A walk-in is a

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

concept of a person whose original

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

has departed their

body Body may refer to: In science * Physical body, an object in physics that represents a large amount, has mass or takes up space * Body (biology), the physical material of an organism * Body plan, the physical features shared by a group of anima ...

and has been replaced with a new, different, soul. Lewis, James R.br>''The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions''
Prometheus Books, 2002. p. 382. Lewis, James R.br>''Legitimating New Religions''

Rutgers University Press Rutgers University Press (RUP) is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in New Brunswick, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University. History Rutgers University Press, a nonprofit academic publishing house operating in New B ...

, 2003. pp. 130–131.

Ruth Montgomery Ruth Shick Montgomery (June 11, 1912 – June 10, 2001) was a journalist with a long and distinguished career as a reporter, correspondent, and syndicated columnist in Washington, DC. Later in life she transitioned to a career as a psychic and aut ...

popularized the concept in her 1979 book ''Strangers Among Us''. York, Michael
''The Emerging Network: A Sociology of the New Age and Neo-pagan Movements''

Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

, 1995. p. 72.McClelland, Norman C
''Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma''

McFarland McFarland may refer to: People *McFarland (surname) Places in the United States *McFarland, California, a city *McFarland, Kansas, a city *McFarland, Missouri, a ghost town *McFarland, Wisconsin, a village Other uses * USS ''McFarland'' (DD-237) ...

, 2010. p. 276.Bjorling, Joel
''Reincarnation: A Bibliography''

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 (publisher), F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa ...

, 1996. pp. 141–142.

Beliefs

Believers maintain that it is possible for the original soul of a human to leave a person's body and for another soul to "walk in". In Montgomery's work, souls are said to "walk in" during a period of intense personal problems on the part of the departing soul, or during or because of an accident or trauma. Some other walk-ins describe their entry as occurring based on prior agreement and when the previous soul was complete. The walk-in being/individual retains the memories of the original personality, but does not have emotions associated with the memories. As they integrate they bring their own mental, emotional, spiritual consciousness and evolve the life to resonate with their purpose and intentions. Incarnating into a fully grown body allows the walk-in soul to engage in embodiment without having to go through the two decades of maturation that humans need to reach adulthood. A walk-in soul also does not experience the conditioning of childhood and has a different relationship to life because they were not born.

In popular culture

The 1941 film '' Here Comes Mr. Jordan'' and the 1978 remake '' Heaven Can Wait'' portrays one soul replacing a recently deceased man's soul and reviving to inhabit his body. The ''

Hawkgirl Hawkgirl is the name of several superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original Hawkgirl, Shiera Sanders Hall, was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, and first appeared in ''Flash Comics' ...

'' comics, the ''

K-PAX ''K-PAX'' is an American science fiction novel by Gene Brewer, the first in the ''K-PAX'' series. The series deals with the experiences on Earth of a being named Prot. It is written in the first person from the point of view of Prot's psychiat ...

'' series of books and film, and the '' Twilight Zone'' episode "

The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank" is episode 88 of the American television anthology series ''The Twilight Zone''. It originally aired on February 23, 1962 on CBS. Opening narration Plot In the mid-1920s in a small rural town in the "souther ...

" have all featured situations similar or identical to walk-in experiences, although the term "walk-in" is not used. In the ''

Death of Superman Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

'' story cycle, a handful of new superheroes appeared, among them

John Henry Irons Steel is a fictional superhero who appears in comic books published by DC Comics. He is a genius engineer who built a mechanized suit of armor that replicates Superman's powers and bears Superman's logo. Initially, he sought to replace Superman ...

, who called himself the "Man of Steel". He never claimed to be the real Superman, but

Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning journalist for ...

speculated that if Superman were really dead, perhaps his soul had moved into Irons' body as a walk-in, and she used that word.

Stern, Roger Roger Stern (born September 17, 1950) is an American comic book author and novelist. Biography Early career In the early 1970s, Stern and Bob Layton published the fanzine ''CPL'' (''Contemporary Pictorial Literature''), one of the first platfo ...

''The Death and Life of Superman''
(novelization of the ''

'' storyline). Random House Publishing Group, 1994. p. 365. "I knew all along that Superman would return, and now he has. Not necessarily in the form people might have expected, but it was him. Listen, have you ever heard of a walk-in spirit? When a body has been abandoned by one spirit but is not yet uninhabitable, then another spirit can move in. Anyway, whatever he is, the cards tell me for sure that the man who saved me today is definitely the Man of Steel. For sure." ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation ...

'' episode "

Red Museum "Red Museum" is the tenth episode of the second season of the science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. It premiered on the Fox network on December 9, 1994. It was written by Chris Carter, directed by Win Phelps, and featured guest appe ...

" discusses walk-ins, described by Mulder as enlightened spirits who have taken possession of the bodies of people who have lost hope and who want to leave their life. The concept is returned to in the episodes "

Sein Und Zeit ''Being and Time'' (german: Sein und Zeit) is the 1927 ''magnum opus'' of German philosopher Martin Heidegger and a key document of existentialism. ''Being and Time'' had a notable impact on subsequent philosophy, literary theory and many other f ...

" and " Closure". In the TV series ''

Ghost Whisperer ''Ghost Whisperer'' is an American supernatural television series, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005, to May 21, 2010. The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon ( Jennifer Love Hewitt), who has the ability to see and communicate with ...

'', the season 4 episode " Threshold" used the term "step-in" when the soul of one of the series' main characters, who had died in the previous episode, enters the body of a man who dies in an unrelated accident.

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

speaks of "walk-ins" several times in books 6 and 7 of '' The Dark Tower'' novels, but King's walk-ins are usually physical travellers, or - when they possess another's body - are more guests, sharing the body with the original mind as strangers. John Callum mentions them in '' The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah''. The term is also used in the CODA section of this book. In '' The Talisman'', cowritten by King, the concept of "Twinners" is presented in a similar manner: Twinners are separate but fundamentally similar individuals that live parallel existences on Earth and in the world of the Territories. If either or both of the pair gain awareness of their Twinner, they can learn to occupy the other's body in their respective worlds in style of a walk-in. The main character Myne in "

Ascendance of a Bookworm is a Japanese fantasy light novel series written by Miya Kazuki and illustrated by You Shiina. It was serialized online from September 2013 to March 2017 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. It was later ...

" is a walk-in. Originally a

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a ''wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

, the story was released in

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

format October 2019.

References

{{reflist New Age Reincarnation

Beliefs

In popular culture

See also

References