Karma, Reincarnation & Past Life Regression with Joanne Dimaggio

Internationally recognized Researcher, Teacher, Author, and Past-Life Therapist, Joanne DiMaggio, MA, CHt, has published six books and hundreds of magazine articles for both mainstream and esoteric audiences.

In 1987, Joanne began devoting all of her time to her esoteric studies, specializing in past-life exploration, research, and therapy. The years she spent researching and working on her own past lives, coupled with her experience as the director of her own past-life research organization, gives clients the comfort of knowing they are working with someone who has firsthand knowledge of the emotional, physical, psychological, and spiritual experience a past-life journey entails.  

She eventually combined her passion for soul writing™ with her knowledge of reincarnation and today is considered a respected expert in both fields.

I’ve always seen myself as a Reporter for the Universe. Being able to research, understand, and share the richness of esoteric topics like Past Life exploration and Soul Writing™ in a practical, healing way is a core part of my spiritual DNA and purpose in this lifetime!

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Follow Along with the Transcript – Episode 081

Joanne DiMaggio 0:00
Which is why I always say if you know why you're here, do it now. Because you don't know what the circumstances are gonna be the next time around how you're going to set that whole thing up.

Alex Ferrari 0:20
I've been able to partner with Mindvalley to present you guys free. masterclass is between 60 and 90 minutes, covering Mind Body Soul Relationships and Conscious Entrepreneurship, taught by spiritual masters Yogi's spiritual thought leaders and best selling authors. Just head over to nextlevelsoul.com/free.

Today on the show, we have Joanna DiMaggio. She is an expert in past life regressions. And in this episode we talk about past lives our souls journey reincarnation karma, and much more. So let's dive in. I'd like to welcome to the show Joanne DiMaggio. How're you doing Joanne?

Joanne DiMaggio 1:08
I'm great. How are you Alex?

Alex Ferrari 1:09
I'm doing great. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I'm I'm excited to talk to you about what your your work and how you've gotten started on your on your spiritual journey and how you got in your spiritual journey. So first question is how did you begin this insane, spiritual journey that you are on?

Joanne DiMaggio 1:27
It is insane when you think about my background? Well, you know, I was born and raised Catholic went to 12 years of Catholic school. But I had a lot of questions that weren't answered at all, you know, things just didn't make any sense to me. So when I was a teenager, I started reading books about Edgar Casey and I read books that were written by Ruth Montgomery and jester and then I read the book, the search for Bridey Murphy, that was the first reincarnation related book. And I thought, You know what, this makes perfect sense. It answers all my questions. So I had it in the back of my mind, you know, for the longest time, but didn't really do anything about it until 1987, when surely McLean's out on a limb became a miniseries, it was aired on ABC, long before your time.

Alex Ferrari 2:19
I know. I'm a little I'm a little older than you might think.

Joanne DiMaggio 2:24
And that was like my big wake up call. I think it was the big wake up call of 1000s of us sleeping metaphysicians. And so that year, I thought, you know, I remember then that as a teenager, this intrigued me. And the part about the the reincarnation part of that show, really got me I mean really had me hooked. And so I joined the Edgar Cayce's Association for Research and enlightenment, the Aerie that year. And I also formed my own past life organization that I called Plexus. And so suddenly, I was, you know, meeting people on the leading edge of this work of past life therapists and authors and people like that. And not only through the care, but then I was inviting them to come and speak to our group, a plexus. So I have been doing it ever since then I went and got my hypnotherapy certification. And later on, I got my master's in transpersonal studies through Atlantic University. So I have been doing past life work and research. The research is The fascinating part for me. I've been doing it for since the 1990s. So over 30 years.

Alex Ferrari 3:42
Oh, wow. Now, you mentioned Edgar Cayce. Can you explain to people who Edgar Cayce was many people don't know who he is.

Joanne DiMaggio 3:49
Yeah, sure. Edgar Cayce, was probably the most renowned psychic of the 20th century. He was lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He gave readings for people, he would go into a trance, and then he would give a reading. Most of the reading of the 14,000 readings he gave 12,000 of those were health readings. And his health readings, he would give remedies, people would go to him because they've exhausted every other, you know, option in terms of traditional medicine. And those health readings. Were everything from A to Z. And a lot of them were so far ahead of their time. They're still being used utilized. Some of the original remedies are being reproduced now. So he just was that's why he earned the title father of holistic medicine. And then he started doing life readings which or more esoteric in nature. So in other words, he started talking to people about their past lives. He started answering them some really profound type questions that people were asking about how the universe operated. And I mean, it was just, you know, talked about everything dreams, just an unlimited number of of topics. And those are the those are the readings that I'm most interested in, especially the readings on reincarnation. So I have been a student of Cayce's, you know, since 1987. And he's very much a part of my foundation of my spiritual journey, and I bring his his work into my own.

Alex Ferrari 5:35
Did he mention anything in all of those readings? Because I'm assuming you've, you've studied many of those readings, especially the esoteric ones you were talking about? Did he mention any predictions on what was going to happen to where we're at right now? What's going on the shift that's happening in humanity currently?

