The Role of Fear in Soul Travel

Kelley, my question is not personal. Has there been a time in your soul travels that frightened you, that what you saw or learned deeply scared you? Curious.

Thanks for your note, Curious–and good to see you again! In the beginning, there were many times that I was frightened by where I went, what I saw, or what I learned. For me that era was one of releasing preconceptions of how I thought the unformed world and its inhabitants should be, and learning to be amongst what is. I don’t get frightened in that way, anymore. I’ve gained a healthy detachment from the events I witness and locations I visit. If I did not maintain detachment, I would be too emotionally involved to help my clients. That said, learning detachment is a huge part of shamanic initiation. That process in itself is a transmutation of fear into power. Another reason that such detachment can be created is in developing a close relationship with my spirit guides and higher soul aspects, to let them lead things, let them do things, and keep my ego as an information-only vessel. Within those relationships and the confidence I gain by choosing to honor my intuition, fear dissipates.

What I learn in travels can be very difficult to hold, specifically because what I learn usually carries charged emotions. It’s not easy to witness someone’s rape, or to learn that someone’s mother hated them from conception… These are very charged situations would cause most anyone to respond emotionally. In that context, I don’t become afraid when I see things for a client; rather, I feel such empathy that I have to detach, so that I am not the one processing the emotions, leaving the client the room to process them. If I anything more than witness those emotions, it becomes about me and my response, not about client’s response. In most cases, the client wanted me to see these things–however specifically or metaphoric–and report them back, so that some deeper validation could occur. Such is a brave process on all points.

Of healing travels for myself, again, I haven’t learned things that frightened me, so much as made very emotional discoveries that pointed to dynamics in my present, or indicated patterns of my past, that astounded me. Even in that framework, the focus has to remain on what releases that emotional charge, allowing the feelings to complete their process and abate so that healing at mental, physical, and spiritual levels can be done. Fear isn’t part of that process for me, but certainly humility, ego, anger, pain, and eventually joy, are.

Without question, I face more fears in my own mind than I find manifest in the formed world or laying in wait in the unformed. For that reason, I do feel that fear plays a role as catalyst in soul travel. Often fears I’ve created in my mind are soothed by my soul treks, and without the fear I may not have made the journey to greater healing.

Thanks for your Curious question!