This is the first book I've read that purports to give the reader a glimpse of what we experience after/between lives in detail. Dr. Newton makes a creditable case for people who are already inclined to believe in life after life and reincarnation. I am such a believer. With this in mind, I have many questions for Dr. Newton that I feel will never be answered. His theories also fly in the face of Neil Donald Walsch's "Conversations With God". While I can see many of the areas of agreement by these two authors, there are definitely areas of clear disagreement. I would love to hear a discussion between them! I recommend this book to the curious but it shouldn't be the first book on the afterlife you read. Start with any of the books by Dr. Raymond Moody, Dr. Weiss's "Many Masters, Many Lives", Dr. Edith Fiore's "You Have Been Here Before", and/or Helen Wambach's "Life before Life". This book is bound to raise the level's of debate in the reincarnation chat rooms. Draw your own conclusions and know that they are, in some ways, correct also!

If you're a bag man for the Mob, you won't understand this book. And if you're Mother Teresa you won't need this book. Everyone else might want to take a look at it. This is a book I would recommend to anyone whose spiritual path has taken them into the realm of past life regression. I came at this field obliquely, as the result of a near-death experience 12 years ago, and what I would once have haughtily dismissed as flakey moonbeam drivel, I now see as astonishingly valid, insightful, lucid, and real. After my appetite was whetted by Brian Weiss's fine hypnotic regression studies, Raymond Moody's NDE work, Ian Stevenson's reincarnation biology monographs, and dozens of first person accounts of experiences beyond the norm, I went in search of a book that would reveal and clarify something more of the processes and purposes of reincarnation. This was the book I found. And I've found it particularly satisfying. Newton is a psychiatrist who clearly and compassionately explains what happened during his regressive hypnotherapy sessions when patients were brought to a place between their lives on earth, a place in which the meaning of previous lives could be pondered and new lives chosen. For anyone hoping with voyeuristic intent to chart the geography of heaven or the mechanics of levels beyond this one, Journey of Souls will at least add some data points to your research. It might also be useful as a kind of emotional primer for anyone contemplating undergoing the process of hypnotic regression. But the book is really meant, I think, as a guide to the perplexed - a fascinating glimpse into a realm of soulmates, teachers, life lessons, and striving toward the ideals of a good and useful existence. If your view of the afterlife has been limited by doctrine or dogma, this volume might help pry your mind out of its shell. And if your karma has already run over your dogma, you'll be delighted to find someone else has been posting signs on the road ahead of you. Highly recommended.

I felt "flashbacks," if you will, as I read this book, especially the discussion about soul groups and the schooling-type activities that go on in the spirit world. It's good that this account includes multiple case studies of those who have been regressed beyond their past lives into this other realm -- and that their answers were strikingly similar. The concept of soul development levels helps to explain a great deal about human behavior throughout the ages. The spirit world's strong sense of kinship, love, and understanding stuck with me long after reading Journey of Souls. How wonderful if these concepts could be shared universally; perhaps human beings might cease to cause each other so much physical harm? Alas, part of the order of the Universe seems to point out that this will never be possible on Earth. That gives those of us who want to contribute positively to the world something to strive for. It also offers a sense of hope, that life, "Here" and "There," is an ongoing series of lessons, and that there is always a higher level of being to reach.

But had always had my doubts, thinking, there was no way out. Well, like most people who were raised on one religion, I tried to exhibit the traits of a good believer. Not until in my more mature years did I start doubting, the validity of my religion, not altogether, but mainly as related to hell, and heavens, punishment, and many other issues. Dr. Newton, was one author along with a few others who confirmed, what I believed in initially, of mainly living many lives, and in the reincarnation of souls. I am half through with this book, and I don't want to finish it. After I read his first masterpiece 'Journey of Souls', I knew I was hooked, or rather hypnotized. There is a consistency in Dr. Newton's siting of events, added to his intelligence, persistence, and knowledge. This is once in a life time book. If you just have to read one book, and get answers to many many questions, it should be this one. Any other book is dawrfed compared to this one, because this is the real ONE; it answered more questions than I origially bargained for. Dr. Newton,.. thank you. ( I had to order this book via the internet, since it would naturally be banned in my country )

