The Curious Case of Walk-ins

There are many things that I didn’t believe in when I started this journey into energetic and soul work. Many things that I have had to accept are true after experiencing them first hand (sometimes multiple times). Today’s article will be about a term that I only discovered after the fact and that decimated everything I knew to be true about personal identity.

Fair warning that this article is not for those suffering from personality disorders, which are a completely different experience and reality.

What I will write about in this article is not something that is universally accepted in spiritual circles, but is accepted in the QHHT program. As always: take with you what resonates and let the rest be.

I grew up with a father dedicated to the expansion of consciousness through yoga (the real deal, not the bite-sized new age variant taught for easy access), meditation, astral travel, psychology, etc and a mother busy with the same subject in different ways, mainly archetypes and Jung’s teachings. Despite that I was pretty down to earth (which I also experienced my parents to be) as a teenager and even though I believed in some things, I took many with a grain of salt. I was always broadminded and always believed there is much more to life than what meets the eye, but I didn’t want to believe what I couldn’t explain with my own experiences, a healthy dose of scepticism if you will. Regardless I always had a deep sense of self-reflection, and I believed some things could be an illusion of the mind (and some things really are, but not everything that we cannot see or experience is).

At some point, after neglecting the gifts given to me for far too long and my dad dying prematurely somewhere along the way, I picked up Susan and Sven’s dowsing course.

I had been struggling with seriously debilitating chronic illness for a while and society had not been kind, neither the situations in my private life for that matter.

Depressed, I was desperate for a solution. So I combined the dowsing course (twice daily) with 2 months of intense personal coaching and I was suddenly free of depression. I believe dowsing did a lot for me in this instance and, suddenly passionate about the subject, I dove deep into radiesthesia and developed my own systems for things I came across: for example a serious case of black magic, which I didn’t believe in before but was solved that way. Similarly: possession, entities (which I already believed in but not to this extent) and all sorts of different kinds of manifestations of energy that suddenly got a name. I learned a lot... Initially scary things, eventually wonderous things... it did something. I can never go back to how I experienced the world before all this.

When doing work like this, you always come across a barrier: first you focus on the here and now, then on what came before in your lifetime that might impact today, then your ancestry and then your previous lives. Eventually you might even realise there are other dimensions you can work with and oversouls and that time is not linear; so you start working throughout all time versus only the past, throughout all layers and dimensions of existence versus this one level of existence we know the most (physical, mental, emotional). There are so many layers to this work, it’s nearly endless.

But here is the one thing I wanted to write about today: walk-ins.

A few years ago someone really close to me went on a spiritual retreat, I wouldn’t be hearing from her for a week or two. I thought she’d probably come back changed somewhat, as these sorts of retreats usually serve some sort of realignment or awakening. It’s a good thing I have quite a few friends who do retreats like these, so they shouldn’t figure it out in the off chance they read this.

I usually get information on people close to me (out of the blue) when something big is happening. I did with her aswell; I felt she was breaking, that she was in crisis and that it was so big that it might as well be a near-death situation. I was worried to say the least, but I had no way of contacting her at that time as some retreats have a 'no contact with the outside world' policy.

A week later, the retreat was done and she came to see me. I was shocked at what I felt and saw. Her aura had completely changed, I am not talking about the kind of change you see when someone has had an awakening, I’m talking about a completely different aura, as if the person standing before me was absolutely not her. I did not recognise her on a soul level. Our shared closeness from before was gone, it was eerie and concerning. She didn’t even look the same anymore, but her mannerism was the same. I suddenly felt a deep mourning and I cried for weeks afterwards, as if my subconscious mind had already grasped what my mind hadn’t and I was determined to figure out what was going on. I’ve always been curious in that sense.

I suddenly remembered a term I had heard once before: walk-in. My mentors had mentioned Dolores Cannon in the past when talking about soul work and, having experienced something that seemed impossible, I dove in.

I decided to read her book: Between Death and Life. It explained many things about the soul and how there can sometimes be an exchange of souls during times of crisis, an exchange that is usually not noticed besides a sudden change in character or a hyperfocus on a new life course. I decided to do more in depth research online and after coming across walk-ins happening in real time during session with clients, I started believing. It undid all my previous conceptions about what a soul is and does.

Now let me walk you through the terms and some short explanations:

Walk-in: A soul that enters a body mid-life, replacing the original soul with mutual agreement. This often happens after trauma, illness or a near-death experience (but not always), and is not considered reincarnation. You might ask what is the difference between possession and this? Possession is never agreed upon and usually done by those that cannot enter a human body and upkeep it (I could go in depth about what happens, but I won’t go into it in this article).

Contractual Agreement: Before incarnation, souls may agree to swap places at a certain point in life. This is seen as a pre-birth soul contract, not a spontaneous event.

