Your response forum
Near Death Experience
A big thank you to everyone who wrote.
Paula's experience of rebirth has prompted several readers to share their thoughts.
"I was born a Libran. One mid-September night when I was four, I suffered a 'clinical death' from which I had to be resuscitated. I vividly recall shooting back into my body through a tunnel of white light. Was I 'reborn' at this time? If so, as the Sun was in Virgo when It happened, might I now belong to a different sign?"
Paula
Dear Paula
When I first read your letter, I wanted to say no. The sign you are initially born under is the sign you remain, no matter what happens. But you have got me thinking. Maybe it's not always so simple. Some people definitely do emerge from a dramatic physical (or spiritual) 'rebirth' with a permanently changed personality. So I want to leave this question open while I discuss it with my colleagues. I'd also like to hear from other readers who may feel moved to comment or have had a similar experience.
Here is a selection of your responses (some letters have been edited)
Sometimes I think perhaps we are not always on the path we are meant to be on and maybe we need a special experience to help us change our course to enable us to be who we are really meant to be.
I feel that Paula (and many others with similar experiences) are definitely still in the same life (birth sign) and the gift of this experience offers them a sense of greater security and understanding of their present life.
They are not 'born again' into a new life in a completely new physical incarnation with a new identity, they have just refreshed and updated the one they are in and need to complete this cycle.
Way to go! How lucky are they to have this knowledge and understanding.
Regards
Carol
People take 'life' for granted. Experiencing physical or spiritual re-birth is intensely private and personal. However, the universe is trying to tell us something through this experience � and I feel that the reason is to teach us and help us become more complete. Why would anyone even consider that their 'date of birth' - in this present lifetime � should be 'changed' - they are missing the point.
Yours,
Liz (Aquarius)
I had a similar experience � a life-changing and personality-changing event. It feels as if I was reborn - although I was not clinically dead. My experience was similar to the experience people describe when they have had a near-death experience in that I could see the world respond to me without being able to respond in kind.
I suffered what was thought at the time to be a stroke. Now the doctors are not so sure. Ultimately, from my point of view, the world stopped. I watched it move around me without being able to respond. Once I was able to interact, I had lost all emotion and lost the identity of the relationships I had held with people in my life before the event. I have since had to rebuild those relationships - with my children. But the relationship with my husband failed.
Each of these people could tell you of their perceptions of the changes in our lives since that freakish day in 2002. As most of my perception is now purely detached I tend to believe what is told to me.
Dorothy
Dear Jonathan,
I was born an Aquarian. In December 1998 I almost died in childbirth. It was a very profound experience and I was actually given a choice to pass through the light or return, it wasn't a 'fait accompli'. This experience totally changed my outlook on life, and my path in life. It's my belief that what happens to people who have these experiences is that the heart stops beating and physical death happens, but brain death and spirtual disconnection does not occur. It is a Spiritual Rebirth and not a Physical Rebirth. We are still in the same life, it's just that some of us who are on the wrong path and don't realise it seem to be given a chance to change that. It seems to be a common theme with people who have these experiences. It's my belief that we stay with the sign we are originally born into, I am still very much an Aquarian and not a Sagittarian, my basic personality has not changed although my outlook on life has totally changed.
Could the people who have these experiences and whose personalities totally change, actually be 'Walk-ins' in a new life, not someone in the same life who is given another chance as in my case? What really interests me, though, is why some are given this second chance? Does an experience like this show up in our astrological charts?
Is there a common theme in the charts of people who have these experiences?
Kindest Regards,
Jan
I too have wondered about an event three years ago (I am also a Libran, by the way). Because of a medical accident, I am told I nearly died (maybe twice) that day. I most definitely was dying. I remember nothing about that directly, but I am told that I wouldn't because of the level of anesthesia required to be used for open-heart procedure, twice that day. But I do remember upon waking up in intensive care, that once they told me about what had happened, I started trying very hard to remember, with no success. Made me feel kind of sad (not to mention bewildered, because open-heart surgery was *not* what I had signed-up for). Since then, I feel like I have retreated into being a mouse, with many old insecurities popping up. It has been quite a struggle trying to regain the strength that comes with being a Libra. The question by your Libran-correspondent has made me wonder if I have become some sort of a Pisces-Libra hybrid -- at least for a while.
