Soul Retrieval: Spiritual Healing for Trauma

Healing, Healing Touch, Shamanic healing, Shamanic Journey, Shamanism, Spiritual Healing

Most of us who live here on planet Earth will experience a trauma during our lifetime. It may be the death of a loved one, an accident or illness, an act of violence, abuse, or other distressing situation.

During a traumatic experience, part of your spirit or soul may split off and drop out of your life. In the shamanic worldview, this splitting off creates a condition called soul loss. Those who suffer from soul loss may feel that part of them died or was cut off from the flow of life when the trauma occurred. If this happened to you, you may feel out of body, empty, without vitality, or disconnected from full participation in life.

Soul retrieval is the shamanic remedy for the spiritual aspects of trauma and soul loss. The human spirit can be deeply affected by loss and harm, hardship, sudden illness, violence, injury, and abuse. Trauma can cast a dark cloud over a person’s life and keep them from living fully. Soul retrieval does not erase trauma, but helps a person regain their wholeness and return to the center of their own life.

This shamanic healing work can complement psychotherapy and western medicine for those who have experienced trauma. Western medicine concentrates on the physical body. Mental health therapy deals with the emotions and mind while shamanic healing focuses on the dimension of the spirit.

While focusing on the spiritual aspects of trauma, all levels of your being – body, mind and emotions – can be positively affected as your spirit heals and becomes whole again. Other areas of your life may come into balance as well because there is no separation between these four aspects of your existence.

For over a decade, my spirit helpers have been working in partnership with me doing soul retrievals for people of all ages. During a shamanic journey, my spiritual guidance shows me the “soul part” – the lost inner child or distressed adult- that split off and left their body behind after a trauma. They are shown to me at the approximate age they were when the soul loss occurred. I’m shown the state of their emotions through symbolic images, impressions and feelings. The information coming through from my spirit guides and helpers does not reflect the actual experience of the person, but symbolizes their spiritual and emotional truth at the time of the soul loss.

The journey unfolds with my guides showing me a symbolic narrative. These stories always include the state of the soul part’s emotions at the time they split off, a recovery of the soul part, a healing and clearing for the soul part, a retrieval for any power that was lost or stolen during the trauma, and, finally a return.

The return brings the healing into the physical world through a brief shamanic ceremony in which the energy of the soul part is returned to the person who lost it. Many times people who’ve had soul retrievals report feeling the familiar energy of their soul part return to them during this ceremony.

The basic structure of each soul retrieval journey is the same, but my helpers tailor the healing, narrative, messages, and images to each individual’s unique experience and needs.

Integration

On occasion, a soul part may be hesitant to return to full life again and rejoin their present day self . They may need reassurance that their life will be different now than it was at the time of the trauma, that they are safe, and will be taken care of, loved, seen and heard. This helps integrate them into your life once again.If you were a child when the soul loss occurred and are now an adult, explain that. Talk that through. Let them know they are safe now, that you are in charge of your life, that you will protect them. Explain where you live, if you have your own children and partner, the work you do… anything that occurs to you.

To continue the integration after a soul retrieval, there are several questions to ask your returned soul part that will help you create an ongoing dialog with them.

Why did you leave?

Why do you come back now?

What gifts do you bring back with you?

Soul parts always return with several gifts of the spirit such as a strong true voice, an open heart, a peaceful mind, a sense of playfulness, etc.

What can I do to sustain this healing?

For a child soul part this might include such things as playing outside, walking barefoot, hugging a tree, swinging, laying on the grass, spending time in a place of safety…. pay attention to what they are telling you and do the best you can to give them what they need and want.

To communicate with your soul part/inner child, tune into your heart, ask, and listen for the answers. You might hear the answers telepathically, see images, or feel a knowing in your body. If you have trouble connecting you might work one on one with a friend, healer or therapist to do this dialog together. You can write down the answers or draw pictures, speak them into a recorder- whatever works for you.

Shamanic healing is not a cure for trauma, anxiety, illness or injury, but can help bring balance, wholeness, and life changing insights into your life. Shamanic healing is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health care.

photo credits: Hand with hawk feather – jenelle – K2SXdKPEhcg – unsplash unsplash.com White feather – evie-s-white feather – unsplash unsplash.com

How to Connect with a Nature Spirit

Connect with spirit, Healing, Life Tips, Mediumship, Nature, Shamanism, Spiritual Wisdom, Spirtual Guidance

In the shamanic point of view, every thing and every living being has and is a spirit. We can communicate, learn from, and live in partnership with these spirits. They have access to information that we who live in a human body do not. The scope of our knowing is often limited by our human perspective, worries, fears, concerns and judgements.

Communicating with our unseen guidance, we can better understand the spiritual aspects of challenges and illnesses in our lives, receive wisdom and healing, heal relationship issues, and learn to live more effectively in this world in body mind and spirit.

The Spirit world is on a different energetic wavelength than our normal day to day human activity. A relaxed and receptive state of mind is required for tuning in to spirit. When we slow brain wave frequency, we come into attunement with the spirit world. Shamanic practitioners and students deliberately slow their brain waves and enter into a trance state by listening to repetitive drumming. Shamanic journeying is an example of this. Meditating and spending time in nature also help you relax and slow down.

To connect more deeply to spirit, even if you haven’t formally learned how to do shamanic journeys, I offer a few ideas to help you expand your spectrum of awareness to include connecting with a nature spirit.

This begins like mindfulness meditation, but takes you a step beyond meditation into direct communication with spirit. Choose a nature object, a leaf, stone, shell, flower, a fruit, berry, even a tiny radish sprout or small raisin. Find one that you will enjoy exploring through your senses.