Joanne DiMaggio 5:53
He did. I met, I don't remember them well enough to recite them to you. But there, you know, there are people at AARP that have spoken on this very topic about, I talked about China and Russia. And I forgot to click on the world, world readings or something to that effect. But because my interest was focused solely on the reincarnation aspect of it, I didn't really absorb a lot of, of, of those kinds of readings that he gave.

Alex Ferrari 6:30
Got it. All right. So can you explain to people who might not know the concept of reincarnation and what that actually is? Because I mean, I mean, it's I don't think most people understand or have heard the term. It's been in the zeitgeist now for probably over 100 years, and has been in the eastern Zeitgeist for 1000s of years. So can you explain to people what it is and why we do it?

Joanne DiMaggio 6:56
Yeah, I mean, from the Cayce's readings, you know, you talked about creation, how we were all created at the same all souls were created at the same time, which is why I love to say, There's no such thing as an old soul. It's just that when you see somebody or you hear that reference, so and so's an old soul, basically, just what it means is that they have come to the earth more times than others, and they've gained more knowledge. So think of us as spiritual beings inhabiting a physical body, we decided that we wanted to experience everything that the earth plane would provide for us all the lessons we could learn here, that we couldn't learn anywhere else with the you know, the goal, of course, is to go back to where we came from, to go back to the point where we don't need to incarnate again. And so each lifetime that we live, we encounter certain issues that we may want to work that ended up that we work on in a subsequent lifetime. So in other words, you know, you could work on have a lifetime that happened 1000 years ago, and you're just working on some of those issues. Now, it could be something to do with a chronic illness, it could be something to do with an attitude that you had, it could be, you know, that we're dealing with greed, or lack of responsibility, or abandonment issues, or issues of acceptance, or, I mean, it just goes on and on and on. So if you think that the Earth is a school, and we're the little souls with our backpacks, I'm coming to the earth plane, to learn, we have a curriculum that we come in, and we learn what we need to learn. And then then we go back in that between life state, and then we plan for the next lifetime to deal with some of the issues from the previous. It's all learning experience. It's all based on karma. Karma is you know, you reap what you sow, it's cause and effect. And we just continue to build on that. When we come back with the same group of souls over and over again, they're part of our soul family. We traveled together, like a pod, a soul pod, we change gender, we change roles, but the same souls that are in your life right now have been in your life from the beginning of time. They just, they just, you know, like your mother in this life could have been your husband in a previous life. We just change our roles to enable us to assist the soul that we came in with with whatever lesson. So in other words, if you say, I'm coming in, maybe one life you abandon somebody, and that was a ripple effect, and that caused a lot of damage. So you say to us, well, okay, I'm going to experience what it feels like to be abandoned. So you plan your lifetime in which that's In a pop up at some point, well the people that are coming in with you the souls that are coming in with, you know that that's what you're working on. And so they say, you know, at some point in your life, I'm going to abandon you. So I know you can look at it as Oh, they're being they're challenging me they're being, you know, unnecessarily cruel to me are unfair to me. But they also love you, and they're supporting you and helping you learn the lesson. So it's just a matter of like going to school, you know, you take your classes you graduate, and then you don't have to take the class over

Alex Ferrari 10:34
So we're constantly learning coming back to learn again, and again, we choose the parents, we choose the family, we choose the circumstances to teach us the lessons that we have. And that's I know, a lot of people listening might have issue with that when they're going through really rough times right now, in certain things like being abandoned, or having an alcoholic parent that abuses them, or you come in and then another and another, on the other side of the spectrum, you come in with a loving family, and someone was very supportive of you in your dreams, and you experience that kind of support where a friend of yours in school literally here in school, might have not that doesn't have to parents doesn't have a supportive family that has an alcoholic dad or mom or, or something along those lines. But these are, it doesn't, you know, very much like yourself. I mean, I was raised Catholic as well, I still feel guilty about it, by the way. And not just just jokes, everyone's just jokes. But I came in Catholic as well. And I had tons of questions that just things didn't line up for me. It just some some things didn't line up. So when I started to study, Eastern philosophy, Eastern religions, certain things started to click More and that and then Edgar Cayce's work came into my life as well. Paramahansa Yogananda, his work came into my life. And there's so many of the started, click in and out and start to make more sense to me, because it made on a logical sense, just pure logic, who will if this is my only life, and I get to experience it as a male in the United States of America, during this time period. That seems pretty narrow, right? It just didn't, it just didn't make sense. So you mean, I just won the lottery, essentially, as opposed to someone who was born in Africa who's starving right now. And this is their only experience or they're born for a year and they all they do is suffer through disease and pain, and then they die? Is that it for them? That those things just didn't make sense to me in a world that is so guided by some sort of force nature is guided by some sort of force? And that force, I believe, guides us as well? Would you agree?

