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ยป Home ยป Illumination

What is Ensoulment? (The Path of the Spiritual Wanderer)

by Aletheia Luna ยท Updated: Dec 15, 2024 ยท 113 Comments

Ai generated image of a mystical wolf staring at the moon in the night sky symbolic of ensoulment
Ensoulment mystic wanderer image

Are you a spiritual wanderer?

Modern spirituality places great emphasis on the transcendent โ€“ on the Spirit. But unfortunately, this obsession with the ethereal comes at a detriment to the Soul.

The Soul is Spirit embodied. The Soul is mystery, enchantment, and poetry incarnate โ€“ย  it is earthy, sensual, ecstatic, and rooted in the here-and-now. The Soul is primarily yin (feminine), while Spirit is primarily yang (masculine).


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In a world currently dominated by an imbalance of yang, we need yin again. We desperately need to reconnect with the Soul.

We need to walk the path of the spiritual wanderer who is innately and irresistibly drawn to the flame of the Soul โ€“ oneโ€™s Inner Light.

The way to do this is through Ensoulment.

Table of contents

  • What is the Soul?
  • What is Ensoulment?
  • The Darkest Pandemic of All Time: Soul Loss ย 
  • 11 Signs Youโ€™re a Spiritualย Wanderer
  • What Happens When We Become Ensouled?
  • Paths of Ensoulment
    • Physical Paths:
    • Emotional Paths:
    • Imaginative Paths:
    • Mental Paths:
  • Conclusion

What is the Soul?

Image of a pure white light symbolic of the soul

We all possess a Soul. On a fundamental level, Soul is our animating essence โ€“ it derives from the Old English word sฤwol which means โ€œspiritual and emotional part of a person, animate existenceโ€ (1).

Through the ages, thanks to both religious and wider spiritual influence alike, the Soul has been understood as the indwelling spark of Divinity we all carry.ย 

In a nutshell, Soul is your innermost essence or Spirit embodied in earthly form. To use a simple analogy, Spirit is like pure light, whereas Soul is the kaleidoscopic multi-colored lens through which Spirit shines.

Read more: Higher Self: 11 Ways to Connect With Your Soul ยป


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What is Ensoulment?

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The word Ensoulment is composed of ‘Ensoul,’ which means to endow or imbue with a Soul, and the suffix โ€˜ment,โ€˜ which means action or process. So Ensoulment quite literally refers to the creative process of being infused with Soul.

As such, Ensoulment can be seen as both a present-moment experience and a journey. It’s about learning to live a life more imbued with Soul and it’s also a creative path of embodying your most authentic Self.

Ensoulment is a core part of the spiritual awakening journey and it is the central path of the spiritual wanderer. Another synonym for Ensoulment is Soul retrieval โ€“ however, Ensoulment is a philosophy and ongoing lived experience whereas Soul retrieval tends to be a one-off practice.

Note: Originally, Ensoulment was a term with religious connotations, referring to the moment in which a fetus gains a Soul. But thatโ€™s not what weโ€™re talking about in this article. Instead, we have intentionally redefined and reimagined Ensoulment to mean the ongoing experience of Soul Initiation.ย 


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The Darkest Pandemic of All Time: Soul Lossย 

Image of an eclipse

The great malady of the twentieth century, implicated in all our troubles and affecting us individually and socially, is โ€œloss of soul.โ€ When the soul is neglected, it doesnโ€™t just go away; it appears symptomatically in obsessions, addictions, violence, and loss of meaning.

โ€“ T. Moore

What is at the root of all our suffering?

This is a question that has haunted the minds of humanity since the dawn of time.

What weโ€™ve learned from religion and spiritual traditions alike is that the core of our torment is rooted deep within human beings.

It is a canker of the Soul. A fragmentation of the psyche. A disturbance of the mind. A severance from nature. A desecration of the very world around us.

All of this pain is rooted within loss of Soul.

