Working with Spirit
Journeying is the shaman’s gift which entails a high level of responsibility and commitment to their own walk, commitment to their patient and to their community. The ability to be able to divine or see an illness is an important part of treatment, some shamans can also analyse the patients energetic body, some see the colors of the aura, and this is used to determine the nature of the illness.
It is important to remember that in shamanic healing the spirits are often said to be the ones who actually perform the cure. According to Jeremy Narby: The Cosmic Serpent (1998) in the Amazon region:
“It is the invisible, life-creating maninkari spirits who walk to Ashaninca shamans in their visions and tell them how to heal.”
A shaman is said to be a conduit or vessel to the spirit realm, permitting the power of the healing spirit to flow through them in order to facilitate the healing. It is said to be very tiring to be a conduit and at times dangerous, especially when working with techniques such as extraction. If shamans are not careful and fail to take the necessary precautions, they are said to be at risk of being possessed by harmful spirits which have been removed from their patients; they are also able to take on their patient’s illness. Although taking on another person’s illness is a common thread that runs through much shamanism, I personally don’t feel you have to take on another’s illness or disease in order to bring healing – what sense is there in that? If we are working on a spiritual level, which we are, then there are ways and methods to remove illness without causing yourself harm. I knew one shaman who took pride in taking on other peoples illness; he saw this as a gift to his clients, even though he was perpetually ill himself. One has to raise questions here about the sense of deliberately taking on illness (assuming that is possible) and the place of pride! It seems senseless to heal one and harm another – even if it is yourself!
Spirit allies are said to be protectors of the shaman. This is why a good strong relationship with the spirit allies is critical. This is all part of the journey, and once you learn to manage and work with what could be the scary world of spirit, you start to realize and see that this scary spiritual world is, in fact, reflected in the scary world we live in; surrounded often by negative energy which affects us all differently and on different levels. This experience and revelation then prepares us to go to the next level of learning, where we no longer require the help of the spirit allies but are ready to connect directly to the source.
During some types of healing work the shaman actually merges with her helping spirit, embodying the abilities of the spirit in physical form. If the spirit is that of a previous human, such as an ancestor, the shaman’s voice may change in tone or sound as it embodies the voice of the other. There are times when the shaman will dress in a costume depicting the spirit she intends to embody. It is from this ritual that the merging often occurs. The shaman will dance, sing or imitate the spirit in order to merge, especially when the spirit to be merged with is an animal spirit. For many of us, these methods of healing would be very scary. For the shaman, this is a normal way of being, a normal way of life. It isn’t extraordinary, it is simply ordinary.
However, there are different ways to merge with the spirit world. Michael Harner: The Way of the Shaman (1992) talks about how:
“The Beast Gods are summoned by dancing, rattling, and drumming, and the dancers work themselves into a frenzied condition in which they imitate the actions and cries of the animals. Those dancers assuming the personality of the bear, may even wear actual bear paws over their hands. But this dance of the Beast Gods is more than simple imitation, since the Zuni dancer, like a North American Plains Indian doing an Eagle or Buffalo dance, is striving to go beyond imitation to become one with the animal…..a Zuni dancer wearing a mask of one of the kachina gods is doing more than impersonating the kachina. Transported into an altered state of consciousness by the dancing, drumming, rattling and whirr of bull roarers he becomes for the time being the actual embodiment of the spirit which is believed to reside in the mask.”
Extraction is a method that is commonly used by shamans. It is not a new technique by any means and is considered to be very effective. Why do we need extractions? Throughout our lives, we are exposed to negative thoughts and feelings. They may be our own, or they may be from others. It is a natural part of life to deal with such negativity. However, sometimes for various reasons we may not have dealt with the negativity that surrounds our life. This can in itself cause ill health on many levels.
When negative emotions and thoughts have not been dealt with and have been held in the body or spiritual body for a long time, they can become toxic, and can cause what is called a crystallization of energy. This is when the negativity crystallizes and forms itself into a solid form of some sort which embeds itself in the body. This doesn’t have to be a literal solid form in our body, but it doesn’t mean that it can’t be; but it is often on a spiritual level. Some clients actually sense it as if it is a solid form, they sense it as if it has materialized physically; this may be felt or seen as a stake, or barbed wire, or even a knife, or it may be seen or felt more as a mass of darkness which often has a color to it.