Joanne DiMaggio 12:53
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. You earn this life that you have living in the United States right now. I mean, Casey said that, that that's what we did that we earned this. That isn't to say, in a previous life, you didn't live in Africa, or you didn't live, or you lived in Asia, or you lived in Europe, or, you know, you lived up North or in, you know, in the or in Alaska, or the Antarctic, or in Russia or wherever, we've experienced all nationalities, we've experienced all religions, we have experienced all races, and ethnicities, which if you really truly embrace that idea, then you've been all things, you've been all people, then you realize that we're all one, that there is no difference between us, I happen to be in a female Caucasian body. In this lifetime, I wasn't in my last lifetime. So how can I then point a finger at someone and say, I hate them because of the way they look? When I'm when it was, you know, there but for the grace of God go I was that person in another lifetime. And so we experience all different cultures, to give us that really, well rounded understanding and view of souls being all connected, and then we're all the same in the creator's eyes, we are all the same, there's no difference between any of us one isn't higher than the other no matter what kind of lifetimes that they have led, you know, it's all karmic. You may have had a stellar lifetime and your casing was a priest in Egypt rotta you know, and then he was a riverboat gambler. You know, so, the in case he always talked about in that life, the soul game and that life is so last. It's all about the experience and the lessons learnt and also sometimes when people come in say that they have some sort of a physical or mental challenge in this life isn't because they had bad karma, it could be that they were coming in and service to the souls around them. Because how are the souls around them responding to them? You know? So there's it's a very logical, rational universe in which nothing is random. You know, it's all synchronistic. And it's just, it's fair. It's just it explains, you know, why are some people wealthy and some people are poor, why are some people healthy and other people aren't why some people have beautiful, healthy, loving lifetimes and other people are suffering, you know, throughout everybody's working out karma in their own way. And a lot of times, people that have a really idealistic life here on the Earth, where they have no problems whatsoever, they have beautiful families love them, you know, they've got enough money, they're healthy, you know, they earn that they earn that. It couldn't be that it's sandwiched in between two very challenging, difficult lifetimes. So you know, you go back to spirit and you may up, you want to take a vacation, go to Earth and enjoy, enjoy the Earth. It's a beautiful place, you know, and then the lifetime after that, then we're going to deal with with these other issues.

Alex Ferrari 16:27
I've heard of the soul vacation. I've heard other guests of my talk about the sole vacation where they, you know, soldiers, just like sometimes they just want to just want to chill, just like it's like going to Hawaii for a lifetime. I mean, I argue that many people who live on Hawaii vacation. Now the you know, we're working things out, karmically. We're we're learning our lessons here and there. The concept of the Ascended Master the the the Jesus's the Buddha's, the Yogananda as the baba geez, the, you know, the Muhammad's the all of these Ascended Masters, who get to a certain place where they're like, I've learned all the lessons I need to learn now, I am now free to go to the next level, is that an accurate description of what an Ascended Master is?

Joanne DiMaggio 17:20
Well, pretty much many of the Ascended Masters haven't even been in have not been incarnated before. And so there are some on the other side that don't come to the earth. They're just there are teachers, you know, and they're at that other level, like the council of elders that I talked about in my book, going going before them, they're like guidance counselors at school, you know, so you go before them, they have your report cards out, which is all of your previous lifetimes, and they help you to figure out what you need to do in the next slide. But yeah, there are certainly people at that, you know, certainly energies are so that we can call them souls energies at that at that level. And they've earned that as well. So some of them have been on the earth and I've had, I've done some regressions on a handful of people who could that category that they, that they are advanced teachers. And also don't forget, it's not just here on the earth, some of these folks are, are experiencing life on a different reality than we are in there accumulating wisdom based on on that, and then bringing it in for us.

Alex Ferrari 18:43
Right, many of the Ascended Masters, you know, who decide to either come back and reincarnate back to teach. They do so there's so many Yogi's over the years, over the centuries, have come back to teach. But from what I understand, nobody incarnates unless they have something to learn in a lifetime, every single Ascended Master, you know, even Jesus was born, and then there, there was a 30 year gap. He was figuring some stuff out, then, then, then he's like, I'm ready. And then then he walks into town, I am now the Son of God, everyone follow me. But, but there was a 30 year I always found that so interesting, like, this 30 year gap. That seems like a, like, we should probably ask questions about what he was doing during that time. But of course, no one ever.

Joanne DiMaggio 19:35
No one knows, right? I mean, you know, well, they do, you do come to earth to learn, but you also sometimes, you know, come to be an example or a teacher or a role model. So then you come in service, right to to other people, you know, you don't have to come in, but you say, hey, they need my help. I'm gonna go down there and see what the heck I can do for them. And then then you come in and You show up like that, and is that that's a beautiful thing when that happens,

Alex Ferrari 20:05
And many of us, I think all of us chose to incarnate during this time period because of this great shift that's happening in the world we, you know, I've heard from other other teachers as well that everyone who's incarnated in during this time this, this crazy time that we're in is here on purpose, we there are lessons to be taught and learned in this period of human history, and where we're going. And, like, so many, so many people say chaos is the fertile ground of, of change. And we're definitely in that world.

Joanne DiMaggio 20:41
Hang in there people.

Alex Ferrari 20:44
Hanging, it's going to be a rough, it's going to be a rough ride, but

Joanne DiMaggio 20:46
It is a rough ride already. Yeah,

Alex Ferrari 20:48
It's gonna be a rough ride. But I think we're, I think we'll be better for it at the end out the other side of this, but but that's, but that's life life in general. The worst things that happened to us are the things that make us the strongest teachers, the deepest lessons, they're unpleasant, but in many ways needed sometimes.

