**Trigger warning! – This post mentions traumatic events**
You may have heard of Soul Loss and Soul Retrieval. But what are they?
Everyone has experienced some kind of traumatic event in their lives. When those events happen especially as children, parts of our energy body split off and go somewhere else, often to somewhere more pleasant to escape from horrible situations. In shamanic terms this is called Soul Loss. In psychology it’s called Disassociation. A Soul Loss response to trauma is a survival strategy to allow us to continue to function to an extent, but without our whole self continuing to experience the trauma. Soul parts will often stay in their newly distanced place, either in a state of comfort (e.g. I’m in my little bubble don’t disturb me), or in a state of fearful waiting to be rescued. Soul parts can hide in many places such as cupboards, caves, under stairs or beds, inside holes, and can return to, or be left behind at previous homes. They often appear as small children, babies or energetic forms such as balls of light or essence.
So how do you know if you have experienced Soul Loss?
Common symptoms may include:
- Feeling incomplete in some way – or not “all there”.
- Feeling like there is a part of you that you just can’t access.
- Lonely for yourself or something you can’t quite put your finger on.
- Memory loss – not being able to remember whole chunks of a period of time – e.g childhood years.
- Feeling a lack of energy.
- Feeling a lack of enjoy and engagement in life.
- Feeling numb or not being able to feel emotions deeply.
- Feeling depressed without any obvious cause.
- Describing your response to an event energetically such as “I jumped out of my skin, I didn’t know where to put myself, I was beside myself, I felt like a part of me had died, I felt heart broken, I felt like they took a part of me, I don’t feel like myself anymore. I can’t seem to pull myself together.”
If you have experienced any of the following then it may be that you have experienced Soul Loss:
Bereavement of a person or beloved pet, divorce (or parent’s divorced), rape, physical, emotional or sexual abuse, an accident or other physically violent event such as a being in a war zone, explosion or fire, a mugging, or a fight, bullying, an operation, an abortion or miscarriage, any other shocking or perceived traumatic event such as a relationship ending, losing a home, job, or business. In fact, if you are human, you have probably experienced some sort of Soul Loss. During childhood we are so tender and impressionable that even “small” things like being told off for being naughty can cause Soul Loss. The key here is that whatever is perceived energetically as traumatic can cause it, rather than what we see as trivial when we think of it as an adult, or once we have logically analysed it to death and tried to rationalise it away.
So what is Soul Retrieval?
Soul Retrieval refers to the process of finding and collecting up those split off soul parts and returning them to the person’s energy body. A shamanic practitioner will journey to search for the missing parts. Once they have been found, it may take some negotiation and discussion with those parts to ask them to come home. Sometimes they come willingly and wail “I’ve been waiting for you to come all this time!”. Other times, soul parts may be untrusting and want reassurance that it’s worth coming back because they don’t want to feel whatever it was that made them leave in the first place. This is a very important consideration. During the healing session, the healee needs to make an agreement with the missing soul part, that they will look after it once it returns, and treat it with tender loving care, respect its wishes and listen to, and fulfil its desires for reassurance, love and play. Once the missing part has been reassured and agrees to return, the shamanic practitioner will gather up the soul part and carry it energetically back to this reality. They will then blow the soul part back into the heart chakra of the healee and also into the crown chakra. I like to energetically “seal” in the soul part shaking a rattle all around the energy body of the healee. The healee then needs to welcome the part(s) back and talk to them creating a new and loving relationship i.e. become a loving parent to the soul part. This is an ongoing process and it may take several weeks or so for the newly returned part to be back and get used to it. This is a good time to have therapy or counselling to support this process.
So how does it feel to have a Soul Part returned?
Having had several Soul Retrievals myself, both with other shamanic practitioners and spontaneous ones through my own shamanic journeys, I can attest to the power of soul retrieval. There is no other feeling quite like it. It does literally feel like having a small person (one of your younger selves) come back to you and inhabit your body. That may seem weird but it is actually the most wonderful feeling in the world to have someone you have longed for i.e. yourself, to come home to your body and to feel more whole. There is a renewed sense of joy and childlike wonder, of physical and emotional energy, of love for yourself and an awareness of how tender and sensitive our inner children are. There is a feeling of “Ahhhh, I’m home!”.
Once returned, soul parts often want us to play with them, buy them childish gifts, talk to them lovingly and hug them and reassure them that we will never leave them and we will always have their back. I suggest indulging anything your soul part wants if possible. Ice creams, candy bracelets, stuffed toys, kite flying, whatever the soul part kid wants. You may need to update them with things that are happening now in your life as they have been away for a long time. For example one of my soul parts wanted to know why my mum’s hair had gone white, (it used to be black) and I had to tell her that my mum was old now. The most important part of this integration process is to practise self care and self love towards your soul part and the rest of you. If you are not able to do this, then it is better to put off having Soul Retrieval until you can practise good self care habits and gentle self love. You don’t want to bring them back, only to break your promise of care to them.
Overall the process of welcoming and integrating your returned soul part is a wonderful and joyful experience. To have the parts of yourself come back so you feel whole again is well, like nothing else on earth. It’s like meeting your one true love, and that one true love is you.