Soul Retrieval $200
1.5 - 2 hours
Shamanism is a universal spiritual healing practice found in most every indigenous culture throughout the globe. Shamanism has existed on earth for more than 40,000 years and may have a history reaching back 100,000 years according to archeologists. Shamans exist within every indigenous culture including Celtic, Judaic, Tibetan, Australian and so on. Shamans are not confined to Native American cultures.
The word Shaman means “one who can see in the dark”. Shamans are known for their ability to masterfully walk in both the physical and spiritual worlds at will. Though shamanism differs among indigenous cultures, universal principals are present. Shamans are known for the ability to access divine guidance through multiple dimensions.
One premise of shamanism is that the soul is always free to leave the body. A Shaman shifts into higher consciousness at will to access divine guidance, ancient wisdom and lost power from the spiritual realms in service of the highest good for the community. But when an individual does this automatically or unconsciously he or she may not realize what is happening and the soul may not always fully return.
For example, a soul may leave the body unwittingly during sleep, to travel into varying dimensions for learning and reunion with loved ones. Usually, the soul returns fully before rising and one awakens with new insights, comfort or information to serve soulful evolution. However, when a person is night-traveling in this way and is then abruptly awoken, the soul may not fully return to the body. In this case, soul loss will be evident.
A more common occurrence of the soul leaving and not returning is in response to trauma. An aspect of the soul will leave the body during trauma, to preserve the essential nature of one’s spirit from full impact. Traumas can be physical: surgery, disease, violence, abuse and accidents. Death of a loved one, loss of a significant relationship, job loss or economic losses can create soul loss. Soul loss can happen in an instant or over time, through acute or chronic abuse and neglect. The individual then feels a deep sense of loss that cannot be transcended without specific intervention.
I discovered soul loss and retrieval in the context of an Akashic Record Reading. During a session with a client, I was shown by my helping spirits, that he had experienced a significant trauma that equated with soul loss. I saw where his soul was residing, how it left and why it was not returning. The helping spirits revealed that he needed a soul retrieval. I had never before heard of a soul retrieval and researched the subject following that session. I discovered that soul retrievals are a shamanic done in nearly every indigenous culture throughout the globe. I referred the young man and his family, to a shamanic practitioner who was also a licensed psychotherapist and enrolled in Shamanic Training with Sandra Ingerman immediately.
As an intuitive I see soul loss differently than it is traditionally described. My intuitive insight reveals that aspects of one's innate essence, or soul, will shift into different vibrational dimensions, to preserve the integrity of one’s spiritual essence through the trauma. The soul is there: it is just no longer accessible to the individual without intervention. During trauma the soul retreats into a sacred dimension where it remains until circumstances shift and the soul is welcomed back into a safe, nurturing environment.
Soul loss is rarely done intentionally and is often clinically diagnosed as dissociation, post-traumatic stress disorders, attention deficit disorders and autism. It can leave to a sustained grief, depression, and anxiety disorders. Soul Retrieval alone will not cure these ailments but provides a core healing that allows treatments to be profoundly effective.
Soul loss feels like a part of "you" is missing or inaccessible. Clients with soul-loss describe a loss of essence, purpose, drive, power and passion. Some feel hopeless and lethargic. Because our culture has not integrated an understanding of spiritual essence into our traditional healing modalities, when traumas occur, we do not yet consider soul loss as a vital component of the experience. Indigenous cultures understood soul loss and interventions were offered within three days of any form of trauma endured by the individual or community. In our culture however, some individuals spend years or a lifetime enduring soul loss.
Soul essence can be brought back into this dimension and returned to full presence within the body. Because each individual is innately powerful, when soul essence is returned, the individual experiences full power once again. The soul will require from the individual, changed circumstances to remain as accessible, viable essence. The soul desires and will facilitate empowered conscious living. A soul longs for safe, nurturing and compassionate expansion into one’s creative experience of life. Often, divine guidance to nurture the soul’s return will accompany the soul retrieval. A Shaman can retrieve the soul and return it to its physical home. You can also retrieve your own soul through skillful intention.
How Does Soul Loss Happen?