Create or find a quiet place without a to-do list, the news, distractions like your phone or easy entertainment, TV in the background, etc. Your quiet place might be outside in a beautiful natural area, a park, leaning against a tree, your yard, or in a peaceful room or mindfully decorated corner inside your home.

Tune your awareness from your head/mind/brain and into your heart. Let those never ending thoughts float by in your head without giving them attention. (If they’re important, you can get back to them later) This will help your brain slow down. Lay your palms on the center of your chest and allow your awareness to move down from your brain/mind/head to center in your heart. Feel your breath moving in and out, your chest rising and falling. Hear the sound of your breath. Focus on your sensations of touch, smell, sound, sight hearing. Allow yourself to let go of any tension in your body.

Now pick up the object you chose earlier. Take time to experience it with all your senses, letting all judgments go. Absorb the information you receive about its texture, scent, color, shape, form. Does it make a sound when you touch it? If this is something edible, savor the taste. How does it feel on your tongue? Allow all of your awareness to be focused on this one thing. Experience it as though you were a curious young child seeing touching and exploring this interesting thing for the first time.

Now get a feel for this object’s energy. How does it feel in your hands? Do you enjoy holding it, or want to put it down immediately? You may receive subtle sensations that can’t be translated into words. Pay attention to them. As you keep your awareness at your heart, you may begin to get impressions from the object. These would be very subtle at first, and may come through any of your senses plus your sixth sense of knowing.

Ask the spirit of the object for a message and pay attention to what information comes through your being. Messages from spirit can come in many forms and can be very simple and direct. Often they come in symbolic form – showing you pictures, images, sounds, feelings, emotions, or other sensations that you then can interpret for yourself.

You can ask the spirit of your nature object questions, such as – What you can I learn from you? What advice do you have for me? Please show me what I need to know about you. How can I thank you for speaking with me? Add any other simple question you might want to ask. Pay attention to everything that comes through for you.

If your ego mind demands attention and makes judgements about what you’re doing, (for example: “This is stupid.” “I don’t have time for this.” “I can’t do this.”) try to imagine an image of the thoughts evaporating – cool steam dissolving them, fog enveloping them, an ocean wave washing them away, wind blowing… whatever image works best for you. Return your awareness to your heart and allow yourself to notice the sensations and spirit messages coming through.

When you’re ready to leave your meditation, disengage by thanking the spirit of the object for what you received, and let it know your time together is over for now. Set it down or take it back outside. Send a blessing and gratitude for sharing its wisdom with you.

Now is the time to write down any messages you received before you return to normal everyday concerns and tasks. You may forget them otherwise. Next, come back into your body by tapping your cheekbones, the center of your chest, collar bones or rubbing & massaging your feet to ground yourself and bring your awareness back into your body and your mind back into everyday life.

In this way, you can learn to connect with the spirits of nature and receive their advice, love, and deepen your awareness of what is possible in life.

photo credits: Featured photo by petr sidorov on Unsplash; photo of feather by Evie S. on Unsplash

Truth or lie? Your body knows.

Connect with spirit, Life Tips, Spiritual Healing, Spiritual Wisdom, Spirtual Guidance

Are the messages you receive coming from your spirit helpers, or are they just thoughts in your head?

As a beginner on your spiritual journey, you may experience some uncertainty in trusting the messages that start coming through. This is part of the learning process and happens to everyone. How can you tell the true messages and genuine guidance from some random thoughts in your head? – Are they truly from spirit, or generated by ego? This is a very common dilemma when starting out.

Learning to trust yourself and the subtle information you receive is vital to building and deepening relationships with your spiritual guides and helpers. This truth or lie exercise will help you discern which messages are trustworthy and ring with the feeling of truth, and which do not.

Remember, you are a being of both spirit and a physical body. This exercise helps you discern the truth of spiritual messages in your body.

Truth or lies exercise

Find a comfortable seated position in a quiet place. Ground yourself by massaging your feet, rubbing the soles of your feet with a stainless steel spoon, or tapping your cheekbones and upper chest.

Take several mindful breaths to relax yourself and bring your awareness to your heart. Pay attention to the physical sensations you feel there. Can you sense your heart beating? If it helps you tune in, place both palms over the center of your chest, your heart chakra, as you breathe.

Truth:

When you feel relaxed, think back to a time in your life when you knew the truth without a doubt. For instance, this could be when you first knew you were in love with a person, the first time you met your newborn, when you saw a breathtaking landscape in nature, or another amazing situation you remember.

Now tune in and pay attention to the feelings in your body as you remember this significant moment of truth in your life. Where in your body do you feel the feelings of “truth”? Can you describe them? What qualities and emotions do you sense in the feelings? Pay attention to the sensations, the feelings that move through you while holding the memory. The memory is in the past, but the feelings are moving through you now as they did originally in response to that peak moment in your life.

You might write or record what you noticed and felt about the your physical response to the truth to help you remember these feelings.

Lies:

Next, tune in to a time in your life when you were lied to and you knew it, or when you yourself told a lie to someone. This could be a betrayal by a friend or partner, something that happened at your job, or the first time your mom caught you in a lie…

Once again, focus on your body as you remember the past lie. Pay attention to the feelings and physical sensations moving through you as you remember. In what part of your body did you feel them? What qualities did the feelings have? How did you know without a doubt that what you experienced was a lie? Write down or record what you noticed and felt.

How are the feelings of truth in your body different than the feelings of a lie?

Use this information for discernment as you begin receiving messages from spirit. Let your body and heart react to the information you’re not sure of by paying attention to the subtle energy moving through you. How do these messages feel in your body? When you believe spirit is giving you a message, does it feel like the truth in your body and heart, or does it feel like a lie to you?

