What if the Root of Your Struggles Began in a Past Life?
- Brainz Magazine
- Jul 29
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 28
Stephanie Smit, also known as Giek, is a visionary artist and reincarnation researcher. She bridges art, mysticism, and esoteric science to uncover past lives, guide spiritual awakenings, and help others align with their soul purpose.
And what if healing them is the key to unlocking your soul mission in this one? Imagine the emotional blocks, addictions, or hidden genius you carry as echoes of a past life. Past life integration isn’t spiritual fluff, it’s a practical way to reclaim your full self. For a broader perspective on how reincarnation works and why it matters, this article on the reality of reincarnation offers a great foundation.
My journey began after a decade of self-destruction. By 25, burned out and broken, I faced a choice: change or die. Healing came through art, music, theater, spiritual practice, and an unexpected reunion with my soul’s forgotten history.
The chaos I’d lived felt familiar, not from this life, but as an echo of another. The poetry, the raw hunger, the boundary-breaking impulse, it was remembered, not new.
Years later, through deep spiritual work and the Akashic Records, I realized I’d been running on a frequency from another lifetime, one that explained so much and held the key to transformation.
Why past life integration matters
Ignoring past life imprints means living only part of your potential. Our souls carry memories, gifts, traumas, and contracts beyond this lifetime, showing up as fears, health struggles, phobias, or repeating relationship patterns.
These blocks often run deeper than childhood wounds. The fear of being seen, self-sabotage before success, the pull toward toxic lovers, or burnout, what if they began long ago? What if your soul left clues, waiting to be remembered?
Integrating past life material isn’t about reliving trauma. It’s about witnessing, honoring, and choosing new beliefs that support your growth. This is personal evolution on a soul level.
Through this work, a golden thread often appears, your soul mission unfolding across lifetimes. Remembering it brings clarity, purpose, and the power to contribute to collective evolution.
Awareness: The first portal
Before seeking past lives, you start with a feeling something familiar, uncanny, or emotionally charged.
A recurring dream. A pull toward a place. A strange recognition in someone’s eyes. These are soul echoes, surfacing to be seen.
For me, it began with emotion. I felt an overwhelming connection to The Doors. Seeing Jim Morrison stirred waves of grief, love, and recognition I couldn’t explain. Renaissance music brought tears and a wordless homesickness.
I had no memories, just deep feelings. Only later, through past life readings and a deep astrological analysis, did it all begin to make sense.
Awareness starts by listening. Trust your intuition. Follow what stirs you. Often, the remembering begins long before the mind understands.
When you’re ready, the tools come in, but first, just notice.
Tools to discover your past lives
There’s no single right way to remember. Your soul will speak to you in symbols, emotions, and synchronicities. Here are some tools that have been powerful on my path:
1. Sketching a character with tarot as a mirror
Tarot is my favorite tool for exploring the psyche of a past life. I use it to uncover personality traits, emotional themes, relationships, and key events. Sometimes a single card, like the Tower or Eight of Swords, can unlock an entire story.
If you're curious about how I began using tarot for past life work, you’ll find more on my blog.
2. Follow the energetic pull
Noticing what draws you in places, music, time periods, or people, is a powerful practice. These emotional pulls aren’t random; they’re portals.
Maybe you’ve always felt at home in a certain landscape or “known” a city before visiting. Music from before your birth or a strong reaction to a historical figure can signal soul memory. Pay attention this is valuable data.
3. AI-based historical recognition
Once I’ve sketched a past life character, I often use AI to match their energy, era, or traits with known historical figures. If the tarot hints they were somewhat known or even famous, I enter key details and let the AI suggest profiles.
Viewing old portraits can trigger a deep soul recognition, a quiet, intuitive "yes." It’s not about proof, but resonance. AI becomes a tool to activate memory, not define it. You can explore how someone's face echoes that of their past lives in more depth on my research page.
4. Astrology as the karmic blueprint
After intuitively sketching a past life, I turn to astrology to confirm the karmic patterns. Your natal chart is your soul’s blueprint, revealing what you’ve carried in and what you’re here to evolve.
Astrology can also stand alone as a structured way to explore past lives. If you prefer logic, symbols, and clarity over names and images, it offers a grounded path.
Some karmic placements worth exploring:
The North Node: Growing into who you truly are: In karmic astrology, the North Node reveals your soul’s growth path, what you’re here to embody, even if it feels foreign. A North Node in Taurus might be learning to ground and trust life’s pace after lifetimes of chaos. In the 7th house, the soul may be learning partnership after lifetimes of solitude. In Leo, the call is to shine after hiding in the crowd. The South Node shows where you’re fluent, but stuck.
My North Node is in Aries in the 10th house: bold, visible leadership. In my past life as Jim Morrison, that energy was distorted. I gave my power to the myth, the machine, and to love. I became a symbol, not a self.
