Are you a spiritual wanderer?
Modern spirituality places great emphasis on the transcendent – 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 – 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 – one’s Inner Light.
The way to do this is through Ensoulment.
Table of contents
What is 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.
Read more: Higher Self: 11 Ways to Connect With Your Soul »
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What is Ensoulment?
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 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 – 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 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.
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The Darkest Pandemic of All Time: Soul Loss
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.
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 – 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 into the spiritual path.
We must walk the path of the embodied Mystic or the Bodhisattva – two types of spiritual wanderers.
Ensoulment is the answer to the most severe pandemic of all time, afflicting all people of all races and countries: Soul Loss.
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 children’s children to survive in a world that is being laid to waste as we speak?
11 Signs You’re a Spiritual Wanderer
Ensoulment begins with the prefix en – Latin for “in.” 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 you’re a spiritual wanderer, you’ll:
- Sense that you have a specific, meaningful role to play on this planet (perhaps since an early age)
- Intensely crave a purpose-filled life
- Feel depressed when you don’t know or can’t ‘figure out’ your destiny
- Be drawn toward the spiritual or metaphysical realm
- Have undergone a Spiritual Awakening, Kundalini Awakening, and/or Dark Night of the Soul
- Find it hard to fit in or belong in this world
- Feel everything intensely (as a highly sensitive person and/or empath)
- Crave solitude and enjoy introspection
- Often struggle with crises of some sort (such as the midlife or quarter-life crisis, existential crisis, etc.)
- Struggle to find your Soul tribe (likely due to the aforementioned Soul Loss epidemic!) and therefore struggle with feelings of loneliness and isolation
- 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 Soul’s purpose.
What Happens When We Become Ensouled?
It’s not hard to imagine what Soul Loss looks like – just observe the world around you. Anxiety, depression, addictions, narcissism, violence, and abuse of all kinds define what a soulless society looks like.
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. It’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.
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 – and in many cases, not even seen.
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 I’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 one’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 Soul
To crystallize what I’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 isn’t something we “achieve” or “tick off our to-do list” in the logical linear sense.
Instead, it’s a slow and ambling journey that ebbs and flows. It’s a movement of nature: organic but powerful. And there is no single “finish line” either – 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
How do we become more Ensouled? That’s the next reasonable question.
The answer is that there are many paths, all with their unique gifts and capacities.
I’ve spent over a decade exploring paths of Ensoulment and Soul Communication, and it’s no easy feat to include them all in one article. However, I’ll include the Soul Work paths that come immediately to mind – 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.
― Daniel Defoe
Emotional Paths:
Love is the nature of the soul.
– John O’Donohue
- Devotion
- Self-love
- Contemplating beauty
- Heart-centered meditation
- Inner child work
Imaginative Paths:
Music and art and poetry attune the soul to God.
– Thomas Merton
- Writing/Journaling
- Drawing/Painting
- Crafting
- Music-making
- Ritual
- Mythology/symbology
- Vision quests
Mental Paths:
There is no coming to consciousness without pain… People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul.
– 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.
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 isn’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) – it’s all about your heart’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.
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
Ensoulment is something that is so close to my heart that it has been my focus for over a decade now – 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! 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.
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.
– Mark Nepo
I hope what I’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!
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That was a fascinating read about Ensoulment, I have felt called to serve a higher cause since I was 8 years old, I’m 58 this year and your emails are so relatable to me. Thank you so much
I’m delighted that what we’re sharing here is resonating with you at a heart level, Theresa. There’s a lot more of this content coming in the next few months. So stay tuned. Lots of love! ❤
Although I resonate with all you have written in a deep way, I also know in the past these feelings and beliefs about myself have been described as paranoid delusions of grandeur.
How can I tell if I am a modern mystic or mentally ill?
That’s an interesting question n_v. I would say that these feelings/beliefs become paranoid delusions of grandeur when they are accompanied by ego inflation. We have an article on the spiritual ego which may be of help here: https://lonerwolf.com/spiritual-ego/ On the other hand, when these feelings/beliefs are accompanied by a sense of humility and an understanding of our personal limitations and shortcomings, I would say it is healthy – this is modern mysticism. The mystic resides in the heart. The deluded reside in the mind. But of course, there is a fine balance between the two, and we’ve got to be aware of that!
I have just gone through a spiritual awakening and I feel deeply blissful and at peace but also deeply lost. I know there is what I must do but how and where to start is a mystery. This article deeply helps thank you
I’m so glad to hear that Karen – and don’t worry, it’s normal to feel lost. Everything will become clear gradually ❤
Hard Times Require Furious Dancing is a book by Alice Walker and could not be more apt considering your last 2 posts!
