Healing Soul Splits E-Book

Martín Armando

• Herausgeber: Editorial Autores de Argentina
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 344

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Puente Mágico Chamanismo is a spiritual initiative that aims to spread shamanism's ancestral knowledge so that its healing techniques can serve everyone in times of deep spiritual search. This initiative joins others that, for some time now, have been trying to rescue from oblivion the information and knowledge that shamans developed over thousands of years. The healing of soul splits is the part of the ancestral knowledge of shamanism this book focuses on. This third edition includes the remote healing technique, used for the first time during the Coronavirus pandemic; this technique has yielded promising results in healing people's souls.

Leseprobe

Martín Armando

Healing Soul Splits

Spiritual Medicine of Mother Earth

Martín Armando Healing Soul Splits : Spiritual Medicine of Mother Earth / Martín Armando. - 1a ed. - Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires : Autores de Argentina, 2022.

Libro digital, EPUB

Archivo Digital: descarga y online

ISBN 978-987-87-2915-2

1. Autoayuda. I. Título. CDD 158.1

EDITORIAL AUTORES DE [email protected]

Tabla de contenidos

Author’s NoteThe Coronavirus Pandemic

Special Thanks

About Shamanism and the Shaman

Chapter 1: Soul Splitting and its Healing

Depression and Soul Splitting

The Death of a Loved One

Machismo and Soul Splitting

Separations

Pain and Oblivion

The Feeling of Desolation

Chapter 2: Remote Healing

Covid-19 and its Energy

A New Era

Rosa’s Remote Healing

Jorge’s Remote Healing

Combining Remote and In-Person Healing

Chapter 3: Connected to the Energy of the Earth

Chapter 4: The Soul in the Cave of the Lost Children

Laura’s Sad Girl

The Angry Girl

Bullying and Aimé’s Soul

Chapter 5: Abuse and Soul Splitting

Mariela, an Abused Soul

Physical Abuse

Chapter 6: The Seed of a Whole Soul

Chapter 7: Soul Theft

I Steal from You to Take Care of You

Chapter 8: Surrendering a Part of the Soul

I Give You My Soul to Protect You

I Give You My Soul Because I Need You

Chapter 9: The Spirit of the Sea and its Help In Healing

Pilar’s Healing in Miami Beach

Chapter 10: Shamanic Instruments

The Shamanic Drum

The Rattle or Maraca

Chapter 11: Soul Integrity and the Spiritual Path

Pablo and His Spiritual Path

Chapter 12: The Soul in the Island of Solitude

The Feeling of Loneliness, an Existential Emptiness

Chapter 13: The Soul, Karma, and Soul Splitting

Chapter 14: Spiritual Wounds

Juana’s Wound

Mara’s Karma

Chapter 15: The Soul in the Land of the Dead of the Lower World

Julieta’s Loss

Chapter 16: The Soul in the Land of the Dead of the Upper World

Susana Wanted to Leave…

Chapter 17: The Power Animal and their Help in Healing

The Salmon as a Power Animal

Chapter 18: The Spirit of the Earth

Chapter 19: With the Whole Soul

Rafael’s Faith

The Joy of the Shaman with a Whole Soul

Shamanic Training

Bibliography

Author’s NoteThe Coronavirus Pandemic

As we all remember, in early 2020 a pandemic broke out due to the massive spread of the Covid-19 virus. There is no need to describe here what we human beings have suffered during 2020 and 2021 due to lockdown, contagion, deaths, among other problems brought to our lives by this virus.

Contagion in Argentina began in early February with travelers that brought the virus with them from Europe and the United States by plane. A strict lockdown was enforced on March 20, and its lasting many months caused much suffering to Argentinians, but suffering was global.

The shamanic work that was ongoing in Argentina came to a complete halt because office visits to conduct sessions were banned. In-person courses and sessions in Spain and Uruguay were also canceled. Everything stopped in mid-air, as everybody was trapped by an invisible virus and a lockdown that, for the most part, didn’t make any sense.

