[00:00:00]Luke Storey:  I'm Luke Story. For the past 22 years, I've been relentlessly committed to my deepest passion, designing the ultimate lifestyle based on the most powerful principles of spirituality, health, psychology. The Life Stylist podcast is a show dedicated to sharing my discoveries and the experts behind them with you. Ainslie, great to meet you. Welcome to the show.

[00:00:30]Ainslie MacLeod:  Lovely to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

[00:00:32]Luke Storey:  I'm so excited to have this conversation. You've been on my list of guests that I've wanted to track down for probably about two years. And that guest is always being added to, almost on a daily basis. And so, there's probably about a hundred people on that list that I'm like, wait, wait, wait. She DM'ed me, and was like, hey, you should have Ainslie on the show. And I thought, oh, yes, that's on my list. Right. I'm going to do it now. So, I'm really-

[00:00:58]Ainslie MacLeod:  Oh, that's great. Bless India.

[00:01:00]Luke Storey:  Yeah. And so, I'm really glad that we're able to to dive in here and get this going.

[00:01:06]Ainslie MacLeod:  Yeah.

[00:01:06]Luke Storey:  So, I'd like to start with how you first discovered your gift.

[00:01:12]Ainslie MacLeod:  Well, that's a bit of a story, because generally, people are kind of born with a gift. I mean, it's like any talent. You come into the world with it. It's the same as having a talent for music or something. But if you never get the chance to use it, then you may not be awre you have it. And I went for decades not thinking I had any psychic abilities. And even though I kept running into psychics, I was a total non-believer, I mean, for a huge chunk of my life.

[00:01:46] And I had no time for people who were in that sort of like woo-woo spiritual thing, or churchgoing, or whatever. It was just like, I put it down to weak minds or something like that, yet I kept hearing from people that I was psychic. Psychics even approached me in public places to let me know. And of course, I just thought they were crazy. And there's a sort of moment—I mean, to be honest, the spirit world just kept walking me across the back of the head with a stick, trying to get my attention.

[00:02:21] And so, there were a lot of wake up calls. But the one that really got my attention, I talk about this all the time, because it really was so—I mean, even now, I look back, and I go, oh, my God, that was so huge. I ran into my uncle in a bookstore in Hawaii. I was on a trip there. And he'd actually been dead for 10 years at that point. So, it's a little bit of a surprise seeing him. But suddenly, he was just there was. He was like a foot away from me, and just like real, his life, and then gone, but with a very clear message about working together.

[00:02:57] So, I then just have to bite the bullet here. So, I just I waited until I was back on the mainland. So, one evening I just go, okay. So, I keep hearing how John's a spirit guide. I should be working with him. And let's give it a try. So, I found that I could connect. It wasn't very strong or anything back then. It took a lot of work to kind of develop it to the point that it is now, where when I communicate with spirit guides now, it's like talking to a friend or something.

[00:03:38] Early days, it was like pulling teeth. It was like really hard, and certainly, moments where I thought like I can never make a career out of this, four hours to get a simple piece of information or something. So, I could not have a client waiting that long to find out their life purpose or whatever. So, I just started working, first of all, with my uncle, and then he passed me over to spirit guides that I work with right now, and have been working with. 

[00:04:07] Some variation on these spirit guides. They shift them off a little bit over time, but I've been working with them now for almost—well, must be about 20 years. And actually, when I think about it over 20 years. And of course, I've radically changed my mind about spirit world. I'm no longer a non-believer. I certainly believe in spirits. You can no longer be an atheist when you're talking to spirit guides, I guess. So, that was really how I got to do it.

[00:04:41] I just started practicing, practicing all the time, and just honing the skill, and started reading people, which I do quite a while before I got the courage to go and to be able to read people. I was very worried about getting things wrong, screwing up somebody's life with the wrong bit of information. So, I was really sort of like, I didn't want to sort of go out and present what I do publicly until I really felt confident about what I do. And so, that took a good, long, long time. And I often talk about this because I think a lot of people think like, if you're intuitive, you just suddenly come out of the box.

[00:05:27] Like I say, you're born with that talent. And I think people think, oh, yeah, you just shoot from the hip, things just come to you. But I found that it's like any talent. Whether it be music, or art, or whatever, you have to or can develop it. And people say, can I do what you do? And I go, sure, but are you prepared to put in the time? And I think that's the thing. And it really does require commitment and practice to learn skills. So, like any talent, you wouldn't just expect to pick up a violin and be able to play it like a master in the first time. So, it's like anything else.

[00:06:08]Luke Storey:  Was your Uncle John a spiritually minded fellow himself?

[00:06:13]Ainslie MacLeod:  No, he wasn't. He was an atheist like me. I mean, he became an atheist after World War II, seeing all the death, and destruction, and so on. That really had a big effect on him. And so, this, when I was hearing from spirit guides, they say, your Uncle John's a spirit guide, he wants to work with you. And I go, he's the last person, I think, who would be working as a spirit guide. And the skeptic in me was always saying, oh, yeah, everybody's going, Uncle John, it's a bit of an easy guess.

[00:06:43] So, I sort of downplayed it. Just by saying, I had so many wake-up calls I just ignored or didn't recognize as wake-up calls. I should have probably be doing what I was doing 10 years before, but a slow learner or something. But yeah. So, my uncle wasn't a spiritual guy. He was an old soul. He's a good guy and everything, but not at all interested in that sort of thing. But of course, when you go over to the other side, you see the world very differently. I mean, the perspective from the astral plane is very different to what it is here.

[00:07:19]Luke Storey:  What are the different planes of awareness or consciousness, according to your understanding?

[00:07:26]Ainslie MacLeod:  Well, the only three that I ever deal with, so I don't really know if there's anything beyond. But we have the Physical Plane, obviously, where we live and where we're in bodies. The next level where we go when we pass is the Astral Plane. And that's where we go to process the life that we've had and to plan for the next one. It's where we go between lives continually until we're kind of finished with all our incarnations. But the other level is called the causal plane.

[00:07:59] And that's where the spirit guys that I work with. So, my uncles on the astral plane. He passed me over to this Causal Plane spirit guides. And the difference is really, on that higher plane, if you like, there's more access to things like your life plan, your past lives, other people, all the connections, the agreements that you have, where the view from the astral plane is a little bit—I mean, it's better when we get here, but it's a little bit sort of like still with the blinders on.

[00:08:31] So, a lot of people who do what I do, they connect with the astral plane. Certainly, mediums connecting with the Astral Plane, where the freshly deceased would reside. It's a little trickier communicating with the Causal Plane, but it's very rewarding because it really does. Well, that's why I'm able to work with people and see the past lives and see how it connects to the present, which is really where the work I do has sort of ended up.

[00:09:06]Luke Storey:  Do you reckon that in both of those planes that are outside of this Physical Plane that they exist in a quantum field. Is that a way that one could understand that? Meaning that a place of no time and no space, a world of wave rather than form? Does that make sense? 

[00:09:30]Ainslie MacLeod:  But it makes sense to me. I'm not a scientist at all. I mean, I love science. I'm fascinated by it. But I don't have that kind of mind at all. I'm very much more sort of psychic, arty kind of thing. So, my spirit guides wouldn't use that sort of vocabulary with me. What they talk about is that everything is energetic. And even when they're describing this planes of existence, they'll use terms that are—they have to find language, they say they have to find metaphors, and so on. 

[00:10:11] So, everything is happening energetically on the other side when they talk about maybe seeing what somebody is doing on the Physical Plane. Well, your existing's energy don't technically arise, but you are able to see it. So, what they often say to me is that they have to use metaphors, they have to use language that we don't understand, but everything is happening on the energetic level that we really can't fully understand. It's just not we on this plane. With our experience, we don't really have the ability to comprehend it. It's not that they don't want to explain it, it's just there isn't a language, really.

[00:10:52]Luke Storey:  Right. It's kind of beyond this paradigm of understanding because the intellect is required for us to conceptualize things and the intellect is limited in the spiritual realm, right?

[00:11:03]Ainslie MacLeod:  That's right. Absolutely. Yeah. And that's what happens with a lot of people I work with, they're very thinker, like very, very rational types. And they always want to sort of dig down deeper, and like explain this further, and everything. Sometimes, there just are not words. You just have to accept something or put some trust, although not blind faith or anything, but maybe a lot of things to unfold or whatever. And don't micromanage your life plan.

[00:11:35]Luke Storey:  I think we, as humans, have the tendency, when we want to arrive at a solution or an understanding, we are misled to believe that the intellect is the only means by which we can arrive to understanding, right? When in fact, it sounds like in your experience, and certainly, in mine subjectively, that some of the most profound realizations have completely transcended my intellectual understanding. And it's just when they take place, you just know. And you couldn't even explain to someone how you know, trying to explain sky to a fish. It's just in a different realm that is out of reach at that particular level.

[00:12:16]Ainslie MacLeod:  Totally. That's exactly how it is. Sometimes, you just really have to find a way to sideline the rational part of the mind just to be able to stay in that more sort of intuitive part of you. I often get people, for example, saying, well, I can't do a past life regression or I can't seem to connect with my spirit guides. And usually, the problem is just overthinking, just taking too intellectual an approach. And sometimes, you really do have to just go into that other realm. That's why we meditate, for example, is to try and instill the chatter, and then be able to connect.

[00:13:03]Luke Storey:  Say, if you do, in fact, still practice a more classical meditation, are there times where you find that you don't want to be in communication with the spirit guides, yet they persistently kind of bug you and interject into your awareness?

[00:13:20]Ainslie MacLeod:  Well, I'm talking to my spirit guides all the time. So, let's say, not so much now, but certainly, there have been times when they were trying to get my attention. There have been different variations on that. I mean, because I use spirit guides for working with clients, they do have a lot of power. I was very stressed years ago coming out of divorce. And the spirit guides were saying, you really need to meditate. And I'm going, yeah, well, I did 15 minutes.

[00:13:51] It was it was grueling. It was really hard with all the stress and everything. And they're going, well, we're not going to talk to you unless you do an hour. And it's like, whoa, fair enough. They have the power. And I mean, they got a good sense of humor, too. I mean, it's like a lighthearted way, basically saying, no, we can't work with you unless you really—you have to still the mind. You have to get into that altered state a little bit. I mean, when I'm working with people now, and this has been this way for years, but when I first started, I would have to do this great long meditation.

[00:14:26] I'd have to really go into work to get to this altered space where I could communicate with the guides clearly. Now, what I do is sit down five minutes before a session, check in with spirit guides, find out maybe a past life about the person, just in that short, maybe 10 minutes, I usually take, just to center, to slightly alter the state I'm in, and get some information about the person. And that just becomes, I was talking about earlier, it's a learned skill. Like anything you do, it just becomes much, much easier over time. And I think people who have been meditating for a long time would know this, that you can get into the zone very quickly when you've been doing it for years. First few times might not be quite so easy. 

[00:15:16]Luke Storey:  Yeah, that's absolutely been the case for myself. Do you get the sense that the guides that you work with have all been through the cycle of reincarnation as humans or are some of them just coming from this another plane of reality or an angelic realm that didn't include passing through the human experience?