Thanks...
Karen
I'm so glad someone else is commenting on this subject. I'm a Gemini born on May 23 - but a few years ago, I 'died' while in Leo � and, ever since, people have told me I have some Leo characteristics that are not typical of a twin... go figure!
It's like one of my Twins is a Gemini while the other is a Leo. It has been confusing to say the least.
Liandra
In November 1963, aged five, I had my first near-death experience. I was clinically dead due to a viral infection. I distinctly remember going into a white light, being told it was not my time yet and coming back. When I awoke from a week-long coma, I was paralysed from the neck down (Guillaume Barre Syndrome). Then, at the age of 13, I was hit by a car while on my bicycle. Again, I entered the white light � and, again, I was told to return. My life changed significantly after this second experience - and my personality totally changed.
I'm curious to know whether those experiences could have changed my chart.
Regard,
Jennifer
Like Paula, I too am a Libran. At the age of 24, I damaged my frontal lobe in a horrific car accident. These days I am not only a different person, I am actually more of a Scorpio than a Libran. I think my family and friends would agree. Prior to my accident I was outgoing and a real communicator. Although I still have good communication skills, I am now a strategic, technical thinker who would really prefer to be alone than in company. I had believed this was solely due to the injury I suffered. Funnily enough, though, I had my full chart done a few years ago and this was set in my path anyway. (ie. Libran personality until mid-twenties and then I would grow into a Scorpio as I became older.) Perhaps when we have a trauma we draw on strengths, which inevitably come from the influences we are born with.
Kind regards
Tracey
If there is ever a �scientific� explanation of astrology (and I am confident that one day there will be), it is most likely to reveal that character differences can be traced back to the sensitive neurological development of the foetus. Planetary influences (gravitational/magnetic etc) can already be identified on flora and fauna on earth � even from the larger �outer planets�. It would defy logic to believe that our own development was somehow excluded from this!
If the above is the case, I would suspect that, at different stages of foetal development, our neurological �circuits� are sensitised via different planetary influences. In effect, we are the way we are not because of the moment of birth, but because of the moment of conception and various stages along the route to birth. However, our analysis of astrological influences is not affected by this, the identification of influences remains the same, we merely take it from what we see in the heavens at the time!
Of course, this would also mean that �near-death experiences� do not affect our hard wiring � character differences are more likely to be provoked/prompted by the experience itself � just as our �astrological� settings are modified by any life experience and the way we process, adapt and change as a result.
The spiritual dimension to this debate is not excluded, however. The reductionism of Buddhism (for want of a better term) allows us to appreciate that there is an inherent unity in all things, being but temporary interdependent expressions of a single state. The cutting edge of molecular science is not so far away from identifying what this original state (or particle) is � fascinating stuff.
Best wishes,
Gerry
I had a similar experience to Paula and, yes, it really does change you! I came back a totally different person, but I consider myself to have the birth sign I was born with, Sagittarius. A lot of this particular sign does ring true with me, even though I 'came back a different person'. I came back the same person, but with unique strengths that I hadn't been able to tap into previously. I then brought into the present previous strengths and weaknesses and built on those with the gifts I was given and the insights to be the person I am today.
Many thanks, Jonathan.
Minwah
I believe in reincarnation and that we all have a soul... well, surely, your soul has a 'fixed' (I use the term loosely) personality so whether you're reborn or not, wouldn't your personality stay the same? If it doesn't, and it is affected by our star sign, where does that leave the soul?
Best wishes,
Zara
Just a few thoughts on changing birth signs. I am born Leo sun. Also in Native American thought I would be classified as Salmon (which roughly corresponds to Leo) on their Medicine Wheel. The Native American thought is that we move from sign to sign during our life depending on the spiritual progress we make. The idea being that we move around and over the wheel into different signs (not necessarily in sign order) over the course of our life and lifetimes.. Maybe being reborn is just one of the (more dramatic) ways of doing this..
