Contacting the spirit world to help heal the soul

Our souls are deeply connected with the spirit world which is something our ancestors have known for many thousands of years. Events in our lives such as loss or traumatic experiences can damage our soul in a way that changes who we are making us feel like we have lost a part of ourselves. Because our souls and the spirit world are so closely connected we can use the spirit world to help piece back the damaged pieces of our soul. This process is called shamanic healing and uses a mediator between the physical world and the spirit world, this person is called a shaman. The shaman travels in to the spirit world with the help of their spirit guides or power animals, their aim is to try and find the cause of the soul’s pain or illness. When they know the cause they can then search the spirit world for something to help heal the soul, this can be knowledge or a deeper understanding of the person, medicine, power or even parts of the lost soul itself.

Our ancestors believed that the world existed in a balance of energy that permeated the living fabric of the universe. When a person or animal becomes ill this was viewed as an in balance of their energies, shamanic healing is based on these principles that we can be healed by readdressing the balance of our energies. Shamans still exist today and they pass on their knowledge through teaching and training from the shaman to their apprentice.

The shaman uses several methods to “expand consciousness” to be able to communicate with the spirit world. These include; fasting for several days, sleep deprivation to ritual dancing or ingesting natural plant medicines. All of these methods are aimed at increasing the field of perception of the brain. These are only a small sample of the methods used but the most widely used is the drum beat; it has been used for thousands of years to slow down the brain wave pattern and send the shaman in to a trance like state where they are able to communicate with the spirit world.

For people that have had a traumatic experience or grievance in which damaged their soul it is considered that the damaged part of the soul, also referred to as our energy or life force goes to the spirit world for safety. Sometimes after a period of grieving or coming to terms with the experience our soul feels that it is safe to return, however this is not always the case. Shamans use their power of “expanded consciousness” to travel to the spirit world to return the soul. Soul retrieval can be a difficult process that requires the shaman to communicate with the soul to convince it to leave the spirit world willingly. When the soul does return the person will feel a very soft and gentle reintegration of the missing part with the feeling being said to be like remembering happy experiences from their past like long summer days from their childhood.