[00:15:39]Ainslie MacLeod:  All the spirit guides that I work with have been through all their lives. I mean, to be a Causal Plane spirit guide, you have to have completed life on a physical plane. It could be a hundred and something lifetimes, and then going to be, the Astral Plane, you work as a spirit guide there. That's where, if your grandmothers were working with you, your deceased aunt or whatever, they'd be working with you from the astral plane. Once you're complete, once you've done or learned everything you need to learn about that, then you and your soul family, this group of souls that you came into the world with at the same time will basically just move up to the Causal Plane as a group. 

[00:16:26] You still have some sense of identity, individual identity, apparently, but you're working very much as a group. And so, yes, I mean, that's what I think. People often ask me about how the spirit world feels about suicide or whatever. And the answer is that the spirit world is endlessly compassionate, that you hear these myths about, oh, if you take your own life, you have to come back and go through the same stuff. And it's a sin, it's the wrong thing to do.

[00:16:59] My experience has been that spirit world is very, very compassionate because they've been here. They know how hard it can be. And sometimes, life is just overwhelming. So, there's just nothing but love that I get from the other side, not in a kind of very fairy kind of love and light blathery sort of way, but that this is what we're ultimately learning. What's the point of being on Earth with all these experiences that we have? It's to take us to that place of where we really understand the power of love.

[00:17:33]Luke Storey:  It's interesting. A couple of different schools of thought or teachings come to mind, and that is, and I'm not that familiar with secular religion, per se, but it reminds me in the sense of the soul family and being able to rejoin is like that interpretation of heaven, right? After you leave the body, you're with your parents, and your grandparents, and your loved ones. Again, on the other side, I guess in traditional religions, there would be the caveat. If you've not sent too much, that's where you're going, going on in the other direction, which as a kid, I always thought sounded like a fairy tale.

[00:18:14] Now, I think more from a perspective of your karmic inheritance and the result of your actions here on this plane would probably indicate kind of what direction you're going. Do you have a sense that if you really screw this up, that there's somewhere else that your soul could exist on another plane that is less desirable or is the universe that forgiving and God that forgiving, that no matter how horrendous our behavior was here, that we're going to be reunited with our loved ones, per se, and our spirit guides, and have another shot at coming back until we're less of a jerk?

[00:18:53]Ainslie MacLeod:  Well, I think it's all of that. Certainly, if you talk to people who work in hospice work with helping people over to the other side, they often have stories about, well, in fact, I put in one of my books about how my great grandmother, when she was passing in a few days or weeks before, she was in a coma, in and out of a coma. And every so often, she would come to and she would contact the people that she could see at the end of her bed, these spirits. 

[00:19:28] She would say, oh, there's Uncle Fred, there's Aunt Macy, and there's so-and-so. But it's only after I published that story that I checked it out with my mother, I said, do you remember that story about your grandmother? And she reminded me of the one I wish I had time to put in the book, but what I thought was so funny, was that she would wake up, look at all these people, count them up and their sons. So, there could be like a dozen of them and she's coming around like that.

[00:19:57] Then, she catches a glimpse of herself in a mirror, and goes, oh, geez, that bloody woman is still here. It's like the weirdest thing. So, at least, it's a way to comfort you when you go to the other side to be met by spirit, to present themselves in a form that would be familiar to you. So, if you ask my mom or whoever that would be, that sort of thing is very comforting. And spirits can present themselves in a way that would be appealing to you. 

[00:20:31] So, like my Uncle John came, he looked exactly like my Uncle John, actually more real than even my memory. But he did say to me after we worked for a few hours, he has pointed out that John was just one of many, many lifetimes, and he has no greater attachment to that one life than to a lot of the others. So, there's something you touched on there, about what happens when we process on the Astral Plane? So, if we behaved really badly on the Physical Plane, there's karma, and karma is not punishment.

[00:21:12] I'll stress that. It's about balancing of experience. So, what you will do, part of this whole processing that we do, when we come to the end of this life, is to help us be aware of the impact of our behavior on other people. So, we actually emotionally pick up on what we've kind of inflicted on others. And it can be stuff we will have no conscious recollection of. It could be how you've hurt a five-year-old child back when you were a kid by not inviting them to your birthday party. 

[00:21:51] And you could feel the hurt from that person. All of it helps your soul to be aware of the impact of your behavior on others. And, of course, that then leads to you. Your soul goes, okay, we'll make sure we don't do that. It all helps to build the lessons that take you to where you embody the higher core values, the path sort of—excuse me. I've got the cat on my lap. Talking of soul mates, this is my little feline companion, Lily. So, we process those and it's an essential thing because you can't ever tell, people say to me, have I learned everything in this life? 

[00:22:37] Yeah, possibly. But you won't know until you go to the astral plane because you can't see it from that perspective. You can't see how you affected other people. So, if your soul goes, well, we murdered scores of people, we behaved really badly, it will say, well, we need to balance the karma. And it's not like I killed, so therefore, you need to kill me. It's more like I killed, I behaved badly, I didn't act according to my soul's direction because no soul would ever want to take another soul's life. And so then, it will say, okay, well, in the next life, we'll do some humanitarian work, really try to do something that really—I love you too, sweetie.

[00:23:28]Luke Storey:  I think that's the first cat we've ever had on the show. But this is the first feline. It's really sweet.

[00:23:35]Ainslie MacLeod:  Yeah. It was about that. And so, I hope that's-

[00:23:41]Luke Storey:  No, I'm really enjoying this. It's just fascinating. And you've talked about this to some degree, and I kind of wanted to get an update on this, but I get the sense that throughout my life, certain people that I have this intrinsic bond to, that's just undeniably deep, and profound, and so obvious to me, even if it's a relatively new relationship, and this would be true with my parents, and friends, and lovers that I've had in my life, et cetera, where it's that sense of a soul family connection. 

[00:24:26] And that we travel through these life times as one long lifetime, where each minute lifetime as a person of a various name, gender, et cetera, it's like there's these punctuation marks in one long life and it's as if we're traveling together on this vessel of consciousness in and out of these earthly experiences. And we reunite for a few years, and then we depart. And then, in other lifetimes, we come back together for a period.

[00:24:56] And I get the sense that it's almost as if our spirits, our souls were birthed around the same time, and we've set sail into these incarnations together, and we kind of go apart, and then reconvene, and then go apart and reconvene. And I would hope, ultimately, once we've learned whatever there was to learn that we again reconvene in those higher planes, would that fit into your paradigm and what you-

[00:25:26]Ainslie MacLeod:  Totally my understanding. So, we come into the world with a soul family and this is thousands of souls basically coming into the world around the same time. So, maybe in the space of a generation. For someone who's an old soul now, that might have been 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 years ago. It's quite a long journey back and forth between here and the Astral Plane. It's like a horse race. You all come here at the same time, different parts of the world, and then you're off and running.

[00:26:02] And you—geez, I got cat here. So, you're spread out and often learning your different lessons, getting all your experiences. And that's what your soul is here to do, to grow and evolve. As you get to be an old soul, which is roughly halfway through these many lifetimes, it becomes much more important to share the experiences with members of your soul family, old friends. Old friends are soul mates, essentially. Souls that are part of soul family, but that you've known before.

[00:26:42] You've had some experience with them on the physical plane. So, there's a couple of reasons that the old souls will want to keep reuniting with members of the soul family, is that it's actually, you get a sense of comfort and familiarity from somebody you've known before or even if you hadn't met them on the Physical Plane, at least you have that soul connection because they're part of this larger soul family. So, it makes it easier to go to a deeper emotional place with somebody, especially for an old soul than trying to get something going from scratch. 

[00:27:20] I've often said that I think we would value our friendships and relationships more if we knew how much work goes on on the other side, on the causal plane, particularly, to make sure that we meet because the spirit guides can be working with you just to make sure you—maybe there is a party, and there's a soul that you're meant to meet there, and you might go, geez, I'm tired, I think I'll just loaf on the sofa tonight, but there's that little part of you, goes, no, I think I really meant to go or you pay attention, there's something there that you're getting.

[00:27:56] And you drag yourself out of the house, what am I doing? And then, you get there, you have a great time. And you need somebody. Maybe it's the relationship you were looking for or something, but the spirit was trying to get us all to meet all the time. They've actually described this to me as the great game. I said to the spirit guides, when I'm not bothering you and asking questions for a client, what are you doing? What do you do all day?

[00:28:21] They say, well, actually, we're really busy making sure that you people on the Physical Plane interact, and meet each other, and learn from the experiences, and help us to process things as we go along. So, there's a lot of work, is the short of it. And we are meant to continually develop relationships with those that we've known before. Often, there's karma as well. So, you may be working through something. Just literally, like an hour ago, I was working with somebody who's, she was her mom's mom in a past life.

[00:28:56] And they're working through some challenging stuff, let's say, in this life because of that. The mom has actually come into this life with a little bit resentment towards this poor woman, because she feels in the past life that her mom wasn't totally there for her. And so, coming to work through some things together, sometimes, it works better than other times when there's karma. You know that feeling of, I love you, but I can't live with you or push and pull that you often get with people? They drive you nuts, but you can't imagine life without them. That's often because there's stuff that you're working through from a past life, and you get the memories of traumatic events and maybe mistreatment from one to the other.

[00:29:47] It's fascinating when you go into it, because as an old soul, there are probably a lot more people that you've met on the journey that you are connected to than you would imagine, that so many of the people that you connect with are those that you were mentoring. And there's something there for you. And like I say, I think if we knew about this or we're aware, we would value these connections. We'd probably meet somebody, and say, well, is there something more here? But you certainly know that familiarity, where you meet somebody, and you go, where do I know you from?

[00:30:23]Luke Storey:  Yeah, I've really paid attention to that sense in the past few years as I've become more oriented toward following my intuition. And paying attention to those subtle cues, perhaps, I should go to that event or whatever the case may be. And it's becoming increasingly common that over some time as a relationship has developed, especially, this would absolutely be true of my lovely girlfriend, Alyson. Just following those little hints, those breadcrumbs are going, there's something here that I'm supposed to pay attention to, and then follow those cues, and then this amazing, beautiful relationship unfolds of whatever nature, and that kind of will instigate me to, pay attention next time you get that cue.

[00:31:13]Ainslie MacLeod:  Right. We're meant to learn from that.

[00:31:17]Luke Storey:  Right. And it is. It's a fun skill to start to identify and to cultivate. I'm curious with your interaction with the guides or just in your worldview in general, if you get the sense that—oh, there are kind of two questions. One is, and I've heard this from various teachings that when you incarnate here as a human, and you're born, that the moment that you're going to leave your body is already predetermined, and that the how, the where is just kind of like how the movie ends, but we all have kind of an expiration date here. And no matter what you do, ultimately, you're going to be 85 years old and you're going to pass away in a hospital or you're going to be 85 somewhere else in the world and get hit by a bus, whatever the case may be, that we each kind of have a date that we're going to check out. Have you explored that phenomenon at all?

[00:32:14]Ainslie MacLeod:  It's not something that I was able to get my spirit guides to validate. Their take on it is that they never really want to go there with anybody. The only time that they've ever told me, that somebody who's seriously ill, and then the spirit guide said, that person's got about a year. And sure enough, it was like a year, to the week almost. But usually, what they'll say to me is we don't know. We really don't know. We can't tell. The only thing is that I have heard that it's not so much that it's carved in stone.