Until that point, all instances of shamanism, be it sessions or training courses, took place face to face exclusively. I was very reluctant to offer remote sessions, save for exceptional cases and only after at least one session in person. Before the pandemic, nothing was farther from my mind than offering a remote course in shamanism.

But the coronavirus had frozen everything, shamanic activities as well as my ability to think. I remember that, for three weeks, I felt as if I was in animated suspension, not quite certain about what to do. Those first days of April 2020 I wondered what would happen to the world, and to shamanism. I had no answer, but I was hopeful that everything would be all right again soon.

And then, something started brewing and it took me a few days to realize what was coming.

On April 10, 2020, a student from the Argentine Patagonia texted me to know why I wasn’t offering online activities. I didn’t think it necessary, I replied, the pandemic would end any minute, and we’d soon be back to our daily lives. That was my first mistake.

The next day I was on the phone with a friend, and when she heard I wasn’t doing anything but waiting for the pandemic to be over, she emphatically told me - to my surprise - that I had to offer remote counseling; I was not to waste any time waiting, doing nothing. I was very much taken aback by her words; she was not acquainted with shamanism but spoke as if she knew exactly what it was about. No way I’m offering remote counseling, I replied, I’d just wait for this thing to be over. Boy was I wrong again, as it turned out. It is sometimes difficult for me to listen to the Spirit when it manifests through other people.

However, on the night of April 14, 2020, I had a dream. I saw somebody standing on a beach, in Uruguay. That person was looking at me and speaking to me, but I couldn’t understand them. Later that morning the meaning of that dream became crystal clear to me. Every time I dream with Uruguay (located East of Argentina) the subject matter of the dream is related to Spain, also East of Argentina. Something similar had happened to me in the past. One hour after waking up, I got a text in my cell phone, from an unknown caller, country code from Spain, which read: “Hi, this is Ruth, from Madrid, I would like a session with you.” I was really shocked. I remember stepping out to the terrace, cell phone in my hand, sitting on a chair and staring to the sky. A few seconds in, I saw a flock of green parrots heading towards me, screaming at the top of their voices. Surprised again, I immediately realized that the birds came from the East. I felt in my heart that was a message. At that point I saw clearly that something had to be done about remote healing, there was an obvious need to set out on a new process. April 20, 2020 was a momentous day for me.

But I had to be sure before moving forward. That same morning I journeyed to the Upper World to see my Teacher and ask him if it was appropriate to offer remote sessions. My Teacher emphatically said it was. I was incredibly shocked by his answer. I was expecting another kind of information. At that point in the journey, while with my Teacher, it occurred to me to ask him how to return split-off soul parts remotely. Figuring that out was essential for shamanic healing. My Teacher, serene as usual, showed me the way with a single image and gave me something very specific to do it. Calmly, he also showed me part of the protocol to follow in these sessions. I was still in shock and even felt quite dumb for refusing for so long to do this. But I relaxed and tried to receive the information as best as I could. I didn’t want to miss a thing. When he gave me all the information concerning the remote healing technique, I thanked him and left the Upper World.

Upon returning to my shamanic blanket and when I opened my eyes, I acknowledged my sensations: my heart was beating fast, and I was somewhat sweaty. I had to sigh really hard to release some of the emotion I was feeling then. My rational mind had quite stopped. Yet, I could remain calm for a long while and thought dispassionately about the situation I found myself in. At that point, it became clear to me that, whatever my decision, it was going to have an impact on my shamanism students, who were all in the same situation as I was: held back by the pandemic.

I tried to focus on my deep feelings to know if this kind of healing were a path with a heart, if it were something that would cast some light on the horrendous darkness brought by the coronavirus. After a long while, I could feel it was actually a good thing. Besides, my Teacher had told me this had to be done, and the dream I had the previous night had shown me the way. I decided to move forward with this.