When we are cut off from the Soul, we are cut off from each other and the world. It is then that we collapse into a state of fundamentalism, cold rationalism, mechanistic reductionism that sees the world/others as an object to be used and discarded.

When we are severed from the Soul, the human being becomes deranged. Illnesses of every kind begin to emerge, starting within the body as chronic illnesses and eating disorders โ€“ ending with mental illnesses, existential crises, paranoia, hatred, suicide, murder, and the psychotic abuse of our most innocent members of society.

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For humanity to heal, we must reconnect with the Soul. We must become Ensouled. For us to reverse, in whatever way possible, the direct path of self-destruction weโ€™re forging right now, we must be initiated into the spiritual path.

We must walk the path of the embodied Mystic or the Bodhisattva โ€“ two types of spiritual wanderers. ย 

Ensoulment is the answer to the most severe pandemic of all time, afflicting all people of all races and countries: Soul Loss.ย 

Let this be known. Let this be written in stone. Let this be screamed from the rooftops. Humanity has lost its Soul, and without a move toward Ensoulment, what hope is there for our childrenโ€™s children to survive in a world that is being laid to waste as we speak?

11 Signs Youโ€™re a Spiritualย Wanderer

Ai generated image of a mystic wanderer wolf in a dreamy landscape searching for ensoulment

Ensoulment begins with the prefix en โ€“ Latin for โ€œin.โ€ So Ensoulment quite literally means being in the Soul or embodying the Divine essence within you.

A spiritual wanderer is a person who is called to live, express, and fulfill the destiny of their Soul.

If youโ€™re a spiritual wanderer, youโ€™ll:

  1. Sense that you have a specific, meaningful role to play on this planet (perhaps since an early age)
  2. Intensely crave a purpose-filled life
  3. Feel depressed when you donโ€™t know or canโ€™t โ€˜figure outโ€™ your destiny
  4. Be drawn toward the spiritual or metaphysical realm
  5. Have undergone a Spiritual Awakening, Kundalini Awakening, and/or Dark Night of the Soul
  6. Find it hard to fit in or belong in this world
  7. Feel everything intensely (as a highly sensitive person and/or empath)
  8. Crave solitude and enjoy introspection
  9. Often struggle with crises of some sort (such as the midlife or quarter-life crisis, existential crisis, etc.)
  10. Struggle to find your Soul tribe (likely due to the aforementioned Soul Loss epidemic!) and therefore struggle with feelings of loneliness and isolation
  11. Long to unite with the Divine, God/dess, Life, the Beloved

Our world desperately needs modern spiritual wanderers who rediscover, reclaim, live, breathe and share their Soulโ€™s purpose.

What Happens When We Become Ensouled?

Image of a mystical mountain range that symbolizes ensoulment

Itโ€™s not hard to imagine what Soul Loss looks like โ€“ just observe the world around you. Anxiety, depression, addictions, narcissism, violence, and abuse of all kinds define what a soulless society looks like.ย 

An Ensouled human, on the other hand, is much less common. Who is there in this modern day and age, to initiate us into the mysteries and depths of the Soul? The answer is that those who are willing and capable are few and far between. We live in a cultural and societal spiritual desert, after all.

To do Soul Work and to come to a place where one can guide other Souls is a strange calling. Itโ€™s not something I ever imagined for myself. I am the daughter of a Christian preacher, but I never imagined myself becoming a Soul guide, a psychopomp guiding seekers into the mysterious waters of their inner selves.ย 

Perhaps my own experience of extreme inner desolation, Dark Night despair, and Soul-longing growing up forged my sensitivity to this global crisis that is largely ignored โ€“ and in many cases, not even seen.ย 

Ensoulment, while not typically commonly seen, can be sensed in those who live creative and purpose-driven lives that center not just around their needs but the needs of the collective.

