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Soul loss is central to the healing practices of the Old Faith. But what is soul loss? Is it an illness? Does it mean we simply surrendered and let our eternal Soul wither? Did it go on a journey and not return?
Most ethnic and tribal cultures agree that soul loss is a tangible condition with identifiable symptoms which can lead to severe consequences if left unattended. Addiction, depression and trauma are both triggers and symptoms.
But there is another group who is considered to be especially at risk - those who are on the border between worlds, who have dealings with magic and are attuned to the unseen. In this article we will draw from Scottish tradition to explain in esoteric terms what is happening to those who may be suffering from soul loss and explore some traditional methods of healing.
The Vital Soul
In Celtic cultures we describe three parts of the Soul. The True Self which carries from life to life, the Intellectual Self which gives us our mental faculties, and the Instinctual Self which is how we function and communicate on a primal level. It is important to keep the three modes of the Soul aligned. When we lose balance, illness and disease can occur. [Read more]
It is this last aspect, the Instinctual Self, also called the Anima, that governs our life-force. It drives our will to survive, our carnal desires and the power of determination. It is our sense of vitality and latent magical power.
This vital force is referred to as phasma in magic or micht in auld scots, but may be likened to prana or chi. Normally, when everything is in balance, this force flows in a constant exchange of energy, like blood. But if for some reason we expend more than we replace or we lose access to this source of power, we can start to feel depleted. In summary, Soul loss is not about losing the eternal Soul, it is the loss of vitality which is governed by the Anima or Instinctual Soul.
Three Types of Soul Loss
There are three identifiable levels of soul loss which are differentiated by their specific symptoms and magical impact. For the purpose of explanation I have named these:
Soul Bleed
The Concealed Soul
Soul Sickness
It is not uncommon to experience all three types of soul loss at one time. The first of these is a part of the regular healing process and would likely be treated by a caregiver in days of old. The remaining two are the work of a trained spirit healer or magician.
1. Soul Bleed
The first type of soul loss is the most common. It is the natural depletion of vital forces that occurs when an individual experiences some type of injury, illness, extreme emotion, exertion or shock. This is normally a temporary condition in which phasmic energy bleeds from the individual, but is healed and is replenished over time.
Physical symptoms can include exhaustion, dehydration, hemorrhaging, rashes, infection, unexplained pain and confusion. Others may feel depressed or tired in their presence and there may be a series of unusual events which may manifest as periods of ‘bad luck’.
Soul bleed can also be the result of undisciplined and sudden release of energy associated with puberty or experiments in magic and psychism by inexperienced practitioners. It may be accompanied by emotional outbursts and accidents, items breaking and unexplained noises in which the individual becomes the center of chaos.
Remedies for Soul Bleed
In traditional healing, treating the Soul is as important as treating the body. Any first-aid for shock will also address soul bleed. The following remedies were taught to the people by the god of healing and hunting, as described in the story of the Princess of Land under the Waves [1]
The subject should be covered with a blanket of animal skin to dampen the emission of phasma and allow the body to build its own auric defenses, especially if bleeding or while sleeping.
Healing water is filtered through red sphagnum moss, known for its blood-clotting properties. It is given to the patient to drink or may also be used to bathe them. The water should be drawn from a sacred well or infused with the power of moonlight or a silver coin, and poured in three streams into a vessel to emulate the ritual of releasing the Soul.
A restorative elixir may be administered, also filtered through red sphagnum moss.
An amulet is given to protect the affected while they are vulnerable during recovery.
Untreated Soul Bleed
Unaddressed soul bleed can lead to chronic pain, health problems and disease. Healers first look to identify the source of phasmic bleeding and stem its course by imprinting a seal upon it. To the trained eye, the bleeding will appear as a haze or thick cloud around the body which is spreading beyond the normal auric field in an unintended way. The source of the bleeding, called the collboth in Welsh, may reveal itself in a variety of ways. If the cause is due to some type of malifica or supernatural forces, it is referred to as elf-shot in Scots, depicted as a poison dart from the lips of the good neighbours themselves. It will be up to the healer to determine if the wound was deservedly inflicted and whether they are willing to risk the attention of the fair folk by healing it.
2. The Concealed or Fragmented Soul
This type of soul loss occurs when a small part of the vital essence becomes disjointed from the whole and cannot be easily reintegrated. It is usually associated with an event or emotion that is too overwhelming or difficult for a person to deal with at the time, such as trauma, painful emotions, repressed urges, guilt or shame. It can also be due to undeveloped psychic abilities. As a coping mechanism, a part of the self is buried or hidden from the conscious mind leaving a person feeling incomplete. It is especially common among victims of assault, but in reality it can be experienced by anyone for any reason.
Symptoms of Fragmentation
Traditional healing explains that vital life force, or phasma, is easily malleable. When a person experiences soul bleed under normal circumstances, the life force eventually dissipates or is reabsorbed back into the individual, but if the phasma coalesces and is impressed by a powerful experience such as negative self-image or trauma, it can start to take on an identity of its own. The more the soul-fragment is empowered, the more likely it is to manifest, and the more difficult it is to re-assimilate, causing fractures in the self.