Cell phone in hand, I replied to the person in Madrid: yes, we would have a session, a remote one. And that is how it all started, in a new way, in a new time for all we belong to Puente Mágico Chamanismo and for the thousands who could have their soul healed by remote healing.

This third edition deals more in depth with the healing of the soul, including the remote healing mode that was created during the coronavirus pandemic.

I hope you all find it useful.

Special Thanks

Nelly de Almenara was my Teacher for twenty years. She passed on July 2, 2021, at the age of 93. Nelly taught me the principles of shamanism I follow, but she also made me realize that healing is the most important thing a person can seek, if they really want to lead a spiritual life. At first, I didn’t get it, but as years went by and when I devoted all my time to healing, I really understood the meaning of her words. To lead a spiritual life, you must be healed.

No words will ever be enough to thank her for the actual opportunity she offered me to get acquainted with shamanism and healing. As Carlos Castaneda says in one of his books: “...human beings, sometimes, are presented by the Spirit with unique opportunities to break free from slavery and stupidity, and it usually happens that this opportunity appears as a Teacher who gives a chance to the individual to seek real freedom.” I was lucky: that happened to me, with Nelly. Without her teachings and her loving touch today I’d be even sillier than what I am, and I couldn’t be able to grasp what healing is really about.

The day Nelly passed I was in Miami. The afternoon of July 2, 2021, I was with Santiago, a student of mine, in North Beach, seated facing the sea, and three signals occurred around me, one after the other. All the signals came from the south and they were white (a boat, a dog, and a dove). I didn’t get their meaning at the time, but I could tell something was going on. Santiago was also in the dark. A few hours later, news came of Nelly’s death. I then remembered the three white symbols, and I felt at peace. I could tell Nelly was in the white light, as she liked so much.

My Teacher Nelly taught me to make shamanic journeys and return split-off soul parts, among other things. This knowledge is priceless, from the spiritual healing standpoint, and it changed my perception of myself, of human beings and the world. Everything I learned after was rooted in what she had taught me. And for that I’ll be forever thankful. And so I have told her many times before she died.

Perhaps, in the future, in another life, I will be so lucky as to find her soul again and thank her once more.

Blessings Nelly!

About Shamanism and the Shaman

Before tackling the subject of healing soul splits, an overview is desirable about what shamanism is and who the shaman is, to understand the knowledge framework in which shamanic healing takes place.

Shamanism is a spiritual healing system developed by humanity about 10,000 years ago, in contact with the energy of Nature. Many cultures all over the world have developed shamanic practices, some more advanced than others. However, many peoples have explored the healing of body and soul by means of shamanic practices. Many anthropology textbooks describe shamanic practices.

The term shamanism is derived from shaman, a word which in turn comes from the Evenki language spoken by the Tungusic people, from Siberia. The word shaman became known in the Western world thanks to the Hungarian anthropologist Mircea Eliade, and his most famous book “Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy,” published for the first time in 1951. However, each culture around the world named the shaman in their own particular way; the Mbya Guarani culture, in Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, names the shaman karaí. The Mapuches from Chile and Argentina call them machi, and, the Wichis from the Pilcomayo river, in Argentina call them jayawú. Even though the term shaman is currently the most widely known globally, each culture has come up with its own name for that member of the community that comes in contact with spirits.

On the other hand, the concept of shaman does not refer to a given gender; the term shaman may seem to be related to a masculine energy, but there is no universal fixed gender attached to it. In some cultures, the shaman is a man, whereas in others is a woman; that depends on the beliefs and traditions of each people. Currently, Western culture has both male and female shamans.

Throughout his research, Mircea Eliade speaks about shamanism as the “technique of ecstasy.” He claims that the shaman masters altered states of consciousness. For instance, the Guaraní karaí sings to the spirits and smokes tobacco, entering into an altered state of consciousness in which he can channel the messages for their community. Other example are today’s urban shamans, who beat their drums, shake their rattles, sing their songs and dance before lying down on their blankets for their shamanic journey. The ways in which “consciousness ecstasy” manifests vary according to cultural characteristics, but the end goal is the same: to contact the spirit helpers and to receive the needed information or healing.