Joanne DiMaggio 21:08
Yeah. And I think that the fact that we're, there are certain people here that are reminding us to just kind of hold on, and to remember what's true, and to remember what's important, and have that ability to connect with Spirit, so that you maintain that balance, you know, because it's very easy to get to the point to be so despondent, over what's happening around you that you just want to give up. And you wondering, what the heck am I doing here? I don't want to be here, you know, and then you get, you know, this mass exodus of souls. But I do think that in from when everything that I remember Casey saying that, you know, it's worth it. In the end, it's going to be worth it in the end.

Alex Ferrari 21:52
Now, you've talked about a soul's mission? And how, how we plan our curriculum, if you will, while we're down here. Is there a moment when a soul does not fulfill their souls mission? And why is that if that is the case? Why have they skewed off their path?

Joanne DiMaggio 22:16
You know, that's really an interesting question, Alex, I'll tell you, I, my last book was called Edgar Cayce's on the unfulfilled destiny of Thomas Jefferson reborn. And it's all about this little boy that Edgar Cayce he did a reading and I'm when he was two days old, and said that he was this hate his soul was the soul of Thomas Jefferson. And Alexander the Great. So yeah, two famous past lives. Cayce said that this soul could do for the world. What Jefferson did for this country, imagine having that kind of responsibility put on your little shoulders, right? When you're two days old. He never, of course, did that. My book is about why it's really about freewill. You can, you know, you have your marching paper, so to speak, right? KC teaches us how to define our soul's mission, we come up with an ideal, you know, this is why I'm here. This is what my my soul's mission is, this is what I want to accomplish. But at any given point in time, you can change your mind. And you can go first of all, a lot of people don't know what their mission is, most, even my own children, you know, they're both adults. And I'll say to them, Well, what do you feel passionate about? What is it that you would do if you didn't have any if money weren't an issue? And they can't answer me? Because they don't? They don't have any answer to that. I think a lot of people are like that. That's one of the first questions people ask, when, in my intake conversation, when we're going to do a past life regression. You know, I'll say, why did you? Why did you want to do a regression? I don't know why I'm here. I don't know what I'm doing here. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. And they're lost like that. But that information is there. But even if you get it the way this little TJ Davis got it was the Thomas Jefferson reborn, things can happen. Like in his case, his parents didn't follow the recommendations that Cayce was giving for how to raise this little boy. And they were alcoholics and gamblers and they had their own issues they were dealing with. And then later on, when TJ became an adult, you know, he could have changed, he could have pursued the course that Cayce said for him. He chose not to. So when that happens, you know, you you go, your path goes in a whole different direction. Is it wrong? No. I don't think there's any mistakes. I think that there was a lesson in that for you. You know, you chose to do that. Eventually, you know, in a succeeding lifetime, you're gonna end up probably addressing that whole issue again, which is why I always say If you know why you're here, do it now. Because you don't know what the circumstances are gonna be the next time around how you're going to set that whole thing up. But I think freewill is the biggest. It's the biggest gift we were given. And the biggest obstacle that we have as well because it could really create havoc, in, in, in your, in your life, but everything has a purpose. And I don't see anything as being ever being bad in the end,

Alex Ferrari 25:30
So with with that example, that that that person who decided not to go down that path that Cayce, you know, predicted for him or at least even help try to help guide him down that path. That person was never incarnated, that kind of person was never incarnated to do what, you know, in other words, that there's there was a job opening. And he decided not to take the job. He's like, you know, what, I just really rather not. Was there another soul that was supposed to take their place in this lifetime?

Joanne DiMaggio 26:07
No, I think what happened was, I think there was a people misinterpreted the Cayce reading. I really do think when Cayce said this all could do for the world, what Jefferson did for this country, I think he was really referring to the Cayce teachings with him sharing that, because TJ has always said to me, is a you know, Joanne, all of the all of humanity's questions, can find answers in the Cayce readings, if only they would read them. And if only they would study them. And I think the fact that he was raised in the KC household that Casey tutored him personally, you know, they used to go out on the, on the pier, behind the Casey House, there was a lake there, and they used to go fishing. There's pictures of them fishing together, so adorable Mr. Casey with his little two, three year old boy, and Casey use that peeresses classroom. That's where he was teaching little TJ about an TJ, by the way stood for Thomas Jefferson, in his last name is David. That's when he was teaching him about reincarnation, about grace about karma about how to read auras, and things and the creation story and things like that. He never really they didn't talk about Thomas Jefferson or world affairs or anything like that. Although TJ had some flashes of memory of being Jefferson, he never really talked about it, he never really focused in on it. To the extent that you would think he would, having been somebody that famous, plus he lives right here in Charlottesville were Jefferson lived. So they still live, by the way. And but yeah, I think that that job is just gonna be put on hold until he decides to come back. And

Alex Ferrari 28:12
So so my question is to him, he will have to at one point or another walk this path.

Joanne DiMaggio 28:17
Well, that's the perfect case. He said he was capable of walking, he didn't necessarily say that you absolutely have to walk this fit.

