Soul Retrieval

Soul retrieval is an ancient shamanic healing method. From a shamanic point of view one's soul or life essence is the pure energy of one's being. When someone is born into this lifetime they come into this lifetime with a soul that carries with it certain qualities and strengths of spirit, which a person needs in order to fulfill their life purpose in this lifetime. Whenever something traumatic happens to a person, or something happens that a person perceives of as traumatic, then one can experience soul loss.

Soul loss happens when an upsetting or traumatic event or experience occurs, and part of your soul feels that if it stays in the body while you are experiencing this trauma, it will be unable to maintain its pure energy. So, as a healthy self-protective mechanism, part of your soul or psyche decides to leave to separate itself from the traumatic experience. It's important to remember that only part of ones spirit or soul leaves during a traumatic experience; if all of your soul left during a traumatic experience you would die. 

What I'm talking about as shamanic soul loss is often referred to in psychology as disassociation. In psychology, however, there is not mention of there being a soul part that leaves the body, nor is there discussion about the retrieval of this soul part in order to restore a person's soul and energy being.

In traditional shamanic societies, whenever a traumatic experience occurs to an individual, the shamans in the tribe would do a soul retrieval within three days of the traumatic experience and retrieve and restore the soul part to the individual. I have had the wonderful privilege of working with some people on the day of, or within a few days of, their experiencing a soul loss. I can say that when a soul retrieval is done within three days of the soul loss the soul part tends to just slide into the place in which it left and the reintegration of the soul part and it's energy is usually very facile, quite easy and smooth.

Most of us in western culture have been walking around for some period of time without parts of our soul or pure energy. Therefore when I do soul retrievals now, there is usually some follow-up integration work that is required to help the individual learn to integrate the energies that are brought back with the returned soul parts.
In a soul retrieval I journey to the spirit world to find and retrieve lost soul parts that belong to the individual that I'm doing the soul retrieval for. During a soul retrieval the client lies on the floor and I kneel next to them and I rattle and sing to connect with my helping spirits, calling in my spirit helpers and the spirits of the directions. When I am ready to do the soul retrieval I lie down next to the client with our shoulders touching so that my energy is connected to the client's energy, and I then turn on a drumming tape. If I have another person present I have them do some drumming for me.

Shamans around the world use the drum as a tool to help them journey to the spirit world. By listening to a drumbeat a shaman's brain waves are altered to theta waves, which enable shamans to have a visionary experience. It is similar to a deep meditative state while at the same time there is some consciousness that one is in the physical body.

When I journey to the spirit world I go to my spirit teacher that helps me with soul retrievals and I ask him, "are there any lost soul parts of this person who are willing to come back now to help them with their life." Then my spirit teacher takes me to find these soul parts. Usually I bring back between one and three soul parts in a soul retrieval. I never know how many soul parts I'm going to bring back. I simply follow my spirit teacher's instructions and guidance. Many times in a soul retrieval I am brought back in time to find a soul part and I see what actually happened to a person, in other words I see why the soul part separated out from you. Sometimes I see the traumatic experience and I see the soul part after it has separated out. Frequently what I see in my shamanic journey is highly metaphorical or symbolic. Most of the time the spirits like to communicate with us in metaphor in order to assist us in breaking out of our dualistic view of life. The spirits do not see things in a dualistic way like we do. I always assume that everything I see in a soul retrieval journey is metaphorical because I do not know what has actually happened to the client in the past. I do tell clients that I prefer not to know their story, their history, in order that they will fully accept and believe what I bring back in the soul retrieval because they know that I don't know the traumas they have experienced. However, I also always tell clients that if they feel there is something they want me to know, I am happy to listen and hear it.

When doing the soul retrieval, my spirit teacher brings me to a person's lost soul part. I then try and talk to the soul part and find out why it left, and most importantly, what gifts and strengths of spirit it brings back to the person. It is important for clients to remember that the soul part that comes back in the soul retrieval, is not a traumatized soul part that needs healing, that instead it is a part of their pure essence or energy that belongs to them. This soul part left in order to protect itself and it is willing, and usually ecstatically happy, to return to them so they may be restored to their full energetic strength, their full vitality, their full creativity. After I find the soul part and talk with it and find out as much as I can about which gifts and strengths it brings back to the person, I then bring it back to this level of reality. I actually reach my hands up and pull it from what we call non-ordinary reality or the spirit world to this level of reality.

When I have brought back all the soul parts that my spirit teacher tells me to bring back, I also ask if I can also bring back a power animal spirit. Power animal spirits are fully compassionate and helping spirits that wish to help you with your life. In a soul retrieval my intention is to bring back a power animal spirit to help you integrate the returned energies that the soul parts bring back. When I bring back a power animal spirit, I am bringing back a fully compassionate helping spirit that comes back to be with the client and help them in their life.
In the shamanic worldview, the belief is that when an individual is born into this lifetime, there are one or more power animals that attach themselves to a person in order to help them, protect them and guide them in this lifetime. In traditional shamanic cultures these power animals are honored and revered and a relationship is fostered and developed with these power or totem animals. In western culture we are not taught this from birth and so very often a power animal leaves because it feels that it is not used or it's not needed in ones life. There is no blame or guilt associated with this it's simply the way it is. During the soul retrieval my intention is to bring back to the client a power animal spirit that at one time was attached to them and that then drifted off or whose energies and the relationship with the energies was not activated. During the power animal retrieval, which I include as part of the soul retrieval, the power animal spirit is reconnected with your spirit and the relationship that you can have is reunited so that you can call upon the power animal for help in your life.

