Woman Through the Ages
Ann Merivale
This fascinating book is a highly readable spiritual odyssey drawing on deep memory process over many lifetimes, and on this journey it sheds important light on the nature of human consciousness and identity. Ann herself trained with Roger Woolger as a deep-memory process therapist and she unfolds a mosaic of intertwined personality lifetimes in very varied social circumstances, with different lessons to learn. The ‘cantus firmus’ of the book is the evolution of the role and position of women, coming into the present lifetime with illustrations of prominent women from the 20th-century. The geographical scope is wide, and Ann describes related journeys to such places as Egypt, Japan, China, Italy, India, France, Switzerland and South America. The descriptions are vivid and realistic – each chapter is preceded by a contextualising prologue and followed by thoughtful reflections after the death in a particular incarnation, which is always experienced as leaving the body and meeting deceased loved ones. Some lifetimes are closely mirrored, such as a martyr in fourth century and a prostitute in the fifth century, both in Ravenna. Sometimes, Ann experiences a familiarity with a specific location, as was the case in Geneva, especially when going round Voltaire’s Castle at Ferney. Subsequently, she recalled a lifetime in his service, having already studied his work at University. Forced to seek work after her baker husband died, she relates her experiences in different residences in Voltaire's employ, before and and after Ferney, which involved a great deal of entertaining – even though Voltaire spent a good part of every day in his study. He comes across as very caring for his staff and arranged for her to have her own house when she retired. The life in Cathar France was equally fascinating if traumatic. The story tells how a small group of Cathars decided to imprint a Rose Quartz Crystal with their energy and take it to Ste Baume, Mary Magdalene’s cave. On the way back, she finds her horse dead, and the party is all burned at the stake by the Inquisition. Another extraordinary lifetime was as Johanna Carolina Bach (1737-1781), a daughter of the great composer. Again, experiences in the Leipzig Thomaskirche are vividly pictured, and she explains to her father that she sees angels listening to his music. She evokes Bach’s death and a dream thereafter where he predicts that his music will be forgotten and then known universally – his intention was ,to help everyone come close to God and to praise him’. Bach describes a creative process whereby the sublime music that was already out there flowed through his pen – Bach aficionados will know what he means. All the lifetimes in this remarkable book weave a tapestry within the overall context of
ultimately returning to the Source. ~ David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer
