Internal Family Systems (IFS), Voice Dialogue and Gestalt are psychotherapies that work with the different parts of a person, and Therapeutic Shamanism, too, holds that there is no single “I”. It differs in holding that some voices are not parts of us at all but real beings, that some parts leave altogether, beyond the reach of dialogue, and need shamanism to find them, and that the work is led by Guides who are not parts of our psyche, with the body, Soul and Spirit all equal members of the 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.
What are IFS, Voice Dialogue and Gestalt? #
Three psychotherapies that each work with parts of the selfParts of the self. There are four parts of the self, the realm-corresponding members of the Inner Tribe: the Body and the middle-world self (both of the middle-world), the Soul (of the Lower-World) and the Spirit (of the Upper-World). The Aware Self, also called the Witness, is not a fifth part but a capacity: the awareness that can watch all four, with compassion and equanimity. Read the full answer. Internal Family Systems, developed by Richard Schwartz, works with a person’s “parts” and a core “Self”. Voice Dialogue, developed by Hal and Sidra Stone, has the facilitator talk directly with a person’s different “selves” or sub-personalities. Gestalt therapy, founded by Fritz and Laura Perls with Paul Goodman, includes dialogues in which a person speaks to, or as, a part of themselves, often using an empty chair. See What can Gestalt offer shamanic work? and What can shamanism offer Gestalt work?
Is Therapeutic Shamanism a parts-of-self approach? #
Yes. Its inner tribe is made up of the body, Soul, Spirit and the middle-world selfMiddle-world self. The everyday self (ego, persona, head-and-heart), made of our stories and experiences. A genuine and needed part of the Inner Tribe: of service, not in command. Read the full answer. IFS, Voice Dialogue and Transactional Analysis are amongst the psychotherapies that work with parts of self, and shamanism too understands that we are not a single ‘I’ but an ‘inner tribe’ of parts. “Psychotherapists usually see us as being composed of different internal parts, different ‘sub-personalities'”, and whichever way it is approached, from psychotherapy or from shamanism, the more closely the ‘self’ is looked at, the clearer it becomes that there is no one, single ‘I’.1 See What is the inner tribe?
What do they have in common? #
Working with the parts and how they relate. These therapies help people meet their parts and bring them into healthier relationship with each other, and Therapeutic Shamanism also asks us to get to know our parts and honour what each one needs. “Some of these ways of looking at parts-of-self are incredibly useful”, shamanic and psychotherapeutic alike.2 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, the part that stayed behind when a 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 left, is one place where Therapeutic Shamanism borrows from psychotherapy: “The process of identifying the fort-holder, of listening to them and reassuring them, is indeed more a psychotherapy-like approach than traditional shamanism.”3 The aim is a healthy inner tribe: “Any healthy tribe is one where all tribal members feel welcome, respected, and have a voice.”4
How is Therapeutic Shamanism different? #
First, not every inner figure is a part of us. Psychotherapy usually treats spirits as parts of the psyche: “they might be referred to by some psychotherapists as being ‘sub-personalities’ – parts of a person’s psychic whole.”5 Therapeutic Shamanism holds that spirits are real, and also that some inner ‘demons’ are real beings whilst others are disowned parts, so the practitioner has to discern which is which. Treating a real possessing being as a part to be dialogued with and integrated could mean that “the therapist would unwittingly be helping the demons possess the client further.”6
Second, some parts are not there to be dialogued with. Sometimes a part is not just repressed, but actually leaves altogether. This is when shamanism comes into its own, because it can find the parts that are no longer in the room but which have left altogether. See What is soul retrieval?
Are the Guides parts of us? #
No. Therapeutic Shamanism experiences the Guides as real, independent beings. This is a central difference from approaches that treat inner figures as aspects of the self. Paul Francis’s own main Human Lower-World GuideHuman Lower-World Guide. A face put on the human Oversoul: the Ancestors met through an individual form, genuinely other than us, chosen from pre-Fall hunter-gatherer humanity. Related to as a teacher, never a master. Read the full answer is not a figment of his imagination, or a sub-personality, or a part of his psyche, but an autonomous being with whom he has a close, personal relationship.7 See What are Human Guides?
What does Spirit-led mean in Therapeutic Shamanism? #
That the Guides lead the work, not the practitioner. “The power of a shaman then comes not from the shaman themselves, but from their ability to ‘hollow out’, and from the strength and depth of their connection with their Guides. Therapeutic Shamanism is no exception. This is a Spirit-led practice through and through.”8 The Power AnimalPower Animal. The Oversoul of a wild species, met as a single Lower-World being and bonded with in a deep, committed, usually lifelong soul-bond of unconditional love. The practitioner’s first and foremost Guide: Panther, not “my panther”. Read the full answer and other Guides should be the ones leading the journey.9
Who the Guides are matters too. Some journeys are “more ego-led than Spirit-led”, either because the practitioner is not hollowed-out or because they are working with middle-world guides, who “have their own egos, issues and agendas.”10 Paul learnt this from his own experience: what he needed were Guides, not guides.11 See What is hollowing-out?
What is the body in Therapeutic Shamanism? #
A part of the inner tribe in its own right, with its own consciousness. “In shamanism, the physical body is not just some vehicle for the soul. It is not just some ‘thing’ we inhabit. Rather, it has its own consciousness, intelligence, wisdom, needs and drives.”12 The body “needs to have its physical needs met”, including being “allowed to do what it was designed to do, which is to move around”.13
The parts of the inner tribe are not ranked. Hierarchical ‘spirituality’ tells us “the Lower-World and middle-world parts are “corrupt” and not to be listened to or trusted.”14 Original animists understood that the body is deeply connected to Soul, to the Lower-World and to Mother EarthMother Earth. The sacred Feminine pole: pure potential, from whom all the Peoples arise. The Lower-World is her realm, and she is all the realms: “The Earth is indeed our Mother.” More about this herself. See What are Soul, Spirit, the middle-world self and the body?
How does Embodied Shamanism relate to shamanic healing? #
Embodied Shamanism is the name of one of Paul’s advanced courses, and what it teaches is for students at that level. What can be said here is that the body belongs in shamanic work. At the end of a journey we return to the body: “Remember, your body is your anchor to this reality and you should always come back into your body, fully grounded and present in it.”15 And feelings need the body too: “Feelings need to be felt and allowed to move through the body (the word ‘emotion’ is from the Latin ‘to move through’), and not by-passed or suppressed.”16 See What is body armouring and what does Reichian work contribute?
