Sisters and Brothers, Now and Then

“You know, Sis – You’re NOT my mother!”

I heard my kid brother say that countless times when we were growing up.

In many ways, I always thought I was his mother. As an only child, I begged my parents to give me a little brother. I was just five years old when they brought him home from the hospital. I so clearly remember how they put a pillow on my lap and laid him down so I could hold him. My baby was finally home! Over the years I fed him, dressed him, read to him, played with him, and yes, occasionally fought with him. As we grew up, I protected him, intervened for him, and even lied to our parents for him. I’m sure he most remembers the times I bossed him around – but does he also remember how much I adored him?

In therapy at age 50, I was regressed to explore the roots of a terrible trauma I was experiencing. Under hypnosis, my subconscious mind found its way back to a time when I was listening behind a locked door to my brother crying as Dad was punishing him for some misdeed, and my mind was screaming “Stop hurting my baby!!!” in outrage. It came as no surprise to later discover through past life regression that I actually was his mother in a lifetime we shared during the 1800's.

Our brothers and sisters offer us early – and later – life lessons.

Whether they were born to our same parents, came to us through adoption or by way of a stepmother or father, we chose to incarnate in this lifetime with our siblings for many reasons. Our brothers and sisters often provide our first experiences (good or bad) with social interaction: learning to share our possessions, our secrets, our friends, our joys and our sorrows.

Depending upon the karma we bring into this lifetime, our siblings can be our dearest friends or our most frustrating adversaries. They can be our biggest supporters or our personal tormentors. The younger sister that competes with you in every aspect of your life may have been a rival of yours in ancient Rome. The older brother who taught you to love books and music may have been your favorite teacher during the Renaissance. Past lives in which we were lonely might cause us to be born into a large, noisy family. Past lives in which we had to fight for attention from our parents might make us decide to be only children in the next life. 

Good, bad or indifferent - our sibling relationships are often our longest ones.

For most people, siblings offer the longest relationships of our entire lives – lasting longer than our relationships with parents, mates and children. We may love them, hate them or disregard them entirely, but we can’t ignore the impact our siblings have had on who we are today.

Exploring the past lives we’ve shared with our siblings can shed light on those important relationships that so often shape who we become as adults. Recovering those past-life memories may aid us in resolving conflicts with a sister or brother, help us to understand them better, or lead us to develop more harmonious family relationships in the future.


​

---