If it feels like the truth in your body and heart, allow yourself to trust it. Now, pay attention to what happens when you trust the message and follow your guidance. Does it work out for you? How does it feel?

If a message feels like a lie in your body, it is probably not coming from spirit. Try letting it go and asking your helpers to clear any interfering thoughts. Next time you tune in, ask them for the truth.

Don’t try too hard, push or strive to get the “right” answers. If something isn’t clear, ask for clarity, go on about your day and come back to this later. Learning to discern by attending to your subtle body sensations is a basic skill in connecting with spirit, part of the learning process.

Have patience! You’ll get this. Trust your body to know the truth!

Photo credits: Sunset water person – Mohamed Nohassi on Unspash; Colored Night Sky – Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

Imagine and Create!

Connect with spirit, Life Tips, Spiritual Wisdom, Spirtual Guidance

Like planting seeds for the future you desire in your heart and mind, you can do what is called “pre-paving” your intentions. This is a technique I learned from the channeled being, Abraham Hicks in the book written by Jerry and Esther Hicks, Ask and It Is Given from 2004.

To pre-pave what you wish to create in your life, think of an intention that is dear to your heart. Now, visualize or imagine the first step of making your intention come to life, then the second…

For instance if you intend to create more artworks, this year, imagine yourself going through each step in detail, finding ideas and inspiration, making preliminary thumbnails and sketches of your idea, then choosing one to develop, working on the drawing, transferring it to canvas, squeezing paint onto your palette, choosing the paintbrush, mixing color, blocking out your painting with large brush strokes, filling in the details, and finally, hanging the finished painting.

Now, (and this is important), decide how you want to feel as you do each step of the process. Imagine yourself sketching, choosing tubes of color, squeezing out paint, and painting with an open heart, with curiosity, and ease, with playfulness, excitement, satisfaction, and all the feelings you want to feel. Feel the sense of soul satisfaction as you hang and enjoy your finished painting.

Let yourself sense and observe those feelings, sensations, and actions in your body as you imagine doing your work. Smell the paint, feel the texture of the brush handle in your hand, see the creamy strokes of paint spreading onto the rough canvas… hear the sound the brush makes on the texture of the canvas.

You can apply this process to anything you want to manifest in your life.

Everything you bring into physical reality is created in partnership with your spiritual guidance. (whether you know it or not.) When you know this, you can invite and open yourself to the intuition and inspirations that come as you work. Spirit hears you, knows you, and answers in some way.

As you move from your imagination to doing your work in physical reality, you may get messages from your guidance to use a certain color, change a shape or part of the composition, or even to throw the whole thing away and start again!

Listen and try to follow the messages of your spiritual guidance if you can. It gets easier with practice. Whatever work you do, It will be so much more if you allow your spirit helpers to partner with you. Your connection and relationship with this non-physical assistance will help you in bringing the work you visualize and imagine into physical reality.

Everything you plan to do in your next hour, the coming day, the year ahead can be pre-paved – imagined in detail ahead of time, made real in your heart and mind before it becomes a physical reality.

Make this process fun! Dream, imagine, create in your mind first, without limits, then bring those feelings and knowings and actions you’ve practiced into your physical reality.

Photo of large paintbrushes by RhondaK Native Florida Folk Artist on Unsplash

Photo of smaller paintbrushes by Yannis Papanastasopoulos on Unsplash

What are Your Intentions for the New Year?

Connect with spirit, Healing, Life Tips, Spiritual Healing, Spiritual Wisdom, Spirtual Guidance

Many years ago I wrote down this quote for myself: “Intention is aligning your heart and mind to a single purpose.” (Unfortunately, I don’t remember where it came from.)

What do you intend to align your heart and mind to create in this coming year? What are your intentions for this precious gift of life and time you’ve been given? This new year represents a portion of your future that you can plan for, look forward to, design in your mind and heart to bring your dreams into physical manifestation. Setting new year’s intentions help you manifest your dreams into being and keep promises to yourself.

The earth is turning back toward the sun. It is It is time to rededicate yourself to those dreams and intentions that are closest to your heart. Those that drive you to get out of bed, satisfy your soul, inspire your creativity, and resonate in your heart.

Think about what you want to create, accomplish, spend your limited and precious time on this year. How you will take care of yourself, how you will carry out your life’s purpose, how you want to feel as you live another year on our sweet green planet.

How will you focus your energy this year?

Do your intentions reflect the true desires of your heart and mind? Do they come from your connection to spirit, from inside yourself? Or are they a result of cultural or family expectations, coming from outside yourself, from other people’s ideas of how you should be? Do they make sense only to your logical mind, your willingness to please others, bypassing your heart and intuitions and deep knowings? Do they tell you what you should do, ought to do, must do? These types of commands and demands do not come from your heart.

To make your life sing, to manifest your true purpose and desires in life, please learn to trust yourself, the feelings, impressions, emotions, and the subtle messages that come from your spirit, your body and heart. Pay close attention, and follow the subtle guidance of spirit which will never steer you wrong.

Spirit messages will never ask you to harm others, cause damage, destroy, put others down or hurt them, take advantage of others. Spirit messages will be uplifting or energizing to you and through you bring more connection and love and understanding into the world.

These spirit messages may come to you in various ways, through your intuition, your knowing, any of your senses, your body – as in a gut feeling, or a knowing in your heart. They will not be loud or invasive or strident. They will be quiet and subtle, and you will know them to be true.

To set your intentions, find a quiet time every day when you can tune into your heart and spirit. Listen to your intuition, that still small voice, or gut feeling, and know what is true for you. As you practice, you will gain clarity on how best to focus your intentions of heart and mind and bring your dreams into being.

I wish you and your family a beautiful, peaceful, and happy New Year!

