It delights me daily that people all over the U.S. are discovering, or re-discovering, shamanic healing. Because of the articles I’ve written about soul retrieval and compassionate depossession, people from all over this country find their way to my site and ask their questions about shamanism and shamanic healing. A question I hear very often is: Will I need more than one healing session? My answer is that no one can say, and I’d like to discuss why that is so.
One thing I’ve observed in my work is that the soul yearns to be both whole and free to live its purpose. In fact, the more whole our soul is, the likelier it is to successfully live its purpose. And so sometimes the events and symptoms we experience in our bodies, minds and lives are the soul’s way of prompting us to seek our healing, which leads to our wholeness. Depression and sadness, for example, are a common reaction to soul loss. So a client will come for shamanic healing, feel either immediately or gradually free of depression, and look forward to plunging back into life with vigor. And then, a few months later, the depression and sadness return. And my client is then puzzled: Why didn’t my shamanic healing stick?
When old symptoms return, it is often an indication that the healing stuck very well. So well that the soul has grown strong, is craving more healing, and prompts the feeling of sadness to drive the client to it. The return of a useful symptom, then, often indicates that the client’s soul is ready for the next step in its healing journey. The shamanic healing process is most like peeling that proverbial onion. We begin the work on the outermost layer, only to have our living reveal to us the next layer that is rising for healing.
I am sometimes in awe at the never-ending opportunity for healing my own shamanic path has offered up to me. I am constantly learning new depth to what healing can mean for me, and what new strengths that healing brings. On this healing path I have made such powerful relationships with people, places, helping Spirits and ancestors, and each of them has enriched my inner and outer life. I’m grateful for the tremendous yearning of my soul for wholeness, and even grateful for the sometimes miserable symptoms my soul chooses to spur that growth to wholeness.