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Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self
Suggests healing techniques based on reintegrating divided portions of the spirit.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
570 people are currently reading
2287 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Ingerman
54 books294 followers Sandra Ingerman, MA, is the author of 8 books, 7 CD programs and the creator of Transmutation App. She is a world renowned teacher of shamanism and has been teaching for over 30 years.
She teaches workshops internationally on shamanic journeying, healing, and reversing environmental pollution using spiritual methods. She has trained and founded an international alliance of Medicine for the Earth Teachers and shamanic teachers. Sandra is recognized for bridging ancient cross-cultural healing methods into our modern culture addressing the needs of our times.
Sandra is devoted to teaching people how we can work together as a global community to bring about positive change for the planet.
Sandra is a licensed Marriage and Family therapist and Professional Mental Health Counselor. She is also a board certified expert on traumatic stress as well as certified in acute traumatic stress management. She was awarded the 2007 Peace Award from the Global Foundation for Integrative Medicine. Sandra was chosen as one of the Top Ten Spiritual Leaders of 2013 in the November/December Issue of Spirituality and Health.
She teaches workshops internationally on shamanic journeying, healing, and reversing environmental pollution using spiritual methods. She has trained and founded an international alliance of Medicine for the Earth Teachers and shamanic teachers. Sandra is recognized for bridging ancient cross-cultural healing methods into our modern culture addressing the needs of our times.
Sandra is devoted to teaching people how we can work together as a global community to bring about positive change for the planet.
Sandra is a licensed Marriage and Family therapist and Professional Mental Health Counselor. She is also a board certified expert on traumatic stress as well as certified in acute traumatic stress management. She was awarded the 2007 Peace Award from the Global Foundation for Integrative Medicine. Sandra was chosen as one of the Top Ten Spiritual Leaders of 2013 in the November/December Issue of Spirituality and Health.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
April 15, 2019
Beautifully written.
Soul retrieval, mending and healing.
Lots of first-hand accounts and introduction to some of the shamanistic practices.
Q:
The basic premise is that whenever we experience trauma, a part of our vital essence separates from us in order to survive the experience by escaping the full impact of the pain. (c)
Q:
Chronic depression is another symptom of soul loss. Often the fragmentation of a person’s essential being keeps him or her from being able to create a path of joy. Life is spent exploring ways, often abusive ways, to get to feelings and experiences that create a sense of purpose, however false. Instead of being able to follow the soul’s journey, such a person often feels depressed and unfulfilled. (c)
Q:
When any living creature is fully infused with its own spiritual force or soul, it will radiate energy and vitality. Any creature whose spirit is fully at home in its body will feel a deep resonance with that same spirit in other living things. By contrast, when any creature loses a part of its spiritual essence, a profound depletion and alienation from the rest of creation occurs. (c)
Q:
...the soul parts live a parallel existence in nonordinary worlds. (c)
Q:
Loss of soul appears in the form of a sudden onset of apathy and listlessness; the joy has gone out of life, initiative is crippled, one feels empty, everything seems pointless. (c)
Q:
Here is a short exercise to help you feel what it is like to be solid and secure. Close your eyes, and take four deep breaths. Take an inventory of your body, and make a note of any place where you are experiencing pain or tension. Send your breath to any blocked areas, and allow the tension to release. Take your time in doing this so you can truly allow your body to relax. Imagine yourself going to a place you love in nature, where you feel very filled up with energy. The thought of this place brings you a sense of calmness and joy. Walk around, expanding your vision 360 degrees, and take in all you see. Allow yourself to really feel being in this place. Feel the air on your skin. Is it wet or dry, warm or cold? Feel your feet on the ground, and wiggle your toes in the earth. Touch the earth. Listen to all the sounds. Do you hear water running or the wind blowing? Are there sounds of life here, or is it very still? Smell all the smells. Now look around and find a tree you can sit with. Ask the tree permission to sit with it for a while, and if it says yes, sit down on the ground, leaning your back against the tree and feeling the solid support you have. Take a symbolic journey inside the tree, starting with the root system. Imagine being able to suck water up through your roots, bringing nutrients to every part of the tree and through your entire body. Feel how you start to pulsate with life and energy as each cell is being fed. Allow that energy to move throughout your body... (c)
Q:
Many Native Americans refer to drumming as “the heartbeat of the earth.” In this regard, it is remarkable that the electromagnetic resonance frequency of the earth, which has been measured at 7.5 cycles per second, is equivalent in brain waves to high theta/low alpha.5 It appears that drumming allows shamans to align their brain waves with the pulse of the earth. (c)
Q:
We all spend a tremendous amount of psychic energy looking for lost parts of ourselves. We do this unconsciously, and we do this in many different ways—generating dreams and daydreams, experimenting with numerous spiritual paths, creating relationships that mirror back to us our missing parts. (c)
Q:
Soul retrieval, mending and healing.
