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» Home » Turning Inwards

What is Ensoulment? (12 Deep Changes That Happen Within You)

by Aletheia Luna · Updated: Aug 21, 2025 · 114 Comments

Image of a tree and the cosmos symbolic of ensoulment
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The great malady of the twentieth century, implicated in all our troubles and affecting us individually and socially, is “loss of soul.” When the soul is neglected, it doesn’t just go away; it appears symptomatically in obsessions, addictions, violence, and loss of meaning. – 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 we’ve learned from religion and spiritual traditions alike is that the core of our torment is rooted deep within human beings.


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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 in the loss of Soul.

This is why Ensoulment – being in the soul or living in alignment with the Soul – is so critical.

Table of contents

  • What Happens When We Are Severed From the Soul?
  • What Actually is the Soul?
  • What is Ensoulment?
  • 12 Deep Transformations That Happen When You Become More Ensouled
  • Four Sacred Paths of Ensoulment
  • Conclusion

What Happens When We Are Severed From the Soul?

image of a person with a bandage over their head and a black butterfly on their mouth symbolic of soul loss

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, and mechanistic reductionism that sees the world/others as an object to be used and discarded.

When we are severed from the Soul, human beings become deranged.

Illnesses of every kind begin to emerge, starting within the body as chronic illnesses and eating disorders – 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 we’re forging right now, we must be initiated onto our Soul’s path.

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

Humanity has lost its Soul, and without a move toward Ensoulment, what hope is there for our children’s children to survive in a world that is being laid to waste as we speak?

What Actually 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 – it derives from the Old English word sāwol, which means “spiritual and emotional part of a person, animate existence” (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. 

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.

Your Soul can also grow and expand throughout life.

In the words of poet Kahlil Gibran,

The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.

The Soul is paradoxical in nature and is both wholly human and wholly Divine.

Ever heard the expression, “He’s a lost soul,” or “She sold her soul”? The Soul can become sick, lethargic, and lost. But there is another part of the Soul, the Divine part (the “Immortal Soul”), that can guide and support us.

What is Ensoulment?

Image of a woman standing on a beach alone

There’s a part of every living thing that wants to become itself: the tadpole into the frog, the chrysalis into the butterfly, a damaged human being into a whole one. – Ellen Bass

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

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Ensoulment is about learning how to live more in alignment with your Soul by listening to its authentic wants, needs, and values. It’s a path of embodying your most authentic Self.

Another synonym for Ensoulment is Soul recovery or the shamanic notion of Soul retrieval; however, Ensoulment is more of an ongoing philosophy and lived experience than a single shamanic ritual.

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

12 Deep Transformations That Happen When You Become More Ensouled

Image of a woman standing in the sunlight with a veil symbolic of ensoulment

The sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. – Carl Jung, Psychiatrist & Ensouled human being

Soul Loss looks like anxiety, depression, addictions, narcissism, violence, and abuse of all kinds. 

Ensoulment, on the other hand, looks like openness, warmth, creativity, compassion, connectivity, joy, and a purpose-driven life.

To summarize, here are twelve transformations that often happen when you start to become more Ensouled:

  1. Living more in the present moment.
  2. Receptivity, humility, and openness.
  3. Creativity and living a life of rich self-expression.
  4. Having a strong sense of meaning and purpose.
  5. Knowing and honing your unique spiritual gifts.
  6. Feeling more connected to and led by your intuition.
  7. Greater ability to let go and surrender to a Higher Power.
  8. Moving toward internal integration and Wholeness.
  9. Experiencing more signs, synchronicities, and doors opening.
  10. Feeling connected with other people, the world, and Life itself.
  11. Heartfulness (awe, reference, wonder, enchantment, devotion, compassion).
  12. Orienting to the mysterious, the numinous, and the magic within and without you.

Ensouled people live with a great sense of creative meaning and purpose, are connected to their hearts, and feel a stronger connection with the Divine.

This journey isn’t something we can quickly “achieve” in the traditional sense. It’s not a linear path. It’s a spiralic, ebbing and flowing journey. It’s a movement of nature: organic but powerful. There is no single “finish line” – Ensoulment is an ever-deepening process of illumination, growth, and interconnectedness.

Four Sacred Paths of Ensoulment

Image of a rock doorway leading to the cosmos with a person standing shining a light symbolic of ensoulment

The doors to the world of the wild Self are few but precious. If you have a deep scar, that is a door, if you have an old, old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the water so much you almost cannot bear it, that is a door. If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life, that is a door. ― Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Writer, Analyst & Ensouled human being

How do we become more Ensouled? That’s the next reasonable question. The answer is that there are different types of doorways, all with their unique potentials, gifts, and capacities. 

