Juan-Carlos "JC" Safa - Power Soul Retrieval Training™

Join us as JC Safa shares his transformative journey into shamanism, exploring soul retrieval, healing, and the importance of spiritual connection in the modern world. Discover practical insights and inspiring stories that highlight the power of soul retrieval and other shamanic practices.

Guest: Juan-Carlos "JC" Safa, BBA
Guest's bio: https://www.shamanism.org/faculty/juan-carlos-safa/

Host: Kerri Husman, MD
Bio: https://www.shamanism.org/faculty/kerri-husman/
Website: https://www.mammothhills.com/services/courses-in-core-shamanism/

Workshop: Power Soul Retrieval Training™
https://www.shamanism.org/workshops/power-soul-retrieval-training/

Learn more about shamanism and shamanic workshops by visiting the website of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies: https://www.shamanism.org

Transcript

Introduction to Shamanism and Personal Journey

Speaker 1 0:07

You are listening to the Way of the Shaman Podcast with your host, Kerri Husman. The content shared in the Way of the Shaman Podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional or therapeutic advice. The views expressed by the host and interviewees reflect their personal experiences and opinions. Please consult with an appropriate licensed professional if you have any medical, psychological, or legal concerns.

Kerri 0:39

Hello and welcome to the Way of the Shaman podcast. I'm your host, Kerri Husman, and today JC Safa is joining us from San Diego. We'll be talking about the Power Soul Retrieval Training, which is an in-person workshop to learn soul retrieval. Welcome, JC.

JC 0:57

Thank you. Welcome.

Kerri 0:58

I'm so glad you could join us today. So JC has quite a fascinating background, and I'm really excited to get to hear more about it and share it with our audience. So can you tell us a little bit about your personal journey and how it wound up leading you to shamanism?

JC 1:17

Well, I uh I had my first uh mediumship experience when I was a child. I was probably somewhere somewhere between the the age of eight and ten. And uh I grew up Catholic and uh we used to pray to Jesus uh every night. And uh first my mother had placed a picture of Jesus on my wall in my bedroom. And one day, I'm not sure why, but I said, I I want to talk to Jesus, and I started to just connect with him energetically, and suddenly I started to hear him in in my room, and I thought, oh my goodness, I could hear his voice coming from around where the front door was. Uh, but I said, I I can hear you, Bess said, but I can't see you. And he says, Well, you won't be able to see me because you'll get scared. So that was the first my first spiritual experience, and I was just a little kid, of course. Um, but but then I started to realize that I I was I was a little different from other kids. I was uh uh a deeply spiritual uh child. Uh when I was a little bit older, I was probably about maybe 10 years old or so. Uh my father was taking yoga classes from this master yogi. And I asked him, I remember one time, uh, and I was born in Mexico City, raised in Mexico City up until the age of 13. And I remember asking his yoga teacher, can you take me to the pyramids of Teotihuacan? And he did, and I was fascinated, and I'm a little kid.

Kerri 2:46

Wow.

