What you need to know
about shamanic healing and soul retrieval
Alida Birch
Soul Retrieval Training
Eugene, Oregon
2007
Paula
Denham,
The Six Month Self Healing Circle: Working Shamanically with Chronic
Illness in our Modern Society
February 2007
E-mail: AlidaBirch@yahoo.com
If you yearn for a fuller sense of vitality and connection to life, if you feel that something is missing or "you've never been the same since...", soul retrieval can put you on the path to healing your connections to self, to loved ones, to the earth.
In our culture it is the exception rather then the norm for people to
feel whole. Because we do not feel whole, we look outside ourselves to
be filled up- with addiction, codependent or abusive relationships, workaholism,
chronic illness, or, on the flip side, the endless pursuit of spiritual
highs. We are a culture of addictions, unhealthy relationships, co-dependencies,
child abuse and materialism. Our treatment of the planet is a reflection
of how we treat ourselves.
In Healing the Shame that Binds You, John Bradshaw uses the term "toxic
shame" equating it to spiritual bankruptcy, thereby labeling toxic
shame a spiritual problem. He says this causes
an alienation of the self from the self so we turn to something external
to fill the emptiness.
Healing ourselves from these unhealthy patterns often takes years even
decades via our traditional psychotherapy and counseling systems. Shamans
understand why that is. What Bradshaw calls toxic shame, shamans call
soul loss. They believe that traumatic experiences result in soul loss
wherein a part of our soul (vital essence that keeps us alive) splits
off
and leaves the person. In classical shamanism, soul loss often manifested
as illness, comas, or near death states and meant that the life force
had left the body. Present day shamans are finding that soul loss is a
very common occurrence, due to the traumas and abuse patterns of our culture.
When we undergo severe trauma, parts of our souls go away so that we can
survive the experience. Soul loss is actually a protective device. For
example, incest survivors often remember the experience of being raped
from the perspective of looking down at their body. People in severe car
accidents often recall out of body experiences. Temporary soul loss can
be a good survival tool for trauma. However, if the soul does not return,
problems develop.
Symptoms of soul loss:
· Dissociation
· The inability to feel the full range of emotions
· Feelings of spaciness
· Loss of memories of traumatic events or entire periods of life
· Having themes that go on throughout life (example: not being
able to trust men)
· Addictions
· Chronic illness
· Depression
One of the reasons traditional systems of counseling can take so long
to facilitate healing is that the part of the person that was involved
in the trauma, the part with the memories or feelings, left. So the therapist
can be working very hard for a very long time with a person who is not
all there.
When the soul splits off leaving the person in a weakened
dis-spirited condition, it is the job of the shaman to restore the wholeness.
The shaman leaves ordinary consciousness, journeying to the spirit world,
and retrieves the lost soul.
How is it done?
The key for me in doing soul retrievals is working with the spirits. I
must move my ego or my personal identity out of the way. My intention
must be absolutely pure to be of service. Shamanic work always goes easier
if the intention is clear and the work is done to help another person.
My shamanic training is with the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, a non-profit
educational and research organization directed by Michael Harner. I trained
in soul retrieval and shamanic counseling with Sandra Ingerman author
of Soul Retrieval, Mending the Fragmented Self.
Through my training, I have learned to journey to non-ordinary reality,
a world that shamans have journeyed to for over forty thousand years.
Once there, I enlist the assistance of power animals to find the lost
soul and bring it back. This work requires intention and absolutely trusting
that spiritual assistance is going to be there. Once the soul is returned,
the person may immediately feel a new physical presence in the body, a
sense of fullness. Lost memories and emotions may return. I encourage
clients to work in tandem with a counselor to work through any returning
and painful memories. It is critical that the person makes behavior changes
that support the return of the soul part.
Although we all probably have missing soul parts due to trauma, not every
person needs soul retrieval. If you feel that your life is functioning
well and if you don’t have any of the symptoms that I talked about,
then it might not be necessary for your to have a soul retrieval. Also,
soul retrievals do not need to be done every few weeks or months. Usually
one or two are required to bring back the significant soul parts that
the person needs to move toward wholeness.
Results are varied and depend on the individual. Some feel instantaneous
change; for others the change is subtler. Often, destructive family patterns
that have repeated over generations finally end. If we are totally here,
we can no longer tolerate behaviors that are not life-supportive. Addictions
are replaced with wholeness and balance. "Numbing out" is no
longer an option.
Soul retrieval can also be used to heal and protect our planet. Whole
sections of the land have lost their soul due to traumas of pollution
and other damages. Also, if we as people are whole and life affirming,
we are not going to be acting in a way that destroys the earth. So at
this point in time, it is critical to restore wholeness to people. Many
times I have heard that the environment is now past the point of a physical
healing by science and that a spiritual healing is now our only possible
answer. Soul retrieval IS a spiritual solution.
*Soul retrieval is also sometimes referred to as soul recovery.
Here is another article about Soul Retrieval written by Sandra Ingerman.
"Our
goal in doing soul retrievals is to fill up a person with their own self,
so they have the energy to create their lives in a meaningful way."
Michael Harner
For many, a soul retrieval is a significant healing and turning point. The return of lost parts of our soul herald the beginnings of a new and vital life.
"Through the doorways
within the labyrinth of life,
we protect our broken heart.
This is the home of transformation
where healing takes place,
where we meet our self,
our strengths and weaknesses,
where anything is possible.
This is where we can change our life.
This is where we set our heart free,
through the doorways
within the depths of soul".
The Retrieval of Heart
Denise Kester