Photo credits: Photo of balanced stones by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

Photo by Mohammad Nohasi sunset water person on Unsplash

What is your heart telling you? Can you hear its messages?

Connect with spirit, Healing, Life Tips, Spiritual Healing, Spiritual Wisdom, Wellness Tips

The teabag of wisdom… Years ago, while making myself a cup of herbal tea, the paper tag on the teabag had a simple yet profound message for me: “Trust the wisdom of your heart”.

The heart chakra is known as the chakra where matter and spirit join in your being. It sits between the lower three chakras, the root, sacral and solar plexus, the chakras of physical existence, and the higher three chakras, the throat, brow and crown, the chakras of our more spiritual nature.

It is your own receiver and interpreter of spiritual messages tempered through the wisdom of your body, and your physical life on Earth. The heart is a receiver of spirit at the same time understands the joys and limitations of embodiment in human form. The heart chakra gives us humans the capacity for unconditional love.

Your heart speaks the truth to you in a quiet voice. The noise, activity, clatter, and clutter of everyday life can often drown out the wisdom and knowing of your heart. Much like a loud rock band making it impossible to hear someone sitting right next to you even when they are speaking in a normal voice.

For your health and well being, for living a balanced life, listen to your heart daily, learn to understand what it’s telling you and to trust it’s messages. Your heart’s wisdom will help you with discernment and insight into life’s challenges and joys.

Two easy practices to help you tune into your heart’s wisdom

Practice Toning

Hold both palms over the center of your chest. Now make the “AH” sound at a pitch that resonates in your heart. Pay attention to how this feels in your body. It may take some practice to find the right pitch. You can do this by making your AH sound higher or lower until it vibrates most strongly in your heart area and feels good. Continue to tone for several breaths.

Ask and Listen

Find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. Hold both palms over your heart and ask: What can I learn from you today? What do you have to tell me today? What do you need and want me to know? Formulate your own questions and ask them as well.

The true answers from your heart will be subtle, quiet, simple, wise, supportive, and loving. If you do not receive anything right away, don’t force it or try too hard. Instead, pay attention to the subtle undercurrents of feeling and insight you pick up on throughout your day. Allow the information to gently enter your awareness in it’s own timing. Receiving these messages may take some practice. The answers may take a while to take shape in your awareness, materialize, and become clear in your mind.

Pay attention to your quiet and subtle thoughts, feelings, and knowings. As you become familiar with your heart messages and learn to trust them, you will learn that your heart that never steer you wrong.

Your logical mind may not always be ready to hear or listen to your heart messages. You may want to tune them out if they don’t fit with your beliefs or attitudes about life. These might include preconceived notions about others, knowing when it’s time to leave a partner or a job, a once good situation no longer working out for you… If you are not ready to follow through on your heart’s advice, allow its messages to enter your consciousness and percolate in your mind for a time.

Your heart understands your needs and desires. It connects you to the knowing of your mind, body, spirit, emotions, and the wisdom and insight of spirit. Whenever you are unsure about your next step in life, remember the message from the teabag of wisdom!

photo credits: man with hand on heart ashkan-forouzani on Unsplash and Girl with hands on heart – Fa Barboza on Unsplash

Fox speaks of winter II

Mediumship, Power Animal, Shamanic Journey

Yes, I have a lovely fur coat, but that is only my surface beauty.

Inside, I am confident, I know I belong here, I have what it takes to survive and thrive. I am resourceful. I know what I want and how to get it. I follow my nose, follow what humans call instinct to draw in what I need for sustenance.

Let fox teach you his ways, his grace, supreme confidence, resourcefulness, his intelligence gained from innate instinct, street smarts, animal wisdom, observational skills.

_{Photo by Birger Strahl on Unsplash}

Sustain yourself in winter of your life, when there is a chill on your mind and in your bones. Warm yourself with the spark of spirit that never burns out. Go inward to rekindle and nurture your inner fire. The world may be full of snow, bare trees, and sub zero cold, but deep inside, the cycles of life, ever turning, will carry you through to spring.

Your spirit has chosen to live in this body in this place that experiences winter, so hibernate for a time, rest, recharge your spirit, body, and emotions.

Honor the seasons, the cycles of your life and mind. Go inward to tap into the wellspring of spirit and life force which sustains you through it all.

Fox speaks of winter

Connect with spirit, Life Tips, Mediumship, Power Animal, Shamanic Journey, Shamanism

Betty’s note: Dear friends, As I practiced mediumship, and invited fox to speak, he came through for me in a very insistent way, wanting humans to know and understand his perspective. I have interpreted the impressions, feelings and telepathic messages I received from fox into words. My next three posts are all channeled from fox.

I am fox! I survive and thrive in your human-centric world in all seasons, all conditions.

Why do humans fuss about winter and cold? This is an integral season in the cycle of nature on our planet, a time to go inward, rest, live off the fat of the land, hibernate, relax, plan, play.

If you resist and disparage the cold and harsh winds of winter, you resist reality. If you resist reality, you resist your life.

_{Photo by Amanda Frank on Unsplash}

Do you wonder why life is so hard? What if you did not resist the unchangeable conditions of your life? Would your life be easier?

Just as our physical bodies require us to wake and sleep, the larger cycles of life on earth give us day and night, sunlight and shadow. Winter follows fall, then spring and summer – every. single. year. if you are ready or not!

You are alive and rooted here on this Earth for now, so if you wish to thrive, learn to be at peace and relax into the cycles of nature beyond your control.

I say, follow your nose, your senses, the quiet inner voice within that leads to the sustenance you seek in mind body and spirit. Find sustenance for your life even in the deep snows of winter.

I am a creature with confidence. I do not question my existence. I do not question my right to live, to feed myself and my family. I do not resist the reality of freezing cold in winter or steaming heat in summer. I live within the parameters of my life as a fox on this planet in this year you call 2023.