The shaman is “one who sees in the dark,” as defined by Sandra Ingerman in her book Soul Retrieval. Different dictionaries also define the shaman as “a wise person” or “ that who knows,” but a more exact definition would be “that who is acquainted with other realities.” Personally, and very humbly if I may, I like to define the shaman as the individual - man or woman - that enters into an expanded state of consciousness and connects with spirits and souls beyond himself or herself. This definition is supported by the experience of current shamans.

The shaman, during their shamanic journey, leaves their body. Their journeying soul leaves the physical body to enter into other realities. This ability possessed by the shaman is called by some “unfolding” or “out-of-body experience.” While the shaman’s soul is journeying, their body remains relaxed.

That ability to leave the body relaxed is different to what is experienced when the shaman takes a psychotropic substance, and their whole body connects with the spirits; in that case the shaman can be seen moving, squirming on the floor, hopping, and screaming or simply talking. They are two different means used by shamans to make contact. Some cultures strongly favor the latter. Right now, urban shamanism leans towards the former.

In the past, the shaman has acted as a healer and clairvoyant, fulfilled priestly and teaching roles, and he has also been the guardian of a people’s world view.

Nowadays the shaman leans towards healing; this may be the role most needed by society. Yet a good present-day shaman can also tell the past and the future by using their techniques, they can perform rituals with Nature’s spirits to help a community, they can teach and guide people along their spiritual quest.

Another definition of shaman might read: “that who walks between worlds.” Shamanism states there are worlds, or realities, which coexist in the physical world, pervading it, but they are not detectable physically, with physical senses; this is so because they exist in other dimensions, at different levels and different wavelengths than the physical world.

Generally speaking, the shamanic world view defines three different worlds: the Lower World, the Middle World, and the Upper World. There are energies in each, as well as beings with different vibration and parts of the human soul. The shaman must travel those worlds to find what they are looking for. Each world is completely different, and there is no moral judgment to decide that the Upper World is better than the Lower. The religious distinction between heaven and hell does not fit into this perception of reality. The Upper World is not heaven, nor the Lower World is hell. That is totally unrelated. Shamans described the three worlds thousands of years before Catholicism would define heaven and hell.

The Lower World harbors the power animals, certain high-vibration beings that help in healing. There are also many places where parts can be found of people’s souls.

In the Middle World, which we humans share with other beings, we find spirits of Nature, beings from the lower planes of the astral world, parts of people’s souls, souls of deceased people, and thousands of other creatures.

The Upper World accommodates teachers, other beings of light and parts of many people’s souls.

Each world has its own vibration, its own reason to exist. These worlds were discovered by shamans from different cultures, who could visit these places and describe them in detail.

Even though each culture around the world has named each of these worlds differently, most shamans have seen and do see in them significant similarities in each.

When the shaman is in an expanded state of consciousness or journeying, they are always aware of their state; they always adopt an active attitude; they willingly enter into other realities, and they operate in them until they find what they are looking for. When the shaman journeys through the different worlds, they feel their whole body is involved, but they actually do so with their journeying soul. This ability possessed by the shaman differs from spiritism, where the medium or channeler has to surrender all or some of their faculties to get the information sought, thus adopting a passive attitude. Any interference by an energy external to the shaman is seen as a restraint to their freedom, and that is why shamans are not mediums.

The planet Earth and Her Spirit are a part of the worlds shamans contact and work with every time they perform a ceremony, whether for healing or inspiration. The shaman thinks everything is alive in the universe, from a drop of water to a dolphin, from a grain of sand on a vast beach to the farthest star from the Earth, from an atom to the wind; “everything has life, everything has consciousness”. And this is no poetry, but a truth declared by shamans for thousands of years.

