Shamanic Soul Retrieval

By Lisa Biritz

Introduction

The majority of people who consult my practice have already sought advice for their health concerns from many doctors. However, conventional medicine has only been partly able to help them. Their symptoms would often be alleviated for a short time, but would reappear in exactly the same or in a similar way at a later stage.

In the process of searching for healing, the path to a shamanic practice is deeply rooted in the history of humankind: medicine men and shamans, similar to our doctors and psychologists, have long worked together in ancient indigenous cultures. They were frequently even the same person, with the one complementing the other, together in the healing process.

It is therefore only natural that sooner or later many people turn from conventional academic medicine to alternative healing.

My clients are entirely justified in seeking a complete healing for their physical or psychological concerns, sensing intuitively that the deeper causes and solutions may be found in their soul.

Like almost everyone practicing shamanism in our Western world, I too found the path to ancient healing methods through my own health issues and a near-death experience. Shamanism even has a specific expression to describe this—a wounded healer, someone who, due to a life-threatening illness, a psychosis, or a near-death experience “goes to the other side” and returns to life of their own accord. They bring with them knowledge and an understanding of the path to recovery on a deep cellular level. Consequently, they are well placed to accompany other people in their healing, and at the same time develop a compassionate heart for all beings, something that is a prerequisite for good healing work.

Although my childhood was characterized by affluence, I grew up nonetheless in a strict parental home and was raised in accordance with what might be termed old school ways, as did many of my generation. My parents were shaped by the Second World War and the postwar era. For them, their expression of love was that we children should grow up with material security, leaving little room for feelings, which were rationalized or suppressed.

In addition, as I emerged from puberty into adulthood, I had to watch helplessly as my brother—and this is how I explain it to myself today—slipped into schizophrenia due to birth trauma through lack of oxygen combined with our harsh upbringing. To witness how a person whom I loved dearly could lose his mind and his grounding and suffer deeply as a result was one of the most painful experiences in my life, characterized by feelings of total powerlessness.

I myself suffered from problems caused by a slipped disc and pains in the lower abdomen during that time. Not surprisingly, I was also psychologically imbalanced, my emotions fluctuating between fear and anger. It often felt as though my soul were burning. Everything hurt and my heart was crying out. I was not free and I was not happy.

The many doctors that I consulted could help me only superficially or not at all. To some extent, my conditions even got worse. I was groping in the dark and had no idea why I was feeling that way. I realized I had to consciously seek out becoming healthy. Since I found no answers in the West, I traveled around the world to seek teachers on every continent. It was my only chance to become healthy and happy again. During this time, I also went through a near-death experience in Asia, during a short but very severe and dangerous illness.

I tried out pretty much everything during my fascinating travels, from yoga and shiatsu, via faith healers and gurus in India, to the shamans of North and South America and African and Australian healers. I spent time with those who really helped me and received their training.

Shamanic soul retrieval is one of the methods that helped me, and in a surprisingly simple and yet such effective way. It is worth noting that it is practiced by all indigenous cultures, regardless of where they are in the world. It is performed, for instance, by the Aborigines, the indigenous peoples of South and North America, and the ancient Mongolian peoples. This is because the understanding of life energy and vitality as an intact, shining, and vital soul is universal, as are the methods of making the soul whole again when it has been harmed or injured.

During my travels, I have learned that healing is essentially very straightforward. You just need the appropriate tools.

With this book, I want to give you a guide to understanding soul retrieval and making the soul whole again. I also recommend my oracle card set entitled “Soul-Medicine.” This will help you to rediscover your soul fragments so that you can shine again, wake up with joy in the morning, and enjoy life to the full with a spirit of adventure.

Although the exercises described here are very effective, you may not be able to make progress with some issues. In which case, please seek help in the form of a professionally conducted soul retrieval with a trained and practicing shaman.

However, to use the exercises in this book, no special training or specific skills are required. The invisible world opens up to anyone who is sincere in their search for healing, wholeness, and truth. You will soon be able to feel and enjoy your vital, radiant, and healthy soul again.

You are whole when you feel whole!

Lisa Biritz
What Is Shamanic Soul Retrieval?
We are all familiar with the phenomenon. Some people are just bursting with vitality and seem to be ageless, although they may already be way past retirement age. But it has nothing to do with plastic surgery because their lives are clearly visible in the lines on their faces. These people often seem to have more energy than some of their younger contemporaries who could be their grandchildren. Looking at them, you might think in admiration that you would also like to age in the same way.

Where does this energy and vitality, independent of age, come from? Where does our life force come from in the first place?
As is often the case, the answer is so obvious and simple that we readily overlook it—it is the soul that contains our life energy. Like a glowing, luminous ball of light, it gives us vitality. In Hawaiian huna shamanism, for example, the soul is even described as a “bowl of light and life.”

The soul: a luminous sphere of light
When I perform healing work, I ask my clients to imagine their soul as a vibrating, glowing ball of energy. As soon as they close their eyes, they can nearly always see their soul sphere clearly, and also see where parts are missing.

Over time, due to painful and traumatic experiences, fragments of our soul energy may leave us. In modern psychology this phenomenon is known as dissociation, and in shamanism soul loss. When there is no possibility of changing or healing a painful experience, parts of the soul split off and leave. This act of leaving and finding a safe place where fragments of the soul can no longer be hurt is often the only strategy that we humans have left to protect ourselves. At the same time all memories of the painful event follow the soul fragments, which is why traumatized people frequently cannot remember stressful events at all.

When fragments of the soul are missing, we feel dull, incomplete, and lacking in essential life energy. The consequences can range from constant fatigue, depression, chronic illness, addiction, and recurring accidents to personality disorders. We feel as though we are not really living but are functioning on “automatic pilot” or as if we are living our lives for something or somebody else. These fragments of the soul do not return on their own.

Shamanic Soul Retrieval by Lisa Biritz, published by Inner Traditions International and Bear & Company, © 2026. All rights reserved. http://www.Innertraditions.com Reprinted with permission of publisher.

Author Bio: Lisa Biritz is the author of Shamanic Star Wisdom Oracle. She has studied shamanism according to Sandra Ingerman (Core Shamanism), Sun Bear, an in the Hawaiian Huna tradition. Lisa divides her time between Hawaii and Austria, where she leads seminars and organizes unique experiences, including encounters with dolphins and whales in the wild. https://lisarainbow.com

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