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From the High Desert book cover

From the High Desert

A Cultural History of Art Bell

Thumbnail for April 10, 1997: Reincarnation - Elizabeth Clare Prophet

April 10, 1997: Reincarnation - Elizabeth Clare Prophet

Apr 10, 1997
2h 48m
0:00 / 0:00
Elizabeth Clare Prophet, mystic, author, and spiritual teacher, joins Art Bell for a rare and wide-ranging interview about reincarnation as Christianity's missing doctrine. Prophet recounts her childhood soul travel experience to ancient Egypt at age four, an awakening that set her on a lifelong mission to recover what she believes the early church deliberately stripped from the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Prophet explains how the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. removed reincarnation to maintain control over believers, replacing personal spiritual accountability with the promise of instant absolution. She discusses karma, the violet flame of the Holy Spirit, and the role of Ascended Masters in guiding humanity through a pivotal transition between the Piscean and Aquarian Ages. The conversation also addresses the Heaven's Gate tragedy, with Prophet offering a striking perspective on why suicide traps souls rather than liberating them.

Art challenges Prophet on cult accusations, weapons stockpiling, and her Montana community while listeners call in with personal questions about soulmates, spiritual growth, and the nature of the soul itself. Prophet emerges as a passionate advocate for individual spiritual empowerment over institutional religion.

Key Moments

  1. Age 4 soul-travel to the Nile in Egypt: Prophet recounts being four years old in her sandbox in Red Bank, New Jersey when she suddenly found herself on the Nile in Egypt, in a different life with attendants around her, before returning 'on those clouds' to her play yard.

  2. A past life at the time of Akhenaton: Prophet says her mother, instead of denying her, told her she had remembered a past life - one that took place 3,300 years earlier, in Egypt at the time of Akhenaton, whose profile she later recognized in her late husband Mark.

  3. Reincarnation removed at 325 A.D. Council of Nicaea: Prophet states flatly that reincarnation was removed from Christian doctrine in 325 A.D. at the Council of Nicaea, motivated by control: if people believed they had more lives, the church could not compel attendance through the heaven/hell binary.

  4. Constantine's control argument against reincarnation: Prophet names Constantine as the figure persuaded that reincarnation had to be stripped out so the church could control followers, replacing 'salvation through the flame on the altar of the heart' with salvation through the institution.