JC 2:46

And so it was a little different, you know, than uh from other kids. But um later uh when I was in high school, uh I would go and visit family. I was already living in the United States, and I would go and visit family in Mexico City, and I remember asking family members, can you take me to the local markets? Because I had heard that curanderos and curanderas were selling medicinal herbs, and I thought, whoa, how interesting. I really would like to know more about what they do. And uh, so I'd go to the markets and I would just look at them, and I just felt like a really strong connection with with um Mexican Indian Mexican Indian people, and uh I always like to like take pictures with them, and I just really felt like a strong connection. Um and uh anyway, uh later when I was in college, I met a guy that was highly spiritual who once um uh uh told me uh if I could go with him to a friend's house. And the minute I walked over his friend's house, that's when my life changed because uh I had, you know, again growing up Catholic, I'd been to Catholic schools my whole life, and that's all I knew. So I walk into this guy's place, and he's got a statue of Buddha, and he's got this new age music playing in the background. And I thought, this is amazing. And I could uh smell scent. He was burning some scent, and it was beautiful, and he had a meditation area, and and his whole place just felt so welcoming, so loving. The energy of this place was just beautiful. I had never felt that before ever. And I thought, wow, this is incredible. And this friend of mine uh started to talk to me about shamanism. I had no idea what that was, and I was gonna be moving to Los Angeles from Dallas, Texas, uh, after graduating from college. And he said to me, Well, there's a shaman in Los Angeles that I could refer you to. And I thought, wow, that would be amazing. So I moved to LA, started to do vision quests with this shaman in Los Angeles. He was in the uh Pasadena area or so, um, and uh Arcadia uh area area as well. And uh uh he had mentioned to me that I should read Carlos Castaneda's books, which I did, and then later met Carlos at at a bookstore. Um uh and then, of course, years later, I moved to San Diego and and met Don Juan uh on the Mexican side of the border. Some people from San Diego took me to his home and I was blown away. Um but but you know, shamanism just felt amazing to me. I knew right away that this is exactly what I was looking for. For some reason, religion just didn't go deep enough to where what my soul needed. Uh and uh but when I found shamanism, it felt I felt at home. I I I understand this. This it just opened a whole new world for me. And um, I was really looking for healing for myself. And uh during my three-year program with the foundation, uh, I was fully healed from this deep emotional trauma that I had uh been dealing with for decades, uh, for really most of my life. Um and uh and so I I I received uh uh healing for that, but I also then later received a soul retrieval. And it both things just completely changed my life. Wow. And I said, I said, my goodness, I would love to help people heal. Shamanism is just amazing, it's it's so deep, and you're working with fully compassionate helping spirits that come from a heavenly place, from a heavenly source. Um I thought, this is just a mind blower. And uh, and and and so in the process of my studies, it you know, through especially through the year program, it really started to enhance my psychic and mediumship abilities. Um, the first time I actually had an experience was during a uh in-person dying and beyond workshop, which Alicia Gates uh was teaching at the time. And when we were getting ready to take one of the journeys to help uh family or friend uh that we knew of that had passed away cross over to the other side, uh, the person I was thinking about showed up in the classroom uh right in front of me. And I thought, oh my goodness, you know, that was like the first time like the soul of a human being actually appeared in front of me. Uh and I could see exactly how he was dressed, the uh the shirt, the details about his shirt, pants, his shoes, everything. So, of course, I realized that then later I started to teach for the foundation, and I'm so thankful I've been now teaching for 10 years. But as I took more workshops and went through my three-year program and the two-week intensive, and I was doing, and I'm still doing a lot of healing work, it I started to realize that uh this is something the foundation talks about, that although shamanism is not a direct path to enlightenment, it does make you more enlightened. And I started to feel that the more people I healed, the more workshops I taught, the more I was exposed to my helping spirits, the more I started to change as a person. Um not only was I being healed by my helpers when I we were doing healing and others, but my light just started to get brighter and brighter. And um I am just so thankful to have found this path because uh it's brought so much joy, happiness, uh, freedom to my life. And uh I'm just so thankful for Michael Hunter's work uh because with his travels and his research and putting all these workshops together, he's changing people's lives. And he changed my life in a very deep way, and I'm very, very thankful to him for that.

Mentorship and Ethical Alignment in Shamanism

Kerri 9:05

Well, thank you. Wow, that was that was only eight minutes, and we just got to take a whirlwind through your life, JC. That was incredible. I know you've had some really fascinating experiences with teachers and mentors, and you mentioned just a few pretty profound teachers that many people have heard the names of. Could you tell us a story about one of those mentor or teaching experiences that has really been foundational in keeping you ethically aligned, keeping you um knowing that this path is right for you. Is there a story you could share? I'm sure you have many.

JC 9:46

Sure. Well, I I was very thankful that I had the opportunity to assist Alicia Gates in San Diego. Uh, she lived in San Diego and and and I've been in San Diego for a long time. So uh I asked her one day if I could become her assistant. She said yes. So I assisted her uh for five years uh at every workshop she taught in person. We only taught in person at the time uh in San Diego. So she would teach multiple workshops per year. And uh it was just really fascinating how um disciplined she was, uh, how she really took this work very, very seriously. And uh I I really it really, really helped me to to uh to make sure that it was part of my daily discipline uh uh uh in shamanism. So she was uh um a big part of it.

Kerri 10:44

Good. Could you share a little bit about daily discipline? What do you feel can be really helpful for those who are new to shamanism or those who are extensively experienced as a daily practice?

JC 10:57

Sure. Uh well, one of my daily practices is is contacting my my helping spirits. Uh I work with them pretty much every day uh for all sorts of different things. I do again a lot of healing work, uh, but also do psychic and mediumship readings. Sometimes I incorporate all three in a healing session because it just works out that way sometimes. And uh I like to take uh walks in nature. I live very close to a beautiful lake, you know, surrounded by lots of trees. Um uh we have hiking trails in the area as well. And uh I also uh like to connect with animals. Uh, we have a lot of uh different types of birds in the area: hawks, crows, uh ravens, and lots of other type of birds. And I just really, really like to spend time in nature and connecting with them. Uh uh and we have a lot of coyotes as well in the area. Uh but um I would say definitely taking walks in nature is something that's that's important to me as as part of my discipline. It's very heating uh for me, and um so that's that would be my answer to that.