[00:32:56] But if you think of it as like your life's journey on a train, I'm not saying, this is not verified by my spirit guides, but this is just something that I've heard, it seemed to make sense, that if you think of it, it's like you're on a train and there's stops, every so often, There's those stations. Now, you can get off at those stations, that you can extend this life, you can get off the train, and that's it, over. If you don't get off at that point, then you're not going to leave the train.

[00:33:27] You're not going to leave this life until you get to the next station. So, it's at specific points. I mean, I certainly heard people talk about how, through Chinese astrology, you could get a sense of when you were going to pass and so on. Like I said, it's just not something that my spirit guides want to go there. I mean, I've certainly had it with people, going, well, when am I going to die, or when I'm not going to die, or whatever, they just don't want to go there.

[00:33:54]Luke Storey:  Right. Have you ever looked into this particular element of our experience? And that is, is there any indication when the human spirit actually enters the embryo or fetus?

[00:34:11]Ainslie MacLeod:  Yes. 

[00:34:12]Luke Storey:  In some spiritual teachings that's indicated, I would say, based on my experience and research, more often than not, at around 90 days or three months, when you, in fact, drop into your mother's womb and take that form, have you found anything in that realm? 

[00:34:29]Ainslie MacLeod:  Yes. What I get from the spirit guides is that, really, the soul, although the soul is selected, you can often tell. I mean, I've seen people who have even selected, there's an agreement. When you come in as a baby, you choose your family and they choose you. It's by soul agreement. So, I've seen it with even two years before birth. The soul has already agreed to come in. It's like, you know who you're getting. That way, I could work with somebody, and say, well, you know, this child is a long time off, but that child is going to have issues with separation anxiety from rejection in the past life, so be aware of this.

[00:35:11] And so, the actual soul, my understanding is that it comes in right at the time of birth. And when my first child was born, literally, at the moment, they had a period, I had a sort of out-of-body experience, I'm going, well, that was really weird. And later, I would say to the spirit guide, so what was that all about? And they said, well, it was just the moment the soul came in, and you were feeling that sort of energy, and was a little bit, suddenly, on another plane.

[00:35:46] And so, that's my understanding. So, of course, the soul can be selected. There wouldn't be an awful lot for the soul to do in utero and on sleep. I mean, it's boring enough for a soul sometimes. This is something I come across a lot, but also coming in to be a baby again, seems like a great idea on the Astral Plane. When you get here, I always get this picture of the soul kind of becoming aware it's a baby again, and going, oh, geez, God, I've got to go through this again? 

[00:36:20] And particularly, like if in their soul times because your personality is all chosen before you come here. So, if that's a leader type, that's the kind of kid, I mean, I come across this all the time with clients, where they have that leader child. You imagine somebody who comes in as a baby, but they were a general in the past life, or they ran a corporation, or something, all those leadership skills, and they're having to be told what to do, that is really tough for a soul.

[00:36:50] And you often get that sort of little soul being very resistant to being told what to do, especially if there's any past life of imprisonment or enslavement. Because then, if you try to control that child, it's like, I've put this in one of my books, I was working with somebody and she had a very challenging teenage daughter. And I said, I bet you saw signs of this when she was really little. And she said, oh, yes, five years old, and we're having this argument. And this little five-year-old ended the argument by saying to the mother, you can't tell me what to do, I used to be your mom. It's like, end of conversation.

[00:37:35]Luke Storey:  That's crazy. Wow.

[00:37:38]Ainslie MacLeod:  I do find that it's something to do with the work that I do. But people do share things, that they often say, well, I wouldn't tell anyone else this, and a lot of times, I hear they'll talk about the little things that the kids say that are related to past lives. They'll say, well, when I was in my big body, or last time when I was the mom, this happened and so on. So, there's that little window when babies or children are just able to communicate, and before this kind of veil comes down, just that narrow little window and you they'll often share little things that are past life-related. I will say, if you have a child who does that, encourage them. Ask them, be curious to see what that reveals. 

[00:38:24]Luke Storey:  I've not heard that before, but I find that really interesting, because in that first few formative years of your childhood, as your individual ego, personality, identity is taking form and you're in that primary theta state most of the time, where you're getting imprinted essentially by your environment to form whatever said personality is going to develop into. Kids often do exist in that dream world with the imaginary friends and others that's very kind of fantasy element to early childhood. And I think it's often sad when the adults aren't into that level, and stifle that experience, and say, grow up, get in the real world. And it's like, no, that's such a precious time when you're able to kind of exist in both planes. And it seems young children often have the ability to do that. So, that would explain a lot as to why that phenomenon takes place.

[00:39:26]Ainslie MacLeod:  Absolutely. That's why. Yeah.

[00:39:28]Luke Storey:  It's interesting to me in terms of the multiple incarnations that most of us come in, and unless we've done a lot of meditating or we've been someone like you, that's accessed spirit guides, or done plant medicines, or psychedelics, or something that's really allowed us in a profound way to access other dimensions of consciousness, that it's almost as if creation has designed us to come into each lifetime with amnesia.

[00:39:55] And I think that it might be psychologically too much for us to take in each individual lifetime, as I said, kind of each punctuation point in that one long lifetime because it's just too much to hold intellectually and too much to contextualize at once. Do you think that we're experiencing this forgetfulness of who we are and where we came from in order to have a new experience each time and to glean whatever lessons can be gleaned from that individual kind of newly shaved personality that we take on each time, and obviously, the experience is inherent to that lifetime? 

[00:40:33]Ainslie MacLeod:  Right. Well, I think it's all of that. We choose our personality. That's something we come into the world with. That's why, say, if people say, babies are born as blank slates, I will say, well, you never seen one, have you? Because if you've had a baby, or especially when you can compare more than one, you'll see they're very, very different. I mean, I have two kids, and I mean, one is an extreme introvert, one is an extreme extrovert, very, very different.

[00:41:03] But all of that, I read them when they were an hour old. So, just the moment they were born, I was seeing what they would sort of grow into. But of course, that's shaped by the environment and the upbringing as well. So, certainly, the core of the personality is chosen, but it can be—part of what we're all doing is casting off the influences of our parents, teachers, environment that we're raised in, the culture itself to really find who we are.

[00:41:36] It's a lifelong journey for a lot of people to really go back and find out who they were. The amnesia is protective because past-life trauma can be so devastating. For something in a past life to show up as a fear phobia, limiting belief or some kind of even physical block in this life, it has to mean enough in a past life to take you off your life plan. If it doesn't rise to that level, it won't show up in future lives or not very strongly anyway. 

[00:42:07] So, the amnesia is partly because if you think about how awful it was in the past life, where you were raped in a prison, accused of sorcery, dragged through the streets, humiliated, and burned at the stake. I mean, that's pretty horrific as one life. But imagine you start compounding that with vivid memories of every single life that you had, all the grief, the heartache, the sadness. So, really, every old soul has known what it's like to lose children, for example, childhood diseases, and so on. If you were really conscious of all of those, you would have a problem. I mean, you wouldn't be able to function. It really would be debilitating.

[00:42:54] But people say, I don't remember my past lives, and I actually argue that we do. We just don't know what we're looking for because we're expecting it to be like having that movie in our head, and all the details. But we remember our past lives, through our behavior, through our quirks, through those little idiosyncrasies that make us who we are, why one person has a fear of elevators and another doesn't. Well, I mean, that fear of elevators is from enclosed spaces or a dungeon in a past life. One person has a fear of public speaking, and that's judgments and execution in a past life. So, we're actually holding all these memories. We just don't always know what to look for.

[00:43:37]Luke Storey:  Yeah, that makes sense, I mean, I can imagine it would be quite torturous to be able to hold in mind all of those past traumas, enough to deal with the traumas that we experience along the way in each lifetime that we're currently in.

[00:43:50]Ainslie MacLeod:  Right. Well, you know how bad this life could have been. Imagine that's compounded by 120 lives. I mean, that would be a lot of emotions to be dragging around me.

[00:44:02]Luke Storey:  Yeah. I don't know if you've had experiences or sounds like, perhaps, it's not necessary for you because you're tapped in on the natural, but a lot of this brings to my own experiences I've had in the past couple of years with psychedelics and plant medicines, where you become interdimensional and are being able to access other planes of reality beyond just this physical experience, and even beyond the intellect, and your emotions in this lifetime.

[00:44:31] And tapping into kind of that one long chapter. And in a couple of those experiences I've had, one in particular, a very visceral series of memories and viewpoints into past lives in India. And I've always wondered why, even since I was a little kid, I was always fascinated with Hindu and Indian culture, and the music, and the teachings, and I've always gravitated toward the various forms of yoga, and all the meditations, and the gurus, and teachers, and teachings coming out of that part of the world to the point where I think that was one of my first international solo trips in my early 30s.

[00:45:11] I just had to go there. And I had the experience fairly recently where I took part in a ceremony with 5-MeO-DMT, the Bufo alvarius toad in which you smoke the venom of said toad. And I mean, anyone that's done it knows that to describe it is to discredit it, it would be a disservice, because it's so profound and it's ineffable, really. But during this experience, after the initial kind of disintegration of all reality, ego, mind, self, personality, I was taken through these visions of, it's still so tangible experience, but it wasn't like I could see myself in a mirror, or see myself walking around, or it wasn't like a subjective personal experience.

[00:46:15] It was more like an awareness of being on the Ganges and having my body be burned. And it was very vague and nebulous, but the kind of message behind it, for me now in this incarnation, was totally unplanned, unplanned reenactment, but it's like I was given this sense of, all of the spiritual work that I've done in that part of the world through so many lifetimes, and it was like my spirit or higher self was kind of patted me on the back this time. 

[00:47:12]Ainslie MacLeod:  Yeah. Well, what I love is that because when I'm working with somebody, sometimes, even before I tell them about a past life, they'll just start sobbing, they go, I don't know where this is coming from. Well, time is food on the other side, and sometimes, they'll be experiencing the emotions coming up from a past life before we even talk about it. When you're describing something as profound as that, you think of how much learning there is being able to tap into your past lives in India.

[00:47:46] And by the way, when you have a past life in a place, that's a really old soul. If you've been there once, you've probably been there multiple times. And certainly, when you get that feeling of real connection like with a place like India, yeah, it's familiar. You go there, it feels just like home. You even get that feeling, I've been here before. And that actually moves old souls around the globe quite a lot, sort of seeking out sometimes the comfort that they had from being in a place, but certainly, from understanding. 

[00:48:22] There's a lot of ways to tap into the other side. Now, I did it just through my uncle and working with spirit guides, but we're all different. And let me say, there are all different rivers that lead to the ocean, but they all get into the ocean in the en. Microdosing is something people are becoming much more aware of. I have a lot of clients who've done ayahuasca ceremonies and so on, and really sort of opening up to the other side. These are all valid ways of doing it.

[00:49:00] But it's always about, why do we do that? What are we hoping to get from it? And for an awful lot of us, I think it's like a feeling of wanting to be connected, feeling connected to our past lives, to other souls, to the universe, to the collective consciousness, to the universal consciousness. It's a big search because we humans are not meant to be anywhere like as isolated as we are. It's almost like the fault of the system or the modern world that so many of us live in.

