Distress is an inner process which is different for each person. Shamanism shows us that any disease - spiritually, mentally, physically or emotional - can be treated equally.
The following are usually perceived as a burden:
- bodily issues / illness
- oppressive matters
- difficult decisions
- emotions like anger, jealousy, envy
- another person's "curse" ("You will never ..." "You are incapable ..." "You are a failure!")
- restrictive mind orientation, learned during childhood ("If you don't do that, you will never ..." "You mustn't do that, otherwise terrible will happen ...")
- your own "curse"/ your own dogma ("I'm incapable." "I don't have / am not ...")
In shamanism healing work is performed to deal with the spiritual aspect of illness. A person may have lost its power which causes in depression, chronic illness, or a series of misfortunes. In this case, the shamanic practitioner journeys to restore that person’s lost vitality. Or a person may have lost part of its essence which means loss of a part of the soul, occuring during an emotional or physical trauma. Loss of soul part can result in post-traumatic stress syndrome or immune deficiency problems. It is the role of the shaman to bring this soul parts back with performing a soul retrieval ceremony. Another cause of disease from a shamanic perspective is any spiritual blockade or negative energy a client has taken on due to the loss of his or her vitality or soul part. These spiritual blockades also cause illness, usually in a localized area of the body. It is the role of the shaman to extract and remove these harmful energies from the body.
Therefore, from shamanic point of view there are three causes of suffering:
Loss of vigour
Causes:
- depression
- misfortune
- mysterious attraction of accidents
- chronic disease
Remedy: Retrieval of vitaly / power animal
Loss of a soul part / of life essence
Due to trauma like operations, abuse, war, loss of a beloved one (separation, death).
Causes:
- fatigue, weariness
- exhaustion
- despair
- lack of concentration, clumsiness, bad luck
- susceptibility to any type of illness, especially infections such as colds or flu (immunodeficiency)
- life seems very difficult
- sadness, depression
- addiction
- coma
Remedy: soul retrieval
Negative energies
After loss of a soul part, foreign energies - so-called “intruders” - nest into the gap that has arisen in due to the loss.
Causes:
- diseases in certain parts of the body (like tumors)
- skin diseases (often resistant to conventional medical treatment)
- this includes so-called "curses", beliefs, limiting ways of thinking, so-called "dogmas"
Remedy: extraction