“How long do you think that was?” she asked me.

“I’m not sure. Maybe an hour?” I offered. “A bit less?”

“Three and a half hours,” she said.

I was stunned. There I was, lying on a bench, having just experienced my first past-life regression, suspecting that my brain had come up with a load of old nonsense - but this fact instantly made me wonder. Where had all that time gone? Where could it have gone?

That morning, I had driven down from the north of the Isle of Wight, where I live, to the south on the first gloriously sunny day of the year to meet with Ellemiek Drucker, a Past Life and Between Lives spiritual regression therapist. Having revisited some of my daughter’s uncanny stories from her early years about ‘how she died before’ for a recent article, I’d become increasingly fascinated by the possibility of being able to revisit my own ‘past lives’. On the drive down, I’d felt a heady mixture of excitement and apprehension. A thousand thoughts were running through my head: What if I can’t be hypnotised and it’s awkward? What if it works and I can’t ‘come back’? What if it works and I’m forced to confront something too hard? I was about to find out.

What is a Past Life Regression?

Most people I know have joked at some point that certain talents or quirks they exhibit come from who they must have been in a past life. There are many others, however, for whom past lives are not simply a fun bit of woo-woo, but a way to better understand their psyche and even heal from trauma. Both sides appeal to me greatly, though I must admit to being sceptical. My family background is in traditional, black and white medicine. Nothing left-field like this was ever entertained growing up.

Here’s how regression works, though: through deep relaxation or light hypnosis, we can apparently go back in time to find memories of key trigger points in our childhood. For example, these might be moments that caused issues such as irrational fears or recurring, negative relationship dynamics. This is actually a fairly standard type of hypnosis therapy, which works because, when someone relives a moment in their mind in that way, they can often directly access the emotion attached to it. Then, with professional guidance, they’ll revisit and alter that memory slightly, which can create a shift in perspective, leading to a sense of release. A childhood regression can be incredibly powerful, but it does mean working with memories we already partly understand, even if we may have spent decades burying them. A past life regression, however, builds on this approach.

Experts say that by stepping even further back into our subconscious, we can consider what some believe are lives that happened before our current incarnation. This gives our psyche more freedom to work in symbols, metaphors, textures or even full technicolour stories. It’s said that this deeper approach means it’s easier to access things that were pre-verbal or feel too charged or too complex or painful to tackle directly - a bit like experiencing feelings through a character in a novel instead of them happening to you. It’s indirect, so it feels safer to go there.

What happens in a regression?

My own past life regression started before I’d even got to Ellemiek’s studio, with a detailed questionnaire asking all sorts of things, from what my favourite colour is to whether I enjoy my work. I understood later that this was to help her decipher how my mind works, such as whether I was a visual person or more of a sound person, so she could help me ‘go back’ more effectively. Once I arrived, we settled into the studio, which faced the sea and had beautiful natural light. I’d been half expecting a ton of spiritual paraphernalia hidden behind a cloud of incense, but the room had a professional feel and was calm and clear. We had a pretty intense chat for an hour about what, if anything, I wanted to get out of the session or would like to shift in terms of limiting beliefs and other mental blocks. Not that these things would necessarily come up, she warned me: “Regression gives you what you need, not always what you think you want.” That wasn’t really what I wanted to hear.

Taking the time to talk beforehand was welcome and Ellemiek soon put me at ease, telling me that I should try to keep an open mind about what comes up and not overthink it. She also explained that the hypnosis would go in waves - sometimes I’d be totally aware of where I am and feel that I might be making things up, and other times it would be more like watching fragments of a silent movie. The key is to just go with it: to say what you see and what you feel with no judgement. This is much easier said than done, I found.

As I lay under a blanket, Ellemiek started by asking me to imagine a safe place and then see a flight of stairs in my mind’s eye. Slowly and calmly, I was asked to notice what was around me and how I was feeling before being mentally guided down each step to the bottom. This part felt quicker than I’d anticipated and my brain screamed, ‘Wait! What? Slow down!’ but then I remembered what I was told about going with it and pushed the voice away. At this point, my imagination – or something like it, at least – kicked in.