Now, with Pluto and Neptune triggering that Node, old fears resurface of being seen or swallowed. But a rare quintile to Mercury reminds me why I came back: to use my voice as medicine. Not to be defined but to define.
That’s the essence of the North Node: scary, liberating, real.
Chiron: The wound that heals: Chiron marks the soul’s deepest wound, an old, often karmic pain. It’s where something vital was once silenced or shamed. Yet it’s also where healing begins, not just for you, but for others. Chiron in Cancer may ache for belonging. In Capricorn, it might fear rejection tied to success. In the 3rd house, it can signal wounds around communication or being heard. Wherever it falls, it reveals where your pain can become wisdom.
In my chart, Chiron sits in Gemini in the 12th house: the wound of being unseen or misunderstood for speaking spiritual truth. In my past life, I used art and poetry to share radical insights, but what the world received was the surface symbol. The deeper message was distorted, consumed, or ignored. That fear still lingers: a tension around speaking what’s mystical or taboo.
But healing doesn’t come through silence. It comes by giving voice to what was once buried. That’s my quiet revolution, writing, teaching, performing anyway. Because Chiron isn’t just where we break. It’s where we begin to alchemize.
Pluto: The karmic engine of transformation: Pluto in the birth chart reveals where the soul has known power, intensity, and transformation, often over many lifetimes. It marks your inner underworld: the part of you that’s been broken down, burned through, and reborn. Someone with Pluto in the 7th house may carry karmic echoes of obsessive or traumatic relationships. In the 2nd, there may be old wounds around survival, worth, or loss. Wherever Pluto sits, it doesn’t let you play small. It demands evolution, ruthless, honest, and deep.
In my chart, Pluto is in Scorpio in the 5th house: the realm of art, passion, and performance. This speaks of a soul shaped by creative fire and creative destruction. As Jim, I danced that line: channeling mythic, erotic, and shadowy truths through art, only to be devoured by them. In this life, that same Plutonian current runs strong. It brings emotional intensity, especially in love and self-expression. But it’s also a source of vision, magnetism, and spiritual fuel.
The work now is to create without burning out. To let art be alchemy, not annihilation. Because Pluto isn’t just the place you fall apart, it’s the place you rise transformed, pulsing with raw truth and soul power.
Aspects & karmic placements: From Saturn and Pluto aspects to South Node conjunctions, the chart is full of signatures that reveal your soul story. By studying these patterns, you begin to understand what holds you back and why.
I’m not going into all the astrological details here, but if you're curious about the full comparative chart analysis and how these echoes show up with striking clarity, check out my Reincarnation Research.
This combination of tools lets you cross-reference your insights. It turns remembering into intuitive research, mystical yet methodical. In this article, I’ll share 9 powerful ways to access your past life memories beyond tarot and astrology so you can deepen your journey even further.
Past life work is purpose work
Uncovering past lives isn’t just about healing; it’s about remembering who you truly are. The more I recalled, the more my mission crystallized: I wasn’t just here to recover; I was here to teach, perform, and guide others toward radical authenticity and karmic liberation.
Our past lives aren’t chains. They’re keys, forged through fire and time. When we integrate them, we awaken the multidimensional self: one who lives boldly, loves freely, and serves from the soul.
While much of my journey has been intuitive, I’ve recently deepened my path by using astrology as a logical system to validate past life memories. I’m currently researching reincarnation patterns, seeking karmic signatures that echo across timelines.
Soon, I’ll be writing more about this under the theme “When More Than One Person Remembers the Same Past Life.”
If you’re ready to dive deeper into your soul’s journey, here are ways to connect, explore, and continue your past life work:
Book a call to begin breaking free from karmic restraints and step into your full potential.
Follow my broader reincarnation research, including the upcoming project IWasJimMorrison.
Listen to the Past Life Podcast, where I interview guests about their soul journeys and how past lives shape the present.
Stay tuned for upcoming Reality Cult retreats and live events, where I’ll be playing, speaking, and giving readings to support your soul’s remembering and integration.
Explore my artistic work, where past life memory fuels creative expression.
See what others say about Reality Cult Past Life Readings and Spiritual Coaching.
Stephanie Smit, Visionary Artist & Reincarnation Researcher
Stephanie Smit (Giek) is a visionary, multidisciplinary artist and independent reincarnation researcher. Through her work, she bridges experimental art, esoteric science, and intuitive guidance to help others uncover past lives and activate soul remembrance. She has uncovered over 250 past lives for clients using a unique method combining astrology, tarot, and Akashic insight. Her projects have been showcased at major museums and festivals across Europe, including the Van Gogh Museum and Harvard Divinity School. She also develops sacred performances, poetic lectures, and zero-waste fashion inspired by her visions. Giek's mission is to awaken spiritual sovereignty and co-create a New World rooted in divine creativity and karmic truth.