The Role of Shamanism in Modern Society

Kerri 12:12

Good, thank you for that. So you know, can you tell us a little bit about what you feel the role of shamanism is in the modern world? I mean, you've you've had experiences going back decades with regard to mediumship, and then that has been um essentially improved with your shamanic uh trainings, your connections with your helping spirits. And so what do you feel shamanism offers today in the modern world?

JC 12:46

That's a great question. I feel that it's absolutely necessary for people to reconnect uh because uh I see society nowadays being completely disconnected from who they really are. And shamanism is a beautiful way for us to reconnect to the source of love and and light. And uh it it has certainly changed my life in a very, very deep uh level. I used to be part of corporate America, and uh now it's like my soul's like, no, no, no, no, no. We don't want to go there again. We don't like that anymore. So uh I love who I am today. I love what I do, I love teaching, I love healing people, I love supporting people who are in a state of suffering. Uh it's just a very rewarding uh and amazing uh uh work. So shamanism is incredibly important in helping people heal and find their path back to that beautiful source that we are all a part of.

Teaching and Transformative Experiences

Kerri 13:53

Wonderful. Excellent summary. Can you tell us a little bit about what it's been like? I mean, it was sounds like it was a fantastic experience being an assistant for those years. I mean, talk about amazing transformation for you. Absolutely. And then, you know, you're teaching your own workshops now for many years. What do you find most rewarding about being in that instructor role and helping these people who are learning these processes, very simple techniques, but very powerful techniques. What do you find rewarding about being in that role as the teacher?

Navigating Emotional Trauma in Healing

JC 14:33

Well, it this work is changing people's lives and I love being part of it. Part of of bringing that light, helping people to connect to these beautiful beings uh who love us so much. Uh and uh we we're playing a very important role in in reconnecting people to that source. And uh and people are are being healed uh as well. We're changing people's lives, and I just love doing that.

Kerri 15:06

So one of the things I know that you do in your healing, JC, is even if people have emotional distress or emotional problems, they may come to you for healing, but you don't offer psychotherapy or counseling. How do you navigate that when someone comes in with a complaint of an emotional problem?

JC 15:24

Well, I work with my helping spirits in healing the person, uh, and they will come. And it doesn't matter how how big their emotional trauma has been, they will fully heal the person as long as the person is open to receiving healing, as long as they open their heart and bring those walls all the way down to be able to help them, they will be fully healed. I don't need to know any specifics about what their emotional trauma is, because my helpers are the ones that do the healing work for that. So uh they just there so I I have the client communicate with them not only the emotional trauma, but also how they feel about emotionally about this situation. Is do they feel feel anger? Do they feel betrayed, abandoned, you know? Uh do they feel hate towards the person that that traumatized them? Uh and all that can be healed in a healing session. So this is not psychology. Psychology is very, very effective. Uh this is a different method uh that I use because I am not a psychiatrist. Uh I work with fully compassionate helping spirits that do the emotional trauma healing work for the person.

Understanding Soul Retrieval

Kerri 16:45

Wonderful. Thank you for that, JC. I'd like to shift now into talking a little bit about soul retrieval. Can you tell us, for those who are unfamiliar, what soul retrieval is in the context of shamanic healing?

JC 16:59

Absolutely. So when we experience emotional trauma, and everyone does at some point in their lives, uh, small parts of our soul may leave our main soul, leaving the person feeling fragmented, dispirited, uh feeling perhaps even weak, uh uh not feeling like the strong person they used to be, perhaps they've lost their confidence, they just don't feel the same. They feel that they have been weakened by the emotional trauma that they endured. Uh so what soul retrieval is, it's it's a practice that we teach and and do, in which we bring those small parts of the soul of the person that I've left, and we bring them back into their main soul, and the outcome is incredible. I've had uh two or three uh soul retrievals myself, so I can tell you uh my personal experience. Um, you feel more whole, more present, uh, more confident, much happier, more complete. Uh, the first time I had a soul retrieval, uh, I I had so much soul loss, and I didn't know I had so much soul loss that even just with that first soul part as it was brought brought back in, I felt so much better immediately. The shift was immediate for me. I felt happier, I felt more uplifted, I felt more confident, everything just was better immediately. Um, the second soul retrieval I had, I started to feel that way about seven or eight days after the soul retrieval was done. Uh, I started to notice a shift. And about a month and a half to two months after the soul retrieval is when you feel so much better. I was just so happy to be alive. I would get up in the mornings and dance and sing my way into the kitchen to make my coffee. I was just like loving life. I thought, oh my gosh, you know what a difference. I feel so much better. And that's what soul retrieval does for a person. Um, we all have, I've I've never worked with someone that did not need soul retrieval. And I feel that everyone needs soul retrieval at some point in their lives. This work is magical, transformative, uh, life-changing, all of the above. And I'm just so thankful to be part of this work.

