42 pages • 1 hour read
Brian WeissMany Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1988A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Key Figures
Dr. Brian Weiss
Weiss is the author of the text, an American psychiatrist, and a past-life regression pioneer. A scientific skeptic by training, Weiss’s doubts dissolved as he encountered what seemed to him to be compelling evidence for reincarnation. He has a wife, Carole, and a daughter, Amy, who has also published on the topic of past life research. Weiss was the Head of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, and it is during this phase of his career that the events of this book unfold. He has treated thousands of patients using past life regression.
Many Lives, Many Masters outlines the author’s transformative experiences treating a patient named Catherine. Together, they access a wealth of wisdom through Catherine’s hidden memories of living through dozens of lifetimes since ancient times. Over time, Weiss receives messages from spiritual beings known as Masters, who explain that the experiences Weiss and Catherine are having during their sessions are primarily for the benefit of Weiss, who is meant to continue learning about reincarnation and help as many people around the world as possible. Now, Weiss conducts seminars and workshops around the world to help and educate people using the power of past-life therapy.
Catherine
When Weiss and his patient Catherine began getting to know each other, she was a 27-year-old laboratory technician in the hospital at Mount Sinai Medical Center who was experiencing symptoms of anxiety, fear, insomnia, and nightmares. Catherine began coming to Weiss for regular psychiatric therapy to address these symptoms, and the result was a fruitful series of past-life regression sessions that cured Catherine’s symptoms and changed both her and Weiss’s lives forever. With the guidance of Weiss, Catherine was able to navigate a series of past lives since ancient times while under trance. She eventually was able to channel the wisdom of a group of spiritual beings called the Masters, who provided Weiss with wisdom and guidance to help even more people. Learning the various lessons of these past lives and resolving conflicts in them resulted in a complete recovery for Catherine.
The Masters
The Masters are a group of spiritual beings who impart wisdom to Weiss through Catherine during their past-life regression therapy sessions. The Masters are only one sort of being occupying the various planes and levels of spiritual existence; this book references other beings like guardians who watch over people in physical reality. The book deals mostly with two Master Spirits: the original Master who first makes contact through Catherine and causes her to speak in a deep and husky voice and the poet Master who speaks more serenely and elegantly. Through the guidance of beings like the poet Master, Weiss is told that the wisdom received through these sessions is more for his benefit than it is for Catherine, and the Masters steer him along the correct path to helping other people with their wisdom and to cultivate his own wisdom using intuition after these sessions with Catherine conclude.
