Shamanic healing is almost always done in close partnership with the shaman's helping spirits. The shaman relies on these compassionate spirits for information, guidance, power, and protection. The spirits rely on the shaman as a physical intermediary and compassionate helper, and often make use of traditional healing methods explained below.
In almost all situations we prefer to work in person with our clients, and we can travel if needed. However, we can do remote work in very unusual circumstances. In this case we would either travel to the client's spirit in a journey, or call the client's spirit to us for healing.
We do all our shamanic work by donation. The spirits do the actual healing, but we have undergone the training and practice, provide the space, and pay the bills. In addition, we have found that healing is always a partnership - the client needs to be invested in the process. So, we ask that the donation reflect what you think the work is worth, and apply a sliding scale appropriate to your situation. We never withhold healing for financial reasons!
When traumatic events happen, a bright and beautiful part of our soul can become separated and lost. This can happen in both physical trauma (accidents, anesthesia, physical or sexual abuse) and emotional trauma (fright, separation, loss of love, emotional abuse). Sometimes we even (unconsciously) "give away" a part of our soul, or unwittingly participate in someone else taking it. Soul loss can leave a person feeling empty inside, depressed, anxious, or just not the same anymore.
The shaman, with the aid of his or her spirit helpers, attempts to locate these lost fragments of soul that are willing to come back and help at this time and return them to the client to restore a sense of being whole. This work is often combined with power animal retrieval. It is incredibly beautiful work.
One of our teachers, Sandra Ingerman (see her web site for books and seminars), was given this technique by her spirit helpers, and then discovered that it was essentially identical to what indigenous shamans had been doing for eons. She is now widely regarded as the foremost Western authority on soul retrieval. She has refined the technique over the years, in thousands of sessions, to the gentle and effective practice it is today.
If someone is low on personal power, or has suffered some soul loss, they are "open" for opportunistic spiritual intrusions or negative energy to enter. This is sort of like the raccoons moving into an unoccupied wing of a large house - though they create quite a mess, they are not "evil" or malicious, just in the wrong place. Localized physical pain is the most common symptom. The shaman merges with his or her spirit helpers to find and "extract" these spiritual intrusions. They are usually returned to nature, where they belong. This work is often very powerful and dramatic.
The symptoms can be dramatic, like a sudden change in personality, a change in desires, or addictive behavior; or they can be quite subtle with the behaviors well integrated into the personality of the host, particularly if the possessing being has been there for a long time. They can also be associated with localized physical pain. The shaman, with the help of the compassionate spirits, contacts the possessing entity and brings it enough light and love to help it understand its situation. Then the shaman helps it to heal and go to the light, creating healing for both the client and the possessing being.
We have experience with several different masters in this field - Michael Harner of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies , Brazilian Spiritists Carlos and Maria Lucia Sauer (incidentally, we do not know their current contact information), and Betsy Bergstrom. We have found depossession to be a powerful and surprisingly gentle tool in our healing practices.
One of the most important jobs of the shaman is to help people through the dying process, then help them afterwards to be sure they "cross over", or "go on to the light". In addition to the shaman's clients and their families, this sort of work is also done to clear "haunted houses" and land. Sometimes this work is called psychopomp, which means "to conduct the soul".
With the help of the spirits, the shaman will attempt to remove harmful energies. In our culture we often create unconscious curses on ourselves, or inherit them from our families, that drag down our energies, keep us from reaching our goals, and generally disrupt the flow of life. (In other cultures this can be intentional.) Removing these curses and enchantments, and replacing them with blessings, can free up our energies and help us to move forward successfully in our lives.
The shaman may call on his or her helping spirits or the spirits of nature to create beneficial energies of protection, healing, and good fortune for the client.
Buildings, land, organizations and institutions can lack power, need soul retrieval, contain negative energy or possessing spirits, and/or be under the influence of unconscious or conscious curses, just as people can. The work of clearing spaces energetically is much like the work of healing people. The shaman brings his or her compassionate spirits to help heal the space or organization, depending on what energies are influencing it.
Ceremonies speak to us in deeply symbolic ways that reach our subconscious minds and help us integrate and celebrate change. In our society, we have ceremonies for weddings, funerals and graduations -- and very little else. In indigenous societies, births and coming of age were honored, as well as the changing of the seasons, successes in hunting, transformative healings, the coming of guests, and many other occasions. The shaman asks the help of the spirits to organize and conduct ceremonies that honor all who are present and that create a powerful experience for the people involved in acknowledging and celebrating what is new.
The shaman will attempt to get information for a client from the spirits - by reading cards, tossing stones, or directly in a journey. We are familiar in our culture with the idea of going to a psychic for a "reading". The shaman may bring messages through for the client - usually from the client's ancestors, but sometimes from others.