If we are stuck in the woundedness of our past, how can we move on to a healthier, more balanced way of being? We all have a ‘story’ to tell, and many of those stories include abuse. Despite a desire to escape the abuse, people tend to re-create it in their lives if all they know is the story of abuse, or know of no options to create new stories that will bring a new future into their lives.
There was a time is history where partial soul loss didn’t occur. Complete soul loss is a comatose state, and shamans would assist the lost soul in deciding whether or not it wanted to return to the physical body or move on.
However, as we brought discord onto the earth plane, as we became more and more disconnected to Mother Earth, to ourselves and to each other; as we disconnected from Source, humanity has come to rely on soul loss as a survival mechanism. Fragmenting ourselves has become a ‘normal’ way of coping, although it was not the original intention. As we’ve bought into false realities, allowed others (governments, religions, societal beliefs etc) to control us, stopped standing in our truth and living from the heart despite what others think, we fragment ourselves.
Soul retrieval, an aspect of shamanism, is one of the healing methods I use to bring back the life force essence that people lose as a result of trauma. It has been brought into the modern world to deal with modern issues; therefore complete soul loss is no longer the only reason soul retrieval is used.
Trauma can be abuse, an accident or not standing in our truth. The loss of this essential energy can result in an ‘opening’ in a person that leaves room for illness to set in. While soul retrieval can occur spontaneously, we often need assistance. Although I teach others how to do their own soul retrieval, we sometimes still need someone else to assist us in the process.
A person might feel like they are incomplete, like part of them is missing, they don’t feel like they are ’all there’, might have trouble moving on after trauma. These, and other symptoms such as addiction, chronic illness or depression, are signs of soul loss. Soul loss is a necessary form of survival. It is my job to find the ‘soul part/ that is missing, and return it to the person. I do this by way of the shamanic journey, a method, to the sound of the drum, of travelling to non-ordinary reality, to receive the information and instruction from my spirit helpers that is necessary to conduct the healing session.
What then? I find many clients have been prepared ahead of time for soul retrieval, often without their conscious knowledge. Their guides, or I AM Presence (Higher Self) have directed them to make certain changes, or to read certain books that will be the lead-in for finding me or someone else to bring their vital essence back for them.
Once the retrieval is done, there is an integration period that needs to take place in order for the soul part to feel welcome and to help it settle in so it doesn’t leave again. When that part of the person fragmented off during trauma, it took with it certain attributes, such as self-esteem. When it returns to the person, it brings back the level of self-esteem it took away. As well, it brings back the issues that caused the fragmentation in the first place.
Now it’s the client’s job to process the healing that took place to ensure they maintain that part of themselves that was returned. The length of time and intensity of this integration period is always unpredictable. It could take days, weeks, or months. The results may be dramatic, or very subtle. The person may not even notice a difference in his/her self and think the work was unsuccessful, but others may see the difference in them. One client, fearful of horses after being thrown, was able to ride again the day after her soul retrieval.
Soul parts are identified by age. When a ‘child soul part’ (that which split off when the person was a child) is encountered as I journey for someone, negotiation is often necessary to make soul part feel safe about returning to its person. Child and adult soul parts may come back with requests that are usually meant to asset in the healing process. One client was told by her adult soul part to start gardening. Her first reaction upon being told this was to say that she hated gardening, but then remembered that she’s asked her husband to break some ground for her in the spring so she could have a flowerbed. She hadn’t understood her request of him until I explained that the universe was preparing her for the sol retrieval, and the gardening was a means of being creative, something she needed as an aspect of her healing.
Because this work is done at a soul level, hashing out the issues repeatedly is not appropriate for successful. It is important to acknowledge feelings as they arise, and then release them, trusting that the person’s Higher Self, and guides and power animals are there to assist them.
It is also important to understand the issue/incident on a metaphysical level. Understanding about psychic contracts, the agreements made between people involved in the incident, and unhealthy psychic attachments, help immeasurably the ability to forgive at such a deep level that there truly is no issue left. There was a time in my life that I couldn’t imagine this possibility. I now know differently.
I worked for many years with physical, emotional and sexual abuse in treatment centres, group homes and women’s shelters. I’ve also had my own stories to rewrite. What I’ve seen and experienced is that complete healing, at a soul level, needs to include having one’s life force essence returned to them. I have seen people believe they are resolved with an issue (including myself) but if you are walking around as an incomplete person how can you truly heal?
Forgiveness is a key to the final healing phase. Forgiveness, at a deep level, is often missing and difficult for someone who is still missing that part of his/her self connected to the wounding. Without soul retrieval and without the forgiveness, the issue continues to surface throughout the person’s life, in one form or another and the person repeats old patterns. That person is stuck in victim mode and therefore stuck in their woundedness, retelling the same story repeatedly.
What a difference it makes to get to the point where you can thank your abuser - when you understand the lesson that was presented to you. As you reach that point in your life you can be certain that the last layer of the onion has been peeled away, and it’s the last lifetime that you’ll be facing this issue. New stories are created when healing takes place because the past can be changed.
My work with people on an emotional level was rewarding. However, adding the metaphysical angle to this work has breathed new life into what I do with more dramatic results. My guides led me to this work and I am grateful to them for leading me to my shamanic teacher, Manfred Lucas.