| Soul Retrieval: A Shamanic Technique, Part I by Irina H. Corten Can we really lose our soul? Well, maybe just parts of it, because of traumatic experiences. Ancient shamans knew that, and so they practised a powerful technique to retrieve a person's lost soul parts through a visionary journey to non-ordinary reality. Here's how, in the first of a three-part series on this fascinating subject. On this occasion I would like to introduce the subject of soul retrieval - a classic shamanic healing technique. This method, practised for centuries in indigenous cultures worldwide, has been adapted for modern use and successfully employed by holistic healers. It is important to understand what is meant by soul in the shamanic contest. Soul is defined as vital life energy or essence that animates our body and mind. It dwells inside us but has the ability to move out and exist in other dimensions, during our lifetime and beyond. Soul Loss When we suffer a physical or emotional trauma, a part of this life force leaves our body, and we undergo what is called partial soul loss. Occasionally, someone "steals" a part of our soul by loving us too possessively or by drawing too much of our vital energy to compensate for their own lack of it. This phenomenon is akin to psychic vampirism. And sometimes, soul loss occurs not because of any specific trauma or soul theft, but through an accumulation of stress and frustration experienced in daily living. Soul loss is actually a good thing, according to Sandra Ingerman, who is a leading practitioner of soul retrieval in the United States. "It's the way the psyche of a person can survive a painful event," she says. "If I was going to be in a head-on auto crash, the last place I would want to be is in my body." The problem is that the detached soul part does not always return of its own accord. Frequently it stays apart indefinitely, leaving the person in a weakened and dispirited condition. Symptoms of soul loss may include chronic and immune deficiency illnesses, coma, addiction, chronic depression, memory loss, or a sense of alienation from people and life in general. The soul fragment that flees may be the part of us that feels joy, optimism or love, and without it we simply cannot be happy or whole. The Technique of Soul Retrieval To do a soul retrieval, the shaman goes on a visionary journey to non-ordinary reality (a domain beyond the three-dimensional world). Enlisting the help of her power animal or guardian spirit, she tracks down the missing soul parts (often there are more than one) and returns them to the client. Usually, the soul parts appear in humanoid form, though occasionally they are felt simply as energy fields. The settings in which they appear often contain symbolic or literal information about the client's condition. The shaman embraces the soul parts and, returning to ordinary reality, blows them into the client's heart and head. For absent clients, the soul parts can be blown in their geographic direction, or breathed into a quartz crystal and sent by mail. The result of a retrieval can be dramatic or subtle, but almost always clients feel that it brings about some positive change in their life. An Experience To illustrate how a soul retrieval works, I would like to tell the story of one of my clients, whom I shall call Dave. Dave was a 38-year-old employee of a life insurance company. He was referred to me by an acquaintance who told me that Dave was unhappy and looking to consult an alternative healer rather than a psychotherapist. I invited Dave to my house. He was a tall, pleasant looking man, though tense and very reserved. It was difficult at first to draw him out, but when my two spunky Airedale terriers appeared on the scene, he livened up and played with them for a while. I asked him if he had any pets, but the question seemed to upset him and he answered curtly that he didn't. Dave told me that he read a book about shamanism and was interested in receiving a soul retrieval. The reason for it was that he often felt lonely and depressed and had a hard time forming relationships with people. "I just don't seem to be able to trust anyone," he said. His brief marriage had ended in a bitter divorce. He had a mother who was a widow living alone. He spent most of his free time with her, not because he wanted to, but because not doing so made him feel guilty. "She calls me up and says: 'I don't like to bother you, dear, but my arthritis is acting up again today', or something like that. I know she is manipulating me, but I don't have the courage to say no," Dave concluded. Visionary Journey Instructing Dave to lie down on a mat on the floor, I arranged myself next to him, covered my eyes and turned on a recording of shamanic drums. I journeyed to non-ordinary reality and summoned one of my spirit helpers, an angelic being. I told her the nature of Dave's problems, and she showed me the following scenes. First, I saw a rocky mountain slope. A strange-looking woman was standing on it - the upper part of her looked flesh-and-blood, but from the waist down she was made of stone. She held a huge butterfly net in her hand. Her son, a child of about six, was playing next to her. Every time he tried to run down the slope, she would extend the butterfly net, cover him with it and pull him back to her. I saw this as a clear example of soul theft. Carefully, I approached the woman and asked her if she would be willing to release the boy. She refused, and it took some cajoling to persuade her to change her mind. Thanking her, I picked up the child and was transported to witness another scene. This time my client's soul appeared as an adolescent boy holding a small furry animal against his heart. Suddenly, some unseen force yanked this animal out of his arms and swept it away like a hurricane. The boy began to cry disconsolately. When I approached him, he grabbed my hand and told me to take him away from that dreadful place. And so, I returned with these two soul parts and blew them into Dave's body. When I recounted to Dave what I saw in the journey, he said that the first scene made perfect sense to him. "What about the other?" I asked. Fighting back tears, Dave told me that when he was an adolescent living in a rough neghborhoood of Chicago, some juvenile hoodlums stole his puppy and threw it into a sewer. Since then, he often wanted to get a pet but refrained from it for fear of another traumatic loss. He said that he had not mentioned this episode to anyone for many years. Results Several months later, Dave called me to say that he acquired a kitten and was very happy with it. Because of this development, he now had a good excuse to visit his mother less often, and she accepted the situation with far less resistance tha he had feared. He also said tha he met and started dating a woman with whom he hoped to develop a serious relationship. It was she who picked a name for his kitten: Shaman. Copyright © 1998 Irina H. Corten | 
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