Sometimes it feels like a part of you is lost. You may experience sadness, grief, inconsistencies in your thoughts and emotions, and even anger. Feeling this loss, you may wish to seek some unusual assistance. A soul retrieval may be just what you need. 

What is it?

From a technical perspective, a soul retrieval is a tool used by shamans to retrieve a part of the soul which has been lost due to trauma, inner conflicts, deep grief, excess stress, or birthing event that created a power loss.

How does it work?

A soul retrieval begins with a conversation with a shaman or shamanic practitioner who will ask questions regarding why the individual feels this loss occurred and what they are experiencing as a result of it. The shaman will then check in with your energy field and through a myriad of practices they will determine the chakras most affected by the soul loss and gain additional information or energies to assist them in the retrieval itself. The shaman will then ask you to lie down either on a table or the floor and they will go into a deep trance where they will perform the soul retrieval. Drums, music, or breathing techniques, may all be part of going into the trance.  A soul retrieval guides the practitioner into the soul of the individual receiving the healing. 

Once in trance, the shaman will travel energetically and consciously to a place called the lower world where the chambers of the soul exist. In these chambers are the energies of the lost soul part, the contract or decisions made after the soul loss occurred, the energies to heal the part and other healing gifts or energies for moving forward in the individual’s life. The Shaman will travel to each of these chambers to retrieve, learn from, and heal the soul loss.

Once their work in the lower world is complete, the shaman will call on the animal spirits for guidance and one or more animal spirits may choose to assist in the integration of healing and return with a shaman. The shaman will then travel back to the present with the healing energy, the gifts and any animal spirits that choose to return.

Once back the Shamanic will bring the energies into the individual’s chakra and full energy system as guided to buy their guides. Finally the shaman will perform a full healing and balancing of the new energies into the individuals system. Once the physical healing is complete, the shaman will share their information of what they saw and experienced on the journey to the lower world with the individual and offer the opportunity for a healing to occur on a very deep cycle psychological level.

The ramifications of a retrieval can go on for months and can also be affected by future retrievals. This is not an experience to do every day, rather, a deep, soulful practice to be performed with reverence and an understanding of the sacredness of the event.

Soul retrievals can last one to three hours and are offered for variety of body, mind, & soul challenges. As a shamanic healer I’ve personally offered retrieval sessions for chronic illness, traumas such as rape and child abuse, questions regarding one’s life’s path and stressful situations such as the loss of the parent child or spouse.

I’m not saying that these traumas are always indicative of the need for a retrieval. There are times when INLP, hypnotherapy, shamanic counseling or other integrative therapies are more appropriate ways of healing. Work with your individual practitioner to see what is best for your personal situation.

Namaste and many blessings,

Jenifer Shapiro, Shamanic Healer and Teacher of Shamanic Studies.  Jenifer is an intuitive shamanic counselor and coach with over 15 years experience integrative shamanic practices into her work with clients.  Her medical intuitive capabilities and her empowerment work have been publicized on television and radio and her shamanic certification programs train new shamanic practitioners in various forms of shamanic healing methods including a training in soul retrieval.  More on her programs in shamanic practices.

Note:  Many ask if I follow the Michael Harner (Foundation for Shamanic Studies) methods or Sandra Ingerman's work.  While I have studied with western shamans, including Alberto Villoldo (The Four Winds Society) and others, my work is an integration of my personal shamanic journeys since childhood and my work with western, European and indigenous shamans.  Rather than focusing on the work of a specific teacher, I work with my personal spirit guides and the intuitive of my heart and soul to offer the ability for the experience to unfold exactly as it should and always does, using ritual and the love for truth beyond judgment that I believe is the core of this work.