Reincarnation researchers have discovered that some people who died a traumatic death in a past life bear the scars of those injuries in the form of a birthmark. A birthmark is defined as a “benign irregularity on the skin which exists at birth.”

Doctors believe they are caused by an excess of pigment cells or blood vessels grouped in one area of the skin. But today, doctors still don’t know what caused these pigment cells and blood vessels to group this way and form birth marks.

In the 1960’s Dr. Ian Stevenson, a psychiatrist from the University of Virginia, began studying children between the ages of 2 – 4 who remembered their past lives. In hundreds of cases he documented, Dr. Stevenson was able to show a direct correlation between how a person died in a prior life and their birthmark now.

Could our birthmarks be an imprint of memories our soul carries from a prior lifetime?

According to Stevenson’s work, about 35 percent of children who claim to remember past lives have birthmarks that can be linked to the wounds of the person they were in a past life. He looked primarily at children between the ages of 2 – 4 so that their memories wouldn’t be sullied by family stories and lore.

He had strict guidelines for his research and only looked at cases where the past life memory would be verified with names, dates and in some cases the autopsy report. Stevenson only included cases in his research where the birthmark appeared within 10 centimeters of the wound from a prior life.

Dr. Stevenson began his research by visiting areas of the world that believed in reincarnation and therefore the children felt comfortable discussing their past life memories with their parents. Reports came in from Buddhists and Hindus in South Asia, the Shiites of Lebanon and Turkey, and the tribes of West Africa. But he also found several credible cases in Europe and North America. For example, in Alaska he studied the cases of Charles Porter and Henry Elkin who had birthmarks which corresponded to a fatal stabbing with a spear and a gunshot wound.

Dr. Stevenson published his findings in a book called Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect: Birthmarks and Birth Defects. He studied the case of Anurak – a young boy from Thailand who had a birthmark on his right elbow. It’s believed he was the reincarnation of his brother who died in a drowning accident.

Before his cremation, a family member made a charcoal mark on his right elbow – a custom done so the soul will be recognized when it’s reincarnated. At a very young age, Anurak recognized and called by his nickname his deceased brother’s best friend. He found his brother’s formerly lost scout uniform. Most notably, he had a significant fear of water.

Dr. Stevenson investigated 18 cases of children who had memories of being shot to death in a past life and had 2 birthmarks which correlated to the entry and exit wounds from the past life in which they were shot.

A Burmese child he researched said she was her aunt reincarnated who had died from congenital heart disease. The little girl had a birthmark in the middle of her chest which corresponded to her aunt’s scar from heart surgery.

One of the cases Dr. Stevenson researched involved a boy from India named Maha Ram who recalled being killed with a shotgun. His past life memories were so detailed, Dr. Stevenson was able to find the family of the man Maha Ram said he’d been and was able to see the man’s autopsy report. The results showed the gunshot wound and the boy’s birthmark were a match.

Another boy he researched said he was a washer man who’d been bitten by a snake on his thigh and had died. His father thought this was a very specific memory and decided to research it. He went to the part of the village where several washer men lived and was told that a washer man had died of a snake bite to his thigh several years ago but that the family had moved away.

In 1980, a young fruit seller named Mushir Ali collided with a tractor and died from injuries to his right side when he suffered several fractured ribs. Less than a year later, Naresh Kumar was born. He had a significant mark and depressed area on the right side of his body where his ribs were located. As soon as he learned to talk, he spoke of memories of selling fruit and driving a cart.

He was born into a Hindu family but would speak about being a Muslim and would kneel for prayers when no one was watching. He recalled selling mangoes and even talked about dying in a collision when he was just 4 years old. When Naresh saw Mushir Ali’s father in the village, he ran up to him calling him father.

This was very difficult for the fruit seller’s family as they didn’t believe in reincarnation, but when the young boy was taken to the fruit seller’s home, he recognized all the family members by name and even mentioned a man who had owed him money. The family of the deceased fruit seller then accepted Naresh as the reincarnation of their son.

Dr. Jim Tucker, a psychiatrist from UVA, is continuing Dr. Stevenson’s work. Tucker reports an old woman who died in Thailand with a desire to be reborn as a boy. Her daughter marked her mom’s neck with a white paste so she’d be recognized when she was reincarnated.

Soon after, the daughter gave birth to a son with a birthmark on the back of his neck exactly where she’d put the white paste on her mom’s neck. Dr. Tucker has written several books on his findings including Return to Life: Extraordinary Cases of Children Who Remember Past Lives and Life Before Life: Children’s Memories of Previous Lives.

In several languages, the word birthmark means “cravings” or “unfulfilled wishes.” Birthmarks were believed to be reflections of the unsatisfied wishes of the mom during her pregnancy. Other folklore suggests they are from a pregnant mother food cravings, so if she ate a lot of strawberries, her child would have a strawberry shaped birthmark.

Possibly, though, birthmarks have a much deeper meaning. They might be soul scars from wounds or surgeries suffered in a past life. Several people claim that after they recalled and healed the memory from the past life, the birthmark simply faded away. So take some to examine your birth mark. It just may give you a clue as to who you were in a past life.

~via BeliefNet.com