Part 1 -My Soul Retrieval Experience

Part 1

Part 1 of my Soul Retrieval Session.

I want to share one of the most profound experiences I’ve had on my spiritual awakening adventure to date. 

I had a soul retrieval done with a Shaman on January 5, 2026 and it just seemed to be the pinnacle of all the experiences I’ve had over the past year and a half as I have been healing.  Everything that I experienced, everything that I did, by my self, with all the Healers, led up to this moment of enlightenment. 

 

And now, the synchronicities and insights and realizations just keep happening so it’s hard to keep up and keep track of everything.  The downloads are coming at me with the speed of light.  Maybe even warp speed.   

 

Right after this soul retrieval experience happened, I actually thought I wouldn’t write about it at all.  It was too holy. And so detailed. But the story took on a life of its own.  And it had a different plan.  Because it just won’t leave me alone until I share it. It won’t let me ground myself until I birth this baby.   So I need to write it out so I can function again in the world.  Because having one foot in this dimension and one foot in another dimension is a little too discombobulating for me.

 

It would be easier to write this all out coherently if could be in a secluded chalet on a mountaintop for a few weeks. Or in a lodge on a tropical island.   With a team of people taking care of all of my personal wants, needs and desires!

I just need to have a pause in my life so that nothing else happens until I get this story out. But that’s not how it’s working.  So I’m going to have to settle for birthing this story the best I can.

“Why even bother writing it out?”, one might very reasonably ask.  That’s a very good question.

Well, it just seems to be the way it is for me. Part of my life purpose as an Eclectic Spiritual Adventurer.   And a Storyteller.  And an Artist.  Writing and painting have been essential for me in this healing journey.  

 

I started writing out some of my spiritual experiences in emails to the Healers after sessions and then in a weekly summary to the Hypnotherapist, because otherwise, I would forget them.  It’s hard to keep the momentum going on a spiritual journey when you can’t even remember what just happened to you!  Hard to connect the dots when the dots disappear so very quickly.

 

And then, during one of our sessions, the Medium gave me homework (I hate her homework – it’s really hard!) to not just write, but to write and post it on my FB page.  I’m a good student who follows instructions well, so of course I did it.  I think I had about 7 FB friends at the time but it was SO hard to do this!   I felt so exposed!  But they all held me gently.  

And then one of them suggested that I start posting my writing on Substack. Challengers are such great motivators and also such huge pains in my ass. They push me to do the things I don’t think I’m ready to do.

 

Putting my heart and pain out there in the world felt so scary.   But I did it.  Those were huge steps for me.  I’m much more comfortable hiding.  I am so grateful for the people who read my stories and encouraged me on this journey.  They are my witnesses.  My sacred companions on this journey back to my self.

 

I’m not even sure I’ll be able to write this out in a way that anyone else can understand it, but I’m going to try.  I’ll have to break it down into pieces and I’ll be jumping back and forth in the story (because it all happened so fast) so it may be confusing. 

 

But then, in the midst of this worrying about how the story would look, I stopped worrying about it all.  Because I realized that my writing is mostly for me. It’s a tool to help me heal.  Maybe it helps other people find their way too?  I’m not sure.  But I just need to do what I need to do for me.  It doesn’t have to make sense to other people. 

 

Writing and painting are ways for me to synthesize and integrate and process what’s happening to me. I’m the only one who needs to understand it.  Sharing it with others makes it real and solid for me, even if others don’t understand it.

 

The paintings for this whole experience, this story, are of course already done. I didn’t realize that until afterwards though. The paintings started “prophesizing” this experience in January of 2025.  It only took me a year to catch up this time.  I still find it so uncanny that I paint what is going to happen on my spiritual journey before it happens. 

 

You may recall that I started taking a Celtic Shamanism class in February of 2025.  It was taught by a Shaman, one of the Healers/Spiritual Midwives I have been working with since July of 2024.  In November of 2025, we learned about soul retrieval in this class. 

 

It’s a shamanic practice to help heal people when they become fragmented – when they lose pieces of themselves.  Usually this happens in a response to trauma.  When we are hurt or attacked, our souls fragment and float away from us. Or run away from us.  It’s a type of self preservation in the moment.  Our immediate response. 