Lots of first-hand accounts and introduction to some of the shamanistic practices.
Q:
The basic premise is that whenever we experience trauma, a part of our vital essence separates from us in order to survive the experience by escaping the full impact of the pain. (c)
Q:
Chronic depression is another symptom of soul loss. Often the fragmentation of a person’s essential being keeps him or her from being able to create a path of joy. Life is spent exploring ways, often abusive ways, to get to feelings and experiences that create a sense of purpose, however false. Instead of being able to follow the soul’s journey, such a person often feels depressed and unfulfilled. (c)
Q:
When any living creature is fully infused with its own spiritual force or soul, it will radiate energy and vitality. Any creature whose spirit is fully at home in its body will feel a deep resonance with that same spirit in other living things. By contrast, when any creature loses a part of its spiritual essence, a profound depletion and alienation from the rest of creation occurs. (c)
Q:
...the soul parts live a parallel existence in nonordinary worlds. (c)
Q:
Loss of soul appears in the form of a sudden onset of apathy and listlessness; the joy has gone out of life, initiative is crippled, one feels empty, everything seems pointless. (c)
Q:
Here is a short exercise to help you feel what it is like to be solid and secure. Close your eyes, and take four deep breaths. Take an inventory of your body, and make a note of any place where you are experiencing pain or tension. Send your breath to any blocked areas, and allow the tension to release. Take your time in doing this so you can truly allow your body to relax. Imagine yourself going to a place you love in nature, where you feel very filled up with energy. The thought of this place brings you a sense of calmness and joy. Walk around, expanding your vision 360 degrees, and take in all you see. Allow yourself to really feel being in this place. Feel the air on your skin. Is it wet or dry, warm or cold? Feel your feet on the ground, and wiggle your toes in the earth. Touch the earth. Listen to all the sounds. Do you hear water running or the wind blowing? Are there sounds of life here, or is it very still? Smell all the smells. Now look around and find a tree you can sit with. Ask the tree permission to sit with it for a while, and if it says yes, sit down on the ground, leaning your back against the tree and feeling the solid support you have. Take a symbolic journey inside the tree, starting with the root system. Imagine being able to suck water up through your roots, bringing nutrients to every part of the tree and through your entire body. Feel how you start to pulsate with life and energy as each cell is being fed. Allow that energy to move throughout your body... (c)
Q:
Many Native Americans refer to drumming as “the heartbeat of the earth.” In this regard, it is remarkable that the electromagnetic resonance frequency of the earth, which has been measured at 7.5 cycles per second, is equivalent in brain waves to high theta/low alpha.5 It appears that drumming allows shamans to align their brain waves with the pulse of the earth. (c)
Q:
We all spend a tremendous amount of psychic energy looking for lost parts of ourselves. We do this unconsciously, and we do this in many different ways—generating dreams and daydreams, experimenting with numerous spiritual paths, creating relationships that mirror back to us our missing parts. (c)
Q:
April 23, 2016
I read this book when I was 21 years old. It helped me with the process of recovering from an extremely traumatic childhood. My natural way of looking at the world is animistic, and this book focuses on animistic means of finding and recovering fragmented bits of self that have been splintered off by various traumas throughout life. I'm 40 years old now, and I have begun to realize that my adult life is also fraught with traumas that I might want to sit down and make sense of using these same animistic methods. I might find another copy of this book.
July 22, 2021
Wonderful little book. Very informative with lots and lots of examples.
May 15, 2020
I'm quite torn in regards to how I feel about this book. On one hand, "Soul Retrieval" is full of awful ideologies. On the other hand, the very few good parts are worthy of discussing or practicing.