To summarize, here are some qualities that Iโ€™ve observed in Ensouled humans:

  • Receptivity, humility, and openness
  • Creativity and living a life of rich self-expression
  • Heartfulness (awe, reference, wonder, enchantment, devotion, compassion)
  • Having a strong sense of meaning and purpose
  • Knowing and honing oneโ€™s unique spiritual gifts
  • Intimacy with the present moment
  • Greater ability to let go and surrender to a Higher Power
  • Feeling connected with other people, the world, and Life itself
  • Honoring the power of imagination, symbolism, and innovation
  • Orienting to the mysterious, the numinous, and the magic within/without us
  • Embracing the Divine as both a transcendent and immanent force
  • Moving toward internal integration and balance (Wholeness)
  • Connecting with and embodying the Soulย 

To crystallize what Iโ€™ve written above, Ensouled people live with a great sense of creative meaning and purpose, are connected to their hearts, and feel a strong connection with the Divine.


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Ensoulment isnโ€™t something we โ€œachieveโ€ or โ€œtick off our to-do listโ€ in the logical linear sense.

Instead, itโ€™s a slow and ambling journey that ebbs and flows. Itโ€™s a movement of nature: organic but powerful. And there is no single โ€œfinish lineโ€ either โ€“ Ensoulment is an ever-deepening process. It could be said that Ensoulment is like a thousand-petaled lotus that is both being and becoming, always.

Paths of Ensoulment

Image of a hand holding a crystal ball

How do we become more Ensouled? Thatโ€™s the next reasonable question.

The answer is that there are many paths, all with their unique gifts and capacities.ย 

Iโ€™ve spent over a decade exploring paths of Ensoulment and Soul Communication, and itโ€™s no easy feat to include them all in one article. However, Iโ€™ll include the Soul Work paths that come immediately to mind โ€“ and you’ll notice that most of them share a single theme: creativity:

Physical Paths:

The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished, or the luster of it will never appear.

โ€• Daniel Defoe
  • Dancing
  • Singing
  • Solitude
  • Drumming
  • Nature walking
  • Gardening

Emotional Paths:

Love is the nature of the soul.

โ€“ John Oโ€™Donohue
  • Devotion
  • Self-love
  • Contemplating beauty
  • Heart-centered meditation
  • Inner child work

Imaginative Paths:

Music and art and poetry attune the soul to God.ย 

โ€“ Thomas Mertonย 
  • Writing/Journaling
  • Drawing/Painting
  • Crafting
  • Music-making
  • Ritual
  • Mythology/symbology
  • Vision quests

Mental Paths:

There is no coming to consciousness without painโ€ฆ People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul.

โ€“ Carl G. Jung
  • Prayer
  • Chanting
  • Silence
  • Lectio Divina
  • Meditation
  • Dream work
  • Mindfulness
  • Shadow work

Of course, not all of these paths lead exclusively to Ensoulment.ย 

Gardening, for instance, can easily become a mindless chore if it lacks a sense of creative meaning or contemplative mindfulness. Another example from the above list is chanting, which can become a dead droning of empty words if it isnโ€™t first imbued with heart-centered feeling and depth.

In summary, anything we do in life can be a path of Ensoulment (i.e., Soul Work) โ€“ itโ€™s all about your heartโ€™s inner attitude and the meaning you infuse into what you do. However, there do seem to be some specific paths that are more well-suited to intentionally practicing Ensoulment.ย 

Ensoulment is inner archaeology โ€“ it helps us to go back to the root of our being.ย 

Choose what resonates with you and leave the rest.

Conclusion

Ai generated image of a wolf in a circle of the sun and moon

Ensoulment is something that is so close to my heart that it has been my focus for over a decade now โ€“ I could even say that this entire website is an expression of my own Ensoulment!

So, why is Ensoulment so painfully vital?

The reason why Ensoulment is so essential is that the world crucially and desperately needs it! Weโ€™re suffering from pandemic-proportions of Soul Loss thatโ€™s only getting worse, putting us on the fast track to the sixth mass extinction.

Weโ€™re not only destroying Mother Nature and the ecosystem, but weโ€™re also experiencing large-scale cultural collapse that is undermining the fabric of our civilization.

