Have you ever felt like part of you is missing? Like you’re moving through life, but not fully present? Watching your life from the sidelines rather than living in the centre of it?

Shamanic traditions call this soul loss.

What is Soul Loss?

From a shamanic perspective, the soul is our essence; our vitality, our creativity and life force. When we face something overwhelming or painful, parts of our soul may step away as a means of protecting the most vulnerable part of us.

This process is known as soul fragmentation. It’s not seen as a flaw or weakness,it’s actually our soul’s way of helping us survive in a world that doesn’t always welcome every facet of our being. Imagine your essence saying, “This is too much for now. I’ll hold this part of you safe until it’s ready to come back.”

But over time, those pieces may not return on their own and that’s where we begin to feel the effects of soul loss.

Signs of Soul Loss

Different traditions describe the symptoms of soul loss in different ways, but common threads include:

• A sense of emptiness or numbness
• Feeling like you’re ‘not fully here’ or disconnected from yourself
• Ongoing fatigue or a lack of motivation
• Trouble moving forward after a big loss or change
• Repetitive patterns that never seem to shift
• A longing for something you can’t quite name

These experiences are often the soul’s way of whispering that parts of you are waiting to be welcomed home.

How Does Soul Loss Happen?

Soul fragmentation can happen in many ways:

• A sudden shock or trauma
• The end of a significant relationship
• The death of a loved one
• Repeated stress or conflict over time
• Childhood experiences where safety or belonging felt out of reach

Each event may carry a different impact, but the result is often the same: as sense that something vital has been lost.

Wholeness is Possible

Soul loss doesn’t mean you’re damaged, it simply means part of you is waiting to come back. This is where the shamanic practice of soul retrieval comes in.

Through ceremony and shamanic journeying, a practitioner can help retrieve these lost soul parts, bringing them back to your energy field. When they return, they often bring with them the gifts you thought were gone – joy, creativity, vitality or inner strength.

Many people describe feeling lighter, more present, more confident and more themselves after this process.

Remembering Your Whole Self

If you’ve been feeling disconnected, stuck or like something is missing, you may be experiencing soul loss. It’s not something to fear, rather it’s an invitation to reclaim your full self.

🌿 Soul retrieval sessions are available both virtually and in-person and are a powerful way to welcome your essence back home wherever you are in the world.

✨Ready to reconnect to your wholeness? Book your soul retrieval session here. In person sessions are available in South Africa and the UK, send me a message to find out more here.