Soul Retrieval and Psychoanalysis

Sunday, April 6th, 2014

The psychoanalyst, Philip Bromberg wrote that “to maintain a semblance of continuity, trauma experiences and their associated self-states become sequestered “islands,” separated from and invisible to, the other self-states accessible to conscious attention at any given time.” Similar to the psychoanalytic concept of disassociation and splitting, paqos (Andean shamans) believe that parts of the soul often break off in reaction to intense trauma and become held in suspended states of isolation when the experience becomes too painful. Paqos and Freud agree that in these states, memories are not worn by the effects of time.Bromberg has said that primitive mental states are usually the result of having been “into oneself” for too long a time or not having adequate ego structure to get out of one’s “self” – and back to the here and now.

When paqos  perform soul retrievals, they begin in the  here and now and then through tracking energy in extra-temporal vision states, they locate the lost soul fragments of the person whom they are healing – that were split off during the traumatic event. Similar to Bromberg’s description in psychoanalysis; fragmented soul parts may become stuck in limbo, frozen in another timeless dimension outside conscious experience. During a soul retrieval, once the person’s soul fragments are found, the paqo brings the lost pieces back and downloads them into the luminous body of the person in the present – provided that living in the here and now feels safer and more secure. Once the soul fragments are collected, they are reintegrated into the luminous body, but the actual memories of the painful event are not brought into the person’s conscious awareness. This is because remembering the events may be retraumatizing, and the paqo’s intention is to help the person release negativity from their mind and body.

This process of returning psychic fragments is different in the analytic process. In analysis, the analysand and the analyst return to the experience associated with the traumatic memory together. Similar to the soul retrieval process, a safe temenos is needed for the analysand to integrate the fragmented parts of their psyche back into ego awareness. Through the process, the fragments are taken in, held, and metabolized by the analyst.

In the analytic process, psychic material may emerge from the unconscious – and the collective psyche simultaneously, creating opportunity for multiple levels of interaction to occur between the analysand and analyst. Material that has become activated in the relational field can be worked with and integrated through the transference relationship. The way this information is received and processed influences the way time will be perceived in the bi-directional analytic encounter. The capacity for the analysand to assimilate this material depends upon their developmental level, and capacity for self-reflection.

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