I first read Journey of Souls a few years ago, and had the same feeling of resonance that many reviewers did. But I wasn't convinced and still wanted to know more. I wrote to a reviewer on this site who had visited him, and following her suggestion, wrote to Dr. Newton for an appointment. At the time, he had a three-year waiting list, and was seeing about 2-3 clients a week. I saw him just before Destiny of Souls was completed, and while I did not experience my memories with the same clarity the subjects in his book did, I can say with utter certainty that Dr. Newton is not making it up, and is not manipulating his readers.

From my conversations with him, I have found him to be very intelligent, caring, funny, and honest. My experience in hypnosis was a bit unsettling for me, as much as the skeptic in me wanted to dismiss the truths I had learned about myself, I could not attribute my memories to anything that I had seen in his books or elsewhere. Nor did he plant the ideas in my head. He is absolutely the stubborn investigator he describes in his books and challenged the things I said, questioned me during the session, compared to things I had said earlier to make sure I was still saying the same things. Then, at the end of the session told me where I had said something similar to his other clients that had not been in Journey of Souls (but is now in Destiny), such as my detailed explanation of the medallion worn by one of the "Council" members.

In retrospect, I think the most amazing thing about my session was my casual attitude - as I talked about "unbelievable" things like hybrid souls I might as well have been telling him "the sky is blue" with the nonchalant way I felt. In fact, a few times I did get frustrated with his questioning, the same way someone would if challenged with "No, the sky is GREEN". What I was saying felt then, as it does now, to be nothing but pure and simple truth.

For the further skeptical, my small claim to fame is that one of his "One of my clients said.." comments to illustrate a point about soul names was something I told him after my session. So I know that whenever he says a client said something, they did.

I would encourage anyone who is interested in having this regression done, to write to him care of his publisher and include a self-addressed stamped envelope. This is the only way to contact him. One note though, he is currently in the process of retiring his practice and directs new clients to people that he has trained from across the country. Even if you don't see him personally, though, the experience of the regression is absolutely worth it.

Michael Newton is one of a handful of published researchers who is adding to our knowledge of life between lives through the use of hypnosis. In coming decades, this kind of research should build and expand until we have a detailed understanding of life on the higher dimensions. In this book he continues his years of investigations, taking us further into an understanding of the soul's journey in and out of incarnation. Some topics covered in this book are (1) The various ways recently deceased souls try to make contact with those left behind, (2) How our spiritual energy is restored after a difficult incarnation or traumatic death, (3) How our between-life vocations can manifest in our earthly careers, (4) More on colors as indications of levels of attainment, (5) Spiritual names, (6) Much more on our soul groups, and how we interact between and during incarnations, (7) The "Council of Elders", a review panel of higher beings who help us gain insight on our lives just after we complete one, and just before we begin a new one, (8)How souls are "born" from higher levels into the level we spend time in between lives, (9) Extensive case studies of the "library" of past lives which souls study in between lifetimes. With Newton's work and those of similar investigators we are finally gaining an understanding of life in higher dimensions based on research and first-hand reports, rather than speculation and belief. Other than Newton's work, two other good books along this line are out of print, but generally not hard to find. One is LIFE BETWEEN LIVES (1986) by Whitton and Fisher. That book also follows the case-study approach. A second book is EXPLORING REINCARNATION (1987) by Hans Tendam. This book is a rigorous summary of the whole subject of past lives, life between lives, and the reliability of hypnosis as a tool of investigation. It's not a light read, but is the most in depth and thorough book on the subject to date, and essential reading for anyone who wishes to become well informed about it. A marvelous personal account of an accomplished "soul traveler" is THE TIGERS FANG by Paul Twitchell, whose account of the inner dimensions is remarkable.