Soul Retrieval:
A Method for Trauma-related Soul Loss

I was first trained in Soul Retrieval back in 1993 through the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, and then later through The Four Winds. These organizations formed the foundation of the style of soul retrieval work I do, however, cross culturally, there are many ways of performing soul retrievals.

In my private practice I have learned, through my helping spirits, additional aspects of soul retrieval. As a result of my work with the Spirits, I have added what I believe are crucial steps to the Soul Retrieval process to ensure a better overall healing experience for the client’s whose soul loss is related to trauma. One of these steps is the process of healing the lost soul part in non-ordinary reality before it is returned to ensure no old trauma comes back to the client. A second step is to unravel any limiting beliefs or contracts that may be entangling the soul part, and creating additional suffering. Adding these steps to soul retrieval substantially elevates the quality of the healing for the client.

First to briefly describe soul loss:

Soul Retrieval is a shamanic method of healing, which compassionately returns and reintegrates the vital essence/soul part (or disassociated part) of a person who has suffered from loss or trauma. In addition, by returning this vital essence, the shaman returns the spiritual gifts that are associated with that essence and reintegrates the client to a state of wholeness and grace. Soul loss can occur from disappointments or losses, such as a child moving away from a beloved home and a part of their soul staying there to play. Or giving parts of ourselves to a loved one who is going through a very difficult time in their lives. For the purpose of this article, I will be focusing on soul loss related to trauma.

During a traumatic event, it is a natural human response to disassociate from our bodies to cope with the pain. We go numb, or withdraw and this protects us temporarily from feeling hurtful or overwhelming feelings. Commonly, when a trauma is sudden, such as in a car accident, we may go through a period that feels like shock, but then slowly come back to ourselves as the danger has passed. However, if the trauma is more chronic: like childhood incest or being in an abusive relationship — or a physically dangerous event: like being assaulted, or in a war zone. This disassociation (or soul loss) becomes more serious and prolonged: We feel apathetic towards life, or are chronically fearful, or have relentless depression. Also, we may try to fill the void of this emptiness with addictions such as drugs, alcohol, food, or sex. From a shamanic perspective, prolonged and chronic difficulties indicate that the lost soul part has not been able to return on its own and requires an intervention, for without the wholeness of having all our parts back and intact, we can find functioning in the world difficult and painful.

The Soul Retrieval Journey:

The start of the soul retrieval journey begins with the intention of finding the soul part of a client that is going to provide the most healing at this time and that the client is ready to receive. With my helping spirits we travel in non-ordinary reality (NOR) to find the soul part that the client has lost and is ready to have returned. I have found that the soul part can be found in the upper world, lower world, or middle world. Each situation is different. Upon finding the lost soul part the first assessment my helping spirits provide is the condition of the soul part itself; Is the soul part holding a high vibration of light and energy? Or is the soul part, depressed, fearful, drained or exhausted? This often depicts the condition of the soul part when it left the client. In the case of a sudden accident, the soul part may have light and vibrancy that was present right before the accident, and this soul part is intact without any trauma—this is a simpler soul part to return.

However, when soul loss occurs as the result of chronic, ongoing abuse, one where the person has been repeatedly subjected to painful experiences—the soul loss often happened at a tipping point—where the soul essence couldn’t endure staying any longer. In these cases, I often find that the soul part left carrying some of the trauma, and the lost soul part is still in a traumatized state. In many ways this make sense; If soul loss acts as a function of helping us survive pain, having part of that pain leave with the soul part enables us to endure a situation we are unable to escape from in physical reality.

The most important aspect to remember in the process of doing soul retrieval is to never bring back a soul part that is still carrying trauma. Doing so can severely re-traumatize the client. On two occasions at different trainings, I had the experience of a classmate returning a wounded soul part to me.  I quickly, emotionally crashed into a severely anxious, depressed state, and I found myself having to do intense self-care for weeks afterwards in order to recover. It was the pain of this personal experience—happening twice—that compelled me to seek understanding of what had gone wrong, and explore how to prevent it. The experience of my personal pain is what led me to add the step of healing the wounded soul part in NOR. I found that this significantly improved the outcomes for my clients.

PART ONE:

Healing the Soul Part in Non-ordinary reality:

Upon locating the soul part, the first step my helping spirits do is take the soul part out of harm’s way. Often, soul parts that are found in the middle world may be trapped in the scene of the trauma. For example: the room the person was assaulted, or raped, or the scene of a battle field where a bomb went off and killed a platoon. If the client is having regular flashbacks or nightmares of the event, this could be a strong indicator that the soul part is trapped in the middle world, reliving that painful scene. Moving the soul part away from that scene is the first step to bringing relief.

