--- title: What is shamanic healing? description: "Shamanic healing is healing done in the shamanic realms by the Guides, with the practitioner asking for the healing, watching and following their lead. It is not about messages, advice or predictions. It can work with intrusions**Intrusion.** Something lodged in…" url: "https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/wiki/what-is-shamanic-healing/" updated: "2026-11-10" category: The healing work tags: - ancestral burdens - consent - disentanglement - emotional wounds - energy medicine - extraction - guidance - Guides - intrusions - parts of self - physical illness - shamanic healing - unpacking --- # What is shamanic healing? Shamanic healing is healing done in the shamanic realms by the Guides, with the practitioner asking for the healing, watching and following their lead. It is not about messages, advice or predictions. It can work with intrusions**Intrusion.** Something lodged in us that should not be there, having entered through the holes soul-loss and Power-loss leave. Four broad types: unhelpful thought-forms, introjects, foreign-body energetic intrusions, and entity possessions. [More about this](/wiki/what-is-an-intrusion/), soul loss**Soul-loss.** The sending-away of parts of the self in order to survive: through shock or trauma, or (the chief modern cause) exiling our own parts to fit in. With Power-loss, one of the two root causes of shamanic illness. [Read the full answer](/wiki/what-is-soul-loss/), Power-loss**Power-loss.** Disconnection from nature, the web of life and our place in it: like being unplugged from the national grid. One of the two root causes of shamanic illness, healed by reconnection (not by soul retrieval), beginning with the Power Animal bond. [Read the full answer](/wiki/what-is-power-loss/), unhealthy entanglements**Entanglement.** An unhealthy energetic tie hooking us into another person, a role, an object or a family story; released by disentanglement. [More about this](/wiki/what-is-entanglement/) and many physical and emotional troubles, though not every illness, and the healing continues afterwards as the person unpacks what happened. ## What is shamanic healing? Healing done in the shamanic realms, with the help of the Guides. Shamanic healing is largely done in the shamanic realms, and the healing itself comes from the Guides. The practitioner's role comes down to a few simple things, the first being "To ask for the healing to be done", and the second "To follow our Guides' lead and be prepared to help if asked."^[1](#note-1) In a good healing, "most of all, it was Spirit-led, not practitioner-led."^[2](#note-2) 1. Paul Francis, [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/), Chapter Five, "Example Two". 2. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Eight, "What Shamanic Healing Is, and What It Is Not". ## Is shamanic healing the same as receiving guidance? No. "The key difference is that it is categorically not about getting messages, advice or guidance, or predictions about the future. It is simply about doing the healing."^[3](#note-3) The reason is that "Words are middle-world things", and the Lower-World works through imagery and experience. In a good healing, "There are no messages, no 'shoulds' or 'oughts', no telling the client what to do".^[4](#note-4) See [How do I distinguish guidance from projection and middle-world bleed-through?](/wiki/how-do-i-distinguish-guidance-from-projection-and-middle-world-bleed-through/) 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Eight, "What Shamanic Healing Is, and What It Is Not". 2. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Eight, "What Shamanic Healing Is, and What It Is Not". ## Why does shamanic healing need consent? Because it means doing something to another person. Good intentions are not enough. A healing "should never be done on somebody without that person's express and conscious consent", meaning "their actual, physical, real consent; not just seeking consent from that person's 'higher self'!"^[5](#note-5) Sending someone healing is different: "Sending somebody healing is not the same thing as doing a shamanic healing on them."^[6](#note-6) Asking for a blessing is part of shamanic work too, though it differs from doing a healing. 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Eight, "Important! A Word about Ethics and Healing". 2. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Eight, "Important! A Word about Ethics and Healing". ## What kinds of problems can shamanic healing work with? Many. It is not limited to one kind of trouble. Its range covers the physical, the mental and the emotional. Middle-world journeys are "an essential part of shamanic healing, in terms of dealing with unhealthy energies, possessions, unhealthy entanglements, soul loss, and so on."^[7](#note-7) In your own Lower-World journeys, "you can ask for something physical (healing on your bad back, headaches etc.) or something mental or emotional (anxiety, procrastination, lack of confidence etc.)."^[8](#note-8) The practitioner also needs "to know our limitations and when we are out of our depth."