Discovering Participatory Soul Retrieval
by
Dr. Marianne Rolland
Reclaiming lost parts of our soul has
traditionally been performed by indigenous shamans and, more recently,
by shamanic practitioners. The process used to accomplish this
amazing feat is similar among tribes across the globe. The Shaman
(or practitioner) lies on the floor next to the patient while deepening
into an altered state through drumming, rattling, and/or
trance-inducing herbs. The Shaman then enters non-ordinary reality (the
unseen spirit dimension) after setting his/her intent to retrieve the
lost soul parts of the patient. The patient is instructed not to
journey with the Shaman but to stay present in ordinary reality.
We have all experienced some form of trauma in our lives. The effect
such events have on the core of our beings (on our very souls) cannot
be minimized, measured or compared with others. We do not know if harsh
words spoken repeatedly to a child are any more or less traumatic to
the soul than an experience of sexual molestation. We do not know if
emotional abandonment by parents is any less devastating than harsh
physical abuse. Anytime the soul experiences trauma—in our
mother’s womb or as a baby, small child, adolescent, teenager, young
adult, middle-aged adult, elder, or even in a past lifetime—pieces of
our soul essence become fragmented. These soul parts, fleeing to escape
the emotional pain caused by traumatic events, become scattered across
space and time. When our perpetrators are also people we love,
confusion occurs and so does an unconscious exchange of soul parts. All
traumatic experiences that are unattended, unprocessed and untreated
result in some form of soul loss.
While serving as an itinerate mental health worker for one of Alaska’s
rural communities, I had a client who I intuitively felt was suffering
from soul loss. Amy* appeared fatigued to the point of exhaustion. Her
eyes were sunken with deep dark circles; her breathing was shallow; her
body stance was slouched; and her voice tone was indicative of someone
who had giving up on life. As Amy’s story unfolded so did an emerging
theme of self-criticism, self-doubt, self-sacrifice and self-hatred. My
sense of her soul loss intensified, as Amy appeared to be hanging onto
life by a thread. Through gentle query, I discovered that she also
attributed her condition to soul loss. That is, Amy was conscious of
the fact that she was struggling for survival as a result of separation
from parts of her own soul. She shared about a time in her life when
she consciously gave up part of herself and expressed that she did not
know how or if she could get it back. Because she had no appetite, her
body was quickly fading as well. Amy knew she desperately needed help.
Recognizing that traditional Western methods for treatment were
inadequate to serve my client, I was challenged to explore the
phenomena of soul retrieval. Because I was not aware of anyone
practicing this within Alaska, I made arrangements for Amy to travel
out of state. When she returned to Alaska and shared her experience
with me, I was struck by the fact that the soul retrieval process was
something that was done for her—as opposed to her being an active
participant. Intuitively, I instructed Amy to do a ceremony each day to
welcome her soul parts back home.
I was extremely grateful for Amy’s healing, yet something about not
participating directly in her own healing process bothered me. Perhaps
it was my social work training, which places emphasis on teaching
techniques so that clients can empower themselves, that pushed me to
explore further this fascinating phenomenon of soul recovery. I
wondered what could be more empowering than retrieving lost parts of
our own soul.
With no disrespect intended for this ancient method of healing, I
felt challenged to discover an alternative method for recovering soul
parts. I wanted a process that would fully engage the client in his/her
own healing. I began to work with my clients on deeper levels by
tapping into early childhood traumas and helping them process and move
stored emotional energy. I began to consciously delve into my own
healing journey and to discover places within myself that were
fragmented and needed recovery. I awoke to the reality that I could not
help others beyond places that I had not helped my self. I
recognized that when we are hurt in relationships and lose trust for
others, the only way we can heal is to risk trusting at least one other
human being. I began to see that emotional damage equates to soul
loss.
The effect soul loss has on our life experience is profound. Each
person we come into contact with reflects our own fragmented soul
pieces. Thus, those that trigger deep emotional responses within are
giving us a profound opportunity to heal. As we release the energy of
unresolved feelings, we clear the way for our soul parts to return
home.
When James was five years old, he and his seven-year-old brother were
molested by a teenage babysitter and several of her friends. James was
so traumatized by the experience that he froze his “little boy self” in
a state of terror. As a teenager, James repeatedly found himself taken
advantage of sexually. As an adult, James experienced many failed
relationships as (on a subconscious level) he felt like a hostage to
any woman he got involved with. Eventually, the unexpressed anger he
had for his original perpetrators would surface and the relationship
would end. At age 52, James began using the participatory soul
retrieval process to bring back many of his lost soul parts. He is now
no longer controlled by his early childhood trauma. James is at peace
within and feels a fullness he never experienced before.
No matter how much we excel in certain areas of our lives, we may
continuously wonder: Why do I feel empty inside? Why is there
always a longing for something more? Why do I react to certain
people and situations as if controlled by some unseen force? Why do I
sometimes feel like I am out of my body? Each one of us can look within
and examine the quality and nature of those empty places. Scanning the
flow of energy within our own body provides us with a map that allows
us to journey to the damaged and fragmented parts of our soul. In order
to heal, however, we must fill ourselves up from the inside. This
translates into bringing home all of our soul parts scattered across
the universe, throughout space and time.
As far back as she could remember, Lisa recalled disturbing dreams of
loud trains going by her house. The sound of the train was so real that
it would wake her, causing her to scream for her mother in the middle
of the night. As an adolescent these dreams intensified into
vivid episodes of the train reaching the summit of a hill and then
exploding down the other side, heading straight for Lisa’s
bedroom. In her young adult life, Lisa repeatedly wondered why
she found herself living near railroad tracks and train stations. In
her mid-thirties, Lisa began using the participatory soul retrieval
process. Once, while deeply in the process, she experienced a past life
in which she was a man who had committed suicide by throwing himself in
front of a train. In allowing her self to remember and fully process
this past life experience, Lisa was able to retrieve a lost part of her
soul.
Participatory Soul Retrieval is a powerful process for reclaiming lost
parts of our own souls. It is a process that requires us to trust
another to witness our most painful and traumatic life experiences.
Participatory Soul Retrieval is about reclaiming the essence of who we
truly are by tapping into our authentic source of power. Soul retrieval
is a magnificent heart-opening experience that might be compared to
giving birth to one’s “self”. It is about coming home,
discovering true fulfillment, and—at long last—showing up for,
embracing, and loving our “self”.
~ ~ ~
Marianne Rolland, MSW, Ph.D., has lived and worked in rural Alaska for
24 years and served as fulltime faculty of the UAA School of Social
Work for the past 5 years. She is the founder of the White Raven
Center, now in Anchorage. For further information on the participatory
soul retrieval process Dr. Rolland can be reached at: w.raven@att.net
or 333-4478.
*All client names have been changed.