“YOUR SOUL CONTRACT” ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN “NATURAL HEALTH” MAGAZINE JUNE 2010 
Whether it’s Mary or Moon Unit, your name contains all the information you need to discover your true purpose in life, says Jini Reddy

Have you ever wondered what’s in a name? Do you like yours? Have you ever wanted to change it? Whether you’re a Jane or a John or the more exotically – some may say unfortunately – named Moon Unit Zappa, child of musician Frank Zappa, and sibling to Dweezil and Diva Muffin, your name affects how you are perceived in life – and a whole lot more.

I realise just how much is in a name, when I discover a little-known tool for self-development and healing known as a Soul Contract Reading. It’s based on an ancient (and admittedly wackysounding) system called the Numerology of Moses. Regardless, its premise, that your name contains all the information you need to discover your purpose in this life, is pretty seductive.

Ahlmeirah Ariel Hallaire, a former GP-turned healer (I can’t help but take her more seriously knowing she is a trained doctor) is one of the few UK experts in this field. She explains, when I arrive at her Surrey home for a reading, that a soul contract is a sort of spiritual road map you choose before entering into this lifetime. In a nutshell, you programme yourself to attract certain challenges and experiences in this life, in order to learn from them.

Once you’ve figured out what your Soul Contract, is, life’s journey can become infinitely smoother. Why? Because being made aware of your talents, gifts and strengths, the challenges you face, the conditioning you’ve experienced, what drives you, and your life’s purpose (all of which a reading provides), is, of course, hugely empowering.

“People who are curious about life and why they are here come for a reading,” says Ahlmeirah. “Or, if you’re feeling stuck, traumatised, ill, or have experienced a broken relationship, it can provide clarity.”

The key to deciphering your Soul Contract, lies in the all-important interpretation of your name. “Before you are born, you telepathically transmit a name to your parents (who you also choose) that will best align with all that you want to set in motion in this lifetime,” she says.

To determine my Soul Contract, Ahlmeirah first converts my name to Hebrew: “In Hebrew, the letters and numbers are the same, so I get a list of numbers for your name,” she explains. Each of the numbers has an equivalent symbol. The symbols have specific meanings, determined by their placement on your chart – a bit like an astrological chart, only in the shape of a Star of David, ie two large triangles laid out one on top of the other. (Ahlmeirah runs workshops where you can.

Each point on the star represents an aspect of your life: your physical karma, talents and goals and your spiritual karma, talents and goals. “Your karma relates to lessons you want to and are ready to learn, your talent to what you’re good at, and your goals, to what you’re trying to achieve,” explains Ahlmeirah. All of these parts taken together add up to your Soul Destiny – or as she puts it, “your highest potential, which you can achieve by working through all the above facets.”

While I try to wrap my head around all of this, a question suddenly bubbles up: what, I wonder, happens if like me, you don’t use your birth name in your daily life? Are you dabbling with your destiny?

“Your birth name is the ‘cake’ of your life. Any other name becomes like an icing on the cake, improving it or not. That is why changing your name can be so powerful because an icing can seriously alter a cake, for better or for worse,” says Ahlmeirah.

So, Sarojini Reddy, my full birth name, is, it turns out, far more powerful than plain old Jini Reddy. My birthname, I discover, is made up of six symbols, in various combinations. Among the reams of information in my reading, Ahlmeirah tells me I have a voracious appetite for learning, that I’m eager to explore new things, that I’m an achiever, a pioneer, a truth seeker, and that I am psychic. It’s all music to my ears, but I’m a whole lot less thrilled when I hear that my karma is tough.

“You’re trying to learn who you are through your relationships. So you create intense relationships as learning experiences – the ultimate lesson is about you accepting yourself as you are,” says Ahlmeirah. “You’re hypersensitive – this quality allows you to connect to your intuition  but it means you have a thin skin. The more you can ground yourself, the more you can strengthen your aura and deal with any criticism that comes your way.” Hmmm.

Then she tells me something that I’ve long felt though never articulated. “Ever felt like a square peg in a round hole? Well, that’s because you are one. You’re going to stick out like a sore thumb in most groups. You need to accept yourself for being this unique being who thinks differently to everyone else. That is your gift. Stop trying to fit in,” she says.

It is a huge relief to hear this. As for my soul’s destiny, she tells me that I’m here to fully wake up to becoming enlightened. “Not many people have this in their chart. That makes you one of a kind,” she explains.

I leave on a high, mindful that although it is great to know one’s soul destiny, it’s quite another to take responsibility for fulfilling it – that is the real challenge.

Real Life Readings: Susan Habib, 37, had a soul contract reading 

“I’d come to a difficult point in my life – essentially I was burnt out. I had tried a number of conventional approaches which got me through a depression fuelled by a post-traumatic stress disorder. Tablets and psychotherapy helped, but there wasn’t much nourishment of the spirit available on the NHS! Talking to Ahlmeirah compelled me to give soul contract reading a try. It was fascinating. There were a lot of ‘a-ha!’ moments. The reading seemed to get to the core of my existence: what I am doing here, where my lessons are, where my potential lies and so on. The fact that the information was a true reflection of my life as I knew it was without question, but from an outside point of view strange since Ahlmeirah knew virtually nothing about my life before the reading. It was a profoundly affirming experience and the reading provided a stream of insights.”readings

Click here to find out more about Soul Contract Readings

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