| Learning
about shamanic healing practices and soul retrieval became
imperative for me. Through the Foundation for Shamanic Studies,
I contacted Sandra Ingerman, the author of Soul Retrieval:
Mending the Fragmented Self. Sandra Ingerman is responsible
for bringing the concept, the training, and the healing potential
of soul retrieval to the American public. I strongly felt
that I needed to have a soul retrieval, and the information
about journeying stimulated wisdom that already resided in
my soul. I remembered lifetimes of being a healer, and my
knowledge from previous lifetimes became available to me again.
I not only reevaluated my counseling practice, I reevaluated
my understanding of the concepts of God, Spirits, possibilities,
other realities-the meaning of life!
Shamanism is an
ancient healing art, dating back at least 40,000 years. It
was used by most indigenous cultures in the world. It is a
healing method that emphasizes that all experiences affect
your soul and that all healing comes through the soul. In
shamanic cultures, the care of the soul is extremely important.
In fact, it is the most important aspect of healing. The shamanic
belief is that a human being is first and foremost a soul
having a human experience, not the other way around. If the
soul is cared for properly, or is healed through the process
of soul retrieval, other healings can then manifest in the
mental, emotional, and physical bodies of an individual person.
In our Western
culture, we have doctors who specialize in everything imaginable
except for the soul. To me, this care of the soul is the missing
link in healing. The soul must be cared for first. Fortunately,
this is beginning to be understood in our Western culture
and more people are seeking out individuals such as shamans
for their individual healing.
Shamanically speaking,
all things are energy. The movement, or the transmutation,
of energy is part of the healing of the soul, which is itself,
energy. In a healing, the shaman moves out the energy that
does not belong to a person and refills him/her with the divine
energy that is the essence of that person's true soul. The
theory behind soul retrieval is that there is soul loss when
an individual experiences powerful or traumatic situations.
Ingerman states that, "whenever we experience trauma,
a part of our vital essence separates from us in order to
survive the experience by escaping the full impact of the
pain" (Soul Retrieval, Ingerman, p. 11).
Through individual
experiences, usually some sort of trauma, a person loses part
of himself. In shamanic terms, this process is called "soul
loss." In psychology, it is called "disassociation."
Basically, it is a survival mechanism to withstand the pain
of the situation. What psychology does not ask is where the
lost part goes and how one gets it back. In the practice of
shamanism, when a piece of the soul or energy leaves, it actually
goes into another reality and is lost from the person. A void
then exists in that person's soul. Think of the soul as a
giant jigsaw puzzle. When you experience a trauma, a piece
of the puzzle is lost, leaving an empty space in the puzzle.
When this soul loss occurs, a soul retrieval is necessary
to restore wholeness. In a process called journeying, a shaman
is trained to enter an altered state of consciousness and
travel into different realities to find and retrieve the lost
soul parts. The shaman then literally blows these parts back
into the client via the heart and the top of the head, restoring
wholeness to the client.
The voids created
by soul loss can actually fill up with energy that is foreign
to the soul. This can manifest into all kinds of diseases
or physical, mental, or emotional problems. According to shamanic
definition, the soul is perfect and divine, and life should
reflect this. If a person is not experiencing happiness, or
if there are physical, emotional, or mental problems apparent
within a person, then evidence exists that there is not only
soul loss but also an intruding negative energy. Extracting
this negative energy and restoring the soul through the process
of a soul retrieval thus promotes feelings of wholeness and
happiness. One of the ways that indigenous people realized
a soul retrieval was needed was when a person had stopped
singing. With the restoration of the soul's wholeness, the
person would sing again.
In a shamanic culture,
care of the soul is part of daily existence. I believe that
is why these cultures are notably contented, happy, and crime-free.
People who are whole or feel good about themselves handle
the ups and downs of life in a wholesome way. When people
feel fearful, threatened, or fragmented, their responses to
life are extremely different from those who feel trustful,
optimistic, whole, and complete. In our culture, we have very
little experience with sustaining trust and optimism. Our
cultural system is based on a win-lose hierarchy. Someone
is always gaining while another is losing. In shamanic cultures
this win/lose phenomenon is seen as soul stealing, or stealing
away someone's personal power.
Many people purposely
steal personal power from others. A person can be the victim
of this theft at any stage of life, but it often happens to
children, especially if they are raised with authoritarian,
controlling, or needy parents. The parents actually steal
power away from their children. If a person is abused in any
way, emotionally, physically, sexually, or mentally, there
is a resultant exchange of power. The overpowered loses energy
to the abuser. Children are easy targets to control and extremely
vulnerable to soul stealing. The resultant soul loss leaves
a void that is filled by negative energy (usually feelings
of unworthiness) and the individual carries this energy for
a lifetime, or until the lost soul parts can be retrieved.
If there is no care of the soul built into the culture's system,
the result is a society of wounded people. Feelings of unworthiness
can lead to all sorts of dysfunctional behaviors and attitudes
that predominate in society. These feelings of lack can take
generations to heal, but once the patterns are recognized
efforts can be made toward healing. I have found in my own
research that the core counseling issue for most people is
the issue of unworthiness. People need to be genuinely loved
and connected to a higher power. Once soul theft occurs, an
effort must be made to recover it.
People also give
away their power trying to find love or acceptance. Women
have been taught to give away their personal power to the
male gender. Cultural and family mores often create hierarchical
gender structures, which establish male dominance. The result
is socially reinforced losses of personal power for a false
sense of social order. A country-western song like "Stand
by Your Man" is an example of a gender-based system of
control that suggests "appropriate" positions of
power in relationships. Other examples of this belief system
abound in our culture, but in true love and acceptance one
does not give away one's soul. The void caused by engaging
in this behavior can have extremely adverse effects.
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