Yours
Will Ashley
Depending on how far we take the idea of being a spiritual being having a physical experience on this world in this third dimension, and the ideas of reincarnation, there are other possibilities as a result of "clinical death" and "near death" experiences.
These include, the Soul commencing a "second" lifetime, or pre-planned set of experiences but in the same body, rather than "dying" and coming back in as a baby. This can sometimes mean the Soul returns for the second lifetime with some different attributes, which are necessary for the new experiences. At a third-dimensional level, this means the person appears to have suffered a personality change as a result of the near death or clinical death event.
And there are "walk-ins", where the original Soul in a physical body has achieved all it needs to in its existence this time round, and departs during the clinical or near death experience, and another Soul re enters the body to commence its physical experience. This is the situation where you see a significant change in personality as the new Soul gets, as it were, its "sea legs" in the new (for it) but adult body.
These situations are all by agreement between the souls before they commence their physical experiences here in the third dimension of course.
Food for thought
Cheers
Roger, Darwin NT Australia
Don't near death experiences adjust the focal point in our lives rather than change our charts?
I think a minor or major accident can be a sort of 'shake down,' the opportunity to 'rethink' our existence, our approach to life, our surroundings, and our kin. By comparing the intensity of the occurrence to the astrological implication, maybe we can gain insight into what is out of focus in our life at that time? A major accident put me in hospital, aged eight, then bed rest for three months. It caused everything in our family home to change drastically; and things never reverted back to the same old. Before the accident I was taking too much burden and closing off from the world . . . suddenly I was helpless and the world had to come to me. My horizons expanded greatly after that. Perhaps that was in the skies at that moment - maybe not in my chart, but the chart of some family member?
Regards,
Delia
I also had a NDE - white light etc... However, I have stuck to my date of birth, as numerological (10.05.1949 - 29/11), this fits in with who I am now... Does this presume that we have changed somewhat? And if so, why? I still read my sun sign from my date of birth, but find I need more 'spiritual depth' and insight to who I really am!...Sorry! you did ask!!!
Margaret
I was suppose to have drowned when I was three. A stranger brought me back with mouth to mouth. Again, at ten, I had a near drowning. I am a Libra. Both of the happenings were in August. Most people would tell you I am definitely a Libra but I have through my life wondered why I am so different from other people.
Elaine
I was born June 5, 1961and had a life-changing accident December 15, 1986, I realise there are no guarantees in life and have become more optimistic and happy with the things I have no control over.
Tony
This is purely from the gut. I believe the answer lies in the nodes of the moon. To me, they represent the soul's 'calling' in this lifetime. The call comes in varying degrees of intensity and in varying forms. I believe her call came from a near-death experience and it remains her choice to heed that call. (I'd be curious to know Paula's nodal combination and how it relates to Virgo/Pisces.)
But whether her north node is in Virgo or not, I believe that the chart a person is orginally born with remains as the one and only birthchart, and the 'changes' or 'transformations' that arise are from conscious living, self-awareness (through one's birthchart, meditation, etc.), and heeding the soul's call towards the lessons of the north node.
Karen (Virgo with North Node in Aries and plenty of eighth house activity)
We can all astral travel and have had experiences during surgery etc., whether we can remember them or not. Does that mean we are constantly being reborn. Surely not. We were born only once when our spirit entered our physical body. the physical trauma of an accident or surgery can leave a person feeling different.
Physical head traumas and other conditions of the medical kind can also appear to give a person a personality change. Astrologically speaking, you can only define a person by the time they entered the earth in both physical and spiritual state. Of course we have no way of knowing the astrological facts surrounding the spiritual body of a person, therefore it has to correspond with the physical vehicle in which it experiences this earthly life. you will find more and more people being open to these astral experiences, where once it would be put down to a fertile imagination. As people experience problems with their physical health they become more open to the vibrations of the astral plane.
Amanda
I seem to get an understanding that at birth it was like your brain being exposed to the electrical and magnetic pull of all the planets, creating a kind of pattern. This pattern should remain even if there is no electricity flowing in the brain. However, a physical �reboot� could chemically alter some of the passages in the brain, so there may be some change. I don�t think it would completely alter the pattern, after all, the near death incident was a possibility in the initial horoscope.
