--- title: What is the difference between Soul and a soul part? description: "Soul with a capital S is the Lower-World part of us: our true nature, part of Mother Earth**Mother Earth.** The sacred Feminine pole: pure potential, from whom all the Peoples arise. The Lower-World is her realm, and she is all…" url: "https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/wiki/what-is-the-difference-between-soul-and-a-soul-part/" updated: "2026-11-10" category: The self and its parts tags: - Adulthood - Deep Soul - "fort-holder" - Human Oversoul - nature - Orphan - "power-loss" - soul - soul part - soul retrieval - Spirit --- # What is the difference between Soul and a soul part? Soul with a capital S is the Lower-World part of us: our true nature, part of Mother Earth**Mother Earth.** The sacred Feminine pole: pure potential, from whom all the Peoples arise. The Lower-World is her realm, and she is all the realms: "The Earth is indeed our Mother." [More about this](/wiki/who-is-mother-earth/), the person we were born to be. A soul part, with a small s, is a part of the middle-world self**Middle-world self.** The everyday self (ego, persona, head-and-heart), made of our stories and experiences. A genuine and needed part of the Inner Tribe: of service, not in command. [Read the full answer](/wiki/what-are-soul-spirit-the-middle-world-self-and-the-body/), such as a frightened four-year-old or our lost playfulness, which can be sent away and retrieved. Soul is never lost and so is never retrieved; it is found, and then grown into over a lifetime. ## What is the difference between Soul and soul? Two different parts that share a word. The middle-world self is "our 'soul' with a small 's', in terms of it being our "self" or self-identity in the middle-world". But "We do have another soul. A Soul with a capital 'S', for this is the part of us that is of the Lower-World."^[1](#note-1) The capital letter marks the difference. 1. Paul Francis, [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/), Chapter Seven, "What Happens When We Die?". ## What is Soul? Our true nature. "Unlike our middle-world self, which is constructed from the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, our Soul is our truest self, our true nature." It is "part of nature; part of Human, of Animal, a sibling to Plant and Stone, and a child of Mother Earth. It is both who we truly are deep down, and the blueprint for what we are meant to grow into and become in the world."^[2](#note-2) It is the "Deeper Soul", "Free of middle-world influence and distortion".^[3](#note-3) 1. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter One, "Our Lost Human Soul". 2. Paul Francis, [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/), Glossary, "Deeper Soul". ## What is a soul part? A part of the middle-world self. It can be lost. Modern [soul loss](/wiki/what-is-soul-loss/) usually happens because we send parts of ourselves away to fit in: "playfulness, creativity, spontaneity, joy, passion, wildness, sensitivity, vulnerability, confidence, assertiveness", and more.^[4](#note-4) 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/), "The act of bringing back a lost soul or soul part", is about these middle-world parts, which is why most shamanic soul retrieval is of middle-world parts.^[5](#note-5) 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Nine, "The Old Practices Do Not Work Like They Used To". 2. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Glossary, "A Guide to Terminology". ## Is soul retrieval the same as finding my Soul? No. They are two different kinds of work. Lower-World Soul is not something we lose, but something we have to find, if and when we are ready: a lifelong process, not something we can retrieve via soul retrieval. The two are related, though: the middle-world self "should be the vehicle through which our authentic Soul can express itself in the world."^[6](#note-6) See [What is soul retrieval?](/wiki/what-is-soul-retrieval/) 1. Paul Francis, [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/), Chapter Seven, "What Happens When We Die?". ## What is the difference between an Orphan and a lost soul part? They are the same thing. There are fort-holders**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/), parts that stayed and marched on, and Orphans**Orphans.** The parts of the self sent away altogether when we were wounded: our confidence, vulnerability, playfulness, innocence. Having genuinely left, they cannot merely be talked with: they must be retrieved. [Read the full answer](/wiki/what-are-child-orphan-fort-holder-and-protector-parts/), parts that were sent away. An Orphan is a lost soul part, which can be retrieved. A fort-holder never left: when part of us goes, "part of us stayed behind and carried on, 'holding the fort' so to speak."