powerful results. It is also a very democratic procedure – everyone from high-pressured City financiers to labourers with back ache are turning to shamanic practitioners for help – this is not just a phenomenon for the therapied few looking for the latest head trip.
Debbie’s case is fairly typical of the reasons for seeking soul retrieval, and also illustrates the difference between retrieval and therapy, as well as the speed with which progress can sometimes be made.
Debbie lost her son in a tragic accident six years ago and has been in therapy ever since. Her depression and feelings of loss had improved over the years, but she still felt herself to be “incomplete”, even after six years. On her first guided shamanic journey, lasting just 20 minutes, she was introduced to her empowered self in the form of a power animal, or spirit ally, which represented her inner strength and courage.
“For the first time in a long, long time, I felt that I could go on”, she said. “I have never got this from therapy. I feel like I have emerged from a long dark tunnel into a bright, warm light which is embracing and supportive. I have a future now”.
Part of the reason for the success of soul retrieval is its direct focus on the client in a totally holistic way. Soul retrieval supports the whole person and caters for their spiritual, mythic, and emotional needs, not just those of the body – the focus for conventional medicine – or the mind – the territory of the analyst.
The intense focus on the client does not fully explain why soul retrieval works so effectively, however. Whatever happens to the client during retrieval, it seems plain that they enter some