| p>The statement, "I was never the same again after | | | | retrieved for a client. |
| that happened," is an indicator of the soul loss | | | | Carol came for soul retrieval. I asked her nothing |
| experience. Any trauma that alters one permanently | | | | about her past, as it is better not to be burdened |
| and leaves one feeling that he or she is forever | | | | with too much information. We talked for a while, to |
| changed may signal the need for a soul retrieval. Such | | | | establish rapport. I explained to her what she might |
| incidents may include a car wreck, divorce, major | | | | see and hear during the process. Then I called the |
| illness, loss of a loved one, combat, rape, childhood | | | | spirits and began my journey . I was taken to an |
| abuse, spousal abuse, being the victim of a crime, or | | | | isolated locale in the upper world, a place where the |
| even the loss of a job! | | | | ground is covered with clouds. There I found a |
| A Soul retrieval is a form of shamanism. Interest in | | | | new-born Carol inside a glass building in a clear plastic |
| shamanism has been revived in the past few | | | | box. The baby just lay there inert, looking blankly at |
| decades by several persons, most notably the | | | | the ceiling. My power animal and I lifted her gently |
| anthropologist, Dr. Michael Harner, author of The Way | | | | and massaged her limbs and bathed her, singing |
| of the Shaman. | | | | softly all the while. Soon she began to revive and be |
| Shamanism is the practice of spiritual healing, which | | | | aware in the way normal babies are, kicking and |
| dates back tens of thousands of years. Indigenous | | | | gurgling and making at attempt at eye contact. I was |
| people all over the planet have practiced shamanism, | | | | told that this was the only part Carol needed at that |
| and in surprisingly similar ways. He or she has usually | | | | time, as it would be plenty for her to integrate. My |
| had some kind of experience to set the stage for | | | | power animal also told me that Carol needed to |
| shamanic training such as a near death experience or | | | | promise to get body work and not spend so much |
| a serious illness. It seems necessary in many people | | | | time alone for this soul part to remain with her. |
| for the ego to have a shock out of the ordinary | | | | I returned to ordinary reality with the baby soul part |
| experience of reality in order to be open to | | | | and returned it to Carol. Then I welcomed her soul |
| shamanism. This kind of experience seems to make it | | | | part home, told her what I had seen, and what the |
| easier for most people to go into altered states of | | | | power animal had said. She began to sob, as people |
| consciousness at will. It is almost always necessary to | | | | sometimes do after a soul part comes home. She |
| have a "vehicle" to get there, such as the use of a | | | | said that she had been adopted as a baby and was |
| slow, steady drum beat as used by North American | | | | taken from her mother without ever seeing her. She |
| Indians. The drumbeat seems to help the practitioner | | | | was then placed in a bassinet and kept in an |
| to "journey" to non-ordinary reality. In some | | | | orphanage for six months before being adopted, as |
| indigenous cultures a "teacher plant" is ingested to | | | | was the practice at that time. The orphanages were |
| achieve altered states. | | | | overcrowded and babies were not held much. Carol |
| During a soul retrieval, the shaman and his/her power | | | | felt that this was an important turn of events, having |
| animal travel into non-ordinary reality and view events | | | | this part of herself back. |
| which have occurred in the client's past. These are | | | | As I asked her to do, Carol called me again in a |
| events which the shaman usually has no way of | | | | couple of weeks. She said she was getting regular |
| knowing about prior to the journey. When the | | | | massages, and had begun to go out with friends |
| shaman relates what she/he has seen the client | | | | more than ever before, realizing how isolated she had |
| often remembers the event exactly as seen in the | | | | always felt. I have heard from her many times over |
| soul retrieval with the details corroborated even to | | | | the past couple of years. Carol got married and has |
| the clothing worn by the parties involved. Sometimes | | | | had a baby of her own, whom she touches as much |
| the client remembers the event immediately, other | | | | as she possibly can. |
| times much later. If the client was too young or too | | | | My own life has been profoundly changed by both |
| traumatized at the time of the incident, it is possible | | | | the experience of doing Soul Retrievals for others |
| that there will be no memory of it ever. But the | | | | and by having received them myself. Each of us are |
| memory is not crucial to the soul retrieval process. | | | | on a spiritual path whether we are aware of it or not. |
| During this experience often several soul parts are | | | | A Soul Retrieval can be a deeply significant part of |
| ready to come back and help the client in her/his life. | | | | that journey. |
| The following is an example of a single soul part | | | | |