"I was 'St. Paul's' third wife." (ePub)

At the tender age of ten, Mara Meimaridi's life took an unexpected turn when her aunt, famously known as "Katina the Witch" in Smyrna, guided her through a mesmerizing past-life regression. Under hypnosis, Meimaridi accessed vivid glimpses of a different existence-of being a Jewish Cretan girl named Rachel, deeply entwined in a profound love with a young man named Yusfus. But the passage of time carried Meimaridi through various pursuits-education, archaeological excavations, medical research, and the creation of her own family-and over the years, Rachel's memories were relegated to the recesses of her mind.

Those dormant memories resurfaced in 1980, when Meimaridi's mother presented her with a repository of enchantments and mystical spells: a chest full of her aunt Katina's clandestine belongings. Within its confines rested a book chronicling the Jewish war of 66 AD, scribed by a certain Josephus. This discovery sparked Meimaridi's curiosity, and prompted seventeen years of relentless exploration into the annals of first-century Judea. Her immersion in history books, seminars, excavations, and reports on Israel gradually breathed life into Rachel's forgotten narrative.

Join Meimaridi in unraveling the enigmatic threads that bind past and present, magic and reality, as she shares her story-and, in doing so, illuminates the profound origins of Rachel.

Mara Meimaridi is the author of the best-selling The Witches of Smyrna.

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