Just to reply to your thought for the day - on changing personality after 'dying'. My son, now 21, 'died' for about five minutes last summer. It was a very difficult moment for me finding him gone in his bed. His body had already turned bluey-grey - his heart had stopped. It followed a serious car crash the previous day that had gone unnoticed by the hospital as he seemed fine - but he had a subdural haematoma at home in bed.
Thanks to speedy action on my partner's front - he gave him a life-saving punch on the back that seemed to restart his heart - my son is still here.
However, to me he is 'different'. Not physically - but something - there is a kind of remoteness. I can't seem to reach him in the way I used to. As an amateur in astrology I have looked at his chart. He has a Venus/Mars Conjunction in Aries right on the descendant. I have always worried about this but never knew what it meant.
I do feel sad sometimes because we were always very close, yet now there seems to be a 'gap' between us. It's a kind of emptiness. I don't know if this will ever change but I pray that it will.
Elizabeth
It is my experience that such near-death experiences are usually a "last resort" by our spirit guides to make us aware of their presence, and for the purpose of reaffirming our life's purpose. So in that sense, a chart of that moment would undoubtedly be helpful in establishing what shape and direction such feelings of being "reborn" might take to make our lives more purposeful.
Adrian
A researcher named P.M.H. Atwater has published a lot on this subject. Her argument is that people who have dramatic spiritual experiences also undergo impressive biological-physical changes as well. She postulates that the chemistry and 'wiring' of the brain alters as a result of being exposed to one's own higher consciousness. This results in things like increased psychic abilities and expanded clairvoyance.
This is Atwater's website. Her book We Live Forever is especially concerned with exactly these issues: https://www.cinemind.com/atwater/
I would tend to agree with you that the sign which you are born under is that which you remain throughout your life. Perhaps Paula should get a chart done and see if it mentions a dramatic shift!
Best Wishes from a Faithful Reader,
Alex
What an interesting subject you have brought up on your March 5 �Week Ahead� death/re-birth time.
I agree with you when you say �no�, but that we would have to re-think this.
1. The silver cord has not been cut
2. She did not traverse through the tunnel to the other side.
3. We leave the body consistently when we sleep, meditate or do astral projection.
4. Mediums have been leaving the body for ages and often sit in a sort of 'heavenly waiting room' while channelling is taking place.
5. Conversations about the possibility of the 'walk-in' experience are on the rise again. In that situation we may have to set up a new chart or it may be more like a progression.
Possibly the chart for the death/re-birth would have to be read on a new level with an overlay of the re-entry chart as a re-location.
Thanks for a wonderful column and a warm heart.
Susan
I temporarily died during a car crash in October 1998. Though born on August 23, 1974 I did come back feeling very much like a 'new person' (inevitable, though, I am sure!). This happened in the middle of the Nullabor Plain of Australia. I am also led to believe that my body actually disappeared. I do very much see that this was a rebirth.
Seamus
Paula's comment about being reborn certainly got me thinking. In October 1997, I was in a horrible life-changing car accident, had closed-head trauma and was in a coma for two days. Obviously with all the important matters surrounding me at that time thinking about my horoscope wasn't a top priority. Of course I've settled into a new life since then and I've commented to myself more than once that my horoscope just didn't seem to apply to me any more. Perhaps this is the explanation?
Ramona
I was born in 1959 as an Aries. In 1992, I had a near-death experience from an acute illness. After I recovered, I thought I had changed so much that I was either being inhabitated by another soul/spirit or had at least changed astrological signs. Everything about me was different. I had a good astrologer look at my natal chart and transits at the time of my illness. She felt it happened because of some life-changing transits in my original birth chart. Since then, I would have to say that I agree with her. I have slowly returned to most of my former self but I have grown tremendously from the experience.
Marilyn,
Vermont, USA
I feel that Paula will keep her Libran birth sign because that is when she was born and that won�t ever change. I believe that being resuscitated as a child and feeling her soul return to her physical body was part of her soul's journey. I honestly believe that this would be agreed before her physical birth and have a purpose designed for the highest good of herself and of those around her.
