The Transformation

It’s hard to resist a good book about souls and the spirit world. Ainslie MacLeod, author of The Instruction and self-described “reluctant psychic,” has a new book out ­­– The Transformation. I was transfixed by it.

I came across Ainslie when he sat down with Oprah on her Soul Series podcasts. I crave this stuff. I was the little girl reading Lois Duncan books about psychic teens, while a part of me also cringed at the thought of ethereal, unprovable things. Well, Ainslie cringed too – what drew me in was his account to Oprah about his own skepticism.

He came prepared with information about Oprah, channeled from his spirit guides, which identified her soul type, soul age and soul mission. These are concepts discussed in Ainslie’s 2007 book The Instruction. He said that everyone has spirit guides, and we can access them at any time. There are ten soul types that influence how we express ourselves. Oprah guessed that she was an Educator type, since she loves sharing knowledge and helping people learn, but Ainslie’s guides corrected her: she is a Spiritualist type with a Performer type influence. He said Oprah’s soul is very old, Level 9, a soul age that is characterized by focus on self-improvement and overcoming addictions and fears. (Level 10 is the oldest soul age. The levels don’t correspond to the number of lifetimes lived.)

There’s a sense of humor and lack of self-seriousness in Ainslie’s writing, and so much soul info! We view the world differently based on how many lifetimes our souls experience. Younger souls need to belong and co-operate, so they gravitate towards conventional, dogmatic religions and more conservative political ideals. Older souls live many incarnations as different races, genders, creeds and religions, and gain an understanding of human equality. They resonate with progressive social causes and more expansive forms of spirituality. And the best part is that Ainslie says “an old soul is no better or worse than a young soul.”

The Transformation (2010) is the follow-up, and it’s just as awesome. Ainslie says that right now there’s a shift into another stage of consciousness, “the greatest shift in consciousness in 55,000 years” happening, and it unfolds when we “learn to live without fear.” Souls that live many lifetimes accumulate many fears when they experience highly traumatic events, like an untimely death that prevents the soul from its mission. The soul often carries fears into the next life, and things happen to trigger them. The key to maximizing your soul’s plan in this lifetime is to heal your limiting past life fears. Simply and clearly, Ainslie takes us through steps that identify past life fears, change them and then help one more fully connect to the soul’s goal. There are real life stories from his clients, and Ainslie’s story of conquering his own past life fears of judgment and self-expression.

With so much substance (there’s no fluff here), The Instruction and The Transformation are informative and deeply inspirational. If what Ainslie’s guides say rings true with you, that “the soul’s purpose is to evolve,” these books will be a joy to read, and you may find them healing and enriching.