^[9](#note-9) Knowing when you are out of your depth is part of the work. 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Three, "The Middle-World". 2. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Four, "Doing Your First Proper Shamanic Journey". 3. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Three, "The Middle-World". ## What is shamanic healing for intrusions? Removing things that do not belong in us. This is called extraction**Extraction.** Drawing a foreign body (an intrusion) out of a person and packing the hole with something healthy. The iron rule: only ever foreign bodies, never a part of the self: extracting a genuine part of self creates soul-loss. [More about this](/wiki/what-is-extraction/). "Understanding intrusions and the practice of removing them, known as extraction work, is central to being able to do shamanic healing."^[10](#note-10) In a Lower-World journey, your Power Animal**Power Animal.** The Oversoul of a wild species, met as a single Lower-World being and bonded with in a deep, committed, usually lifelong soul-bond of unconditional love. The practitioner's first and foremost Guide: Panther, not "my panther". [Read the full answer](/wiki/what-is-a-power-animal/) may take out of you "unhelpful or untrue thoughts, dis-eases, other people's energy etc.", and "If anything is taken out of you then something healthy and healing will always be put in its place".^[11](#note-11) Two cautions matter. A real part of the person must never be removed, and beginners should "let your Guides do the extraction rather than doing it yourself."^[12](#note-12) See [What is Power-loss?](/wiki/what-is-power-loss/) for the difference between a part of self and an [intrusion](/wiki/what-is-an-intrusion-and-what-is-extraction/). 1. Paul Francis, [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/), Chapter Six, "Intrusions and Their Extraction". 2. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Four, "Doing Your First Proper Shamanic Journey". 3. Paul Francis, [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/), Chapter Six, "Doing Shamanic Extractions". ## How does shamanic healing work with parts of self? By making sure all the parts are on board. The person who asks for healing may be only one part of them. With soul retrieval**Soul retrieval.** Finding an exiled soul-part and inviting it home. In the modern psyche the fort-holder who sent it away must consent first, and the retrieval itself is a beginning: the real work is integration. [Read the full answer](/wiki/what-is-soul-retrieval/) in particular, "no deep or permanent change happens without the fort-holder**Fort-holder.** A protective part of the self that stayed behind to 'man the fort' when we were wounded: the inner critic, perfectionist, pusher, pleaser: the loyal soldier still fighting a war that ended long ago. Usually the part that sent an orphan away, so no deep healing holds without its consent; befriended, never extracted. [Read the full answer](/wiki/what-are-child-orphan-fort-holder-and-protector-parts/)'s consent", so the practitioner listens to the parts that may resist before the healing goes ahead.^[13](#note-13) See [How do Guides, journeying and grounding support parts-of-self work?](/wiki/how-do-guides-journeying-and-grounding-support-parts-of-self-work/) 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Nine, "The Necessity of Listening to the Fort-Holder". ## What are ancestral burdens in shamanic healing? Hurts handed down through families: the emotional, psychological or cultural challenges and traumas believed to be passed down from one generation to the next within a family or community. Modern science is beginning to agree: research on the descendants of Holocaust survivors, and of people who lived through famines, has found that the effects of trauma can pass down the generations, a field called epigenetics. ## Can shamanic healing help with physical illness? Sometimes, and alongside medical care. "Shamanism can indeed sometimes be of great help with physical ailments and can almost always safely be used alongside medical treatments."^[14](#note-14) But "Not all illnesses have a shamanic cause, and so, shamanic healing is not appropriate in treating all diseases."^[15](#note-15) See [How do body shock, armouring and childhood wounds contribute to dis-ease?](/wiki/how-do-body-shock-armouring-and-childhood-wounds-contribute-to-dis-ease/) Medical care still matters. 1. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Introduction, "Physical Illness and Shamanic Healing". 2. Paul Francis, [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/), Chapter Six, "Physical Symptoms and Intrusions". ## Can shamanic healing help with emotional wounds? Yes, though it does not take healthy feelings away. In one example, a practitioner tried to extract a woman's grief, which was wrong: "Feelings need to be felt and allowed to move through the body (the word 'emotion' is from the Latin 'to move through'), and not by-passed or suppressed."^[16](#note-16) Shamanism can support someone through such a process. For healing personal wounds, "there is something shamanism offers that is almost entirely unique", whilst other approaches "can help with things that traditional shamanic healing cannot."