Who Started Past Life Regression? A Timeline + Global Beliefs
Have you ever felt the pull of a memory that didn’t seem to belong to this lifetime?
A whisper from another time… a place you’ve never been, yet somehow deeply recognize?
The concept of past life regression isn’t just a modern technique—it’s a remembering.
A reawakening of what mystics, shamans, and spiritual seekers across centuries have always known:
That the soul is eternal. And that we carry the echoes of other lifetimes within us.
I created this visual timeline with global traditions to show just how widespread and significant these insights really are.
🌟 The Modern Pioneers
Many people are familiar with the names Dolores Cannon or Brian Weiss—but did you know the movement began much earlier?
👁 1901 – Edgar Cayce enters trance and recalls past lives
In the early 1900s, a quiet, devout man from Kentucky entered deep trance states to help others heal—only to begin channeling information far beyond his conscious awareness. Edgar Cayce, later known as the “Sleeping Prophet,” began revealing detailed accounts of his clients’ past lives, soul histories, and karmic patterns. His work became one of the first bridges between spirituality and soul-level healing in the West—well before regression was even a concept.
Potent theme: Akashic access, soul blueprints, karmic healing
🌀 1966 – Michael Newton discovers Life Between Lives
During a routine session, Dr. Michael Newton—a skeptical clinical hypnotherapist—stumbled upon something astonishing: a client accessing the space between incarnations. Not a past life, but the in-between—where souls rest, review, and realign. Over decades, he documented thousands of case studies and developed a full map of the spiritual realm as seen through the eyes of the soul. His work offered proof that life doesn’t just repeat—it evolves with divine intelligence.
Potent theme: Soul councils, purpose planning, the architecture of the spirit world
🌟 1968 – Dolores Cannon begins receiving Higher Self downloads
What began as a supportive experiment with her husband’s hypnosis practice turned into a cosmic awakening. In 1968, a client unexpectedly regressed into a past life—and Dolores followed her curiosity all the way into the metaphysical realms. Over the years, she developed QHHT and learned to speak directly with the Higher Self—the infinite aspect of the soul that holds all knowing. Through thousands of sessions, she brought forward lost histories, galactic origins, and healing frequencies for the New Earth.
Potent theme: Higher Self wisdom, galactic remembrance, quantum healing
💫 1980 – Brian Weiss meets “Catherine”
Trained as a psychiatrist and steeped in traditional medicine, Dr. Brian Weiss was utterly unprepared for what happened when his patient, Catherine, suddenly began recalling lifetimes long before her birth. Through her spontaneous regressions and messages from the spirit realm, he witnessed profound emotional and physical healing. This was the moment he crossed the threshold—from science into soul—and helped usher past life regression into mainstream awareness with his groundbreaking book Many Lives, Many Masters.
Potent theme: Emotional healing, mainstream breakthrough, the soul’s continuity
🌍 Ancient & Indigenous Traditions
Long before Western hypnosis, people around the world already understood reincarnation and soul return:
India – Rebirth through karma and dharma
Tibet – Conscious reincarnation of spiritual leaders (tulkus)
Africa & Native America – Ancestral return within families
Aboriginal Australia – Rebirth through the Dreamtime
Shamanic cultures – Soul journeys across lifetimes
✨ Why This Matters Today
As a practitioner of Quantum Healing Hypnosis and soul journey exploration, I witness firsthand how these traditions still live within us.
Clients often uncover surprising soul memories—sometimes from ancient worlds, and some from more recent pasts. And always, their Higher Self guides the journey.
