This is a (lightly edited) transcript of the above podcast…
Imagine reaching out to a shamanic practitioner, asking for a certain ceremony – perhaps as soul retrieval or power animal – and the shamanic healing practitioner says ‘no’.
This happened to me this week, and the other party was rather upset and even went as far as calling me false because of it, and I wanted to record this because there are times when a no is a really good thing, and a practitioner who walks with spirit will abide by it.
NOs happen, and I feel genuinely bad when they do.
It’s hard to get a no when we’ve got our heart set on a ceremony or treatment session, or feel that this one ceremony will be the answer that will support us through a hard situation. It also takes courage to reach out to a shamanic practitioner, so it can feel like a slap when we get a ‘no’, and I acknowledge all these things.
But, as disappointing as it may feel at the time for both of us, it’s always a good thing for you, the client, for a few reasons…
First, it means that the Spirits are already looking out for you; they are paying attention. Your Spirits are already working with you and supporting you, and their showing discernment about your healing journey proves it.
Below I’ve outlined a few reasons why the Spirits might decline to perform the healing ceremony you’ve asked for.
As to which one might pertain to you, you can always ask the practitioner. In my experience, sometimes I’m given the specific reason, and sometimes I’m not.
Reasons the Spirit may not agree to do the ceremony you’ve asked for:
It’s Not the Right Time
Your shamanic healing practitioner may say this because shamanic healing – and soul retrievals in particular – can be intense.
The spirits know well what we can handle at any given time in our lives, and what might be too much, or distract us from our path.
We must remember that living our lives is a form of healing in itself. And if we are already living our lives in a healing way, or the Spirits feel the intensity of a something like a soul retrieval is going to throw us off, they’ll often say no or at least respond that the client should check in in a year’s time.
This is why, for example, if someone is less than a year on their sobriety journey, the Spirits generally won’t agree to soul retrieval work. I’m not making that decision – they are.
The healing crisis that can sometimes accompany soul retrieval can be difficult for someone to process when they are already fighting the big fight.
Usually, under these circumstances the Spirits will say something like, “not soul retrieval right now, but we’ll do power animal, and then soul retrieval in 18 months,” or something like that.
That’s a big part of it…
Right Practitioner, Wrong Ceremony
As I just mentioned above, often what will happen is that the Spirits won’t outright say no, but they’ll change up the ceremony to what they feel will truly benefit the client, and it’s up to the Shamanic Healing Practitioner to explain this to you.
I’ve scheduled soul retrievals that turned into soul remembering ceremonies or blessings, or energy balancing sessions.
The Spirits do sometimes change their mind. I have no idea why, I don’t know what’s going on in your life, but this is Spirit-led work, so if they say, nope – today we’re going to do this other ceremony instead, then we need to listen.
And to be clear, to listen or not is not really a choice.
If the Spirits have decided NOT to do a soul retrieval for whatever reason, they’re just not going to show up for it. I can’t make them, that’s not the kind of relationship I have with them, and I sure as heck can’t do it without them, so whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not, we must ask ourselves, how deep is our trust?
Are we willing to surrender our egos to Spirit led work?
I am, although it didn’t come easily, but are you?
I’ve had the Spirits say to me that if the client wants to work virtually, it’s to be one ceremony, if they want to work in person, it will another.
Again, I have no idea why this is, but I have faith that it’s always the right thing for the client.
Right ceremony, Wrong Shamanic Healing Practitioner
This happens a lot and I love it when it does, because nothing says the spirits are looking out for us than when they’ve already decided who should do the work and put you on the path to meeting that person.
Sometimes when I journey for the prospective client, the spirits will say, ‘Yes, a soul retrieval will be good for this person, but not you, Kim. Send them to Sue/Jenn/Michele/etc. THEY are the right person for this.’
I have no idea why, I’ve learnt not to ask because they never tell me anyways!
Early in my practice, I would feel disappointed, but client after client whom I’d referred on, came back to me to tell me how perfect the person was I’d referred them to, and how helpful it was for them.
It taught me to trusts the Spirits when they tell me specifically who to send the client to. So if your practitioners comes back to you with this kind of Spiritual referral, my advice is to do it. The Spirits have a reason for everything.
The Spirits Want You to do Your Own Work Because You Can
The Elders taught me that we are put on this earth to learn, and in this way, to heal, to progress, to grow.
Thus, the point of Shamanism is to empower you to be able to do your own healing work.
Yet sometimes we avoid taking an active role in our own healing journeys by working with healer after healer. It can become obsessive.
If we are constantly asking others to provide the answers, at some point, the Spirits are going to say, “Now is time for you to find your own answers.”
It can be jarring for a client, who’s never been pushed back by a practitioner, to be told ‘no’, but my hope for them is that it’s also empowering. It’s the ultimate spiritual ‘you’ve got this!’ and it’s time for you to step up and believe in yourself.
