People ask me all the time, ‘How did you become a shaman?’ And it’s not an easy question to answer. Do I tell them that I had always felt and been, different – that I spent decades on a spiritual search and had to face many challenges in life, or about experiencing the menopause at the ridiculously young age of 13, or of seeing my father suffer great pain for nearly thirty years? Or do I tell them about the time I gave up my search, when I yelled to God that I had had enough, that I couldn’t do it anymore and was giving up, stomping off on holiday to Peru to forget all about it, only then to find, at the highest point of Machu Picchu, the answer I had been searching for all along?
Guided by a vision
This is the truth. At Machu Picchu, I arrived at the highest point hoping to find out some information about this place I had wanted to visit for the last five years, only to find the tour guide had finished speaking and I had to climb back down again! Concentrating on not slipping on the ancient steps, a flash of red caught my eye and to add to my annoyance I saw what I believed to be twenty men dressed as Inca staring at me. Thinking they were some cheesy tourist attraction I resolved not to have my photo taken with any of them. But something made me look again, and to my surprise I saw that they were fading in and out, as if on an old fashioned television screen, finally fading away completely. One magnificent man covered in bright golden armour remained only a few feet away from me. The power emanating from him was staggering, I had no idea who he was – a chief or a king perhaps – and no idea how I should behave, but I knew one thing for sure – I must not break eye contact with him. My mind raced alarmingly, my knees trembled and tears streamed down my face, but my green eyes locked fiercely onto his black ones and as our gaze met, an electric blue ball of light formed between us. Suddenly, his arm shot out and he pointed at me, ‘You!’ he boomed, ‘will follow this path – and we will help you!’ And that was the moment, the moment I had been waiting for all my life. I knew I was to follow the path of the shaman, even though it meant waving goodbye to a six figure salary and throwing myself into the unknown. Or was it the known?
It took me two years to find out that the man was in fact an ‘Apu’ – an embodiment of the spirit of Machu Picchu itself, and that what I had experienced was known as an ‘estrella’ and this was the usual way for a shaman to be called to the path. Years later I have found out that the Apu was true to his word because I have been helped in my work, tremendously. After my training, clients came immediately, from nowhere, and six months later I was working six days a week helping people worldwide to heal the burdens of their past and move closer towards wholeness, towards the lives they had dreamt of and more importantly, towards the lives they deserved.
One day a literary agent found me and asked me to write about my story and my work. And so I did. At first I wanted to write about my philosophy which had helped me on my journey and my clients on theirs. And then someone said that they would love for me to share my client’s stories and my clients, (who range from 0 –90 years of age and come from all walks of life and from all races and religions) kindly allowed for me to share some of their stories in the hope that it would help others to learn from them. And I was happy with the way the book was going until one day a client cried, telling me that she could not tell me her story, because she was so ashamed and flawed and I was so perfect! And at that moment, after correcting her with some very less–than–perfect tales from my life, I realised that I had to include aspects of my story in the book too.
A helping hand
I knew I didn’t want to write a book about shamanism, as there are many wonderful books on that subject out there already. Additionally the majority of my clients had no interest in shamanism whatsoever; they just wanted to feel better and to have better lives. I wanted to provide a helping hand on the journey through life and make it suitable for everyone, and so my book, A Healer of Souls, is intended to do just that. Each chapter is based on the main ‘themes’ clients come to see me about, each split into three sections – related memories from my life, varied clients experiences and what I hope are helpful notes relating to each theme. I have been blessed to be able to assist thousands of people worldwide on their healing journeys as a shamanic healer and spiritual teacher, and to bring this ancient healing art into people’s awareness, and I give thanks for the vision which bought me to this work every day.
From A Healer of Souls, © 2012 by Dawn Paul, published by O–Books