The Good:
This book is very easy to comprehend. Ingerman includes breathing exercising and meditations that could facilitate inner peace or change. I can see how the images described can help with anxiety or repressed memory.
The Bad:
This book is supposed to be about soul retrievals and how to do them. Not personal problems from Ingerman's clients. No offense, but I chose to read this book to learn more about soul loss and retrieval. Instead, we are expected to read about people's private issues. Even though Ingerman has asked permission to use her client's experiences in her book I still find it very invasive. Ingerman never explained how to actually do a soul retrieval. There are no step-by-step explanations. Just lay down on a blanket and look for your spirit animal. If I hadn't read several books on shamanism I'd have absolutely no idea what this woman is writing about.
But the biggest offender in this book is claiming that having a soul retrieval will cure mental illness. No amount of sage burning or diving into my psyche will ever change the fact that my brain has a genetic chemical imbalance. This belief is pseudoscience non-sense. It is abhorrent that a person with a MA in counseling psychology and a licensed therapist would publish ignorance. As well as contribute to the stigmatization of how mental illness is viewed. I think it's cruel to give a person false hope in the form of a "cure".
On the cover of "Soul Retrieval" it says revised and updated. Keep in mind that this book was published in 1991. I'd like to see how psychology views shamanism and vice versa with scientific research or with more current information.
The Good:
This book is very easy to comprehend. Ingerman includes breathing exercising and meditations that could facilitate inner peace or change. I can see how the images described can help with anxiety or repressed memory.
The Bad:
This book is supposed to be about soul retrievals and how to do them. Not personal problems from Ingerman's clients. No offense, but I chose to read this book to learn more about soul loss and retrieval. Instead, we are expected to read about people's private issues. Even though Ingerman has asked permission to use her client's experiences in her book I still find it very invasive. Ingerman never explained how to actually do a soul retrieval. There are no step-by-step explanations. Just lay down on a blanket and look for your spirit animal. If I hadn't read several books on shamanism I'd have absolutely no idea what this woman is writing about.
But the biggest offender in this book is claiming that having a soul retrieval will cure mental illness. No amount of sage burning or diving into my psyche will ever change the fact that my brain has a genetic chemical imbalance. This belief is pseudoscience non-sense. It is abhorrent that a person with a MA in counseling psychology and a licensed therapist would publish ignorance. As well as contribute to the stigmatization of how mental illness is viewed. I think it's cruel to give a person false hope in the form of a "cure".
On the cover of "Soul Retrieval" it says revised and updated. Keep in mind that this book was published in 1991. I'd like to see how psychology views shamanism and vice versa with scientific research or with more current information.
October 30, 2017
I have a BA in Psychology and am going back for my MSC. I've read The Body Keeps The Score, tons of books on transpersonal/depth psychologies and am well versed in shamanic lore and I found this book to be fascinating! Quick paced and free from rhetoric, written by someone with academic degrees in psychology, this book pulls you in to the intimate spaces that exist in altered states of consciousness, all around and within us but usually left unseen. Anyone that works in the mental health field, works with trauma victims, is a trauma victim or loves someone that is, should read this book. Anyone interested in healing, shamanism or psychology should read this book.
October 14, 2008
This included a basic introduction to shamanism and a lot of first-hand accounts of soul retrieval practices. The belief is that people lose pieces of their souls through traumas and similar experiences and need to reclaim these soul parts.
December 24, 2015
Useful as an introduction if you're not familiar with the concept but this book is largely anecdotal accounts about those who have sought the author's help. If you are looking for practical information, this is not the book.
March 4, 2012
Carlos Castaneda's The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge introduced me to shamanism and non-dual philosophic systems 35 years ago. I've also been interested in the phenomenon of out of body experiences triggered by trauma or near death experiences, which seem to suggest that consciousness can leave the body. One of my former clients, whom I first knew as the CEO of a technology company in Silicon Valley, recently became a shaman and recommended this book.
The basic premise of this book is that whenever we experience a trauma a part of us may separate from us as a protective mechanism to help us survive the experience by escaping the full impact of the pain. This mechanism can result in post-traumatic stress syndrome and other psychological issues. This book explains the process by which shamans help people recover these lost parts.
