Have you ever felt like part of you is missing?
You might intuitively know that little pieces of you are missing. It might show up as a feeling of emptiness, constantly being on the go, or trouble forgiving. In shamanic practice, we call these missing parts soul pieces. It is when little pieces of your soul – your essence, your being, the eternal part of you – flee. This happens when you have been unsafe, emotionally, physically, or spiritually. These tiny little soul pieces can become scattered through life experiences. This includes heartbreak, trauma, or being in a world that doesn’t always honor the fullness of who you are. Thankfully, soul pieces and shamanism go hand in hand.
Shamanic practices a way to find and restore these lost pieces. When you do, you reclaim your wholeness and step more fully into your power. In this article, I’ll show you what soul pieces are, how they fragment, and how to restore them.
What Are Soul Pieces in Shamanism?
What is your soul, anyway? Even the most sophisticated theologian or philosopher can’t answer this adequately. But in a nutshell, my belief is that your soul is the part of you that is unique, eternal, and created by the Creator. Life after life, your soul remains distinctly you. But in our human bodies, things happen. Hurts, wounds, physical accidents, and other traumas can all chip away at our soul essence. When this happens, little pieces of the soul can break away and flee to somewhere safe (the Otherworld). A soul piece can break away from simple or complex events.
If you skinned your knee as a child and did not receive emotional support, a tiny soul piece may flee. Later, more complex feelings of abandonment continue this chain reaction, and more soul pieces flee. For many Christians, toxic church experiences also create soul fragments to run away. Other adverse experience, including trauma and abuse, create more soul fragments.
This separation is not a failure on your part. Everyone has missing soul pieces, and it’s a lifelong process to reclaim them. This is important because the soul’s natural state is to be completely intact. The more that your soul is reconnected, the more fulfilled you are. When you are more whole, you can make decisions from a place of healing rather than from woundedness. Shamanism and shamanic practices can help you repair your soul.
How Shamanism Works with Soul Pieces
This is where the shamanic path comes in. In a special process called the shamanic journey, you can travel to the Otherworld safely and reclaim your soul pieces. While in many traditions, the shaman might do the journey for you, but I was trained in to facilitate the journey with you.
A special journey is the soul retrieval journey. In fact, a leading guide in shamanism, Sandra Ingerman, has an entire book about this (affiliate link), and here’s another great article from the Scandanavian Center for Shamanic Studies. With guidance and in a safe environment, you travel to the Otherworld to reunite with your missing soul pieces. It is often an emotional journey, but not a scary one. From a place of love and genuine seeking, you travel with the heartbeat of the drum to find your soul pieces. Other spiritual helpers will show up to assist you too – power animals, ancestors, angels, or other friendly beings. Your soul pieces show up as a symbol, a shining ball of light, or some other form meaningful to you. Then, you gently ask it to reintegrate to you, and you become more whole.
The results are profound. People often describe feeling lighter, more energized, or as if they’re suddenly “themselves” again. This is not an effort to replace the past, but to see it from a more whole and unified perspective.
Signs You May Have Lost a Soul Piece
The truth is that we all have missing soul pieces, and we will until the moment of our death. Still, it’s worth paying attention to some signs that you may have missing soul pieces. This way you know if a restoration is imminently needed for you. Here are some common signs:
- A sense of emptiness or hollowness that lingers even in good times.
- Feeling stuck in repeating patterns or cycles of behavior.
- Difficulty moving on from a significant loss, heartbreak, or trauma.
- Unexplained sadness, fatigue, or disconnection from joy.
- A feeling that you’re “not all here” or that part of you is missing.
- Replaying a past event over and over, unable to move past it
If any of these resonate, it doesn’t mean you are broken. It means your soul is calling you back to your own fullness.
Why Soul Retrieval is a Path of Hope
This is important: reconnecting with your soul pieces isn’t about reliving trauma or being defined by pain. It’s about hope. It’s about reclaiming the vitality, creativity, and joy that are rightfully yours.
I’ve seen this happen time and again. I’ve guided individuals and groups in deeply meaningful soul retrieval journeys, and each time is magical. You become more authentically you and who the Divine means you to be.
Call to Action: Join Me at the Resurrecting the Goddess Summit
If this speaks to your heart, I would love to continue the conversation with you. On October 2, I’ll be presenting at the Resurrecting the Goddess Summit, an online gathering of powerful voices exploring the divine feminine and pathways to healing. It will be available in replay, so you can still sign up.My talk, The Medicine Woman Within, explores how shamanism offers a Christo-expansive path to healing and soul repair. — helping us emerge whole, even from wounds inflicted by toxic systems.
The summit is free to attend, and you’ll gain wisdom from many incredible speakers.
👉 Click here to reserve your spot at the Resurrecting the Goddess Summit and take your next step toward wholeness. It’s totally free, and you’ll be revitalized. It’s for Jesus followers, too.
