Prue, Piper and Phoebe Halliwell's past lives.
Paige Matthews's past life.
A Past Life is a different life lived by the same soul. Over time, souls can reincarnate as different people and go through various lifetimes to evolve and grow as individuals.
Overview[]
As people progress through different lives, their souls remain in contact with the same souls in every lifetime. Souls can recognize each other so that they may find each other in each new life. Sometimes a past life will come to haunt a person's present life to warn them of something or to prevent something that occurred in the previous lifetime from occurring again.
Similarly, a witch can have vague recollections of a past life but they will not realize this is so. For example, Paige remembered events from her life as the Evil Enchantress from childhood but had always assumed it was a story she had invented. It is unclear if only upper-level witches can remember aspects of their past lives so vividly. Perhaps one can only remember past lives with which they have a close connection. Paige had always said she related to the Enchantress and not the Prince and Princess in her story and the Book described her as 'defiant, resourceful and independent' which Piper remarked was similar to Paige's personality.
As for witches, the way they use their powers in a past life determines how they develop and what they are in the next. If they abuse them by using them for evil or the like then in the next life the powers regress and change into something else. In short, they lose them. However, if a witch uses her powers for the good well then they become stronger and evolve in the next. A good example of this would be in the past lives of the Charmed Ones.
In terms of how quickly after one's death they are reborn, it is unknown. However, there is an assumption that the reincarnation of a being occurs faster if its past life was good and longer if the past incarnation was evil. For example, P. Baxter was reborn as Piper Halliwell only two years after her death, and P. Bowen was reborn a mere five months after her death, as Prue Halliwell. Similarly, Leo Wyatt's past life must have died in 1924, as his pre-Whitelighter self was born in May 1924, merely three months after the death of P. Russell. However, P. Russell died young in 1924 and was not reborn until 1975 as Phoebe Halliwell. Also, the Evil Enchantress lived in the 12th century and was reborn as Paige Matthews only by the end of the 20th century. This may be because they were evil witches and were punished.
List of Known Past lives[]
- Prue Halliwell's is P. Bowen
- Piper Halliwell's is P. Baxter
- Phoebe Halliwell's is P. Russell
- Paige Matthews' is The Evil Enchantress
- Dan Gordon's is Gordon Johnson
- Leo Wyatt's is P. Baxter's former lover
- Mitch's is Micah
Spells[]
Past Life Spell[]
- Remove the chains of time and space
- And make my spirit soar
- Let these mortal arms embrace
- The life that haunts before.
To Switch Bodies With a Past Life[]
- In this time and in this place
- Take this spirit I displace
- Bring it forth, while I go back
- To inhabit a soul so black.
Return Spell[]
- In this time and in this place
- Take this spirit I displace
- Bring me forth, while she goes back
- To inhabit her soul so black.
Notes and Triva[]
- In "All Halliwell's Eve", the sisters meet a witch hunter named Micah when they travel back in time. Back in the present, an identical man named Mitch asked Prue to dance. It is strongly implied that he is Micah's future life.
- In "A Knight to Remember", the original idea was to have Jesse Woodrow portray both Glen Belland and The Prince, meaning the prince would have been Glen's past life.
- In "Sword and the City", the sisters discover that Wyatt was the heir to Excalibur and thus the new King Arthur. This suggests that Arthur could possibly be one of his past lives.
- In "Prince Charmed", an organization of demons called The Order believed that their fallen leader was reincarnated as Wyatt.
- It is unknown how past lives relate to the existence of spirits. The Charmed Ones all had at least one past life, while their ancestor Melinda Warren has been a spirit since her death in 1692.
- Although Patience wasn't exactly Prue's reincarnation, Piper and Phoebe were able to recognize their sister's soul in a new body when they met in "Family Shatters".