This is one of those cases where the facial resemblance just hit me. I have no idea if this is an actual reincarnation, but this and other similarities suggest at least the possibility.
Sergei Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. His musical fairy tale for children, Peter and the Wolf, remains enormously popular.
Alanis Morissette, of course, is the Canadian-born singer-songwriter whose breakthrough to superstardom was the 1995 album Jagged Little Pill, the best-selling album in the 1990s.
Could they be one and the same soul?
The facial similarity is certainly suggestive. But are there any other signs?
Prokofiev was born in 1891 and died in 1953. Morissette was born twenty-one years later, in 1974. So the timeframe fits for a possible reincarnation from one to the other.
Both were musically precocious. Prokofiev was playing the piano at age five and composing his first opera at age nine. Morissette was playing the piano at age seven and, again, writing songs by age nine.
Morissette has said of herself:
“People have always said I was an old soul. They said I was always a little more intense and introspective than everyone was used to seeing girls to be, so they didn’t know where to categorize me.”
Actually, I would suspect that she is a mature soul, which would fit an “intense and introspective” musician far better than would an old soul.
I also note that in the book Messages From Michael, Prokofiev was channelled as being a 5th-level Mature Scholar — the same as me, in fact. So if this is a reincarnation, then Alanis Morissette would have to be in either the 5th level of the Mature stage (again) or the 6th level (having moved on).
[If none of that makes any sense, please read this: Reincarnation: the 35 steps of soul evolution]
I have no idea if this is an actual reincarnation. As “evidence”, facial similarity in itself is just not enough to go on. OK, there is also the similar musical talent, and possibly a certain similarity in character. And they are both, I am sure, Mature Scholar souls. But are they one and the same soul?
Other kinds of evidence would be needed if it were to stand up in court, as it were. (An example would be Alanis having flashbacks to being a classical composer, or finding it weirdly easy to learn to speak Russian.)
Incidentally, Alanis Morissette has a twin brother. Wade Imre Morissette, a yoga instructor and musician, was born just 12 minutes before Alanis.
As an adult, Wade actually bears little or no similarity to his twin sister, and certainly not to Prokofiev.
He does, however, bear a curious resemblance to Prokofiev’s second wife, Mira.
Hi Barry-
They certainly look very much alike! Here’s some additional info,
Both had Eastern European moms who were teachers (Sergei’s mom was his earliest music tutor).
Mira, the name of Sergei’s second wife is almost an anagram of the name Imre (middle name of Alanis’s twin and the name of her first child).
He was accepted at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory at age 13 and had already composed three operas.
She had her first stint as an actor at age 12 (five episodes of a children’s television show).
She has had two high profile “scandals” involving famous ex-boyfriends; the first inspired the song “You Oughta Know”, the other involved a last minute broken engagement.
As a member of the St. Petersburg music scene, Prokofiev eventually earned a reputation as an enfant terrible. He had a “love child” with one of his ex-girlfriends (she was married to someone else at the time).
There was a 15 year age gap between Alanis and one of her ex-boyfriends.
There was a 24 year age gap between Sergei and his second wife.
Here’s an interesting tidbit from a bio page on Prokofiev:
“Sergei Prokofiev married a Spanish born singer named Carolina Codina who’s stage name was Lina Llubera. She refused to grant him a divorce when he met Mira. Prokofiev and Mira left Moscow leaving his wife and two sons behind. Before very long someone informed on her to the secret police. Lina was branded a “spy” and an “enemy of the people” and sent to a labor camp where she toiled for a whole 8 years…
Just as his wife was languishing behind bars, Sergei Prokofiev was busy obtaining a divorce… Which, happily for him, proved a piece of cake, first, because their church marriage in Germany was legally void in the USSR and, secondly, because Lina was serving time as an enemy of the people… In 1948 the composer finally obtained a divorce and was now free to formalize his relations with Mira who thus assumed the dual surname of Mendelson-Prokofieva.”