^[17](#note-17) 1. Paul Francis, [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/), Chapter Five, "Example Four". 2. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter One, "The Shaman and the Inner World". ## How is shamanic healing different from Reiki or energy healing? The books do not compare them in detail. They have things in common. Shamanic healing is one of the energy medicines, "like shamanic healing, Reiki, chi gong, therapeutic touch, acupuncture, and many other healing modalities".^[18](#note-18) What makes shamanic healing itself is that it happens through journeying in the shamanic realms, it is led by the Guides, and it needs the person's consent, because it "involves you actually doing things to them, and your being involved in the healing process, albeit on an energetic level."^[19](#note-19) 1. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter Two, "Energy, Not Chemistry". 2. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Eight, "Important! A Word about Ethics and Healing". ## How is it different from traditional shamanic healing? It meets problems that traditional shamans rarely faced. "The commonest kinds of intrusions are not ones that traditional shamanism ever had to face", so we need "to be open to new understanding and new ways of working."^[20](#note-20) That is why Therapeutic Shamanism brings psychotherapy alongside shamanism. See [How is Therapeutic Shamanism different from traditional and core shamanism?](/wiki/how-is-therapeutic-shamanism-different-from-traditional-and-core-shamanism/) 1. Paul Francis, [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/), Chapter Six, "Intrusions and Their Extraction". ## Can I ask for healing around a relationship? Yes, for your side of it. The other person is a different matter. You can ask for healing on your own hurt or pattern, but "it is entirely unethical to do anything to that person in this journey", and real Lower-World Guides "will not work on another person without their permission."^[21](#note-21) [Disentanglement](/wiki/what-is-disentanglement/) is one way of healing a relationship: it "does not have to mean the end of a relationship, but the ending of unhealthy aspects of it".^[22](#note-22) Their healing is theirs to ask for. 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Four, "Doing Your First Proper Shamanic Journey". 2. Paul Francis, [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/), Chapter Eight, "Doing a Shamanic Disentanglement". ## Why does healing need both the journey and unpacking it? Because the journey speaks in symbols. A journey holds teaching that can be unpacked afterwards. "When you come out of a journey you have a treasure trove of things to unpack", and "Your Guides have given you a gift of teaching with a journey, but it is up to you to do the research and learning."^[23](#note-23) When the journey is for someone else, "the true meaning of anything (or anything that happened in a journey) is what it means to the client!"^[24](#note-24) See [How do I unpack and interpret a shamanic journey?](/wiki/how-do-i-unpack-and-interpret-a-shamanic-journey/) 1. Paul Francis, [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/), Chapter One, "Unpacking a Journey, The Left-Brain Has a Place". 2. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Eight, "Exercise 6: Doing a Simple Shamanic Healing for Someone Else". ## What should happen after a shamanic healing? The healing is told, unpacked and looked after. The practitioner recounts what happened and helps the person explore it, remembering that "It is the client's healing, not yours."^[25](#note-25) Afterwards it is good practice for the practitioner "to at least ask your guides to briefly check you over", and, if they feel odd, to journey again "to ask your guides to cleanse you, and most importantly to ground you."^[26](#note-26) And since "we all have our own blind spots", it can help to receive healing from an experienced practitioner too.^[27](#note-27) 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Eight, "Exercise 6: Doing a Simple Shamanic Healing for Someone Else". 2. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Eight, "Grounding, Cleansing and Protection". 3. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Eleven, "Getting 1-1 Healing". - [How is Power-loss healed and what is Power retrieval?](/wiki/how-is-power-loss-healed-and-what-is-power-retrieval/) - [What is soul retrieval?](/wiki/what-is-soul-retrieval/) - [What does healing mean in Therapeutic Shamanism?](/wiki/what-does-healing-mean-in-therapeutic-shamanism/) - [How do I unpack and interpret a shamanic journey?](/wiki/how-do-i-unpack-and-interpret-a-shamanic-journey/) - [What is Power-loss?](/wiki/what-is-power-loss/) - [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/) (Chapter Eight, what shamanic healing is) - [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/) (Chapters Five, Six and Eight, healing journeys, extraction and disentanglement) - [all courses](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/shamanic-courses/)