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Shamanism and Soul Retrieval
Shamanism
is an ancient healing art, dating back at least 40,000 years,
which 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. 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
shamanic cultures, a soul retrieval was performed within three
days after any major event in a person's life. Traumatic or
other dramatic changes, such as childbirth, marriage, death
of a loved one, an accident, a broken relationship, or argument,
were addressed immediately by performing a soul retrieval.
It was assumed that anyone going through such an event would
have a high probability of soul loss, and, in order to instill
proper healing, the soul was attended to first.
To me,
this care of the soul is the missing link in healing. The
soul must be cared for first. I believe that is why indigenous
cultures were 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 extremely susceptible to soul
stealing. They automatically want their parents to love them
and often give of their soul in order for this to happen.
This form of soul stealing at an early age often leads to
feelings of unworthiness, abandonment, or not good enough.
These feelings can be felt during a person's entire life if
the soul is never doctored and healed. 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. 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.
Another form of
soul loss happens in relationships built on co-dependency,
in which one person bases his or her worth in another person
rather than in self. People manipulate in all kinds of ways
trying to keep a relationship together. Abuse is tolerated
on many levels; others may have an attitude of rescue, they
think, if I just help them, they will love me. This is a false
love that can create soul loss on both sides. True love augments
the soul and is most present when the soul is whole.
Unfortunately,
in our culture there are years and years of fragmentation
and soul loss that can accumulate for an individual, which
creates the potential for a soul to become critically fragmented.
We can see the results of this by looking at the mental, emotional,
and spiritual health of our society. We have a society that
is depressed, self-medicating with illegal drugs, alcohol,
and over the counter or prescribed medications. Our youth
have difficulty finding purpose and meaning in their lives.
Relationships and families fall apart with ever-increasing
frequency. The culture is not grounded in taking care of the
soul.
We are plagued
in our culture with people hurting-physically, emotionally,
mentally and spiritually. The issues that doctors and psychologists
deal with on a daily basis are what a shaman would see as
warning signs of soul loss. Warning signs of soul loss can
include:
* Anything chronic-fatigue,
depression, misfortune, faulty relationships, emotional problems,
suicidal tendencies.
* The inability to release some emotional trauma from the
past-such as a death, divorce, or other loss.
* Addictions of any kind-alcohol, drugs, food.
* Not feeling connected to the body or reality.
* Operations or difficulty in recovering from surgery.
* Repetitive sicknesses, colds, flu, etc.
* Major illnesses.
* No sense of direction.
* Shame or feelings of guilt.
* Feelings of unworthiness.
* Not feeling one's personal power.
Our culture suffers
dramatically from these symptoms. It is rare to come across
someone who responds and lives life from wholeness instead
of from the woundedness of his or her past.
The care of the
soul has many facets to it. Soul retrieval is one component.
If a person has
voids from soul loss, these voids act like magnets trying
to fill up with any energy to become whole. If you are exposed
to anger, fear, greed, anxiety, unhappiness and hatred repeatedly,
those are the qualities that your own soul will absorb. Extracting
negative energies, bringing back the lost soul energy, and
then teaching a person how to stay whole will not only heal
the individual and restore personal power; it will begin to
restore wholeness in our society as well.
As a licensed
professional therapist, wanting desperately for my clients
to gain empowerment and healing, learning about shamanic healing
practices and soul retrieval became imperative. I contacted
Sandra Ingerman who is responsible for bringing the concept,
the training, and the healing potential of soul retrieval
to the American public. Since 1992, I have changed 95% of
my counseling practice to incorporate this amazing technique.
Jan
Engels-Smith
Soul Retrieval Practitioner
jan@janengelssmith.com
Soul Retrieval
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