Soul theft is the idea that part of a person’s soul can be taken by someone else. There is very little teaching on it in Therapeutic Shamanism. It appears in a list of the causes of 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 as allowing our soul to be stolen, and the one description given is of someone ‘stealing’ our soul by undermining us and gradually overpowering us.
What is soul theft? #
One of the causes of soul loss. Soul loss has many causes, and the list includes allowing our soul to be stolen. Sometimes someone may ‘steal’ our soul by undermining us and gradually overpowering us. Beside it in the same list sit related causes, such as domination by another person or group, and giving our soul to another person in a co-dependent relationship.
Nothing more is said about it. There is no fuller teaching on how a soul comes to be stolen, or on how a part that has been stolen is healed. See What is soul loss?
How is soul loss healed? #
Soul loss is healed by 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, and unhealthy ties to another person are loosened by disentanglementDisentanglement. The ceremonial practice that unbinds unhealthy energetic ties to a person, role, object or story: a fourfold exchange in which each party gives back and takes back what they hold of the other. Not ‘cord-cutting’: done well it usually deepens the relationship, because what is unbound is the unhealthy aspect, not the love. More about this. The teaching does not say how either applies to a soul that has been stolen. See What is soul retrieval? and What is disentanglement?
Do other people hold parts of us? #
When we are entangled with someone, yes. In an entanglementEntanglement. An unhealthy energetic tie hooking us into another person, a role, an object or a family story; released by disentanglement. More about this we hold onto part of the other person, part of their self or soul, and they hold onto part of us; each is in effect carrying part of the other around. This is a mutual soul loss, which can be anything from a minor thing to a major issue.1
A shamanic disentanglement deals with it by an exchange: each takes back what is theirs and gives back what is the other’s. We have the right to take back anything that is ours, and no right to hold onto part of someone against their will.1 This holding is not described as theft.
Can shamanism be used to do harm? #
Yes, though this is not linked to soul theft in the books. Shamanism can be used to do harm, and in some cultures shamans do practise sorcery; it is not that difficult to learn. But it comes at a cost. Harmful work relies on corrupt middle-worldMiddle-world. Ordinary physical reality together with its energetic layers: the realm of individuality, separation and mixed intentions, and the only realm where harm is possible. “If there is a hell, then it is the middle-world.” Read the full answer beings, which have some power in the middle-world but are limited; the beings of the Lower-WorldLower-World. The realm of Mother Earth: pure, unspoilt, wild nature, with no technology and no agriculture. Home of the Peoples and of our own Soul, and completely safe: feeling threatened in a journey is a reliable sign of not having reached it. Read the full answer and 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 will not help anyone do anything unethical, and a practitioner who persists is left with lesser middle-world GuidesGuides. The Lower-World and Upper-World beings a practitioner works with and learns from, of whom the Power Animal is the first and foremost. True Guides are ethical to their core; the shaman’s power comes from the depth of these bonds, not from the shaman. More about this, with huge areas of shamanism closed off to them.2
This is why consent sits at the heart of shamanic healing: doing shamanic healing on someone without their express, conscious consent is an invasion of their privacy and their boundaries, however good the intentions.2 See What does consent mean in shamanic work? and What is sorcery, and are there ‘dark’ shamans?
