Soul Retrieval - Mending the Fragmented Self

[Beekeeper]

Soul Retrieval - Mending the Fragmented Self by Sandra Ingerman, a practising shaman with MA in counselling psychology, is a simply written book explaining the work she and others like her perform and giving a little bit of information on how shamanism is practised in traditional settings.

Ingerman discusses how soul loss occurs when individuals experience what they perceive as trauma. Certain aspects of their personality fracture and preserve themselves by taking refuge in areas of Nonordinary Reality, such as The land of the Dead or The cave of Lost Children. If there is too much soul loss, the individual will feel a sense of emptiness, apathy and joylessness. He/she may even become ill. As a shamanic practitioner she works with her power animal to bring back fragments of soul for her client. After this, it is up to her client to integrate these lost aspects back into their lives and prevent them leaving again.

The book also covers the topic of soul theft. This is said to occur when someone unconsciously or consciously envies someone else's talents and energy or will not let go of a relationship. She believes that the stolen part of soul is useless to the thief.

Ingerman asserts that her practice speeds the progress of her patients in therapy. It is her belief that one cannot cannot really work with a fractured soul, that therapy and soul retrieval work well together.

Ingerman is very passionate about the work she does. She has received messages that the earth itself approves of humans reuniting with these fragments. That it is only when people are whole that they'll take the actions necessary to heal the planet.

[Mishell]

This sounds like a book I'd be interested in. Ever since my cultural anthropology class I have been very fascinated with shamanism.

[ButterflyWoman]

During the period of my rather difficult spiritual emergence (tied with Kundalini rising), I spent a couple or three years essentially finding all the parts of my fragmented self, recognising them, and integrating them. I didn't realise until very, very recently that this was "soul retrieval" (by all descriptions, I'm sure it was). But, then, I experienced several known "types" of spiritual emergence, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes one right after the other, and I had no idea what ANY of it was (other than the vague notion that it was some sort of healing process). I'm not really surprised to see a shamanic "episode" in the mix.

Amazing what you learn on this forum. Really.

Oh, for what it's worth, the psychological explanation for this phenomenon is dissociation (I was probably what would be classified as Dissociation Disorder Not Otherwise Specified). It's funny that psychology actually literally means "study of the soul". I've always found it interesting, anyway.

[Beekeeper]

One of the Monroe CDs seems to allow for the return of soul fragments too. At least that was my experience with it.

[Neil Templar]

I have that book, read it a couple of months ago.
Mishell, if you haven't got it by November i'll give you my copy. you'll definitely enjoy it.

[Palehorse Redivivus]

This book keeps popping up synchronistically for me... I think that means I need to get it, before the universe has Sandra Ingermann personally show up and smack me around a bit.

*knock at the door*

...

Anyway! Yep, soul frag / retrieval has been a major theme for me too, especially recently. A lot of what you've said here ties in with my understanding of the phenomenon as I've experienced it, too... I'm thinking there will probably be a lot of "dude yes!" moments in that thar book, lol.

She believes that the stolen part of soul is useless to the thief.

Same here. It seems like these sort of people and/or entities might latch onto someone else's frag, which gives them a feeling of empowerment, but not anything practical that they can actually use. Kinda like Gollum and the preeeciousss.

Ingerman asserts that her practice speeds the progress of her patients in therapy. It is her belief that one cannot cannot really work with a fractured soul, that therapy and soul retrieval work well together.

*nod* It does seem that frags that originated with someone, can only reintegrate with that person (and that person can only regain the function of the frag by reintegrating the same frag that left)... in other words soul parts are integral, not mix-n-matchable or replaceable. That bit of info was important for me, because I kept trying to heal things via regeneration / replacement, not realizing this stuff still existed, just non-locally. I haven't had therapy, though I have had a lot of frags substantial and semi-aware enough to return on their own, so I'd guess therapy might have worked if it had resolved the issue that caused the split. It wouldn't have worked on frags that don't have the mobility to return on their own, though... that's where the fun easter egg hunts come in.