Can you do this as a human?

The Bracelet: A Story of Lost and Found

Connect with spirit, Healing, Shamanic healing, Spiritual Healing, Storytelling

When I was five years old, Dad took me to the ramshackle Victorian house of an elderly couple he visited often as a Methodist minister. He told me they were antique dealers. The house was loaded with curios and objects of art large and small. They seemed delighted to see me and allowed me to choose several treasures from their amazing hoard. Finally, after much dithering, I chose a shiny gold expansion band bracelet with a filigree heart and a tiny diamond chip (more likely rhinestone) in the middle.

This was a precious treasure to me! It was the prettiest thing I’d ever owned, and I wore it everywhere.

Lost

One day, my bracelet couldn’t be found. I looked everywhere in my room, in the house, growing frantic at losing my treasure. It did not turn up. In the days and weeks that followed I gradually forgot my bracelet and learned to live without it.

Found

Months later, in summer, while playing in the dirt under the church steps, I found my bracelet buried there, caked with soil, and dug it out. It must have fallen off my wrist while playing. My heart expanded with happiness! “I found it! I found it!”, my dad remembered me yelling as I ran into the house with my treasure.

Looking back, I owned myself as child, feeling happy, carefree, sensitive, and connected to nature. I loved trees, seeds, dirt, grass, gardening, loved to observe other children, to roughhouse and run, wrestle and climb trees, to laugh and be silly with my brothers, to pet and hold our Siamese cat as she purred.

Soul Loss

Then somehow, over time on my path to adulthood, my inborn wild and authentic nature deserted me, my personal power and vital parts of my soul were just gone. My self confidence was non-existent leaving me with little sense of self.

I knew something was missing in me. Pieces of myself were scattered, some even seemed to be buried in the dark soil like my bracelet. I felt unreal, ill at ease in the world. I didn’t feel confident or complete. I thought I was a mistake.

How did my once sparkling and free spirit get muffled, gagged and silenced? How did I allow it to withdraw into the shadows until I couldn’t connect with my inner spark any more?

Looking back, I freely gave parts of my spirit and power away to fit in to my family or group of friends. Others I depended on demanded that I give up parts of myself to be accepted and approved of. Yet others stole parts of my spirit and personal power from me through abusive acts or words.

The worst part of this was I didn’t realize that I was giving away and denying my most sacred treasure, the essence of my spirit. I couldn’t know as a child that these losses and thefts would hinder my life and impede my development as a young adult.

After living like this for years, I realized I didn’t want to exist in this fragmented way, feeling empty and isolated. But, there was no blueprint available, no book or self help guide to reclaiming my own self and my spirit.

The path to recovering myself was unclear at first. I had to reinvent my life, starting from an uncomfortable place of confusion, feeling alone and un-moored. I finally had to surrender and ask Spirit to guide me and show me my path.

It took me several years of dedicated focus to bring back the missing pieces of my spirit one by one and weave my inner life back together into wholeness. I couldn’t do this alone; energy healers, shamanic healers, dear friends, teachers, therapists, beloved spirit guides, and compassionate spirit helpers, self help books, and listening to my body and energy wisdom all contributed to my healing journey.

Like my shiny bracelet that was buried in the dark soil, I found and reclaimed my soul again. In shamanic terms what I did for myself was soul retrieval and integration– many times over.

I tell you my story because I want you to know that healing is possible. Reclaiming what you’ve lost is possible, reweaving your life, your spirit into wholeness is possible. You too can bring back the golden bracelet, your lost soul parts, your lost power, and connect once again with your true self.

Helping others like you navigate your personal healing path is now my life’s work, in partnership with compassionate and helping spirits. I am here to help you regain confidence, to develop, own, and trust your gifts!

I am here to assist you on your journey to wholeness, to reclaiming and reweaving the vital parts of yourself you’ve lost along life’s way.

Will You Choose Life?

Healing, Spiritual Healing, Spiritual Wisdom, Spirtual Guidance

“My will has chosen life.”

This is a memorable line from the 1993 movie, The Piano, written and directed by Jane Campion, and starring Holly Hunter as Ada, a mute woman whose beloved piano stands in for her silenced voice. We hear Ada’s thoughts after she has had a harrowing escape from death. We watch in horror as she chooses what looks like suicide by drowning, then as she is sinking under the waves, change her mind and fight for her life and breath.

In dramatic fashion, Ada chooses life, and recommits to living fully, being present to life, no matter how difficult it might be at times.

Throughout your time on Earth, you will be given many opportunities to recommit to being fully alive, choosing growth over stagnation, love over fear. During these choice points, your heart’s wisdom. the inner compass, will guide you.

Red Wing Blackbird

This path is not always easy, it takes courage, commitment, endurance, and will to blaze your own trail in life and follow your inner guidance.

Several years ago in early February I fell on a patch of ice and struck the outer corner of my left eyebrow hard on the concrete sidewalk . It seemed that my outer world and body were mirroring my inner ambivalence about my life at that time and asking me – will you commit to staying here in this body and living fully, or will you choose to coast and stop growing and reaching for your heart’s desires?

This accident was a wake up call! It made me pay attention to how my life had gotten into a rut, how I had become complacent, taking life for granted, how I was allowing fear to rule me.

After the fall, I had a choice. I could recommit to this life and meet the challenges and changes I was facing with grace and courage or stay stuck in ways that diminished me and my spirit. For about a month after my fall, I had a huge purple and black eye to remind me of this.

Calling Red Wing Blackbird

Life circumstances will give us all plenty of opportunities to choose growth and the uncertainty that comes with it, to step with courage into the unknown, to choose the path that our hearts and spirits desire. alternatively, we may choose to stay with the easy, the familiar, the well trodden but unsatisfying existence that no longer feeds our spirits or makes our hearts sing.