^[7](#note-7) See [What are child, Orphan, fort-holder and protector parts?](/wiki/what-are-child-orphan-fort-holder-and-protector-parts/) 1. Paul Francis, [*The Shamanic Journey*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/the-shamanic-journey/), Chapter Nine, "The Old Practices Do Not Work Like They Used To". ## Why is Soul connected with nature? Because it is born of nature. When [Father Sky](/wiki/what-are-the-sacred-masculine-and-sacred-feminine-father-sky-and-mother-earth/) and Mother Earth come together, "from the body of Mother Earth, a Soul is born." And "In the Lower-World, the Soul is what something was born to be. It is its truest nature; the essence of it."^[8](#note-8) Nor is anything in the Lower-World wholly separate. Picture the Lower-World as a great tree, where what seem to be separate individuals in this world are like the tips of twigs, joined into branches such as "the branch that is the Human Oversoul**Oversoul.** A branch of Mother Earth representing the whole of a species: the single being all the individuals arise from. Lower-World work is always with the Oversoul, never an individual; environments are composite Oversouls, wheels within wheels. [More about this](/wiki/what-is-an-oversoul/)."^[9](#note-9) 1. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter Four, "Nature and Nurture - Soul and Environment". 2. Paul Francis, [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/), Chapter Three, "Branches on a Tree". ## What is the relationship between Soul and Power-loss? They are different things. There are two main reasons we get ill. "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/) occurs when we become disconnected from nature, from the interconnected web of life and our place in it." 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/), by contrast, "occurs when we lose part of our soul", a small-s soul part.^[10](#note-10) The Lower-World Soul itself is never lost, though it is part of the nature from which Power-loss cuts us off. See [What is Power-loss?](/wiki/what-is-power-loss/) 1. Paul Francis, [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/), Chapter One, "'Civilisation', Power-Loss and Soul-Loss". ## Does finding Soul mean escaping modern life? No. It means living differently within it. Soul gives guidance on how. Soul gives us templates, which the middle-world self adapts to the life we actually live: "Your middle-world self will then need to translate and adapt these Templates, to make them relevant and useful in your everyday life and the environment in which you live".^[11](#note-11) It can be hard, because "in the modern world, many of the roles we adopt are at best pale reflections of Soul".^[12](#note-12) But the aim is to bring Soul into everyday life, not to leave it. 1. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter Four, "Growing into What You Were Meant to Be". 2. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter Four, "Initiation". ## Is finding Soul a one-off event? No. It is a beginning. Living from Soul takes the rest of a life. "The process of finding your Soul does not have to be a dramatic one", and it carries on for life.^[13](#note-13) Over time, "little-by-little, you will find your default notion of who you are gradually shifts from being your middle-world self, to being your Soul instead."^[14](#note-14) 1. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter Four, "A House Built on Soul". 2. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter Four, "Growing into What You Were Meant to Be". ## What is Soul work for? Becoming who we were meant to be, for the sake of more than ourselves. "Finding your Soul is an initiation into Adulthood."^[15](#note-15) It "isn't just about you; it's about stepping into your place within the world and being of service to it; being the organ you were meant to be in the larger body." See [What is the Adult and what does healthy inner leadership look like?](/wiki/what-is-the-adult-and-what-does-healthy-inner-leadership-look-like/) 1. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter Four, "Real Adults Are Rare". ## What is the difference between Soul and Spirit? Roots and branches. "If Soul is the roots of the tree, Spirit is its branches." Soul is our unique self; Spirit is our share of the universal. Neither is enough alone: without Spirit, Soul lacks perspective and discernment; without Soul and Body, Spirit becomes abstract and unhealthily detached from the living world. "We must cultivate Soul and Spirit in equal measure."^[16](#note-16) 1. Paul Francis, [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/), Chapter Eight, "Spirit and Soul". - [What are Soul, Spirit, the middle-world self and the body?](/wiki/what-are-soul-spirit-the-middle-world-self-and-the-body/) - [What is soul retrieval?](/wiki/what-is-soul-retrieval/) - [What are child, Orphan, fort-holder and protector parts?](/wiki/what-are-child-orphan-fort-holder-and-protector-parts/) - [What is the inner tribe?](/wiki/what-is-the-inner-tribe/) - [*Finding Your Deep Soul*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/finding-your-deep-soul/) (Chapter Four, finding and growing into Soul) - [*Rewilding Yourself*](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/book/rewilding-yourself/) (Chapter Seven, Soul and soul) - [all courses](https://www.therapeutic-shamanism.co.uk/shamanic-courses/)