Often, people ask me what Soul Retrieval is or means.  For many, the expression is quite intriguing.  For me, Soul Retrieval was the doorway into the work of Sandra Ingerman and into the practice of Drum Journeying.  In classic shamanism, healing proceeds either from the restoration of what is lacking in the individual or from the removal of a foreign energy1.  Soul Retrieval proceeds from the intuition that something about our vital energy, our soul, can be lost and restored.  In traditional shamanic cultures the soul loss is often attributed to the theft of a magician or to a wandering spirit2.  For Western (neo-)shamanic practitioners, the concern is usually not about witchcraft or sorcery, for these practices have largely faded away in our communities, but it is rather about the traumas resulting from modern life.  In Soul Retrieval, Mending the Fragmented Self, Sandra Ingerman explains, “incest, physical abuse, rape, loss of a loved one, accidents, wartime experiences, major illness, and surgery are assaults that can catapult the soul from the body3”.Every individual is endowed with an internal self-care system that aims at protecting the soul from intolerable suffering.  Its strategy is to find a shelter for the soul, or for the soul part(s), away from the here and now, which will prevent the conscious experiencing of the physical pain and/or the mental suffering associated with the traumatic event. 

Jungian analyst Donald Kalsched compared the mechanism of trauma to a Faustian bargain:  In choosing dissociation over experiencing, the ego spares the individual from an intolerable suffering while it sacrifices his or her potential for wholeness.  Therefore, this protective mechanism comes at a high cost for one’s psycho-spiritual life.  Soon, the inner protector will reveal the other side of its identity, which appears in the form of a relentless persecutor, and the symptoms will appear.  Soul loss can be expressed in various ways.  Indeed, soul loss is an underlying psycho-spiritual dynamic that leads to the deadening or lessening of one’s capacity to experience a full and rich life, and to the emergence of compensatory behaviors aiming at counterbalancing the sensation of inner emptiness left by the dissociated soul, or soul part(s).  Sandra Ingerman noted that the following symptoms could indicate a soul loss: difficulty staying present in the body or feeling outside of one’s body, observing remotely; feeling numb, apathetic, or deadened; chronic depression; weakened immune system and problems resisting illnesses; chronic illnesses as child; gaps in memory after age 5 or sense of blacking out significant traumas; addictions to substances, alcohol, food, or gambling; looking to external things to fill up an internal void or emptiness; difficulty moving on with life after a divorce or the death of a loved one; multiple personality syndrome4.

So, where do we start when we realize that we are still bearing the weight of our past traumatic experiences and that our soul loss is preventing us to enjoy our life to its fullest?  Often, we are afraid of facing our own symptoms.  We would like our depression or our anxiety to leave us alone and just go away.  We all carry the fantasy of finding the right pill or the miracle cure that will restore us to a state of optimal health and happiness.  However, reality seems to proceed differently.  Depth psychology teaches us that human psyche is symptomatic.  We can understand symptoms as being the emissaries of the most foreign and repressed parts of ourselves sent out to our conscious personality5.  We don’t need more than that to start our journey.  Symptoms are “a way back to what has been forgotten, lost, ignored, or otherwise left behind”, says depth psychologist Robert Romanyshyn6.  If we accept to look at reality from this perspective for a moment, we realize that our symptoms, including our depression, our anxiety, or our addictions, to cite just a few, are not our enemies.  They are not the expression of an intrinsic weakness or personal inadequacy.  On the contrary, they are the signs of a living psyche rebelling against toxic or unsatisfactory life conditions, which is seeking healing, transformation and wholeness.  Jungian analyst and author James Hillman captured this idea very nicely when he wrote “the symptom is the first herald of an awakening psyche that will not tolerate more abuse.  Through the symptom the psyche demands attention7”. 

Here, Hillman not only recognized that our symptoms were de facto allies on our path to wholeness, but he also gave us a second clue about how to proceed with our quest: psyche demands attention.  Indeed, attention is key.  Practicing attention is the first step that is necessary in order to accomplish soul retrieval. In Integrative Shamanic Therapy, preparation for soul retrieval is achieved through the practice of meditation, shamanic journeying, and the development of the therapeutic relationship between client and facilitator.  Client is guided into crossing the threshold of ordinary consciousness with the intention of listening deeply into the call of the soul.  The presenting symptoms or issues are used as doorways for the exploration of client’s emotional, energetic and spiritual internal reality.  Both client and facilitator pursue questions such as:  What is the forgotten story needing to be told right now?  Why and when did the soul loss happen?  What changes must be implemented in client’s life to ensure the lost soul feels welcomed back and supported in its everyday expression?  Indeed, soul retrieval is possible only if the soul parts are willing to come back.  There is no way to force the process, and the retrieval needs to happen in its own time.  When client and facilitator agree that the time for the retrieval has come, they conduct a specific ceremony in which the lost soul part(s), which are willing to return, are energetically guided back into the client’s body and sealed into his or her energy field.

Individual responses to a soul retrieval might vary greatly from a person to another.  In my case, I remember very well the sensation of richness and fulness that permeated my whole being after receiving my first soul retrieval.  I remember walking amidst the natural beauty of Joshua Tree national park, my own voice echoing in the silence of the desert and calling in the universe at the top of my lungs to bear witness to my return home.  I recall the heightened sense of perceptions: the crispness of colors, the song of the wind, the earthy smells and the pervasive impression of connectedness to the intricate web of life surrounding me.  It was like coming out of the fog and having retrieved a clear sense of myself and of my life’s purpose.  Soul retrieval is unique for each person.  Each soul part that is retrieved brings new potentialities; like having a second chance at expressing our true potential, our unique identity as well as our creative powers.

Soul retrieval ceremony is also an occasion of celebration for the whole community.  Indeed, when individuals retrieve their wholeness, they also retrieve their capacity to fully express theirs gifts, their talents, and their personal medicines in service to others.  It is the reason why at least one person from the client’s community (family member, friend, etc.) is invited to witness the soul retrieval ceremony and partake into this celebration in the name of the collective.  Therefore, a soul retrieval is definitely a turning point in one’s healing process and represents both an attainment and an opportunity for new beginning.  After a soul retrieval, clients are invited to use the inner guidance that they developed through the different Integrative Shamanic Therapy practices for providing sustenance and care to the retrieved parts of themselves.  Indeed, the best way to ensure the prolonged success of a soul retrieval is to create the optimal life conditions supporting the grounding and the joyful expression of the returned soul part(s) into our daily lives.  For it is our birthright to walk this life whole and spiritually healthy, and be in ourselves, as much as in the community of all living beings, at home again.

Recommended readings:
Soul Retrieval, Mending the Fragmented Self, Sandra Ingerman
Welcome Home: Following Your Soul’s Journey Home, Sandra Ingerman
The Way of the Shaman, Michael Harner
Trauma and the Soul, Donald Kalsched