I would imagine that Lina must have experienced severe abandonment issues during that life. Maybe the angst driven “You Oughta Know” is a product of the soul of Sergei/Alanis experiencing the other side of that abandonment? Dave Coulier (actor and comedian) gave an interview claiming to have been the inspiration for that song. Was Dave once Lina? I could not find a clear photograph of Lina Llubera to compare with Dave.
Hi Theresa – and thanks for all this! Great insights.
As for Lina Llubera, you’ve really got me going now. I will put together some comparisons. Back soon.
– barry
PS: To find images of Lina on Google, do a search using the Russian-language version of Lina Llubera (Лина LLUBERA) or Lina Prokofieva (Лина ПРОКОФЬЕВA).
Uh-oh – hold it right there. Dave Coulier was born in 1959. Lina Llubera-Prokofieva didn’t die until 1989. Seems unlikely they could be the same soul!
Hi Barry-
You’re right, unless they sent a “stand in” back from Sibera in 1956, they cannot be the same soul. It’s not likely since Lina Llubera was given
approval to be buried beside the composer’s mother.
I don’t see it! Sorry!!
Fair enough 🙂
Hard to believe that you actually spend time on this kind of theories.
My wife says the same thing!
I guess I’m not alone. I feel bad b/c I think about reincarnation a LOT ever since the visions. I have a feeling I shouldn’t be that into them sometimes. Do you ever find yourself saying “enough just let it go”?
My mother I believe remembers past lives and has encounters with spirits, but she never talks about it and when she did said I shouldn’t tell people bc they’ll think i’m crazy. I think in a lot of ways she’s right, it’s just a matter of who I talk to about it. Unfortunately I don’t know anyone at the moment to talk to about it. Probably not meant to dwell at this moment I guess.
Hi katy
There are lots of sympathetic people around the world you can speak to about all this, in internet forums and chat groups. For example:
http://www.childpastlives.org/vBulletin/
http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=21
http://www.experienceproject.com/explore/Reincarnation
Hy Berry,
I do not know if you hold blog still up, because I miss newer entries. By the way: I really enjoy all your teachings and information, and I am especially fascinated to learn about the reeincarnation comparisons. This one sounds genuine to me. I do not know how biographical patterns have to repeat at all to indicate it is the same incarnation. May you could shed light on this?
I looked first at the eyes and tied to figure the soul itsself out. From this, more intuitive angle, they mach perfect. So it would be even more interesting to know what factor biographical paralells are and indicator, and if so WHY? Why does a soul repeat situations, this sounds like unressolved issues or are that indication of a longer task?
Thank you for your work, it it highly appreciated.
Joana ( Old Soul, role artisan?)
Hi Joana
Sorry, I don’t know why you miss new entries – do you subscribe? You can also follow me on Twitter to get new blog post announcements.
When I consider a possible reincarnation, I give priority to facial similarity, character similarity, and similarities in vocation, preoccupation or aptitude. There’s also, as you say, the intuitive impression that comes from looking into their eyes and asking myself, “Is this the same essence?”
(I am currently looking into a couple of well-known physicists, one living and one who lived 400 years ago.)
You’ve given me food for thought because I hadn’t originally expected reincarnational life stories to follow similar biographical patterns and, in fact, it has always come as a surprise to me when that has been the case.
I do often suspect that when a situation is repeated then there is an unresolved issue going on. But there are other possibilities, such as simply finding a pattern that “works” for some purpose and is worth repeating.
In the case of Mozart and Michael Jackson, for instance, I had no reason to expect that their childhoods would turn out to be so similar. In such cases, it may well be that they are repeating a difficult pattern that is unresolved, and will keep repeating it until they get it “right”. On the other hand, perhaps they are simply re-using a good pattern that “works” for them. For example, the Mozart soul may have learned that a father who imposes a hard-working regime of practice and performance in childhood is a actually helpful way to get focussed early in life on the job at hand (mastering music and showmanship, say).
Dear Berry,
thank you for your quick reply. I am a subscriber now, so I will be informed.
After writing to you I also had the idea that souls use patterns that they might just find to work for them. This coincident is amazing. I think we begin more clearly to see these days due to the actual energy. I am looking forward to some “miracles”.
