Far Memory

by Joan Grant

This is Joan Grant's autobiography of her childhood in England and the development of her psychic talents and ability to recall earlier lives. It is a stunning portrait of the difficulty of a free spirit trying to define herself in Edwardian England--and how that led to the collapse of her first marriage.

Genres: Nonfiction, Spirituality, Memoir, Audiobook, Metaphysics

Paperback

First published September 9, 1975

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joan Grant is a fascinating figure. She published historical fiction novels in the 1930s and 40s, all of which were bestsellers and praised for their historical veracity. Later, she complicated matters somewhat by revealing – in this very autobiography – that she had in fact conducted no research. This was because she was simply recounting her previous lifetimes and was said to have dictated these ‘biographies’ in a trance-like state. To this type of past life regression, she gave the name ‘far memory’.

Far Memory is amusing and witty, full of interesting and thought-provoking anecdotes. My particular favourite is that of her mother, who was said to have pooped a party by declaring the Titanic would sink on its maiden voyage as they watched it cruise past the Isle of Wight.

Its downfall is that it is a little verbose in places. The middle section, for example, was a slog compared to the first (absoultely hilarious) and final third that I breezed through in comparison. In others, it lacks a certain heart. For all the time I effectively spent inside her head, I came away with relatively little sense of Joan’s character.

Regardless, this was a very interesting read. Grant’s novels (or the two I have read so far) are also certainly worth checking out.

[Uvinie · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the books you read and makes you want to write. She's a wonderful storyteller, and it's incredible to hear about her past lives.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading every "novel" by Joan Grant I could find, I devoured her memoir. For sure, I give this very human story a full FIVE STAR rating.

It thrilled me to learn about this courageous, independent woman. Goodreaders, you too may also fall in love with this book.

I'd Like to Set One Thing Straight, Though.

According to the description here on Goodreads, supposedly this book "describes the development of her psychic talents and ability to recall earlier lives."

Not so. At least as I best recall, having read this memoir some 30 years ago, what was the highlight of Joan's autobiography? Her past-life regressions.

Past-Life Regressions Are Not Psychic Readings

In order to learn about her past, Joan undertook a series of past-life regressions. One need not be a psychic in order to be a client for this kind of hypnotic regression, merely a person who is curious to learn the truth about one's past as an eternal soul, specifically, in order to explore one or more previous incarnations.

Descriptions by Joan Grant of these sessions rang true for me, just as her "novels" had done. You see, by the time I read any books by Joan Grant, personally, I had been a client for a very helpful past-life regression.

Since then I had several more and, in fact, I gained credentials to facilitate past-life regressions, both as a Consulting Hypnotist with the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH), training as a Certified Instructor for NGH, and also I completed a certification course with Coletta Long, Ph.D., the incomparable expert at past-life regression who pioneered a method to include significant energy healing in her work.

Eventually I adapted, then trademarked, the distinctive method of Soul Energy Awakening Hypnosis®. This I've used to cocreate significant energy healing for the times we live in now, the Age of Awakening. Cocreating with Divine help in order to assistEnergy Spirituality clients; I've even trained some of them to do this sacred work.

Incidentally One Need Not Be a Psychic to Do this Work, Nor to Be a Client

While it is true that many psychics offer past-life regressions, they do not own this important field.

In case the following clarification is of interest to any of you fellow Goodreaders, consider...

Astral is not Divine. Psychic work is not spiritual work.

When well-meaning folks say they they are psychics who do spiritual work, that may not be entirely correct. According to my research, it's an either-or choice.

* For instance, to learn more on this topic, google "Psychic Does Not Mean Spiritual".
* Another related article will be found if google “Shannon Kaiser's Aura”.
* For best results with both searches, be sure to put quotation marks around the search term.

In Conclusion, I Hold Joan Grant High

Nobody -- and I mean nobody -- else I've encountered has written detailed descriptions of previous incarnations. Recently I've discovered a few of those paperbacks, read long ago, and plan to have a glorious reread of each.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read this book in the early 70's and have just finished rereading it. It has insight to the rather affluent intellectuals of the post WWI period. Traveling and working on digs in Egypt and then of course the manner in which Joan Grant developed her ability to recall past lives if you believe that. I will try to reread her books about living as an American Indian and a child in Pharaohs Egypt. "Winged Pharaoh" "Life as Carola"

[Judy Kirkwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ended up ordering multiple copies and sending this memoir to my friends. Joan Grant reveals that the previous fiction books she wrote are actually based on her past life experiences and are all true, in other words, nonfiction, so quite interesting from the perspective of past lives.

[Celine Minski · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not finish it and it took me forever to arrive at half of it. Boring

[Judy]

Memoirs of a woman who believed that she had past lives. The parts about her current life are interesting and realistic.

[Mike S · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for Joan Grant fans. I had never heard of her before being lent this book, it was a really worthwhile read. There were a few brief spots where her little rich girl problems became tiresome, or her story veered onto boring details, but it was after all an autobiography and I was focusing on the metaphysical aspects of her life. She comes across as completely honest and direct, intelligent, sometimes funny, sometimes touching, and she was quite a gifted psychic. Her descriptions of her psychometry work and the protocol she developed for working with it was particularly interesting to me. I really enjoyed this and now have two more books by her ready to read.

[Pam Desjardine she-her]

Wish I could find these books as audio.