WHAT IS SOUL LOSS?
Soul loss is one of the central ideas in shamanism. It describes what happens when a part of our psyche leaves us and does not fully come back. This can happen through shock, trauma, bereavement, illness, fear, abuse, neglect, or through the need to send away parts of ourselves in order to survive and fit in. The result is often a sense that something is missing; that we are not fully here; that some part of us — our spark, vitality, confidence, innocence, playfulness, anger, courage or aliveness — has gone.
Soul retrieval is the shamanic practice of finding those lost parts and bringing them back. The practitioner journeys with the help of their Guides, finds the lost soul part, persuades it to return, and brings it home. Sometimes it can be that simple. But the modern world has made soul retrieval a more complex process. We also need to ask why the soul part left, whether other parts of us are ready for it to return, and what needs to happen for it to stay.
This blog looks at what soul loss is, what can cause it, the common signs and symptoms of soul loss, how soul retrieval works, and why good soul retrieval is not just about having a powerful healing experience. It is also about integration: helping the returned part find a safe place in our life, our body, and our inner tribe.
Soul loss symptoms:
18 signs of soul loss
There can be many different signs of soul loss. These can include a sense or feeling of:
- somehow being incomplete; that something is ‘missing’
- numbness or flatness; of just going through the motions
- hopelessness, apathy and indifference; like a spark is missing
- being disconnected from life or what is around you; as if you are living in a dream
- depression, ranging from mild, to moderate, through to severe
- feeling lost, indecisive and aimless
- procrastination; time-wasting; or finding it hard to sustain focus or effort
- a lack of confidence and self-belief
- having a strong inner critic who puts you down and is always on your back
- phobias and anxieties; fearfulness
- missing memories (where have the memories gone, and why did they go?)
- addictions or other compulsive behaviours and/or thought patterns
- never having really recovered from a past event
- repeatedly returning to a person, location or behaviour that is unhealthy for you
- inability to move on from an issue or event, despite efforts to do so
- finding it hard to (re)invest in the future with enthusiasm and optimism
- grief, fear, anger or rage that you cannot seem to shake off
- Other times it’s simply a feeling that the soul retrieval may help.
This last symptom may seem strange, but in fact it is surprisingly common. It is because, before the birth of the so-called “civilisation” from around 4,000BC, shamanism was practised by all humans. In fact, they did not just practice it, they lived and breathed it. It was central to them. So the vast majority of your ancestors, going back literally thousands upon thousands of generations, would have recognised and understood the symptoms of soul loss.
Because of this, when it is explained to them, these days soul loss still makes sense to people at a deep level, something they have long felt deep down but could not quite put their finger on.
Physically, the symptoms of soul loss can be many and varied and soul loss can be a factor behind pretty much any illness. Given soul loss results in a weakened state mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, it is not surprising if things start to go wrong physically too.
THE CAUSES OF SOUL LOSS
There are some obvious causes of the soul part leaving. Traditionally, soul loss was said to result from things such as accidents, serious illnesses, shocks and other traumatic events. However, there are other causes too. These include:
- abuse; not just sexual, but also physical and mental/emotional too
- prolonged anxiety or fear
- loss and grief
- shame and guilt
- prolonged pain
- giving your soul to another; co-dependent relationships
- domination by another person, or a group (everything from peer pressure to religious cults)
- allowing your soul to be stolen by another, or others
- substance abuse and other addictions (allowing your soul to be stolen by the object of the addiction)
- not being true to oneself; disowning or disallowing parts of oneself
However, the principal cause of soul loss in modern times is usually that we send part of our own soul away, to ‘fit in’.
In order to fit in, we can variously send away our own playfulness, creativity, spontaneity, joy, passion, wildness, sensitivity, vulnerability, confidence, assertiveness, carefreeness, cleverness, sadness, tears, anger, and so on.
INTROJECTS AND SOUL LOSS
Maybe as a child there was something you were repeatedly told never to do, such as: be angry; or upset; or cry; or be noisy; or clever; or naughty; or answer back; or any number of things. As a child, what are you going to do with that bit of you? If you are repeatedly criticised or rejected, punished or shamed if you do this thing, then in order to survive, you have to block this part of you off. We do this, usually unconsciously, by adopting what is known as an introject (from the Latin intrō = into and iectiōn = throwing), something from somebody else that is thrown into us. So an introject is a ‘should’ or a ‘shouldn’t’, a ‘must’ or a ‘must not’, that we take on board and then internalise.
Psychotherapeutic VS. shamanic view
Psychotherapists would say that we repressed this part and, through the process of therapy, we can recover and reintegrate it. However, shamanism says that sometimes something altogether more startling sometimes happens. Sometimes that part is not just repressed, but actually leaves altogether. The (soul) part literally splits off and goes. In this case, there will be only so far that therapy can go. This is when shamanism comes into its own, because shamanism can find the parts that are “no longer in the room” but which have left altogether.
