“The great sea has sent me adrift.
It moves me as a weed in a great river.
Earth and spirits carry me away and move my inner heart with joy!”
— Eskimo Woman Shaman
Spirit Path Medicines are ancient practices used for the healing of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wounds. These practices focus on the spiritual aspects of illness and disease.
Spirit Path Healing Can Support and Strengthen the work of other Healing Modalities including Psychotherapy and “Body Based” Healing.
All healing is Spirit-directed. The practitioner is the channel, whether participating in the healing modalities or by bridging the healing back to the one who has stated their intention and asked for the healing.
Years ago, I was given the descriptor: “Spirit Path Medicines” to remind that these practices date back tens of thousands of years. They have been practiced in most parts of the world, and often coexist alongside of “established religions.”
In most ‘Earth Centered” Cultures and traditions, everything that exists is known to be alive, aware and has the ability to communicate. An energetic web connects all life and spirit lives in all things.
Humans, animals, plants, stones, mountains, the elements, Earth, the stars…each is Spirit. Everything is Sacred. Since all is interconnected, respectful relationship is essential for the health of the community and the individual. Humans are seen as threads in Natures’ tapestry: not separate or superior to it.
If we traced our ancestral lineages far enough, most humans would find that we each emerged from a culture holding “Shamanic Heritage.” Studying the Wisdom of our own ancestors as well as honoring the teachings of other indigenous cultures creates the groundwork for respectful and empowering healing for the whole.
In the past century, there has been a reawakening and interest in these ancient healing paths. I believe this modern interest in Spirit Medicines and Shamanic Practices has been fed by the deep-rooted need or even urgency many are experiencing to return balance and healing to our relationship with each other and with the earth.
Humans are “of nature”, and we have a deep need to reconnect with natures cycles and rhythms. In truth many of us have disconnected from the cycles and rhythms of both outer world and our own inner resources. When we isolate and separate ourselves in this way, we lose perspective and connection and can no longer feel ourselves as part of the whole.
“The Healing” frequently consists of three parts. Each part holds many variations.
To support your energy.
To return to you any of your own “essence” that has “split off” due to loss or trauma
To remove illness, disharmony
Many cultures and traditions believe we are either born with one or more helping spirits who accompany us throughout our life; Or before adulthood, we are led to engage in vision quest or other rite of initiation to seek personal connection with a spirit helper.
These helping spirits may be called Power Animals, or Guardian Spirits; they maybe “Angels”. They offer and provide power, protection and support for our physical and spiritual vitality. Each of these helping spirits has certain gifts/medicines that support, inform and inspire.
Sometimes a helping spirit will enter our life to aid in particular way and then leave again. At least one helping spirit is meant to accompany us throughout our life, but sometimes that connection is broken.
A Power Animal or Guardian Spirit retrieval restores a source of lost personal spiritual power. Without which you may feel lost, luckless, dispirited, challenged by making choices or lacking in joy or vitality.
One might describe “soul” as that essence which provides the energy and vitality to support and empower our lives. Soul Loss is an adaptive mechanism. During a traumatic event, a part of our essence, our light, may split off so that we can utilize our remaining resources to survive the trauma.
In our modern society, trauma and emotional splitting can come from many triggers including emotional, physical, sexual abuse, assault, separation, loss, accidents, illness, surgery, childbirth, wartime experiences, natural disasters, loss of job, status, life cycle transitions… the list goes on.
Sometimes we experience soul loss because we give part of our vital essence to someone else or allow them to take it from us. This may happen because we believe if “I give myself away” it will somehow help the other or “make them” love or care for us.
The “other” may steal or hold onto someone else’s essence out of desire to control or disempower in some way. No one can use our vital essence except our self: it is soul-printed to our self, alone. The result of soul theft is an unhealthy connection to another person that can feel uncomfortable, confusing and stuck.
Trauma and its results are subjective. Someone suffering from Soul Loss, may describe themselves as feeling “not all here” or having “lost part of myself” or “never feeling put back right, or not quite the same” since any event described as traumatic or a deep loss.
During a trauma of a Soul Essence fragments; the Soul Part seeks a safe haven somewhere in the spirit worlds. A young soul part is sometimes cared for by a spirit helper, ancestor or guide.
Since the spirit worlds are outside of relative time, the soul part may not know the trauma has passed and it is now safe to return to the individual Soul.
Sometimes soul fragments do naturally return and there are practices to connect you and to call these parts to your elf.
But when traumatic events or their aftermath are ongoing, “parts” will not integrate and are unlikely to remain. One important role of the “Shaman” has always been to go in search of where the soul essence has fled and return it to the client.
Once the soul essence has been retrieved, it is the client’s task to integrate the soul essence into their self. This is accomplished in part, by committing to those changes and life choices that support healing and empowerment. A spirit helper or guide may return with the soul essence providing additional support to aid the integration process.