We need to think bigger as a race. Whatever we do canโ€™t merely be for the individual โ€“ we donโ€™t have that luxury. Our efforts must be directed toward the Whole.

Spiritual Gifts Test image

Being true to who we are means carrying our spirit like a candle in the center of our darkness. If we are to live without silencing or numbing essential parts of who we are, a vow must be invoked and upheld within oneself.

โ€“ Mark Nepo

I hope what Iโ€™ve written here has sparked within you the desire to commit to rediscovering and reconnecting with your Soul’s creative calling. This is the path of the spiritual wanderer, the path of the Bodhisattva. The path that can redeem humanity from its heartbreaking Soul Loss.

Let me know your thoughts and your experience with Ensoulment in the comments below!

If you need more help, we offer 3 powerful ways to guide you on your inner journey:

1. The Spiritual Wanderer Course: Feeling lost or uncertain about your path and purpose in life? Gain clarity and focus by learning about the five archetypes of awakening within you. Discover your deeper path and purpose using our in-depth psychospiritual map. Includes 3+ hours of audio-visual content, workbooks, meditations, and a premium test.

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3. Spiritual Awakening Bundle: Ready to soul search and dive deep? Access our complete "essentials" collection of beloved journals and eBooks. Includes five enlightening eBooks and seven guided journals, plus two special bonuses to further illuminate your path.

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About Aletheia Luna

Aletheia Luna is a prolific psychospiritual writer, author, educator, and intuitive guide whose work has touched the lives of millions worldwide. As a survivor of fundamentalist religious abuse, her mission is to help others find love, strength, and inner light in even the darkest places. She is the author of hundreds of popular articles, as well as numerous books and journals on the topics of Self-Love, Spiritual Awakening, and more. [Read More]

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  1. April brandi says

    February 10, 2025 at 8:00 pm

    Love this thank u ๐Ÿ’“

    Reply
  2. Tabbitha says

    November 01, 2024 at 10:56 am

    Literally EVERYTHING that you write resonated well within my soul! You are documenting all the things I have overcome and then some, as if we were one in the same!! โœจ๏ธ

    Reply
    • Mateo Sol says

      November 01, 2024 at 12:29 pm

      That’s so wonderful Tabbitha, I’m happy you feel so seen in what we’re sharing ๐Ÿ˜Š๐Ÿ’œ

      Reply
  3. Christina Smith says

    September 18, 2023 at 1:25 am

    This is crazy. I seriously thought I was reading a book of who I really am. Thank you so much for sharing. It’s nice to know I’m not crazy. I have come to know that I have been in shadow work since I was 6. Just a year ago I “Awakened”. Again thank you.

    Reply
    • Mateo Sol says

      September 19, 2023 at 6:45 am

      We’re so happy you resonated with this Christina! ๐Ÿ˜Š

      Reply
  4. AnonymousPerson says

    June 29, 2023 at 5:04 am

    Considering it’s easier for me to connect with the Divine Masculine, I’m considering just reading Divine Feminine books. So I just googled stuff like, “Divine feminine books,” “Sacred feminine books,” and “Goddess spirituality books,” for some insights on it, and there are some lists out there for people to read, if anyone is curious. Right now I’m reading Women Who Run with the Wolves, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, simply because the Huntress archetype of the “7 feminine archetypes” (look it up if you don’t know) seems to be the feminine archetype I relate to the most. Though, also perhaps the sage and the mystic may be a close second, though I’m not sure about the order of influence. For some reason, this article strikes me as something that would lead me to recommend such books to people, and I’m not sure why. I just get this “yin” instinct from this article somehow, more than usual, for some reason.

    Reply
    • Aletheia Luna says

      June 30, 2023 at 12:57 pm

      Yes, that makes sense AnonymousPerson โ€“ ensoulment deals with the soul, which we could say is the ‘yin’ aspect of our being, whereas spirit is the ‘yang’. Both soul and spirit are two sides of the same coin. Thank you for sharing these thoughts and reflections. :)

      Reply
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