HOW DOES SOUL LOSS HAPPEN?
- Sometimes soul loss occurs when we do not feel safe, say in the case of a traumatic event. Part of us then leaves, as it does not feel it is safe to stay.
- Sometimes the part is literally shocked out of the body. It may then still be stuck in the time and place of the traumatic event, literally hanging around it like a ghost (this is why people describe flashbacks, or persistent thoughts or images; part of them is literally still stuck back there).
- Prolonged situations such as fear, guilt or pain can have a similar effect. Part of us eventually leaves because it could no longer cope (we may say we felt part of us died).
- Sometimes we give our soul (our power) over to a loved one, and when they die or leave, we feel our heart has been wrenched out.
- Other times somebody (or even a substance like alcohol or drugs) may ‘steal’ our soul, by undermining and gradually overpowering us; dominating us and keeping us in chains and tied to them.
WHERE DOES THE LOST PART GO?
Sometimes, the lost part is stuck back in the time period and place of the trauma. Other times, the soul part drifts further, and literally goes off into realms beyond this one.
Sometimes parts flee to safe places in these other realms. And sometimes they gravitate to places of hopelessness and despair. What they need, and what the person they belong to needs, is to come back. This is where soul retrieval comes in.
What is soul retrieval?
Soul retrieval is a shamanic healing practice for finding and returning lost soul parts. The practitioner journeys into shamanic reality with the help of Power Animal and other guides, finds the lost soul part, and supports its return.
HOW DO YOU GET YOUR SOUL BACK?
In a soul retrieval, the skilled shamanic practitioner leaves their own body and enters into shamanic reality. This is usually (but not always) done to the accompaniment of a shamanic drum or rattle. Working with the help of their power animal(s) and other guides, the practitioner finds the soul part of the person they are journeying for, and attempts to persuade it to return. If it agrees to return, the part is then gathered up, brought back to this reality, and then literally blown back into the person’s body.
HOW LONG DOES SOUL RETRIEVAL TAKE?
The actual process of doing soul retrieval can seem surprisingly quick. This is because the retrieval itself happens outside the timescale of this reality. So the whole process can be done in the space of an hour or two.
In many cases, one session alone can be enough. But not always. Modern times have soul retrieval a much more complicated process than it once was.
SOUL RETRIEVAL CHALLENGES OF MODERN TIMES
Sometimes a series of sessions are needed, when soul parts are reluctant to return, or when multiple parts have been lost.
FORT HOLDERS AND SOUL RETRIEVAL
However, if all our soul (or souls) had left, then we would have died. The fact that we did not die means that part of us stayed behind and carried on, ‘holding the fort’ so to speak. In childhood, this is the part of us that learns to bite our lip or hold our tongue; to always be ready for a fight; to not show weakness; to not speak out; to swallow our sadness; to sell ourselves out in order to fit in or survive, and countless other strategies we may have adopted to get through childhood.
This part of us, the fort-holder, may be ambivalent or even outright opposed to the ‘lost’ soul part returning, as it is likely to be nervous about the changes that doing a soul retrieval could (and would) bring. Because it is the fort-holder who sent the lost soul-part away in the first place, to try and protect us, and help us to survive. The fact that we send part of our own self away, and that another part of us may not actually want it back, makes modern-day soul retrieval a much more complex issue than it once was.
Consequently, these days it is often not enough to retrieve the lost soul part for a person and to blow it back into them, as traditional shamans would have done, because the fort-holder in us often does not realise that the war of childhood is over, and will simply send the part away again. They are still on guard like a loyal soldier, ever ready to step in and protect us (albeit in ways that may now no longer be appropriate or serving us any more).
ADDITIONAL SHAMANIC HEALING
Other times, more sessions are needed, because additional shamanic healing is necessary:
- As well as soul loss we can suffer power loss – the loss of healthy connection with nature and the other-than-human world – and so, very often it is necessary to do a power-retrieval too, usually in the form of what is known as a Power Animal.
- Also, when soul parts leave, they leave holes in us. When this happens, other things, ‘intrusions’ can get in, and need to be removed. The process of removing these is generally known as shamanic extraction.
- So too, where there are strong introjects, they may need to be worked with. It is all very well for bringing somebody’s soul part back for them. But if the soul part is a part of themselves that they have strong ‘shoulds’ or ‘should nots’ about, then if the part is to stay then these will need to be addressed (and this is often where counselling or psychotherapy can pick up the thread again).
- The other thing that sometimes happens is that the soul part returns, but the body is still in shock
- Shamanism recognises different aspects of us, each having different needs. Put simply, we are made up of body, soul and spirit. What the Body needs is to feel safe. So sometimes, as well as soul loss, there is ‘body shock’, in which case what is needed is a ‘body re-patterning’ journey too.
