Short Answer
From within the framework of linear time, you largely cannot know — and the deeper answer is that the question itself may not have a single correct answer. Time does not operate linearly for the disincarnate soul. A deceased person can simultaneously be present in the astral, already reincarnated in what we would call the past, and planning a future incarnation — because from the soul's perspective, these are not sequential events but concurrent expressions of consciousness. The living can sometimes feel the presence of a deceased loved one, and that feeling is genuine regardless of whether the soul has "also" reincarnated somewhere else, because the soul is not limited to being in one temporal location at a time.
The Full Picture
The Question Assumes Linear Time
The question presupposes that a soul exists in a single state at any given moment — either in the astral or incarnated, but not both. This assumption comes from the experience of linear time within the incarnated state, where you are either here or there, alive or dead, present or absent. But the material describes the soul's existence outside incarnation as fundamentally non-linear.
Mari Swaruu explains through her ghost material that time desynchronises between the world of the living and the astral. A ghost observed haunting a location for decades — from the living's perspective — may be passing through that place only once from its own temporal perspective. The apparent duration of the haunting is a product of the living observer's linear time frame, not the soul's experience. Similarly, the question of whether a soul has "already" reincarnated imposes a temporal sequence on a process that may not have one.
Za'el states this most directly: soul agreements do not occur "before" birth because "before" has no meaning in the constant now. The planning of an incarnation, the living of it, and the afterlife processing of it are not sequential steps. They exist as aspects of the soul's total consciousness, accessible from what we perceive as different temporal positions.
The Soul Can Be in Multiple States
The material describes consciousness as capable of fragmentation and simultaneous expression. A soul is not a single indivisible unit that must be in one place at one time. It is a point of attention from Source, and Source is not constrained by temporal sequence.
This means a deceased grandmother can be simultaneously present as a protective ancestor around her living family, processing her incarnation experience in the afterlife, and already incarnated as a new person in a different time period — because these are not competing states but different facets of the same consciousness operating without the constraints of linear time.
Za'el describes this directly: when Paul dies, his consciousness may go straight to embodying Gabe at a moment of matching emotional frequency. But this does not mean Paul's consciousness has left the astral or ceased to be available in other forms. The incarnation as Gabe is one expression of Paul's soul; the presence felt by Paul's loved ones is another. Neither negates the other because they are not competing for a single slot in a timeline.
What the Living Can Actually Detect
From the perspective of someone alive who wants to know if their deceased loved one is still "around," the material offers several observations.
The recently deceased typically remain near the living for a period, perceiving the world through their etheric body. Mari describes how the dead follow their loved ones, experiencing their grief, and sometimes attempting to communicate or protect them. Dead ancestors can actively protect the living from lower astral entities, because the ancestor's love places them at a higher vibration than the entities threatening their family.
The living can sometimes feel this presence — a sense that the deceased is near, a sudden emotional impression, a dream that feels qualitatively different from ordinary dreams. These feelings are described as genuine contact, not imagination. The deceased soul is actually there, in its own temporal frame, interacting with the world of the living through frequency rather than through the five biological senses.
As for whether the soul has also reincarnated: even if it has, this does not necessarily end its presence around the living. The concepts of "still here" and "already reincarnated" are not mutually exclusive when time is not linear. A soul that has incarnated as a new person in what we call the future — or even the past — can still be present as a protective ancestor in the current moment, because both expressions of that consciousness are real and simultaneous from the soul's perspective.
Practical Signs
The material does not provide a reliable method for determining a specific soul's current state. The honest answer is that from within the incarnated experience, you cannot know with certainty. What you can do is pay attention to what you feel.
If you sense the presence of a deceased loved one, that presence is real. Trust it. Do not invalidate it by assuming they must have "moved on" because a certain amount of time has passed. The soul operates on its own schedule, which has no fixed relationship to the calendar.
If the sense of presence gradually fades over time, this may indicate that the soul's attention is shifting to other expressions of itself — processing in the afterlife, or engaging with a new incarnation. But even this fading is not definitive, because it may also reflect changes in your own frequency or attention rather than changes in the soul's location.
Swaruu of Erra mentions that souls typically wait about two generations before re-entering incarnation. This is a statistical pattern observed from the Earth timeline, not a rule. Some souls incarnate immediately. Others spend what would be centuries in Earth time in the afterlife. The variation is vast, and no single timeline can be applied to all souls.
The Letting Go Question
This question often arises from a place of grief — the living person wants to know if their loved one is still around because they are not ready to let go. The material addresses this directly. The process of letting go does not mean cutting the connection. It means releasing the attachment that holds both the living and the dead in a state of mutual grief. The deceased soul benefits from the living person's acceptance, and the living person benefits from releasing the intensity of the attachment while keeping the love.
Mari states that the pain of losing a loved one never fully disappears — it becomes part of you. Accepting that it will be with you forever is what letting go actually means. It is not the absence of pain but the cessation of resistance to the pain.
Evolution of Understanding Across Speakers
Swaruu of Erra provides the practical framework: two-generation average between incarnations, afterlife as active creative environment, soul groups that incarnate together across lifetimes. Mari Swaruu contributes the perceptual dimension: time desynchronises between worlds, ghosts are not trapped in loops but are experienced that way from the living's timeframe, and the dead genuinely remain near the living for a period of transition. Za'el dissolves the temporal framework entirely: soul agreements and incarnations occur in the constant now, making "already reincarnated" and "still in the astral" potentially simultaneous rather than sequential. Yazhi adds the soul looping perspective: some souls return immediately to variations of the same incarnation, while others spend extended subjective time in the afterlife, depending entirely on frequency and attachment.
Key Transcript References
| Transcript | Speaker | Key Content |
|-----------|---------|-------------|
| Z-009 | Za'el | Consciousness goes where ideas take it; can incarnate directly without intermediate step; Paul to Gabe with no gap; can incarnate into the past |
| Z-006 | Za'el | Soul agreements in constant now; "before birth" has no meaning when time is not linear |
| S-123 | Mari | Time desynchronises between realms; ghost's apparent loop only exists from living's perspective; dead ancestors protect living |
| S-156 | Mari | Recently dead remain near living; perceive through etheric body; grief process on both sides; letting go as setting them free |
| 021 | Swaruu 9 | Two-generation pattern; afterlife as active creative environment; soul plans next life from within afterlife |
| 062 | Swaruu 9 | Afterlife governed by frequency; Law of Mirrors; immediate manifestation in higher planes |
| 173 | Yazhi | Soul looping from attachments; some return immediately, others not for vast periods; variation is enormous |
| 063 | Swaruu 9 | 5D afterlife has attachments too; can communicate with deceased through meditation or lucid dreaming |
| 034 | Swaruu 9 | Soul as accumulated experience; fragmentation possible; consciousness not limited to single expression |