Robes and headdresses

The first thing I saw was my bare feet on sand, though everything around them was blurred. They were big feet, with some hair on the toes, and I had a sensation of weight and breadth in my body. There were definitely masculine vibes, which surprised me, as it hadn’t occurred to me that I could be a different sex. Next came a flash of deep blue – loose material moving in the wind, and a heaviness on my head and shoulders. Something told me it was a headdress made of antlers. I saw children running away, clearly scared. I saw trees on fire. All the while, Ellemiek kept asking what I could see, how I felt and what happened next. Answering out loud felt wrong, like I was constantly being pulled back into reality. I worried that I wasn’t really ‘under’ because of it, but I kept going.

Once it felt like that scene was fading because I’d got what I needed from it, which in this case involved noting a feeling of great responsibility coupled with an equally great sense of being woefully unprepared for it, Ellemiek gently asked me to close that story and move to a different timeline. This process repeated three or four times over the session and she’d gently redirect me forward or backwards in time as she felt necessary.

It was a very strange situation to find myself in. On the one hand, I felt constantly aware of what was going on in the present day and doubted everything that came out of my own mouth, yet on the other, I had an internal voice imploring me to just listen and withhold any judgement. It was a classic good cop, bad cop - ann angel and a devil on each shoulder.

I did get judgy though.

By the third ‘life’, I was feeling frustrated and, in all honesty, getting a bit fed up. Always male and always a bit pathetic, I couldn’t seem to move past a similar story of feeling lost, like I wasn’t taught something and had to forgive someone for that. I didn’t like it because that’s how I often feel now, and I reckoned I could just be projecting that. I wanted, instead, to move past this all-too-familiar scenario and get some answers. I wanted some grand, Jesus-like figure to appear and tell me what the hell my life purpose was. You won’t be surprised to hear that it doesn’t quite work like that.

We finished the couch part of the session with the part that will definitely sound completely woo to most people: trying to access my higher self and my soul team – cue eye-rolling, albeit with a splash of excitement. Sadly, those elements didn’t work well together, and I didn’t get the magic answers I was looking for. All I got was some blobby bits of pink that felt like they were coming from the other side of my eyelids as the light changed.

Feeling flat

We finished and I slowly sat up. When asked how I felt, I was cagey as I didn’t want to be rude, but the truth was, I felt flat. Flat and sad. Despite trying to have zero expectations from the session, I realised that I had hoped for some sort of message at least - something that I could take away and work on. And I felt sad because part of me had wanted to throw myself wholeheartedly into this more spiritual world, where I knew for sure that there was more beyond this one singular, directionless human existence. I had wanted proof, and I hadn’t got it. It was then, however, that Ellemiek asked how long I thought the regression had lasted, and the genuine shock of finding out blew my mind. What it also did was plant a seed. That seed was the thought to suspend judgement and let it settle, to let my brain process everything in the background while I got on with my life for a few days. In a week or so, I’d consider how it went.

A gradual revelation

They say the soul whispers quietly and you’ll only really hear it if you take the time to tune in. It took several days to know how I felt about my past life regression experience, but ‘felt’ is the word here, not ‘thought’. I turned my thinking brain off and eventually asked my gut, which responded in such a strong way that I feel emotional writing about it.

All those fragments of male ‘me’s across generations, seeking guidance from elders who couldn’t give it, suddenly came together with the final vision that I had initially dismissed because it happened when I was feeling frustrated. The tweak I had made to the last ‘memory’ of me as a young male leader, even though I didn’t know why at the time, was to invite a woman to come and stand beside me. This woman was so familiar to me, and I clearly loved her. I felt stronger with her there, like anything was possible and I knew exactly what I needed to do from then on.

It seems so obvious now to me, but that woman was the personification of my intuition - something I have dismissed for far too much of my ‘current’ life, choosing instead to follow the crowd and outsource my own instincts, which I know are strong. It’s little wonder that I’ve got to my forties and still feel confused about my direction. I feel quite angry that I didn’t trust my gut in the first place and take more creative risks with my life, because I know exactly where I’d be now if I had.

After this revelation, I decided to Google what seeing pink light blobs might have meant in this regression scenario. It turns out it’s really a ‘thing’. Pink here is generally linked to nurture and healing, but the intense tone of it I saw at the end, when I was essentially looking for Jesus, apparently means “strong emotional release or transformation”. Go figure. I am calling this woman named intuition back into my life, and this time, I’m not letting go. Next stop: more sessions and less judging. I’ll also dip my toes into the more advanced modalities of Life Between Lives and Quantum Healing Hypnosis Therapy (QHHT), now I’m getting better at quietening my thinking brain.