The next step is taking the soul part to a healing place in NOR. My helping spirits have a beautiful place in the lower world that offers a multitude of features that can assist in healing the soul part. This is a place of forests, meadows, cliffs, waterfalls, hot springs, even a fire-pit for doing a fire ceremony for the client’s soul. This is the place where the healing for the soul part begins.

After the soul part has been taken to the sacred healing place, my helping spirits first do a full assessment of the condition of the soul part to determine what type of healing is needed. The goal is to restore this soul part to a condition of high vibrancy and spiritual light, before it is returned to the client.

Some examples of healing the soul part in the NOR healing place:

• Bathing the soul part in healing waters (a waterfall, mineral spring, or cooling stream).
• Having your power animals do a dismemberment on the traumatized soul part, cleansing the dismembered parts, and re-membering the client—reassembling them with the trauma energy left out of their energy field.
• Having power animals groom and lick the wounds of the soul part till they are healed.
• Performing an extraction healing on the soul part.
• A purification fire ceremony done to burn away the trauma residue.
• Taking the client to a sacred cliff where they can scream and purge old, stuffed anger that was never allowed to be expressed when they were enduring abuse. Note: In situations of chronic abuse, the soul part that left may be harboring an enormous amount of unexpressed rage—and bringing back an angry soul part can create dysregulation for the client. Being a compassionate witness and holding space for the soul part in NOR, while they express their anger, drains some of this heavy energy and will make integration for the client gentler.
• Ask the soul part to choose a power animal that will help them feel safe and protected when they return—I find that soul parts often have a very clear sense of what protector power animal they want. Letting them choose their PA and returning the soul part with their power animal empowers the client and brings more spiritual regulation to the healing.
• The final step of this process is filling the soul part with Spiritual Light.

Once the soul part presents as vibrant and happy, the next step is checking to see if any limiting beliefs or contracts resulted from, or are tied to, the soul loss. 

PART TWO: 

Limiting beliefs, unhealthy soul agreements, or contracts:

I have found that part of the trauma of soul loss often includes some belief that keeps the client trapped in a loop of emotional pain. Many of these beliefs are unconscious, but they act as a way to explain what happened to us, or how to avoid letting the painful experience ever repeat itself. These beliefs become a trap of unhealthy or self-sabotaging behavior, and I often find them entangling the lost soul part. Healing involves unwinding the energy of this belief system from the lost soul part, which in turn brings relief and a new outlook on life that the client desperately needs.

As an example; If a client was raped, the contract they may make with themselves is: “I will never trust anyone” in order to stay safe. Or, in a family racked by alcoholism or incest, where secrecy enables the abuse to continue, a limiting family belief of, “Don’t talk about it” could be the tipping point where a suffering child finally “checks-out” with soul loss because they can no longer endure maintaining the family secret. These limiting beliefs can show up in a wide variety of ways depending on the trauma that has been experienced.

First, let us understand the qualities of these limiting beliefs, agreements and contracts in order to know what to look for and track with our helping spirits.

Limiting Beliefs or Agreements:

These tend to be more subconscious and absorbed or learned from our families, cultures or surroundings. They become an unconscious framework of how we are supposed to act, live our lives, or who we are. Personal limiting beliefs are often tied to a sense of shame or self-loathing and can lead to, or reinforce, soul loss. Whereas family or cultural beliefs are rules of behavior that violate our true selves and can result in soul loss for trying to conform to a belief system that our soul can’t abide by. The following are some examples.

Personal Limiting Beliefs:

• Taking time for me is selfish
• I am not creative
• I am unworthy
• I am unlovable

Family driven beliefs:

• You never air your dirty laundry
• That’s a family secret-don’t talk about it
• You must always look respectable
• You must never disobey
• If you ever do _______ (fill in the blank) we will never speak to you again

Limiting beliefs that are cultural or gender prejudices:

• The man sets the rules of the home
• Gay (or LGBTQ) people are sick
• Boys are more important than girls
• Men must never look weak
• If you don’t go to (name of church) you are a sinner

Limiting beliefs can often start with thoughts or sentences that begin with: “I am…” or “I never…” or “I always…” or “I can’t…” or “I must…” We repeat them to ourselves over and over. The lost soul part may absolutely and fully believe in this limiting, self-imposed programming, having forgotten they have free will and choice. Healing involves unwinding this thought-form from the soul part and client’s energy field and offering in its place an affirming, honoring and life-supporting belief.

