Song I: Soul Path and Retrieval

Part of the Dance of Raven set

Traditions-Peoples around Mother Earth have viewed that we are made of more than one soul; that we have many souls. Soul loss and soul retrieval have their roots in the spirit world. It may happen that a part of our Soul leaves when we try to live with a situation too long, or we give more to others be it human or corporate, that our personal balance is moved, forced, coerced into dis-balance. For a short while we may survive, for our soul desires wholeness, but sometimes returning doesn’t happen. It is one of the main reasons for serious illnesses.

Soul-loss, losing part of your soul, can create feelings of not being connected to your body, your own feelings and relationships and Life itself. The joy of Life leaves us. We feel disconnected. Long-term abuse or illnesses, auto-immune challenges, grief which never passes, addictions, car crashes, and especially PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) all have their roots in soul loss. Soul-loss can occur on an individual, group, locality and even country level. Places, villages, countries, tribes can suffer group soul loss. Soul retrieval work is a very powerful way to return to wholeness.

The shaman’s task is to find the lost part(s) and return them to the person. A joint responsibility between the shaman and the ill person is created during and after the retrieval.

During this time we focus on diagnosis of soul loss and its return; psycho-pomp involved in returning soul-parts, celebrating their return as well as the ethics of integration and follow-up work.