What is a shamanic dismemberment?
A dismemberment is a complete shedding of the old you, before the new you can be rebuilt stronger and more whole. Typically, from a shamanic viewpoint, this would happen in a dream, vision or meditation. The dreamer might experience in their vision being eaten, torn apart, dissolving, fragmenting, burning, exploding or anything else that symbolises your entire self being ripped from limb to limb, a complete destruction of current identity and form.
The dictionary’s definition for dismemberment is “the action of cutting off a person or animal’s limbs”. Sounds sadistic, grotesque, and horrible right? But remember this is happening on the level of the energetic. Our visions, dreams and reflections are metaphorical and everything that happens in this plane of existence happens on the level of the soul primarily. And what follows being dismembered is being remembered. This is where you are put back together as a better version of yourself, free from any negative stagnant energy, like the phoenix rising from the ashes of its previous life. If the keys on the keyboard I am using now to write this blog become stuck, sticky with debris, crumbs and spilt coffee, and impact my ability to type, I will take the keys apart one-by-one (dismemberment) clean them thoroughly before putting them back together (rememberment) so they can function better.
A shamanic dismemberment of the soul follows this process, with the aim to facilitate healing, transformation, and empowerment. An experienced shaman can guide you through this process.
What’s happening from a psychotherapy viewpoint?
As a bridger of psychotherapy and shamanism it’s important I explore the psychology here so we can view this from a psycho-shamanic® perspective. In psychology Carl Jung extensively discussed the process of disintegration and reintegration as part of the individuation journey.
Disintergation involves the breaking down of rigid ego structures, defensive behaviours and old unhealthy beliefs. Reintegration involves synthesizing new insights, experiences, healthy beliefs and restorative experiences into the psyche to facilitate a more cohesive and integrated whole sense of self. Jungian analysts believe that by integrating these disowned or repressed aspects of the self (our shadow) we can experienced a more balanced sense of who we are.
Similarly in transpersonal psychology, scholars like Stanislav Grof have explored experiences of ego dissolution and rebirth which can be understood as forms of disintegration and reintegration. As you see disintegration and reintegration can be viewed as another dimension of dismemberment and remeberment with the former taking place on the level of the mind and the latter on the level of the soul or energetic. Another example here that psychotherapy and shamanism are so closely related.
How does this relate to becoming a parent?
What they don’t tell you about becoming a parent is that the transition period from non-parent to parent can be a traumatic shamanic dismemberment of the mind and soul. The Instagram world we live in promotes the baby love bubble idealisation and dismisses the complete overnight change of one’s identity, freedom and sadly in my case (albeit temporarily) heath and wellbeing.
Unfortunately, my little girl had severe colic and reflux, which sounds trivial to an adult but can be incredibly painful and traumatic for a baby (and her parents), remembering that all trauma is relative. For twelve weeks we were dismissed by medical professionals as being anxious parents before finding the specialist support this little being needed to heal and grow. Interestingly some of my closest friends and family members became immediately unavailable and uninterested, new supportive relationships emerged however. I met parts of my shadow I didn’t know existed even after a lifetime of therapy. Unresolved issues reemerged, my work struggled, my health suffered, and I had to make some changes to almost every aspect of my life.
Thankfully my little girl is happy and healthy now. I feel recharged and whole with a new outlook and direction in life. This was a violent yet powerful shamanic dismemberment (followed by a rememberment). This blog and Conscious Psychotherapy is an outcome of this.
Know this, if you are experiencing a dismemberment, post-traumatic growth follows pain. The caterpillar undergoes a profound transformation inside the chrysalis where its body breaks down into a soupy substance, this dismemberment is a necessary stage of growth and renewal leading to the emergence of a beautiful creature capable of flight.