 

Sometimes it happens because of an attack outside of us.  Sometimes, pieces of our souls are taken away from us.  And over time, the loss of a soul part can lead to us getting physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally unwell. Because we need all of our soul parts to be whole.

 

And every time we experience more trauma, it’s likely that another part of our soul splinters off.  You can see how, if this happens repeatedly, it leaves us weaker and weaker.  More vulnerable to future physical and psychic attacks.  It also makes it more difficult for us to have ease in our lives.  In our hearts and minds, bodies and souls.

 

And on top of the traumas that happen in this lifetime, we may experience soul loss because of intergenerational trauma.  Because of ancestral trauma.  Because of trauma in our past lives. Because of collective trauma like witch wounding.  The loss can be cumulative.  And staggering.  And devastating.

 

Soul loss can be the source of physical and mental health issues.  That’s what got me started on this spiritual adventure journey in the first place - all the physical and emotional pain that I had experienced and that I just couldn’t cope with anymore. I was drowning in pain and despair.  And all of that pain and despair contributed to soul loss even though that wasn’t clear to me at the time.

 

Since the level of loss can be so intense and so pervasive, people may need support and guidance to gather back the parts of their selves.  People can learn to do this themselves as well. 

But Shamans have the strength and experience to walk into the darkness with people and the skills to walk out again.  They connect to their Spirit animals and guides to help retrieve these lost soul parts.   I’m not sure I’m ready to do that on my own just yet and that’s why I booked a session with the Shaman for my self.  For my selves.  Oh, where angels fear to tread, in runs Sharon!

 

I was fortunate in that I witnessed a soul retrieval ceremony before I had this one for my self.  One of the students in our class was very brave and very generous and offered to have a soul retrieval done during the class so the rest of us could see what it was like.  And what happened was mind boggling.  I mean I’ve read about these things in books, and have always been fascinated by the process, but to see it “live” was an altogether different experience. 

 

It was similar to the work I did with some clients during counselling sessions in years gone by, so I had an innate sense of what was happening.  But it was also so different.  It encompassed completely new levels of reality and things were processed so much faster than in a traditional counselling session.

 

After we watched this soul retrieval, and discussed it as a class, the Shaman encouraged us to have a soul retrieval done for ourselves. Because, let’s face it, who among us hasn’t had pain and trauma?  Who hasn’t lost part of their soul during their human experience here on earth?

 

I told the Shaman I wanted to do the soul retrieval partly for the experience and partly because Goddess knows I’ve had loss and trauma that led to me losing soul parts.  I know there are parts of my soul that splintered off to help me survive. I know there were times when negative entities took parts of my soul from me. And it made sense to start bringing them back now so I could continue my healing.

 

I asked the Shaman what I should do to prepare for the session.  She said to pay attention to the dreams I was having beforehand.  I told her that some photos of me as a child immediately came to mind when I was thinking about this session, so I was going to dig those out too.  I figured that we would likely be retrieving those kid parts.

 

Before the session started, I also did some things to prepare my self. A way of creating sacred space for my self.  I have a protection ritual I do before journeys.  I asked my child parts which rocks and crystals they wanted to have during the ceremony and loaded them up in my pockets.  I lit a candle.  I played some music. I put some finishing touches on a painting (that didn’t make sense until after the soul retrieval).  

I moved some stuffed animals closer to my laptop. I placed the photos of me as a child on the desk. I even made my self a nice cup of tea and had a sweet treat ready for after the session.   Anything that I thought would help me ground.  Anything that would help my child selves feel safe during the soul retrieval process. 

 

The session started with the Shaman asking me about my dreams.  I said that I had been having a lot of them lately, but they all just seemed to be a mish-mash of stuff.  Nothing in particular stood out.  She then asked if there was anything else that came to mind that was more important to look at in terms of the trauma I’ve experienced (she’s already heard a lot of it in our previous sessions.)  I referred to the photos I found of myself as a child that seemed to represent some core soul loss that turned into recurring themes in my life.

 

When I shared this with the Shaman, she said that what I had experienced were psychological attacks.  Yup.  That fits. 