[00:49:34] If you go back to how things were in a tribe, one of the things the spirit guides will talk about is that everybody had a purpose and we were very aware of how we needed each other. We were very much more supportive of one another because we recognized that the whole thing is a system that we're a part of. And so, we've kind of lost that along the way in this sort of more dog-eat-dog kind of world, forgetting that none of us is really a rugged individualist. We all are dependent on the other people. 

[00:50:12] And we're all here to support each other a lot more. Back in the tribe, if you lost a partner, say, then you would be comforted and you would be welcomed in that very much more sort of touchy feely than we'd probably be comfortable with in this world, but all helping you to overcome with the effects of the loss. And unfortunately, so many people here are walking with all these past life wounds, previous life wounds, and not knowing what to do with it.

[00:50:44] So, one of the things about feeling connected to something older, more ancient, and deeper is that it opens up everything. Even learning about the world, like learning about far-off places and even looking at old photographs can help to tap people into past lives and get that greater feeling of connection to part of this bigger thing, and also, help to explain behavior. I actually looked up a couple of your past lives. Would you be interested in-

[00:51:20]Luke Storey:  Fascinated. Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:51:22]Ainslie MacLeod:  Okay. I'm just going to make some notes up here. So, you're a pretty old soul, by the way. Technically speaking, you were 40% into level 10, which, as I like to say, should qualify you for a free bus travel, at the very least, but very much a senior citizen. Actually, part of what you're here to do, very broadly speaking, and not in any kind of conventional way, but it's to teach. But it's more like imparting knowledge, giving, helping people to have access to knowledge.

[00:52:05] In terms of your personality, I mean, you certainly have that very spiritual scientist, this is literally what they call a spiritualist type, this element in your personality. Also, deep sensitivity from what's called the creature in your many, many lives, as a creative person, artist, musician, whatever. And you also have leadership showing up here very strongly. You've been a leader in many lifetimes. And that's actually kind of part of what you're doing.

[00:52:37] I have noticed that one thing seems to unite people who have podcasts like this is that they're all trying to bring the tribe together. It's like putting the band back together or like keeping the family, drawing everybody in, but it's really sort of trying to find the soul family. And it's a spiritual act. And a spiritual act as anything you do that helps other people and heals you at the same time. Essentially, you heal yourself by helping those who suffer, as you once did.

[00:53:06] So, a lot of the old souls that you will be drawing into your world will be ones who are really looking for belonging and connection with other old souls as well. And also, to be able to explore topics that are a little bit out of the ordinary, but don't really speak to younger souls. But young souls don't really. You know what's interesting having conversations about spirit guides? The older souls will feel terms like that at least are familiar, even if it doesn't matter what you call them, like I mean, this could be angels or whatever.

[00:53:38] But there's a sense that, oh, yeah, these are my people. So, that's what you're doing. It's almost like a Pied Piper drawing the tribe in. I want to tell you about two past lives that are playing into this life. The first one that I got was in the Caribbean, somewhere, I don't know, Jamaica or somewhere. You were a boy. Your mother abandoned you. Actually, she was mentally ill. She had a kind of religious mania. And she beat you to remove bad spirits or something like that.

[00:54:18] And you were actually taken away from her and went to live with your grandmother just for your own safety. You became a preacher. And the guys were talking about how you learn to write, you're a big writer, but it was very much about communication, whether it was written or verbal, partly having an opportunity to get practice of being on the front of an audience. They did say that you found the religious perspective being sort of tied to the Bible.

[00:54:51] And so, it was very limiting. And that actually is one of the reasons why, now, a big part of what you're doing is you're not only presenting information to other people, you're seeking the truth. You're trying to find what really is the truth. And this is actually part of your life plan, you have to cast your mind quite wide, and then pull it in, and then just take what what you need. So, it's almost like being an explorer, having to dabble here, get interested in that, read about that, and to then get rid of stuff that doesn't really speak to you, and then just keeping these little gems that you find in amongst everything.

[00:55:38] So, endless curiosity coming from that past life because you did feel a little bit like, yeah, you didn't really get sort of growth that you wanted. Also, being with somebody being raised, particularly, by somebody with mental illness, and violence, and so on. The two big lessons for you from that life, and they'll be carried into this life, are resilience, it's kind of like learning to roll with the punches, possibly quite literally in that past life, and also, to learn compassion for others, compassion for somebody who is mentally ill.

[00:56:19] And that's all the resilience, compassion, and truth, being being a seeker. Those are the sort of main things that you've taken from the past life and brought into the present. Now, the other past life that I looked at was in England. You were a woman trapped in a loveless marriage, a number of big past life years came up from that. One is rejection. It was the feeling of being unloved. And in this life, usually, somebody with a past-life issue around rejection would feel, especially an old soul where your values and views are not mainstream, you can easily feel a little bit like an outsider, like you don't fully fit in.

[00:57:08] And again, that could be why you're wanting to draw the tribe in. It's really, you're helping them, but you feel like you belong at the same time. The other thing is that you were trapped in a loveless marriage. And being trapped, it's the equivalent of being imprisoned for decades. And anyone who's been imprisoned or enslaved in the past life will have, they'll carry a past-life fear into the present, the fear of powerlessness.

[00:57:41] And it comes from having all your power taken away from you and not having any say over your destiny. And that was very much a part of what happened to you there, you went into that victim place, couldn't find a way out of it. Maybe it was against your religious beliefs to get divorced or something, but you were stuck in a place that you shouldn't have been for really all your life. And that sort of thing is very significant, because karmically speaking, when you're working through powerlessness, you are meant to be an empowered person.

[00:58:17] That's a big part of what your journey is about, learning to be empowered, but also, to empower other people. It's like, I always describe this as being the difference between teaching somebody to fish rather than just giving the fish. I mean, sure, you want to help people, but you want to empower them and help them to be able to do things for themselves. I think even with what we're doing right now, I mean, part of your motivation is, really, it's what can people take from this, what can they learn, how can they use this information because that's kind of how you're put together. 

[00:58:49] Let me just scan my notes. I want to see if there's anything else. No, those are the main things. But let me just talk about this. If you're being trapped in a situation, and to some extent, it's of your own making, because however trapped you were, how much you felt that way, it's really the prisoner in you from that past-life experience that feels, I can't see my options, I'm stuck in this situation. In this life, what becomes very important is not sticking around in a situation that's not working, whether it's a relationship work, whatever, the message you'll be getting from the spirit world is life's too short, get the hell out.

[00:59:37] That doesn't mean, sort of bail out at the first sign of trouble. It means that you're not meant to be—there's no lesson, there's no growth from you in being a victim, or being mistreated, or whatever. And the growth really comes. I mean, remember, that resilience thing is from saying, okay, I need to protect myself, and maybe I need to sort of get out of this situation. Also, it is worth mentioning, too, your soul has a pretty low boredom threshold.

[01:00:09] So, if you're doing anything that's repetitive for too long, your soul is just going to start going nuts, and going, geez,we need to get—like the worst thing for you would be to go into a 9:00 to 5:00 job every day that you didn't particularly enjoy, same old, same old. Your soul would just be like, oh, get me out of here. It's like, that would be sort of like the worst thing because it would be essentially a repetition of being trapped again. So, this fear of being trapped will give you—well, there's a number of things. I'm sorry to go on, but I love my work, as you can probably tell.

[01:00:45] But freedom, personal freedom is absolutely paramount. In my view, one of the most important things that you are learning from this life is that, because I'm sure you recognize the don't fence me in kind of feeling. And I'm sure if you haven't said it frequently in this life, you probably thought it a lot, the phrase, don't tell me what to do. Because if somebody tries to control you, telling you what to do, rather than maybe suggesting or asking you, your soul will be taken back to the place where you had no say over your destiny. And it does not like that at all. Tell me if any of that doesn't make sense. 

[01:01:26]Luke Storey:  All of that is 1,000% spot on, microscopically accurate. And in fact, I mean, there's so many parts I could unpack there. And I don't want to be too self-serving on my own podcast, but hopefully, other people can derive benefit from it. But it's really interesting, a couple of points there that really ring out, and that is that fear of entrapment. And that's manifested in a number of ways. One being, quite unfortunately, I guess you could say, is that for most of my adult life, I've had this prohibitive fear of intimacy and being kind of locked into a relationship so that in my 20s and 30s, and even into my early 40s, it was very difficult for me to just settle down and enjoy a level of true closeness and intimacy with a partner.

[01:02:27] Thankfully, I've completely recovered from that according to an awareness. And as I said, I'm just in an absolutely amazing relationship, and I'm not afraid at all. Like all I want is just further intimacy, and more closeness, and more bonding, and more connectedness. So, I think it's really been healed through all of the work that I've done and finally being aligned with a partner who is a safe person to do that with.

[01:02:54]Ainslie MacLeod:  Right. Well, that's really important. When you're working through issues around intimacy and trust from a past life, if you're with somebody that you don't fully trust and it may not be something you're consciously aware of, it could be on a deep soul level, you pick up something like you don't totally feel like you can completely open up to them, and that can be a problem. You end up with that fear of being trapped. It's like having one foot in, maybe just a couple of toes in, and the rest are kind of out. 

[01:03:25] You'll often find people with these fears around intimacy and rejection will choose geographically or emotionally unavailable partners. And then, they have an out. When it doesn't work out or like after five years, they go, I can't stand this person. It's like they had set it up from the beginning. And of course, that's the problem. You end up with lots of short relationships.

[01:03:48] The most important thing is, I will say, when you're overcoming these issues around trust is to be with somebody who you can reveal your innermost secrets, truth, and not on a fear that they're going to throw it back in your face or use it, and now, I'm going to tell somebody else. It's being able to have pillow talk safely. And once you find that person, then it's two feet in, your soul goes, okay, now, we're not going to feel trapped because we're not worried that this is not going to work out.

[01:04:21]Luke Storey:  You're absolutely right. And I'm so thankful, deeply thankful that I have found someone like that. And it's funny thinking about that, the value of freedom, which is something that you alluded to so accurately. Throughout my life, I mean, I think my number one value over anything for much of my life was freedom.

[01:04:43]Ainslie MacLeod:  Yeah.

[01:04:44]Luke Storey:  I need to do what I want, when I want to do it, and do my best not to step on toes along the way, but I'm going on my way. And at times, it's served me, and at times, it hasn't. But something I realized maybe three years ago or so was in terms of interpersonal relationships, and specifically, romantic relationships, that that fear that we discussed of a perceived loss of freedom, and not wanting to be tied down, and get married, or have kids, or even be monogamous at some point in my journey, that I had a really shallow interpretation of what freedom was and what-

[01:05:22]Ainslie MacLeod:  Right. Yeah.

[01:05:23]Luke Storey:  And so, what I've found is I've really uncovered this deeper level of freedom, which is true freedom of soul to express itself without reservation and to express love unabashedly without reservation and to receive it. And that's indicative of what you just explained, is that, that pillow talk example you gave, where you're able to just be fully transparent, and fully vulnerable, and available to another person. And I'm finding, over time, that in that is the true freedom. 