Will you choose life? Will you choose to speak and live your truth? Life means growth. Growth is not always easy, but is the path to self respect and fulfillment.

Like Ada in the The Piano will you find your voice? Will you choose life?

7 Reasons to Consider Shamanic Healing

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Shamanic healing is a powerful ancient method of receiving information and healing energy from spirit for the highest good of yourself, another person, or your community. This information may come through symbolic stories, images, and messages that can reveal new perspectives on your life and situation.

Practitioners channel energy and information from spirit helpers that is unique to each individual. Shamanic healing works with the spirits in all things to restore balance, harmony, and wholeness to your life.

Shamanic healing can complement your work with therapists and other health care professionals. It works with the spiritual aspects of illness and other obstacles in life.

Have you felt empty, off balance, or lost since you experienced a trauma or injury?

Are you at a crossroads in life, unsure about your direction, unable to make a decision?

Do you have energy that does not belong to you?

1. You feel something vital is missing in your life or that part of you died when a loss or trauma occurred.

Soul retrieval provides spiritual healing for soul loss. This is a process by which the practitioner works with spirit helpers to find your lost soul essence that left during a traumatic event and bring it back so you can be whole in spirit again. In addition to soul retrieval, shamanic journeys for healing and healing with spiritual light can help shine light on the spiritual aspects of soul loss.

2. You feel powerless at times

Was your power stolen from you by a family member, partner, stranger, friend, or co-worker? Did you unknowingly give your power away to someone? Did another person misuse and abuse your trust? Power retrievals locate and restore your lost or stolen power through the guidance of spirit helpers.

3. You feel that you have energy that does not belong to you, that is holding you back or overshadowing you.

This might include thoughts, feelings, emotions, or physical sensations that are out of character for you. There may be an attachment, or disembodied spirit that has been attracted by your light depleting your energy and life force. This is a common occurrence in our culture since we no longer “tend the gates of death” and help disembodied spirits cross to the light as was the custom in ancient times.

Compassionate Depossession is a gentle process in which the misplaced spirit is contacted, their concerns are heard, healing is given, and they are taken out of the living person’s energy field and sent to the light where they belong. This creates a win-win situation for the person who is seeking relief and the disembodied confused and lost spirit who can now move on to their next adventure.

4. You are at a crossroads in life, not sure how to move forward, what choices to make.

Journeys for divination (answering questions) can bring through images, stories, symbols, words, and knowings that give you new and different perspectives on your life and the situations you face. Journeys can show you possibilities you never expected or thought of. The information contained in journeys are unique to the individual receiving them.

5. Tough problems seem to be stuck in the cells of your body, are persistent and difficult to shift. These issues may come from the lives and unresolved problems of your ancestors or from your own past lives.

Past life work or ancestral healing may be called for in these situations. We often carry the burdens of those who’ve gone before us and who have not been able to reconcile or heal their guilt, shame, anger, or fear before death. For Ancestral healing, the practitioner and spirit helpers travel into the past and look into any traumas in your ancestral lines that may have been the cause of the toxic patterns you wish to clear. For past life traumas that you may be re-experiencing in this life, spirit helpers discern what happened in the past and do clearing and healing as would be done for issues in this life.

6. You have a feeling that you or your family have been cursed in some way

Curses are thought forms, beliefs, and patterns of thinking and being that can be passed from generation to generation and affect your life adversely. Curse unraveling locates the originator of the curse, often the reason for the curse, the toxic energy of the curse and and removes it from all who’ve been affected since the curse was made. This sometimes involves many individuals over many years who’ve been affected.

7. You sense that there are wandering spirits, (aka ghosts) or “negative” energy in your home or a space that you frequent.

Space clearing is a process of discerning if there are spirits inhabiting a space, locating and communicating with them, and helping them find their way to the light where they belong, assisting them in vacating the house, building or space where their presence causes disquiet.

After the spirits are cleared, the space can be cleansed further with spiritual light, sound vibrations, a smudge ritual. Often the story of the spirit or spirits will come through. They usually have a reason to stay behind in a particular place. They are often stuck in their own emotions and fears and can’t move forward without help.

Shamanic healing is effective, drug free, life affirming, and promotes wholeness in mind body and spirit.

If you are overwhelmed, feel cut off from your body, if you are seeking spiritual guidance, shamanic healing may be a good fit for you.

Why learn shamanic journeying?

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What are shamanic journeys? Where did journeying come from?

In the worldview of shamanism, every thing and every living being on our planet has a spirit. Shamanic journeying is a practice developed before recorded history for humans to connect with and learn from the spirit world.

Receiving accurate and valid information and acting on it meant survival in those harsh times. In turn humans learned to offer respect to the spirits who helped them by creating ceremonies, dances, works of art, rituals and offerings to honor them.

Why ask the spirits for help?

The compassionate helping spirits who work with humans have access to a much wider perspective on our lives and everything that has happened, is happening and will happen. They understand and witness the amazing and constantly shifting web of life and energy that connects all beings.

The spirits are always with us and they have always been with us, waiting for us to ask for their help. Journeys tap into this wellspring of compassionate spiritual information that is freely shared with us out of a wish to be of service. The well of spiritual information and guidance never run dry! There is constant revelation of new finely tuned information for those who ask.

Why learn to journey?

Journeys are still relevant to our lives now, many tens of thousands of years after the first person discovered they could connect to the spirit world.

We no longer fear as much for our physical safety and survival. Yet, even as we have access to medical care and miracle drugs, smart phones, comfortable and reliable heating and cooling of our homes, a stable food supply, easy transportation and communication, we face challenges in our individual lives and our collective societies undreamed of by the first shamans who painted on torch-lit cave walls.