Specific information, practices or ceremony may be given to lovingly welcome the soul part home and support integration.
Over many years of bridging this modality, I find that the soul essence that had fragmented always returns with gifts, including access to talents wisdom and creativity. Some individuals feel an immediate beneficial change, for others the shift in awareness dawns more slowly.
After Soul Retrieval, many people report feeling more whole, grounded in their bodies and more at home in the world. They often discover it is easier to access their creativity and innate gifts, to feel hopeful, peaceful, strong and empowered. They often express more willingness and ease in letting go of unhelpful patterns and making choices from an awareness of personal integrity and authenticity.
It is a humble gift to watch/feel the changes that ensue when one’s missing essence is returned, and that human becomes inspirited full of spirit again.
Spiritual Extraction:
When a person experiences Soul Loss or Power Loss, the integrity of the individual life energy matrix may be compromised, creating openings though which misplaced energy has taken root.
This can include self-defeating thoughts, and acceptance of other’s negative beliefs, blame, shame, psychic darts and arrows. The expression of “being stabbed in the back,” is more than a simple metaphor. An intrusion can manifest as a localized pain or strong, negative belief about one self. A spiritual extraction involves removing and releasing the intrusion, clearing the affected area and is generally followed by a power retrieval or soul retrieval.
Ancestral Work and Healing:
Our blood lineage has woven through our own bodies the lives of our ancestors. This includes their joys and talents, as well as patterns of abuse, addiction, ill health, debilitating family beliefs or emotions.
We are often unconscious of how the energy of old family wounds informs how we think and act. This is why we see patterns of abuse, incest, addiction, poor health and other traits passed down through generations. Sometimes “themes” are observed such as health problems or accidents appearing along the male or female lineage. Examples include many men of the family experiencing the same kind of illness at a similar age, or many of the women experiencing a back injury, also when reaching a particular decade.
From a Shamanic perspective these traits are seen as energetic imprints woven into the spiritual matrix that supports our personal life. Many people with traumatic family histories benefit from ancestral healing before personal healing can occur. A number of Spirit Path Medicine Modalities may be utilized in this healing including Spiritual Extraction, Soul Retrieval and Spirit Releasing of deceased relatives.
For a variety of reasons, some individuals remain earthbound after death. Sometimes a traumatic death, a deep attachment to a person, or strong desire to complete unfinished business may interfere with the soul’s ability to cross over to the Light where then can continue their soul’s journey. In many traditions, the shaman, medicine man or woman, and sometimes the entire tribal group are called upon to help the soul move forward.
I was born into a multi woven heritage of Eastern European, Siberian, Mongolian, Hungarian, Roma (Gypsy), a sprinkling of Scottish
(according to family legend), French, and English.
Both grandmothers and my maternal grandfather considered themselves “people of the earth,” and when very young, taught me to honor all beings and forces of nature as the “Mothers” of human and all life.
I have also found myself deeply moved, comforted and connected to the portals of nature, and the natural world. During a near death experience at the age of five, I become aware of compassionate spirits aiding me, including those beings of the Stars.
Twenty years thereafter,
“Hawai’i” called and I was given the opportunity to study Hawai’ian energetic and other healing practices with an elder in the community. He also offered me teachings from the Hawai’ian mystical tradition: respect, humility and self-discipline, the awareness of how all is connected, including our human responsibility and place in the tapestry of creation.
Hawai’ian teachings have intersected with opportunities to sit in circle with Native American, First Nations teachers of North and South America, Tibetan, Celtic and African elders and healers.
“At this time in this life…”
I am most often guided to:
“Keep Heart Open.”
I do not call myself “Shaman”.
I simply act as facilitator.
I do not use one specific language or ritual.
Each “Ceremony” is personal Medicine.
Directed by your Spiritual Allies and Created to be of most benefit for your Healing Needs at the time.
I hold the humble work of gathering the Healing… and gifting to you with Blessing.
The path is based in Humility, Reverence and Self-Discipline. It fosters conscious responsibility for oneself and active acceptance of one’s part in caring for the greater family of creation. It teaches and strengthens direct personal pathways for obtaining wisdom and guidance in support of our personal and collective soul journey.
I was called to this pathway early in life and I continue to feel humble and grateful for the opportunity to share these healings with others. I offer thanks and reverence for the gifts and teachings from Guides, Ancestors and Elders, in spirit or embodied forms, of all clans, nations and lands.
“E ola mau ka honua E ola loa au I ke Akua Ho’ iki a mai I ke ola. Amana, Ua noa.”
“May the Earth continue to live may the spirits grant you long life and may these blessings be manifested. The Prayer has lifted, It is free.”
Contact Willow at [email protected]
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