A hummingbird nest I found last year on a fallen branch. I chose this picture for this post as a reminder that beauty is one of the best hosts for the soul. Beauty invites the soul home and makes the soul want to stay. In nature, there are many places of beauty. As well, in nature, there are the most intricate and detailed creations made by that which is wild and free.
If you are dealing with *any* kind of addiction, that is a sign of soul loss. A harm. An assault. An offense. An abuse to your soul.
Many people in our culture have experienced multiple assaults to their soul, and things compound, fester, and haunt that person. You can see that the light is not in their eyes anymore…
The addiction is like a band-aid, to protect us from the pain, but it does not heal the wound.
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Our culture needs the right tools to reintegrate people’s souls so that they do not continue to harm themselves or harm others.
From a perspective that views the soul as the most important thing to protect on this human journey, we ought to be focusing on this more in our culture.
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It is true, that one experiences as a trauma, another might not.
It is not up for our logical mind to decide whether something is traumatic or not….the soul decides…and our body gives us signals regarding how our soul is handling this (as well as dreams).
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And, there is cultural soul loss…familial soul loss (passed down through generations)…placed-based soul loss (the land)…and personal soul loss.
These are all real.
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If you have not found the right people or place to help you with this, do not give up. Teachers and guides are everywhere… Nature and special places on this Earth can be extremely beneficial for someone who wishes for their soul to come back home.
If you offer you heart up to the process of experiencing the pain you couldn’t when the harm was done…and trust the process…you will be taken care of…
RESOURCES FOR FURTHER READING
Soul Retrieval by Sandra Ingerman (great resource for soul loss and retrieval)
Ancestral Blueprints by Lisa Iverson (family constellation work that focuses on the layers of soul loss in our culture in the US)
Woman Who Glows in the Dark by Elena Avila (a great perspective of soul and ‘susto’ or ‘soul freight’ from a curandera’s perspective)
The Practice of Dream Healing by Edward Tick (lays out the extensive tradition of soul-work/dream incubation in Ancient Greece — and beyond — he explains, Western Medicine’s origins)
(As well, some of these thoughts arrived from dreams I have had and experiences with my own soul retrieval, as well…)
Lindsay Kolasa 
Yes, this is so wonderful and informative. We so often look at addiction like a personality flaw. This is not true at all.. I love your words of wisdom.
Thank you for this reflection… Yes, the addiction is simply making it known that there has been a soul offense…whether in that person’s lifetime or in their ancestral lineage.