We can use the time honored practice of shamanic journeying to ask the spirits for help with our current personal challenges; our emotional, mental, physical and spiritual health, our relationships, families, children, our jobs, life decisions large and small…

We can also journey for practical information about how we can help in reweaving the web of life – healing the larger challenges of our planet – environmental problems, economic troubles, widespread poverty, epidemics, pollution, violence…

How can journeying help me? Several stories…

Practical advice

I was having a hard time deciding on how to organize one of my longer classes. Fresh new ideas and inspirations were needed to make my class more interesting. In a journey, I asked for a sign from nature. The next day on my walk in the woods there was an huge spider web lit by the morning sun. I knew in my body and heart that was my sign! It showed me how to organize my class in an effective way that had never occurred to me.

Shift in perspective on the everyday dilemmas of life:

When you can’t figure something out from your normal daily perspective, the spirits can show you another way to look at things. A client asked about her difficult relationship with her daughter-in-law. She was shown some information that helped her understand the younger woman better and allowed her to create a more fulfilling and peaceful connection with her.

Spiritual messages can that help shift your focus.

C had been diagnosed with a deadly form of cancer. She was having a hard time with her diagnosis and the treatments were making her sick. Then she received a message from spirit that came through in a journey– “Your soul is indestructible.” That message changed everything for her. She was able to carry on while maintaining a sense of peace and acceptance about the truth of her situation, knowing she was so much more than her body.

Healing Energy

When I journey with an intention of healing for others, my spirit helpers often fill the physical body and aura with divine light and beautiful rainbow colors. I see and feel this beautiful light and color filling every cell and energy particle of my client. There is no effort involved. I simply ask and the person on the table receives. This healing energy can shift a person’s mood and thinking to a more peaceful place, helping them feel calmer and more centered. The journeys end with thanks to those spirits and helpers who have worked with my client and me.

When you connect to the spirit world from the heart with sincerity and integrity and ask respectfully for help you will receive advice, guidance, insights, and healing. – It won’t necessarily be what you expect, but it will be finely tuned to your needs and your level of understanding right now.

Meeting and working with your spirit guides

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Do you need higher level help solving the baffling problems of your life? Do you know that you are never alone? Have you ever felt the presence or received the guidance of your spirit helpers?

We are all surrounded by compassionate loving spirits that offer us their support, advice, and guidance, protection and wisdom. I’ve learned as a shamanic healer that no one is ever alone, that we are constantly encircled and supported by these loving beings, and that they will provide help and guidance if asked respectfully. Our spirit helpers and angels will share their wisdom and show us what we need to know for healing, empowerment, and peace of mind.

Dragonfly

All human beings have the capacity to connect with the spirit world and receive help. We have been doing this since before recorded history. In the words of my teacher, it is “in our DNA”.

Shamanic healing is based on our human relationship with the spirit world. You can connect with your helping spirits when you let your body and mind relax and settle down, let go of the busyness, stress and constant chatter, the monkey mind of everyday living.

To Connect:

Create sacred space in your home. Make it relaxing and inviting. Clear all clutter, clean away dust, strike a chime or bowl to clear the energy of your space and set the tone. Make yourself comfortable.

You might put on soft instrumental music and close your eyes. Now sit comfortably and ask inwardly to meet one of your helpers. When you begin to relax, you might see a scene unfolding in which your guide appears. You might hear spoken words, you might feel their loving presence.

Your guide may appear in human form, or as an angel, a mythical creature, a beloved grandparent or ancestor who has crossed to the light, an animal, bird, insect, a bubble of light, a plant or tree… Be open to any possibility and accept who comes to you without judgment.

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My Grandparents, both spirit helpers for me

Greet your guide. Ask them a question you’ve been mulling over. Thank them for their presence. Feel the emotions they radiate. Even if you see or sense nothing, act as if your guide is there and hears you. (If you meet a being who appears to be a guide, but is mean, nasty, demeaning, it is not your spirit guide. Stop the exercise and try again when you are feeling better.)

Formulate your questions:

Your asking for help and guidance is the key to receiving it. If you are skeptical, if you expect your helpers to know what you want without taking the time to form a relationship, without thinking seriously about your questions, you will be disappointed.

To get started, ask them about themselves and how you will work together. After you’ve set this groundwork, you can ask your guides anything. Ask for what you want. Go right to the heart of your dreams and desires and start there.

Ask respectfully and with humility. I like to use the phrases “Show me more about…” “Show me what will happen if…” “What is needed now to heal this situation…? If you keep your questions open ended, you won’t shut down the possibilities that might occur otherwise.

Try to avoid asking your guides to predict the future with pinpoint accuracy. Because you are a being of free will, your free will interacts with all possibilities in the universe and these possibilities can generate many different conceivable outcomes for you.

The compassionate guidance you receive is to be taken seriously and acted upon. Perhaps you receive guidance to have more fun, to lighten your heart. Now it is up to you to decided how to do this. Use your intuition. What ideas are flowing into your mind as you think about this? Consider them all, do not dismiss the guidance you receive.

Orange butterfly on elderflower

Always express your thanks and gratitude for the guidance you receive.

Of course, if you are advised to make drastic changes, you must take it slow, test what you have been given against the conditions of your life, and move forward at your own pace within your comfort zone.

Connecting with your guides is like a prayer, a heart to heart conversion, or a soulful experience with a wise, loving, compassionate spirit that cares deeply for you and your well-being.

Working with spirit guides can change your life in amazing ways. Remember to take your guide’s advice to heart, open your mind to new ways of thinking and acting, and trust the advice you are given.

