For years I've contemplated the possibility that many of our current life challenges are carryovers from things that we experienced in our past lives. That's where energy healing and past life work helps to clear out unwanted influences and help us live more peacefully. I spent years of my life believing that the stuck energy I released within myself had ties to my past lives alone.

After developing Genealogical Regression over twenty years ago, I guided people into spaces to send light to their ancestors. Back in the early 2000's, that work was quite rare, though nowadays more people have awakened to the fact that our thoughts and feelings are very much related to the experiences our ancestors had in times long gone. Many who read my books also recalled past lives where they lived in the same family tree as they do in their current lifetimes.

My latest book, The Goddess Discovered: Exploring the Divine Feminine Around the World, explores the idea that the deities and spiritual practices that we engage in during our current lifetime are also remnants of our own soul's history as well as reflections of things our ancestors believed. Perhaps this is why so many are called to explore alternative belief practices as we see the mass exodus away from traditional churches and religions. Scientists now know for sure that trauma our ancestors experienced is carried within our DNA through higher levels of cortisol and other stress markers. These concepts have been widely studied by reputable organizations such as the Center for Disease Control in the United States. As such, it makes sense that if challenging issues could be carried on, so could other more pleasant things.

After Heal Your Ancestors to Heal Your Life came out in 2021 from Llewellyn, I heard from tons of readers who believe they are called to work and heal on behalf of their ancestors during this lifetime. Part of that calling, in my opinion, may be the exploration of various spiritual beliefs.

We may not believe as our ancestors did, but if we could temporarily put ourselves in their shoes, perhaps we can better understand why the idea of gods, deities, and of course goddesses may have been so prevalent in ancient times. With that said, let's do just that for a moment, shall we? We're all taught to do unto others and to be empathic toward other human beings. That's a great idea!

Think about our ancestors. Not necessarily your personal ancestors, mind you, but go beyond them to contemplate the people who walked on this earth hundreds or even thousands of years ago, whether they were related to you or not. We now understand that human beings are all descendants of the same mother, 3.2-million-year-old Lucy¹, but again, let's suspend that thought and put ourselves in the shoes of those who came before us in a less personal way.

Can you even begin to imagine what they must have gone through to survive? Just think of that for a moment. They were out there in the wild, born into a strange world they had no way to understand. If they survived their birth and if they could remain alive during what would have been an incredibly challenging childhood, that would be quite an accomplishment. If they lived long enough to reach their adolescence or adulthood, they would be more akin to a full-blown miracle. If they did reach that age, they would likely find themselves in a situation in the earliest times when they had no language or writing and could not communicate ideas, concepts, or feelings with other people. It's also possible they had no other people around at all in the first place. They may have been alone and had to go out there and figure out how to hunt, forage for food, shelter themselves, and fight for survival at every moment of their lives. Can you even begin to imagine what that would be like? It's painful to think about!

And we haven't even begun to describe everything people faced. Put yourself there now. You're out under the stars in some natural environment. It may be too hot and there's no relief, or you might be cold and shivering in the elements. Eventually daylight comes and the sun peeks out from behind the white fluffy mist above you. You rummage around for food and may have success with your hunt, and everything seems to be going well until the sun vanishes and you can't see a foot in front of you. You're gazing up at these strange lights in the sky wondering what in the world is going on. Will the light ever return? Will you survive? You may hear wild creatures roaming around near your campsite, some of which want to eat you.

Daylight comes and you're back at it again, but perhaps you're injured, attacked, fall ill, or worse, someone dies. You have no way to understand why any of this is happening to you. The world is terrorizing and unpredictable and at every single moment, you have no idea what will happen next. You recognize the life force moving in everything from the trees, the skies, mountains and streams, other animals, and even inanimate objects. You began to learn the interplay of what worked best and what didn't work at all, and yet that fear of the unknown and the inevitable chaos over which you had no control remained in the back of your mind as a constant. At times, despite your best efforts, things would not work and no matter how many praises or what homage you made, sometimes things were just bad, unpredictable, and flat out chaotic. Other times, without any special effort on your part, everything worked out wonderfully.

At some point, all these varying phenomena would become personified and manifest as deity. When we think of goddesses, gods, or deities, think of those early people who prescribed divinity to every little happening, no matter how insignificant. If something worked, they wanted to offer thanks and praise. If something didn't work, they also wanted to make an offering in hopes to appease that malevolent force so it may spare them and those they loved next time. Humans learned to bargain with the opposing forces of the unknown to hopefully achieve better outcomes. And so, the goddess emerged.

The Goddess Discovered invites you to explore deities of the ancient world from the earliest times in Mesopotamia and Egypt to Greece and Rome, as well as learning more about the fabulous goddesses of the world's living religions.

Understanding all beliefs and cultures is a wonderful thing to do these days, not only as reverence to our ancestors and to learn about our own soul's history, but to appreciate the beautiful diversity of the many souls who share our planet with us at this moment in time. Through past life regressions and guided ancestral healing journeys, you can explore the goddess and learn about over five hundred deities in the process.

We are at a critical moment in our human history and development, a time to embrace each other with renewed respect and understanding. I hope The Goddess Discovered will be part of your journey to do just that. Wishing you joy, peace, and happiness on your path now and always.

¹National Geographic Staff. "What Was 'Lucy'? Fast Facts on an Early Human Ancestor." National Geographic.com, September 19, 2006. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/lucy-facts-on-early-human-ancestor