Alex Ferrari 28:25
It's so interesting, because there's so many, there's so many people that I'm sure you know, and as well as I do, who you can see the potential in them to be able to do things that they can't see. And that happens, I think, I think all of us have had that experience at one point or other that you meet somebody, and you look at them and go what their specialty, you know, they really should be doing something. It's kind of like meeting Michael Jordan after he got caught from his high school basketball team. And he could have at that moment said, You know what, this is not for me. And we would have lost one of the greatest basketball players of all time, but he decided to walk down, because he had the skill set, he had the talent, he had the ability to do great things in that arena. So I see that a lot. And people, even when I speak to people sometimes, you know, because for some reason people come and ask me questions about their lives, sometimes friends of mines, people like that. And I'll always ask them, I'll always look at them and just inherently know. Yeah, I think this is the path you should be walking and why are you so afraid? Which brings me to my next question. Why are we afraid, so afraid of going down the paths that many of us inherently know that is correct. Like I've been, I've walked down the path of the artist for 25 years in the filmmaking space. Not an easy path. No. art, the art the artists path is never easy, but it is and I know so many other people who I've had actual clients of mine who will retire die doctors and lawyers who said I'm retired now. But what I really want to do is make a film. And they've spent a lifetime doing something they, they were okay with, they like, Okay, I'll deal with this. But they weren't happy. And they're like, Well, what I really want to do is write a book, where I really want to paint. I really wanted to make a film. Why are we so afraid of just walking down that path?

Joanne DiMaggio 30:24
You know, it's so interesting that you bring that up, because I see that a lot of people that are healers. When they come to me for regression, they'll say, You know what, I really feel deep inside that I should be doing some healing work, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I don't want to deal with it. So what happens we go back to, I always take people back to the lifetime that's affecting them the most now. Because we've had hundreds of lifetimes, and then you're not working on all of them. At the same time. You've chosen one, when you came into this life, you said, you know, I didn't finish this. I have some unfinished business, from this life back in 1826. I'm gonna work on it now. Well, every single case of these people that want to be healers or think they were healers, is because they actually were healers in a previous lifetime. But something happened, they were persecuted, they were killed, tortured, whatever, because when they go back to their previous lifetime, they'll say, Well, I'm out in the woods, and um, you know, picking up herbs and things for healing. But I've got my I'm looking over my shoulder because I'm afraid somebody's going to see me. So a lot of times the fear is based on something that happened to you in a previous life regarding that very career, aspiration, and you're afraid to try it again. Because you remember, Oh, I suffered, because I did it the act that I've been a writer for almost all of my lifetime. So I do think of myself as a reporter for the universe. That's how I identify myself, you know, but that's a difficult road to to go on as well. I mean, when they talk about starving artists, yes. But, but I always felt compelled to do that. And I and I still do, but you're right, there are so many people who would and one of the one of the things about past life regression, especially when we go to the life between life, part of it is that we make a list of their karmic issues. And we make a list of their karmic attributes. It's the attributes because no lifetime, when you think about karma, it's not always bad. Sometimes you gain a skill, a talent or an ability in a previous lifetime. And that's yours for all time, that never goes away, it goes into your positive karmic bank account. And you can call on, you can pull that in at any given time. But sometimes you need a little help to remember that, okay, so I think if people have a yearning they have, we were given memory triggers that the before we came into existence in this life, and those memory triggers include hints about a previous lifetime. You know, for me, when I was when I was growing up, I was absolutely obsessed with the 18th century. I mean, I would write with a feather pen, on parchment paper, I depict the ink, you know, and go like, and I had candles, I listen to Baroque music. I grew up in a blue collar, Southside of Chicago neighborhood, this was unheard of, right. But those are the kinds of it turns out that I did have an 18th century slide. But that those are the kinds of hints that spirit provides for us all through our lives to try to wake us up. And remember, the path that we decided to, we wanted to go on in this life. So that sometimes it helps to have the it always helps to have the regression because you can you get all these aha moments. Oh, now I get it. Now I understand. Now I see. And then you put two and two together. But other times people can go through their entire lives, and never know why they're here. They don't even think about it. They never asked the question. You know, a lot of my mainstream friends never would ask that question. Yeah. And they just, they just go through, you know, and they just figure well, I'll die. And that's the end of it. You know, I don't think my parents ever thought in terms of why they were here. For me to pass through them.

Alex Ferrari 34:38
Right? No, it's interesting too, because I've been obsessed with, you know, Ancient Egypt and the Mayan culture and the eastern cultures. It's something that I've been fairly obsessed with since I was a younger young probably in my teens and into my into my college years. I always found that fascinated just a lot of archaeology and love, you know, anytime we go travel and like, I gotta go travel to some old, some old, my wife calls it the old rocks, he just want to look at old rocks, don't you, that's all you want to do is look at old rocks. Okay, we get one day of old rocks, but then we got to go to the beach. And then you go to loom where you get the rocks and the beach on the same day. But it's very interesting. One thing I always like to ask, is it ever too late to change, or follow your soul's mission in life? No, he figured it out in your 60s and 70s. And go, You know what, I'm ready to jump on the path.