Just like our immune system can usually eradicate toxins, so can our luminous energy field usually manage to destroy and eradicate the negative emotions that we have either hung onto or that have been aimed at us from others; like anger, jealousy or hatred. When under a constant barrage of negativity, the defence systems of our luminous energy field can become overwhelmed and toxic and unable to eradicate all the negative energy, leaving crystallizations. These negative crystallizations need to be removed, and they are usually removed via extraction. If it isn’t removed, sooner or later it will create ill health and a body that is out of balance and struggling to function as it should.
Shamans track down negative energy that is stored in the luminous energy field, chakras or physical body, where it can be carefully removed once a cleansing has been performed. The cleansing is to assist in the loosening of the dense energy which is found either as a mass within itself, or a mass surrounding a crystallized object. It is this same dense energy that holds the crystallized object in place. As logical beings, we must resist the temptation to think of it as not real just because we cannot see it in the physical sense of the word, and we must resist the temptation to become apathetic, thinking of it as harmless. It is real, it is just that it is in the spiritual realm, and for that reason the shaman must take great care in extracting the dense energy or crystallizations and ensure that it is all removed safely. Great care must be taken so as to not drop the crystallization into other parts of the body or into another chakra which could then cause other physical, psychological or even emotional problems and illness.
Sometimes the client or patient can feel the process of the extraction physically. Sometimes the client will start to recall pictures, feelings, etc. of past events or past lives that may be related to the dense energy or crystallization. The shaman may know what the crystallization represents, or where it came from. He may know why it became crystallized in the first place, but this isn’t always necessary. It isn’t always necessary for the shaman to analyse the energy, it is more important to remove it. During or even after an extraction, the client may feel nauseated or shaky. They may feel somewhat different and not be able to articulate the feelings, and sometimes they will have this inner knowledge of what it was all about which will assist them in putting the issue to rest; or it may come on their way home. They may even dream it or see it during a quiet moment of contemplation. Shamanic healing will be different for everyone because we are all different and will all respond differently, and have different needs. To work holistically, we need to treat all of our clients or patients the same, and we do that by treating them differently, treating them differently because as individual drops of the same ocean, they all have their individual needs. When we treat the individual in order to bring a full and comprehensive healing, we treat them all the same.
Negative or toxic energy is often attracted to us and sometimes this is because of an affinity, just as we are attracted to certain types of people. Therefore we need to be aware of and careful of what we draw to us. Energy has frequency and vibration, so when anger, for example, lives in us that same vibration and frequency can be drawn to us. If we have self-hate, the vibration of hatred can be drawn to us. For this reason, it is not always enough just to perform an extraction. Sometimes there needs to be healing brought into our life on other levels. If the crystallization was to do with anger, then the anger needs to be dealt with in order to prevent further and future crystallizations of anger. Many people who work in the healing field focus on one aspect; surgeons focus on the physical level, therapists may focus on only the psychological or emotional level, but to bring about a full healing we need to tackle the problem from all angles: psychologically, emotionally, physically, spiritually and historically.
But we don’t need to just worry about crystallized energy and it being embedded within the body, we also need to deal with and heal any intrusive entity or intrusive energy as this type of energy embeds itself within the central nervous system.
Alison Skelton, on Shamanic Extraction Healing says:
“Intrusions are more able to take hold when there has been loss of power or if the Soul is fragmented and depleted through Soul Loss. In a previous article I invited you to imagine the Soul as if it were like a school of fish. We can see that if enough of the school is missing, the system is more vulnerable to further loss, and to opportunistic energies which may move in to fill the void……they can just as easily be self-created thought forms that have become toxic over years of negative self-talk and poor self-image, or from living in a spiritually toxic environment.”
Intrusive energies or entities, which can be referred to as intrusions, are not managed using the same techniques as what is used for crystallizations, as they are fluid and able to move around. Both crystallized energy and intrusive energy or entities can cause and exasperate psychological and physical problems which can often lead onto depression, anxiety, addictions, mood swings and chronic fatigue syndrome to say the least. In fact, many inexplicable illnesses of any sort could be caused from either crystallized energy or an intrusive energy or entity.
Intrusive entities attach themselves to a chakra which then gives them access to your central nervous system where they live like a parasite sucking you of your vital energy and life force. This intrusion may not intend to harm you in any way, but the sheer fact that it is living off you will, undoubtedly, bring harm in one way or another in time.
Intrusive entities could be someone you know, or it could be a lost, discarnate spirit. Either way, the intrusive entity needs to be extracted. Intrusive energies are removed via extraction with a crystal and then released with fire, back into the universe where the energy is assimilated into nature. Intrusive entities are also removed with a crystal, also released with fire, but are taken to the spirit realm, to the light, by luminous healers.
