We were thrilled to interview the renowned Shaman Durek for our Winter 2019/20 issue, and we think his wisdom and insight into some of the world’s most pressing problems is unparalleled. Check out the article below!
Living voice of ancient wisdom
Shamanic tools for the modern world
by Alison McEvoy
Shaman Durek is a third generation shaman. He is also a high profile speaker, author and activist for women’s empowerment. His new book ‘Spirit Hacking: Shamanic Keys to Reclaim Your Personal Power, Transform Yourself, and Light Up the World’ is on sale now.
Shamanic Lineage
Shaman Durek’s Ghanian grandmother was, herself a medicine woman, the daughter and brother of medicine men. She dedicated her life, he says, to understanding the ways of the shaman and to helping women to heal in all myriad of ways. His mother too played a huge role in the development of Shaman Durek’s gift. From four years of age he was confronted with visions of his ancestors who would often come to his room and speak to him. He was, in fact, visited by many different kinds of beings, some good, some not so good. He was afraid, as any child would be, however his mother counselled him wisely. She reassured him that he was normal – this was a gift from his bloodline, shared by many who had come before him – and he was not to let it stop him from being a child.
His childhood, however, was in no way run of the mill. His initial training started at eleven years of age and consisted primarily in honing the skill of observation; observation of, and sensitivity to, energy and movements of energy; energy forms and subtle energy shifts. It was not an easy time for Shaman Durek and in his teens he decided to attempt to take a break from life as a shaman. He went off to the bright city lights of New York to try his hand at acting and modelling. Shamanism however, being woven into the fabric of his being, came with him. Each day he found himself talking with those behind the scenes, counselling and helping them. There is no unbecoming a Shaman.
Empowering the Feminine
Looking at life on this planet, Shamans seek to identify ways to bring about the most harmony – how to evolve the species in the most harmonious of ways. “Gaia will always survive – but will humans?” is the question he poses.
Shaman Durek clearly identifies the empowerment of the feminine as the way forward. Specifically, it is the feminine trait of knowing that the value of life comes above all else, and the feminine wisdom which seeks that each action should value life as primary. Each action must serve to preserve and benefit all human beings as well as the life of the planet. This is what he calls the “life code”. It is a code which needs to be awakened within human beings, through the reactivation of the feminine. The life code needs to be taught by those with the feminine nature still in tact, often women and sometimes men, to others. It states that “the value of life is more important than anything.”
The masculine alone will act in ways which is insensitive to the life code, uncaring of the effects of its actions on others and on the planet. We can see this in many leaders in government and business, clearly acting from a masculine frame of being alone. They chose any means to secure themselves with more power and wealth (considered more valuable than human life and the well-being of the planet), often using the most destructive of methods – violence, war and manipulation aimed at separating people on any grounds that can be mustered – race, religion, skin colour, ethnicity, class, gender etc.
Surfacing: darkness into light
Human beings are here in order to bring light to this realm. Many spiritual leaders have sought to awaken humanity to its own power; to the light and love with in each of us. They express regret at the ways in which human beings remain unaware of the presence of their inner spiritual riches and seek to gain love from without. Shaman Durek chimes in with this ancient wisdom, identifying human beings as a power of light and of love;
“We have come in order to bring light into the darkness and to do this we have to love beyond fear…beyond pain…beyond labels, beyond everything that humans have created not to love.”
We can love unconditionally, and it is exactly this which is the cure to the darkness that surrounds us. It is vital for human beings to wake up to this realization;
“Most human beings have the belief that they are not loved….they look at love, at ways to get it from someone…or having some validation of some sort. However love is always here….you can just put your hand on your heart and say ‘I pull in unconditional love into my body’…breathe, inhale and exhale…This is a great technique.”
Techniques such as these are among the tools which Shaman Durek seeks to share with us in order for us to become “lit up”. This is a challenging time for human beings as we are going through what he terms a “black out”. This is a time in which all of our shadows and darkness, everything that we refuse to acknowledge within us, is surfacing in order to be transmuted into love through self-acceptance and ultimately, self-love.
On Meeting His Guide
“It was just warm and it was just pure love: the best conversation I’ve ever had. The best laugh I’ve ever experienced. I asked my guide some questions. I asked her about the Earth. I asked her about suffering. I asked her about dying. I asked her about sickness. I asked her about war. I asked her about all these things. She told me that all human suffering comes from one thing. I asked her what it was. She said, “malfunction in thinking.” It wasn’t like a debate. My consciousness wasn’t like, “oh, this is the way it is?” My consciousness simply went to “yeah.” That was it.
