Transmigration is the passing of lower entities, through the agency of life-atoms (skandas), to the crucible of evolution, either by “recycling” life-atoms after death, or by throwing away life-atoms during intense feeling. Metempsychosis is the progress of an animal soul to a higher stage of existence. Metangismos was the technical term for metempsychosis among the Pythagoreans. Reincarnation is the rebirth of the same Ego in successive human bodies. Metempsychosis, Setting A. A virtuous, but not entirely pure, soul withdraws to high realms of subjectivity for a period of rest before submitting to a further period of imprisonment in the flesh. Metempsychosis, Setting B. A virtuous soul, purified by “self-induced and self-devised efforts,” realises its essential unity with the Self of All, and annihilates its self-conscious materiality in favour of the true peace and justice that dwells in Unconscious Immateriality. Metempsychosis, Setting C. An irredeemably vicious soul that has been cut off from its Spiritual Master and Saviour, is downgraded to infernal worlds for punishment and terminal demise. Human souls do not enter animal bodies, for Nature will not reverse the order of her kingdoms. Only the life-atoms of a dissolved physical body do so. Reincarnation means re-infleshment. Palingenesis means re-generation. Metensomatosis means re-embodiment. The difference between reincarnation, palingenesis, and metensomatosis explained. Gilgulim, permutation, and revolution, differ from transmigration and metempsychosis. Gilgulim is the cyclic or revolving process of births, deaths, and rebirths. But Palestine is neither land nor locus, it is the Nirvana of the Buddhists.

Here are previously unavailable texts, including The Book Bahir and the writings of the Iyyum circle, that were written during the first one hundred years of this movement that was to become the most important current in Jewish mysticism. This movement began in the late 12th century among Rabbinic Judaism in southern Europe.

Metempsychosis was a prominent element in Renaissance conceptualizations of the human being, the universe, and the place of the human person in the universe. A variety of concepts emerged in debates about metempsychosis: human to human reincarnation, human to vegetal, human to animal, and human to angelic transmigration. As a complex and changing doctrine, metempsychosis gives us a well-placed window for viewing the complex and dynamic contours of Jewish thought in late fifteenth century Italy; as such, it enables us to evaluate Jewish thought in relation to non-Jewish Italian developments. This book addresses the problematic question of the roles and achievements of Jews who lived in Italy in the development of Renaissance culture in its Jewish and its Christian dimensions. "Throughout the book, Ogren demonstrates the scholarly pertinacity and intellectual and linguistic versatility that crosscultural intellectual history requires. He finds and digests the essential studies and obscure remarks, in modern scholarship as well as from the fifteenth century, that substantiate the argument, and he constantly strives to discern larger patterns. This research will reward scholars who follow his leads." - Arthur M. Lesley, in: Renaissance Quarterly 63.3 (2010)

Cases of responsive xenoglossy thus add to the evidence concerning the survival of human personality after death.

Reincarnation in America: An Esoteric History surveys the complex history of reincarnation theories across multiple fields of discourse in a pre-American context, ranging from early Greek traditions to Medieval Christian theories, Renaissance esotericism, and European Kabbalah, all of which had adherents that brought those theories to America. Rebirth theories are shown in all these groups to be highly complex and often disjunctive with mainstream religions even though members of conventional religions frequently affirm the possibility of rebirth. As a history of an idea, reincarnation theory is a current, vital belief pattern that cuts across a wide spectrum of social, cultural, and scientific domains in a long, complex history not reducible to any specific religious or theoretical explanation. This book is cross-disciplinary and multicultural, linking religious studies perspectives with science based research; it draws upon many distinct disciplines and avoids reduction of reincarnation to any specific theory. The underlying thesis is to demonstrate the complexity of reincarnation theories; what is unique is the historical overview and the gradual shift away from religious theories of rebirth to new theories that are therapeutic and trans-traditional.

IS DEATH THE FINAL CHAPTER? In The Big Book of Reincarnation, Roy Stemman attempts to answer one of the big questions of existence: Is death the end? Or, is it merely the end of a chapter in the book of existence? A self-described "skeptical believer," Stemman uses his skills as a professional journalist to perform an in-depth exploration of reincarnation. Using case studies, anecdotes, and physical evidence from the best-documented cases from around the world, Stemman shines a bright light on this subject, inviting readers to decide for themselves on the basis of facts, rather than on the basis of hearsay, speculation, and superstition. Stemman finds fascinating examples of evidence of reincarnation in the nightmares of a Louisiana bayou boy, the past-life recall of a renowned neurosurgeon, the research of a highly respected university professor, and the unique system of governance in the mountains of Tibet, to name just a few. He examines the lives of those affected by reincarnation, such as children who can actually remember their previous lives. Instead of shying away from the skeptics, Stemman evaluates their leading theories and compares them to the findings that he has accumulated throughout his global research. The Big Book of Reincarnation is thorough, well researched, engaging, and the most comprehensive book ever published on this fascinating subject.

Originally published in 1994, Jewish Views of the Afterlife is a classic study of ideas of afterlife and postmortem survival in Jewish tradition and mysticism. As both a scholar and pastoral counselor, Raphael guides the reader through 4,000 years of Jewish thought on the afterlife by investigating pertinent sacred texts produced in each era. Through a compilation of ideas found in the Bible, Apocrypha, rabbinic literature, medieval philosophy, medieval Midrash, Kabbalah, Hasidism and Yiddish literature, the reader learns how Judaism conceived of the fate of the individual after death throughout Jewish history. In addition, this book explores the implications of Jewish afterlife beliefs for a renewed understanding of traditional rituals of funeral, burial, shiva, kaddish and more. This newly released twenty-fifth anniversary edition presents new material on little-known Jewish mystical teachings on reincarnation, a chapter on “Spirits, Ghosts and Dybbuks in Yiddish Literature”, and a foreword by the renowned scholar of Jewish mysticism, Rabbi Arthur Green. Both historical and contemporary, this book provides a rich resource for scholars and laypeople and for teachers and students and makes an important Jewish contribution to the growing contemporary psychology of death and dying.