Parts-of-self work starts from recognising that there is no single “I”, that we are already many, and it aims to bring the parts into healthy relationship. Shamanism adds the Guides, led by the Power Animal, who do the healing and can find parts that have left altogether, and grounding comes first, because safe shamanic practice grows from a rooted and grounded place.
Is parts-of-self work about dividing myself into parts? #
No. It starts from noticing that we are already made of parts. There is no one, single ‘I’: the thing we think of as ‘I’ is itself made of different parts, each with different needs and drives.1 Most of the time we move between these parts without realising it.2
Parts work brings this into awareness, so that the parts can be listened to and brought into balance. The aim is a healthy inner tribeInner Tribe. The community of parts-of-self that a human being actually is. Health is not one part’s triumph but a well-run tribe: every member honoured, every member doing its proper job, the Adult in charge. Read the full answer, not a fragmented one. See What is the inner tribe?
How is parts-of-self work shamanic? #
Shamanic cultures have always understood that we are made of parts. “Like psychotherapy, shamanism also understands that we are made of different parts-of-self. Far from having the single “soul” that most people in the West think they have, shamanic cultures understood that we have several different types of “souls” within us.”3 Each part needs to be brought into healthy relationship, and much of shamanic practice is about doing this.
What does shamanism add that psychotherapy cannot? #
The ability to find parts that have gone. Sometimes, when soul loss happens, a lost soul partSoul-part. A small-s, middle-world part of the self that can be lost (sent away) and can be retrieved. Not the capital-S Soul. Read the full answer is not in the room to be dialogued with. A part is not just repressed but has actually left altogether. This is when shamanism comes into its own, because shamanism can find the parts that have left altogether. Soul retrieval is “a specialism of shamanism”.4
Therapeutic Shamanism brings the two together. Work with the fort-holderFort-holder. A protective part of the self that stayed behind to ‘man the fort’ when we were wounded: the inner critic, perfectionist, pusher, pleaser: the loyal soldier still fighting a war that ended long ago. Usually the part that sent an orphan away, so no deep healing holds without its consent; befriended, never extracted. Read the full answer can happen much more quickly when shamanism is added to psychotherapy: “bringing psychotherapy and shamanism together in this way works far more effectively than practising either one on its own.”5
What is the role of the Guides? #
They do the healing. “It is not the shaman that does the healing, but the guides.”6 In one soul retrievalSoul retrieval. Finding an exiled soul-part and inviting it home. In the modern psyche the fort-holder who sent it away must consent first, and the retrieval itself is a beginning: the real work is integration. Read the full answer, the journey “is led by Wolf, the practitioner’s Power Animal”, along with other Animals and Lower-World Humans: “None of it was led by the practitioner.” The practitioner’s part was to ask for the healing, help if needed, and record what happened.7 Even when she did act, it was to “double-check with her own Guides” before going further.8
What is the role of the Power Animal in parts-of-self work? #
To lead, to protect, and to stand with us. Your Power Animal goes with you everywhere: it “both can and should come with you to both the Upper-WorldUpper-World. The realm of Father Sky and of Spirit: spacious, rarefied and clear, layered in tiers, offering not escape but perspective. Not better than the Lower-World: we ascend rooted, and bring the gifts back down. Read the full answer and the middle-world too”, including everyday life.9 In a journey, “it will not let you come to harm if you pay attention to it and trust it.”10
It also helps the Adult take charge. When a child part has been carrying too much, it helps to become your Adult self and sense your Power Animal by your side, “because, remember, a true Adult is not an independent being but an interconnected being.”11 And its love helps heal the harsh voices inside us. See How does Power Animal heal and support us?
Why is grounding important in parts-of-self work? #
Because grounding underpins all shamanic work. “Grounding is the bedrock of shamanic practice”, and “Before setting off on a shamanic journey is important to know with certainty that you can get back!”12 The Lower-World and Upper-World are “completely safe places in any case”, but safety matters once you start working in the middle-world.13
That is why the order of learning matters: “we start by establishing a strong Lower-World connection first, then a strong Upper-World connection, and only then do we embark on middle-world journeying.”14 Whilst still new, “do not try and work with big issues such as someone with major mental health issues”.15 Grounding is what makes the rest of the work safe. See Is shamanic journeying safe?
Can parts-of-self work happen before a journey? #
Yes, and it often needs to. In daily life, the work begins by noticing which part is speaking and listening to it, since “each part-of-self needs to feel that it is listened to, respected and understood.”16 Before any healing journey, the parts that might resist need to be heard, because “no deep or permanent change happens without the fort-holder’s consent.”17 The same applies to extractionExtraction. Drawing a foreign body (an intrusion) out of a person and packing the hole with something healthy. The iron rule: only ever foreign bodies, never a part of the self: extracting a genuine part of self creates soul-loss. More about this, which “will only be successful if all your parts-of-self are happy with the intrusionIntrusion. Something lodged in us that should not be there, having entered through the holes soul-loss and Power-loss leave. Four broad types: unhelpful thought-forms, introjects, foreign-body energetic intrusions, and entity possessions. More about this being removed.”18
Can parts-of-self work happen during a journey? #
Yes. Once the fort-holder has been met and its concerns are known, “we can journey for them. We can hollow-out and surrender to our guides, letting our guides lead the healing journey for the fort-holder.”19 This can involve journeying back in time to meet that part in childhood and asking the Guides to help it, so that “we become the child’s ‘guardian angel’, watching over them from (what to them) is the future.”20
Parts met in journeys are often our younger selves. In soul retrieval, lost parts most commonly appear “in human form, usually simply looking like the client at the particular age that the part left or was lost.”21
What are the limits of parts-of-self work in shamanism? #
A real part must never be removed. “Taking away a part of someone is to create soul-lossSoul-loss. The sending-away of parts of the self in order to survive: through shock or trauma, or (the chief modern cause) exiling our own parts to fit in. With Power-loss, one of the two root causes of shamanic illness. Read the full answer and leave a hole in them that an intrusion (or worse) could then get into.”22 And anyone seeking help should look for a practitioner who understands mental health, and who “will tell you if they think shamanic work isn’t right for you, or isn’t right for you yet.”23
