- "Well, that's how our souls evolve, how we grow as individuals. From one lifetime to the next."
- —Leo explains past lives and reincarnation.[src]
Reincarnation is the spiritual experience where the soul or spirit, of a body, is returned to life in a new human body, or, sometimes in the body of an animal.
History[]
Pardon My Past[]
Phoebe Halliwell was almost killed by a spell that was cast on her Past Life, P. Russell. Phoebe was the reincarnation of Russell and had evolved into a good witch and a Charmed One. This resulted in Phoebe switching souls with her past life, all so she could find an amulet to protect herself from the spell. She was nearly killed by her sisters past lives, P. Bowen, who was Prue Halliwell, and P. Baxter, who is Piper Halliwell. While she was there, she saw the past life of Dan Gordon, who in his past life was Gordon Johnson and Leo Wyatt, who in his unnamed past life was a former lover of P. Baxter. This shows how people tend to find people they knew in their past life.
Enter the Demon[]
The Charmed Ones once had to protect the innocent An Ling. She was trying to get the Dragon Blade, a knife with the ability to steal someone's soul, so she could stop Yen Lo, who had kidnapped her father and taken him to Limbo.
After the incident with Paige and Phoebe, Piper used powdered toadstool to switch bodies with the Zen Master. Yen Lo could easily tell that the Zen Master was not there anymore and stole Piper's soul. With the Zen Master now in Piper's body, he took Phoebe, Paige, and An Ling to Limbo to defeat Yen Lo. Phoebe was able to subdue him, Paige was able to restore Piper's soul, and An Ling was able to stop Piper's body from going in the vortex.
After the defeat of Yen Lo, the Zen Master refused to go back to earth because it was his time to die. After saying goodbye to An Ling, he walked through the portal and was reincarnated into his next life.
A Knight to Remember[]
One night, as Paige and Glen lay together, Paige told Glen a story about an evil enchantress who stole the love of a prince, conceived an heir, and killed the prince so she could rule the kingdom herself. She was unable to remember the spell the enchantress used on the prince and was curious to find out if it was real and headed off to the manor to look in the Book of Shadows. She flipped through the pages and found the spell. She began chanting it and just as the enchantress was about to lay with the prince, he was summoned to the future. To find the prince, she needed a lock of hair from his true love, Lady Julia. She casted the spell and traveled to the future to find him. She arrived in the attic and blew Piper and Phoebe away with a gust of wind. She then set off to find her prince.
The enchantress arrived at South Bay Social Services, where she met her future life's boss. He thought she was Paige and told her not to be late for work. The enchantress looked around the office and found a picture of Paige and a co-worker and realized Paige was her current incarnation. Paige spots the Enchantress in the parking lot. Before Paige can run her over, the Enchantress blows the car back, popping one of Paige's tires in the process. The Enchantress isn't pleased to discover that Paige is a good witch. Paige throws the potion, but the Enchantress disintegrates it with lightning and blows Paige into her windshield. While Leo heals Paige, the Enchantress barges into Paige's apartment, opens a portal, and beckons the Prince to come with her. Piper and Phoebe dive through the portal before it closes, but Leo and Paige are too late.
Paige alters the prince-summoning spell to bring her and Leo to him. A portal to the past opens, and they go through it. Paige and Leo arrive just as the Enchantress is about to get in bed with the prince. Leo doesn't think Paige can hold the Enchantress off, but Paige thinks that she may be able to channel the Enchantress's powers. Paige confronts the Enchantress, who tries to blast her with lightning. Paige taps into her past life's power and uses it against her. Piper, Phoebe and Leo rush in. Paige blows the Enchantress into a wall. Before the Enchantress can recover, Piper and Phoebe throw their potions and bind her powers, ending her reign of terror.
Notable Reincarnations[]
- P. Russell as Phoebe Halliwell
- P. Baxter as Piper Halliwell
- P. Bowen as Prue Halliwell
- Gordon Johnson as Dan Gordon
- Leo's Past Life as Leo Wyatt
- Micah as Mitch
- The Evil Enchantress as Paige Matthews
Notes and Trivia[]
- The Charmed Ones are all shown to have reincarnated, yet other Warren witches, such as Penny and Patty, are shown to still exist in the afterlife as spirits. Therefore, it's currently unknown how the process of reincarnation exactly works and whether or not reincarnation is a choice.
- Reincarnation is also how beings are brought back as a new life from their past lives to evolve. Without reincarnation, it is believed all good magic would cease to exist since magic is believed to evolve with every new life and through reincarnation.
- Despite this, it is implied that those who end up in Valhalla after death cannot be reincarnated.
- People recognize the souls of those that they are familiar with, which is the reason why her sisters', Leo's, and Dan's past lives look like their present selves to Phoebe and why the Evil Enchantress appears to look like Paige.
- The original plan for "A Knight to Remember" was to have Jesse Woodrow to portray the Prince, meaning that Glen Belland would have been the reincarnation of the Prince.
- Lords of War are known for reincarnating throughout time with their memories and powers intact, along with the purpose to start war in every life. Also, mortals who become Whitelighters also get to see their previous lives for perspective.