BENEFITS OF SOUL RETRIEVAL
The effects of good shamanic soul retrieval (and other shamanic healing) can be dramatic or subtle. But either way, the effects are very often profound. People often describe it as a turning point, not always at the time, but usually in looking back.
They experience a return of their self-esteem; their optimism and motivation; health may improve; addictions and compulsions fade away. Just think about what it would be like to have a whole and intact soul, with no bits, knocked out, and you will get the picture.
Key takeaways
It is a survival response, where a part of our psyche withdraws because staying fully present is too much.
Soul loss may show up as numbness, disconnection, repeating patterns, loss of confidence, or the feeling that a part of you is somehow missing.
The returned soul part needs to be welcomed, listened to, protected and integrated into everyday life.
In Therapeutic Shamanism, the parts that kept a person safe may need attention before a lost soul part can return safely.
A soul part does not return to be hidden again. The person may need to change old patterns and make space for what has come back.
HOW TO DO SOUL RETRIEVAL
As I already emphasised, nowadays, soul retrieval can be a complex issue. To achieve the best results, we need to seek help from both shamanism and psychotherapy. This is why the Therapeutic Shamanism we teach, draws from both of them.FINDING A SHAMANIC PRACTITIONER TO DO A SOUL RETRIEVAL
If you are looking for a Therapeutic Shamanism practitioner for one-to-one shamanic help with soul retrieval, or for a psychotherapist with a background in Therapeutic Shamanism, please look at the practitioner section here.LEARNING TO DO A SOUL RETRIEVAL
Our courses are built in a way that can give you all the necessary knowledge, practices and tools to successfully learn to do soul retrieval for yourself and for other people. However, this takes some time and work.If you feel the calling, our First Steps course is a great foundation you can build on!The First Steps course covers everything you need to start with shamanic journeying, including:
- What is shamanism?
- The history of shamanism and animism
- How to do a shamanic journey (a step-by-step process)
- How to do Power Animal retrieval journey and find your own Power Animal
- Why we nearly lost shamanism, why we need it back and how psychotherapy fits in the process
- The basics of how to do shamanic healing for other people
Frequently asked questions about soul loss and soul retrieval
Can soul loss happen without one major traumatic event?
Yes. Soul loss is often associated with trauma or shock, but it can also happen gradually. Long periods of fear, shame, pressure, illness, grief, people-pleasing, or living in a way that goes against your nature can all create the conditions where soul part withdraws.
How do I know if I need soul retrieval?
You may feel that something in you never fully came back after a difficult time, or that you are living with a persistent sense of absence, numbness, disconnection or incompleteness.
Can I retrieve a soul part by myself?
Some people may receive healing or insight through their own spiritual practice, but soul retrieval is usually treated as advanced work. In Therapeutic Shamanism, it is not just about finding a lost part. It also involves safety, timing, relationship with shamanic Guides, and integration afterwards.
What happens after a soul retrieval?
The return is only the beginning. A person may need time to build a relationship with the returned soul part, change old patterns, listen to what that part needs, and make space for the life that was not possible before.
Can a soul part refuse to come back?
Yes, in shamanic terms, a soul part may not be ready to return. It may need reassurance, protection, healing, or evidence that the person’s life is now safe enough. Forcing it back would not be the point. The work is relational.
Why might soul retrieval not be the first step?
Sometimes other work is needed first. Protective parts, harmful patterns, intrusive energies, loss of power, or lack of support may need attention before a soul part can return and stay. This is why Therapeutic Shamanism does not treat soul retrieval as a quick fix.
Is soul retrieval suitable for everyone?
Not always, and not at every moment. If someone is in acute crisis, severe distress, active addiction, psychosis, or an unsafe environment, stabilisation and appropriate professional support may need to come first.
How is Therapeutic Shamanism different from a simple soul retrieval session?
Therapeutic Shamanism looks at the wider system around the soul loss: the trauma, the protectors, the lost power, the body, the person’s relationships, and the life the soul part would be returning to. The aim is not just return, but integration.
Glossary
Soul loss
A shamanic understanding of what happens when part of the soul or self withdraws after trauma, grief, shock, fear, shame, illness or prolonged suppression.
Soul retrieval
A shamanic healing practice where a practitioner journeys to find and help return a lost soul part.
Integration
The process of welcoming the returned soul part into everyday life, so its needs, gifts and truth can be lived rather than forgotten again.
Power retrieval
A shamanic practice that restores healthy connection with power, often through relationship with a Power Animal.
Protective parts
Parts of the person that learned how to survive difficult experiences and may need reassurance before deeper healing can happen.
Shamanic extraction
A shamanic healing practice concerned with removing energies, intrusions or influences that do not belong.