I said that there were so many things that had happened that contributed to my soul losses, that it was hard to know where to start.  Which soul piece to retrieve first. I said I was just going to see what unfolded.  Which is unusual for me because I like to have a plan!   

 

I reminded the Shaman that she had previously suggested to me that I needed to leave room for Spirit to guide the process (because I always try to plan it all out.)  She agreed that Spirit could help figure out which foundational soul pieces to get back first. Because sometimes we aren’t even aware of those foundational losses. She said that foundational soul loss could cause difficulties in relationships.  She said that everyone has hardship and pain and that we need to figure out what we are here to learn.  And that soul retrievals are part of our healing and growth.

 

That all made sense to me.  Especially since I was about 4-5 years of age in the photos I found.  Those ages seem pretty foundational.  So I was ready to let Spirit take the lead.  Especially since I didn’t know where to start.

 

We talked a bit about the things that were going on for me when I first started doing this healing work in earnest.  I gave her some updates.  I reminded her that at one point she suggested I slow things down a bit on this spiritual journey because stuff was happening so fast.  I told her that was really, really good advice and that I totally didn’t take it. 

 

The Shaman laughed and said she was so surprised (not!) that I didn’t slow down. She actually laughed a little too much and a little too long about that, come to think of it.  I’m so glad my Healers find me entertaining.  It’s important to keep them engaged haha.

 

I told her I felt positive about my spiritual path, my spiritual practice and that I now have a spiritual community of like-minded souls to help support me along with the OG (original gang) of the four Healers/Spiritual Midwives.  I told her I was feeling more optimistic about my physical health conditions, feeling that I was moving through the grief from the traumas, feeling more comfortable with the boundaries I’ve had to set and that I’m feeling more settled overall.  I told her I was even smiling and feeling joy on a regular basis again! 

I am now in the light at the end of the tunnel! I never could have imagined reaching this place even two years ago.  And yet, here I am.  In the light again.

 

I told her briefly about the ancestral healing session I did with the Hypnotherapist yesterday and how I didn’t have to go back and revisit all their trauma to provide and receive healing.  I told her that my inner kid parts showed up to the ancestral gathering in the journey as well and that they all feel better and more settled now. 

The Shaman compared my process to doing a puzzle and said that I was now at the point where I could see and believe I would finish putting the puzzle together.  Agreed!

 

She then said she was going to start the soul retrieval ceremony by creating sacred space around us.  She lit a candle for the ceremony.  She said she would call in the Spirit animals and asked me which of my power animals I was working with the most these days.  I said that was hard to answer because I feel like I’m working with all of them in my spiritual practice.  They all just feel like they are there with me now.  Every day.    

 

She shook her rattle and connected to the Spirits of the four directions and the elements, the power animals, Spirit, ancestors of blood and bone, ancestors of Spirit and the Healers to come and help with healing for me and with the soul retrieval.  She asked the Divine to bless this work, and asked the sacred land to rise up and support this work.  All the things she taught us in class, but what a different experience having it happen to me.  For me.

 

Then she centered herself and did a scan of my energy body.  She said that she sees/feels that everything is good but that there was just a bit of cloudiness around my heart.  She said that she thinks that the soul parts that are retrieved today will go to stay in the heart when they are called back. 

 

What she saw today in my heart cauldron?   That bit of cloudiness?  Such a stark contrast to what she saw on the very first journey we did together.  In that journey, my entire heart cauldron area was a burned-out forest with just a few small birch trees! Oh, I have indeed made strides in this healing journey!

 

The Shaman said she was going to start the journey and that I could also see if my guides would give me messages at the same time.  The Shaman said that she doesn’t control what Spirit wants to do.  That if we try to do things just from the place of our own power, that it’s limited.  That’s why we call on Spirit and our Spirit teams.

 

She said that usually when she does spiritual healing, she asks Spirit if the person needs a soul retrieval or if they need something else.  She said that for me she didn’t do that because she just felt that soul retrieval is what we are doing (that’s what I specifically asked her for when I booked this session.)  She said there wasn’t really any question if I was ready (because I am) and this is what we are doing today.  I agreed.   She said that if the Spirit guides feel I need something on top of this, then we will let them speak and accept whatever comes.  She then started drumming for the journey.  