With regard to past life regression, however, what’s clear to me now is this: whether we believe these mental fragments are true memories of our previous incarnations or just our brain piecing together buried emotions in the only way it knows how is almost irrelevant. What matters in practice is that the experience can feel real and meaningful enough to completely change how we see ourselves and move through life. And if that isn’t real magic, what is?

Have you had a similar experience? Please share in the comments!

It’s really only now that the West is catching up with what the East has known for centuries about the medicinal power of mushrooms. Happily though, word is spreading very quickly and we’re suddenly seeing a new wave of healthy, functional mushroom products from coffee alternatives to tinctures. A lot of fungi have great immune support and a source of vitamins and minerals in common, but some are particularly valued for other incredible properties from lowering cholesterol to even shrinking tumours!

Here are eight marvellous, medicinal mushrooms we should all try to include in our diet:

Reishi Mushroom - ‘The Mushroom of Immortality’

Reishi mushrooms (Ganoderma lucidum) are a beautiful, reddish-brown colour with a shiny cap. Known as the mushroom of immortality, they’re said to support the immune system by fighting off infections and illnesses, help reduce stress and anxiety levels and have anti-inflammatory properties.

Chaga Mushroom - ‘The Contra-Cancer One’

Chaga mushrooms (Inonotus obliquus) are dark and woody and grow on the bark of birch trees. They’re said to have antioxidant properties, help boost the immune system but also, potentially reduce the size of tumours, making them a great complementary therapy in cancer treatment.

Lion’s Mane Mushroom) - ‘The Brain Booster’

Lion’s Mane mushrooms (Hericium erinaceus) have a unique appearance with cascading white spines that resemble a lion’s mane. It’s a fungus associated with improved cognitive function, focus, memory and may also help with reducing anxiety and depression. It’s also said that Lion’s Mane can promote the growth and repair of nerve cells.

Cordyceps Mushroom - ‘The Lung & Energy One’

Cordyceps i(Cordyceps sinensis) is a parasitic fungus that infects insects to propagate itself! It sounds gross, but they are a potent mushroom that enhances energy levels, endurance and lung function, making it the mushroom choice for athletes and those with respiratory issues.

Turkey Tail Mushroom - ‘The Gut Booster’

Turkey Tail mushrooms (Trametes versicolor) have a colourful, fan-shaped appearance that look just like turkey’s tails. These mushrooms are known for their immune-boosting properties and like Chaga, are often used as a complementary therapy for cancer treatment. They’re also said to be excellent for gut health and supporting digestion

Shiitake Mushroom - ‘The Cholesterol Crusader’

Shiitake mushrooms (Lentinula edodes) are particularly popular in Asian cuisine thanks to their meaty texture and medicinal benefits. Immune-stimulating and cholesterol-lowering, this fungus is also rich in vitamins and minerals including vitamin D, making it an excellent support for bone health and general wellness.

Maitake Mushroom - ‘The Insulin Angel’

Maitake mushrooms (Grifola frondosa), aka ‘hen of the woods’ are so called thanks to their cluster-like growth patterns. Maitake supports the immune system, helps regulate blood sugar levels, thus improving insulin sensitivity and is another that has potential anti-cancer properties.

Agaricus Blazei Mushroom - ‘The All-Rounder’

Agaricus Blazei mushrooms (Agaricus subrufescens) are native to Brazil and have

fantastic all-round health properties from immune system support to reducing inflammation and cholesterol levels.

I met an expert graphologist recently called Emma Bache, who opened my eyes to her fasinating world, where she studies a person’s handwriting to gain insights into their personality, behaviour and characteristics.

Graphologists are the people who study handwriting not just as marks on a page but as a kind of emotional fingerprint: the pressure of a pen, the slant of a letter, the way a signature trails off or surges forward.. each one is a clue to the interior life of the person who made it. It's an ancient and somewhat contentious discipline, dismissed by some as pseudoscience but quietly relied upon by others including criminal investigators and HR departments (you have been warned!) Many people believe that the way we write reveals something we'd never say out loud.

Here are some common traits that handwriting analysts may look for. Warning: you’ll never write a christmas card to a graphologist again.

• Size of Letters

Large letters may indicate extroversion and a desire for attention.Small letters could suggest introversion or attention to detail.