I’ve spent over a decade exploring paths of Ensoulment. Here’s a sample of some of the most powerful paths:

Physical/Earth-centered Paths:

Image of a man sitting with the fire beneath the stars

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

― Daniel Defoe
  • Dancing
  • Singing
  • Solitude
  • Drumming
  • Nature walking
  • Gardening
  • Plant Medicine
  • Ecotherapy

Emotional Paths:

Image of a beautiful pink flower symbolic of the heart of what is a mystic

Love is the nature of the soul.

– John O’Donohue

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray. ― Rumi

  • Devotion
  • Self-love
  • Contemplating beauty
  • Heart-centered meditation
  • Inner child work
  • Caring for a family/other beings

Imaginative Paths:

Image of a vibrant sky symbolic of soul work

Music and art and poetry attune the soul to God. 

– Thomas Merton 
  • Writing/Journaling
  • Drawing/Painting
  • Crafting
  • Music-making
  • Ritual
  • Mythology/symbology
  • Vision quests
  • Shamanic journeying

Mental Paths:

Image of a boat with a lantern on the lake at sunrise with stars in the sky

Knowledge is the food of the soul.

– Plato

Quiet the mind, and the soul will speak.

― Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati

  • Prayer
  • Chanting
  • Silence
  • Lectio Divina
  • Meditation
  • Reading books
  • Dream work
  • Mindfulness
  • Shadow work

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

Gardening, for instance, can easily become a mindless chore if it lacks a sense of heart and soul. Another example from the above list is chanting, which can become a dead droning of empty words if it isn’t first imbued with deep feeling and intention.

In summary, whatever we do with depth and focus can be a path of Ensoulment (i.e., Soul Work) – it’s all about your heart’s inner attitude and the meaning you infuse into what you do.

Essentially, Ensoulment is inner archaeology – it helps us to go back to the root of our being. Choose what resonates with you and leave the rest.

Conclusion

Image of a hand holding a crystal ball

Ensoulment is essential because you and I – and Mother Earth at large – crucially and desperately need it.


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We’re suffering from pandemic proportions of Soul Loss that’s only getting worse, putting us on the fast track to the sixth mass extinction.

We’re not only destroying Mother Nature and the ecosystem, but we’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 can’t merely be for the individual – we don’t have that luxury. Our efforts must be directed toward the Whole. And that starts at a root level: becoming reconnected to our Souls again.

Being true to who we are means carrying our spirit like a candle in the center of our darkness.

– Mark Nepo

What does living an Ensouled life mean to you? What are the biggest struggles or blocks you face? I welcome you to share below. You never know who you may reassure or comfort by doing so.

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

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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. Wayne Walter Andrew Rollin says

    March 16, 2021 at 1:56 am

    Dear Alethia Luna I am eminating my deep respect and unconditional soul love to you and your partner for the sustenance you provide for the world in the time of egocentric domination and greed that oppresses humanities true evolution in bringing heaven onto earth through living and flowing within the infinite light that exists within all humanity. Whatever religion, faith and belief is just rivers of energy that flow back to the source of all creation. No religion owns the creator but the creator owns humanity as we are the devine mother and fathers children exciting in the woumb of the earth ready to be born at the mortal bodies completion into the next part of the eccension process of infinite consciousness. Attachment, desire, ego are the allusion we have to face and overcome as thought is pure devine energy that flows creatively or destructively, light or dark, heaven or hell as the freedom of choice is the creators gift to humanity. The true journey of humanity is within beyond illusion into eternal vastness of the universes that are timeless and within a constant state of flowing creator consciousness. All the great devine masters have existed within this state and in their own expression of something that can not be explained has been shared with humanity. I am in immense grattitutmde for the love, knowledge and wisdom you share with humanity and your devotion is the song of the soul and in my evolution over the last 14 months you have been the lighthouse beaming your light as I was adrift in turbulent dark seas. Thank you and love and eternal devine light, eternally.

    Reply
    • Aletheia Luna says

      March 16, 2021 at 8:10 am

      This was beautiful and meaningful to read. Thank you so much Wayne – sending that love and appreciation right back at you!

      Reply
  2. Maggie Lapointe says

    March 16, 2021 at 1:40 am

    Dear Luna & Sol,. I don’t believe in luck nor coincidence. I believe in God. Therefore I believe “GOD” and his staff brought me to your site. I appreciate you two and all the work you do to help alot of us. I am sorry that you had to endure so much pain & shit to get to where you are spiritualy but thank you for enduring. Love your sister / line wolf in Christ.