Some readers may have to suspend disbelief about how shamans go about mending a fragmented self by retrieving the lost soul parts but since 1 in 5 women and 1 in 7 men have suffered from traumas such as physical or sexual abuse, this well-written and easy to read book will likely speak to many and help them on their path to healing.
The basic premise of this book is that whenever we experience a trauma a part of us may separate from us as a protective mechanism to help us survive the experience by escaping the full impact of the pain. This mechanism can result in post-traumatic stress syndrome and other psychological issues. This book explains the process by which shamans help people recover these lost parts.
Some readers may have to suspend disbelief about how shamans go about mending a fragmented self by retrieving the lost soul parts but since 1 in 5 women and 1 in 7 men have suffered from traumas such as physical or sexual abuse, this well-written and easy to read book will likely speak to many and help them on their path to healing.
June 15, 2014
I had a mixed reaction to this book. It's an interesting topic, and I agree with the author that contemporary society encourages fragmentation of the self, which needs to be reintegrated for true health/vitality. The shamanic perspective of soul retrieval is an interesting approach to healing, and I found much of the content to be helpful or insightful.
Unfortunately, some of the approach seems annoyingly dated by the therapeutic climate of the late 1980s/early 1990s, with too much emphasis on the soul fragments as wounded, lost or frightened little children, which simply doesn't resonate with me. (In the introduction, the author clarifies that the soul is a timeless essence, not a literal inner child, but I can see how a literal reader might misinterpret that.)
Overall, this is not my favorite book on the topic, but it was definitely worth reading.
Unfortunately, some of the approach seems annoyingly dated by the therapeutic climate of the late 1980s/early 1990s, with too much emphasis on the soul fragments as wounded, lost or frightened little children, which simply doesn't resonate with me. (In the introduction, the author clarifies that the soul is a timeless essence, not a literal inner child, but I can see how a literal reader might misinterpret that.)
Overall, this is not my favorite book on the topic, but it was definitely worth reading.
March 17, 2017
I have had this on my bookshelf for a couple years, and I'm very glad I finally took the time to read it! This is a fantastic introduction to shamanism and how it can help people recover lost parts of their souls. Soul loss can happen at any age after trauma, both physical or emotional, or even as a child for reasons that were traumatic to them at the time, but as adults seem silly. I loved how the author walked the reader through numerous retrieval journeys and shared the stories of clients who have been rescued from depression and suicidal thoughts with her work. She not only restored their lost soul fragments, but once the wounded part of the client was restored, she followed up with professional counseling to continue the healing so the soul would remain whole. Fantastic. She also mentioned quite a few interesting books that have been added to my to-read list!
November 20, 2018
This is a beautifully written book by Sandra Ingerman on the shamanic practice of soul retrieval. Sandra is a clinical psychologist who trained under Michael Harner in his foundation of shamanic studies. She has gone on to be a leading light in this particular practice, developing her own training institute and developing a formidable reputation as a healer and teacher. In this lovingly crafted book, Sandra takes us through her process, providing detailed examples from her own practice. She details the preparation, practice and after care of this process and leads the reader on several experiential exercises that are moving and insight promoting. Sandra is clearly a gifted practitioner and writer. I recommend this book highly for those who have already taken the jump into shamanic practice, but not so much for those who aren't familiar with the field.
February 21, 2019
I was expecting that this book would help me, but its only about the author talking about her work and showing us why we should look for her. Thats not what i was expecting or seeking.
September 24, 2018
Excellent book.
July 18, 2014
My first Sandra Ingerman book & I am not disappointed! Don't let the title fool you, this is not a new age "woo woo" book but a serious methodology that I'm looking to add in with my counseling work.
June 10, 2022
An interesting book - I found some of the visualizations helpful for healing but the book is definitely dated (printed in 1991)
For anyone reading TW: discussions of trauma, physical abuse, sexual abuse.
For anyone reading TW: discussions of trauma, physical abuse, sexual abuse.
August 22, 2018
Um livro que trás conhecimento sobre como resgatar a alma que perdemos ao longo da vida. Esse livro é baseado no ponto de vista xamânico.
February 9, 2023
The soul of the book is powerful. A pleasure to read slowly and learn tips on how to integrate lost energy in a positive manner. Very helpful.
