What is a Shamanic Healing?

Shamans view illness holistically. They assess the health of a person by tracking the alignment of mind, body and spirit. This Sacred Balance is essential for our health, and relates not only to our internal health (relationship to self), but also to our external health (relationship to others and the world around us).

The shamanic practitioner will journey to obtain information on what is needed for healing in your particular situation. They may use a drum or drumming tape, and rattles. Because of the nature of the shamanic journey, people with identical symptoms may receive different treatments. Some may experience dramatic effects from the treatment; others may find that the results of shamanic healing are subtle.

Shamanic healing is not intended to replace conventional medical treatments. The two approaches are complimentary: one deals with the physical aspects of illness, while the other with the spiritual.

Rather than trying to cure a symptom, which is the tradition of western allopathic medicine, shamans look at the whole system, and track the symptom to its source. Shamans believe that all illness has a spiritual origin, which is based in some trauma that the patient has experienced. The trauma energetically imprints that person, and if left unhealed or untended, can develop into a chronic emotional, mental or physical condition. Therefore, shamans heal the spiritual origins of illness, so the imprint of trauma no longer effects our reality or health and we can return to a state of grace.
Cross-culturally, most shamanic healing focuses on the following aspects: power loss; soul loss; intrusions; spirit releasing; ancestral work; and in the Peruvian Q’ero tradition, energetic imprints in the luminous energy field.

Power loss & Power Animal retrieval:
Most shamanic cultures believe we are born with one or more spirit guardians in the form of a power animal. A power animal protects our physical and spiritual vitality. This special guardian connects you to your body, your wisdom, and to the Earth, while guiding, protecting, grounding and inspiring you. Shamans believe that when we become disconnected from our power animals, we lose our personal power.

Power loss symptoms are:
•    A sense of not belonging,
•    chronic misfortune,
•    low energy,
•    lack of purpose,
•    depression or illness.

A power animal retrieval reconnects you with your special guardian, rebuilding stamina, vital energy, a sense of purpose, and a connection to your gifts. Instruction is given after the retrieval, to help you maintain and honor your relationship with your animal.

Soul Loss & Soul Retrieval:
Soul Loss is a shamanic term used to describe an imbalance, caused by the loss or disassociation of some part of our vital essence. It is a spiritual illness caused by trauma, that can result in emotional or physical disease. In our modern society, this trauma and emotional splitting can come in many forms: emotional or physical abuse; incest; rape; assault; divorce; separation; loss of a loved one; accidents; illness; surgery; or wartime experiences.

In these instances, a natural human response is to disassociate from our bodies to cope with the pain. However, sometimes these fractured parts of our souls do not return, and without the wholeness of our entire being, we can find functioning in the world difficult and painful.

Sometimes we experience soul loss because we have given part of our vital essence to someone else, or allowed them to take it. This may happen because we believe we are helping someone, or someone who doesn’t want to let go of us is trying to hold on. However, no one can use our vital essence except us. The result of ‘soul theft’ is often an unnatural or unhealthy connection to another person that begins to feel awkward and uncomfortable to us.

Symptoms of soul loss include:
•    Chronic depression,
•    Apathy, numbness, lack of vitality or fatigue,
•    An unhealthy connection to any individual, past partner or family member,
•    A feeling that you are watching your life from the outside,
•    Chronic illness or a weak immune system,
•    Feelings of emptiness which you try to fill with external things,
•    Difficulty staying present in your body or having memory gaps,
•    A propensity towards addictions or destructive behaviors.

In extreme cases, there can be multiple personality disorders, a complete inability to function, or coma. Soul retrieval is an ancient form of spiritual healing in which the shaman, (through prayer, visioning, soul flight and tracking) locates the lost vital essence (or soul parts) of the client and reintegrates them to restore Sacred Balance.
Soul retrieval returns the gifts and personal power that our lost soul parts embodied.

Spiritual Intrusions & Extractions:
Spiritual intrusions are caused by negative thought forms, such as anger, grief, or other unresolved feelings, that we have taken into our bodies in response to hurt, or a projection from someone else. An intrusion can also begin from chronic self-abuse and negative self talk or from a physical injury.

The expression of being “stabbed in the back” is more than a simple metaphor. In the shamanic perspective, these are psychic darts and arrows that we encounter when negative thoughts and feelings are directed towards us. An Intrusion can manifest as localized pain in the body, illness or depression. Left untended an intrusion can turn into a chronic illness.

Intrusions often appear in situations where our spirit has been weakened, and made vulnerable by soul loss or power loss. A spiritual extraction involves removing and releasing the intrusion, clearing the affected area, and is generally followed with a soul retrieval.

Spirit Releasing & Clearings:
Severe grief or trauma at the time of death can leave a soul confused, angry, or disoriented. Rather than moving into the light, these suffering beings remain on the earth plane, attaching themselves to people (possession) or places (hauntings).

Symptoms of possession may include:
•    Depression ,
•    Inexplicable mood swings or personality shifts,
•    Substance abuse, binges, or uncontrollable addictions.
Spirit releasing compassionately helps these souls move to a place of peace, and frees the client from the influences of the suffering being.

Clearings:
The spiritual clearing of land, a home, office or other space may be needed if you or others are having any of the following experiences in a particular location:
•    A room, space or place feeling cold, dark or depressing for no apparent reason.
•    Experiencing human activity where there is none.
•    Inexplicable instances of objects moving, disappearing or appearing.
•    Lights and electrically powered objects going on or off.
•    A repeating theme of unfortunate “accidents” or “bad luck” incidents in a location.
•    In general, activities one would associate with a place being “haunted”.
Clearing involves communicating with the suffering being(s), and moving them to a place of peace, followed by re-energizing and balancing the space.

Ancestral Healing:
We carry in our bodies the stories, illnesses, tragedies, pain, and grief of our ancestors. Oftentimes, we are unconscious of how the energy of old family wounds informs how we think and act in everyday life. This is why we see patterns of abuse, incest, addiction, poor health and many other traits passed down through generations. From a shamanic perspective, these traits are seen as energetic imprints in our luminous energy field, which need to be cleared so the ancestral pattern ceases to inform our behavior or health.