Soul Anastomosis

Rooted in the Greek word ἀναστόμωσις meaning “to communicate,” anastomosis is the reconnection of two streams that have previously branched out. We apply this term in many contexts including medicine, biology, mycology, geology and architecture.

I think this is a beautiful concept to be applied in an even broader sense when considering soul families and soul mates.

Have you ever brushed by a complete stranger or had a conversation with someone you have never met before and thought to yourself, How could it be so? How can we have these deep and profound connections with seemingly strangers after such a short encounter?

Have you ever looked at someone on the train or in the distance and said, I just know I know that person from somewhere?  Sometimes, there are not even words exchanged and we feel this palpable connection, like we have known this person before; they are a part of us. 

Perhaps what we are experiencing is soul anastomosis.

Though this person is a stranger to you in this life, this physical realm, maybe they are a part of your soul, your original you who has since then branched out and away until this present encounter where you are brought together once again to anastomose.

And if we expand this to an even broader sense of the word, we begin to understand why places we have never been before (again in this life and physical body) feel like home, or why we have a weighty connection and emotional tie to a location, a road, a café we know for certain we have not visited prior.

Does anastomosis have to occur in the same lifetime? For our sake and use of the word, I hope not.

If we can apply this concept of reconnection across multiple lifetimes and through many reincarnations, we can start to understand these intense and powerful connections we have to things, places and people.

In medicine, we discuss this process primarily when examining the vast circulatory network in the body. Many arteries naturally anastomose with each other, dividing and branching out in a fascinating and extensive network through the body providing alternative routes around capillary beds in which large blood supply is not needed. In this way, anastomosis is your body’s way of regulating systemic blood flow.

Do our souls  branch out in different physical bodies, across multiple lifetimes to eventually anastomose just as our circulatory network does, regulating life and the natural ebb and flow of this world?

Paulo Coelho, one of my favorite authors, so beautifully describes his theory of soulmates in his book Brida (if you haven’t already read this one, I highly recommend it). I will attempt to paraphrase his theory, certainly not in near as beautiful words, to further develop this concept of soul anastomosis.

I for one, have struggled with the concept of reincarnation for one very big question. If, in the beginning of time, there were a limited number of people on Earth, and now there are so many, where did all these new souls come from? How were they created, and from where?

Paulo explains that in certain reincarnations, we divide into two. “Our souls divide as do crystals and stars, cells and plants.” Much like the branching that occurs in our circulatory system, the meiotic process of a cell, or a river that divides and branches out into multiple streams and estuaries, our souls too branch and divide to create more.

Once our soul divides, those two souls divide and are transformed into two and so on. We can see here that within a few generations, those original souls, part of our present soul in this physical body, are scattered over much of the Earth. Isn’t that a beautiful sense of connection? We all belong as we all contain part of the original souls of the Earth.

How, then, do we know and recognize our soul counterparts when we encounter them? Now this is my favorite part of Paulo’s explanation, which I must keep in his words in order to do it justice:

“‘We form part of what the alchemists call the Anima Mundi, the Soul of the World’…’The truth is that if the Anima Mundi were merely to keep dividing, it would keep growing, but it would also become gradually weaker. That is why, as well as dividing into two, we also find ourselves. And that process of finding ourselves is called Love’…’There are many cards,’ she said, ‘but they’re all part of the same deck. In order to understand their message, we need them all, all are equally important. So it is with souls. Human beings are all interlinked, like the cards in a deck. In each life, we feel a mysterious obligation to find at least one of these Soulmates.'”

This is how I would like to define soul anastomosis, the reconnecting and recognition of our Soulmates:

Soul anastomosis is the process of re-convergence, connection with a deeper part of our original soul, and ultimately, love. That profound love most of us are only so blessed to find once or twice in a lifetime. The most beautiful part of this theory is that this love and reconnection is not restricted to another person. We can find this connection with things, places, nature, all that surrounds us because as I said before, we are all part of the original souls of the Earth.

Ahhh, connection. As I think on this I feel an instant sense of belonging.

Some of us struggle to find our place, find our way, find our people. To know that we all have the deep, intense underlying connection is a beautiful thing, comforting and nurturing to know we all belong.

Keep connecting, and the next time you feel in your gut that instant connection to someone, something, smile knowing you have just experienced soul anastomosis.

 

Author: Kayla Lakusta

Editor: Emily Bartran

Photo: Author’s Own