HEALTH = BALANCE
Shamanic cultures have always been aware of the importance of balance in nature, as throughout history they were dependent on nature with their bare lives. Besides the external balance of nature that is reflected in our surroundings, the inner, personal balance is equally essential. Shamanic cultures have always known that one is in balance when he or she is in one’s full power. When you are power-full, you are in good health, resistant to diseases and bad luck, you occupy your place in the community and enjoy a general satisfaction with life. One is in full power when he or she is complete, whole; when one’s soul is complete and powerful, and when one is accompanied by one or more of his or her spirit helpers. If, for various reasons, a person loses part of her power, the balance is broken and she becomes more susceptible to diseases, further losses of power, and prone to intrusions – invasions of foreign invasive energy and powers that are incompatible with her own. Shamanic healing aims to restore personal balance and bring back the lost power.
SOUL RETRIEVAL
The core of human power and integrity is one’s soul. The soul is the most powerful personal spirit, it possesses its own intelligence and specific characteristics. It is what makes us unique individuals with our different features and qualities. The soul according to shamanic perception represents the spiritual aspect that survives the physical death of the body.
Loss of a greater or lesser part of the soul thus entails the loss of personal power and breaks the balance, integrity and state of wholeness of a person, who is now more vulnerable to illness, foreign invasive spirits or powers and is also prone to further losses of soul parts. Loss of a soul part can be caused by various factors; in western psychology, soul-loss can be understood as and paralleled with the concept of trauma, although the concept of soul-loss from a shamanic perspective encompasses a much wider range of experience that are the cause and consequence of soul-loss. In general, when one loses a part of her or his soul, they lose a part of their vitality, their power and they lose access to the qualities and features that this particular soul part carries.
One can suspect to have experienced soul loss by the sudden loss of energy or life-force and joy of life that he or she cannot restore. We sometimes even say that afterwards a certain event we are no longer the same. But if the soul loss happened a long time ago, in one’s childhood for instance, it is easy to not become conscious at all of the soul loss and the event that triggered it, although we can usually feel that something indeterminate is missing. Unaddressed soul loss can also manifest as a general dissatisfaction with life or through the recurring difficult situations that we face.
Soul retrieval brings effective healing for:
- depression
- insomnia
- lack of joy, passion and creativity
- weakened immune system
- lack of a sense of groundedness and belonging
- trauma
- grief
- unresolved emotional patterns
As each soul is unique, so is soul retrieval and the process that follows the reintegration of the returned parts. Some clients feel “as new” and experience an immediate increase in power and energy, accompanied by the sense of deep relaxation and ease immediately after the session, for others the healing appears on more subtle levels and the “symptoms” that the healing took place come in gradually and reveal themselves over time. The soul is complex and it affects different layers of being. The healing of the soul can thus manifest through subtle or more visible changes in health, relationships, attitude towards the world. In any case, after you have received a soul retrieval, you should allow yourself the time and space to fully integrate a part of your essence from whose power and the unique experience it entails you had been cut off for a time period that could mean lifetimes.
POWER ANIMAL RETRIEVAL
From a shamanic perspective, every human being at birth or later in life is joined by an animal spirit, usually from the lower world, which becomes one’s power animal and helps him or her with power, wisdom and loving protection. In traditional shamanic societies, it was believed that children without the help and sympathy of their animal spirit protectors would not be able at all to cross the turbulent waters of various childhood diseases unto adulthood. Since power animals are spirits who are purely compassionate and all loving, they can leave us if our general lifestyle and behavior shows that we don’t act in the highest good of ourselves and others. That usually occurs in adulthood after we have “turned away from our path”, as we say, for a certain length of time. The power animals are patient and compassionate with us and if we display an honest intention are usually, but not always, ready to return to us, or we might find that there is a new power animal ready to join and help us with their specific strengths and knowledge at a certain period of our lives. When we connect or reconnect with our power animal, it is advised to consciously preserve and nourish this relationship.
EXTRACTION
When a person loses her power, be it through soul loss or by losing her power animal, her spiritual “immune system” becomes weakened and permeable to intrusive energy and powers that are incompatible with this person’s and can thus cause her harm. Such intrusions may be in fact the background of various diseases, emotional disorders or local pain issues. Shamanic extraction, removal, of intrusions forms part of a shamanic healing / shamanic support session and helps with the following:
- healing local pain
- healing chronic pain and chronic disease
- releasing energy blockages
- removing recurring emotional and behavioral patterns one perceives as foreign
- clearing emotional and energetic residue
PSYCHOPOMP
Shamanic psychopomp work helps the souls of the deceased that may be stuck in the Middle World in the non-ordinary reality, causing trouble to the living and themselves experiencing pain and suffering, transition into the realms of the Upper and Lower World where they become transcended all-loving, compassionate spirits that experience and emanate unconditional love and wisdom.
Psychopomp work also involves spiritual preparation for death for the dying and their loved ones. I bring in the shamanic spiritual aspect of dying and death, which can help with and alleviate experiencing the fear of death, and eases the processing of feelings and emotions triggered by the experience of finality and saying goodbye. I prepare the dying person and her soul for the transition to the Upper or Lower world, so that when passing over, the soul has enough power and direction to transit on her own. The religious background or religious belief of the dying person and his or her relatives do not in itself affect the shamanic psychopomp work
FOR WHOM IS SHAMANIC HEALING MOST SUITABLE FOR?
Shamanic healing is most effective for people who have a deep commitment to their healing and are actively allowing the changes to happen. My clients who surrendered most to the healing that occurred during the session, experienced immense and very visible positive changes afterwards. For those who are new on their healing paths or have a stronger resistance to change, the visibility and palpability of the changes following a shamanic session, is more subtle and requires more time to consciously perceive.
In my personal experience, shamanic healing can be the final missing puzzle for people who have already done a lot of personal work and therapy and are ready to live an independent, therapy-free life. Or it can be the starting point of a healing journey. Shamanic healing is very gentle and experienced as very pleasant, yet the changes that are generated through a session, especially with soul retrieval, are very powerful and can have a large impact on the course of one’s life.
Shamanic healing occurs on a spiritual level, and manifests on the physical, energetic, mental, emotional and relational levels. As such, it is suitable as an autonomous or as an accompanying or complementary treatment to another healing system, e.g. traditional medicine, physiotherapy or psychotherapy. Personal attitude regarding shamanism and its concepts are not essential for the success of the shamanic session and the healing that takes place. As shamanic healing happens primarily on the spiritual level, and because shamanism recognizes soul or spirit in all that exists, shamanic healing is also appropriate for animals, plants and spaces. Shamanic healing does not replace medical treatment, but it can support and enrich it at levels where traditional Western medicine and other traditional systems don’t reach.