Contracts:

Soul contracts are agreements or promises we make (often internally) and enter into in order to survive a crisis. They allow us to cope with painful situations for which there seems no apparent solutions. These contracts can be conscious or unconscious. They can be promises we make to ourselves or to others:

• I will always help my (son, daughter, partner) no matter what
• I am the peacemaker of the family
• I will never leave you
• I will always work extra hard so people will respect me
• I will never show anger
• I will never trust anyone
• I have to do everything myself

Contracts have an energy of being pledge-like or unalterable. To the client they may seem non-negotiable or they may feel there is no other choice or option. There is a quality of finality to them. The truth is that no contract is absolute. Our soul has the right to discard and renegotiate an unhealthy or unsustainable contract.

Healing the limiting beliefs, unhealthy soul agreements, or contracts during a soul retrieval:

Now, returning to the healing place in NOR after the soul part has received healing and cleansing: At this stage of the soul retrieval, I will ask my helping spirits if there is a limiting belief or contract associated with the soul part that we are currently working with. I may ask the soul part themselves, or the soul part may volunteer the information themselves.

Often times I will receive the wording of the limiting belief either told by my guides or the soul part, or it simply comes to my consciousness. I pay close attention to the words since the language is unique to each person…and I have noticed that the wording of the limiting belief has a spell-like quality…one that is easily repeated in the mind of my client. The variations can be astonishing and tracking the intention is important. You want to extract the correct energy.

For example, if the client was raped, an obvious belief or contract may be, “The world isn’t safe”. However, here are some other examples that have come from my clients: “I will never trust men” or “Nobody will ever want me again” or “My body is icky” or “I’m a slut” or “I deserved this” or “I must never tell anybody” Note that each limiting belief has its own emotional charge of energy that is not like the other.

Unwinding the energy of limiting beliefs:

Sometimes I unwind the energy from the soul part I am working with, and sometimes my guides instruct me to unwind the energy from the client themselves, sometimes I am instructed to do both.

In my journeying state the limiting beliefs appears like an energy thread of words that are entangled in the soul part (or client’s) energy field. It may have a color or texture. It may be smooth or slimy. It may be hot or cold. With the guidance of my helping spirits we track where in the body this energy thread is. It may appear as a thick rope tied around the entire body of the soul part/client. It may be an energy thread only in their head/mind—this would relate to obsessive thoughts of the belief. In cases of sexual assault, I often find the energy around sexual organs or often around the throat (the result of being silenced). Once my helping spirits have helped identify the location of this energy thread there are multiple ways of releasing it. My helping spirits may cut it off the client, as though cutting a rope or cutting cords. They may unwrap and unwind the energy from the client, or pull out “thought threads” from their mind. In our sacred healing place in NOR these cut cords or energy threads are then offered to a ceremonial fire to release and transmute the energy.

We continue with this process until my helping spirits show that all the energy of the limiting belief has been released. After this part of the healing, the removed energy needs to be replaced by filling the client with light. In addition, my guides help me find an affirming belief that supports a new way forward for the client. For example, instead of: “The world isn’t safe”, or “I will never trust men”, a new mantra of, “My discernment keeps me safe”, will honor a new way of being.  Or instead of: “Nobody will ever want me again” or “My body is icky”, a new mantra of, “My Body is Sacred”, expresses a holy view of their body. A positive and authentic mantra helps the client reframe the experience and take back their power. It should be something simple and easy to repeat and I encourage the client to write it down and say it to themselves often after the healing session.

Clearing unhealthy contracts during the soul retrieval:

A soul part may feel stuck or trapped because they are bound to a promise or contract they feel obligated to uphold. Contracts tend to keep us trapped in untenable situations.  Whereas limiting belief systems often become forms of negative self-talk that dis-empower ourselves. Sometimes I find that limiting beliefs and some contracts are almost interchangeable. Interestingly, in my journeying state, if there is a contract that needs to be worked with during a soul retrieval, my guides will often have it appear as though it is a written document. This is, of course, metaphorical, yet also quite instructive as it distinguishes a contract energy from a limiting belief energy. A rather classic example of this may be if I am doing a soul retrieval for a client who is in an abusive marriage, but can’t bring themselves to leave. Here, there is both an emotional and legal contract of: “I will never leave you.” This client’s soul loss may be tied not only to the abuse, but to the belief they cannot leave.

