| Shamanism is an ancient healing art, dating back at | | | | terms, this process is called "soul loss." In psychology, |
| least 40,000 years. It was used by most indigenous | | | | it is called "disassociation." Basically, it is a survival |
| cultures in the world. It is a healing method that | | | | mechanism to withstand the pain of the situation. |
| emphasizes that all experiences affect your soul and | | | | What psychology does not ask is where the lost part |
| that all healing comes through the soul. In shamanic | | | | goes and how one gets it back. In the practice of |
| cultures, the care of the soul is extremely important. | | | | shamanism, when a piece of the soul or energy |
| In fact, it is the most important aspect of healing.1 | | | | leaves, it actually goes into another reality and is lost |
| The shamanic belief is that a human being is first and | | | | from the person. A void then exists in that person's |
| foremost a soul having a human experience, not the | | | | soul. Think of the soul as a giant jigsaw puzzle. When |
| other way around. If the soul is cared for properly, | | | | you experience a trauma, a piece of the puzzle is |
| or is healed through the process of soul retrieval, | | | | lost, leaving an empty space in the puzzle. When this |
| other healings can then manifest in the mental, | | | | soul loss occurs, a soul retrieval is necessary to |
| emotional, and physical bodies of an individual person. | | | | restore wholeness. In a process called journeying, a |
| In our Western culture, we have doctors who | | | | shaman is trained to enter an altered state of |
| specialize in everything imaginable except for the soul. | | | | consciousness and travel into different realities to find |
| To me, this care of the soul is the missing link in | | | | and retrieve the lost soul parts. The shaman then |
| healing. The soul must be cared for first. Fortunately, | | | | literally blows these parts back into the client via the |
| this is beginning to be understood in our Western | | | | heart and the top of the head, restoring wholeness |
| culture and more people are seeking out individuals | | | | to the client. |
| such as shamans for their individual healing. | | | | The voids created by soul loss can actually fill up with |
| Shamanically speaking, all things are energy. The | | | | energy that is foreign to the soul. This can manifest |
| movement, or the transmutation, of energy is part | | | | into all kinds of diseases or physical, mental, or |
| of the healing of the soul, which is itself, energy. In a | | | | emotional problems. According to shamanic definition, |
| healing, the shaman moves out the energy that does | | | | the soul is perfect and divine, and life should reflect |
| not belong to a person and refills him/her with the | | | | this. If a person is not experiencing happiness, or if |
| divine energy that is the essence of that person's | | | | there are physical, emotional, or mental problems |
| true soul. The theory behind soul retrieval is that | | | | apparent within a person, then evidence exists that |
| there is soul loss when an individual experiences | | | | there is not only soul loss but also an intruding |
| powerful or traumatic situations. Ingerman states | | | | negative energy. Extracting this negative energy and |
| that, "whenever we experience trauma, a part of our | | | | restoring the soul through the process of a soul |
| vital essence separates from us in order to survive | | | | retrieval thus promotes feelings of wholeness and |
| the experience by escaping the full impact of the | | | | happiness. One of the ways that indigenous people |
| pain" (Soul Retrieval, Ingerman, p. 11). | | | | realized a soul retrieval was needed was when a |
| Through individual experiences, usually some sort of | | | | person had stopped singing. With the restoration of |
| trauma, a person loses part of himself. In shamanic | | | | the soul's wholeness, the person would sing again. |