[01:05:55] There was almost this decoy freedom or facsimile of freedom that I was so adamantly clinging to when, in fact, it was really a self-imposed prison based on fear and insecurity, not wanting to be heard or be abandoned. And so, my shallow interpretation of freedom kind of kept me locked out of the true freedom of spirit and soul, where I'm able to to truly be intimate, and feel completely safe, and seen, and held by another person, which is, it's almost like I look back now and just laugh, like, oh, my God, I used to think I was free. I was in my own self-imposed prison of fear.

[01:06:31]Ainslie MacLeod:  That's it. That's what I'm saying to you. It's like, you lose the ability to see all your options when you're being imprisoned in a past life. And one thing you're touching on there is that you're looking to really be able to open your heart chakra. Every soul is looking for that, to be able to be in that real loving place. It's only the fears that get in the way of that. And if you're in a relationship where you're continually triggered, you can never open up the heart chakra. 

[01:07:00] But if there's reasons to be kind of concerned about the relationship, it's not really what you want, well, it's very hard to really feel, yes, here I am, wide open, you have to really have a strong level of safety, feeling safety to be able to do that. And people have said to me, they've asked, well, I feel like if I open my heart chakra, I'm going to be really vulnerable. And the answer is, yeah, but that's how you really—I mean, you can live a half-assed life, never really open your heart chakra or you can really go for it and really know what it is to love and experience that very, very deep intimacy, but the other thing you're touching on, we have patterns all the time and they're based on past lives as well. 

[01:08:01] Like any time you can say, well, I always seem to, and then fill in the blanks. I always seem to meet people who are unavailable. I always seem to, whatever it is, followed by something that's not so great. That's a sign you're working through something. And a lot of times, we get into repeat patterns because we're not learning from the experiences we have. Something my spirit guide said, and I think it's one of the most profound things I've ever heard them say, is that the experience is not the lesson.

[01:08:33] The lesson is what you draw from the experience. And there's always a positive lesson, no matter how hard the experience. And I've tested my spirit guides, I go, so what if you're being tortured in a secret prison? Well, it teaches you about the importance of higher volumes in treating somebody well. It's always something that can be drawn from experience. And unfortunately, we get into patterns and unless we really start processing those and really kind of actively trying to learn as we go along, it's so easy just to find, we're bumping into things at random.

[01:09:16] We're like a ship that's just sort of out on the ocean, just hoping to find land. And every so often, we think, oh, we've hit land. This must be what I'm looking for. Instead of doing it with intention, and saying, well, I keep doing this, I keep choosing this kind of personal relationship, or I keep choosing jobs that are not satisfying, or whatever the situation is, look at what's happening, what's the pattern? And then, what does that tell you about what you're working on deep down inside? If you always end up with a cheater, it's a sign maybe that you're working through betrayal, trust issues.

[01:09:55] And then, maybe then, it becomes really important, that the primary thing when you meet somebody is that you have to feel that they're somebody you can trust or true to their word. I find that sometimes, we can be on such a hair trigger around something like betrayal, but if you meet somebody, and they say they'll meet you at 8:00,and they turn up at 8:15, they go, hey, I'm only 15 minutes late, it's no big deal. And you go, oh, my God, if they'll be out of integrity in that area, what else can I trust them with? These little things can be signs of something much bigger. 

[01:10:33]Luke Storey:  How did you come up with the 10 levels of a soul's experience. And if you could give a brief breakdown of what the are, you indicated when you kind of looked into my record that I was 40% into a level 10, if you could create some context for people that are unfamiliar with that part of your work.

[01:10:52]Ainslie MacLeod:  Sure. Yeah. So, when I was working with my spirit guides initially, was sort of very early on, they talked about this system they wanted to pass on to me, it's called the instruction. And it's a way to define the elements of your soul's life plan, so you can look at things like soul age, which is what you're asking about, soul type, the personality, and all the influences that go with that. But the spirit guides divide everything up into 10, not because it's a magical number, it's just a convenient way to do it. Any less than that and you don't have enough details. 

[01:11:31] Any more than that and you're starting to micromanage. So, it's a convenient number to break everything into. So, you can tell what your past life fears are. There's 10 of everything. And it's a system. I'm just talking to my wife last night about it. So far, I haven't found any flaw in it since I was given it, I don't know, 15 years, 20 years ago. It seems to be just a beautifully crafted way of understanding who we are. One thing people often say when they've read, particularly, my first book, Instruction, they say, consciousness are so well organized.

[01:12:12] And I go, well, I'm not. I just have very, very organized spirit guides because I'm totally not that person. But the system was really, really helpful for me. So, I use that as a sort of foundation for the work. But of course, it goes a lot broader than that. The soul ages you're asking about, if you think of it, like I usually say, if you were really an old soul, you're probably on life 110, 120, but we're all different. And it depends, some people are slow learners, and could be on life 150, but something of that nature.

[01:12:48] And so, you have multiple lifetimes at each one of these 10 levels and a different focus each. So, level 10 soul, most of the people I work with are level eight, nine, 10, but mostly level nine. I say mostly nine, then a lot of 10s. And so, a level 10 soul, you're working on often wrapping up a lot of experiences from the past. It's time to really work on your self-development, and also, very personal creativity as well, can be very important for for old souls.

[01:13:28] They often want to do their own thing, they could be artists or something. They generally feel that there's some need to get like a personal expression of creativity our there. Level nine souls, they're very much, usually, on the spiritual path. And sometimes, it's expressed through religion. But usually, as the soul gets older, it tends to consider itself to be a little bit more spiritual rather than religious. A lot of that has to do with just, it's not about religion itself, it's about religious dogma. And the older soul tends to be questioning so much more.

[01:14:04] And so, if somebody just presents this whole package, they kind of go, I mean, I kind of like that bit, but I don't like that. So, they do tend to cherry-pick their beliefs a little bit more. If you're a level-eight soul, it's all about relationships. It's about overcoming issues around rejection and so on. And so, having your buddies, your friends, and so on, that's all very important. Level seven is about innovation and creativity. Level six is about overcoming inferiority issues. So, there's a different focus at every point. Once you go back, five, four, three, two, one, that's young-soul stuff.

[01:14:41]Luke Storey:  Do people get hung up on valuing themselves based on like how old, like immediately, when you tell me I'm an old soul, I'm like, yeah, man.

[01:14:55]Ainslie MacLeod:  Because it's terrible, sometimes, if I'm working with a couple, and sometimes, he's the older soul, but he's not on the spiritual path, and she thinks, well, I'm on a spiritual path. I should be an older soul. It's like, oh, it's not a competition. It's is what it is.

[01:15:12]Luke Storey:  So, it would be well-advised then to eliminate that train of thought from one's experience as they begin to explore this element of life, in that you wouldn't look at a five-year-old kid and devalue them as being less substantial or have less value than a 10-year-old.

[01:15:35]Ainslie MacLeod:  Well, absolutely. That's something I feel so important, that yes, you wouldn't say to your seven-year-old to help, you really can't drive the car, what's wrong with you? You understand that there's some limitations there. And so, I think it's very helpful because it helps you to accept others to be able to say, in fact, I was even working with somebody earlier today who's an old soul in a family of younger souls.

[01:16:03] And we were looking at a little bit of how can you deal with that? Some of it is to really just detach a little bit. Don't get drawn into their drama and so on. That's actually a tough thing, by the way, for a lot of old souls who come into this world, are surrounded by younger souls. Especially when I tell people, you choose your family, and they go, what the hell was I thinking? I'm like crazy.

[01:16:32]Luke Storey:  Well, that makes sense. It's like I'm imagining an analogy of a PhD scholar being thrust into a kindergarten class, sitting going, what am I doing here?

[01:16:47]Ainslie MacLeod:  It's exactly that. Usually, what I find is that you'll see the old soul coming into a younger soul family to try to elevate the consciousness. Now, it's usually with some degree of success, even though it doesn't look like it. But often, the younger souls need to be exposed to just different ways of thinking. Maybe one of the signs of being a level 10 soul, by the way, simple sign of being such an old soul is acceptance of others. As I always say, who cares whether you're gay, straight, Black, White, or whatever? Those things, you're seeing the soul beneath the surface.

[01:17:21]Luke Storey:  Yeah.

[01:17:22]Ainslie MacLeod:  And also, you're identifying with the underdog as well. I've been using this as an example recently because I think it really illustrates this point, if you look at the Black Lives Matter protests in the states, the people who are out there protesting are not just Black people. It's not just about, hey, wanted to draw attention. It's all older souls of all colors. Your soccer moms, their dads with their leaf blowers.

[01:18:02] So, with you being an older soul, there tends to be a greater altruism, and the awareness that what's happening to somebody else could be happening to you, and it probably did in a previous lifetime, and that it's incumbent upon us as old souls to help one another. And I think it's a really cheering thing and it's a good sign of the transformation, a shift in consciousness that's happening that we get so many people out there on the streets risking their health and safety, even though they don't necessarily have any skin in the game, as it were, they're doing it for other people because it's the right thing to do.

[01:18:45] And that's a real old soul sort of thing. But the soul's journey also, it takes you from a place of fear to love. And so, that shows up as generally going from maybe more so the fundamentalist, more religious to more spiritual, from more conservative to more progressive. That's the soul's perception, if everything opens up. It's through experience, it learns that the downtrodden woman that you were in a past life is no different from the person you are now. 

[01:19:20] If you see somebody is being mistreated, your heart goes out to them, and you're meant to do something. When we're talking about how you look at young souls maybe the same way you would look at a seven-year-old or five-year-old, and to understand that, yeah, they're just at a different place in their journey. It doesn't necessarily mean condoning it. Like if your five-year-old flushes your watch down the toilet, you don't kind of go, oh, bless his little head, he was just a five-year-old, you would want to explain to your child, this not what you do, this is not acceptable.

[01:19:58] And so, people often say, well, how should we deal with younger souls? One thing for older souls to do is to lead by example, complain about callousness and harshness of the world or complain about things that are happening politically, and it's so important, just like, well, make sure you're part of the change that's happening, make sure you're part of this upcoming transformation. Something I talk about a lot, and I know not everybody wants to hear it, but there's this idea that you can consider yourself spiritual if you do yoga and you meditate, and yeah, that's about it. 

[01:20:39] To be truly spiritual, you really need to be benefiting other people. The techniques that we look at, things like yoga and meditation are a means to an end or just an end on their own. It's like, well, what do you do as you open up your consciousness and recognize that we're all connected, and so on? Well, you want to do something to help other people. You want to get out with your leaf blower if that's your thing or whatever, you want to get out there and be a part of creating a better world.

[01:21:12] And certainly, with what's happening in the world right now, a lot of old souls just feel like, they just want to hide and hope it will all go away. But that's not what you're here for. And it's important for you to get out, or in whatever way you do this, I mean, not everyone's meant to get out on the street and protest, but there's all different ways that we can help people. There's always so much need. If you look at the world, I often see it with a client, they're going, I don't seem to have any purpose. 

[01:21:47] Well, help somebody. That would be like very first. There's always going to be some need somewhere. And often, it's kind of karmic. I was actually saying to a client last week that I can't remember now what the past life was, but essentially an abandoned child. And I said something to her about maybe getting involved in helping those kids who are being separated from their parents at the border, put in concentration camps. That could be really healing it. And as it turned out, she really had done that.