She has received messages that the earth itself approves of humans reuniting with these fragments. That it is only when people are whole that they'll take the actions necessary to heal the planet.

This part made me raise an eyebrow, because it syncs very well with impressions I've gotten. A while back, I attempted to connect with Gaia, partly to see if there was a Gaia, partly to work on my spirit communication skills, and partly to see if I could get any answers to a few questions. What came back seemed to indicate that the reintegration of individuals is part of a wider process of "cleaning up" and "putting everything back in its proper place," whereby basically the planet and its associated planes are being cleaned up, and everybody gets their own "stuff" back. I get the impression this is an inevitable process, though every individual working on their own stuff deliberately, makes it a smoother process both for humanity and the planet itself.

*stops yammerin' and moseys on over to Amazon*

[Serpentarius]

So according to Sandra Ingerman our soul can be taken on lost piece by piece. So in the end is it possible to have the whole soul stolen or lost? How many pieces the soul has btw?

[CFTraveler]

So according to Sandra Ingerman our soul can be taken on lost piece by piece. So in the end is it possible to have the whole soul stolen or lost? How many pieces the soul has btw?

According to what I've read (and which jibes with my worldview atm) the soul is not a material thing that can get lost or stolen- losing or fragmenting means that your connection to a certain part of yourself that has experienced a or b or c condition is suppressed in such a way that it's very hard to connect consciously with it. In other words, your conscious connection with it is lost, and you then may need help to reconnect with it. It's more a 'entrainment' thing, a resonating with that part of yourself which is no longer in synch with 'who' you are at the moment.
If another being is more compatible with that aspect, for whatever reason, it may resonate with it and use it, (think of morphic resonance) but it's still 'yours', and can be reintegrated in various ways.
Remember that part of shamanism (and most ritual) is using symbology to get to that Higher aspect of yourself to make something happen that may (or may not) be possible by the 'temporal' aspect of yourself that is having the situation.

[Beekeeper]

So according to Sandra Ingerman our soul can be taken on lost piece by piece.

I had the same feeling, CF, that the soul remains intact but it's about ability to freely access what is ours, consciously and, I suspect, unconsciously through dreamwork.

If another being is more compatible with that aspect, for whatever reason, it may resonate with it and use it, (think of morphic resonance) but it's still 'yours', and can be reintegrated in various ways.

This may be so but I think active suppression (done with greater and lesser awareness) comes into it too. For instance, having a really authoritarian parent or teacher who frightens away a part of you while you're still somewhat powerless. So, they suppress natural expression because they find it annoying or even dangerous, for instance. This could be done because they do not resonate with part of you, they don't understand or approve but also in some instances because of a basic selfishness that only allows for their own expression and nobody else's, even if what the child expresses is similar in nature to what they express. Does that make any sense?

I think we are all capable of "picking up" what resonates with us in others without actually "stealing". In fact, I believe it's partially how our personalities develop.

In Ingerman's book she tells certain stories that illustrate soul theft. There's one soul fragment she brings back, that of a toddler who sits on a kitchen floor while her exhausted, depressed mother cooks. The mother's resentment is such that she unconsciously steals some of her child's energy and afterwards the child is quite sickly throughout her childhood. In another, the mother simply tells her child she cannot climb a tree and the child's anger is such that a "piece" of herself fragments.

So in the end is it possible to have the whole soul stolen or lost?

Ingerman says that coma is the result of complete soul loss.

How many pieces the soul has btw?

I agree with CF on her response to this. However, different cultural traditions identify different numbers of souls but that's quite possibly a whole other discussion.

[Palehorse Redivivus]

To me the "how many pieces" question is like asking "how many pieces are there to this glass?" Well, one, ideally... though if it shatters, then however many pieces it shatters into is how many pieces there are, lol. Likewise, I've reintegrated "stuff" where one piece was tied into one or more chakras, one or more practical functions and so forth. It really seems to depend on the person and how they've fragmented.

I do think the subconscious mind / energy body has its own sort of "anatomy" (maybe "map" would be a more fitting term) though having something fragmented generally isn't like losing a specific part that we can quantify clearly, like a physical organ.