Tips for working with power animals

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Has a power animal appeared for you? Why did that particular animal choose to work with you? What gifts and guidance do they bring you?

Monarch butterfly

I thought power animals were the product of fanciful and wishful and maybe even loony minds until Horse appeared at my side one day. I was out for a walk several days before a healing touch class in which I would experience a life-changing healing. It seemed like a normal summer’s day. Suddenly, a chestnut brown horse was walking close beside me. He seemed so real, I thought I could lean against him and smell his horsey scent, feel the texture of his course mane, hear his soft nicker, and scratch around his ears. But he was in spirit form; sent to guide, comfort and support me through my mind bending healing experience that was yet to come. He’s been a helper to me ever since.

If you don’t feel connected to a spirit animal, a shamanic practitioner can do a power animal retrieval for you. Or you can learn to do shamanic journeys and retrieve one for yourself. Remember, the animal actually chooses you, so be open to whoever comes your way offering their services. It could just as easily be snake, vulture, spider, or mouse, as wolf, bear or eagle!

Power animals are compassionate spirit guides that have taken on animal form. Each creature has special attributes and powers (superpowers!) that can help you with your unique needs. No list or book of animal attributes can capture the full meaning your power animal has for you. Be open to listening, learning and building a relationship with your helper. You will be richly rewarded!

Squirrel

To Connect: You can use journaling to connect, or go into a daydream state with a question ready. Do this at a time of day when you can be quiet for awhile. Connect directly by learning to do shamanic journeys.

Ask the power animal what you can do for them. After all the relationship is a two way street.

Always be respectful of your helpers. Thank them for their presence, their support, their advice. They have chosen to work with you, and that is an honor.

Questions: When you first visit with your helper, ask how they can help you and what gifts they bring to you. Ask what they want from you. After that you can ask other questions. “Why” questions don’t usually work too well. Try to re-word them: (Can you help me understand…? Show me about… )

Red winged blackbird

The answers may come to you in several different ways such as a picture or “movie” in your head, words, emotions, impressions, etc. Accept what comes. It won’t always be earth shattering. It might be quiet at times. It might take some time for the answer to become clear to you. The more you work with your helper, the easier it will be for you to know what they are communicating to you.

Follow the advice you are given if possible. Remember that your power animal will never ask you to do something that harms you or another person or living thing. If you get something like this, it is not coming from your power animal.

Disconnect: When you’re done visiting your power animal, thank them, say goodbye, open your eyes and take a drink of water, a bite of food, or dance around a little to get yourself back into this reality.

Above all, enjoy you power animal! They can bring you humor and fun, spot-on guidance and serious healing if you are open to their messages.

Blessings,

Betty

Resources:

Shamanic journeying by Sandra Ingerman ; Sounds True, Incorporated. 2006

Animal Speak by Ted Andrews; Llewellyn Publications. 2002

Is shamanic healing right for me?

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Shamanic healing can be helpful for many people. The guidance of compassionate loving spirit helpers is channeled through the healer for your benefit. Since the helpers communicate in symbols, having a feel for images, symbols, and stories can be useful (but not necessary) if you are interested in receiving a session. Shamanic healing can be a unique and profound process, so it is helpful if you are receptive to new experiences.

Consider these questions:

Are you ready for change in your life? What changes do you desire?

Are you tired of feeling stuck? Where do you feel stuck? Are you willing to do what it takes to get “unstuck”?

Have been told “It’s all in your head.”? Do others discount you and tell you to “Buck up.”, or “Get over it!”?

Are you tired of feeling anxious and stressed? Do you believe it is possible to feel better? Do you believe that you deserve to feel better?

Have you tried other forms of medicine or alternative healing, but had no luck? Shamanic healing deals with the spiritual aspects of disease and disharmony. There is no pill for that!

Do you feel that something is missing in your life?

Do you ever feel the presence of energy that doesn’t belong to you?

A “yes” to any of these questions may indicate that you would benefit from shamanic healing or other forms of spiritual healing.

I will continue this series of posts with an in depth look at several shamanic healing techniques.

Blessings,

Betty

What is Shamanic Healing? How can it help me?

Healing, Mediumship, Shamanic healing, Shamanic Journey, Spiritual Healing, Spiritual Wisdom, Spirtual Guidance

Shamanic healing is spiritual healing.

Its been part of the human experience for tens of thousands of years. The healer works with masterful and wise spirit guides, light beings, and power animals for healing that goes beyond the physical realm to address the unseen energetic, emotional, and spiritual causes of disease. She acts as a channel for their images, stories, energy, and words. Shamanic healing is effective and potent healing that works on a deep soul level.

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How can it help me?

Shamanic Journeys are channeled stories meant just for you. They bring wisdom, insight, and healing energy. Journeys can surprise you with new perspectives and effective guidance for your life and bring you in touch with your deep inner wisdom

Soul Retrieval returns lost power to you and helps you feel whole again. During traumatic events, a part of your soul essence may be lost. The soul retrieval restores it to you.

Psychopomp or “spirit guide” work can clear your home and spaces of unwanted energies and remove overshadowing energy that holds you back. Spirits who are “stuck” here after death can be helped to cross to the light.

Energy Extraction can clear your energy field and body of stagnant energy.

Curse Unraveling can clear and heal negative ancestral patterns and past life problems.

Mediumship Messages from loved ones who’ve passed on are channeled to you through the practitioner.

Power Animal Retrieval brings you a spirit guide in animal form.

Toning and Healing with Spiritual Light can bring you a sense of peace, connection with the universe and well being.

Many of my clients have found that they feel less anxious, less stressed, and more tuned in to their own spiritual guidance and life path after receiving shamanic healing. It can be a life-changing process!

Blessings,

Betty