[01:22:19] She had actually been down volunteering in Tijuana, at the other side of the border, and really getting involved. I often find that a lot of people, they're already motivated to do things that are karmic, that benefit other people. Even when I tell them about it to suggest something, they go, oh, I've often thought about this. I've always wanted to help whatever it is, orphans or whatever, and then they're just getting that sort of validation. And hearing it from another source, sometimes, is all it takes to get action going.

[01:22:54]Luke Storey:  I want to touch on the topic of race, as you know, obviously, it's top of mind in our society right now, and about time that it is, that it's being addressed. Something that's been interesting for me is although it's my first time talking to you, I have a really solid felt sense that this is not my first rodeo, right? It's not teachings that I've read, it's just like, I've been through this before. And so, when I look in the mirror, I don't see a white 49-year-old American guy, I just look in my eyes, and I go, ah, there you are, you little devil, it's just like this form feels so temporary. 

[01:23:38] And like measure, when I see other people, and this is partially due to the way I was raised, I was raised by conscious parents who were intelligent and evolved enough to understand that the body you're in is just a shell and it doesn't matter what it is and that everyone should be judged by their character rather than by whatever level of pigmentation they have in their skin. So, that was just kind of bred into me as an intellectual construct, but more of a soul knowing, when I look at someone, sure, I see if they're man, or woman, or whatever they identify themselves as.

[01:24:09] And I, of course, am aware if one of my friends is Black, or Asian, or White, or whatever, I'm not like ignorant of the fact that the rest of the world doesn't see them as just a soul having a temporary experience as that body. But that's the way I view them. And I don't know that there's a question in here, maybe you could just share your thoughts on this race. And it's just from someone who has been subjected, let's say, to racism to hear someone say, well, when I look at you, I don't see your color, they could misinterpret that as, you're not acknowledging what I've been through in my experience.

[01:24:54]Ainslie MacLeod:  I think you're absolutely right. You have to be, yes, a little careful of that because it can be misinterpreted. Excuse me. I've certainly found from my own experience, I mean, I'm very well aware of my White privilege. So, I mean, I've never had to worry about getting shot by a cop just because of the color of my skin or something like that. I go through my life never having to give a second thought to the color of my skin. But I have always identified with people from other countries, and other skin colors, and so on.

[01:25:31] I've had more lives, more past lives recently in a dark skin than the very pasty White Scottish one I have this time around. And so, it is sometimes hard to see the differences. And I've talked to a couple of clients about this who had noticed the same thing, it's sometimes hard for the very old soul to be able to determine, if suddenly, out of the blue, somebody says, what race this soul has been? I go, should I? Gosh, I don't know, because you're not really focusing on that.

[01:26:07] The thing is that that can be a sign of privilege, because, yeah, sure, I don't have to think about it, but loads of other people do, and it's a daily reality. And I think that's partly why it's so important that we as old souls, that we all work to create a fairer and more equal world. I mean, we've got our work cut out, but we should all be doing something. Like I say, to think you're spiritual just because you wish each other namaste, I mean, it's not enough. I mean, it's great.

[01:26:39] It's wonderful. These are all good things. I'm not knocking it, but it's not enough on its own. If you want to get to the end of this life, and feel like, yes, this was a really spiritual experience and I really made a difference, well, yeah, how did you help other people along the way? Because imagine, well, I mean, I know it's idealistic, but what would the world be like if we were all doing that? So, yeah. So, identifying with people, it's, as you get to be an older soul, you're generally seeing the soul.

[01:27:10] And so, like younger souls, they haven't learned these lessons, so they see huge differences between male and female. They see, like women are supposed to be in the home, in the kitchen, barefoot, pregnant, whatever. And then, men are supposed to be this sort of way, and see big differences in skin color. I mean, when you think about it, it's absurd. But they just haven't learned that we are all one. We are all connected.

[01:27:45] And these are superficial differences. Like you say, it's the content of the character, well, that's what we should be focusing on. But these superficial differences, they're a really big deal to younger souls. And usually, of course, there's a superiority about their own, whatever it is, like that's the way you should be. So, yes, skin color, gender, religion, my religion is better than yours, that sort of thing. But it's a younger soul perspective.

[01:28:18]Luke Storey:  Yeah. That makes sense. I guess it's a spiritual maturity thing to view things in a more broad perspective from a zoomed out, I guess you could say, 30,000-foot view so that you are able to look at all of the parts of any given dynamic and not just see the myopic part that you see in your subjective experience. 

[01:28:41]Ainslie MacLeod:  Well, you see, as your soul ages, you really go from seeing things very much more black and white to shades of grey. It's more nuanced.

[01:28:51]Luke Storey:  It's interesting, also, something I've pondered in terms of race and the propensity that many humans have to get so caught up on that, and it was kind of triggered by the comment you made about White privilege, because, of course, as all of these things have unfolded, I've observed that as a concept, and see where it fits and where it doesn't for me. And I think I've arrived at a couple levels of understanding with that. I think that when people use that term, there's sometimes an implication that that person has not suffered or whatever privilege, in India, it could be a year of the upper caste. 

[01:29:33] And so, you have that privilege. It has nothing to do with the color of your skin, but let's just say, me being a White guy, so I have a certain degree of White privilege. And then, I think, well, God, I was terribly abused as a kid and I was a drug addict. And I mean, I had horrific things done to me by perpetrators throughout the course of my life. And I think, well, that's not very privileged.

[01:29:52] And then, I thought about it, and I thought, well, sure, in this lifetime, I've suffered. And the suffering, I think, is subjective, by the way. I think each experience, our suffering and trauma in the same degree, regardless of how it might appear from the outside. But I thought, well, that's true, I have suffered, but I don't think that I've suffered because of the color of my skin.

[01:30:16]Ainslie MacLeod:  I think that would be the case, yeah. Absolutely.

[01:30:20]Luke Storey:  I can't say that for sure, but I've never been torn out of a car by a cop and called a racial slur, or something like that, or something like that. And so, I don't think that the suffering was caused by that. That's one element of it. And the other side is that, it's like, I've always kind of known that there were past lives. And I think about that level of privilege that someone who is a younger soul or someone who's looking at me more superficially, I always think, man, you don't know how many lifetimes I've been Black, Asian, Latino, Native American, indigenous from wherever, I just happened to pop out this time as this guy, this physical appearance, and that's not to negate that other people aren't suffering right now because they're in a different color body, in a different life experience. But I think people that don't have the awareness or the framework to understand the multiple lifetimes in reincarnation tend to get really caught up on this sliver of time, the snap of a finger that is one lifetime of you presenting in this physical form.

[01:31:32]Ainslie MacLeod:  It's very much exactly. I mean, this is just one life out of many, but you chose this location, chose the family, and so on. And then, a lot of times, it's about really then, you want to maybe learn about the culture that you are now part of, the rituals, and so on, that it's all sort of growth for the soul, experiencing different cultures, different places. It might be a few lifetimes since you were a White guy. And so, you're having that White guy experience this life.

[01:32:13] And the next one, you may be a Black girl somewhere. But there's actually a challenge, sometimes, that people have, not being able to separate, sometimes, that past life from the present. And so, you can get guilt, of course, about being privileged in this life. And usually, I mean, I think when you have privilege, then you really want to be helping those who are less privileged. I mean, that's what thee old soul should be doing. 

[01:32:44] I was actually thinking when you're talking, there was somebody I wrote about in my new book, that I was working with this client and we were talking about her daughter, she was asking me about her. And I found the most extraordinary thing, the family are Caucasian, but the daughter has had lots of recent past lives as a woman of color, Latina, Hawaiian, but her experience had been, it was a lot of persecution by the White patriarchy, if you like. 

[01:33:26] And I was asking my client about this. She told me the most extraordinary thing, that her daughter, since time she was really tiny, has felt ashamed about being White. She was like, four years old, and dyeing her hair black, and darkening her skin, and completely identifying with women of color. And now, I mean, she's now a teenager. She still has a problem with the White patriarchy. I mean, who doesn't? But she hated her own White skin because it was a reminder of those people, she wanted to change it to be who she identifies with.

[01:34:19] Now, she's dating a Mexican guy and she's doing lots of studies, but it's to help Latina women. These things, sometimes, they bleed through from a past life, that we wonder, why the heck is it like I don't fit into my family, or why do I feel so different, or whatever? Sometimes, again, we talked about, there is an amnesia we have to have, but sometimes, we do remember, little things will sort of break through. You'll see, of course, I mean, we all have little reminders of past lives. It could be our taste in food, or music, or whatever. I used to joke about how I think I was only 16-year-old kid growing up in Scotland listening to Hawaiian steel guitar music from the 1930s. 

[01:35:14] And it didn't make any sense. But then, when I was able to learn about past life in Hawaii, and past life playing guitar, and so on, and then it sort of started to make a little bit more sense. But whatever we were drawn to, sometimes, it's because of something unresolved. Sometimes, it's something that's just comfortable from a past life. Often, we're relearning things that we've done before. It's why we're drawn to it. And the great thing is that whatever activity you do, you can usually enhance it by tapping into a past life as well. Like I noticed the guitar on your wall. I take it you play.

[01:35:51]Luke Storey:  Yeah.

[01:35:52]Ainslie MacLeod:  Well, you can actually use the spirit world, you could use your spirit guides to enhance your playing. Just ask them simply that, just enhance my ability, help me to understand the moment, even draw in that the energy. And sometimes, I'm just talking to my wife last night about, sometimes, we both know just how we will write something, and then when we look back on it sometime, it could be months later, we go, I don't remember writing that, but, boy, that was pretty smart. I like the way I did that. That's when you're really getting a lot of help there. It's like, we're getting help from the other side. And sometimes, when you do that, the things don't go into the memory banks quite the same. So, it's a form of channeling.

[01:36:40]Luke Storey:  Yeah. Thank you for the reminder of that. I think there are certain creative activities in which I seek inspiration actively that I'm aware of, and then there's other things. And it's funny that you mentioned music because that's one I've never really—well, I won't say never, but it's more rare that I'll be aware of inspiration, of divine inspiration in that area, and exceedingly rare that I'll, in fact, go so far as to say, hey, can you help me figure this piece out, or I'm stuck on this thing, or where should I go from here? 

[01:37:10] I don't really think of that, whereas I do more so in a podcast recording, or writing something, or creating some other type of content, or art, so that's a really good reminder. I want to touch back on something, as you were describing that little girl who had had many lifetimes as a woman of color, and is now a white girl, and having this sense of guilt or self-loathing as a result of that.

[01:37:31] That was poignant because I observe a lot of that, and maybe it's a younger soul phenomenon generally, but because of the racism that's been brought to the surface in our culture and our awareness now, it's existed forever, probably on all sides. All people, I'm sure, have been discriminated against throughout history for whatever reason. But right now, we're looking at Black American people and all this. And so, I see a pretty large number of well-meaning White people going into this kind of self-loathing or guilt energy field, which I think is well-meaning, but to me, that level of consciousness is very low empowered and-

[01:38:21]Ainslie MacLeod:  It goes nowhere, right?