Kerri 19:25

Thank you for that, JC. And let's let's talk a little bit about what it's like for the client. Like you said, sometimes it is instant. I've I've had soul retrievals where the power that came with it was just enormous. And you feel this coming in, you're like, boy, how big was that? You know, the size doesn't matter, obviously. This is not how it works, but it feels so huge. And then other times it feels just like, oh, you know, not like a you just drank Mountain Dew and you just feel energized, but there's but there's something like an energy kind of feeling, even though it is power. It, you know, sometimes your body has a hard time registering what that is because of course your soul is residing in the energy body and energy field of this physical body. It's they're all living there. So can you describe what typically happens during a session? So the client, um, what are they doing during a soul retrieval usually? They're lying down or are they sitting up in a chair? How does that work?

JC 20:25

They're usually sitting up on a chair because I do 99% of my healing work via Zoom meeting. Um, sure. Yes. So I do the work vi uh via video conference. And uh so they're usually sitting up. Uh that's better for me. Uh and um the interesting thing is that I I've been doing this for such a long time that uh I I as the soul parts uh as I start to bring the soul parts back in, they're telling me why they left. So I know each each one of the soul parts, I know in advance why they even left in the first place. Uh was it from childhood, you know, the teenage years or or other issues the person had later in life. It's really incredible. Uh, and I can also sense and and feel and see when a very important soul parts is gonna be brought back because I just know it. I I I have a sense that this was a big one. This is one that is really gonna change this person's life. Uh and there are some other soul parts that are also important, but they're smaller in terms of their importance. Um, there are some big ones that will make a huge difference. Um, and uh so I you we usually start with the big ones first, uh, because those are the ones that are really going to help the person right away. And then as we do more healing sessions, then we start bringing back in some other uh parts or portions as a foundation. uh Sess uh back to the person and uh you know what I love is when I ask people to contact me in about two months uh to see how they're doing and the change in in in in people is just unbelievable how much happier they are much more whole and present uh they are and how much more confident they are everything changes for the better is just really incredible.

Kerri 22:26

Oh beautiful and so when you're getting ready to do this work how do you prepare yourself to do soul retrieval for another person?

JC 22:36

Yes well the first thing I do is I call my helping spirits in then I like to sing my soul song I then dance my teacher and power animal as well to empower myself before I I do my healing session. And uh and after that I feel very empowered and ready to do the work and help the person um heal.

Preparing for Soul Retrieval Sessions

Kerri 23:03

Wonderful. And I can tell you that the beautiful thing about the soul song and dancing a teacher or dancing a power animal is something that you learn very early on in the fundamental foundational workshops and something that you can do every day absolutely to maintain your power going into let's say you've got a big day, a day filled with clients, big meetings, interviews for a job whatever it might be these fundamental foundational techniques to really maintain and restore your own power and that connection with these compassionate healing spirits that can bring so much loving power to you to do good in the world, help the planet and help its inhabitants so excellent. Thank you JC thank you and so you've given us some ideas about some of the outcomes that can happen with soul retrieval.