Joanne DiMaggio 35:43
You know, that's when a lot of people do figure it out. You know, and when you look at the demographics of people that you know, are doing a lot of these really deep soul searching work, a lot of them were all like, you know, just look at the statistics in my research project when I'm doing them. You know, the average age is in the early 60s. And they're doing this, and also a lot of people that have raised their families, they have completed their careers, and they retire, that God has time on their hands as they sit back and then go, you know, like you said earlier, I've always wanted to do this, I've always wanted to be a photographer, I've always wanted, you know, to, to be an artist, or I've always wanted to learn to play the piano or, or whatever. And so consequently, you know, sometimes later in years, that's when they do it. People that are smart enough to do it earlier, they get a head start on the rest of us. And so that's why I'm always so excited when younger people come in, and they're, they're on a spiritual quest. And they want to know, you know, why am I here? What, what is my, what's my purpose? What, what role Am I playing? You know, and I just think, I mean, I started out in this quest when I was quite young. But most people, in my experience, wait until quite a bit later before they even start to pursue this.

Alex Ferrari 37:20
But I think now the generations that are coming up behind us, there's so much more information out there were also much more interconnected. I mean, the the wealth of human knowledge is in our pockets, and can be searched at any moment. So, you know, you know, raising children, myself, I see their perspective is so different than mine was than yours was they are asking these questions, because the information is out there, the concept of meditation of concept of yoga, the concept of reincarnation, the concepts of souls, these things are just in the ether, where when I was growing up there, no, I don't even know when the first time I heard about meditation was probably probably in college, in the in the 90s when I went to college. So that's kind of where I think I first and then that kind of starts. It's like a little bit of a seed. And then you see you start going down. And I'm very curious person generally. So I started go down and start studying Eastern philosophy and then Western philosophy in that you start making thoughts, you start thinking about Socrates, and you start thinking about ancient Yogi's, and then you start looking at Jesus's life and you start figuring things out, but I feel that the generation coming up behind us is much more in tune.

Joanne DiMaggio 38:39
And they have, you know, every generation has a special role a job. And I just got my third grandchild Born May 2, and that's things when I look at her, and my other two grandchildren who are three and five. I say to them, when my river, I looked at her and I said, No, you have a really, really special job ahead. You know, there's something that you and your, your peers are here to work on, you know, and it's a big job. And, and I would say you know, to her, you know, I will be here and support you as long as I can. And but I see that and I see that light I see that. That curiosity that. And like I said, I think each of them has their own aura there as a generation. You know, they they, they kind of come in I'm working on a book right now, Alex on the Beatles and spirituality.

Alex Ferrari 39:46
Oh, you talking to me? You're talking dirty to me now?

Joanne DiMaggio 39:49
Yeah. I was. I will reveal I was a Beatles fan club president. When I was a teenager, you And I kept all my newsletters from all those years that I was curious that the Beatles plant the seed of spirituality in my generation that didn't blossom until 20 30 years later. And now that I'm doing my research, I came up with I have like 50 Beatle biographies I went through, I came up with 16 pages, single spaced typewritten pages of my notes, of comments about reincarnation, from The Beatles, that I that growing up that while I was in the midst of Beatlemania that wasn't a part of our, our world, any of that wasn't until George got involved, you know, with with in the in the philosophies that that that was introduced to us, and because we were like little sponges, and anything that they said, or did we just absorbed it? Whether we agreed with it or not, whether we liked it or not? My question was, you know, did this create a see that eventually, like, why am I a past life researcher and therapist? It makes no sense. When you think about my background growing up in an Italian American Catholic family on the Southside of Chicago, and this blue collar neighborhood? Makes no sense whatsoever. No,

Alex Ferrari 41:19
with your uncle, and with your uncle play baseball, your Aunt Merilynt Maryland,

Joanne DiMaggio 41:22
Aunt Merilyn. Don't tell anybody about my Aunt Merilyn. Yeah, so it's just, it just amazes me. The more research I do, about that part of my life, you know, being so young, and yet those seeds were planted. And some of us then took those seeds. And we develop esoteric careers on something that subliminally was sort of implanted in us so many years ago.

Alex Ferrari 41:56
Well, it's interesting, because I'm, I'm a huge Beatles fan. And I know, I know many people, you know, some people love Beatles, some, some don't. But generally speaking, the Beatles are very beloved around the world. I wasn't born in that generation, I think the Beatles would have been broken up by the time I was born. I was alive when when John, unfortunately, was killed. I was young, but I remember it. I was living in New York when that happened, by the way. So I remember that. But there's something about their music that connects with multiple generations. And like my generation, my kids, even my young kids know who the Beatles are because of us. Listen, I've heard music from them. And I mean, if you just look at the cover of Sergeant Pepper, I mean, there's Yogananda there's Baba Ji, there's I mean, he's they snuck in so many images in that, like, they just completely subliminally snuck it in. We just posted it looks like a cool montage. But if you started looking at all those individuals, they meant something. It's really it's really, I can't wait for that book. That should be a fun book.

