. But I remember going in and everything was ramshackle and beat down. This place hadn't been used in a long time. Somehow I knew in the dream that it had once been a bustling factory or business of some sort, maybe in the early 1900s or 1920s. I walked up some stairs and there were other people living in this building. Mostly children and teens and some mothers. I saw no fathers there. People were very quiet. No one spoke. I did not speak. It was as though we knew we had to remain very silent as if our life depended on it. Peoples clothes were grey, brown, and torn. We were skinny and had dirt on our cheeks.
Nothing seemed strange in the dream until this point until I reached a mirror on the 3rd or 4th floor. I looked at myself and was in utter shock. I was looking at someone elses face! This girl looked about 19 years old but she was pale, had piercing green eyes and had dark brown ringlets of shoulder length curly hair!!! I am black in this life with black eyes, light brown skin, and straight black hair so you can imagine the shock of looking in the mirror and seeing a caucasian looking woman in your reflection instead! I touched my face to see if it was me and lo and behold it was! Then somehow after the initial shock I knew, this was not my current face, but I looked into my eyes, recognized my soul and knew that it was me. This moment is the single most powerful dream experience I have ever had.
I continued to walk around and saw children hiding in the walls of the building. Hiding in closets. Hiding anywhere. All quiet.
Later in the dream I heard noise outside and looked out the windows. The police or nazis had found us out. There were many cars parking in the field and they busted into the building shooting. I ran and ran down a set of service stairs trying to make a run for it. children hid in walls trying to be as quiet as they could. The fear I felt was tangible. All I could think was how am I going to get out of here alive.
I believe I got out somehow through the back and ran into the field then the forest. That is all I remember from this dream.
The next dreams I had came the same year and were not as interesting but in summary I was running through the country side constantly trying to hide. I hid in people's basements. In fields. In forests. The last dream I had about this time period I was lucky enough to find 2 gentlemen who let me on a boat with them. It was a medium sized boat And I do not know where it was going.
I never had any additional dreams after that.
I would like to add that until recently (i'm 25 now) I had filed this dream away. But reflecting on it now I have several reasons to believe that these were past memories from a young jewish 19 yo french girl who lived in the north of France some time between 1939 and 1943. And that those are my own memories.
When I was a child, I was naturally a loner. Although I have many fantastic friends and family in this life, I find that if I do not make an effort, I can go days and days staying indoors and not being social without a problem and feeling safe doing so. I always thought this was weird until I reflected on it now.
I have also always been weary of close relationships with people and always felt like they were going to leave me or desert me. If I do not make an effort to be social I can be nauseatingly quiet when I am in a group of people or when I meet a new group of people. I have actually left social events or hid in the corner of events because of the anxiety of being around large groups of people. Something that is completely irrational given that I have lived a fortunate life in this life.
When I was about 10 years old. I was given a set of clay and paintings from which you could make plates, pots and things. I made a plate and painted with amazing precision a swastika in black and red on it. I obviously did not know what it was. And when my mother got home she yelled at me and broke the plate and explained to me that is was the symbol of evil. I did not understand this at that time and until now never figured out why I would paint such a thing especially when I did not know what it was.
When I saw Schindler's list a few years ago, I cried uncontrollably throughout the movie. As if the pain I was witnessing in the movie was being done to me. I also remained seriously depressed for 3 days after I watched it. I thought this was a normal response. But speaking to other people who saw the movie, clearly it was not.
In this life, I find that I am unusually sensitive and empathic to minorities, outcasts, and people who are persecuted. I always just thought that that was my personality, but I realize now that this could have something to do with a past life.
Finally, in this life my best friend is a girl who I met in an exchange program in Spain. We were roomates. I was 16 and she 14 at the time. She was from the north of France. We became friends and close very fast almost like I knew her before or she was my long lost sister. We are still friends today almost 10 years later and separated by an ocean. I have visited her family in the north of france often over the years and have felt like these people are more like my family than certain members of my own family. Some years ago after I had the dream, her grandfather was recounting stories of his childhood during WW2 and how his own father was mayor of a small town then and was arrested for not providing names of jews and traitors to the nazis. I cannot know for certain, but something about his story resonated deeply with me and I cannot help but wonder whether my best friends ancestors either helped keep me hidden, or protected my name from these soldiers. I may never know in this life but I certainly felt chills when he told me the story.
Anyway that's all I can think of for now. I hope it has brought some light to someone's life or journey.
When I was 19 years old, I had a series of reccurring dreams about living in the North of France in the late 1930s, early 1940s. They were kind of like movies actually things occurred in sequence like in everyday life with remarkable detail that I could not have invented from specific locations that I had never seen.
I would like to preface that before this series of dreams when I was 19, during all of my teenage years and early 20s, I had reccurring dreams that I was running away from something or some people. Constantly with the fear of God of getting caught and what would come if i was caught. I would always wake up frightened to death and relieved that it was just a dream. But I always found these recurring dreams to be highly intense and unusual since I grew up a pretty comfortable, uncomplicated and fortunate life in the suburbs of NY.
