Flowers in Shamanic Tradition

Flowers in Shamanic Tradition

©2006 by Ross Heaven and Howard G. Charing
The following is an excerpt from Heaven and Charing's Plant Spirit Shamanism: Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul, published in 2006 by Destiny Books and reprinted with their permission. No further reproduction is permitted without permission of the publisher.
In the West, we know something of soul loss, though we use different terms for it. We talk, for example, of "psychological dissociation" and "stress-related syndromes," which arise as a result of traumatic, abusive, and hurtful experiences and may have a number of physical, mental, and emotional symptoms associated with them. In shamanic cultures, the same symptoms are diagnosed as a fracturing of the soul, or simply as soul loss, where an individual's spirit, faced with pain, has split into many parts, some of which have taken refuge in the otherworld, away from the harshness of everyday life. Another way the soul can be lost is by dishonoring nature or ignoring our need for connection with it. Human beings, as part of nature, need to feel their connection with the great world soul. Our health, and invariably our feelings of well-being, are rooted in this.
The symptoms of soul loss range from feeling "spaced out" (not really present, or a sense that you are observing life as an outsider rather than engaging with it fully) to pervasive life themes, such as fear, inability to trust other people, depression and chronic illness. The soul can be lost, weakened, or damaged through acts of betrayal -- either those we have experienced ourselves (for example, when someone who purports to love us treats us cruelly) or those we have inflicted on others, for instance when we treat someone who loves us cruelly. In the latter circumstance, our shame or guilt becomes acidic, eroding our souls and causing us to lose spiritual integrity until our pent-up feelings are released through confession or action.
When the life force remains lost even when the threat to the self is over, this can be equally debilitating. The person may be disconnected from life and out of balance, so that the emotions, thoughts, memories, bodily reactions, and spiritual ambitions are out of alignment with the person's true nature and that of the wider world and spiritual universe. This is when problems really begin and when the healing intervention of the shaman is most needed.
Soul retrieval is one of the shaman's most effective healing practices for the restoration of the life force. The shaman's perspective on reality is that it is multidimensional and operates beyond the constraints of time and space. From this perspective, anything that has ever happened to anybody, anywhere, is still happening somewhere. Even if a traumatic event occurred ten or twenty years ago, for the person who suffered it, it is still happening NOW because, until it is dealt with, it still influences life. It comes out in behavior that is an adaptation to the effects of that event and the soul loss that accompanied it.
For the shaman, there is no "past," only one vast, awesome, ever-moving now. In the healing approach, the shaman will therefore journey outside time and space to the place where that event is still happening for that individual. The shaman will find and bring back the life force that is held there. Only when this has been done can the healing of the event and its consequences really begin. The concept of soul loss and the ceremonial retrieval of souls in this way is found in many shamanic cultures throughout the world.
Flowers as Part of Soul Retrieval Ceremonies
Flowers are a common element in soul retrieval practices in many indigenous cultures. For instance, in negotiating with the spirit world, the shaman may make an offerenda (offering) in exchange for the soul, or simply leave flowers. If the spirits of nature are satisfied with the offering and reassured that the soul they are protecting will be treated well on its return -- and if the soul feels loved and safe -- it will be returned to the person straight away. We have a vague memory in the West of the connection between spirit and flowers in our practice of laying bouquets and wreaths on graves or at the scene of accidents where someone has died. On a symbolic level, we are also negotiating for the release of the soul and making our offering in lieu to the spirit of the place.
There is another approach to soul retrieval that works with flowers, common in countries as diverse as Mexico, Haiti, and Peru. In these traditions, it is believed that the soul can sometimes be, not lost exactly, but so loosely attached that it is vibrating inside and outside the body at one and the same time. This can happen as a result of shock, when events that shake our worldviews and undermine all that we thought to be true can also set our spirits shaking. It is as if we have nothing left to hold onto and all of our balance is gone. Shocks like these can lead to trauma, but if the soul is caught quickly enough, it can be healed before deeper wounding occurs, by forcing it back into the body and stabilizing it there so that balance is restored.
One common method of doing so is to swaddle the person tightly in sheets or blankets so that the soul is pressed back into the body and held there. Inside the blanket are placed flower petals, and these may also be sprinkled on top of and around the person's recumbent form. As she or he lies in this sweet-smelling cocoon of flowers that soothe the soul, the shaman will sing lullabies and whisper of how beautiful the world is and how much the person is loved and wanted by her people. Flower perfumes and essences may also be sprayed over the person, the aroma anchoring the sweet words and prayers for the person's soul to the spirits of nature. Then the person is left there for a while in the gentle heat of a rising sun, before the shaman unwraps her and welcomes her home into a new possibility of life: a rebirth through flowers.
Plants have an affinity to human beings. They know our pain, and their intention is to love and to heal. Simply being close to them and their energy fields can be enough to call back the soul. One action that every spiritual system advises in order to strengthen and protect the soul is time spent alone in nature. Through the power of our experiences and realizations there, we see how trivial our petty human concerns are and how meaningless the jostling for status and control within our cities has become. And once we see this, we understand how we can make other choices, so we never put our souls at risk. Nature, the real world beyond the shadows, can teach us if we listen.
ABOUT THE MASKS THAT ILLUSTRATE THIS ARTICLE: The images selected to illustrate this article on soul retrieval are by Pacific Northwest Native American artist Lilian Pitt. They depict Steahah or Stick Indians, which traditionally among Columbia River Gorge tribes are the mediators between good and evil. Always present, they are specters who live on high ground and look down on all the activities of the tribe. It is believed that if a child or adult is good and becomes lost in the woods, the Stick Indians will whistle them to safety. If they are bad, however, having lost their balance and strayed too far from normal, prescribed behavior, they will be whistled deeper and deeper into the woods. The Stick Indian reminds us that honoring the traditions of the people protects us and keeps us in a proper relationship with nature.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS: ROSS HEAVEN is a therapist and workshop leader specializing in personal development, healing, and shamanism. Founder of The Four Gates foundation, he offers indigenous medicine retreats and workshops world wide. In addition to Plant Spirit Shamanism, from which this excerpt is drawn, his books include The Spiritual Practices of the Ninja, Darkness Visible, and Vodou Shaman.
HOWARD G. CHARING is a director of the Eagle Wing's Centre for Contemporary Shamanism, has taught at Dr. Michael Harner's Foundation for Shamanic Studies, and leads workshops and medicine retreats in the United Kingdom, the Peruvian Amazon basin, and the Andes.