[01:38:24]Luke Storey:  Whereas, like self-love, and going like, hey, here I am in this body and I acknowledge that my life experience could have been easier and is perhaps easier than other peoples who are in a different type of body. And it seems to me the higher perspective and the most effective way to bring about change and support in service of those in need is really in a depth of self-acceptance and self-love, and finding compassion and empathy for those others, and using whatever privilege you may or may not have to actually affect change. Could you talk about the difference between that lower state of guilt versus the empowerment of loving who you are, and therefore, being able to love others fully for who they are?

[01:39:04]Ainslie MacLeod:  Well, I think you said it all. I mean, that's perfect. So, I think you said it more eloquently than I could. But absolutely. It's something a lot of old souls do is they can judge themselves very harshly. A lot of past-life fears get turned in words by old souls. So, judgment, they become almost like their own worst critic as well. Oh, gosh, I mean, there's so much in what you're talking about there. Self-love, I struggled with that for decades. 

[01:39:47] And I had a girlfriend when I was back around age of 30, and she was saying to me, your problem is you need to learn to love yourself. And I was kind of going, oh, great, what do I do with that bit of information? It's like, sure, but no idea how to even begin. And I think a lot of it comes from recognizing that if you see other people as valuable and want to express love for humanity, it includes you. Don't leave yourself out. 

[01:40:13] There are also fast-track ways to, I mean, not the only ways, but there are some fast-track ways to really develop greater self-love. One of them, it's about the thoughts that you hold, thoughts about other people, because a lot of times, we're carrying around a lot of little negative feelings about people and resentments. Some of it, of course, yeah, I mean, we can't all get away completely from judging others. I mean, how do we learn about them if we don't? 

[01:40:50] But one of the things that can really help is through sort of a kind of forgiveness when somebody is a jerk to maybe to say, not say it's okay, it's not about condoning anything, but to be able to say, yeah, your soul wouldn't want you to do that. No soul wants to behave badly to another. It's always someone coming from the conscious part of you or the effects of the fear on the conscious mind. And so, if you've been, I don't know, a downtrodden servant in the past life, you might have a tendency to put other people down because it elevates you.

[01:41:26] It's certainly not a way to do it. So, things like good thoughts about people, looking for the good in people, that can really help it. It's sort of it's just a way of just clearing out some of the negativity and opening up your heart chakra. And of course, I talked about it before, but anything that you can do where you feel like you're helping others, especially when there's a real genuine need. I was working with somebody who is, yeah, we're talking about volunteer work that she needed to do for karmic reasons.

[01:41:56] And she said, well, I volunteer at my kid's school. Well, nobody in that school or these wealthy schools, none of these people, these sons and daughters of millionaires were really in dire straits. It was really more about finding people who really need help, who need the support of somebody else, to be able to maybe manifest what they're here to do in this life or simply be happy. So, little things that you do for other people, good thoughts, all these things help to develop self-love. It opens up the heart chakra. And as you do open up the heart chakra to others, it reflects on you as well. 

[01:42:41]Luke Storey:  People who have neglected to evolve in a lifetime or in a series of lifetimes and continue to be stuck at that same level, do they tend to have to stay around longer before entering the Causal Plane, and moving on to that?

[01:43:00]Ainslie MacLeod:  Yeah.

[01:43:01]Luke Storey:  And I'll use an extreme example, if one as manifested in this lifetime as an Adolf Hitler, I mean, like how long are they going to be stuck here, going around and around the bottom of the rubbish bin before they're able to elevate up and get out of here? Because there's so much bad karma that's been created around—I wouldn't say bad karma, but maybe, perhaps, so much negative karma that's-

[01:43:23]Ainslie MacLeod:  There's negative karma. Yes, right.

[01:43:26]Luke Storey:  So, are some people just perpetually kind of stuck here in the human purgatory because they've done so poorly at evolving?

[01:43:34]Ainslie MacLeod:  Well, the interesting thing about this process, and as far as I understand, that when you process the life on the Astral Plane, is that, what your soul will try to do after figuring out, oh, my God, I created all this havoc and so on, it will then just say, well, how do we start balancing some of that karma? The important thing to always remember is that karma is not about punishment because it would be so unfair for some poor little girl being born and raised right now at this moment in New York City.

[01:44:15] And she's been visited by all these horrible things because she happened to be Adolf Hitler in a previous lifetime. That would be very unkind. I mean, she she didn't do anything to make that happen, but the soul did. And the soul quite pragmatically say, how do we balance what we did? Because really, once you understand karma being all about balance, it starts to make sense. Unfortunately, some people don't like the fact that, oh, so you're telling me Hitler is not being punished?

[01:44:46] Well, that soul, it's learning some tough lessons. I mean, to go to the other side and find out that that person did such things, could be, okay, it is a tough thing to have to deal with, but the soul is always pragmatic. And it will say, well, how do we balance this? So, humanitarian work, lives as a doctor, surgeon, helping people, often, learning really important lessons in altruism. And these are all just different ways of balancing that out.

[01:45:21] And of course, it will take some people a lot longer than others. I mentioned at the beginning, you come in, it's like a horse race. You come in with all these other souls. And then, off we go, and one falls at the first fence, and then takes a while, and others are moving forward. Somebody gets the finishing line lifetimes and lifetimes before you, and you're struggling, where it just really depends on what lessons your soul feels it needs to learn and how much karma it needs to offer back to balance things.

[01:45:53] So, yeah, some people are getting to the end of the race. Like it could be 4,000 years and somebody else taking like 6,000 years to get to that same point. It's not all the time spent on the Physical Plane, it's time spent on the, like I was saying, going from Physical to the Astral, Physical, Astral, and so on. But yes, some people, some souls, even though you look at a life and think, well, nothing happened, there was no growth or whatever, there always is. No matter what you're doing, no matter how much of a flat line that life will seem, there are always lessons that you can draw from it. But some lifetimes were full-on, full of lessons, full of growth, and others are more, yeah, in the end, they're very slowly, many different reasons for that.

[01:46:42]Luke Storey:  That's really interesting, because in this lifetime that I'm experiencing now, I've had the opportunity to expand and elevate my consciousness a lot in a short period of time. And much of that was brought about as a result of becoming an absolutely incorrigible alcoholic and drug addict, which is, really, my greatest gift ever, as weird as that might sound. But because that way of life became so unbearable at 26 years old, I very earnestly and humbly sought out a spiritual solution to that problem. 

[01:47:21] And I was absolved of that obsession and relieved of that bondage. And I've been a free man ever since. Hallelujah. In the time, which is almost 24 years since that experience transpired and it's all unfolded when, really, kind of God in spirit was revealed to me to be intrinsically present and valid. I've had the sense that I've not been able to overcome that particular adversity many times before. Like I get the sense that I've been an alcoholic a bunch of times and just died in the gutter, or wherever alcoholic-I mean, well, you're from Scotland, there's no-

[01:48:06]Ainslie MacLeod:  No, raised by an alcoholic. I mean, I've been there. 

[01:48:11]Luke Storey:  Did you look into that at all with your guides, that specifically, the path of addiction or alcoholism is repeated over and over again. And so, we kind of pull our head out of our ass. 

[01:48:21]Ainslie MacLeod:  Again, it's one of those things that, yeah, you can—the patterns that you get into, they're not just in this life, but they're from one lifetime to the next. So, one of the things that happens is that if you found, in a past life, and could go back, say, 500 years, you found that the answer to your problems was to get drunk, like just numb out, then that will be when you're going through a crisis, any stressful period in your life, that's where the soul will go to, and look back on the past, and then that will become the default way of dealing with it.

[01:48:59] I see this with things like suicide as well. Like people who have killed themselves with pills and alcohol in the past life, if they ever think about taking their life in this time around, the go-to thing would be pills and alcohol because that's what's sort of opposite works, what the soul finds when it looks back. So, a few things about alcoholism, and this would definitely apply to you, is that the freedom thing is so important.

[01:49:27] And very often, teenagers wanting to express their freedom are the first to smoke and drink because they're going, no one's going to tell me what to do. Don't tell me what to do. Don't fence me in. They smoke, drink. And ironically, they end up becoming, very often, victims, once again, they're victim of a substance. But they go back into that victim place that they were, the powerlessness place that they were in a past life.

[01:50:00] And there's another thing that comes, I see this very commonly, if somebody has died in a past life where alcohol was a factor, then a soul will try to keep alcohol out of your system. And it will do that by a couple of ways. One at once, maybe try to affect your tolerance, the body's tolerance for alcohol. Sometimes, people who can only have one drink, and then they throw up or they get a hangover, it's a slogan, we are not going to have that happen again.

[01:50:28] The other thing is that you can often get two people who go out and try one on, one wakes up in the morning and goes, what a great night that was, and the other one goes, oh, God, I feel so bad about myself. And that alcohol remorse is a way that the soul tries to get you to limit your behavior, stop it in some way. Whatever happens, the soul will generally not want you to go into a place of victimization, because then, you're stuck again. They will always try to get you to transcend any problem that you have. Unfortunately, you find that a lot of people do, you sometimes have to go really deep into that hole to be then catapulted back out in fresh new future.

[01:51:20]Luke Storey:  Is there a difference between a soul and spirit?

[01:51:26]Ainslie MacLeod:  Not in my understanding. It's just the way it's presented to me, they'd be interchangeable, yeah.

[01:51:31]Luke Storey:  Okay. And there's a couple of quick questions I have here before we wrap it up, because I know you've been very generous with your time, and I appreciate it. All of these topics are extremely fascinating to me, and hopefully, the audience as well as I sense they will be.

[01:51:45]Ainslie MacLeod:  I hope so.

[01:51:47]Luke Storey:  In terms of the soul guides, something that's always been a bit of a curiosity to me is the human tendency to lack discernment and prudence when evaluating the true nature or consciousness of another person that is in a body incarnated here, right? We're typically quite gullible as a species. We fall for a lot of shenanigans by forces here on Earth. I've, therefore, not been in a big hurry to test my discernment by transmitting a beacon out into the spirit world, into those other realms, in that if I can't even determine who's a good person here, how am I going to be able to determine spirits on the other side in terms of their benevolence or malevolence as the case may be. Have you ever encountered spirits or guides that have revealed themselves to be of lacking, I don't like to use the word evil, but that lack love or empathy that don't have your best intention or the best intentions of humankind at their core.

[01:53:04]Ainslie MacLeod:  Well, I've certainly encountered what my spirit guides would call mischievous Astral Plane entities. But one thing they always stress is that if you're talking to a spirit guide, spirit guides have no other agenda than to help you. And so, if you get anything that's not helpful, it could come from like some entity on the other side, but not a spirit kind, because I find people say that to me, my spirit guides told me, and something really negative, and I go, no, they didn't, because they just literally wouldn't do that.

[01:53:42] That's not how they work. If it's a guide, it's going to be positive, and helpful, and useful. But my spirit guides say, there are jerks on this plane, there are jerks on their midst. So, not everyone in spirit is spiritual is another thing that they've said. In the very early days, I'd probably been talking with my spirit guides for like a year or two. And then, one day, I get a spirit who comes in, he goes, okay, just for the near future, we've all decided that I'll be your go-to guy. 

[01:54:15] And I believed, but I was flattered, my gosh, I was special. And then, within minutes, the spirit guide is saying, ask me questions. Do you know what a trifecta is? No, I've never heard of it. Do you know what a perfecta is? I'm going, no. Do you know what a daily double is? I've no idea what you're talking about. It's all horse racing terms, betting terms. And then, the spirit is going, listen, not having a body, I can't go to the track, but I wonder if you could take me to the track.