Joanne DiMaggio 43:04
Well, you know, it's interesting, because if you look at them from a more of an esoteric point of view or reincarnation point of view, they're the perfect example of a soul group. Oh, yeah, yeah, of how they came together, the purpose they had coming together, what their roles were, there's a there's a book about the spiritual dimension of the Beatles talks about the astrological things that were going on when they during different parts of their of their partnership, but But it's, it's very fascinating. You can see how karma works, that's for sure. When you when you examine their lives, so yeah, I mean, it's, it's right in front of us, it's everywhere around us, if we choose to look, look at it objectively, without fear. Spirit will never give you something to deal with that you can handle. So a lot of people like I just did a regression this morning, and this person was really terrified. You know, I'm doing it. And then after I said, you're safe, don't worry. And afterwards said he sort of laughed and said that it was just, he's, this wasn't like anything I thought it was going to be, you know, the truth is out there. And I, I'm a big advocate of people finding it out for themselves, of not really putting their, their faith in somebody telling them like, you know, you want a roadmap of your life. You want somebody to hand it to you know, you've got to do the work. That's why we're here. We're here to do the work ourselves. Not dad, not to be spoon fed, or hand so, but there's so many so many resources available to people like you said today that there's if your curiosity is is, you know, full time, go for it, because I think you'll be very, you know, it's like an insatiable Well, first, once you start to drink from that well, of wisdom, you just can't get enough.

Alex Ferrari 45:06
I mean, can you imagine have seen having access to conversations like this 30 years ago, 40 years ago is like, at an instant, around the world, wherever you are in the world. If you have an internet connection, you can have, you can have access to these kinds of conversations where something like this would be in a in a hotel, in a hotel lobby somewhere a hotel in a hotel, room somewhere where a bunch of people ballroom somewhere, where they've paid a couple bucks to get in to see this kind of conversation, it was limited to 50 or 100 people. And that was it. But now, literally millions or 10s of millions are this information is available to so I think that is also by design. There is an awakening happening. I agree without without question. And even in my lifetime, I've seen it change from when my mom was meditating in the 70s. And my grandmother looked at her like, is she okay? What's wrong with her? Is she here having me fall? is should we should we be worried about the children? From that point to now it's an app, and CEOs talk about like I need to meditate every day in order to function properly. So there's a big shift that's happened in the last 50 years without question, right? Now, you used to spoken about a concept called Soul writing, what is soul writing?

Joanne DiMaggio 46:33
Soul reading is a written form of meditation. So if you think of prayer, as you talking to God, meditation is God talking to you. So writing is you taking notes. So it's writing in an altered state of consciousness. So it's going into whatever your regular meditative practice is, going into meditative state, as long as you say, prayer protection, surround yourself with white light, don't work with spirit without doing that. I don't care how long you've been asked this, just don't do that. So I always just take some deep breaths, just relax, go into your meditation, surround yourself with white life, with the pen loosely in your hand, on paper, and then you can ask the universe in any question you want. And you'll get an answer. It's like a 24/7. Hotline, to spirit. So you can use it and on to it applies to so many ways in your life. You can use it for psychoanalysis and healing, you can use it to understand esoteric philosophies. I asked the question once, what's the difference between the 10 commandments and universal laws? And the answer I got from spirit it was, well, I had a two week course, when they were telling me all the difference. But the basic thing was, there is no, there is no universal law that begins Thou shalt not. Those are that that level of writing is, is something that anybody can do. It's not just a few. And that was my thesis, by the way, for my my master's degree. And, and then it became my first book solo writing, and I'm actually going to be teaching it, we're going to take a three days, sort of turning it into a three day certification course, to the ARD in July. So if anybody's interested in that, they can just go on the kc.org website and find it. But you can use it for like I said, you can you could specially use it in past life, or if I sometimes attach a songwriting session with right after the regression, because then the soul writing will go deeper, you know, you could ask spirit, what the heck is this information all about? What am I supposed to do with this? How do I apply this to my life? You know, so you can use it with various art forms, great composers, and artists, all use writers. I have a whole list in my book of everybody that is the same process. So it's the process of tapping into that universal inspiration. Only in this case, it's in the written word.

Alex Ferrari 49:19
No, you say spirit what exactly is spirit? Is that a spirit guide? Is that your higher self is that God? What is that?

Joanne DiMaggio 49:27
It could be whatever you believe it to be whatever is comfortable for you to believe. You know, when I when I think of spirit, I'm just thinking about a much higher entity of divinity. I interchange that word with source. I feel like you know, we all have a connection to to God to our Creator. And we have emissaries so you know, when growing up Catholic, what will we talk about guardian angels, right? That was so comforting. To me, that was about the only thing I got, that I was able to take with me, it was the idea that I had a guardian angel was assigned to me. And she was there 24/7 taking good care of me, right. And so it's, it's that kind of a partnership. It's like, you're a little soul with a backpack on coming to earth, and they slip this little 24/7 Phone home card in your backpack, and you're told, listen, you might get into some trouble down there on the earth, you may run out of people to talk to you may be very disappointed or very despondent, or, you know, you've talked to your minister, your priest, your marriage counselor, you're at your friend's house, and you haven't gotten the answer you want. We're here. 24/7 can check in with us.

Alex Ferrari 50:54
The prices is right! The Price Is Right. Right. It's free. It's free. Yeah. Now, you also discussed in some other interviews about your Higher Self are connecting to your higher self? Can you explain to people what the higher self is? And how can you connect with that, that's all I'm assuming the higher self is the soul, your soul,

Joanne DiMaggio 51:15
Your soul, the the the part of you that is really contains your ideal, you know, contains your ideal is the highest aspiration that you have, and everything you do you work toward that ideal. So, for me, when I went to define my ideal, it was to inspire and empower through the written word. That's my mission, that's my soul's mission. So my higher self is almost like the keeper of the gate, the gatekeeper that keeps that always in the forefront. And, you know, when I need help and staying on track, or I feel like, you know, everything's going wrong, and I need some advice or whatever, that's where I go, I go to that, that overarching, almost like oversoul. That is that sort of, you know, my personal keeper of the tabs of my life. And in going there for advice, or explanation or guidance, or whatever.