Crystals have the ability to convert energy, which means they are able to easily convert negative energy into something else, such as positive energy. Clear quartz is considered to be the best crystal to use for the extracting of intrusive entities or energy because of its stability. Many people use the Vogel crystal, as it is known for its purity and its power to execute the job and its ability to hold a soul. Due to the stability of the clear quartz, energy is naturally drawn to it which makes the extraction process easier. The ideal extraction crystal is thought to be a flawless double terminated quartz which would be approximately four inches long without any surface fractures. When the crystal has fractures, the energy can leak out and could affect the shaman, and if the crystal has inclusions, clouds, or intersecting planes, the intrusive entity is said to be able to experience great pain when inside the crystal. No matter how negative an intrusive entity may be, the role of the shaman is to heal not harm and every entity needs to go to the light and receive healing. Intrusive entities are usually lost souls seeking healing and direction but not always, and not all discarnate spirits enter your luminous energy field. It is more likely to be those that you have an affinity with such as family, friends, patients or those with an emotional affinity. Once the intrusive energy or entity has been removed the client will need to go through an illumination process to bring healing and the intrusive entity or energy will need to be released.
Shamans perform much of their work with their hands. They track and manipulate energy within the client’s energetic body. As with all treatments, the shamanic extraction is no different. It commences with the shaman examining the client and making a diagnosis. The shaman reads the client’s vibrational body to feel for interruptions of the natural state.
Shamans work in collaboration with their spirit guides or allies whilst performing extractions, with some believing that these helping spirits sit in the mouth of the shaman, especially if the shaman is sucking the energy or entity out of the body. Keep in mind that spirit guides are energetic beings so do not have to be the size of a human being. The sucking technique is said to be dangerous and requires the shaman to be able to put full trust in the allies. Many believe that the shaman is so completely merged with their allies that the allies are able to ingest and transmute poisons without the shaman coming to any harm. We will sometimes see the sucking technique depicted in movies or even documentaries, where the shaman draws out poison whilst the allies neutralize it before the shaman spits it out; although effective, this technique can cause nausea and vomiting. Sucking isn’t the only technique used by the shaman, but it is one that is considered powerful.
Dr Fred A. Wolf, a physicist, said of his shamanic-extraction-healing experience with a Peruvian Shaman:
“He took some of the perfumy liquid that he carried with him in his mouth and spat it on my head. He then put his lips on the top of my head as if to kiss me there, then sucked on my head, drawing the liquid up into his mouth. He turned to the side and spat it out on the ground. He repeated this specifically at a place on my forehead, and then around my sinus regions on my brows.”
The dark liquid so often referred to in such shamanic extraction techniques is believed to be tobacco juice, animal blood or even the shamans own blood. This is not to trick the client or patient into believing that the substance itself was sucked out of them; it is to represent the illness being removed. This technique can have a powerful result on many levels. We so often believe what we see, so to see something physical, to see something with our very own trusted eyes being removed, can have a huge effect on our perception of the healing and our recovery.
No matter what technique is used, no matter what tools are used, the shaman has to listen to the voice of the spirit, the voice of the allies, the inner-voice, the greater voice. It is a journey of subservience for the shaman and not all people are open to holding a servant’s heart. There is no room in shamanic extraction healing or any other healing for the ego. The egocentric healer is more concerned about their opinion being heard, how good they look and what others think about them. The path of the shaman is as a servant, following the promptings of spirit to bring about change and transformation to the individual who has placed their trust in them.
When a shaman diagnoses part of the soul or spirit as being lost, you can nearly guarantee that it will be accompanied with some form of psychological disturbance such as depression or low or no self-esteem to say the least. This diagnosis is referring to a fragmented mind, a fragmented psyche. It is a well-known theory within shamanism that as a result of some pain or trauma, past or present, a part of the psyche can splinter off, otherwise known as soul loss.
Whereas extractions are to remove things from the body, soul retrieval is, as it says, to retrieve something, to bring something back; in this case the soul or and aspect of the soul that has left. When an aspect of the soul or psyche splits off, it is usually for self-protection and preservation, but the client suffering such loss is in danger of never reintegrating that lost aspect. It could, if not found in time, be lost forever. Soul loss can leave the individual feeling numb, incomplete, detached; the loss can manifest itself in many ways, including through depression, addiction, immune disorders, lack of energy, lack of self-esteem, lack of will or determination, leaving the client with feelings of hopelessness and at times suicidal ideation. When the client has reached such a low and is in a place of suicidal ideation, they are at risk of unconsciously drawing negative energy or entities to them. These same negative energies will whisper in their ear; they are spirits who will infiltrate their mind with ways of committing suicide. Only a strong person will be able to resist these pressures, these voices, especially as they are already wishing they could die and leave the pain of this world, or at least the pain of their personal world.