Braiding: A transitional phase where both souls coexist in the same body, gradually blending energies. This can last weeks, months, or even years, allowing for smoother integration. Sometimes the original soul leaves and another, supportive, soul comes in to help the new soul settle. This can even be through a soul fragment (I didn’t believe in soul fragments having enough strength to do these things but here we are). Let me mention that this settling of the soul can be sped up through energetic work, which my friend has done with me (even though she does not know the full details as it’s not my place to mention, people that do receive this information steadily grow towards the realisation).

Soul Fragmentation: Sometimes, only a portion of a soul enters or leaves, rather than a full exchange. This can result in layered consciousness or dual awareness and if the ego cannot handle it, could even cause temporary psychosis.

Oversoul: A larger spiritual entity that oversees multiple incarnations. Walk-ins may be directed by or part of the same oversoul as the original occupant.

Higher Self-Integration: The walk-in may represent a more evolved aspect of the original soul, merging higher consciousness into the body.

Soul Exit: The moment the original soul departs. It’s often described as peaceful, voluntary, and guided.

Incarnational Swap: A broader term for any soul replacement, including walk-ins, soul overlays, or temporary soul hosting.

Soul Overlay: A soul overlay is when a second soul merges with the original, rather than replacing it. Where the purpose is to assist, guide, or elevate the original soul’s mission. It’s like having a co-pilot or spiritual mentor embedded within. The person may feel dual consciousness, inner dialogue, or bursts of insight that seem to come from “another part” of themselves. This can be temporary or permanent, depending on the mission and compatibility.

Soul Hosting: This is not a walk-in and happens when a soul briefly occupies a body to fulfill a specific task, deliver a message, or stabilize the host.

Imprinting: A walk-in usually receives the original soul’s memories so it can function and continue the life without confusion and so old traumas, attachments, or habits could remain in the energetic field. The walk-in may temporarily or permanently adopt aspects of the previous personality so it stabilizes its own. This is also to avoid disrupting important relationships and to maintain continuity in the physical world (jobs, family, responsibilities) as well as helping release family karma (which may be part of the mission).

Blueprint: Every soul has a blueprint, an outline. The blueprint refers to the energetic template, which are: personality traits, karmic lessons, emotional patterns, physical tendencies and soul agreements.

When a walk-in happens, it will be noticed by people who pay attention, but usually the people themselves stay unaware. This is to make sure there is no full on identity crisis and psychosis following. To this day, my friend does not know she has had a walk-in, but her personality and personal relationships have changed, as well as her focus in life. It took about a year or so for her exchange soul to settle and now we are more balanced in our connection than ever.

Let’s talk about the psychological and expansive effects, besides the obvious change in aura. There will most likely be a personality shift... A sudden change in interests, values, or behaviour, often described as a ‘new person’ emerging. Many experience a rapid spiritual growth along with heightened intuition, or a sense of mission after the walk-in. Some report feeling disconnected from earlier life memories, as if they belong to someone else. The body may undergo physical or emotional adjustments to align with the new soul’s frequency. Sometimes these changes are slow and steady, but not always. As for the souls that come in: these are usually starseeds (souls from other dimensions or planets that come to assist humanity) and lightworkers (souls whose mission is to bring healing, wisdom or transformation), some will come in with the blueprint of an avatar.

But why a walk-in?

A walk‑in occurs when the original soul is finished with its life lessons or feels unable to continue, and a more advanced or mission‑oriented soul steps in to use the body without needing to go through childhood again. That soul is less likely to create more ‘attachment’ (karma) that way and just works with what is already there. When a walk-in happens without crisis, the person may simply wake up one day feeling different: more aligned, more purposeful, or more detached from past emotional baggage. And in some rare cases, it happens multiple times in one lifetime. Usually to those that deal well with the first transition and in a quick fashion.

When the original soul is overwhelmed and wants to exit early, life may become too difficult and they cannot complete the life task agreed upon before reincarnation. Knowing how important a physical body is on Earth, the original soul agrees to swap and have a walk-in. Most people have no idea how wonderous and sacred their own bodies are, especially as a vessel for the soul. Walk-ins make sure that any waste of a functioning body is avoided.

Most people will not like hearing this, as they have a very deep sense of self that they wouldn’t want to release. But let me emphasize that this is always mutual and never harmful in and of itself.

It can take months, even years for the soul to completely settle, during that time, it is sensitive to all kinds of outside influences if energetic hygiene is not practiced.

I do believe walk-ins can go wrong in some cases, where there is already strong entity attachment for example, in that case there might be a psychosis. But I also believe everything in life happens for a reason and we cannot always grasp the working of the universe.

Walk-outs can also return as walk-ins, some walk-ins are temporary and the original soul returns the same or evolved.

This sometimes happens because the soul needed healing, rest or guidance in another realm in order to keep going. Luckily this can be avoided by receiving healing from legitimate channels or astral travel to specific dimensions and locations. Usually it feels like a rebirth of the inner child and the person feels like they regained a very old and very happy sense of self.

Sometimes a soul briefly occupies a body to fulfill a specific task, deliver a message, or to stabilize the host. This is not a full walk-in and is called Soul Hosting: the original soul remains present but steps back temporarily. Some mediums and healers report hosting higher-dimensional beings during sessions, but that does not mean all do. The host may retain fragments of the visiting soul’s energy, wisdom, or perspective.