Shamans have, for thousands of years, played the role of “psychopomps,” that is, beings that guide souls from one world to the next, the souls of the deceased. Nowadays, in many parts of the world, shamans have adopted again their role as psychopomps, as this is sorely needed. You may reed about this in El Chamán Psicopompo, by this author.

The shaman is also a social servant to their community. Historically, they have been the healer that is acquainted with the tools needed to work with and heal the suffering of the soul. The shaman responds today to what people need today, to their daily issues, and the need for healing is increasingly evident.

On the other hand, shamans from all ages have argued that the human being is, essentially, free, constantly looking for their freedom and joy, but humans do suffer pain and spiritual diseases that prevent them from achieving that freedom, that full expansion they seek. Shamans see that disease as the soul losing parts. This situation prevents human beings from reaching that state of freedom so longed for. At the same time, soul splits are, for some shamans, part of the karma that human beings must resolve in order to evolve spiritually.

In recent decades, shamanism, as a form of healing and as spiritual path, has been reborn in many parts of the world. The books by Carlos Castaneda and Michael Harner, to name some, have allowed thousands of people to connect with the knowledge of shamanism, its techniques, and practices.

In Argentina, the research paper by Mario Califato and María Cristina Dasso in the beautiful book El chamán wichí of 1999 has rescued valuable information about the way in which the shamans of the Chaco and Formosa area carried out their practices. There are also many research papers on the Mapuche and the Toba, among other native peoples of Argentina and Chile. All of this research has contributed to the strong and definite revival of shamanism in recent times.

Because of the job done by these authors, a great deal of information and knowledge about shamanic healing in different cultures and native peoples has been saved from the oblivion that comes with time. Currently, many initiatives are in place to ensure that the rich knowledge of shamans remains alive among human beings. At Puente Mágico Chamanismo we work with the Mbya Guaraní people, to help them preserve their spiritual knowledge. Research has also been conducted with the Yámana people of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, now extinct. As a specific example of their culture, it has been found, after much seeking, that the shamans of this people from the south of the planet used different tools to perform their healing and one that has been identified is a hollow bird bone in the shape of a straw through which the shaman absorbed the energy, removing the evil spirits from the sick person’s body. Discovering the use of this tool for healing has led to the widespread use of it, and so we have expanded our knowledge about healing. Just like bits and pieces of information about the Yámana method of healing have been found, recently more ancient healing techniques have resurfaced.

Nowadays, shamanism is growing strongly in cities and has morphed into a form of “urban shamanism”. Most Western shamans live in cities. But in many non-urban areas, such as rain forests o in the mountains, there are many shamans who still use ancestral knowledge of plants and rituals in their communities. We hope that this will continue, and that each native community will maintain their ancestral knowledge of spiritual healing.

In many parts of the world this ancestral knowledge of the communities is being more appreciated every day, and is slowly trickling to the cities, to the people dedicated to shamanism. Take the use of ayahuasca as an example. Ayahuasca is a beverage made from a plant found in the Amazon that is cooked for long hours, which is ingested in liquid form so that the person enters into an altered state of consciousness to allow the plant’s spirit to heal them. However, the careless use of this healing tool by people who “do not know what they are doing” endangers the people who rely on it and creates a wrong concept of shamanism in people who are not aware of its virtues.

Another example of the transfer of ancestral techniques to city shamans is the technique of returning split-off soul parts. We are in debt with Michael Harner for the generosity of sharing part of his anthropological research with humanity; today it is one of the most widespread healing techniques.

In many western countries, the energy that is being created with the return of shamanism seems to be a fresh and pure wind in the midst of a world culture obsessed with consumption and materialistic ideas that endanger the survival of millions of animal and plant species and of human beings themselves. Shamanism’s energy is ecological because it respects life in all its forms as well as the planet’s biological diversity. In the face of the pressing need to care for the planet’s life and diversity, shamanism appears as a more than desirable option. The spirituality of the 21st century is linked to Nature, and shamanism is, perhaps, its most pragmatic form.