[01:54:48] Oh, Jesus. I felt suckered. I feel like such an idiot, and that told me, it was it was a lesson about my ego as well, to be flattered by some spirit on the other side who really wasn't acting in my highest interest. He just wanted to go horse racing. So, yes, there can be sort of negative entities. Well, somebody was asking me about this yesterday. They sort of felt like something attaching to themselves. What the spirit guides always say is they can't hurt you.

[01:55:23] I mean, it's just, you have the power. I mean, the only way they can hurt you is to give you bad advice or to scare you. But if you detect any information coming from the other side that's not useful, helpful, and kind of essentially loving, then it's not coming from any source that you need to pay attention to. And if you do get that sort of coming through, just send it on its way, go to the light, expressions like that. 

[01:55:51]Luke Storey:  In terms of beings or conscious entities in those other planes of reality, sounds like your spirit guides have been within this system of human incarnation, reincarnation, and then pass on to those higher realms and wound out there to be of service to those of us still here. Have you ever encountered or are you aware of entities that exist outside of the human incarnation in terms of, I don't want to say the word aliens, because there really are no aliens, we're all in this one universe. Have there been any indications that there are any like ETs that are outside of this cycle or in another cycle, but are still able to permeate that vale and reach you or reach other people?

[01:56:41] And the reason I ask this is I've never had like a UFO experience or something of that nature, but again, during different plant medicine ceremonies, I have definitely had the sense that I'm communicating with consciousness or with beings that are not of the human realm, and they've been just completely of light, and unconditionally loving, and very healing. But the way they presented, it was definitely clear to me, or at least it appeared to be clear to me, that they weren't of this realm, that they were from somewhere else of somewhere else. And it was, needless to say on multiple occasions, a really profound experience to have that not as a concept, but as something that I was subjectively experiencing in that moment.

[01:57:27]Ainslie MacLeod:  Well, souls exist in numbers that my spirit guides say can't—there's not even a way to describe how many souls are out there in the universe, a part of a consciousness that they describe permeating the entire universe. And now, my spirit guides have given me a narrow purview. There are things that people ask me about all the time. Aliens, Atlantis, my spirit guides won't go there because this is not what I do. My purpose is to explore past lives, to help people, to understand the present.

[01:58:11] And it's everything about life, purpose, and so on. So, when it gets into that sort of thing, I really don't know because they won't discuss it. I'm thinking about this earlier, one time, when I was really pressing the guides, I went, you know, for God's sake, you must have some idea if Atlantis existed or not. I mean, like where was it? And they go, just to shut me up, in New Jersey. And I go, what? Look, it doesn't matter if. It's like it's not what you do. New Jersey? 

[01:58:41] So, certainly, of course, there's alien life force, whether they're connecting with us here, how they do, I don't know. It's really not my purview, as they would say, not something I'm guided to, to explore. But why not? When you're tapping into like this universal consciousness, I can't see why—I once asked my spirit guide, it was actually in response to a question a client asked me. He said, could I read somebody from Mars? I mean, if I was on Mars, and they where on earth, could I read them like I'm doing, because people think I have to be in their presence, but everything I do is on the phone.

[01:59:26] It doesn't matter because it's all coming from the guides anyway. And I said, could I do from Mars? And they said, well, it's a little impractical, but yes, theoretically, it could be anywhere. It could be anywhere in the universe because that ability to connect telepathically, if you like, is not dependent on a geographical location. So, yeah, I mean, I'm sure if that's your experience, if that's where you feel you're tapping into. And I think often, these people over-analyze. And if your gut feeling is that's what you're tapping into, I would say that's it. Trust your intuition on that one.

[02:00:03]Luke Storey:  Cool. And the last thing I'm going to ask you is, if you indicated earlier that I was a 40% into level 10, when someone's at that final level in your system being the number 10, would that be indicative of the fact that they're almost done with the incarnation cycle and they're ready to move on to the next phase, or would one stay in multitudes of level 10 for the next few thousand years until they pass on, or is at the final stages according to your framework?

[02:00:37]Ainslie MacLeod:  My experience has been that, usually, some of these 40% or 50%, and the spirit guides give these percentages multiples of 10 just for convenience, they speak broadly to roughly where you are in the journey. But also, they do say something about what you're working on. Like I say, so for you, it's a lot about learning, it's a lot about imparting knowledge, or exposing others to knowledge, however you want it to be. Not, like I say, in a high school setting or that sort of thing.

[02:01:10] That would feel a little too mundane. It's just more, getting stuff, getting information out into the world. I haven't seen a 40% soul who's more than likely done with this life. Now, you don't know until you process the life. So, I can never tell. People say, am I done? Is this is my last life? Could be. But usually, I got a sense, you're on about 40%, you probably got one or two lifetimes, But you don't have to go through 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, and then 90%, and then out. 

[02:01:38] I see people at 70% who are probably close enough done. I usually say to them, don't go committing murder, and think that you have to come back and working all the karma. I see that with old souls, sometimes, that they're staying out of trouble. They don't want to get too much involved in the world. And really deep down, the souls going, yeah, if we just sort of stay, keep ourselves to ourselves and stay out of trouble, maybe we can get out of this at the end.

[02:02:07] But like I say, until you process on the Astral Plane and figure out what you've learned and what you still need to learn, then you don't really know for sure. So, I can never tell somebody, yeah, this is your last life. But I can say, probably, possibly. And it's amazing that one of the signs that this is possibly your last life is when people use the term home, they'll say to me, oh, yeah, I just want to go home. It's extraordinary. I cannot tell you how often I've heard that. 

[02:02:36] I mean, what a weird thing to think of this other plane of existence as home. But it's part of that thing, like you were saying, we're here temporarily in this body, in this place. The next life would be completely different. At home, because I think the Astral Plane becomes much more comfortable when you've died many, many times from back and forth. Usually, old souls don't have particularly strong fear of death, because you've done it so often. It can usually be like a fear of the means of death, like, oh, like please, I don't want to drown again or whatever. 

[02:03:12] There can be certain fears about means of death. Coronavirus is bringing up a lot of people who've had pneumonia, emphysema, stuff like that. In the past, have a fear of dying, not being able to breathe like they had in the past life. That idea can create a little bit of a panic. So, sometimes, the means of death, I often say the difference between a young soul and an old soul when it comes to death is the young soul goes, I don't want to die. And the old soul goes, I don't want to die right now. Like, usually, it's like, I've got things to do.

[02:03:45]Luke Storey:  Right. Right. I remember when my grandmother on my dad's side was close to death. She died at 99 and the last couple of years when I would visit her, say, how are you doing? And she was just bored, she just was like, I mean, she would say something to the effect, I'm just getting bored like I'm ready to go. She didn't use the word home, but she's just like there's no reason to be here anymore. I'm done. I'm ready to check out. And I thought that was so most fatalistic in my 20s hearing that, like what do you mean? You're willing to die, ready to die? Are you suicidal or something? And now, my understanding, of course, is a bit more broad and that she was just like, yeah, we're done with this lesson, this chapter.

[02:04:27]Ainslie MacLeod:  Yeah, lessons learned. My job here is done.

[02:04:30]Luke Storey:  Yeah. Yeah, it's fascinating. Alright. My final question for you, my friend, is you've taught me so much today as you have our fortunate listeners. Who have been three teachers or teachings that have influenced your life and your work that we might be able to go learn from as well?

[02:04:45]Ainslie MacLeod:  Oh, gosh. Some psychic, I didn't see that one coming. Okay. Let me think about it. The funny thing is, just, again, one of these things I was talking to my wife about is she finds me like a little weird, like psychic, and then spirit world, but I'm not particularly drawn to reading psychic or spiritual material, rather. But I went through a period where I did. But I crammed it all into like a few months. And then, once I was able to talk to spirit guides, they were my go-to.

[02:05:21] So, I would say that I think there's—I mean, there's so much good spiritual material out there, and I think it's sometimes a little hard to figure out what is worthwhile and you have to sort of explore a little bit. But there's some good spiritual writers. I mean, I think like a lot of people, many lives, many masters. And Brian Weinstein comes. That sort of opened my eyes to a lot of stuff. I found some useful information from, I think it, again, opened my eyes, some of Raymond Moody's stuff. I read a lot of that when I was really getting interested in this work and it sort of seemed to help.

[02:06:17] I think I find myself reading—I mean, I'm kind of curious about people who've had interesting lives and really made a difference. So, reading about Gandhi, a bit flawed, he wasn't a perfect person, but there's a lot of important lessons there. So, I like to read about people like Nelson Mandela, these people who have more altruistic spiritual influences on us. And that's what I find really interesting. I mean, especially somebody who spent decades in prison, and come out, and still be so connected to humanity. I mean, what an amazing person Nelson Mandela was. 

[02:07:03]Luke Storey:  Absolutely. Well, those are those are great answers. Thank you. And then, finally, where can people find your work? Websites, books, social media, all that stuff when they want to learn more about you and your-

[02:07:13]Ainslie MacLeod:  Okay. Well, ainsliemacLeod.com is my main website. I have my new book, The Old Soul's Guidebook. And if you just go to oldsoulsguidebook.com, there's a link there. There's also a shop on my main website. I have a membership program, where we explore topics every month. And we're looking this month what it is to be an impasse and everything related to that. I think a lot of old souls relate to that. So, we start with a class. We have daily messages from spirit guides. We have a past-life regression every month. We have a Q&A and lots of other little things. And we have a forum, sort of secret members only, hangout where old souls can go and talk about weird things like spirit guides without anyone thinking they're crazy. So, yeah. And Instagram, @Ainslie_MacLeod. Yeah.

[02:08:13]Luke Storey:  Awesome.

[02:08:13]Ainslie MacLeod:  I think that should be some way to find me amongst all of that.

[02:08:18]Luke Storey:  Of course, all of those links will be in our show notes for people that are listening. Man, what a pleasure to get to hang out with you today.

[02:08:25]Ainslie MacLeod:  Well, it's been my pleasure. I mean, really thank you. Great questions. And I love talking about my work, so thank you for letting me.

[02:08:33]Luke Storey:  It's fun. I mean, I could go on about these types of topics all day long. So, it's great to be able to spread out and have plenty of time to cover everything and get everyone to cover. I'm sure when we hang up, I'll think of 10 more things, but we'll do it again some time. 

[02:08:47]Ainslie MacLeod:  We'll do it again. Yeah.

[02:08:49]Luke Storey:  And I just appreciate the work you're doing in the world. And I celebrate anyone and everyone who's doing whatever they can to uplift humanity and to ease suffering because God knows we have enough of it. So, thank you for your commitment to doing so. 

[02:09:03]Ainslie MacLeod:  Well, thank you for all that you are doing, too.

[02:09:06]Luke Storey:  Alright.

[02:09:06]Ainslie MacLeod:  You're making a difference.

[02:09:07]Luke Storey:  Thanks, brother. I look forward to speaking to you soon.

[02:09:10]Ainslie MacLeod:  I look forward. Take care and thanks again.

[02:09:13]Luke Storey:  Thank you.

[02:09:27]

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