• Spacing

Wide spacing between words or letters may indicate a need for personal space. Narrow spacing might suggest a desire for closeness or a focused personality.

• Slant

Right slant (letters leaning to the right) can be associated with extroversion and a warm, expressive nature. Left slant may suggest introversion or a more reserved personality. Vertical writing may indicate a balanced, logical personality.

• Pressure

Heavy pressure on the paper may indicate strong emotions, determination, or intensity. Light pressure could be associated with sensitivity, empathy, or a delicate nature.

Baseline

A consistent baseline suggests stability and reliability. An inconsistent baseline might indicate mood swings or unpredictability.

• Connections

Connected letters may indicate logical thinking and organization. Disconnected letters could suggest independence or a desire for personal freedom.

• Margins

Wide margins may suggest a need for personal space and independence. Narrow margins may indicate a desire for closeness or a focused nature.

• Letter Forms

Rounded letters can suggest a more creative, artistic personality. Angular letters might indicate logical thinking and practicality.

• Doodles and Flourishes

The presence of doodles or embellishments can reveal creativity, imagination, or a desire for attention.

• Consistency

The consistency of handwriting traits throughout a sample may indicate a stable personality, while variations could suggest adaptability.

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It’s important to emphasise that while handwriting analysis can be intriguing, it is not a foolproof method for determining an individual’s personality or character. Many factors can influence a person’s handwriting, including mood, writing surface, and writing instrument.

If you’re interested in more, seek out professional graphologist Emma Bache, who has undergone extensive training to develop her skills. Her fantastic, fascinating book ‘Reading Between The Lines’ goes into all of this and give real life example, including analysis of the writing of kings and serial killers!

Listen to my conversation with Emma on the Flock & Hive Podcast here!

We’ve all heard about how what we chose to place in our homes and where we place it can effect the flow of energy around the place. This is Feng Shui but did you know that there’s a simple map you can use to help tweak this energy flow and help bring in more wealth and love and all the good things into your home? Here’s what you need to know.

Understanding The Feng Shui Bagua Map

The Feng Shui Bagua map is a fascinating and complex tool that has evolved over centuries to guide individuals, or even companies, towards creating more balance and harmony in their living and working spaces. Translating roughly as ‘eight symbols or areas’, the map is central to Feng Shui practice as a tool used to analyse the energy of a space such as a home. It reflects a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of life and environment and continues to be a vital element in the practice of Feng Shui, whether used in its traditional form in China or its adapted versions worldwide.

In China, the Bagua map’s application is deeply intertwined with cultural practices and architectural designs. Traditionally, Chinese homes and buildings are constructed with the principles of the Bagua to promote positive energy flow, known as Qi. It is common for Feng Shui masters to be consulted before constructing homes or offices.

The origins of the Bagua map trace back to the I Ching (or Book of Changes), one of the oldest Chinese classical texts. The Bagua, which means “eight areas” in Mandarin, was traditionally depicted as eight trigrams arranged around a central point, symbolising fundamental principles of reality. Each trigram corresponds to a different life aspect and natural element.

Evolution and Interpretations

Throughout history, the Bagua map has evolved into various forms. The two primary versions are the Early Heaven Bagua, which is used more for personal cultivation and philosophical insights, and the Later Heaven Bagua, commonly used in Feng Shui practice for analysing the energy of physical spaces.

In modern Feng Shui, practitioners often use the Later Heaven Bagua. This version aligns eight areas of life experience — wealth, fame, love, family, health, children, knowledge, and career — with specific sections of a space. The ninth area, Tai Chi, is in the centre, representing health and overall well-being.

There are several schools of Feng Shui, each interpreting the Bagua map slightly differently. The most common in the West is the BTB (Black Sect Tantric Buddhist) school, which simplifies the map for use in modern homes. Other schools, like the Classical or Compass school, use more traditional methods, taking into account the cardinal directions (the four main points of a compass: North, East, South and West) and their meanings and associations.

Using the Bagua Map

To use the Bagua map, overlay it onto the floor plan of your home or office space, aligning the bottom edge with the wall of the front door. Each area of the map corresponds to different aspects of life, and specific enhancements or remedies can be applied to improve energy flow and balance of each, regardless of whether you’re using the simplified map or or the full, traditional ones.

Centre (Tai Qi): Keep this area open, clear and free of clutter to promote balance in and positive energy flow in your home.