©2006 by Ross Heaven and Howard G. Charing
The following is an excerpt from Heaven and Charing's Plant Spirit Shamanism: Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul, published in 2006 by Destiny Books and reprinted with their permission. No further reproduction is permitted without permission of the publisher.


In the West, we know something of soul loss, though we use different terms for it. We talk, for example, of "psychological dissociation" and "stress-related syndromes," which arise as a result of traumatic, abusive, and hurtful experiences and may have a number of physical, mental, and emotional symptoms associated with them. In shamanic cultures, the same symptoms are diagnosed as a fracturing of the soul, or simply as soul loss, where an individual's spirit, faced with pain, has split into many parts, some of which have taken refuge in the otherworld, away from the harshness of everyday life. Another way the soul can be lost is by dishonoring nature or ignoring our need for connection with it. Human beings, as part of nature, need to feel their connection with the great world soul. Our health, and invariably our feelings of well-being, are rooted in this.

The symptoms of soul loss range from feeling "spaced out" (not really present, or a sense that you are observing life as an outsider rather than engaging with it fully) to pervasive life themes, such as fear, inability to trust other people, depression and chronic illness. The soul can be lost, weakened, or damaged through acts of betrayal -- either those we have experienced ourselves (for example, when someone who purports to love us treats us cruelly) or those we have inflicted on others, for instance when we treat someone who loves us cruelly. In the latter circumstance, our shame or guilt becomes acidic, eroding our souls and causing us to lose spiritual integrity until our pent-up feelings are released through confession or action.

When the life force remains lost even when the threat to the self is over, this can be equally debilitating. The person may be disconnected from life and out of balance, so that the emotions, thoughts, memories, bodily reactions, and spiritual ambitions are out of alignment with the person's true nature and that of the wider world and spiritual universe. This is when problems really begin and when the healing intervention of the shaman is most needed.

Soul retrieval is one of the shaman's most effective healing practices for the restoration of the life force. The shaman's perspective on reality is that it is multidimensional and operates beyond the constraints of time and space. From this perspective, anything that has ever happened to anybody, anywhere, is still happening somewhere. Even if a traumatic event occurred ten or twenty years ago, for the person who suffered it, it is still happening NOW because, until it is dealt with, it still influences life. It comes out in behavior that is an adaptation to the effects of that event and the soul loss that accompanied it.