My son was resuscitated 3 times during a long midnight operation when he was just 8 weeks old. We knew he might not survive. Looking into his eyes minutes before the op, I told him to fight and use my strength - as you do a time like that. I was distraught and despite a mild sedative to make me sleep for a few hours, I heard him crying and felt him next to me on several occasions during his operation. I know his spirit body was with me at those times and I know we connected soul to soul.
He is 21 now and a joy to be with, not just for me, but for all who know him and I feel truly blessed to have been part of his soul's journey then and every day since then. Our bond is quite extraordinary. Paula will have grown in some way because of her experience but will also remain who she was born to be. And maybe becoming just that required the experience in the first place.
Kind regards,
Geraldine
At three months old I had major surgery and was declared dead for several minutes. I am also an October Libran and the operation was January, the exact date unknown. I always believed that I was saved for a reason, as I was born during the last war when times were very difficult and living in London with all the bombing I was lucky to have survived.
However, all my childhood I can remember on closing my eyes to go to sleep I would be taken down a long dark tunnel until I reached light at the bottom. I was never afraid, in fact felt comforted, especially if I was feeling sad or depressed. Later in life on closing my eyes to go to sleep it was if somebody had turned on all the electric lights and I would see the most beautiful colours and one in particular a stunning pale blue light. This still happens occasionally.
I was also conscious of my Guardian Angels around me, and as a child would talk about them to my family but they tried to suppress any conversations I had with them about it, as I am sure they thought it was just a childhood phantom. So I retreated into myself but over the years I have been aware of so many �spiritual� happenings that I believe there is some connection with my near death experience as a baby. I have often wondered who I really am and as far as astrology is concerned it is a quandary whether one is still the same person with the same personality as at birth.
Yvonne
This is a small, personal observation. I nearly died during an operation when I was 26. I too saw a white light, and my return to life had all the classic trimmings. Many, many years later, I am as much or more of a Gemini than I was all those years ago. Perhaps it was 'in my stars' that this should be so, as it might be in someone else's stars to take a second chance at life with quite a different outlook.
Jean
Thank YOU for being open to re-birth experiences, this new thinking could explain my life since I woke from a two-week coma. I know the experience of coming close to death altered my perspective to life, however, what you�re pointing to makes sense. During the coma I distinctly remember choosing to live on this planet, and life has been a roller coaster since! I stepped out into familiar circumstances and behaviour, with an unfamiliar perspective, and I�ve really been struggling to get the two to match...
With my family I feel like I�m being related to as somebody else and have to act out a part to fit in, like I�m being pulled back into a time warp. My Mother and sister have often said they don�t know me any more!
Dale
When I was a child I had a fever and my parents and doctors could not find out what was wrong with me. I remember the doctors visiting me at home and mumbling that they were really worried about me. The problem is that I could hear them talking while I was floating (I used to call it dancing and it felt good!) on the ceiling. It felt like fun so I would do it quite a lot in those days.
Jonathan, I'm not sure if I died and came back or whether I was developing my 'out of body experiences' which I sometimes still manifest.
Anjel
I had the same experience as Paula when I was in a car accident when I was 27. I am a Sagittarius (07/12/1953) and the accident happened in May 1981. My personality changed, becoming more compassionate and understanding about people and my surroundings. It changed my life totally, though in the beginning I fought it - denying everything that had happened and thinking of myself as a freak. Very few people know what I went through.
My thoughts on whether we are born into another sign is that since I have been interested in astrology for a long time and read up about it (and also a profile from you - which was accurate), I have come to the conclusion that whatever sign you were born under, your inner core is intensified to such a degree (which has been the case for me). I think basically, qualities that lay dormant inside of ourselves are now projected outside of ourselves and an inner peace within ourselves is established that can have an impact on other people. I have been able to help people find their peace when they are dying (I do not tell them what has happened to me), but on one hand I am glad I have been there to help them, and on the other I am left with an overwhelming sense of sadness which I hide in my ever day life. No one sees that side to me and I cannot explain it or share it with anyone.
This may sound corny, but sometimes it is a burden and I wish I was free. Other times, I feel very fortunate to be able to have an insight into the life and death experience.
