Who’s the Healer, Anyways?

When working with a spiritual healer, healing credit must be given where credit’s due

One of the most important (and slightly ironic) teachings I ever received was that no person can teach another person about spiritual healing. Only the spirits can teach you about spiritual healing. On a similar vein, when it comes to seeing a spiritual healer, the person you’re seeing is not really the healer, the healers are the spirits.

The person you’re seeing is really a just a facilitator and also a communicator. They act as a conduit between you and the spiritual realm, allowing the healing to flow, and parroting back whatever the spirits are telling or showing them about your situation.

Why this is important to know

I believe that understanding the boundary between what spirits do vs. what a practitioner does is critical because it’s the pivot between a responsible approach to healing (on the side of the practitioner) and an irresponsible approach.
Think of it like this:

A client comes to see me because they’ve experienced something traumatic and since the event, they have felt numb and unsettled.

They are not coming to me to ask what I, Kim, think of their situation. If they’re smart, they won’t care what I personally think of the situation. My role as a shamanic practitioner is to use all my training and experience to make sure that whatever I think or don’t think about their situation has no bearing whatsoever on the healing, any more than the receptionist’s opinion at your local doctor’s office has anything to do with your medical treatment plan.

I have a responsibility to remove myself – my ego – from the session as much as possible so that the spirit’s voice, advice and healing actions can come through clearly. This is referred to as becoming ‘a hollow bone.’

It’s common at the end of a successful session for a client to thank me, and while that’s thoughtful and appreciated, it’s important that I pass their thanks along to those who really did the heavy lifting – the spirits!

So here’s the issue: The moment a practitioner starts to think of themselves as the true healer, a couple of things can happen.

The practitioner’s spiritual relationships suffer. This is important because, for a practitioner, it’s only because we have close relationships with our spirits allies that they trust us to facilitate this kind of healing.

I can’t speak for all practitioners, but I know I work hard at maintaining and honouring those relationships. This is necessary because, if a practitioner starts to take those relationships for granted, guess what happens?

That’s right. Just like when we ignore a good friend in this world and that friend gets out of dodge, so too will our spiritual allies depart.

Where does that leave a practitioner?

A responsible practitioner will hopefully step back from healing work long enough to re-establish their relationships, if that’s what’s being called for by the spirits, and to go through whatever process they need to go through in their own lives to allow for the healing to flow through them once again.

But when the spiritual healer or practitioner doesn’t step back, that’s where we have a challenge, because now we have a practitioner who may claim to speak for the spirits but is really providing their own personal opinions on your issue.

This can be dangerous, particularly if a client puts blind faith in the practitioner (blind faith is also problematic, but that’s another blog topic for another day…)

In the community I was involved in, one says that a person ‘walks with spirit’ (is legit) or ‘doesn’t walk with spirit’ which usually means that the speaker believes the practitioner is faking to a degree, or is disrespecting the healing work in some way. (Of course, there were times when I was warned off a certain practitioner but my instincts said ‘GO’ and the healing turned out to be powerful with positive tangible physical benefits!)

Does a spiritual healer walk with spirit? 

How can you know?

First and foremost, trust your instinct. I believe that what we refer to as ‘instinct’ is the sound of our spirit guides (or angels) whispering ‘do this’ or ‘avoid this’, and it’s most powerful.

Next, talk to people! What was their experience? How do you feel about what you’re hearing?

Most importantly, look for humility. A practitioner who walks with spirit knows their deal, they know who does the real healing and they speak with a certain language that reflects that. They’re honest; they don’t try to hide their background or how they acquired their knowledge, even if those stories are not overly grand. Simply put, there’s no shadiness.

In my experience, a trustworthy spiritual healer will walk quietly (without a big stick!) and humbly, and are very careful to pass along the credit to where the credit’s due. If you feel unsure about seeing a practitioner, quiet your mind, sink deep into yourself, and ask the question. What does your instinct tell you? There’s your answer.