Soul Retrieval
Mending the Fragmented Self
Through Shamanic Practice
by Sandra Ingerman
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The shaman understands that the self can be a fluid thing and that amid life's traumas, pieces of the self can be lost or stolen.
Soul retrieval is the process of recovering those pieces, which frequently consist of missing talents and attributes,
so that we may continue our journey with more of our intended tools.
As a person travels through life, grappling with the pain and hardships of that life, he frequently seems to leave parts of himself behind - until by the time he has reached old age, he is only a shell of his former self. He may remember with a great deal of sadness how he used to be - saddened because he no longer possesses faculties or attributes that were formerly prominent.
Whenever a person experiences a trauma, a part of his vital essence ( his soul) may separate from him to try to diminish the pain. He may even feel that this separation is the only way he can survive the experience. It is very common to find soul loss associated with divorce, death or loss of a loved one, incest, and abuse. Accidents, illness, even working at a job one hates, can cause soul loss. Childhood experiences also had oftentimes resulted in soul loss - moving away from a treasured neighborhood and childhood friends, being extremely frightened by fairy tales, and being frightened by religious stories of hell and damnation.
Sometimes the desire to help another can cause the loss of parts of the self/soul. A mother may want her son or daughter to be very good at a particular talent that they don't have naturally - and can give up the talent that they themselves have to their son or daughter in the hope that the son or daughter will then exhibit the talent. A person can desire desperately for another to exhibit a quality of spirit that they don't have - and give up their own ability/talent/quality to that person.
According to this view of reality, then, as a person ages and as time goes by, he would be diminished and continue to be less and less of himself unless some action were taken to stop or reverse the process. What can he do when he feels that a part or parts of himself are missing - that he has been fragmented? and Where are the missing parts? Where have they gone?
Perhaps no reality system so adequately explains and addresses this so painful state as does Shamanism. Shamanism concerns itself with the concept of soul - and with recovering lost and stolen parts of that soul.
I would define the process further to include not only soul - but mind, heart, will and a host of other parts of the self that are so vital for a full and complete life. How many times have you heard someone say - I lost my heart - I lost the will - I feel like I lost my mind. Perhaps there is more being conveyed by these words than we had originally thought.
Jean
The first soul retrieval I did was for myself and was done as an experiment. I could certainly relate to the feeling that parts of myself seemed to have disappeared as the years had gone by. Although I rationalized that choices that I had made had limited parts of my expression, I was nevertheless keenly aware that I was not all that I had once been. I embarked on the soul retrieval with a sense of adventure and "wait and see", not completely knowing what I would encounter. The results of the experiment left me with a sense of awe and deep feelings of gratitude. Where only recently had been an emptiness - now there was fullness. I felt with a great deal of certainty that a part of myself had returned. I was eager to share this remarkable process to see if it would be as rewarding to others as it had been to me.
Jean
Read an account of a soul retrieval Jean conducted.
Soul Retrieval
Mending the Fragmented Self
Through Shamanic Practice
by Sandra Ingerman
The Way of the Shaman
By Michael Harner