Alex Ferrari 52:25
Do you Do you believe that the that we, I mean, obviously, we talked about the souls mission, and what we're here to do, many of us sometimes go off path, for whatever reason. So I always use the examples like, if today I have the free choice, I'm going to learn how to be an astronaut. Now, that's probably not going to work out well for me, or I'm going to be an NBA star, I'm probably not going to work out for me real well. And you go down that road and you start getting obstacle upon obstacle upon obstacle upon obstacle, door closed, door closed, door closed, door closed, then when you go back on the path where you're supposed to, a lot of times, the obstacles start to clear, the doors start to open. My question to you is, how do you know when the obstacle in front of you is something that you need to overcome to continue on the right path? Or is the universe trying to tell you, you are completely off the wrong path, and you're on the wrong path?

Joanne DiMaggio 53:24
That's a good question else. It could be both. Emile. I was just thinking about this the other day, I was thinking about all the jobs that I had, right? From the time I was a teenager, and how miserable I was, and every single one of them until I did, I worked for myself for I developed a freelance career freelance writing career, that, that now you know, I'm doing the regressions and writing books and doing doing conferences and things like that. Now is when I'm at my happiest, and why because I really wasn't meant to work for somebody else. Because that always was a distraction from what my real work was. And I remember right before COVID started. I, you know, I was always number one to volunteer for different committees. And, you know, I was involved with Unity Church for a long time, and I started a healing center there, and I was doing all working with Ara, volunteering, all volunteer, nothing brought in any money. In my opinion, my daughter said to me, she's Mom, what if you gave up everything and just focused on your writing? She says, Isn't that why you're here, mom, you know, because she would throw it back in my face. And you know, and I saw, I can't What do you mean, I work so hard to do all this other stuff to get where I am? Well, then COVID hits, right. And then I realize I don't need all these volunteer things. I really want to just focus on the writing and in the work that I'm doing, my whole life changed at that point. And thanks to technology, you know, I didn't have to have an office in the healing center to see clients to do regressions. Now I'm doing regressions with people all over the world, because I do them on Zoom. So, you know, so looking at that, you know, all those jobs that I had, I was miserable one obstacle after the other after the other after the other, and was just like, moving from I grew up in Chicago, moving from the Chicago suburbs to Charlottesville, Virginia, was unheard of my family was like, What the heck are you doing? You have no reason to move there. Who what do you what do you do? I felt compelled to come here. And you know, everything went smoothly, like the house sold, we found another house here. Everything just was, was flowing. And that's how you also tell the truth that you're on the right path, one door after the other opens app like that. So if the door closes, and you're meeting all these obstacles, you know, I guess you really need to do some soul searching to find out, you know, what's the real reason behind that is because I don't think the spirit would, would stop you from making a mistake. If you if you choose to, you know, to choose a path that differs from the one that maybe you had set out in your prior to your pre life planning session. I think they're gonna let you go ahead and stumble, because you're going to learn something from it. Right? No matter what you do, you'll still learn something. But if you're sensitive enough, and you and you're working with spirits, you're flowing with spirit, you could feel when something is right, and something isn't right. You know, you don't need to have a light shine down. And you could you could actually sense well, this isn't working or maybe this maybe I shouldn't do this, maybe this is not right. Let me try something else. Until you find this, the very thing that brings you joy, and bring and fulfills your passion. I think that's the key to it.

Alex Ferrari 57:15
Yeah, and so many times we we could be more intuitive with ourselves, but our minds get in the way our brains get in the way of that we tried to try to intellectualize certain things. Whereas if you feel just really connect with that's why meditation is such an important part of my life, because you're able to quiet the mind. And that's when you truly can connect and you can feel the joy. And I'm gonna ask you a couple questions as all of my guests. What is your mission in this life?

Joanne DiMaggio 57:46
As I mentioned to you earlier, I had defined it as to empower inspire through the written word.

Alex Ferrari 57:52
And what is the ultimate purpose of life?

Joanne DiMaggio 57:55
Of life in general, to learn as many lessons as we possibly can and to graduate and move on?

Alex Ferrari 58:03
And where can people find out more about you, your your new book, and many other things, so

Joanne DiMaggio 58:09
I'd love for them to visit my website, which is Joannedimaggio.com. It's Joannedimaggio.com. You can read about the different types of services I have the different regressions that I do, you can book one online if you're so interested in doing so. And I've got a blog and a lot of other fun little questionnaire to to do to find out what's the right type of regression for you and buy books or online. And so I'd love for people to visit.

Alex Ferrari 58:42
Joanne It has been a pleasure talking to you today. It was so much fun having this conversation. So thank you again for the work you're doing and for everything you're doing for this world. So I appreciate you.

Joanne DiMaggio 58:53
Thank you so much. Same here.

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