Workshop and Soul Retrieval

Taking Workshops Multiple Times

Supporting Students Learning Soul Retrieval

JC 23:59

Sometimes it's life changing right in that moment sometimes it does unfold over the course of several weeks how do you navigate that when someone's expecting something immediate but it it might take weeks to unravel and we have no power over that as the practitioner how do you prepare a client for understanding that this is going to be something that's going to happen over time I just let them know up front that for some people and my and also my personal experience of soul retrieval, some people feel an immediate shift during the first soul retrieval. For some people it may they may start sensing feeling the difference about a week later after the soul retrieval uh but it really takes at least a month and a half maybe two months or sometimes even longer than that for soul retrieval to do its full effect on the person. So I do let them know up front uh that um it it could take some time but there are other things that I do in the healing session like uplifting emotionally uh the person doing you know and also sending divine love and light to them and they really that really helps them to to uh to feel better stronger uh happier uh right away and then of course we do the soul retrieval uh as well so they do feel better this same day of the of the healing work and again as the weeks go by they just start feeling better and better and better and then you start getting referrals uh you know at that point good and so when people are deciding to take this course so this course comes after psychopomp it comes after learning extraction so this comes next as a a foundational technique and why do you think that is that this that someone needs to learn how to assist the dying or or deceased they need to learn how to deal with uh spiritual intrusion with the extraction and then soul retrieval why do you think that it's that order well because it it takes more experience to do soul retrieval work uh it's important for people to to practice journey uh to uh take several workshops um in order to again have that experience that's required uh to do soul retrieval work because uh the work is a little more intensive um you never know where those soul parts or soul portions are gonna be they could be uh in the lower world in the middle world in the upper world you know we we we don't really know uh upfront uh where we're gonna find them but it it just takes more time more experience to be able to do that work and that's the reason why we do it that way I understand and also they need to be able to hold more power absolutely I mean there's that that process absolutely and and do you feel that and again this is a biased question because all of us faculty members have taken these workshops multiple times right but but what do you feel comes from taking soul retrieval again? I mean a second time I believe that everyone should take all the workshops at least twice you the second time around you you you learn a lot more than you did the first time uh you know once you take the workshops the first time and you start to practice the work and you read your notes etc uh when you come back and take it a second time uh it you you you you start to realize that you had missed some things the first time you took the the workshop that you're like oh I I I don't remember hearing this I don't remember that being in my notes um sometimes I think it's good to take the workshop uh the second time with a different teacher because uh different teachers have different experiences and some have trained with some of the uh faculty members others with other faculty members uh so uh uh it's very helpful to take the workshops uh uh at least twice I would agree with that each time you go deeper absolutely and and learning learning from other faculty members where they have their stories their experiences those stories uh with their own personal stories the stories they may have had uh from taking the course with Michael themselves uh those are really invaluable stories to understand and anchor in your own experiences so I would agree with you on that now what about um when you're trying to support students who are integrating soul retrieval into their own practices they're just learning and so obviously just like right after the the way of the shaman the basic you know people will start doing power animal retrieval for their friends and family because they want to practice so how do you support students who are have just learned soul retrieval and they're thinking about offering this to friends or family to practice how do you support them that way? Well uh I I let them know that if they need any help, they can always email me uh in case they they run into a situation where they forget something or maybe they miss something uh you know um in their notes uh I uh tell all my students if you uh ever run into a situation where you can't remember the process of doing uh the work just send me an email I'll respond to it I I want to be there for you the work is very important and we want to make sure that you're following the right steps exactly and connecting with your helping spirits because without your helping spirits you can't do the work. That's right.

Kerri 30:12

And what advice would you give someone who's interested in exploring shamanic healing for the first time they've never had a healing session before they're drawn to this work and they're they're wanting to be prepared for that so how would you advise someone that way because I'm sure you have people who are first timers that come to you for treatment.

JC 30:34

Yes well I tell people that um it's it's always a good idea to uh read Michael Harner's book The Way of the Shaman and Cave and Cosmos as well uh and um to start um focusing on what they want to get out of the first workshop uh what it is that they're you know what what what's pulling them towards taking these workshops so um I hope that helps it does it does and do you feel it's valuable and I don't know your personal history with when before you took your first workshop had you experienced a shamanic healing session before you ever took a workshop I I don't think so uh I did do some vision quests um with a another uh shaman uh years ago when I was living in Los Angeles but um I I don't believe that I had actually received uh healing at that time I was that's what I was hoping for um but my true healing came during my three-year program when I I was the fortunate person to receive healing that day uh that's the day that my life changed that's the day that I was waiting for uh uh to happen right I that's when I was fully healed from my emotional trauma and it was so liberating uh it was just uh an incredible um experience um for me so that's uh I started to of course receive healing when I during the workshops but um talking about my emotional trauma that I was uh uh that was finally healed during my three-year program.

Kerri 32:28

Right. So that's the priceless one there. Absolutely. Wow beautiful well thank you so much JC for joining us today and sharing a little bit about your story as well as the beauty of soul retrieval. If you'd like to learn more about this workshop or any of the foundation's workshops please check us out at shamanism.org thank you and many blessings to everyone for listening to us today thank you JC thank you