Insights into shamanism ~ Soul Loss & Soul Retrieval ~

Welcome to Iceland! ...As I completed my 2nd year walking The Shaman's Path in this powerful country, I wanted to celebrate by sharing with you some insights into shamanism and one of its core practices: soul retrieval.

Have you ever felt like you've left a piece of you behind or that you were never fully the same after a difficult event? Maybe a relationship ended, or you left a place you loved, perhaps you don't even remember what happened or when it did, but you can tell that part of you is missing. You don't feel yourself fully. You don't have all of your power, all of your love, all of your presence, joy, innocence, creativity... something is missing and wherever you look, you don't find it. Have you heard of "soul loss"?

When we go through an event that is painful beyond our capacity, shamans explain that our energy system may shatters, and we may experience "soul loss". A little piece of ourselves may separate from our field and get stuck or lost somewhere in the astral realm. Sometimes this happens even before birth, meaning we never fully came into our body.That was my case, and one of the most vivid soul retrievals I experienced in the last few years was a session where I litterally got to re-experienced my birth. As the healers were working on me, I suddenly felt pressure against my head and the sheer terror of becoming a separate being for the first time, out of the womb, in the open world. That was absolutely terrifying, I had never experienced such vulnerability and actually had to open my eyes and grab some of my healers hands, as in that moment, connection felt like a matter of life or death. Luckily, three healers were working on me that day so that didn't prevent them from continuing the session. As they kept soothing me and working on my field, I felt an incredible amount of energy being pushed into my body through the top of my head. Again, that was one of the most intense healings I ever received. I litterally had the impression that the quantity of energy that was coming back to me was just as much as the energy that had been living in my body my entire life. It was massive! The healing got completed and for the next few days, I had a very raw craving for pressure on my body. I kept wrapping myself as tightly as possible in blankets and when my healers offered other sessions, I asked if they could massage and pressed onto my body instead. In hindsight, this is the exact longing a new born experiences after birth as the pressure and containment of the body is reassuring and helps them get used to their new physical boundaries.

A soul retrieval is quite an event. The consciousness that you retrieve is still the same age you were when the traumatic event happens. You had a soul loss when your parents divorced at 8 years old? Then the bit you get back is 8 years old. How do you make a child that age home in your consciousness, how do you help them integrate and mature within yourself? A lot of the time, the shamanic practitioner will give you some practices to help with this delicate phase. Indeed, the full integration of a soul retrieval can take much more time than for a "normal" healing.

As for me, in this particular example, I remember "fully landing" in my body a few weeks after the healing. From this point, for weeks I experienced my body as if for the first time: with enhanced vividity, sensing all of my skin cells, the weight of each little toe, being blown away by a perfume, extatic with a taste or a breeze! The amount of pleasure and life force available to me suddenly was out of comparison with anything I had known before. You see, I was always a day dreaming child, bumping into things, forgetful and not so in touch with my body. It had improved over the course of my healing journey but to suddenly be able to receive such intense sensations really meant something to me. Eventually, I got used to it and this enhanced capacity for presence has become normal. How very grateful!This is just one story amongst many, many... not everybody will feel it so strongly, however the effects are lasting and important. If you would like to read more about the phenomenon of soul loss and soul retrieval, I recommand Sandra Ingermann's book: Soul Retrieval, Mending the fragmented self.