Mending the Past and Healing the Future with Soul Retrieval
The following excerpts have been taken from the new book, Mending the Past and Healing the Future with Soul Retrieval, by Dr. Alberto Villoldo published by Hay House (June 2005)

By Dr. Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D.

Chapter Two
Transforming Fate into Destiny

I discovered that in the end, science is only a metaphor for nature, not nature itself. It's a metaphor that has replaced the old stories of the sky and earth gods. We no longer appease the lord of lightning or of wind - we can explain how low-pressure fronts cause tropical storms, but in the process we've lost the mystery and the wonderment at creation. We know why bees are attracted to flowers, but we forget to smell the roses or to be like the lilies of the field.

I arrived at don Ignacio's this morning, following the trail, two feet wide. Here everything is overgrown, tangled, and wet. He lives in a village, or rather a large family compound at the edge of the Madre de Dios, the Mother of God River. I ask a boy and he tells me the village is called 'El Infierno,' or 'Hell.' All around me are trees the size of office buildings. This is the land of giants. Parrots are hawking above, the river is flowing softly behind me - looks like paradise to me. Hell is where I come from, where concrete has overtaken nature.

El Infierno. “It's because of the birds,” Ignacio would later tell me. “They squawk constantly, like missionaries.”

- from Alberto's journal

Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, there's a marked difference between fate (which is known as karma among Eastern traditions) and destiny (also known as dharma). Fate is a course that's been predetermined by our family, our history, our genes, and our emotional wounds. We speak about the fate of nations with a sense of inevitability. We sometimes hear of two individuals meeting, or of a relationship breaking apart, and say that it was 'fated to happen.' And in many native cultures, there are two kinds of illnesses identified by healers: those that come from God, and those that come from man. Even though they may have identical symptoms, if an illness is seen as coming from God, there's nothing the healer can do other than alleviating the pain.

In other words, fate is the predetermined and seemingly inevitable series of events that happen to us. It seems unavoidable, and stalks us at every turn in our lives - for example, we leave one spouse, only to end up in the same relationship with another person. Fate is also deadly; in fact, it has the same origin as the word fatality.

Destiny, on the other hand, is the purpose and calling of a life, and it can be discovered and realized. Whereas the early Greeks believed that fate was spun from a certain thread, and that once it was woven into a cloth it was irreversible, they saw destiny as a force or agency that could intervene to reweave the cloth of fate. I believe that destiny can also happen without divine intervention - but it requires that you become conscious of your past wounds and respond to the calling you were born with, and you can then can steer the course of your own life.

Destiny allows you to transcend fate and to live free of negative emotional and genetic programming. By stepping into your destiny, you can free yourself from an inheritance of breast cancer or heart disease, or from an emotional history that causes you to continually remarry an updated version of an unsuitable spouse. Destiny allows you to navigate life instead of stumble through it. When you step into your destiny, you can participate consciously in your own growth.

Biologists and the Laika have different understandings of evolution. Biologists think that it happens only between generations - that is, our children may be smarter and healthier than we are, but it's too late for the current generation to change. Science believes that our genes can't be altered, and we're all bound to inherit certain traits and tendencies from previous generations. So if a genetic predisposition runs in your family, your children's fate has been sealed: The breast cancer you inherited from your mother is just waiting to express itself, and the heart condition passed down from your father will spring up like a jack-in-the-box down the road. But the Laika understand that evolution happens within generations, so you can actually uncoil the layers of your genetic code to reinform your DNA and change your genetic fate.

I believe that we can change our destiny so that our children will inherit the healed traits we develop in our lifetime, as we uncoil the genetic code another strand. Through journeying, we can track a destiny in which we heal and age differently, one in which we avoid manifesting the ailments of our ancestors or reliving our childhood traumas. Journeying can guide us to grow new bodies informed not only by who we've been in the past, but by who we'll be 10,000 years from now.

Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D., psychologist and anthropologist, has studied the healing practices of shamans for 25 years. He teaches energy medicine and soul retrieval. For more info please contact Stacy Vasil, 800-654-5126 x107, svasil@hayhouse.com