Compassionate Depossession

Hello to my return journeyers. A warm welcome to my semi-constant journeyers. And, a very special welcome to my new journeyers.

I am so glad you’re here.

Before I begin this discussion, let’s open sacred space. As we know, the space that you are inhabiting right now in this time and place is always connected to the immaterial world or the Spirit World, whether you are new to perceiving this or an experienced traveller in the Spirit World. 

Let’s begin by welcoming in the Spirits of the Four Directions. I welcome the Spirits of the North and the Ancestors. If there are Ancestors present who feel uneasy with this work, I hear your concern and respect your voice. I am asking you to step back for the time being to allow this work to unfold. For those Ancestors who feel that work is beneficial, I am asking that you step forward and lend your support. Let’s welcome the Psychopomp Beings, the Conductors of Souls, into this time, place, and space. 

Drop your grounding cords. Sense your connectedness to the Earth below you. Welcome the Power Animal, Guardian Spirit(s), and Healing Spirits you have a relationship with. 

Any energy present that is not here for the benefit of your highest and greatest good, my dear journeyer, I am asking for this energy to disentangle and step back.

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Not all spiritual work is light work.

Those who have worked with me before or know me well know that I am not a lightworker.

Today, we are travelling through sacred landscapes into terrain that others may avoid. 

As part of the overculture where I currently reside, death is often a topic that is skirted around or outright avoided. From birth until death, we spend a great deal of effort trying to avoid dying. Yet, from the moment we are born, we are in the process of sustaining life and dying at the same time.

A long time ago, but maybe it wasn’t that long ago because time is a circular thing, death and specific practices around death were acknowledged. In some cultures, death is still revered, and rituals around dying and death are held sacred. There have always been healers, Shamans, priestesses, druids, and ones called by other names that have attended to the work of dying and death. Today, where I live, there are threshold workers such as death doulas that support the transition of the Soul to the Spirit World (regardless of particular belief system, religion, cosmology, or understanding of Spirit). 

Working with death as a Contemporary Shamanic Practitioner is a big part of my work. As I have opened to this work, I have found deeply profound healing experiences in the practice of Compassionate Depossession.

Compassionate Depossession is releasing Suffering Beings from entanglement with a living being. 

Suffering Beings are energy beings that at one time had a physical body, and when their physical body died, their soul or vital essence was unable to transition through the threshold into the Spirit World. 

For some of you listening or reading along, you may begin to feel a churn. Perhaps this conversation is outside your current understanding, framework, or paradigm. I ask that you take this opportunity to continue with curiosity and openness or step back and leave my offering for another time. Part of the purpose of The Shaman’s Path is to support you on your own path as you explore your connection with Spirit and also to stir deep and ancient wisdom that you may have lost connection with. The Shaman’s Path is about practicing awake awareness of opening to deeper levels of consciousness.

Souls become Suffering Beings for many reasons. Sometimes, Souls are unable to leave property or material objects behind; the family does not want to let them go; the body experiences a traumatic or sudden death, and the Soul becomes “stuck”; the being lacks an understanding of death and what happens after the body dies; or the being has unresolved emotions. 

How do they become entangled with you? Envision this:

Sometimes, we receive an object – something handed down or picked up during an estate sale – that the Suffering Being is entangled with. Over time, their energy becomes entangled with the inheritor of the object. A ring, a car, a piece of clothing, or furniture. 

Sometimes, when an individual undergoes surgery, the skin is stitched up, but the energy field is not, and this leaves the individual open to a Being becoming entangled. 

Other times, a traumatic event disrupts the energy field and leaves space for a Suffering Being to entangle.

You’re likely wondering if you have a Suffering Being. The reality is, many of us do. Sometimes, they do not cause us any issues – more than likely, we have normalized their presence and accept their overshadowing as part of our Self.

The key feature of a Suffering Being is that the being begins to partially or fully overshadow the host. It may present as heaviness in a particular area of the body, a persistent pain that cannot be explained by medical or other allied modalities, or a change in the behaviour of the host or mannerisms.

“That didn’t even sound like me. I don’t know why I said that.” 

“I don’t feel like myself.”

In the beginning, the Suffering Being is generally like a hibernating animal that occasionally wakes and shows itself. Over time, the being can overshadow emotions and thoughts – cue perseveration, worries, fears, anger – and then can eventually progress to completely overshadowing the host. 

Historically, possession was viewed as a natural cause of suffering rather than a supernatural occurrence. Although possession is certainly not desirable, a practitioner who engages in this type of work does so from a place of compassion.

One of the greatest gifts I have received from engaging in work as a practitioner of compassionate depossession is the understanding of sovereignty as it applies to spiritual or energy work. To retain sovereignty, we must be able to determine who (and what) crosses our boundaries and who (and what) does not and, at the same time, reside fully within our physical, emotional and energy body as the primary soul of that body. 

Maintaining sovereignty involves building relationships with your Power Animal or Guardian Spirits. It involves establishing rituals or energy hygiene practices to clear or cleanse your energy body. 

If this topic has stirred within you some discomfort, please know that this is entirely normal. I remember this sensation intensely when I was first called to this work. If you’re reading this around the time it was originally posted, just before Halloween or Samhain, you may notice that this piece is unsettling or stirs up your inner landscape. Remember your grounding cords and journey to your allies. Journey for clarity on this path. 

As always, thank you for your kind attention. 

You can reach me at heather@theshamanspath.ca for more soulful discussions. 

Until we meet again in this time, this place, this space, happy journeying.

-Heather

The Shaman’s Path recognizes that the information presented here is not a substitute for medical advice from a qualified medical practitioner.