While doing Akashic Record readings, occasionally I come across a case where the client was born with one soul, but now there’s a different soul in their body. Or, to be more precise, the person’s soul, the Being they are now, came into the present body some time after the birth to replace the original soul (one that had been there since the time of physical birth). This is what we call a “walk-in”, “soul shift”, or “soul swap” phenomenon.

I’m finding that for some reason, the walk-in phenomenon is somewhat more common in the younger generations, especially folks under the age of 30, and even more so in those under 15. Most of my clients are adults, of course, but when asked to read for their children, I notice that quite a few turn out to be walk-ins. So I thought I’d cover the topic of walk-ins in an article, for the benefit of curious parents and anyone else interested in this fascinating phenomenon.

There are a few walk-in scenarios that I’ve seen while doing readings, and a couple that I’ve heard about. Let’s give them some goofy names and talk about each one.

“Oops, I’ve changed my mind” walk-in

This type of walk-in seems to happen mostly early in life, during the baby’s first few weeks to few months of life. The soul realizes that perhaps it’s not ready, or it has taken on too much for this incarnation, and so it wants to go back into the spirit realm to revise its life plan.

In a case where it would have been too disruptive to the life plan of the parents to lose the baby to a sudden death, another soul may volunteer to take over the incarnation.

This type of walk-in is obviously not planned before birth. However, the two souls apparently do make an agreement to swap places when the first one decides to exit.

What will the parents notice in their baby when a soul swap occurs? Very often, nothing, especially if this happens during the first few weeks of the baby’s life. Many parents are very surprised to find out later that their child is a walk-in! Occasionally, the infant will go through a sudden illness during the soul switch, as the body adjusts to the big change.

In some cases, the parents will notice a change in the baby’s physical appearance or personality! One of my clients reported all of the above: when I mentioned that her child experienced a walk-in at a specific age, she quickly recalled that the infant went through a sudden illness at that exact age, that his eye color suddenly changed, and that there was a dramatic shift in his personality as well.

What will the walk-in person notice as he or she grows up? Often, again — nothing, especially if the switch happened so early in life that the current soul (soul #2) had an opportunity to shape and mold the physical and emotional structures of the human to match itself.

Occasionally, the person will feel uncomfortable in their own skin, or as if their body doesn’t fit them very well. They may also feel like they don’t belong in their family, like they’re the “odd one out” who just can’t bond with, or find much meaning in their relationships with the rest of the family (and that’s because on a soul level, this family may be complete strangers to the Being that walked in).

What will soul #2 inherit from soul #1? This, I believe, varies. In many cases, I’ve seen soul #2 take over the original soul’s contracts with the parents and even with the future life partner, but not the original soul’s lesson plan (which is a set of experiences, learning, and growth that a soul chooses for a specific incarnation).

I haven’t seen soul #2 purposefully take on the original soul’s karmic baggage. However, the new soul may inadvertently take on some challenges as a side-effect of coming into a body created by someone else — that’s because negative patterns and trauma tend to stick around in our energy field and in our mental, emotional, and physical structures, and may take a while to rewire or transmute.

“Hold my beer” walk-in

This scenario is similar to the one above — also unplanned. However, it happens for a different reason: the original soul has to leave the body because the soul is needed somewhere else in the Universe; perhaps it’s given a critical mission to fulfill.

Even though I’ve seen this one in practice, I suspect it’s not very common, because our souls are so large that they’re able to spawn several parallel incarnations at the same time.

It’s possible that this type of walk-in can happen both in childhood and later in life.

A change in the personality and in the quality of connection with loved ones is possible.

In this and the previous scenario, the switch can be such an urgent, spur-of-the-moment thing, that soul #2 won’t have time to properly plan its upcoming journey. As a result, the person may feel a bit lost and directionless, not knowing what they’re supposed to learn or do with their life — it’s because they were pretty much pushed out onto the stage without a script and told to improvise.

"You can use my car" walk-in

This is another case of someone with an important mission, but unlike in the previous scenario, a soul is needed here, and ASAP.

A soul may want to come to Earth very quickly after finishing its previous journey, eager to get to its mission of helping humanity. It has no time to go through the process of choosing parents, designing a life path, and waiting to be born as a baby, with all the uncertainty involved.

In this case, the soul may prefer to take over someone else's incarnation that is already in progress. Of course, a benevolent Being will not act against another's will, so there would have to be another incarnated soul that is willing to step aside and let the soul with a mission take over its "vehicle".

The original soul may leave immediately, or may stick around for a bit — to experience part of the journey vicariously, from the back seat.

When this happens, the person will often have a strong sense of purpose and feel like they have a lot to accomplish, often in the service of others.

I've seen this type of soul swap happen during the first year of life as well as during teenage years.

