When Mountain Spirits Call

My parents may have had a clue about my future profession when at the tender age of six, I set up my child’s table draped with a blanket complete with a sign copied from Lucy in the Peanut’s Cartoon which read, “The Doctor Is In”.

Five years later while sitting on a giant flat rock watching the sunrise over Machu Picchu with my mother, was perhaps the first time I had consciously experienced that subtle shift between this reality and something “other”.

As the sky turned golden Mom casually asked, “Do you hear anything?”

I looked at her. She was studying my face. “Yes…,” I answered, hesitating, “drums…but they’re not…here.” Mom just nodded. In retrospect it could have easily been drumming echoing through the mountains, perhaps it was, but at the time it seemed out of this world for sure.

Earlier in the same trip, with my sister, we found our way to the Temple of the Condor. It has since been excavated and is open to the public, but back when we were kids at least part of it was an enclosed space. The tour guides told us it was the jail, probably for dramatic effect, as the Incan tradition didn’t have anything like a jail. My sister and I slid fearlessly down into this dark pit. But I felt something all around me, on me, and it terrified me - although it was strangely familiar, and huge. We scrambled out of there mighty quickly, never sure what it was.

Like many of my unusual childhood experiences, I buried it, dealing with life as it came and at 37, I found myself sitting on my homoeopath's couch sobbing my eyes out because I felt like I had nothing to show for my life. I said I felt empty, insecure and alone, I didn't think I should feel that way because on the surface everything actually seemed to be okay. By anyone else's standards, I was leading a good and normal life. Then she said to me, "Shannon, I think you should become a therapist."

"Oh right," I blubbered through my tears, "I can't even take care of myself! How am I supposed to be strong enough to take care of anyone else?" Just what I need, a homoeopath with a twisted sense of humour.

"But you do take care of everyone else Shannon, your children, your husband, your mother, your sister, and your friends - everyone comes to you for advice." Well, she did have a point there. And this had been true all my life. But I still felt rootless and didn't know where I belonged. Born in America, I had been living in England for about eleven years at this point. At my 20-year high school reunion in the States, I had come to the realisation that I was no longer American in outlook or orientation, yet I was hardly British either. I felt like I didn't belong anywhere. While it's true I had been busy raising my two beautiful boys Forrest and Roam and flirting with a variety of careers, all of which demanded serious energy, none of it felt particularly fulfilling. Add to the mix a workaholic husband whom I resented immensely for wooing me to a freezing, grey and sodden country, then trapping me here with children I adore, and could never take away. In my fractured frame of mind, that is the lens through which I perceived my day-to-day reality.

Feeling desperate, I decided to go back to school and studied Transactional Analysis intending to become a psychotherapist, but that quickly shifted into Occupational T.A. which led to a career in corporate training. I also studied Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) which fascinated me, particularly the hypnosis aspect, so I followed that path and became a hypo-therapist. From there it led to psychic development classes and Transpersonal Psychology, The Hoffman Process and various other personal development courses. I was on a mission to heal the great divide within myself and understand why I thought and behaved the way I did.

One day I was staying with a friend of a friend in London. I didn’t know her, but I adored her at first glance. I just knew she had my mother’s same birthday, only ten years younger. She told me she was going to a talk about Incan Shamanism that night and invited me along.

My whole world changed that night. I couldn’t believe that on the cusp of turning 40, I had never heard of this philosophy and way of life. It explained to me why I felt so disconnected from the modern world. It answered questions I had never been able to form into words! I signed up immediately for The Four Winds first programme in Europe and bought all of Dr Alberto Villoldo’s books.

Six months later when shaman school finally began, I related my experience in Machu Picchu when I was a child and was told that the Condor probably claimed me then. The Condor is one of the Incan Archetypes and part of the Peruvian Trilogy consisting of the Serpent, reflecting the underworld (Ukupacha) meaning wisdom and knowledge, the Puma illustrating the middle world (Kaypacha) signifying strength and energy and the Condor symbolising the upper world (Hanaqpacha), justice and being the messenger, or vision. Soon after that, a psychic I went to see, told me I had been a shaman since the age of eleven which coincided with my parents split. Our trip to Machu Picchu was our last family trip altogether.

A shaman in the truest sense of the word is a medicine man or woman who uses the earth’s natural energies to heal and one who will journey into different realms.