Hi, there. Am enjoying your blog very much! Quick question: Why does it seem that celebrities keep reincarnating as celebrities? Does this mean they are better or worse/ more advanced or less advanced than us average Joes? And how often do you suspect an average Joe lives a life/takes a turn in the spotlight as a celebrity?
Thank you very much!
Hi Lola, glad you like it.
Celebrities: There is no single answer really. I think any ‘average Joe’ soul can experience a life of celebrity of they so choose. The thing is, why choose it? Some soul types appear to enjoy celebrity status while others don’t, or wouldn’t like it if they had it. Sages take naturally to the stage and entertaining an audience, so for them it’s a natural option. For Artisans, there’s often the attraction of having a public venue to display their latest thoughts.
If you watch shows like the X Factor, you can easily see that most of them are either Sages (out-and-out extroverts) or Artisans (self-conscious creative types). Occasionally there are Servers and Priests (driven by some inner calling), but rarely if ever are there Scholars, Warriors or Kings.
It’s a feature of today’s culture, especially among young people, to think that being a celebrity is some sort of ideal. I think many – especially those with the goal of Acceptance – see it as the means to instant/permanent social acknowledgement, approval, popularity and esteem. Once they’ve achieved celebrity status, they imagine, life becomes a free ride. Job done.
Of course, many people who achieve celebrity find it is no such thing, not for very long anyway. Many celebrities are conflicted and have to cope with self-destructive tendencies.
From the soul’s perspective, I imagine celebrity status presents a number of interesting challenges and opportunities. One is that being famous enables one to teach, or at least indirectly inspire, others. Not everyone is ready or willing or able to do that. Most of us, most of the time, are in the position of learners rather than teachers or figureheads. But some, like Mother Teresa say, can become famous for their good work, and this establishes an icon for others to emulate.
Another is that being famous causes one to live uncomfortably under the public spotlight. It’s fine to be publicly recognised when you’re successful, happy, healthy and so on, but what about when you’re depressed, fallen on hard times, or piling on the weight, or have the flu? Celebrity can be as cruel as it is kind.
A private life is difficult to sustain under the public spotlight, and secrets have a habit of coming out. Think of all those who have had private sex videos published on the Internet, for example. From a soul’s perspective, public exposure could be a neat (if humiliating) way to overcome personal ‘bad habits’. It also causes one to re-evaluate attitudes to privacy and respect. It’s even possible that some celebrities are actually undergoing karmic balancing for having defamed others in the past – experiencing what it is like to have fame turned into shame through the exposure of private secrets.
If we look at Michael Jackson as a prominent example, I can see elements of all of the above. I imagine that the soul, a Mature Artisan with Sage casting, and a talent for song and dance, had a sincere desire to bring joy to as many as possible through original music and entertainment (and gruelling hard work). So celebrity came with the package. But there was also destructive inner conflict (the addiction to painkillers, for example), and there was also public exposure/humiliation (especially around his way of being with children).
So I don’t think we should see celebrity status as some sort of reward for being ‘good’ or ‘better’ than the rest. There is not one soul in the universe who is better or worse than another. Certainly, we all differ in how advanced we are in our evolving consciousness. But there is no sense in which being an Old soul is better or more desirable than being an Infant soul. It only looks that way to the human mind, which is used to comparing and contrasting things in terms of their relative value. Celebrity is just another option for growth, and in many ways a particularly harsh one.
Thank you, Barry, for that thoughtful reply! I especially appreciate your statement that no soul, old or young, celebrity or no, is better than any other soul. Deep down I know this, but I am human after all. 😉
imagine there is much about being a celebrity that would not appeal to me. I fit your mature soul, occasionally peaking in old soul territory, and lately dipping back a bit into young soul, too. This came about once I realized that being detached made it harder for the people I meet to relate to me. So, I backed off the pursuit of utter ego-less-ness for a while. Perhaps partially why I care about celebrity.
However, my question stems from my deep interest in reincarnation of late, and my research on this site and others often shows the correlation between famous dead people and famous live people. Naturally, I wondered why. I used to think maybe celebrities were less evolved, hence the need for ego gratification via fame. Now, I see that’s not necessarily the case. Thank you.
