Do you believe in reincarnation?
The concept has not much been discussed in Ireland in the last few centuries what with the disdain that the Catholic Church has for the idea but the concept of finishing one life and starting another in another physical body is one of the world’s most ancient and may even have been a theory floated around by the Celtic druids at one point.
Regardless of your own thoughts on reincarnation, the story of Jenny Cockell is an intriguing one; an English woman traveling to Ireland based on memories she believed she’d had since she was a small child, convinced that she was the reincarnation of Dubliner Mary Sutton and had children still living in Ireland.
Cockell enjoyed a certain level of fame in the 1990s when she took part in the BBC show “Strange But True,” speaking about her experience of coming to terms with the fact that the feelings she’d had all her life may, in fact, be memories and emotions from a past life.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve had dreams of being Mary in Ireland and dying while the children were still young, not grown, in the 1930s,” English woman Jenny Cockell told BBC’s “Strange But True” program.
“Terrible dreams of being alone in a room, in pain, not at home, and knowing that there was nothing that I could do to ensure the safety of the children’s futures.”
Cockell eventually decided to track down her hometown in Ireland and ultimately, met with the now elderly men and woman who she believes to be her children, despite the fact that they are decades older than her.
Jenny Cockell claims to have had memories of her former life from a very young age
The English woman claims that even before the age of four, she felt that she had previously been called Mary and appeared to vividly remember the details of her death in the 1930s. She believed she had died in hospital while giving birth to her eighth child aged just 35.
Cockell has written in depth about the feelings of guilt she felt from this young age in knowing that she was leaving her children behind and as soon as she could pick up a pencil, she was drawing up a map of the place where she believed she used to live, knowing deep down that it was in Ireland.
“I started talking about these memories before I turned four and I thought it was what everyone experienced,” Cockell told the Irish Independent in 2009.
“I had tiny fragments of dozens and dozens of memories but there were four past lives that came through the strongest and the memories of Mary were the strongest ones of all.
“I remembered feeling so upset and guilty at leaving the children. There was this sense of wanting to see what had happened to them and make sure they were alright.”
Cockell left her past lives to one side until she was older
It wasn’t until she herself was married with children that Cockell decided to explore these supposed memories further, still skeptical of what they may be, despite the fact that she had spoken of them throughout her life.
With the help of a hypnotist, Cockell began to look back further and began to believe that she truly was the reincarnation of Mary. She eventually made the decision to travel to Ireland in 1989 to find out more first-hand information.
She claims to have instantly felt a connection in Ireland, remembering things about Malahide – the suburb of North Dublin she felt most resembled the maps she drew from her memories – that someone who had never before stepped foot in the place should know.
“I noticed things that had changed — like the builder’s yard being replaced by a supermarket and the old jetty being updated to a nice new concrete jetty,” she told the Irish Independent in 2009.
“I knew the house was grouped with a few other houses, opposite a boggy meadow. When I walked to where I thought the house was, there were just ruins there. I had got there just in time because the ruins were only there for a short time afterward until a development was built on the land.”
Jenny Cockell quickly learned more about her claimed past family while traveling to Ireland
“I did worry for a long time about contacting Mary’s children,” Cockell said.
“There were nine pages of information that matched with Sonny,” Cockwell said.
Not all of the family has accepted Cockell as the reincarnation of their Irish mother
“I don’t really need to respond to those criticisms,” Cockell argues.
https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/jenny-cockell-reincarnation-irish-children”>
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