    Reply
    • Aletheia Luna says

      March 16, 2021 at 8:09 am

      Thank you dear Maggie ♡ I am revisiting and reconnecting with the image of Mother Mary right now, so the healing is going through a new layer – but this time without the dogma and fear. Much love

      Reply
  3. Nina says

    March 16, 2021 at 12:26 am

    I love your articles and all you give. Though, one thing baffles me. You are so young.
    I am old, and it took me all this time to wake up. You two must surely be blessed with great gifts. I am grateful

    Reply
    • Aletheia Luna says

      March 16, 2021 at 8:08 am

      Maybe, maybe not. What matters is that we’ve awoken! ♡ Thank you Nina!

      Reply
  4. Safina says

    March 15, 2021 at 11:38 pm

    Wow, this really resonated with me. I appreciate all the insight you give in your posts. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Aletheia Luna says

      March 16, 2021 at 8:07 am

      Thanks Safina!

      Reply
  5. Miriam says

    March 15, 2021 at 11:11 pm

    Every time I read one of your posts or watch one of your videos I know I’ve found a member of my tribe. You are so right on. What remains to be seen is how ready the rest of the world is to hear this. I think the ensoulment of humanity will be a grass roots effort. I belong to several online communities, including yours, who are committed to working toward the same goal. The movement is growing, but I think we’re a rather small part of the human population. So it’s hard to find our tribe. You guys and others like you are spearheading the movement.

    Thank you so much for posting this urgent message. Love you both a lot!!!!

    Reply
    • Aletheia Luna says

      March 16, 2021 at 8:06 am

      I like what you say about grassroots effort, I think so too. :) Thanks very much fellow soul sister! ♡

      Reply
  6. Amber says

    March 15, 2021 at 11:01 pm

    Love this..thank you ❤️

    Reply
    • Aletheia Luna says

      March 16, 2021 at 8:05 am

      Thanks Amber ♡

      Reply
  7. Denise says

    March 15, 2021 at 10:53 pm

    I loved reading this article! Thanks!

    Reply
    • Aletheia Luna says

      March 16, 2021 at 8:05 am

      ♡

      Reply
  8. Tracy Bliss says

    March 14, 2021 at 3:50 pm

    When I fist read your article about Bodhisattva I really thought that resonated with me, but then I read this one and wow. This one really hit home. I agree with Radha a course on ensoulment would definitely be an awesome idea. What an incredible article.
    Thank you so much for sharing this with us
    Much love

    Reply
    • Aletheia Luna says

      March 15, 2021 at 8:21 am

      Yes, we’re definitely contemplating making more out of Ensoulment – thank you for the idea. I think having a space where people can gather united in the same deeper purpose is a powerful idea. Thank you so much for your kind words Tracy!

      Reply
    • Legna Yorel says

      March 15, 2021 at 10:14 pm

      One cannot lose his/her Soul. It holds the record, it is your Akashic Record. It Soul is given on loan.

      Reply
  9. Panda says

    March 14, 2021 at 3:50 pm

    Well-written article as always! I have a question though: I have obesity and have struggled with over-eating, I have tried inner child work to help me in what is an addiction to food but I still have over-ate even after trying out inner child work: does inner child work not work for me?

    Reply
    • Aletheia Luna says

      March 15, 2021 at 8:25 am

      Hey Panda,
      Have you tried inner child work with a registered therapist? Doing inner child work by yourself is wonderful, but sometimes we really need the holding space of another to go deeper. When an addictive pattern has been there for a while, there are unconscious forces and wounds at play that can make self-directed inner work very tough indeed. Additionally, you might need inner child work alongside another healing modality such as CBT or hypnosis. I recommend seeking out a psychotherapist who offers inner child work ❤

      Reply
      • Panda says

        March 15, 2021 at 2:43 pm

        Okay, thank you for the suggestion

        Reply
  10. Radha says

    March 14, 2021 at 7:08 am

    Great article. It speaks to me deeply! I would like to see a course in ensoulment, a course that helps us draw out our own soul qualities and embody them. Is there a course like this?

    Reply
    • Aletheia Luna says

      March 14, 2021 at 10:23 am

      Hi Radha, thank you for the lovely comment. Yes, we are considering different avenues, but haven’t decided yet. It will be interesting to see how much interest this topic gets. :) In the mean time, we do have resources that facilitate ensoulment in our shop: https://shop.lonerwolf.com/shop/ With gratitude ♡

      Reply
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Aletheia Luna and Mateo Sol are psychospiritual educators, authors, guides, and the creators behind lonerwolf.com, which has reached millions worldwide since 2012. With over 30 years of combined experience, their work has been featured in publications like The Mind’s Journal, Wake Up World, Tiny Buddha, and more. Their mission is to help seekers overcome soul loss and live a more purposeful, ensouled life. Start here »

 

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