Who cares for the Spirit when it gets sick? We have doctors for the body, for the mind, and for the heart, but what do we do when our spirit is ailing? In ancient times, loss of this kind was attributed to the soul being frightened away or straying or being stolen. Today we often find soul loss is a result of such traumas as incest, abuse, and loss of a loved one, surgery, accident, illness, miscarriage and abortion, the stress of combat or addiction. Soul loss is a spiritual illness that causes emotional and physical disease.
The trauma that causes soul loss is often inflicted by people who are victims of their own traumas. One generation passes its injury on to the next. By restoring lost soul parts, the shaman helps the clients build self-esteem and healthy-life patterns that allow them to stay alive and present in their body once their souls have been restored to them.
In shamanism the power of the shamanic healing comes from the shaman’s willingness to intervene in the spiritual realms on be half of the client. The shaman does not make his or her inner journey alone. Power animals and other helping spirits, as well as elemental forces of nature, help the shaman carry out the work to be done. Shamans have sacred tools to help them in retrieving souls. They may have medicine bags, drums, rattles, and pouches containing objects related to their power animals.
Shamans make thousand of journeys over the years to help clients and Mother Earth.
Irene Skau
Thanks a lot for making the effort to explain the terminlogy towards the newcomers!