Beyond the current situation, shamanism in its different forms - in the city or in non-urban areas - seems to have preserved a primordial pillar: the shaman’s connection with the spiritual forces of the earth and the universe to heal themselves and try to heal the souls of others. This strong spiritual connection established by people who engage in shamanism is, perhaps, what has allowed shamans living in cities today to be able to continue healing the spiritual ailments of human beings. And in that sense, the technique of returning split-off soul parts is one form of ancestral spiritual healing that shamans have offered humanity for thousands of years. In this book you will read about many people who have improved their lives and found their way back to their path by retrieving their soul parts.

There are two major sets of knowledge in shamanism. One of them is the shamanic knowledge of the shaman’s self-improvement, which focuses on how to handle perception and searching for the expansion of consciousness and its freedom. This happens mainly when in contact with the spiritual forces of love and power that exist in the universe, with which the shaman communicates during their journeys. The experiences described by Carlos Castaneda in his books on Don Juan are a clear example of how the shaman seeks their freedom.

The other important piece of shamanic knowledge focuses on the healing of the human soul. This works on body ailments, emotional imbalance, mind disorders and spirit neglecting. The deepest spiritual ailment that shamanism recognizes is the loss of the soul.

Shamans are often at the service of others to assist them in their healing. But they often concentrate on their own healing.

Yet both spheres of shamanic knowledge are linked. Many times, shamans seek their freedom by helping other people, aiding them to heal their soul.

One of the most powerful shamanic healing techniques is returning split-off soul parts. This technique was effectively made known by Sandra Ingerman in her book “Soul Retrieval, Mending the Fragmented Self”. She was the first to expose in the West real case stories of soul retrieval with this ancient shamanic technique. We are indebted to this shaman, for her generous gesture of making known, through a book, the technique of returning split-off soul parts.

The humble goal of this book is to spread further what soul splitting is, why it occurs, which are its spiritual consequences and how it is healed. To that end, this book presents the story of different people who, after getting their split-off soul parts back, found new meaning to their lives, and once again felt joyful, smiled, enjoyed being alive and returned to their original path.

This book describes cases of soul fragment retrieval both in person and by applying the novel technique of remote healing.

I hope that these people’s experiences will serve as example and evidence that, by recovering the integrity of the soul, it is possible to be happy and joyful again, to smile once more as when we were kids.

Chapter 1Soul Splitting and its Healing

Soul splitting is a spiritual ailment that happens as a result of a traumatic event or having experienced great suffering. This traumatic event produces an energetic impact on the soul and the soul splits in one or more parts. Soul splitting is felt as a feeling of emptiness, sadness, as if something were missing, as if we had lost a part of ourselves, a permanent grief. Many people feel their split soul as a feeling of sorrow, located in the chest. In others, these splits produce a strong urge to cry.

Soul splitting can be caused by events such as the death of a loved one, a traumatic move or a big scare, like being lost as a child. They can also be due to a major accident, a traumatic separation, a divorce, an illness, an assault. In general, for the soul to split, there must be an event that impacts and influences us strongly. The soul is broken by specific and definite events. It is very sensitive to the traumatic events that happen to us.

The soul is the vital energy that we have and that we bring with us from birth. It spreads throughout a person’s physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual body. The soul has the same shape as the physical body.

There is a very ancient saying among shamans that goes: “When someone feels empty and sad, they, in all certainty, have their soul split”. It is also said among shamans that whoever has dull eyes is missing a part of their soul. For thousands of years, shamans have had the task of restoring the soul integrity, of journeying to the different worlds to track those missing parts and bring them back to this reality.

Shamans return the split-off soul parts by blowing them into the heart and the head. Once the soul parts have re-entered a person’s energetic body, soul fusion and integration begin to occur.

When the soul becomes whole again, joy and well-being return to one’s being, simply because it’s the vital energy and spiritual health that return.