December 10, 2015
A very open look at the topic of soul loss that can occur after a traumatic event--the different types, the shamanic methods used to retrieve it, and the process of reintegration. Which all sounds very dull and pretty woo-woo on top of that, but many of us have experience the symptoms she describes--a loss of interest and vitality after a particularly bad breakup. Chronic illness after a car accident of job layoff. Deep depression that seems to come out of nowhere and that therapy doesn't seem to fix.
Whether you believe in the value of shamanism itself, Sandra Ingerman offers practical shamanic and non-shamanic techniques to help people who have found little relief through traditional channels and her genuine concern for her clients shines through.
Whether you believe in the value of shamanism itself, Sandra Ingerman offers practical shamanic and non-shamanic techniques to help people who have found little relief through traditional channels and her genuine concern for her clients shines through.
September 7, 2019
It took me time to read this book more than I wanted due to some other readings but I finally was able to dig deeper into The Soul Retrieval world..
Soul Retrieval is a great book to understand more about the magnificent work and traditions of the Shamans not only will blow your mind with the information and the technics used in this book but you will emerge in another level that will show you how there are life and other beings in this world that usually we ignore or we're not aware of..
"Another sign of soul loss is a gap in memory. I often work with men and women who have no memory of their lives from age seven through nine or twelve through fourteen."
Sandra Ingerman takes us on an amazing journey through different levels in Soul Retrieval, levels that will show us more about ourselves and where our lost soul has gone.
"Only the shaman… sees the spirits and knows how to exorcise them; only he recognizes that the soul has fled, and is able to overtake it in ecstasy and return it to the body"
you'll identify and realize so many things about yourself with this book and even understand more why you're going through some things that you were not even aware off.. is a book to meditate, to seat on it and to enjoy where it takes you..
"Soul loss is an adaptive strategy to the original trauma. Leaving the body is at times the most intelligent way to escape the full weight of a particular horror."
Soul Retrieval really opens up my eyes to many things especially to the invisible world that we often take for granted.. making me feel the need to learn more and hear my true calling..
"I ask to get in touch with my higher consciousness. I ask higher consciousness to let in only as much energy as my body can handle at this present time.”
great book if you're looking to understand more of these amazing technics..
Soul Retrieval is a great book to understand more about the magnificent work and traditions of the Shamans not only will blow your mind with the information and the technics used in this book but you will emerge in another level that will show you how there are life and other beings in this world that usually we ignore or we're not aware of..
"Another sign of soul loss is a gap in memory. I often work with men and women who have no memory of their lives from age seven through nine or twelve through fourteen."
Sandra Ingerman takes us on an amazing journey through different levels in Soul Retrieval, levels that will show us more about ourselves and where our lost soul has gone.
"Only the shaman… sees the spirits and knows how to exorcise them; only he recognizes that the soul has fled, and is able to overtake it in ecstasy and return it to the body"
you'll identify and realize so many things about yourself with this book and even understand more why you're going through some things that you were not even aware off.. is a book to meditate, to seat on it and to enjoy where it takes you..
"Soul loss is an adaptive strategy to the original trauma. Leaving the body is at times the most intelligent way to escape the full weight of a particular horror."
Soul Retrieval really opens up my eyes to many things especially to the invisible world that we often take for granted.. making me feel the need to learn more and hear my true calling..
"I ask to get in touch with my higher consciousness. I ask higher consciousness to let in only as much energy as my body can handle at this present time.”
great book if you're looking to understand more of these amazing technics..
September 19, 2019
Beautiful yet simple spiritual text
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I’m so grateful that my friend recommended this to me. This is a beautiful, simple, yet thorough explanation of what happens to us during trauma and why we never seem to be the same afterwards. Having gone through trauma myself, I found many of these words resonating deeply with me. The good news is there are ways to heal us and this book explains how.
I especially loved the accounts of her soul retrieval journeys and experiences with her power animal, other worlds, and her client's power animals. This led me to research my own power animal (which is different than spirit animals), to see if I am able to connect with mine. I’ve always found solace in nature, water, and animals, and this explains why my connection to the earth goes much deeper than simply feeling at peace.
