By Lois Wetzel Werner
The statement, "I was never the same again after that happened," is an indicator of the soul loss experience. Any trauma that alters one permanently and leaves one feeling that he or she is forever changed may signal the need for a soul retrieval. Such incidents may include a car wreck, divorce, major illness, loss of a loved one, combat, rape, childhood abuse, spousal abuse, being the victim of a crime, and many other traumas, including the loss of a job! Soul retrievals may be performed by persons trained in this shamanic practice. Interest in shamanism has been revived in the past few decades by several persons, most notably the anthropologist, Dr. Michael Harner, author of The Way of the Shaman.
Shamanism is the practice of spiritual healing, which dates back tens of thousands of years. Indigenous people all over the planet have practiced shamanism, and in surprisingly similar ways. The shaman has a regular job, but does healing work for compensation for members of his community as needed on an individual basis. He or she has usually had some kind of experience to set the stage for shamanic training such as a near death experience or a serious illness, including depression or schizophrenia. Some persons are simply born shamans. It seems necessary in many people for the ego to have a shock out of the ordinary experience of reality in order to know about the existence of other realities. This kind of experience seems to make it easier for most people to go into altered states of consciousness at will. It is almost always necessary to have a "vehicle" to get there, such as the use of a slow, steady drum beat as used by North American Indians. The drumbeat seems to help the shamanic practitioner to alter the brain wave pattern in order to enter the trance-state in order to "journey" to non-ordinary reality. Many people these days can be trained to do a shamanic journey since many of us have had deep, consciousness altering experiences.
During a soul retrieval, the shaman and his/her power animal travel into non-ordinary reality and view in amazing detail events which have occurred in the other person’s past and which have caused soul loss. These are almost exclusively events which the shaman has absolutely no way of knowing about prior to the journey. When the shaman relates what she/he has seen the client often remembers the event exactly as seen in the soul retrieval with the details corroborated even to the clothing worn by the parties involved. Sometimes the client remembers up to two months after the soul retrieval. If the client was too young or too traumatized at the time of the incident, it is possible that there will be no memory of it ever. At times the shaman will only see fragments of the situation, but will know the age of the client and the significance of the event. The memory is not crucial to the soul retrieval process, but usually of interest to both the shaman and the client. During the soul retrieval process, usually several soul parts are ready to come back and help the client in her/his life. Sometimes there is only one soul part ready at the time. The following is an example of a single soul part retrieved for a client.
Carol, not her real name, came to me for soul retrieval. I asked her nothing about her past, as it is better for the shamanic practitioner if not burdened with too much information during the journey. We talked about extraneous things for a while, to establish a feeling of comfort and familiarity. I explained to her what she would see and hear during the process, and asked permission to touch her lightly when I needed to and told her how and when that would happen. Then I called the spirits and began my journey to retrieve any soul parts ready to return and help Carol at that time. I was taken to an isolated-feeling place in the upper world, a place which is mostly white with clouds all over the ground. There I found a new-born Carol inside a glass building in a clear plastic box. The baby just lay there, alone and still, looking up at the ceiling. My power animal and I lifted it gently and massaged its limbs and bathed it, singing to it all the while. Then we held and rocked it. Soon it began to revive and be aware in the way babies are, kicking and gurgling and making at attempt at eye contact. I was told that this was the only part Carol needed at that time, as it would be plenty for her to integrate. My power animal also told me that Carol needed to promise to get body work and not spend so much time alone for this soul part to remain with her.
I returned to ordinary reality with the baby soul part and returned it to Carol. Then I welcomed her soul part home, told her what I had seen, and what the power animal had said. She began to sob, as people sometimes do after a soul part comes home. She said that she had been adopted as a baby and was taken from her mother without ever seeing her. She was then placed in a bassinet and kept in an orphanage for six months before being adopted, as was the practice at that time. The orphanages were overcrowded and babies were not held much. Carol felt that this was an important turn of events, having this part of herself back.
As I asked her to do, Carol called me again in a couple of weeks. She said she was getting regular massages, and had begun to go out with friends more than ever before, realizing how isolated she had always felt. I have heard from her many times over the past couple of years. Carol got married and has had a baby of her own, whom she touches as much as she possibly can.
My own life has been profoundly changed by both the experience of doing Soul Retrievals for others and by having received them myself. Each of us are on a spiritual path whether we are aware of it or not. A Soul Retrieval can be a deeply significant part of that journey.