Many scenarios contribute to soul loss. Chronic or acute abuse, neglect, fear, panic, surgery and accidents are some of the situations that a soul may choose to leave to feel secure and protected in a higher spiritual realm. Disease, suffering and loss of a loved one can also evoke soul loss. Any ongoing neglect or abuse of the soul, body, emotions or mind can create soul loss. Sometimes individuals give his or her soul to another person out of learned patterns.
Giving your soul to a lover, a parent or child, giving your soul essence through engrained patterns of care giving will equate with soul loss. Giving up soul parts will create suffering and illness for all concerned eventually. The recipient will be working with false energy that they are unable to effectively use. One cannot thrive on another’s soul energy. This will eventually feel like a burden to the recipient and drain for the giver. Soul loss always leads to disease in body, mind or emotions. Where loss has occurred, unwanted energy will manifest. We are all meant to live our lives with our own soul energy. With our soul’s energy intact, we are empowered to live healthy, prosperously, joyfully and gracefully.
Our culture does not yet understand soul presence and loss. However, our language reflects soul loss and many of our songs, love stories and familial patterns promote soul loss unconsciously. We talk about energy and soul loss all the time. Some phrases we commonly use to exemplify our soul loss:
· “I gave my self away”,
· “I lost part of myself to him or her”,
· “He/she stole my heart and soul”,
· “He/she stole my life”,
· “I feel completely lifeless”,
· “I feel lost”.
With soul loss, we become increasingly less empowered and do not understand why because our psychological, medical and spiritual communities do not yet recognize that the soul is the true foundation for one’s whole condition in life. Soul is our primary source for wellness of mind, body, emotions and spirit. Conversely soul loss equates with mental, emotional, physical and spiritual pain.
Soul-Thieves or Spiritual Vampires
Some individuals are unconscious soul “thieves”. We often refer to them as “psychic vampires” in the intuitive language of modern day. Most do this unconsciously. They drain energy or steal essence from others to compensate for the soul loss within the self. Soul thieves hold onto people even long after the person has gone.
Sometimes soul thieves are highly charismatic, drawing energy from another unwittingly and stealing some of their essence. Individuals who dominate, overpower or merely attempt to control another is engaging in stealing soul essence.
No one can take another’s soul without your participation. And you can stop soul stealing through healthy boundaries and intentional ownership of your personal energy. You can retrieve your soul’s energy through conscious intention.
Intervention for Soul Loss
For many reason the soul parts may not return without intervention. Intuitively, I have observed that soul essence that leaves often finds solace in the spiritual realm that it is unable to secure in the physical life it is now living. If it leaves during trauma and exists in another dimension it may lose touch with the soul that is now safe, empowered and living a different experience. A Shaman can enter into these spiritual realms; help the soul return the missing essence and facilitate its integration for thriving to occur once again.
After soul retrieval, integration of the returned essence is important. When I provide soul retrieval, I offer guidance that supports integration of returned essence. Remember: a soul will not remain in the physical body that recreates the pain of the past. If a soul left during trauma of childhood and the adult is now smoking, drinking or recreating some form of neglect and abuse that represents the past trauma – the soul essence will not remain. Therefore, soul retrieval will be most effective through intentional healing practices that welcome the soul into a safe, nurturing environment. Upon soul retrieval, it is easier to engage in such practices.
Symptoms of Soul Loss
From a psychological perspective, all facets of dissociation are considered the equivalent to soul loss. Some symptoms of soul loss are:
· -depression,
· -loss of vitality,
· -loss of purpose;
· -inability to move forward;
· -feeling empty or incomplete;
· -inability to remember parts of one’s life;
· -loss of control;
· -compulsions;
· -feeling like part of you is dead;
· -suicidal feelings or behavior;
· -feeling overtaken by external energy;
· -toxic levels of shame;
· -addictions;
· -anxiety
· -feeling little connection to self or life
Other phrases we might use to describe soul loss:
· -“I lost my drive when I lost my job”
· -“All the energy poured out of me after that break up”
· -"I can't get my drive back"
· -“I have no energy"
· -“I feel lifeless”
· -"I cannot feel my emotions"
· -“I have no interest in anything any more"
· -"I just cannot act on what I want to do"
· -"I lack follow through even when I want to” (this can be power loss)
· -“I feel so out of control when I see food; money; sex; alcohol; clothes; that person" ….fill in the blank-
There are medical conditions when soul loss has happened on a very large scale. Certain brain injuries, shock, coma or other forms of not being fully present to life are equated with significant soul loss. In these cases, more of the soul essence is lost than present. This can be a way for the soul to allow the body to heal before returning.