In addition, soul splitting can prove that a person has sustained a spiritual wound. Spiritual wounds can have different causes, the most important one being the occurrence of several soul splits. Many times, a spiritual wound contains several soul splits. Other times, a single soul split is just the most important spiritual wound in a person.

According to the shamanic vision, a soul split makes a hole in the psyche, in the subtle bodies and in the physical body of a person; this hole is usually filled with perverse energies and behaviors that delay the development of the personality and affect the character.

When a part of the soul leaves, a person’s eyes look and feel dull and lackluster, as if they are missing a part or their vital essence. The shaman looks closely at the lower part of the pupils to see if this lack of sparkle in the eyes is noticeable. The eyes cannot hide the suffering of the soul and, therefore, the shaman searches tirelessly for that pain to try to heal it. As the popular saying goes: “The eyes are the mirror of the soul”, it is precisely there where the reflection is found of what is going on inside a person, not only in his or her personality but also in any given spiritual state.

At the same time, soul splitting is evidenced in the facial features, which often show bitterness and sadness. It is the incompleteness of subjectivity that is felt in the face. An old Andean theory proposes that emotions and the past are marked on the face; wrinkles speak of past stories that left their marks on the skin. These wrinkles are specific emotional facts.

The soul is also mirrored in the pulse. Many shamans detect the soul splitting and the events that caused it by taking the person’s pulse. In a way, it is as if the heart and soul spoke through the pulse.

Hundreds of people attend shamanic offices every year. Each one of them brings their soul pains, each instance of pain is very different from the others. Pain is often very intense and deep, and many people believe that they will not be able to get over it, that they are trapped in very negative feelings. In this regard, the task of the shaman is to help lessen the pain, to put an end to it, to heal the wounds of the soul so that the person can resume their path, the light shines again on the horizon and positive feelings reemerge towards themselves and the world.

Depression and Soul Splitting

Depression is one of the reasons why people come to a shamanic practice. Basically, depression is defined as a mental disorder characterized by deep sadness, low spirits, low self-esteem, loss of interest in everything and diminished psychic functions. From the shamanic standpoint, depression is the consequence of having several split-off soul parts. It is the most widespread disease in the Americas today, as per the latest data from the World Health Organization.

Allopathic medicine, as a first line treatment, prescribes antidepressant drugs to restore the chemical balance in the brain; but it does not offer a definitive solution. After taking antidepressants, it is recommended to see a psychologist or to continue with the psychiatrist.

Since shamanism regards depression as a spiritual problem, the solution is to recover the parts of the soul, while following the indications given by the psychiatrist or psychologist. As the soul parts return and the splitting is healed, the soul re-establishes the emotional balance and the chemical balance of the brain follows suit. The shaman intends to find the cause of the depression and heal it, and not just suppress the symptoms, which is often the aim of antidepressant medications. However, both medicines can work at the same time.

A person with depression has dull eyes, and a sad face; their body looks tired, depleted. Depression generates a heavy aura around the sufferer. The grief caused by depression exhausts the energy of human beings.

The coronavirus pandemic and the endless periods of lockdown enforced in many parts of the world clearly generated a massive phenomenon of depression in thousands of people. Many people were hit very badly by confinement and, thus, prior emotional and spiritual problems surfaced. For many people, lockdown was an explosive cocktail that went off a few months into it.

Many people’s souls were broken simply by having lost their freedom, of being locked up. Many more had their souls broken by the fear felt at the beginning of the pandemic caused by the spread of the disease. And many thousands more had their souls broken when they learned of the death of a loved one, or an acquaintance. Let’s keep in mind that millions of people have died from the virus.

In light of that, depression set in for many people by the middle of 2020 and increased until the middle of 2021, when infections, hospitalizations and deaths began to decline.

In July 2020 I reopened my Buenos Aires office for in-person care. Although the lockdown barely authorized it, I decided to do so because of the many people requesting face-to-face sessions. By implementing a clear-cut and specific protocol to prevent infection in the office, it was possible to restart face-to-face shamanic care.