After I have brought back all the soul parts and the power animal that my spirit teacher brings to me to bring back to the individual, I then sit up and I blow the soul parts and the power animal spirit into the clients heart center. As I'm blowing these parts into the client's heart center, I visualize these energies totally filling the client's mind/body and spirit. Then I have the client sit up and I blow these soul parts and the power animal into the crown of the client's head again filling the client with these energies. Then I rattle around the client and sing a song to seal the energies in. The client then sits quietly for a short time and experiences any shifts in their energy that they may feel. I then talk with the client about what I brought back and what soul parts had been restored to them.

Very often I narrate my journey out loud so that the client lying next to me, or perhaps sitting in a chair across from me hears the journey and hears where I am going and what soul parts I am bringing back. I always tape record these narrations so that the client has a tape of their soul retrieval to take home. Sometimes my spirit teacher instructs me to not narrate the journey out loud in which case I always tape record the discussion I have with the client after I have finished the soul retrieval where I explain what I brought back. Either way, the client has a tape of their soul retrieval to bring back.

When a client has a soul retrieval there is nothing else that the client needs to do in order to bring back these parts of their energy into their being. The soul retrieval fully restores the soul parts back to the client. As I mentioned earlier, there is often follow-up work that is very helpful to do so that the client can learn to use the energies of the soul parts that have been brought back.

When one has lost a soul part and then has gone on to live months, perhaps years, and sometimes decades without that soul part, a person develops habitual patterns of behavior and thought and emotional response in order to try and compensate for not have that part of their energy. With the soul retrieval, it's often no longer necessary to hang on to some of those habitual patterns of thought and behavior. Part of the follow up work after a soul retrieval is investigating and discovering what are the habitual patterns of behavior and thought that are no longer necessary now that your energy has been restored to you. Through rituals and the assistance of the spirits, the clients learn to let go of these habitual patterns and to develop new healthier and more holistic ways of being so that one can use the energies that one has had restored to them. The goal of soul retrieval is not a lengthy investigation in to one's past and the traumas one has experienced. The goal of soul retrieval is to restore to you your own energies that you have lost through the course of your life so that you may live your life in a more whole and creative and fulfilling way. I have done soul retrievals on new born babies who have had traumatic births, on children, teenagers, people in their 20', 30's, all the way up to people in their 80's. I have always found, without exception, soul retrieval to be a wonderful and profound healing experience for all of these people. 

I strongly urge anyone who comes to see me for a soul retrieval to come for at least two follow up visits to do some integrating work. Very often part of this integrating work is another shamanic healing method called a soul remembrance. In a soul remembrance, what I do is I journey back in time to when the client first incarnated into this lifetime and I find what their soul purpose is for this lifetime. I ask to see the soul purpose as a symbol, which I draw or paint for the client. With a soul remembrance one soul, which has often become fragmented during ones years of living, which is why the soul retrieval is necessary. During the soul remembrance ones spirit and soul is remembered to ones life purpose. With this re-memberance and the restoration of ones soul energies to a person, the client is often able to align himself or herself more clearly with their soul purpose in this lifetime. As you can imagine, this often results in the renewal of vigor energy, direction and spirit for the client. I have a very diverse and comprehensive shamanic healing practice and I do a lot of different kinds of shamanic healing in my practice. Soul retrieval I feel is the core and focus of my practice. I feel that I am called to do a lot of soul retrieval and I feel it's a very profound and significant healing method that is not found in any other healing modalities. To restore a person's energy, vitality, some of their gifts and strengths of spirit whether it be courage, the ability to love, the ability to trust, the ability to dance with joy or anything else makes a profound difference in a persons life. After soul retrieval, people have gone on to let go of addictions, to change their lives for the better, have been able to in some cases instantaneously let go of negative behavior patterns that previously seemed uncontrollable, and many other wonderful ways of improving their life. Sometimes these changes are deep and profound and on the surface seem quite intense and other times people feel a subtle but important shift in their attitudes, perceptions and behavior. Whatever the case may be for each client, each and every client that I have done a soul retrieval for has said that it has had a profound and positive influence on his or her life. The soul retrievals that I have experienced in my own life changed my life and enabled me to use newfound courage to improve my life. I highly recommend that anyone considering a soul retrieval might like to read Sandra Ingerman's book entitled Soul Retrieval to understand more about it. If after hearing about soul retrieval or reading this article, you feel this is a healing method that you would like to have done, please don't hesitate to give me a call or to email me. I can also do soul retrieval's long distance and they are just as powerful and profound as if they are done in person. This is enabled by the spirit helpers that I work with so that anyone can have a soul retrieval. I only do long distance healing work with the prior explicate permission of the person for whom it is being done. Soul retrieval is a fabulous healing method, very ancient, and very profound.