I personally am on the journey now to reclaim the parts of my soul that I’ve lost throughout the abuses and trauma of my childhood, and Ive found it to be a very powerful experience. I hope this book gives others the courage to begin their own journey towards looking in words at their soul, start reclaiming their soul loss and live life with more vibrant, vitality, and love than ever before.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I’m so grateful that my friend recommended this to me. This is a beautiful, simple, yet thorough explanation of what happens to us during trauma and why we never seem to be the same afterwards. Having gone through trauma myself, I found many of these words resonating deeply with me. The good news is there are ways to heal us and this book explains how.
I especially loved the accounts of her soul retrieval journeys and experiences with her power animal, other worlds, and her client's power animals. This led me to research my own power animal (which is different than spirit animals), to see if I am able to connect with mine. I’ve always found solace in nature, water, and animals, and this explains why my connection to the earth goes much deeper than simply feeling at peace.
I personally am on the journey now to reclaim the parts of my soul that I’ve lost throughout the abuses and trauma of my childhood, and Ive found it to be a very powerful experience. I hope this book gives others the courage to begin their own journey towards looking in words at their soul, start reclaiming their soul loss and live life with more vibrant, vitality, and love than ever before.
December 6, 2017
With graceful delivery of rarely discussed phenomena, Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self combines shamanism and psychology to explain the effects of trauma that cause parts of the soul to leave the body and the process by which the part(s) can be retrieved.
According to Ingerman, “The basic premise is whenever we experience trauma, a part of our vital essence separates from us in order to survive the experience by escaping the full impact of the pain.”
This quiet occurrence, known as soul loss, takes the form of a perpetual feeling and experience of incompleteness and disconnection.
Ingerman says, “Anytime someone says, ‘I have never been the same’ since a certain event, and they don’t mean this in a good way, soul loss has probably occurred.”
Here's my conversation with Sandra: https://medium.com/@bjacksonbuckley3/...
According to Ingerman, “The basic premise is whenever we experience trauma, a part of our vital essence separates from us in order to survive the experience by escaping the full impact of the pain.”
This quiet occurrence, known as soul loss, takes the form of a perpetual feeling and experience of incompleteness and disconnection.
Ingerman says, “Anytime someone says, ‘I have never been the same’ since a certain event, and they don’t mean this in a good way, soul loss has probably occurred.”
Here's my conversation with Sandra: https://medium.com/@bjacksonbuckley3/...
August 1, 2022
This is a great primer on soul retrieval through shamanic journeying. It gives the basic ideas behind the practice, some history, some examples from the author’s work, and the ways it may (or may not) help somebody.
One interesting aspect of the book, which I was not expecting, is it was purely an explainer. Ingerman said multiple times that this is now a how-to book: neither for self-soul retrieval or to attempt some sort of amateur soul retrieval for another after reading the book. Therefore, the book almost reads like an advertisement for more people using the practice and/or being trained to perform it.
I appreciated that part of Ingerman’s writing as well as her acknowledgement of the things soul retrieval can’t/shouldn’t do and her own mistakes in the past as she learned how to best perform these services.
Overall, I’d recommend it to beginners in shamanic journeying that may be interested in soul retrieval work for themselves or others.
One interesting aspect of the book, which I was not expecting, is it was purely an explainer. Ingerman said multiple times that this is now a how-to book: neither for self-soul retrieval or to attempt some sort of amateur soul retrieval for another after reading the book. Therefore, the book almost reads like an advertisement for more people using the practice and/or being trained to perform it.
I appreciated that part of Ingerman’s writing as well as her acknowledgement of the things soul retrieval can’t/shouldn’t do and her own mistakes in the past as she learned how to best perform these services.
Overall, I’d recommend it to beginners in shamanic journeying that may be interested in soul retrieval work for themselves or others.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 25, 2020
I'm a huge skeptic and I've learned to dislike some new age beliefs, but I came at this with an open mind because of the psychological aspect...it reminds me of Jung and Inner Work. I've had spiritual experiences and benefitted from some grounding practices, so I won't say don't try. I find thinking of everything as "soul" impossible for me and think of it as consciousness...by the end I was a little exhausted reading about how everyone and every part of the environment has soul loss. I put her next to Sagan on my shelf for a little balance of two mindsets, but if you want an inviting and caring voice introducing you to psychological journeys and alternative to western healing practice, I'd recommend it.
October 31, 2020
This is a fascinating, completely out-of-the-box discussion of a method of healing that reaches back to ancient shamanic practices. Sandra Ingerman is well known and well respected in new age circles. In this book she states that without years of education and accreditation it is possible to bring healing to the earth and individuals.