The Spirits demand you play an active role in your healing
So sometimes what will happen is that the Spirits will agree do the ceremony, but they provide a condition.
What I’ve seen is that that condition is always a critical step in the client’s journey, and it usually puts the client out of their comfort zone.
An example is the person who accused me of being a false practitioner. This person insisted on virtual work, which is normal, and that they wouldn’t talk on the phone for health reasons.
This meant the work would be done on my end and communicated via email.
Now this is not an issue for me. I mean, it’s not ideal, but I take copious notes for my clients anyways.
Although it’s not how I like to work, I like to have either face to face or voice to voice contact at some point in the process, I am certainly well set up to work in this way.
But when I asked the Spirits, they were very clear that the person needed to provide either a name or a picture.
I have no idea why, but I got the sense that this had to do with stepping outside of a comfort zone, and of course, that requires trust. So perhaps this was the lesson for the client.
Now I’m speculating here, so I’ll quit while I’m ahead, but either way, all healing requires a sacrifice. ALL.
If we are going to engage in Spiritual healing, we must be prepared to do what’s asked of us.
While the client is paying me for my time and supplies, the real arrangement is with those Spirits, and if they have something to teach us, they will often demand some sort of sacrifice from us.
Sometimes that sacrifice is time, sometimes it’s a certain action – always a healthy action – if it’s not a healthy action, it’s not your spirits talking – for example, I’ve worked with clients where, before their appointment, the Spirits were very clear that the client was to make certain offerings and do certain things like walk beside a river or meditate or something like that.
Maybe they needed to give something away
I once went to the Spirits asking for support in my immigration and setting up my practice in Scotland, and they said, ‘maybe, but first you need to give away your drum.’
I was floored. And not in a good way! I was very attached to that drum! (There’s a whole backstory to this drum that includes my family and friendships and borders on nothing short of magic, and I shared the story on my website under the Story of my Drum.)
That was one hell of a sacrifice for me at the time, it took me six months to do it, but the act created space in my life for new elements of my practice that deepened my work here in Scotland. It was the precursor to my selling or giving away everything I owned before moving here – my furniture, my clothes, everything.
This turned out to be a huge healing act for me and help me release (literally) my attachment to things and examine the unhealthy reasons I had those attachments in the first place.
It’s hard to say what the Spirits will demand of us, if anything, but it does happen that they make demands that will contribute to our healing work, and if the client is resisting this kind of healing, then they are probably going to come back to me as this person did, with disappointment and anger.
When this happens, I try to remember that this experience is bringing the client forward, it is placing stepping stones in front of the client to empower true healing. When we’re mad, we’re hurt, and this person, in that moment, was hurting.
But again, the Spirits saying ‘no’ is always an act of love and compassion.
In summary
If you’ve ever asked a shamanic healing practitioner to do a healing ceremony on you and they’ve said, ‘come back to me in six months,’ or ‘how about a power animal retrieval instead’ then I want you to understand what’s happening.
It’s not because you’re a bad person, or you’re beyond hope, or you don’t deserve it the healing. It’s the absolute opposite. It’s because the Spirits care about you so deeply, they are going to do everything in their power to empower you, protect you, and to make your life better.
The Spirits are always walking with us, they don’t go away, ever. Spirituality is always there for us, and there are so many ways to honour our Spirituality and honour ourselves.
We are not used to spirituality in our lives, we often feel that we need to grasp at certain structured ceremonies or practices to access our spirituality, and that if we can’t access them for whatever reason, we can’t be spiritual. We can’t engage in Spiritual healing.
But the truth is that you’re already doing it. The spirits honour you every day. When your intuition is talking to you – that’s your Spirits. When you sit down by a tree or river or the ocean and feel fully connected and at peace, your Spirits are with you. When you are laughing at some stupid joke your best friend made, you are healing. And when you go home that night and you say ‘thank you’ for that moment, your Spirits are going to say, ‘thank YOU, now keep going…’
I’ve leave you with a final thought about this topic…
Everything I’ve just mentioned is why, for the classical ceremonies like soul retrieval, it’s incredibly important that the shamanic practitioner, rather than themselves deciding whether to see you, defers that decision to the Spirits.
This means taking the time to journey on behalf of the interested client, long before any kind of gift of payment is exchanged, to see if the Spirits feel it’s a good time for you to do this work, or you’ve got the right shamanic healing practitioner.
So, if a shamanic healing practitioner ever comes back to you with a ‘not right now’ or ‘yes, but I’m sending you this person,’ or ‘yes, but not that ceremony’ or ‘yes, but you must do this first’, then don’t accuse that practitioner of being false. They are being true to the Spirits, and those Spirits are being true to you. If you find yourself angry at the response, you must ask if you are being true to yourself.
If you wish to learn more about shamanic healing, please visit my website at cedarlighthealing.com, cedar as the cedar tree, and light as in the walk in the light.
Thank you so much, everyone, have a great day.