This same principle is used by magicians to form an Intelligence to their will, and therefore there is a risk to untrained magic users who can create magical identities without the proper controls in place. They may also cause serious harm to others by attempting certain spellwork that interferes with a person’s free will or has the effect of taking part of someone’s life-force hostage; in essence ‘stealing their soul'.
Retrieving the Concealed Soul
When a part of the Instinctual Soul is fractured it promotes a sense of isolation and unwholeness, as if a part of the self is missing. There may be an inability to access creativity or reserves of strength. Finding emotional balance is a constant struggle. The need for self-confirmation remains unfulfilled and there is a serious risk of developing illness and psychological conditions.
In many cases healing can be found through guidance to slowly reclaim the concealed aspects of the self and reintegrate them. Spiritual focus, creativity and activities that empower an individual's sense of intrinsic motivation can help bring alignment and stability.
In more severe cases, where the individual is too traumatized or where the dissociated Soul has adopted new identities, healing is unlikely to occur without the intervention of a magician or spirit healer.
In the Old Faith the services of a Cine (Keener) may be called upon to draw the spirit back using bird calls and soul-songs. If the spirit is unresponsive, an inward journey may be required, referred to as an imran or incubation. Using breathwork, the healer will descend into the liminal place to locate and rescue the soul-fragment, which will often appear in animal form.
Ceremonial magicians are more likely to conjure the lost spirit and transform the Intelligence into one which can be reconciled into the broken psyche, or exorcised if deemed appropriate. Other local esoteric traditions draw from the vast corpus of Scottish folk magic dedicated to restoring and protecting the vital Soul such as poppet making, witch bottles and phylacteries.
3. Soul Sickness
The third type of soul loss is a chronic condition due to prolonged hemorrhaging of vital life forces. It is associated with unfulfilled yearning or attachment that we continue to give our energy to; such as a lost love, grief, guilt, failure, an incomplete promise, missed opportunity, a memory or material possessions. It may also be the result of incomplete magical workings, in which the practitioner fails to release the energy raised or remains linked to the envisioned target or outcome.
The Downward Spiral of Soul Sickness
Apart from debilitating health conditions, protracted soul sickness inherently promotes self-perpetuating negative thought-patterns. For example:
Perpetual yearning can result in a deep sense of grief in which internalized sadness, hurt or anger start to seem normal.
Inability to draw on reserves of strength bring about chronic illness, fatigue and pain. Loss of weight or weight gain are common.
Feelings of disconnection make life essentials seem valueless. Communication becomes difficult, inciting a sense of being misunderstood and alone.
Mental exhaustion and cloudy thinking makes it hard to maintain intention, inviting self-confirmed defeat and giving up on goals. Substitution can lead to poor choices and cycles of addiction.
Projecting ideas creates a feedback loop to the subconscious. Self delusions appear as authentic revelations, promoting a cycle of self-deception and potential mental illness.
The continuous emission of energy can also attract predatory spirits. Difficulty connecting to deity and low energy make the possibility of psychic attack or spirit obsession more likely.
Healing Soul Sickness
Recovery from soul sickness is similar to overcoming any addiction, which is also a type of attachment. On a practical level, remediation is a long term process of replacing the fixation, changing patterns of thought and finding new behaviours. [2]
Magical practices can support healing by offering protection, suppressing phasmic bleed and replacing lost energy, but any attempt will have a temporary effect unless there is enaidvaddeu (w.) meaning soul forgiveness, which is the process of liberating the Soul from the weights that bind it.
Soul Loss and the Magic Worker
Esoteric practices share a responsibility to promote care for the Soul and manage unseen forces. Traditionally, those who work with the subtle energies of phasma and the mind, such as magicians, healers and spirit workers are trained in methods to protect themselves from the hazards of soul loss.
On the Borders the magical arts were for the most part protected by guilds, some of which still quietly exist. These organisations maintain strict guidelines, mentorship and instruction for developing and using skills safely. This disciplined path ensures the novice comes safely into their powers, can control their intent and learn techniques to amplify available power, rather than their own limited life force.
Over time some methods pertaining to soul loss have silently retreated or devolved into folk practice to be forgotten over time; others have been replaced by healing practices from other cultures. But somewhere in the middle, culture and tradition of the Old Faith has retained some of this valuable knowledge.[3]
[1] Donald A MacKenzie: Wonder Tales from Scottish Myth & Legend, Ch IV The Princess of Land Under the Waves https://electricscotland.com/history/myths/chapter4.htm
[2] For a clearer understanding of the psychological aspects of soul loss refer to the archives of fractalenlightenment.com
[3] Sandra Ingerman is a pioneer of the modern revival of soul retrieval, refer her her website https://www.sandraingerman.com/soulretrieval.html