Roots

History & Traditions

From a 1979 book that gave the idea its name, to wisdom traditions that have long spoken of souls joining, helping and moving between bodies.

The modern teachings

Ruth Montgomery (1912–2001)

A Washington journalist turned spiritual author. She introduced the word walk-in in Strangers Among Us (1979), shared about 17 personal stories in Threshold to Tomorrow (1983), and widened the vision to souls from other worlds in Aliens Among Us (1985). Her guides taught that walk-ins arrive as helpers and way-showers for a new age.

The Law of One / Ra Material (1981–84)

These channeled sessions introduced the beloved idea of Wanderers: souls from higher densities who incarnate to serve. Ra also describes a rarer walk-in. In this teaching, Abraham Lincoln, weary of life, agreed in 1853 to let a fourth-density being continue his life and finish his karmic work (sessions 26 and 35).

Dolores Cannon (1931–2014)

Through decades of Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique sessions, Cannon described three waves of volunteer souls who answered a call to help Earth from the inside. She also taught about walk-ins as agreed soul exchanges, in which a soul can carry another’s life forward with love.

Doreen Virtue, Earth Angels (2002)

Virtue described five groups of Earth Angels, the sensitive helpers of humanity, and included Walk-Ins among them. She describes walk-ins as souls from a high spiritual realm who enter a life, often after a life-changing event, as the earlier soul gladly moves on. Her later book Realms of the Earth Angels (2007) described the walk-in as a sacred process rather than a separate realm.

Brad and Francie Steiger, The Star People (1981)

An early, much-loved portrait of people who feel a star heritage.

Walk-in communities

Liz Nelson founded Walk-in Evolution in the 1990s to gather walk-ins together. Yvonne Perry revived it in 2013 with the Walk-ins Among Us gatherings for walk-ins, starseeds and lightworkers.

Echoes in ancient wisdom

Long before the modern word, many sacred traditions spoke of souls joining, helping and moving between bodies. These are not the same as modern walk-in teaching, but they show how old and widespread the intuition is.

Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism)

Ibbur, meaning “impregnation” of the soul. In the teachings of Rabbi Isaac Luria (16th-century Safed), recorded by Rabbi Hayim Vital in Sha’ar HaGilgulim, a righteous soul can join a living person during their lifetime to help them grow, do good and complete their soul’s repair (tikkun). The helping soul is “enclothed” within the person’s own soul, and the two work together as one. The Zohar tells that the souls of Nadav and Avihu joined Pinchas.

The echo: A helping soul who joins out of love. Very close to the modern soul braid.

Kabbalah: levels of soul

Kabbalah teaches that the soul has levels: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshamah, Chayah and Yechidah. Each may arrive at a different stage of life, and souls belong to families called soul roots (shoresh neshamah).

The echo: Supports the idea that a soul can arrive in stages and receive gifts as it grows.

Hindu yoga

Parakaya pravesha, “entering another body”, is listed among the yogic powers in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (III.38). Tradition says the sage Adi Shankara entered the body of the departed King Amaruka to gain knowledge, then returned to his own body.

The echo: A conscious soul choosing to enter a body for a purpose.

Tibetan Buddhism: transference

Phowa and drong-jug, the transference of consciousness. Tradition tells that Darma Dode, son of the great teacher Marpa, moved his consciousness into a dove and then into a young boy in India, who became the revered teacher Tiphupa.

The echo: Consciousness continuing its path of service through another form.

Tibetan Buddhism: tulku

Tulku: recognized rebirths of awakened teachers who return on purpose to help others.

The echo: Like wanderers and volunteers: souls who choose to come back in service.

Christianity

Paul’s words: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The echo: Often quoted for the feeling of becoming new. Christian tradition itself reads it as spiritual renewal.

Shamanic traditions

Soul retrieval: lost soul parts return, bringing wholeness.

The echo: A parallel to aspect walk-ins and braids, where more of the soul arrives.

Ancient Egypt

The soul had many parts, including the ka (life-double) and ba (the traveling personality).

The echo: The soul as many-layered and able to move.

Books and teachings named on this page

  • Ruth Montgomery, Strangers Among Us (1979), Threshold to Tomorrow (1983), Aliens Among Us (1985)
  • The Law of One (the Ra Material), L/L Research, sessions from 1981; free to read at llresearch.org
  • Dolores Cannon, The Three Waves of Volunteers and the New Earth
  • Doreen Virtue, Earth Angels (2002) and Realms of the Earth Angels (2007)
  • Brad and Francie Steiger, The Star People (1981)
  • Yvonne Perry, Walk-ins Among Us (2013)
  • Hayim Vital, Sha’ar HaGilgulim (Gate of Reincarnations), recording the teachings of Isaac Luria; the Zohar
  • The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, III.38

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