For the shaman, there is no "past," only one vast, awesome, ever-moving now. In the healing approach, the shaman will therefore journey outside time and space to the place where that event is still happening for that individual. The shaman will find and bring back the life force that is held there. Only when this has been done can the healing of the event and its consequences really begin. The concept of soul loss and the ceremonial retrieval of souls in this way is found in many shamanic cultures throughout the world.

Flowers as Part of Soul Retrieval Ceremonies
Flowers are a common element in soul retrieval practices in many indigenous cultures. For instance, in negotiating with the spirit world, the shaman may make an offerenda (offering) in exchange for the soul, or simply leave flowers. If the spirits of nature are satisfied with the offering and reassured that the soul they are protecting will be treated well on its return -- and if the soul feels loved and safe -- it will be returned to the person straight away. We have a vague memory in the West of the connection between spirit and flowers in our practice of laying bouquets and wreaths on graves or at the scene of accidents where someone has died. On a symbolic level, we are also negotiating for the release of the soul and making our offering in lieu to the spirit of the place.

There is another approach to soul retrieval that works with flowers, common in countries as diverse as Mexico, Haiti, and Peru. In these traditions, it is believed that the soul can sometimes be, not lost exactly, but so loosely attached that it is vibrating inside and outside the body at one and the same time. This can happen as a result of shock, when events that shake our worldviews and undermine all that we thought to be true can also set our spirits shaking. It is as if we have nothing left to hold onto and all of our balance is gone. Shocks like these can lead to trauma, but if the soul is caught quickly enough, it can be healed before deeper wounding occurs, by forcing it back into the body and stabilizing it there so that balance is restored.

One common method of doing so is to swaddle the person tightly in sheets or blankets so that the soul is pressed back into the body and held there. Inside the blanket are placed flower petals, and these may also be sprinkled on top of and around the person's recumbent form. As she or he lies in this sweet-smelling cocoon of flowers that soothe the soul, the shaman will sing lullabies and whisper of how beautiful the world is and how much the person is loved and wanted by her people. Flower perfumes and essences may also be sprayed over the person, the aroma anchoring the sweet words and prayers for the person's soul to the spirits of nature. Then the person is left there for a while in the gentle heat of a rising sun, before the shaman unwraps her and welcomes her home into a new possibility of life: a rebirth through flowers.

Plants have an affinity to human beings. They know our pain, and their intention is to love and to heal. Simply being close to them and their energy fields can be enough to call back the soul. One action that every spiritual system advises in order to strengthen and protect the soul is time spent alone in nature. Through the power of our experiences and realizations there, we see how trivial our petty human concerns are and how meaningless the jostling for status and control within our cities has become. And once we see this, we understand how we can make other choices, so we never put our souls at risk. Nature, the real world beyond the shadows, can teach us if we listen.

ABOUT THE MASKS THAT ILLUSTRATE THIS ARTICLE: The images selected to illustrate this article on soul retrieval are by Pacific Northwest Native American artist Lilian Pitt. They depict Steahah or Stick Indians, which traditionally among Columbia River Gorge tribes are the mediators between good and evil. Always present, they are specters who live on high ground and look down on all the activities of the tribe. It is believed that if a child or adult is good and becomes lost in the woods, the Stick Indians will whistle them to safety. If they are bad, however, having lost their balance and strayed too far from normal, prescribed behavior, they will be whistled deeper and deeper into the woods. The Stick Indian reminds us that honoring the traditions of the people protects us and keeps us in a proper relationship with nature.


ABOUT THE AUTHORS: ROSS HEAVEN is a therapist and workshop leader specializing in personal development, healing, and shamanism. Founder of The Four Gates foundation, he offers indigenous medicine retreats and workshops world wide. In addition to Plant Spirit Shamanism, from which this excerpt is drawn, his books include The Spiritual Practices of the Ninja, Darkness Visible, and Vodou Shaman.

HOWARD G. CHARING is a director of the Eagle Wing's Centre for Contemporary Shamanism, has taught at Dr. Michael Harner's Foundation for Shamanic Studies, and leads workshops and medicine retreats in the United Kingdom, the Peruvian Amazon basin, and the Andes.