And then there is soul imprinting. This happens when the incoming soul receives a copy of the original soul’s energetic blueprint, memories, emotional patterns and personality traits. But this doesn’t always happen. We have three main patterns here. Full imprinting is when the walk-in receives nearly all memories and emotional patterns. This is obviously the most seamless transition. There is also partial imprinting where the walk-in receives only functional memories, but not emotional attachments. And then there is no imprinting, which is rare, but which occurs when the incoming soul has a radically different mission and does not need continuity. This often results in dramatic personality shifts and sudden choices that impact their lives in a big way. Dolores Cannon’s regressions describe all three types.

Continuing on what it means to copy a blueprint: it’s copying the life template (and sometimes lives that came before), it’s not copying the soul itself.

There’s also the case of souls taking on an imprint of another soul before reincarnation, which is similar to energetic resonance/vibrational matching. They do this to learn from another, accelerate soul evolution, prepare for future incarnations and to assist in soul missions that require similar traits.

In some cases this could even be an imprint of an avatar/archetype, which is curious to think about. We talk about shared imprinting, when multiple imprinted souls reincarnate on earth at the same time of a single master soul/avatar or archetype. An oversoul can incarnate multiple aspects of itself simultaneously and I’ve noticed that master souls/avatars and archetypes are usually oversouls and very adept at this.

This is how we get multiple people claiming they are/were an avatar at the same time (when it is not psychosis or megalomania, it’s important to make the distinction).

I need to emphasise that this is a replication of a soul template, similar to how many musicians learn from the same master and carry their influence. This can be a set of qualities, a mission archetype, a karmic or dharmic pattern, or a symbolic role in human evolution.

For example: a soul taking Krishna’s blueprint becomes a soul resonating with Krishna’s archetype (which can also include info/memories of that lifetime), it does not become Krishna himself, but holds aspects.

This way, the influence of that soul ripples across many lifetimes, without that soul needing to reincarnate fully into a human body. And to go even further: there can be imprints from multiple souls in one. In Dolores Cannon’s regressions, people often said: “I was Jesus.” “I was Krishna.” “I was Mary Magdalene.” And the subconscious would clarify: “They carry the Christ energy” “They carry the Krishna blueprint.” “They are one of many expressions of that archetype.”

From this, and seeing this happen before me, doing the research and verifying with my guides and the Akashic Records; I have come to the conclusion that souls are a lot more complicated than first thought and that anything is possible. We haven’t really seen and touched base with everything that exists beyond the veil.

The difference between an awakening, a walk-in and mental illness/psychosis:

These are three experiences that look similar from the outside but that have very different origins, trajectories and implications.

Anything involving distress, confusion or loss of functioning is something a professional psychologist/psychiatrist should evaluate.

A spiritual awakening is usually a gradual expansion of awareness, unless following a dark night of the soul. It is never a replacement of core identity.

During awakenings people usually get a sense of clarity or insight, increased intuition or inner peace, a greater connection to life and others, emotional releases that feel meaningful rather than chaotic, and a stable sense of “I am me, I am just more aware now”. During an awakening people remain oriented toward reality and they feel like themselves but expanded.

A walk-in is not a psychological shift in the way that a spiritual awakening is. We’re looking at a sudden or rapid change in personality, preferences, or worldview. People that have had a walk-in feel like a ‘new person’ in the same body, and usually have a sense of detachment from earlier memories or relationships (not the same as depersonalisation). A strong feeling of having a mission or purpose follows and there is a feeling of “arrival” rather than awakening. After the transition period, people feel more stable than ever before.

And then we touch on mental illness or psychosis, which isn’t a spiritual event although I’m not saying these can’t overlap! But spirituality is often used to keep people from admitting to themselves that there is a psychological issue. In this case professional support is absolutely needed and if you can find a psychologist who is open to energetic causes and interpretations, all the better. This is why I ask my clients to take psychological support from a professional when digging deeper into soul work.

What defines psychosis: losing complete touch with reality in a way that it becomes difficult to function in daily life, often accompanied by fear, confusion and distress. Oftentimes their insight is also impaired and the person may not recognize something is wrong until after the fact. There is a difficulty distinguishing inner experience from external reality. Whereas this is not the case during an awakening or a walk-in. There is a general feeling of “I don’t know what’s real or who I am anymore.” The grounding in reality becomes fragmented, and in turn so do relationships and life in general.

Disclaimer: The information in this post is for spiritual and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 

While the concept of a "walk-in" is a recognized spiritual experience in some traditions, it is important to note that sudden shifts in identity, memory loss, or feeling "unplugged" from your body can also be symptoms of serious psychological conditions, such as dissociative disorders or psychosis. 

If you are experiencing distress, confusion, or thoughts of self-harm, please prioritize your safety by contacting a licensed mental health professional. If you are in crisis, help is available 24/7 at a suicide and crisis hotline or your local emergency services.