Wealth & Prosperity Area: Use elements that symbolise wealth, like plants or water-related items. Colours like purple, blue, and red can be beneficial.

Fame & Reputation Area: Introduce items that represent fire and light, like candles or red objects, to enhance this area.

Love & Relationships Area: Utilise pairs of objects, romantic artwork or crystals like rose quartz.

Family Area: Incorporate wooden elements or green colours to strengthen family ties and health.

Children & Creativity Area: Metal objects and white or pastel colours can enhance creativity and the wellbeing of children.

Knowledge & Personal Growth Area: Place books or items representing knowledge and self-cultivation in this area.

Career & Life Path Area: Use mirrors, fountains or items in black and blue to support career growth.

Helpful People & Travel: Metallic colours and circular objects can attract helpful people and facilitate travel.

General best practice for Feng Shui

Balancing the Five Elements:

The five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water are central to Feng Shui. Ensure a balance of these elements in each section of the Bagua to create harmony. Eliminating Clutter is another one. Clutter can block the flow of Qi (energy), so keeping your home clean and organised is crucial.

The energy of a space can change over time, so it’s important to update the Feng Shui of your home regularly. This can be as simple as moving a few objects around or adding seasonal decorations. Fresh air and light are essential for good Feng Shui too, so ensure your home is well-lit and has good air circulation.

Remember, Feng Shui is not just about placement of objects but also about intention. The energy you put into making these adjustments is as important as the adjustments themselves.

Want to know more? Listen to episode of the Flock & Hive podcast where we talk to Kristina Hollinger about Feng Shui and energy.

Read Kristina Hollinger’s Guide to using the Bagua Map here

Greetings, Flockers!

Did you know about noetic science? I didn’t until recently, so I though I’d share.

We are living at a time where the boundaries of science are continuously expanding into realms that were once considered esoteric. ‘Noetic’ science now bridges the gap between the empirical and the experiential, delving into the study of consciousness and its influence on the physical world. But what is it exactly?

What is Noetic Science?

Noetic science is an interdisciplinary field that studies the nature of consciousness and its relationship with the material world. At its core, it seeks to understand how beliefs, thoughts and intentions can affect the physical, more traditionally scientific world. The term ‘noetic’ comes from the Greek word ‘noēsis/noētikos,’ meaning inner wisdom, direct knowing or subjective understanding.

Origins and Development

The term ‘noetic sciences’ was first coined in 1973 by astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon. During his return from the Apollo 14 mission, Mitchell experienced a profound sense of universal connectedness, often described as a ‘Samadhi’ experience in Eastern traditions. This epiphany led him to found the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) in 1973, aiming to integrate scientific methodology with inner knowing. Mitchell’s experience epitomises the essence of noetic science, which is a blend of subjective inner experience with objective analysis. He once said this:

“The way I like to phrase it is that the molecules of my body, the spacecraft’s body, and the molecules of the cosmos were all created in some ancient generation of stars. And that’s not just philosophy, that’s science.”

Key Principles of Noetic Science

Noetic science operates on a few key principles:

• The belief that consciousness is part of the fabric of the universe, not just a product of the brain.

• The idea that our minds can influence the physical world in ways not fully explained by conventional physics.

• A commitment to exploring how individual and collective consciousness can lead to societal, environmental, and global health.

Noetic science often finds itself at the intersection of support and scepticism. While it has garnered interest for its novel approach to understanding consciousness, critics argue that its theories can drift into the realm of pseudoscience due to a lack of empirical evidence. I guess the question is: does everything have to be scientifically proven? How can you show physical evidence of love, for example?

While it may challenge conventional scientific paradigms, its pursuit of understanding the interconnection between mind and matter opens up new frontiers in our quest for knowledge. Whether through reading, research, or personal exploration, the journey into noetic science promises to be as enriching as it is enlightening.

“We are not only in the universe but the universe is in us. I hadn’t had that experience before. It was an epiphany.” -Dr. Edgar Mitchell

Further reading:

The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) website is a treasure trove of information, offering articles, research papers, and details of ongoing studies.

Books such as “The Conscious Universe” and “Entangled Minds” by Dean Radin, a prominent researcher in the field, provide an in-depth look at the science behind psychic phenomena, a topic closely related to noetic science.

Additionally, the works of Dr. Edgar Mitchell, including “The Way of the Explorer,” offer profound insights into the genesis and philosophies underlying noetic science.