What is an extraction?
The shamanic technique referred to as extraction can sound a bit like a catholic exorcism. It is hardly so mythic or dramatic as the movies makes it seem.
Science knows everything in the world is and needs energy. When two energies collide and exchange some of their particles, this can result in some form of illness for one or both parties. An extraction removes the misaligned energy, giving it back to the wisdom of the Spirits, usually the four Elements (Water, Air, Earth, or Fire), to be taken care of until such a time that energy can be returned home. The extraction process then fills the void left by the removal of that energy by blowing in power that is aligned, typically healing light, a power animal, or soul retrieval. Everything is sealed into the client’s body, and the integration process begins.
How does energy exchange happen?
Indigenous peoples did not have atomic bombs as a weapon of mass destruction, they had psychic warfare. In a modern society, while we may not know how on purpose anymore, we still practice psychic warfare on each other all the time. In a way, this is worse, because we are not trained in the rules of this type of engagement.
I know the word “psychic” can be a bit woo-woo sounding, so let me clarify that the word “psyche,” — which is where the words “psychic,” “psychology,” “psychologist,” and “psychiatrist” come from — means “soul.” So psychic warfare actually means attacks on another’s soul. The most common western society example of this is road rage. We yell expletives, which uses the vibration of sound through the air element to send ill toward another. More deeply and widespread these days could be political opposition — to wish ill on an entire party. I’m sure you can come up with many more examples.
Now, as Sandra’s spirit teacher Isis says, it takes two to tango. Just because someone wishes ill doesn't mean it will happen. The only way the energy can be exchanged is if some part of the opponent agrees with the attack and accepts it. Widespread disempowerment is the root cause of this part of the equation. We are collectively feeling a major sense of lack in some personal capacity, which opens us up to all manner of misaligned energies coming in. None of this is done deliberately most of the time, and even more rarely with complete comprehension or awareness.
What is power?
We are often taught to artificially inflate our sense of personal power with position and title: head of the house, manager of the business, CEO of the company, leader of the project, parent of the child, teacher of the class, professor at the university, winner of the award, etc. In reality, these positions exist to serve the common cause, to help people, the organization, the Earth, and all of life in some way. A lack of genuine humility does not equate to greater empowerment — it is yet another symptom of disempowerment. Strutting one’s ego further participates in psychic warfare, it is not true power.
In Scandinavia, they have two words for power for exactly this reason: kraft and makt. Kraft is power with, as in care through community and connection; while makt is power over, as in might through individualism and leadership. While both have their place, it is very easy to be seduced by makt and allow it to become toxic/poisonous to the ecosystem where we live. Healing, both experiencing and offering it, focuses on kraft.