Pauline
Birth occurs only once, and that is from your mother's womb. Medications and surgeries save people's lives frequently but are not 'rebirth'. They are simply making it possible for your life to continue. You are given one soul.
That soul cannot have its life over until we are well and truly dead and I don't believe that we get a different one if a doctor is able to save the body 'or life' or person to which it belongs. I think that sometimes we confuse 'rebirth' with another 'chance' to continue with the life we had already been given.
Kathy
I am an Aries with Libra rising. Very strong-willed, frequently domineering, and bossy. However, whilst undergoing an operation a few years ago, the same thing happened to me. Since then, obviously, one does take another look life and things. But my personality is definitely different, gentler, more rounded.
Admitted this might be down to analysing what happened. My liking for colours, jewels, everything changed.
Avril
My sister was born March 23, 1966, when she was about five years old she was hit by a car on Hallowe'en. Her personality definitely changed after that. She went from being sweet and lovable and seeking attention from others, (especially male figures), to constantly getting in trouble and sneaking around and trying to see what she could get away with. My brother and I thought maybe something was triggered in her brain from the accident or possibly she became more spoiled from that point on (although I don't think she was treated any differently), but now I wonder if the reborn theory would be more applicable. It's definitely a thought to ponder.
Trina
We are souls on threads, weaving our way through the universe. The thread of the woman who wrote was not broken, and that is why she experienced the rapid return. Her body pulled her back; it was not her time. This life, for her, continues from the start point of her birth. I would analyse the sky at the time of the occurrence. I am certain you will find an auspicious sign or predisposition for her event.
A medical person.
I had major surgery for a colostomy. I was 34 at the time, separated from my husband through ill health, with three quite young daughters. On the evening after the operation, I died a clinical death. I saw everything from 'up there'. The surgeons were around my bed, my favourite nurse was taking my pulse (couldn't get any !) I actually saw her run out of the ward crying. (Confirmed this afterwards. She never returned.) We had become good friends.
I heard myself ask him if I was dead. (No reply or response.) I asked again at least three times. Still no response.
During this time I felt no pain or panic. The bright light around was wonderful, so clear. I had previously prayed to God not to let me die. my daughters needed me.
I later woke, to the most incredible pain and realised that I was still alive. After a few weeks I was well on the way to recovery. I felt different, I explained this by saying that my bad marriage had been cut out of my life with my op. I could barely remember the bad or good. My daughters were like friends, not daughters, everyone said I looked about 18 years old. Not 34yrs.
As the months went by, everything changed. My taste in music, my attitudes, my fashion and much more.
I just felt different altogether. Not the same person at all. I became very psychic, and still am. After reading various books, I decided that I must have had a 'Walk in'. (Hands of Light) Someone to help me recover, and an answer to my prayer for help.
Maybe I had also changed my star signs, although I still had Cancer traits...
In 1994, I had another operation. This went wrong and once again I nearly died. Only intervention from a very powerful Lady Healer from Plymouth, helped me through. (She amazing all the doctors and nurses.)
It wasn't long before that I realised that my personality had reverted back to my original one before I had my first op.
My young 'Walker-In' helper had disappeared.
I am now my original self, but with much more confidence.
Monicca.
When Paula suffered a near death - it is certain that her soul left her body and for reasons we will never know for certain nor be able to prove � her soul returned to her body. The points to be noted are: 1. The body remained
the same; 2. Her soul remained the same; 3. Her faculties remained the same
Now the life starts with the birth of the body and ends with the death of the body. We do not know when the soul is born or whether it dies at all.
I am a Hindu � and we believe that the soul is eternal and moves from body to body until it is released to merge with God by good karma performed through the body - others believe that it awaits judgment day. In either case, the birth of the soul is unknown. Even if we argue that the soul is born, grows and dies along with the body, in the case of Paula, a new soul was not injected into her body - as she herself said that she herself was shooting
back into her body.
So my contention is that her horoscope and her sun sign / moon sign remain the same.
Her condition in her fourth year - we call it 'Baalaarishta' in Sanskrit - meaning 'possible death/destruction in early childhood'.
Best wishes
Murali
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