Still, I think it must be really cool to have such talent (whether developed over many lifetimes or not) that you inspire joy and celebration from others and, also, to simply be the possessor of such wonderfully creative skills. The fact that one may simultaneously be liberated from the mundane drudgery of daily existence as well is a very attractive idea to me. Perhaps what I’m truly after has more to do with creating something wonderful and finding prosperity, than it does to do with fame. Who knows? We’ll see and, hey, there’s always the next life 😉
Wow… triple wow… the resemblance is uncanny in both instances… good work on their parts for having chosen to hang out together some more…
Hi Barry,
I’m not sure whether the “Alanis Morrissette” discussion thread is still alive, but I am curious about one thing in particular. Yesterday (I don’t know If you’ve had a chance to see it yet) I wrote to you about my strong belief that my daughter is my mother’s reincarnation. My case, however, would appear to be the exact opposite of what I’ve seen from several of your case studies posted on your website, where there are strong similarities (both physical and otherwise) between the former and the latter person.
In the case of my daughter and my mother, the differences between the two are much more striking than the similarities. For instance, my mother barely had a chance to know her father, who died of tuberculosis when she was still just a baby. My daughter today still has me as her father and she’s now almost 30 years old. Very often she says that she wouldn’t want to continue living if she lost me or her mother. She’s extremely dependent upon us, whereas my mother had to spend her entire childhood and adolescence without a father, and was saddled with the huge responsibility (as the eldest child) to care for her two younger brothers. Her mother was there, but she was apparently very strict and showed little affection or emotion towards her children.
To that effect, it would seem to me that if my mother indeed has reincarnated herself as my daughter, she did so because she wanted to live a completely different life, rather the re-live everything over. For one thing, she wanted to live the experience of having a father, which she didn’t have in her previous life. From a physical standpoint, there is no resemblance whatsoever between my daughter’s appearance and my mother’s features when she was alive. My daughter is six feet tall and very slim, while my mother was five feet tall and rather round-shaped.
I agree with you that perhaps some individuals may seek to re-enact similar lives again for various reasons — e.g. to address unresolved issues or because they actually enjoyed their life so much that they want more of the same. However, it would seem to me that other individuals might want just the opposite: a brand new life to experiment and learn completely different things, most likely because they were not too pleased with their previous incarnation.
This is where I think that my daughter might fit in: in her current life, she wants all the things that she (my mother) was denied in her previous incarnation. To me, it almost feels like my mother asked for a “reset” button because she was utterly frustrated with the direction her journey had taken. For whatever reason, I have a strong feeling that my mother knew what she wanted out of her next life when she passed away. As I wrote in my other message last night, her last words to me were: “Don’t worry about me, I will be back.”
I don’t know, I’m really just speculating here, but my main point is that reincarnations should not always be so easy to identify if we focus solely on obvious aspects such as recurring looks and life patterns. It would seem to me that some cases would have to be much more complex than that, that which would explain that some souls, such as my mother, took a completely different road.
What are your views on this, if I may ask? Thank you for reading me… cheers!
Raymond
Hi Raymond
All threads are always alive, or at least waiting to be reborn by a new post!
You are absolutely right that souls can and often do swing from one lifestyle to its opposite. It’s how we grow. (Those of us with a specific goal of Growth in one life tend to do it a lot of swinging between extremes within a single life — which can be freakin exhausting) But mostly as souls we take our time, trying one situation in one life and then the opposite in another.
Or if our last life turned us in a particular direction which we found deeply unpleasant, we might plan to avoid the risk of that next time.
Also, it occurs to me that it’s only in the last few decades that we have been able to incarnate as girls/women without being largely confined to kitchen and mothering duties for our entire lives. This hard-won freedom may be something your mother wanted to be sure to enjoy this time.
In all cases I’ve looked at there seem to be both strong past-life similarities (the face, mainly), but also some key differences. Sometimes the soul relives the same life setup to work through an issue, but more often it takes a “compare-and-contrast” approach.
Let’s say this same soul was first incarnate as your mother (Life 1) and has now returned as your daughter (Life 2).
