41 pages • 1-hour read
Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide features depictions of death and references to suicide.
Light and Color
The recurring motif of light and its color spectrum serves as the primary visual indicator of a soul’s development, making it central to the theme of The Soul’s Journey as a Structured Educational Process. In Newton’s cosmology, color and light make a soul’s progress visible and quantifiable. Souls begin with a neutral white or gray energy aura, evolving to a solid yellow for intermediate souls, and finally into the blue and deep purple hues of advanced and master-level entities. The motif reinforces Newton’s presentation of the afterlife as a place of order, direction, and purposeful learning. The slow, gradual shift in a soul’s aura emphasizes that spiritual growth is earned through immense effort over many lifetimes.
Throughout the narrative, Newton employs light imagery to subvert the common association of death with darkness, cessation, and the unknown. His assertion that “Death is not darkness but light” (16) reinforces his belief that humans continue to exist and develop after their lives on Earth. Frequent descriptions of the spirit world as a space infused with light, such as Case 5’s observation of a sparkling ice palace at its entry point, underscore the notion of the afterlife as a spiritual, benevolent environment. Meanwhile, clients' consistent claim that their souls take the form of light after death emphasizes their continued vitality and dynamism after their earthly lives are over.
The Ring of Destiny
The Ring of Destiny symbolizes the mechanism of karmic choice and the soul’s active role in its own educational journey. Described as a spiritual “movie theater,” it is the space where souls go to preview and select their next incarnation. Here, souls watch future life paths on panoramic screens, with the ability to fast-forward, rewind, and even enter scenes to experience them firsthand. This process is central to the theme of karma as self-imposed justice. While its name suggests a reckoning with a fate decided by external forces, The Ring of Destiny is depicted as a space of self-determination. Souls often willingly select challenging lives, choosing difficult parents, physical handicaps, or tragic circumstances, to work on specific lessons and balance past actions. However, as Case 25 notes, “We are not shown all the possible endings to a scene. Parts of lives are obscured to us” (211). This deliberate withholding of complete knowledge ensures that free will remains paramount and that lessons are learned authentically through struggle, not simply known in advance. The Ring of Destiny, therefore, symbolizes the soul’s ultimate accountability and agency as an architect of its own learning path.
Terrestrial Structures
Terrestrial structures, such as the schools, temples, and libraries described in the non-material spirit world, symbolize the soul’s need for familiar constructs to process abstract spiritual realities. As Newton explains, “An unforgotten home, school, garden, mountain, or seashore are seen by souls because a benevolent spiritual force allows for terrestrial mirages to comfort us by their familiarity” (24). He asserts that these Earth-like settings are mental projections tailored to individual souls and designed to help them adjust and learn. For example, Case 12's orientation to the spirit world is eased when he meets his guide in a replica of his childhood bedroom. Similarly, Case 13’s apprehension about discussing his death by suicide with his guide is alleviated by the venue choice: an Oklahoma bar that he used to like.
The symbol of terrestrial structures illuminates the theme of the symbiotic union of soul and host. These projections of locations from Earth suggest that even after being freed from the human body, the soul retains the imprint of its physical experiences. As the various case studies demonstrate, Newton’s clients use the language and architecture of their earthly lives to translate the nature of the spirit world into terms that they can more easily understand. The recurring references to scholastic buildings in these accounts, such as libraries, schools, and classrooms, also reinforce the text’s examination of The Soul’s Journey as a Structured Educational Process.
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