Replacing the contract:

In the soul retrieval journey, after healing the soul part from the wounds of abuse, the next part of the healing may involve addressing this contract. Often my guides, accompanied by the healed soul part, will offer the contract to a sacred fire in NOR. Once the contract is burned, they write up a new contract that honors the wellness of the client. Instead of, “I will never leave you”, the new contract may be, “I choose what supports my wellness, happiness and highest good.” I have often found that the combination of healing the soul part and re-writing a contract will give the client the strength to finally take action and leave a toxic relationship,

That said, in a situation such as this example, there may be a limiting belief that reinforces the contract, such as, “Nobody will ever want me except him.” Understandably, if this is an underlying belief it reinforces; “I will never leave you.” When the situation presents in this way, both the limiting belief and the contract will need to be cleared. I always ask my helping spirits in which order and how this is to be done. In this example, unraveling the limiting belief would likely be done first, transforming, “Nobody will ever want me except him” into “I am lovable.” After this step is complete, the soul part will be more receptive to let go of the contract which states, “I will never leave you.”

Client responses to unraveling Limiting Beliefs and undoing Contracts:

The feedback I have received from my clients for this aspect of the work has been that the emotional charge around a limiting belief or contract subsides significantly. For some it feels like a thought-form from the distant past, or there is a foggy, non-attachment to the old belief. It almost has the quality of lifting a “spell” from the client’s thinking. Clients often report feeling a clarity about the situation that they did not have before. However, in some cases, the limiting belief is so ingrained that their mind wants to float back into the old repetitive thoughts. This is when emphasizing the use of the new mantra is important for the client, it gives them a tool to counter the old thinking and reinforce a new, healthier belief. I also encourage clients to state out loud, “I am no longer in agreement with this limiting belief—this is NOT who I am.” This is a power statement that supports them to stay resolute and strong.

OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS:

While this may seem like a cumbersome addition to the soul retrieval journey, I have found that the outcome for the client and their ability to integrate the soul part that has been returned is substantially improved. Now that I teach this method to my students, they rarely have clients who experience adverse effects from a soul retrieval.

The steps I take integrating this process to perform a soul retrieval are approximately these:

1. Begin the journey by setting the intention of finding the soul part of the client that is most helpful for them and that they are ready to receive and integrate.
2. With your helping spirits find the soul part that is meant to be returned
3. Assess the energetic condition of the soul part—does this soul part need additional healing?
4. If healing is needed, with your helping spirits take the soul part to your healing place in NOR
5. Allow your helping spirits to do whatever spiritual healing is specifically needed to heal this particular soul part, continuing with the healing until your guides indicate that it is complete and the soul part is radiant and light filled
6. Ask your helping spirits if there are any limiting beliefs or contracts associated with this soul part
7. If there are limiting beliefs or contracts, work with your helping spirits to unravel, clear, burn or release the energies of these beliefs or contracts until they are clear
8. Ask for a new mantra or contract to replace the old one, ensuring that it is a simple and life-affirming statement that can be offered to the client
9. Ask your helping spirits (or the soul part themselves) what is their gift that is a part of this soul essence? The gift may be; courage, trust, peace, play, creativity… (note: I have not included talking about gifts in this article since this is already a standard practice of soul retrieval)
10. Have your helping spirits fill the healed soul part with divine light
11. Blow the healed soul part–with their gift–into the client’s heart and crown (add a power animal if this appeared in your journey)
12. Seal the client’s energy by rattling around them 4 times.
13. Share your journey and offer the new mantra to the client. Allow the client to choose if the mantra resonates, and if they wish to continue using it. If it doesn’t resonate with the client, help them find a phrase that feels true and they can use to replace or counter the old limiting belief or contract they have been telling themselves

If you are a shamanic practitioner with a healing practice and wish to incorporate this into your healing work, consult with your team of helping spirits. If they are in alignment with this practice, I would recommend starting with a journey to find the healing place in NOR where you can bring your clients for healing and cleansing. Explore this place well and establish it as part of your journeying cosmology for your work. It is even a place you can go to for your own healing! I use this place as a regular resource for shamanic healing of many types.

The steps of healing the soul in non-ordinary reality, and unraveling limiting beliefs or restrictive contracts brings additional layers of healing and lasting relief for clients who receive soul retrievals.