So to begin with my first flash back of my previous life. The dream wasn't anything special at first. Events occurred in sequence like they would in real life. I was in a field surrounded by a forest of pine trees in a deserted area. I was alone, no family or friends. I don't know how, but in the dream it was like I was living the life of this person. Like I knew what she was going through and I could tell that I had no family or at least that I had not seen them in a long time and that I was on my own for the time being.
In the field was a tall abandoned building (maybe 4 to 6 stories?) which had classical architecture almost like an old palace or something. But I remember going in and everything was ramshackle and beat down. This place hadn't been used in a long time. Somehow I knew in the dream that it had once been a bustling factory or business of some sort, maybe in the early 1900s or 1920s. I walked up some stairs and there were other people living in this building. Mostly children and teens and some mothers. I saw no fathers there. People were very quiet. No one spoke. I did not speak. It was as though we knew we had to remain very silent as if our life depended on it. Peoples clothes were grey, brown, and torn. We were skinny and had dirt on our cheeks.
Nothing seemed strange in the dream until this point until I reached a mirror on the 3rd or 4th floor. I looked at myself and was in utter shock. I was looking at someone elses face! This girl looked about 19 years old but she was pale, had piercing green eyes and had dark brown ringlets of shoulder length curly hair!!! I am black in this life with black eyes, light brown skin, and straight black hair so you can imagine the shock of looking in the mirror and seeing a caucasian looking woman in your reflection instead! I touched my face to see if it was me and lo and behold it was! Then somehow after the initial shock I knew, this was not my current face, but I looked into my eyes, recognized my soul and knew that it was me. This moment is the single most powerful dream experience I have ever had.
I continued to walk around and saw children hiding in the walls of the building. Hiding in closets. Hiding anywhere. All quiet.
Later in the dream I heard noise outside and looked out the windows. The police or nazis had found us out. There were many cars parking in the field and they busted into the building shooting. I ran and ran down a set of service stairs trying to make a run for it. children hid in walls trying to be as quiet as they could. The fear I felt was tangible. All I could think was how am I going to get out of here alive.
I believe I got out somehow through the back and ran into the field then the forest. That is all I remember from this dream.
The next dreams I had came the same year and were not as interesting but in summary I was running through the country side constantly trying to hide. I hid in people's basements. In fields. In forests. The last dream I had about this time period I was lucky enough to find 2 gentlemen who let me on a boat with them. It was a medium sized boat And I do not know where it was going.
I never had any additional dreams after that.
I would like to add that until recently (i'm 25 now) I had filed this dream away. But reflecting on it now I have several reasons to believe that these were past memories from a young jewish 19 yo french girl who lived in the north of France some time between 1939 and 1943. And that those are my own memories.
When I was a child, I was naturally a loner. Although I have many fantastic friends and family in this life, I find that if I do not make an effort, I can go days and days staying indoors and not being social without a problem and feeling safe doing so. I always thought this was weird until I reflected on it now.
I have also always been weary of close relationships with people and always felt like they were going to leave me or desert me. If I do not make an effort to be social I can be nauseatingly quiet when I am in a group of people or when I meet a new group of people. I have actually left social events or hid in the corner of events because of the anxiety of being around large groups of people. Something that is completely irrational given that I have lived a fortunate life in this life.
When I was about 10 years old. I was given a set of clay and paintings from which you could make plates, pots and things. I made a plate and painted with amazing precision a swastika in black and red on it. I obviously did not know what it was. And when my mother got home she yelled at me and broke the plate and explained to me that is was the symbol of evil. I did not understand this at that time and until now never figured out why I would paint such a thing especially when I did not know what it was.
When I saw Schindler's list a few years ago, I cried uncontrollably throughout the movie. As if the pain I was witnessing in the movie was being done to me. I also remained seriously depressed for 3 days after I watched it. I thought this was a normal response. But speaking to other people who saw the movie, clearly it was not.
In this life, I find that I am unusually sensitive and empathic to minorities, outcasts, and people who are persecuted. I always just thought that that was my personality, but I realize now that this could have something to do with a past life.
Finally, in this life my best friend is a girl who I met in an exchange program in Spain. We were roomates. I was 16 and she 14 at the time. She was from the north of France. We became friends and close very fast almost like I knew her before or she was my long lost sister. We are still friends today almost 10 years later and separated by an ocean. I have visited her family in the north of france often over the years and have felt like these people are more like my family than certain members of my own family. Some years ago after I had the dream, her grandfather was recounting stories of his childhood during WW2 and how his own father was mayor of a small town then and was arrested for not providing names of jews and traitors to the nazis. I cannot know for certain, but something about his story resonated deeply with me and I cannot help but wonder whether my best friends ancestors either helped keep me hidden, or protected my name from these soldiers. I may never know in this life but I certainly felt chills when he told me the story.
Anyway that's all I can think of for now. I hope it has brought some light to someone's life or journey.
