A Child ‘s Past Life as a Pirate

When I met Kevin, he was four years old, his mother had attended a workshop I was running in the Republic of Ireland to talk about my therapeutic work with children.  At the end of the day she approached me for help.  A single parent, she was struggling to cope with  her ‘unmanageable and hyperactive’ son. She told me that Kevin was a ball of energy who refused to sit still or do as he was told and he had difficulty relating to other children. Apparently, her relationship with Kevin’s father was not good and his visits to see his son were spasmodic and unreliable.  Kevin slept in his mother’s bed every night and constantly demanded her time and energy during the day. She told me that she wasn’t coping and felt unable to impose any structure or routine at home.

I agreed to see Kevin and had hired a room in a local hotel for our first session. Arriving for his appointment, like quicksilver, he darted into the room, clutching a small brown bag of toy instruments. His mother’s tension was palpable and in her lilting Irish brogue she continually remonstrated with him with hapless pleas of ‘Don’t be wild now’.  Kevin ignored her and in his excitement, continued to run around the room at great speed. I reassured his mother that all was well and suggested that she went for a cup of tea , quickly ushering her out of the room, with a request to return for Kevin in half an hour.

I turned my attention to Kevin who continued to run around in circles.  Remaining calm in the eye of the storm , I silently sat on the floor in the centre of the room.  Within seconds, he stopped running and stood very still . I was aware that he was looking at me and trying to make sense of what I was doing.  Slowly he approached, he sat cross legged on the floor opposite me and stared intently at my face with a quizzical expression.  I  was enchanted, Kevin was like the little elf you might see in picture books, small boned with delicate features, large blue eyes with long lashes and spiky brown hair.  His lilting Irish voice was high pitched and husky ‘I remember you a long, long time ago‘ he said ‘when I was a pirate and had a pirate hat. ……’Who was I? ‘ I said, somewhat taken a back ‘You were a pirate too,’ he said.  ‘What was your name ? ‘ I asked. ‘Red Beard’ he said…. He made this statement in such a serious and matter of fact tone, that I truly believed that Kevin was remembering a life we had shared together.  When a child speaks so innocently and knowingly about living a life before and in a manner beyond their years, it’s important to pay attention because this is testimony to the continuation of consciousness and to the truth that our souls live on.  Kevin’s statement told me that the scene was now set for a game of pirates as a way of  prompting the soul to a new understanding and providing an opportunity for healing any unfinished business from a previous life which may have been carried forward.  Kevin excitedly agreed.  Prompting the child to draw a picture of something he or she remembered spontaneously from a previous life would be another way of allowing the memory to surface for healing and understanding.  However for Kevin, it was time to dress up and play pirates. He chose a swathe of deep blue silk from my large bag of coloured material.  I wrapped the material around his waist and tied a square of blue material (pirate fashion) around his head. Before we made the pirate ship, he said he needed a pirate knife and we both looked for something suitable. From his bag of instruments, Kevin produced a drum-stick .  I attached the drumstick knife to his waist with a nylon belt.

Together we created the pirate ship by removing the starched white cloth from a small square table in the corner of the hotel room and turned  the table upside down. We hoisted a sail of orange cloth on one of the table legs and swirls of more blue material became the foaming sea around the ship. At this point, Kevin became anxious, telling me that he could see an island to visit but he couldn’t swim and would therefore drown in the deep water.   I  wondered if this was part of the memory and asked what we should do . He suggested building a wooden bridge that would allow him to cross to our island. We completed this task, using lengths of brown material to look like planks of wood and he walked across to the island. A pirate wants treasure he told me and when I asked where we would find this treasure, he said it would be at the end of the rainbow.  Kevin then made a rainbow path to the treasure from some rainbow coloured material which I had left under the table at the other side of the room. For the treasure, he chose a large coil of golden ribbon from my dressing up bag .

My healing work with adults and children involves using a system of Rainbow Chakra Tones . Each vocal tone resonates with the vibratory frequency of a specific colour from the rainbow spectrum and to a specific chakra (energy centre) which in turn, governs a specific anatomical area of the body. The process of gentle toning releases anxiety from the mind and encourages the release of suppressed emotion, to build confidence and strengthen the voice. I told Kevin that each colour of the rainbow had a special sound (Tone) and I suggested that we make the sounds together as we walked along his rainbow path. Kevin eagerly agreed and repeated each Tone after me as we walked along his path.  He then selected his favourite two Tones without prompting. The base tone /ER/ which releases deeply held emotion and corresponds to the colour red and the throat tone /OO/resonating with the frequency of the colour blue , which improves listening and eases vocal expression.  At the end of our session, Kevin told his mother about our game and she agreed to my suggestion that they should practice his two favourite tones together at home.  I arranged some further time with her on her own before they left.

When Kevin’s mother came to see me the following week, I explained that Kevin’s behaviour mirrored her own emotional state and to improve his behaviour, she needed to find a way of centering and stabilising her own energy and emotions. I taught her The Emerald Alignment to relax, her and to rebalance her energy, suggesting that she practice this on a regular basis at home.  I offered Bach flower remedies, chicory for them both to help to alleviate the intensity of emotional pull that inhibited their ability to function independently and sweet chestnut to give her hope that things would improve.

I saw Kevin six weeks later, when I flew back to Ireland.  He was much calmer, he had been practising his Tones at home but unfortunately hadn’t been taking the chicory because his mother admitted that she had forgotten to give it to him. However, on a positive note, she was using The Emerald Alignment  when she remembered and felt better for it, although unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to encourage her to practice it on a daily basis.

In our second session, Kevin wanted to play pirates again and chose an indigo cloak and a rainbow scarf for a headdress. We created another ship and this time he used four dining chairs to create a square platform which he covered in pink and orange material. Together, we surrounded the ship in blue material to represent water, which he declared was full of fish, sharks and crocodiles.  A bridge was therefore needed so that Kevin could safely cross over to the ship and Kevin made a ladder to climb aboard .  He  stood proudly at the prow surveying the room. It was then that he noticed an optic fibre light, which I had plugged in and placed on a table in the far corner.  Kevin pointed to it and told me to listen because it was making a magical sound. I listened and asked him what sound it was making, because I could not hear it.  He said that it was making the blue sound and he made the throat tone /00/ for me in his high little voice. He told me that it was a bird calling him over to the Island and he began to rock rhythmically from side to side as though the ship was moving through choppy water…. On reaching his chosen destination, he climbed down the ladder , crossed the bridge and ran over to the light. He stood mesmerised gazing at the coloured optics as they moved through the rainbow colours.  Reaching out to the lamp, he ran his fingers through the coloured strands.

Soon it was time to go home and we dismantled the ship and tidied up the room together. This was the last I saw of Kevin because before my next trip , his mother had acted upon a decision to move further North to share accommodation and work with her brother with whom she had a good relationship. I hoped that his male support and companionship would give Kevin and his mother the balance and structure they needed to move forward with their lives.

For guidelines on creative play, you may be interested in my manuals: Sensory Rainbow and Happy Talk  

For more information on past life memory , here is a link to the Living Memory Research Trust website


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