In Life 1 she had a difficult setup — she experienced very early loss of one parent PLUS absence of love from the mother PLUS loss of her own childhood, all of which must have had a powerful emotional effect on her psyche, and which therefore helps makes sense of how in Life 2 she is expressing such a high level of “child-like” attachment to you now.
In terms of physical similarities and differences:
In each life we choose a set of “overleaves”, i.e. characteristics that shape who we are in human life — the goal, the mode, the attitude. Usually these are quite different from one life to the next. Another characteristic is BODY TYPE. (Yet another thing I must write up soon!) There are 7 body types (named after the planetary archetypes, e.g. Venus type is soft and feminine — even on a man).
‘Mars/Martial’ = strong, square, masculine
‘Venus/Venusian’ = voluptuous, round, feminine
‘Jupiter/Jovial’ = tall, heavy, stiff
‘Mercury/Mercurial’ = small, light, supple
‘Moon/Lunar’ = fluid, round, pale/luminous
‘Saturn/Saturnine’ = tall, gaunt, dry
‘Sun/Solar’ = lean, nimble, androgynous
We tend to have one as predominant in each life, plus blends of a second and maybe a third. We generally go for different ones in each new life. (I am Mars-Mercury now, but I believe I was very Saturn in 17/18C Holland).
So it sounds like your daughter is likely to have predominantly Saturn-type or Jupiter-type this time around, whereas your mother may have had (say) Lunar type.
Even when body type changes, however, along with race and gender too, the “character” in the face often remains quite recognisable. (Example: Walt Whitman -> Alice Walker)
Hope all that make sense, and thanks again for starting the discussion
Barry
Hi Barry,
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond so thoughtfully to my latest comments. The notion about the seven body types is something totally new to me and I think it makes a whole lot of sense.
Surprisingly enough, I had a nickname for my mother: I always called her “Moon” (“lune” in French), because it always seemed to me that she was daydreaming… that her mind was elsewhere. In French, we have the expression “être dans la lune”… which means literally “to be in the moon” — i.e. to be an absent-minded individual. And now, thanks to you, I can see that my mother’s physical traits indeed fit her in the “lunar” category. As for my daughter, I agree wholeheartedly that she’s a Jupiter/Saturn type.
I can understand now why my daughter has such a strong “child-like” need towards me and I can expect that she will be needing me (and my wife) until our last breath. She’s still living at home… she tried to live by herself for about three years in her early 20s and that turned out to be a total disaster.
Yet, this is the life that she chose for herself, hence my remark in one of my earlier messages that one needs to be careful for what one wishes. To that effect, my daughter has many unresolved issues in her life: she’s a total loner; suffers from a general anxiety disorder and is having a lot of trouble fitting into mainstream society. She’s a brilliant young woman who just graduated from university this month, but she has a number of disabilities including dyslexia among other things.
More and more, as a family unit, we are coming to terms with the fact that she will always be dependent and will probably never be able to sustain a full-time job and career. This is not being defeatist by any means, it’s accepting reality for what it is. The important thing, we think, is that my wife and I love her exactly the way she is and we will never give up on her. She knows that she can always count on us for support and that’s all that matters right now — I think.
Thank you again for reading me. It’s really a pleasure to share thoughts and ideas with you. Cheers!
James Horner who passed away in June is the reincarnation of Prokofiev and if you are in to numerology, the numbers prove it:
James Horner was born in 1953.
Sergei Prokofiev died in 1953.
James Horner lived 61 years 10 months and 9 days
Prokofiev lived 61 years 10 months and 11 days
James Horner has two daughters
Prokofiev had two sons
Both men wrote powerful epic film scores based on war and redemption:
Horner: Braveheart, Glory
Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky
Both men were enthusiasts:
Prokofiev loved automobiles
Horner loved airplanes
Souls usually spend decades between lives, so sharing a year of birth and death suggests that they are not connected. As far as I’m concerned, numeric coincidences can’t tell us a great deal. If you have two kids in this life, why would it mean you must have two kids in your next life, or that you must have had two kids in the previous life?