 

And as we started the journey, I saw myself at my place of power in one of my meditation spots.  There was a child part there who was younger than I was in the photos I had picked out earlier.  Probably about age 2-3 years of age. I assumed this is the foundational child soul part that we would be retrieving today. 

 

The child was off to the left, or east, at the tree line.  Ruby, one of my spirit animals, was at the treeline in the south and I was sitting on the meditation rock in the north.  The child part wasn’t coming towards me but she was very interested in Ruby, so I figured Ruby would help to bring her back to me. Ruby previously helped a child on the other side of the veil, who had invaded my body, to go back to the other side, so I think gently leading kids is kind of her speciality.)

 

Then the Shaman said that her Spirit animal was front and foremost in this journey and was taking charge of the process.  But she said that he wasn’t taking her into my past.  Instead, he was taking her to Ireland - to a shrine of St. Brighid from medieval times.  She said it looked like it could be Kildare (I don’t know anything about this so I’ll have to research it later.)

 

It made sense to me that the Goddess Brighid would be here for the soul retrieval, because before the ceremony, I asked her to be present today.  Brighid has connected to me from the beginning of my work with the Shaman and throughout the Celtic Shamanism class.  Unbeknownst to me at this point, this was the last thing that was going to make sense to me in this process. Everything that happened next was completely unexpected!  But I digress.

 

I wasn’t sure how a shrine in Ireland was connected to the photos I had found, the child in the meditation spot in my place of power or any kind of soul retrieval.  But I was trying to go with the flow and trust in Spirit and in the Shaman to take me where I needed to go. 

 

But the pace of the flow rapidly shifted and picked up at this point. I thought my session was going to be similar to the one that happened for my fellow student.  But that is not what went down!  Spirit had other plans apparently.

 

The Shaman said that her and her Spirit animal then entered into the shrine that is like a grotto in a shallow cave.  She said that the presence of the Goddess Brighid was so strong there.  She said that Brighid was manifesting as a huge Spirit of light.

 

The Goddess Brighid picked up the Shaman’s Spirit animal (who apparently is quite big) and he was just sitting in her arms, content.  The Shaman said that Brighid was telling her, not with words, but more with a clairsentient download message, that she wanted to speak through her to me.

 

Then the Shaman stopped drumming (she had only been doing it for about 5 minutes) and said she was going to put her drum down and that she was basically going to channel a message from this beautiful Goddess of light through her body, her words.  She said she may not remember everything Brighid says, so she was glad we were recording the session.

 

I’m pretty sure at this point, I was thinking, “What the heck is even going on here any more?”  But I was still trying to just go with the flow.

 

I’ll tell you what happened next in another story, but I want you to know that after this session, I was bombarded with downloads after downloads.  I didn’t feel like I was even here, in this dimension, anymore.  I was kind of floating around. 

 

I sent the first download I had in an email to the Shaman at 3:30 p.m. (just after we finished the journey) and included a photograph of a painting I started a few weeks ago. 

 

I wrote, “I’m going to take time to process all that happened today (likely the rest of my life lol) but I wanted to share this with you right away.   I’ve been working on this painting for a few weeks now.    It’s not quite done but it told me that its name is “Always here with you.”This morning, I painted in the smaller figure.  I assumed it was a child part that we would be retrieving today.  But it’s me.  All of me.  And the larger figure of course is Brighid.   Wow.  My mind is blown.” 

 

It’s taken me days to get this part down in writing and this is just what happened in the first thirty minutes of the session!   It appears that my mind can only process this experience in pieces so it’s going to take a bit to get it all out. 

 

It was interesting, I mean this is ALL interesting to me, but it was interesting that during the session, the video kept freezing.  I find this to be fairly common when I do work with the Healers. Their energy seems to zap technology.  We had to restart the session three or four times.  The Shaman said if it stopped working once more that we would reschedule our session. 

 

Well, Holy shit!  Am I ever glad the video kept working because Holy shift!  What happened next was life-altering.  Mind- blowing. Game changing.

 

I have to go gather up what’s left of my brain cells now and take a break from telling this story.  But I’ll be back with more to share as soon as I can.

 

xoxo

~Sharon F. L. Hunter~

January 5, 2026

(processed until January 10, 2026)