Another symptom of soul loss is the deep need to revisit a memory, a place or person. The compulsion to return is driven by the deep need for soul retrieval. The soul is longing to reunite with the lost aspect and this unconsciously compels the individual to keep going back to reclaim its loss. Sometimes this is why individuals also long to reunite with God or go to heaven or to be with a lost loved one. The soul is longing for the lost aspect of its essence. Once returned; the desperate longing usually ceases.
What happens during Soul Retrieval?
The Shamanic practitioner determines whether a soul loss has occurred and if a soul retrieval will serve the highest good for the client. The shaman creates a sacred sanctuary within a container of divine love and truth to ensure protection and spiritual healing for the client and all concerned. The trained practitioner then goes into an altered state of consciousness at will. During this sacred journey, the shaman travels into spiritual realms to access the lost soul essence and also clear unwanted energies that have entered the body where loss has occurred.
It is not up to the shaman to determine what soul aspects are returned; this is up to the divine guidance team and the soul itself. A soul will not return if it isn’t appropriate or ready to do so. The shaman will bring the soul back into his or her essence, then blow the individual’s soul essence into the body through the heart and crown chakras. Then, the shaman seals the energy field of the client, perhaps using a rattle or other symbolic sacred tool, to ensure the essence is protected, grounded and at ease at home again.
Often power animals, guides and divine guidance may be returned with the soul during a soul retrieval. The shaman will reveal what may have contributed to soul loss, what the returned essence requires to remain intact and evolving from this point forward in the client’s life. All soul retrievals are unique. In my experience, sometimes the story accompanies the retrieval and sometimes it does not.
A Celebration of soul return is recommended after the ceremony is complete. Your soul has been returned – this is cause to stop and fully appreciate the exquisiteness of your being and healing. This is cause for celebration and reunion. Our culture has become quite complacent about healing. We go to psychotherapy or doctor's appointments in between meetings; attend intensives without taking contemplative breaks before re-entry into mainstream life and often experience massages and other types of healings without celebrating the experience of healing our sacred being. Soul retrieval is a sacred act. It is the return of lost essence and worthy of significant celebration and reverence. Please make time to celebrate your soul's return privately and within your support system after a soul retrieval!
Do I need a Shaman to do my soul retrieval?
When I was first guided about soul retrieval, I asked my guides if I could do my own. They emphatically stated “yes” but then encouraged me not to do so. Our culture has trained us to be fiercely independent and often at the expense of nurturing ourselves in community. My guides reminded me that part of healing is allowing another to serve and provide a loving experience where nurturing and connection can be offered unconditionally - perhaps in the way it wasn't available during the initial trauma and soul loss. In traditional cultures, soul retrieval is done as soon as soul loss is noted and within the family or whole community who agrees to welcome the lost soul and support it’s healing.
A Shaman is not more powerful than you to retrieve your soul any more than an intuitive consultant is more capable of intuiting your life. You are innately powerful and capable of these actions. Support for doing so can nourish your healing, integration and sustained growth.
What can I expect from Soul Retrieval?
Just as with all healing, responses to soul retrieval vary greatly. Consider the ways you’ve felt in other healing or spiritual situations. Some people feel significant energy shifts, intense elation, deep reunion grief, big vitality, and lightness of being or completion within.
Have you ever had a reading or been to an audience reading? Some people cry, some people feel the deepest relief and others feel like nothing happened at all. The differences are as unique as humans tend to be from one another.