Here is one such true story:
Mia was a middle-aged woman. She made the best of life and situations as they arose, she had a heart to help others and took opportunities when they arose to be the difference in other’s lives; she was a natural healer. One day, suddenly, an unexpected twist in life happened – LOSS. It came out of the blue. It was the loss of her two children. It was a tragic event, leaving Mia feeling and thinking like her world had ended. As the grief began to take over her life, she found herself feeling down, very down; some would say depressed. On the surface, all was fine. She used the distraction of daily activities to stop her feeling the pain, or at least some of it. She was aware of the feelings inside and how she felt life was over. In order to cope, she put her heart and soul into inspiring others, helping others to heal, to get through difficult situations. She helped people to overcome their grief, but her own was still there, like a whirlpool in the quiet moments of her day. Nothing seemed to help her, even though she had made such a difference to others. After about five months, the feelings of suicide had become very strong. She was finding it difficult to block out the voices, the voices of negative spirits instructing her how to end her life. Everyone around her, except for one, thought all was okay; but Mia was good at that, not sharing with the world her pain, because she felt people had enough of their own pain without carrying hers. That one close friend became increasingly worried but didn’t know what to do or who to turn to, knowing that Mia would not appreciate her sharing her pain with others. What Mia didn’t know at that time was that a piece of her psyche had split off. A piece of her soul had broken away, looking for somewhere to hide, somewhere to find safety. Mia felt numb. She felt dead inside, she felt depressed and suicidal. She even looked into assisted suicide because she knew she wasn’t brave enough to end her life herself. Over the next several years, Mia worked on herself to bring healing back into her life, her heart, her soul. She did all she could do to make life worth living again. But despite all she did, there was still a numbness, a lack of vitality for life, a lack of enthusiasm. On the surface, all looked fine, but underneath, deep, deep down, there was still an underlying feeling of loss, of being down. She still couldn’t help remembering the children’s birthdays, which was always a painful reminder of her loss, bringing tears but no release from pain. She was a prisoner, a prisoner of grief, wrapped in the chains of torture which were holding down her heart and soul. One night whilst drifting into sleep, she caught a glimpse of a female spirit. She just saw it as it floated past her and disappeared. She couldn’t see the spirit properly. She could only see what was, for her, a white dress flowing behind as the spirit went by. She thought no more about it. A couple of weeks later whilst away from home, she saw the same spirit again, at the end of a corridor. This time she could see it more fully, once again in a white dress. She recognized her, but wasn’t quite sure and asked her who she was; the spirit replied with, ‘I am part of you, I broke away because of the pain.’ It was at that point that Mia realized why she had felt like she did for so long. She knew she needed to retrieve this part of her. Just as she was thinking to ask if she was ready to come back, she saw the spirit whiz towards her in a blur and it somehow went straight into the top of her head, through her crown chakra; she knew it was back. She felt nothing happen inside. There were no amazing feelings, nothing; but she knew, undoubtedly, that that part of her was back. The next day, she felt different, her words were, ‘I feel as if I have been resurrected. I feel back to my normal self, I feel excitement, I feel happiness, I feel enthused, I feel whole.’ It was at that point that Mia realized that she had unwittingly gone through a soul retrieval.
That was the beginning of the rest of her life.
Mia was a very fortunate person. The lost aspect of her soul had healed over time and was ready and willing to be reintegrated into her. She didn’t have to go looking for it. A shaman didn’t have to go and find it, which is what happens most of the time. This piece of Mia had found her and taken the opportunity to leap or fly back into her being, bringing hope and wholeness. Not everyone is so fortunate. Had Mia not continued to work on her grief, work on her forgiveness, work on her whole being to bring healing on all levels, perhaps this outcome would not have been the same. We can all learn something from Mia. We can all learn about our own personal responsibility to look after our own being. It is all well and fine visiting the shaman or any doctor, but we must take responsibility for ourselves and not completely leave our own healing, whether of body, mind or soul, to another. We must put in the work and do as much as we can to help ourselves. Not only will this raise our consciousness, raise our rate of vibration, not only will this raise our self-esteem and confidence, but it will also help us to heal the greater consciousness, and help us to heal others. One thing I have learnt on my path is that we cannot direct a traveller on a road we haven’t travelled. We can point them in the general direction, but we can never bring healing like we can if we can share our own journey, our own healing process.
We are The Quantum Warrior, The Master Architect of our life – Braveheart