In mid-July of that year, a young man named Andrés came to my office. When I saw him the first time, I realized that he was in a very profound state of depression. His sadness could be felt by merely touching him, his eyes were dull, and his lips were tilted downward, showing deep sadness.

At the beginning of the session I asked him the reason for his consultation, and he told me in a very straightforward way: “I am really depressed, I cry a lot, I am very miserable”. I inquired if he had seen a psychologist and he said yes, he had been referred to a psychiatrist and he was on medication. He mentioned that all the appointments had been online because doctors would not see patients in person. I wanted to know if anything had happened to him in the last few months and he said no, but he added that being in his apartment for the last three months because of the lockdown had really gotten him down, which had led him to experience the darkest thoughts and feelings he could have ever imagined. In addition, he told me that he felt lost, aimless in life. I told him that I would investigate if there were any split-off soul parts and, if that were the case, I would retrieve them, bring them back and return them to him. I instructed him to lie down on the shamanic blanket. I explained that I was going to turn on a machine to produce the sound of drums, that I was going to lie down next to him and that after a while I was going to sit up and blow on his heart and head. To that, he replied: “Do whatever it takes to make this grief go away”.

I started the shamanic journey heading towards the Upper World. The purpose for the journey was to find split-off soul parts that were related to his depression. When I reached the Upper World, I began to call out his name. Very quickly I could see a part of his soul at some distance. When I came closer, I saw him almost physically identical to how he was at the present moment. I realized that the soul split must have been very recent. After moving even closer, I asked him how old he was; 27 years old, he replied. Why he was there, what was wrong with him, I probed. Andrés’ soul answered that he felt miserable and to be honest, the feeling that emanated from that part of the soul was that: total despair. I asked him why he felt that way and he transmitted me an image in which the world was falling apart. My response was that it was no longer the case, that he could go back because things had changed, I took him by the hands and took him out of there.

In that session I retrieved six more parts of Andrés from the Upper World, all very recent and linked to a feeling of loss, but not of people but his environment. I returned to my shamanic blanket with Andrés’ soul parts and blew them into his heart and head. Next, I performed an energy cleansing with a condor feather that I have in the office, focusing on his heart and liver. At the end of the work I turned off the drum sounds, tapped him on the shoulder, looked him in the eyes and said, “Welcome.” The young man opened his eyes and looked back at me. Hearing the word “welcome” made him smile. I asked him to sit up and began to tell him everything I had done. To my surprise, Andrés told me that when the pandemic started in Argentina, he was starting a new business, he had opened a store a month before and to do so he had invested almost all his savings and that the beginning of the lockdown wiped out that project and his work. That is when I understood the feeling of desolation that various parts of his soul had.

I explained to him that the soul parts that had returned were going to need three to four days to integrate and that, during that time, he should be as relaxed as possible, being aware of the healing that was taking place. I asked him to give his soul time to heal. He left the office with a less sad face.

We had three more sessions together. Usually, shamans spend three to four sessions with each client, seeking the healing that they came to the office for. During the following sessions, we were able to retrieve almost fifteen split-off soul parts related to the emotional state he was in. Our last session took place in October 2020 and by then he no longer felt the sadness he had experienced in July and had started another work project, connecting with other people that had gone through a similar situation.

Andrés’ case was one of the hundreds treated during 2020 and early 2021, related to the impact of lockdown on people’s daily lives.

In the early fall of 2013, Betiana came to my shamanic practice; a woman of about 28 years old, Betiana had requested a session at a friend’s suggestion. When I first saw her at the door of the building, I felt a very dense energy upon her; I looked into her eyes as I greeted her and felt her sadness in my chest. We took the elevator up two floors and entered the office. Throughout the ride, which lasted only a few seconds, once again I felt her deep pain in my own body. When we arrived, I asked her to sit down and tell me why she had requested a session.