For two years I studied shamanism, took elective classes, travelled to Peru and worked with clients to gain experience. Every moment fascinated me. I learned or remembered who I truly was, and felt like I had finally found my calling. I trained with shamans in Peru and went on mountain expeditions with more teachers, sitting in ceremonies and camping at high altitude.

I continued my studies with Vianna Stibal adding Theta Healing to my toolbox which provided the missing link I felt shamanism alone lacked. It was at that point I left my husband and moved to Spain to “re-learn” Spanish which I had originally learned living in Argentina for a couple of years as a child. During that time I married all of the modalities I had studied over the years and created my own holistic system of healing the energetic body, mind and spirit.

I started seeing clients one to one, in Spanish which was challenging to say the least, but I sure remembered the language pretty quickly! I gave talks and demos and travelled to Sweden, Ireland and back to England to teach classes. In a relatively short time, I had a consistently growing client base in Dublin, London and Yorkshire. I moved back to the UK so my ex-husband and I could heal, and raise our children together.

In 2007 after a few years in practice, I had a booth at the London Mind Body Spirit Festival and my business trebled. I had an intense calling to go to the jungle and work with the medicine man there and take ayahuasca. I understood the shamanic philosophy that when you call on the spirits, they come, but when they call you….you go!

Bravely I kissed my family goodbye and flew off to South America to spend a month living in a hut in the jungle outside of Iquitos, Peru with a Shipibo family and taking a lot of ayahuasca. Ayahuasca is an ancient jungle vine mixed with chacruna leaves and other natural things which are brewed for 24 hours while a shaman prays over it. Its purpose is to induce visions and connection with the plant and spirit world so that you can experience a “little death” so that death no longer has its grip on you, so you can purge all of your demons and live your life free from fear. It can also cure a lot of physical issues. For me, it was only a spiritual endeavour. It was not an easy way to heal and I was concerned because I struggled with it. Granted, I was there alone and didn’t have the support and feedback from a group that is, in my opinion, essential when healing with plant medicine.

My sons came out to travel with me in Peru after the jungle experience and that is when I met five brothers who had all been rescued from the streets when they were little kids. Now they were all in tourism and one of them suggested I started bringing groups to Peru. A percentage of my trip would go towards supporting their charities and building schools and greenhouses for high mountain communities.

The following year I had ten passengers accompany me to Peru and one of the brothers, Carlos, was my organiser. It was as though the Mountain spirits were telling me, “We’ve been holding this door open for you for ages and wondered when you would finally walk through it!” It was to this day, one of the most magical experiences of my life. I realised even more of my potential as a healer and therapist and being able to speak Spanish enabled me to translate. But the best part was sharing my beloved Peru and the beautiful shamanic connection to our precious Pachamama (Mother Earth) with others.

I watched my passengers shift. To date, two of my passengers have moved to Peru, one of whom is going to build and manage the education-orphanage life learning centre we dreamed of during that first trip. Another passenger, a self-proclaimed bachelor, returned to the UK and within the year got married, another quit his programming job of ten years and took a 6-month sabbatical to India!

My business continued to develop and I took more groups to Peru, each time learning something new and having incredible experiences. I continued working with clients one to one and eventually, I took my business online. It was a brave move on my part, not being one for technology or marketing and despite myself, I learned how to run a business and how to work one to one and develop and teach a 12-week course online. I was lucky I followed my intuition because who knew a pandemic would erupt?

I started a Facebook Group called The Spiritually Conscious Traveller which is where I run my business from, and have over 3500 members at the moment. I have weekly Facebook lives and give away a lot of information because I want the world to know that it really is possible to change your life for the better.

I once felt anxious with a pit of despair in my gut every day, and now I can barely remember that time because I wake up happy every day. I learned tools and practices of how to change my thought process, my words, my actions and live the life of my dreams. I am currently writing this nestled in the stunningly beautiful Italian Alps where I have come to teach a shamanic retreat with an Italian soul sister who I met in shaman school 20 years ago!

My online course called From Fear Into Love begins this week and for the first time my coaches are leading the coaching call, so I can be here. By following my truth, my passion, and not spiralling into fear and doubt I have created a beautiful life for myself that is deeply satisfying because I am helping people shift out of fear and move into loving themselves, their lives and living to their highest potential. The Peru trips are back on the map and pandemic or not, I know they will continue because there’s an orphanage waiting to be built, and I can hear the Mountain Spirits calling me.