“Prep the stage for me” walk-in

This next type of soul swap is actually planned before birth. The intended soul, soul #2, might be brand new to incarnating on this planet and inexperienced in creating a human body for itself (which is something souls typically do while the fetus is developing). It doesn’t have time to practice, so it asks another soul, who is experienced, to “prepare the body” for it, and then walks in when everything is ready, which is often during the first few weeks of life.

This may turn out to be a coincidence, but I’m finding that souls who come into the world in this way tend to carry a very high vibration, while most of us have to “work our way up” to that same vibrational level over a number of years. We can posit that the swap also serves to make it possible for the intended soul to come into a human incarnation without having to lower its vibration too much. If a high-vibrational soul wants to be born to low-vibrational parents, the gap may become an obstacle to birth, so another soul can act as a bridge of sorts.

In this scenario, soul #1 doesn’t leave any legacy other than the physical form it helped create, and soul #2 comes in with its own contracts and lesson plan.

This type of soul swap should have the least effect on the person, if any at all.

“Life sucks, I’m outta here” walk-in

Sometimes a person, often an adult, is so overcome by trauma, depression, negativity, or illness, that they have no will to continue living.

In many cases, they’ll simply choose for their life to end, but occasionally, a willing soul will take over the incarnation, allowing the burdened original soul to exit and go to the other side to get the healing and rest it needs, while soul #2 will use this precious opportunity to have some experiences of its own as an incarnated Being on Earth.

Soul swaps during adulthood are more noticeable and uncomfortable than ones that happen during infancy. Soul #2 will take longer to get used to an already fully-formed physical body, and will try to rewire the emotional and mental structures to make them a better fit for itself. It may also try to heal the trauma carried at different levels (physical, emotional, energetic), and even adjust the physical body to work better with the new soul’s energy.

A significant personality change is to be expected. The person may start to see their family and friends as strangers and wish to walk away from existing relationships (which are actually brand new to the newly arrived soul), and to build a very different life.

Apparently, nowadays this kind of change is less disruptive as the two souls are able to coexist in the body for a while, making the transition smoother. In a couple of cases I’m familiar with, the second soul also had the task of healing the original soul from trauma while they shared space in the body for a number of years.

“The timeshare” walk-in

In some rare cases, two or more souls plan before birth to inhabit the same physical vessel at different stages of its life, so that all of them get to have experiences and do their various missions on Earth. Perhaps they don’t need a whole human lifetime to complete their specific tasks, or, like they say, space on Earth is limited and only a small number of lucky winners get to be here as humans during these exciting times of change.

“The upgrade” (faux) walk-in

Not too long ago, there was an interesting piece of information published online (a Kryon channeling, I believe) which explained that at times, what feels like a walk-in really isn’t: what walks in is a higher version, or higher aspect of the same soul. To the person, the new vibration and perspective can definitely feel like a drastic change, that’s why some believe they are walk-ins when they’re actually just upgraded version of themselves. Anybody here want an upgrade? 😉

There’s also something called “soul braid”: this is when soul energy of another Being, often a benevolent higher Being such as an Ascended Master or Archangel, is added to the person’s own soul energy — in order to assist the person in their mission, or give access to some gifts or energetic qualities that he or she needs. The person may experience somewhat of a change in their emotional functioning, perspective, abilities, etc., yet it’s not really a walk-in, as the original soul is still the one in control of the incarnation.

“Lock you away” walk-in

Now, this is a malicious kind of swap that is forced upon the original soul, or at least isn’t in the soul’s highest good. Either the person willingly “sells their soul” for power and fame, and as they accept an agreement of sorts, a dark Being takes control of the person and “locks away” or pushes aside the original soul, or the original soul is forcibly replaced and locked away without any agreement, which is more likely to happen to those in a position of influence.

“Backseat driver” walk-in… and out… and in again

This is when you have demons, but they actually want to drive the vehicle (you), and do so for periods of time, while your soul is riding in the back. Then you switch.

By “demons”, I mean souls, spirits, or entities that are attached to the person, often due to past-life trauma or soul contracts. This is not a beneficial arrangement, because the attached spirits and the rightful owner of the body don’t always agree on the choices to make, and the original soul also won’t get to experience as much life while it’s riding in the back seat. The time that the original soul can spend at the wheel varies.

This is not a true walk-in, more like temporary possession, and this situation can be resolved through removing the attached spirits so that the original soul can regain full control.

* * *

These were a few common scenarios that came to mind, and there may well be more out there, as this is an infinitely diverse and fascinating Universe.

If you have questions, or know of other interesting walk-in scenarios or stories, please share in the comments!

Lastly, I leave you to ponder this question: when a person is a walk-in, will they be influenced by the astrological birth chart (Sun sign, Moon sign, etc.) at the time of their physical birth, or by the chart at the time of the soul swap, or maybe by both? Let me know what you think!

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