A big part of my shamanic healing practice is doing compassionate depossession. I frequently encounter souls of the dead who have remained in the Middle World and then attached to a living human. Unfortunately, the lost soul remains trapped in the pain and suffering of their lifetime until someone assists them.
Betsy Bergstrom, who created a gentle, loving technique for compassionate depossession, defines a successful death as any death in which the soul crosses to the light.
In my work, I see the effects of unsuccessful death. If someone still carries a great deal of heavy pain at the time of their death, those unresolved feelings can hold them here. It is only by opening their heart to the light and letting go of their burden that they can move on.
When my father died in 2015, I was grateful for my shamanic training that prepared me for lovingly tending him. My mother, brother, and I gave him a beautiful, peaceful death.
I called to the angels and to the psychopomps to assist him. (Divine compassionate beings called “psychopomps” help the soul make its journey to the afterlife. The word psychopomp comes from two Greek root words. Psycho = soul. Pomp = transport.) They helped him let go of any burdens and then waited nearby, ready to escort his soul to the light.
I also invited his departed loves ones already in the light to come and stand at the doorway and greet him. He noticed his parents and siblings in the hospital room, along with butterflies.
We were there with him for his dying process, and he felt our love. We urged him to let go of anything weighing on him – that none of those things mattered any longer. My brother and I reassured him that we would watch over Mom. We spoke of our love for him and reminisced. We let him know that although we loved him, we were letting him go so he could be at peace.
My mom, brother, and I were all fortunate to be in a good place in our relationship with Dad. If we hadn’t, it may have been harder to be present with him. If we had been unwilling to let him go, his soul might have been held here through cords of energetic connection. But I was reassured that we only needed to let go of our attachment to Dad. We would always carry the unconditional love and good memories in our heart.
When the time came, he took his last breath and lifted out of his body. I felt his energy swirl through the room and give each of us a warm hug before leaving. He went back home to the light.
This work is real, and it matters.
November 5, 2021