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By Gloria C. De Pietro
Born prematurely and later diagnosed with a life-threatening childhood disease, I spent much of my early youth in hospitals. I painted The Red Doors in my 30s, a good 35 years later. I didn’t think much about the painting after I had done it, but for some reason, I felt that it was a scene that I had to put on canvas. When I was studying for my Master’s Degree in Art Therapy, I had an assignment to tell a story that had never been told before in pictures. So, I went back to the Child Life Center at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and did a photo essay of that place I had been so long ago.
I took pictures of things that felt familiar. I didn’t remember the doctor’s names or their faces, but I remembered the sounds of the carts moving along the corridor, the voices of people walking down the halls, and the bright lights. I also remembered the smell of the alcohol they used to rub me down when I had a high fever. It was like walking in a dream.
I developed the photos and was completely blown away when I saw the corridor photo. I had to compare it to The Red Doors. It was unmistakable. I had pulled up the image from my subconscious without even knowing it. In art therapy, everything has meaning—especially color. What interested me most was the color I had chosen to paint the doors. Red may represent excitement, love and many other emotions. But this particular color represented danger.
As a child, I knew that I was in danger. I was, after all, in a life and death situation that unfolded over about five years. My whole life was in the hospital. I would say that about 90% of the time that I was there, I was in danger.
Notice that the double doors at the end of the corridor in the painting are similar to the ones in the photo with the light coming in. It feels like a tunnel, the kind of tunnel you hear people who have had near-death experiences speak about, in which they see the light. I don’t mean to be overly dramatic, but I know that experiences embedded in my subconscious are deeply rooted and have had a huge impact on my psyche. These images and feelings made an indelible imprint, not only on my memory but on my soul as well.
Every event that happens to you is recorded in the physical body and the subtle body, which is your soul. The soul is made up of layers and surrounds the entire body. The first and closest layer to the physical being is called the etheric field. This field expands about six inches from the body and goes all around it. The etheric field is associated with your root chakra. Everything you experience is imprinted on this layer; it may also be referred to as the “qi,” “prana” or “the life force.” This energy never dies and is always available to you.
The next layer is called the emotional body, which is associated with your sacral chakra. This layer carries all unresolved feeling states from past and present lives, such as fear, anger, injustice, depression, shame, humiliation, worthlessness, and so on. This field extends two to three feet from your body and all around it. This can be seen as your aura.
The next layer is called the mental body and is associated with the solar plexus. This layer carries all obsessive repetitive thoughts, such as, “I’ll never be good enough.” “I always have to do everything on my own.” “No one is ever there to help me.” These are the self-defeating thought loops that we all carry from lifetime to lifetime. This field extends far outward and can fill an entire room.
The next layer is called the astral body, which is associated with the heart chakra. This field connects us to others and carries karmic ties that bind us together. This can also be called the “collective unconscious.” Buddhists believe that when we have an unresolved negative experience with someone, it creates a thread that connects you to that person. I believe that this is also the part of your soul that can astral project, as I did when I was a child flying around the hospital while my body laid in bed.
The next layer is the etheric template, which represents the entire blueprint of the soul that exists on the physical plane and is associated with the throat chakra. This layer can extend far outward—even to other dimensions–and enhances your communication between the planes.
The next layer is called the celestial body and is associated with the third eye or the pineal gland. This connects you to the divine and the angelic realm. This body sends and receives messages from the spiritual realm, telepathically communicates and experiences unconditional love.
The next layer, the causal body, is the highest level of bliss where yogis experience calmness, peace and joy. It is referred to as the true self and is associated with the crown chakra. It connects you to all that is, the “I AM.”
To know the soul is to know who you really are. You can drop the body, but all your information is recorded in the layers of the soul. That is why when you reincarnate all the information is transferred to your new body. Even physical characteristics can carry over, such as body type and facial features.
Our physical bodies are only a temporary respite for our souls. The soul is a warehouse of information. We only need to tap into its resource to know and receive the information we seek. Everything we have ever experienced in any other lifetime is recorded in the Akashic records of our soul.
Luckily for us, our higher self will only deliver to us the information we need, keeping us safe from overload. We can do this safely as our bodies tell us what we need to focus on. Through illnesses, accidents, repeated patterns and soul-searching, we can find the answers to the questions we have. Nothing happens by chance; everything happens for a reason.
We don’t have to live in the past, we only have to change fear to love. As Carl Jung wrote, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”
You don’t have to be afraid to look at your past. Look at it for what it is and transmute it by accepting who you genuinely are. Accept your past thoughts, words and deeds, then let them go. By loving all aspects of yourself, you can truly be healed. By healing your past, you are free to create a new bright future.
Gloria C. De Pietro is a certified past life regression specialist, art therapist, visual artist and author, who combines art therapy with past life regression therapy to make a unique contribution to the transpersonal psychotherapeutic community. She graduated from the College of New Rochelle with a Master’s of Science in Art Therapy and studied with Jungian analyst Roger Woolger, Ph.D. She uses the Deep Memory Process method that Dr. Woolger developed. Call 917-215-1779 or visit www.PastLifeRegressionNY.com for more.
