POWER ANIMAL RETRIEVAL — restoring personal power and connection

In the shamanic universe, everyone is born with an inner teacher and protector spirit, who usually appears to us in the form of an animal. This spirit helps keep the person strong, free of illness, calm, and grounded.  It also protects from trauma, difficult situations, and negative impacts of life crises. 

It is possible to lose contact with these helpers, typically when life distracts us from our inner connections. When this happens we can gradually lose the energy and protection the animal spirits provide, so when  illness, depression and low vitality are present, the shamanic practitioner may perform a power animal retrieval, reuniting the client with a lost spirit, or one who is needed in the present moment.  This bring people great joy, lifts depression, and connects them with their lives.

THE PROCESS: you sit or lie down comfortably, close your eyes, and breathe and relax. At the same time, the shamanic practitioner takes a journey to look for the animal spirit that wants to come to you, the client. Once the spirit is found, the practitioner returns to the client with the animal spirit, and “blows this spirit in” either in person or energetically, at a distance. The spirit generally has some advice on how the client can work with it, and the practitioner provides this at the end of the session.

EXTRACTION HEALING — a step to freeing from illness

The shamanic understanding of illness is that it generally  is the result of spiritual illness. Spiritual illness can manifest as energies in the body that don’t belong, such as hurt feelings,  stories about ourselves that aren’t true, traumatic memories, and deeper emotional wounds. Removal of these energies allows the body to heal.

THE PROCESS: The client is lying down, if possible. (Is this necessary?) The practitioner calls in compassionate healing spirits and an assessment is made of energetic blocks in the body. These are then removed.

HARNER METHOD SHAMANIC COUNSELING — learn how to journey for yourself to get the help you need.

This is a method of learning how to use shamanic journeying most effectively to get answers and help for yourself. It provides practice in question framing, connecting with your helping spirits, and interpreting your own shamanic journeys. In short: your helping spirits become your shamanic counselors, and you grow in your confidence and trust in them and yourself to help guide your life.

This process is best for people who want to learn or deepen shamanic  journeying skills.

THE PROCESS: The client and teacher meet weekly for five weeks. Brief instruction is given in the method of shamanic journeying, then the client prepares for the journey, and narrates  the journey out loud. The teacher records this journey, all the while taking notes. At the end of the journey, client and teacher listen to the journey together, and the client spends time the next week, reflecting on the meaning of the journey. There is a different intention for each journey, leading the client progressively deeper into their own journey practice. By the end of the five week training, clients feel they can connect with helping spirits to provide them with true shamanic counseling.

SOUL RETRIEVAL — restoring parts of ourselves

While it isn’t possible to lose one’s entire soul it is possible for portions of our soul’s essence to leave us. This happens in the face of great shock or trauma—part of our soul  energy flees, in order to stay intact, and protect itself. When soul loss is an issue, people say they don’t feel fully themselves or they feel that  some part of themselves is missing. They may suffer from depression and anxiety, great fear, flashbacks, and be less engaged than usual  in their lives.

The shamanic response to such injury is to seek and return the lost soul essence or essences.

Everyone experiences the return of their soul essence differently, but increased vibrancy, energy, creativity, spiritual strength, and lifting of illnesses are commonly reported results.

THE PROCESS: Similarly to the power animal retrieval, the client rests comfortably and the practitioner journeys to find and retrieve the lost portions of a person’s soul essence, and brings it back to them. After this process is completed, we discuss ways to welcome this soul essence back and connect with it.

OVERSHADOWING — lifting spirits that don’t belong to you.

Shamanic cultures have the understanding that during the dying process some spirits don’t let go of  their lives on earth,  but stay on the planet.  There are millions of tales of people seeing or hearing such spirits—as ghosts and demons, or dead friends and relatives. It is believed that some of these spirits attach themselves to people, particularly people who have experienced soul or power animal loss and aren’t protected, or aren’t fully themselves. These overshadowing spirit energies tend to be benign, but their presence can drive compulsive behaviors, such as substance addictions, and be responsible for unexplained pains in the body.

THE PROCESS: The client sits and talks with the practitioner who discerns what needs to be done to help free the client from uninvited energies. The practitioner gently helps these energies depart. This can free people of pain and give them the vitality to heal addictions and other life issues.