Soul Retrieval can bring you into direct confrontation with your self. It may stir memories or bring up issues that require for you to heal through. If you are willing to do so, the returned soul will support your process in that leg of the journey. Soul Retrieval is not a fix or cure; it is a healing that is nurtured by and nurtures conscious living.
Should I have a Soul Retrieval?
There are many reasons to have soul retrieval. Individuals who have their essence can heal more rapidly, make decisions more easily, feel more connected to life, experience love and trust again, feel a sense of purpose and joy, express passion, transcend limits that eluded one prior to the retrieval and respond more fully to the variety of life’s experiences – positive and painful and all in between. If you are in treatment with a psychologist or physician, it would be helpful to integrate the soul retrieval into your ongoing support system. I often coordinate a soul retrieval with the client’s psychologist or physician.
Just as intuitive consultant cannot tell you what you will gain from having a reading; a healer cannot determine how you will feel about your soul retrieval. Your personal willingness to integrate your soul essence into your healing journey will make a difference; but you are a unique being living your personal journey. What I do know for sure: soul returned will expect a healthy, loving environment in order to remain and evolve. The good news: soul return helps you create that for your self. Just like intuitive guidance cannot work for you, it has to work through you, soul retrieval will inspire action on your part and you as a client will have to learn to listen and respond to your soul’s needs.
Do I need a Soul Retrieval?
Just as you feel moved to have a reading, your spirit may compel you to have soul retrieval. You may simply “know” that this is what you need. Your intuition will certainly point you in that direction; a skilled Shamanic healer can do a diagnostic reading to confirm whether it’s appropriate for you at this time.
Some of the symptoms of soul loss are below. You do not need to experience all of these symptoms or any in an extreme way:
· Feeling incomplete
· Feeling lifeless
· Depression
· Suicidal tendencies
· Drug abuse
· Addictions and/or compulsions
· Inability to move forward, even with concerted effort
· Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome
· Stuck or unable to move past an issue; thought; feeling
· Unsupported by life; disconnected from Source and/or life
· Isolation
· Lost memories; unable to recall specific events
· Reliving the past
· Feeling like someone “stole” your heart or “part of you”
· Unable to recover after the death of a loved one
· Compulsion to return to a place, person, situation or thing even though your rational mind tells you it won’t help or you have no idea why.
· Feeling like soul retrieval will help you!
Soul Retrieval isn’t the end of the journey. It is the beginning of living a new way. Remember in the movie “Wizard of Oz” Dorothy recovered her spirit through her journey down the yellow brick road? When she returned home once she realized she had the inner power to do so. If you observe the scene to which Dorothy returns, she has come home to the same place, circumstances and people but all from a different perspective. Dorothy’s healing didn’t end there it took a new form by drawing from a new sense of self through soul reunion. The Course in Miracles describes a miracle as a “shift in perception”. It is my view that soul return provides you the foundation and shift to experience life in a new way.
I have great respect for Sandra Ingerman as a Shamanic practitioner and teacher. I have studied with her and found her to be ethical beyond reproach. I highly recommend reading her book Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self Through Shamanic Practice prior to having your soul retrieval.
I am a student of Sandra Ingerman and currently in the shamanic apprenticeship program with Colleen Deatsman.
is told during the “retrieval.
Shamans, like all beings, have varied skills. Some are gifted at foresight, some at healing, others work with the deceased spirits to assist their shift into the spiritual realm, some bring through divine guidance and others are gifted at spiritual cleansing, ceremonies and rituals.
I was raised in a traditional upbringing in the suburban midwest with little exposure to shamanism. I had been adopted into a Jewish family and later learned of my Cherokee heritage. This however, is not my link to shamanism. Instead, it was dreams and eventually overt divine guidance that brought shamanism and its profound healing gifts into my life. I do not claim to be a shaman, any more than I claim to be gifted or talented as a healer or intuitive as such claims are ego representations. The effects of this work must stand on thier own integrity. Shamans do not proclaim their gifts to their community. Instead, a shaman was selected by their helping spirits and community who observes the abilities and benefits from his or her ethical work. As an intuitive consultant and healer, I hold the deepest intention to provide the highest healing services as a clear channel in service of God's love and Truth.
