Soul Extraction - An Introduction

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Soul extraction is the act of withdrawing any harmful or negative or unpleasant entities or energies from the body. Often this process is followed with a healing, or placing a lost soul fragment back into the body. Soul extraction can in some religions and practices be seen as a kind of ‘exorcism’ or a healing of a ‘possession’, but in our modern day practice it might also be an exorcism of an addiction or dis-ease, or something else that may be caused by an energy which can be removed during a shamanic healing.

Most neo-shamans tend to talk of soul retrieval, but not many include soul extraction in their practice, I feel this is something of an oversight. If the soul has the ability to split off and leave the body, then theoretically it is just as easy for other entities and energies to find their home in the voids left behind in a person’s spirit.

We tend to think of very dramatic scenes when we think of possession. The disturbing images from The Exorcist for example, or the stories of kitsune possession from Japan where people start behaving like foxes, or acting in a negative manner. In many cases, possession is nothing like this.

For example, a person may have been in an abusive relationship with their partner. Part of their spirit may have left during this time, so they could still live, and so that their spirit could ‘survive’ untouched and unharmed during the process. But at the same time, that partner’s hatred and disgust may also go into the person’s spirit, and stay there. Over time, the person may turn this hatred and disgust against themselves without even realising that it doesn’t belong to them. They accept this energy, even as it causes mental and physical dis-ease. During a shamanic healing, a soul extraction is needed to remove this energy, or to begin a process of removal, and a soul retrieval is also needed, to find the spirit that left and encourage it to come back to the body with words of love and trust. People who have this sort of energy inside them may feel they can never truly let go of the person who hurt them, or may always feel over-shadowed by this person. You may find yourself pre-occupied with this person, unable to stop thinking about them.

In another example, a spiritual person may journey off into the otherworlds. When they do this, they might encounter a nightmarish figure, or something unpleasant. If they are unable to protect themselves, or if they do not have a close relationship with their guides, this unpleasant figure may come back with them and ‘shadow’ them. This person may start to feel ill or weak, or tired and sick. In many cases this ‘entity’ may leave on its own, especially if the person looks after themselves and their spirit. But in some cases the entity stays, and requires those experienced in cleansing the spirit in order to fix the situation. I believe that shamanic healers are the best-equipped to deal with these situations, but you might also consider priests or Wiccans, and those of other spiritual persuasions which include cleansing and purifying of the spirit.

It is important to know and remember that soul extraction can be dangerous, and it should never be done ‘lightly’ or without experience, it puts both the healer and the person who needs healing in danger. Not knowing how to remove negative energy safely, or not knowing how to place a fragile spirit fragment back into the body, can result in further harm and ill-health – exactly what you’re trying to avoid.

If you experience any doubt, or worry about the ability of your spirit-helpers to support you, then there is no point attempting a soul-extraction, to do so is irresponsible and disrespectful.

Learn to recognise when to refer those who come to you onto stronger healers, and always remember that healing is an ongoing process, and one ‘extraction’ may not be enough. If you cannot provide aftercare, or cannot find someone who can, then performing a soul-extraction is probably not the right course.

Comments

[lupabitch.livejournal.com]

Hmm...interesting idea. We don't often think of being "contaminated" in this way. Yet most people also don;t think of "soul" as being removable, either. Good essay!

[valkyriur.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing this. I have been teetering on trying the soul extraction and soul retrieval for a while. This gives me a better idea of what to possibly expect.

[rivenscythe.livejournal.com]

I know I'm not exactly of a healing bent, but your second paragraph in particular really caught me by surprise. After all, when someone is being operated upon in conventional medicine, isn't an antiseptic used to cleanse the site of harmful bacteria? It seems odd that anyone attempting to heal someone wouldn't try to cleanse the area first that they intend to heal.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Yes, but sadly I am used to having explain what 'soul extraction' is to neo-shamans, and sometimes even explain that yes, possession is not only theoretically possible, but in practice, not very nice to always deal with.

[rivenscythe.livejournal.com]

Please tell me that they haven't attempted Soul Retrievals without knowing what a Soul Extraction is first...

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

ahahahaha um.
do you want the truth?
or the lie? :P

Yes, in fact even people who call themself 'shaman' refuse to do soul retrievals. They might do 'cleansings', but to me that's like... running a hand over wax stain in carpet. Running a hand over a 'dusty' aura is one thing, but it's not gonna work on the wax stain in the soul!!!

I can't believe I just made that analogy.
The 'wax stain in the soul.' ;)

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I hope to write some more on this in future actually, I wish there were more qualified people out there capable of doing these procedures, but these days I'm starting to realise that most of us have to do our own retrievals and extractions (though some retrievals are nigh on impossible for us to do alone for ourself, I think), so I'm going to start posting up little bits and pieces.

