Shamanic soul retrieval- an ancient solution to a modern crisis

Do you feel as though something is missing from your life? Could that be part of your soul? 

People come to me with a deep knowing that something is missing from their lives but find it hard to wrap words around these feelings. They often have a sense that there is more to life, and they struggle to shake the rumble of fear, sadness, and feelings of isolation from their system. It creates a longing and a search for something that is missing.

I believe this is a modern-day crisis of being disconnected from our soul, our true essence, our inner self. When this happens, we feel at the mercy of outside events, we feel as though things happen to us and we are merely passengers in our own lives. We begin to believe that we are just a physical body in a purely material world. This misconception causes us to feel alone and disconnected. It activates our survival instincts and we become focused on the external world, on goals, time, tasks and getting through each day. 

Could it be that we have all lost parts of our vital life force and soul? 

Soul loss is an ancient shamanic term used to describe what happens to a soul during times of crisis or trauma. As we journey through our lives, we all encounter situations that we do not have the inner resources to cope with. As a result our soul can become fragmented and a part of it can become lost or disconnected from us. Energetically we leave part of ourselves at that point or place in time. The soul part lingers there waiting for a chance to return to a more healed state of wholeness.

How do you know if you have experienced soul loss? 

Have you ever found yourself replaying an event repeatedly in your mind to try and make sense of it or find a resolution? If so, the chances are you have experienced some soul loss there. And most certainly you are draining vital energy to the situation in the here and now by revisiting it time and time again.

In fact, we all experience soul loss throughout our lives with much of this loss occurring during childhood. Soul loss can be caused through trauma and through not getting our needs met. Things like lack of attuned care, being ignored, feelings not being validated, or your true essence and soul not being seen can all lead to soul loss. We can also experience soul loss from traumatic events, schooling, relationship break ups, stress, basically anything that overwhelms our system.

Soul loss means that we have lost connection to part of ourselves, leaving us with a sense of not feeling whole. An essential part of our true being becomes hidden and lost. Losing soul parts drains our vital energy to experiences, people and situations that happened in the past, sometimes many years or lifetimes ago.

Without being able to process these events they get trapped in our limbic brain and dysregulate our nervous systems. These situations are often beyond our conscious memories, this is because the part of us that went through the trauma is disconnected, missing, or lost and hidden within our subconscious.

The search for your soul parts

As we search for the parts of ourselves that we long to have returned we subconsciously repeat old patterns of behaviours, situations, and relationships in a hope that we can reclaim our power, reach a resolution, and retrieve our soul parts. Whilst we do this, we try to fill this void externally with distractions to numb out the pain. We become addicted to things that give us temporary relief such as turning to food, drink, drugs, sex, and drama - but nothing is ever enough.

We have a longing for wholeness, connection and healing yet cause more pain whilst looking for the answers.

How can shamanic soul retrieval help?

A shaman can facilitate soul retrieval by helping the client find these missing soul parts and integrate them back into their luminous energy fields. This process involves energetically retrieving soul parts, usually one at a time and giving them the voice and healing they need to return to the person. This process occurs at all levels mind, body, and soul.

Working with the shaman, our soul guides the process of retrieval knowing which parts are ready to return and when. A soul part will only return to the person when they know the healing they need can occur. For example, a client may know they have had soul loss from a relationship break up, they may sense that they have lost a part of themselves and want to reclaim this part. Whilst we might be able to find and talk to this soul part, the soul part itself might not want to return until the person loves themselves more or is in a safe place. The client needs to take the souls learning from the soul loss and integrate it into their lives to ensure the repeating trauma pattern is resolved.

Therefore, soul retrieval must involve integration work. Often an agreement is needed between the soul and the soul part for it to return. The heart needs to be ready to receive this part back with love and acceptance, providing the healing and validation that was not available when it left.

What does a soul retrieval feel like?

Clients who have a soul part returned to them experience this on a physical, energetic and a soul level. They know and feel that piece of them has returned. Many of my clients have experienced huge shifts in their world after soul retrievals. The part that has returned brings back its own energy and divine gifts. Some clients may feel more able to play and have fun, artistic talents have returned, they no longer repeat destructive patterns, they feel more grounded and connected, they feel safe and loved, they have more energy and things fall into place.

In these times we are all losing so much soul and we need to get these pieces back to live in a state of wholeness and with connection to our divine self. They bring back the energy and clarity we need to free ourselves from the past so we can consciously create a new future.

Soul retrieval is just one of the many ways in which shamanic healing can help clients. The combination of ancient shamanic energy healing and modern counselling provides a magical foundation for transformation.