“Though we have encountered our share of grief and troubles on this earth, we can still hold the line of beauty, form, and beat. No small accomplishment in a world as challenging as this one.”
Beautiful, I haven’t read that book of hers yet. Thank you for sharing this :)
I really love these last two articles! They resonate very deeply and I am excited to read more on embodying this love and spirit. Thank you for your beautiful words!
Thank you Ella :)
Dear Aletheia… truly wonderful! Deep and poetic… and concrete too… born of life really lived… powerful and inspiring… effective communication… Love and Gratitude
♡ love and gratitude gladly received and sent
This is all so true Luna. I have only one other friend who really understands this. In the grief of loosing my partner I took up Buddhist meditation and received some new philosophy, all of which turned our “normal” societal values on end. I don’t care how much money or fame myself or anyone else has- beyond having food, shelter, and freedom of expression- it’s irrelevant. But I do care about how people treat others and what they contribute to society. Western Neoliberal Capitalism is sick and selfish, and Rationalism and the science of dissecting and quantifying the Physical, fails to feed the soul or acknowledge any info that cannot be analyzed by the Scientific Method. We need new understandings, to look back to our own pre-rationalist culture and to other cultures that have never been “rationalized”. Rationalism and Capitalism once freed us from the tyranny of superstition and institutional control, but now we need a new story, seeing ourselves as part of nature, not separate. Hokia ō maunga kia purea ai koe e ngā hau a Tāwhirimatea. -Return to your mountain to be washed clean by the breath of the wind. We don’t want to throw away all the gains of our western culture, but it must be overlaid and redirected with this new understanding.
Beautifully stated Juliet, and of course to Aletheia for such excellence as expressed here. I have been on this path all my life, now 69 and have had many big knocks to overcome, but still here. Like you, I lost my partner, but at a very early stage and that put me on the downward path. Many wounds later and lots of inner repair work, here I am at this special time with a gift to give. It is directed exactly at the problem being discussed, the great soul disconnect and how to re-ensoul ourselves. Over a longtime of experimentation I have developed my own meditation system that is precise and powerful. It reconnects with the Mother earth energy (Yin) and the Father sky energy (Yang). I totally concur with Aletheia that what we need now is re-connection to the divine mother, Love. This is where our healing is to be found. Once that is achieved and also connection to father Light energy is also achieved, there is a state of fusion between the two that can also be achieved and which is the state of sublime bliss, Samadhi. All of this is doable since we have the scientific tools of understanding to build upon. Its not rocket science, but it sure is anti-gravitic.
Thanks Robert! How do you practice this form of meditation that you mention?
“Rationalism and Capitalism once freed us from the tyranny of superstition and institutional control, but now we need a new story, seeing ourselves as part of nature, not separate. ” – this is so quotable I might scream (with joy!) Yes, I agree. These advancements in technology, science, etc. have brought such wonderful freedom. But we need to be brought back to a state of balance. Thank you for sharing this Juliet ♡
So encouraging to r4ad. I was raised in Christian home and had a very strong sense of calling from around 4 years old. I have left the church but not my connection to the divine. This article was so affirming of my current journey. Thank you for courageously following yours.
Love Cate
I’ve shared a similar experience to yours. Thank you for walking a path of heart, Cate ♡
Great article. Thanks Luna. It lines up with things I’m tuning into, a lot.
Matthew
I’m glad to hear that things are aligning for you Matthew :)
Thank you for this article on Risky one it Luna, there are a lot of useful sentences in there that I can relate to on a deep level. Touching on the topic of modern mystic. During this time I think most people are beginning to take a look into themselves to deal with the parts of us that feel challenging, like not being good contributors to our very own selves. Its painful to look inside of ourselves and deal with the things that has caused us pain and stunted our spiritual growth. I’ve how miraculous it is to deal with spirit and soul and the wounds that it bares from every situation that leaves a lifetime of pain. Until I’ve learned to be brave and dive within myself, I’ve found every thing I needed was already in me! We are in a dire state of being right now but I feel we must not give into fear. We must go within to heal individual to individual. Humanity has a lot of inner healing to do. All the challenges in the world is reflecting the chaos that resignates inside of us all in our very wounded and hurting souls. Soul must be healed in order to to achieve world peace. I do feel grateful to be going through the life progress not healing my soul while I step into the world full of humanity everyday and see so much dismay. Thank you again.
Thank you for sharing this perspective Twalla. I very much agree that humanity seems to be shifting into a new place right now – the energy is being redirected internally. If there’s nothing else COVID taught, it has been this: there’s no running and hiding from yourself. We are with ourselves 24/7, 365 days per year. That intimate relationship needs healing and nourishment. Thank you for reading ♡