I found this fascinating and certainly worth exploring. We are at the edge of a cliff, a situation brought to us by modern technology and science. Why not experiment with ancient healing modalities, step outside the intractable problems we've been so unsuccessfully attempting to solve?
An new/ancient change of thought could have far reaching impact. Why not?
I found this fascinating and certainly worth exploring. We are at the edge of a cliff, a situation brought to us by modern technology and science. Why not experiment with ancient healing modalities, step outside the intractable problems we've been so unsuccessfully attempting to solve?
An new/ancient change of thought could have far reaching impact. Why not?
December 1, 2020
Well this is weird.
My ex-boyfriend‘s mom did a space clearing of my home and suggested as a follow on that I do a soul retrieval. Whether or not you believe everything that is written, it is very interesting that our spirituality outside of the organized religion context is largely and explored. I imagine the reasons for that are that people who are capable of the truest and deepest impact in the lives of others are not advertising their ability to travel to cave worlds and get back prices of your soul.
We all need to work on ourselves sure. The author is trying to help. This didn’t work for me- what did work was a good hard internal look at my flaws, and the love and support of my friends, community, and church family despite my flaws.
My ex-boyfriend‘s mom did a space clearing of my home and suggested as a follow on that I do a soul retrieval. Whether or not you believe everything that is written, it is very interesting that our spirituality outside of the organized religion context is largely and explored. I imagine the reasons for that are that people who are capable of the truest and deepest impact in the lives of others are not advertising their ability to travel to cave worlds and get back prices of your soul.
We all need to work on ourselves sure. The author is trying to help. This didn’t work for me- what did work was a good hard internal look at my flaws, and the love and support of my friends, community, and church family despite my flaws.
May 17, 2018
I came upon an old copy of this book quite accidentally in a used bookstore. It is one of those books that feels like it has been placed in your path by a loving divine being.
I've been on a very intense healing journey for a couple of years now, going within to get the help and perspectives that I need... which has been much more effective than searching outside sources for help.
This book is chock full of eternal truths and confirmed every revelation that I've been given. It is heavily highlighted and notated. I had not been familiar with shamanism before finding this book. But I am excited to delve more deeply into the practice and its promises of healing.
I've been on a very intense healing journey for a couple of years now, going within to get the help and perspectives that I need... which has been much more effective than searching outside sources for help.
This book is chock full of eternal truths and confirmed every revelation that I've been given. It is heavily highlighted and notated. I had not been familiar with shamanism before finding this book. But I am excited to delve more deeply into the practice and its promises of healing.
October 25, 2022
Initially written in 1997, this amazing book offers an In-depth knowledge of soul retrieval journeying, and recovery from healer and author Sandra Ingerman. The book also shares accounts of those Sandra has assisted through bringing home and reintegration of lost soul fragments. Between the lines Sandra's gently knowing words inform you, you are far more than whatever trauma has been faced, that in reconnecting fully with ourselves, we are rediscovering our sacred connectedness to the earth and to the many blessings within life that surround and are available to us. Insightful self-empowerment that is highly recommended.
April 10, 2019
This book is intended for those who conduct shamanistic healing. It was interesting in that it spoke about how in a traumatic event, part of the soul will retreat elsewhere in order to protect itself. The goal of soul retrieval is to help coax that part of the soul to return to the person. The book speaks in depth about the process of soul retrieval and how to treat the person that you are working with.
November 23, 2020
Sandra Ingerman's account of the process and experiences of soul retrieval ceremonies, as well as the events that prompt it beforehand, and are to follow, was really eye-opening. Learning a bit more about shamanism, and how even in a developed country where your trauma is seemingly behind you or maybe some more minor traumatic experiences are more present for you now, this work can be deep and useful.
December 6, 2021
There are many paths and many ways. Sandra Ingerman well deserves her solid reputation for being a leading figure in shamanic teaching and studies. It's a path I recognize and appreciate. You can find your own way but within the context of this tradition, perhaps the oldest and most widespread spiritual practice in the world, there is compassion, ways to help yourself and others; and a way to feel better. I highly recommend all her books and teachings. She's got it, she's good and she's making the teachings reachable, achievable and readily available.
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