[rivenscythe.livejournal.com]

Could be worse, and I think I might stick with the lie for now.

[scian-ashleyder.livejournal.com]

For example, a person may have been in an abusive relationship with their partner. Part of their spirit may have left during this time, so they could still live, and so that their spirit could ‘survive’ untouched and unharmed during the process. But at the same time, that partner’s hatred and disgust may also go into the person’s spirit, and stay there.

Interestingly enough, this seems to describe something I think I may currently be going through (and have been for years), though not in a 'partner'-type relationship.

How does one determine if such an action is necessary? With your earlier example of wax stains of the soul and dusty auras (which I can't help giggling at), I understand the analogy, but I have the problem of not being able .... correction - not knowing how... to see or feel these things at this point in such a 'concrete' manner....

[zeng-li.livejournal.com]

Another topic I'm interested in learning how to deal with (and deflect) is energy vampires.

As a shamanist, I've encountered people with obvious signs of soul fragmentation or the remnants of former partners who may have been energy vampires that remain clinging even after the relationship is broken off. I wish I could help these people, but my current life is one of learning. I also don't fully know the ethics of when to point it out to people that they need a soul cleansing and when to keep my mouth shut, so to be safe I often say nothing although I wish to help such affected people.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

The good news is, an actual soul extraction is not the only avenue available to heal problems like this - therapy, talking, emotional healing etc. have all been developed to supplement a society that no longer leans on its shamans and spiritual healers.

Most therapists and psychologists are pretty well-equipped to deal with 'self-hatred', and some will even encourage its externalisation. Treating your self-hatred as something 'external' is part of the battle, once you realise that it's not *you*, but something else, and treat it as such, it's influence already begins to wane.

Generally, if you're not sure now, give it time. There is no rush to immediately understand exactly what is wrong, or harming you, at the moment. Eventually you may come to understand if you might have something within you that needs to be rejected or 'cut away', or you may come to realise a truth you have always known. There's no specific way to *know* whether you need one or not, a shaman or wise person might be able to tell, but even they have been known to get it wrong from time to time.

[blackdragon5.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there is a person alive whose soul is in one piece and undamaged? Maybe some really little kids I guess.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

I think some shamans and medicine men and women do, that's why they go through so many 'deaths', (or just one really really big 'death'). And I think some adults, maybe... but it depends.

It would be pretty difficult these days I believe to find an intact 'soul.'

[thumbeline.livejournal.com]

I am curious how "deaths" help to put a soul back intact?

curious because i think i may have experienced such things.

i've not heard of this as a concept before though.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

In many indigenous cultures (Siberian, Australian, some Native American and Inuit) the spiritual elder or healer, or 'shaman', goes through a process of literal or spiritual death. In the case of spiritual death, the person is often isolated for a few days and goes without food and very often without water, they are treated like a dead person by the community, and they journey.

When they journey, they are often 'dismembered' by their spirits, or by demons. Their body is stripped of all its 'flesh' and scattered around the worlds. Then helper spirits come and bring it all back, and in the process of bringing it all back, they restore the sick soul back to 'health.'

Dismemberment as a 'theme' in shamanic death is common in cultures worldwide.

Also is the idea of people getting 'ill' for no apparent reason, particularly with mental affliction. The idea is that as soon as the person has experienced their proper initiation - and passes - this 'ailment' will leave them, and in its place will be an ability to communicate almost constantly with the spiritworld, minus the actual 'illness' symptoms that might have a negative impact upon the body and mind.

Outside of the hardcore training a person trying to be a spiritual elder or shaman might go through, people go through 'deaths' all the time, from very literal deaths, to traumatic psychological ones which can precede a new disorder, or end an old one. Sometimes people even 'feel' it as it happens. These deaths can also mark the loss of a piece of spirit, but they can also be very positive forces, marking a death of an older, unhealthy state, or a reclamation of something we thought we'd lost.

[thumbeline.livejournal.com]

A relief to read this- I experienced something extremely similar myself last summer that still haunts me. I worry about it. I do appear to be doing better than ever but some things leave me wondering. But yeah right down to hearing spirits tell me when they'd feed me and how etc etc... and watching myself be dismembered, spiritually... and now an often awareness of every single person/being in my space.. so it is a relief to see that this could really be a positive thing. i just wish i had had more guidance, that this didn't just spontaneously happen on its own to me. i also often wonder if these were gifts i had wanted, but i have always sort of intuitively known that i was a witch/psychic/etc and it would occur in its own time with our without my consent.