Yes, but it's rare, precisely because people like Julius Caesar are exceptional. If you were Julius Caesar in a previous life you're not going to be Joe or Jane Average in this life -- you'll still have the charisma, the political savvy, the talent for command, and the overwhelming ambition that made Julius Caesar one of the most powerful men in the world. Given those things, you'd either be famous and powerful or you'd be well on your way to that status.
The reason I stress this is that ever since reincarnation became known again in the Western world, a certain number of bland little people with bland little lives have made up for their blandness by insisting that they were famous, powerful, important people in a previous life. I've met examples of the type, and my immediate question is, "What happened? How did the soul of a famous, powerful, important person turn into such a damp little failure?"
(The late Francis King, a capable British occultist, used to say that he knew 70 different people who claimed to be the reincarnation of Aleister Crowley. He said he believed them all, because none of them had more than 1/70th of Crowley's wit and talent!)
Keep in mind also that souls don't stay around forever. Once a soul has learned all the lessons of the material plane, it goes onward to more interesting things. It's precisely the strong-willed and talented souls who are most likely to go on sooner, because strength of will and various talents are among the things life in the material world is meant to teach you.
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branchandroot
Re: Reincarnation of historical figures
Date: 2022-11-21 05:46 am (UTC)The reason I stress this is that ever since reincarnation became known again in the Western world, a certain number of bland little people with bland little lives have made up for their blandness by insisting that they were famous, powerful, important people in a previous life. I've met examples of the type, and my immediate question is, "What happened? How did the soul of a famous, powerful, important person turn into such a damp little failure?"
(The late Francis King, a capable British occultist, used to say that he knew 70 different people who claimed to be the reincarnation of Aleister Crowley. He said he believed them all, because none of them had more than 1/70th of Crowley's wit and talent!)
Keep in mind also that souls don't stay around forever. Once a soul has learned all the lessons of the material plane, it goes onward to more interesting things. It's precisely the strong-willed and talented souls who are most likely to go on sooner, because strength of will and various talents are among the things life in the material world is meant to teach you.