Here I interview Jez Hughes who is known as a Shamanic Practitioner. His journey with Shamanism started many years ago as a young man of 14 where he suffered from several traumatic experiences.
Jez will be presenting a workshop at the Mind Body and Spirit Festival on 11th November 2011 about The Shamanic Path – A Guided Journey. Here I interview Jez about his walk and work with Shamanism and get an insight into the workshop he will be delivering at the MBS in under two weeks time. With the massive shift in consciousness continuing to take momentum, 11.11.11 signifies another important milestone and I will be asking Jez his take about this auspicious moment.
Esther: Jez. Thank you for your time. You call yourself a Shamanic Practitioner. The journey into and with Shamanism is one taken initially with the self and through the self, eventually going beyond the self, if that is a correct interpretation I have presented. This is why I too feel drawn to Shamanism because it is about journeying with the self first before you can reach out to work with or heal anyone else? I feel this is pretty profound because it trains you towards a greater/heightened sense of awareness. Therefore how did your journey begin along this path and how has it transformed your life around?
Jez: HI Esther. As with all paths we need to work with what we have initially, and that is our own experiences and perspective of life, our own souls. And in order to assist others in healing on a deep soul level, we must know those depths within ourselves; otherwise it would be inauthentic and probably ineffective.
My journey began at the age of about 14 when I had a spontaneous experience that initially occurred as a kind of fit, my eyes were rolling around the back of my head, I couldn’t breathe and felt like I was dying. The doctor was called but by this time I had calmed and found myself in a completely altered space, experiencing pure ecstasy at the beauty and inter connectedness of life. However, I had no framework to understand this experience and it was both exhilarating and terrifying. For a long time afterwards when it occurred again I got stuck in the in between space, afraid to be that out of control as I wasn’t in any way initiating the experience. This led to a lot of extreme anxiety, mental disturbances, panic attacks and non-epileptic fits. I now understand I was far too open to the invisible world of spirit, and it was overwhelming my whole being. I was experiencing what I have since understood as a ‘Shamanic Illness’. I travelled a lot to find healing for myself, explored many traditions, particularly Eastern, then in Australia, got fascinated with the Aboriginal culture which led me to train in shamanism. I healed myself, then the next clear step was to use the help I had experienced from the spirits and shamanism to help others. I began practising healing full time about six years ago. I now assist and train others on this path alongside the healing work.
Shamanism has transformed my life by providing both a context and a practical application for me to understand and relate to the world: All my deepest yearnings and longing, to taste something sweeter than the secular existence that I had grown up in, to truly honour and become a part of nature, rather than feeling like some separate entity that’s been placed here in this alien world, as we are often taught in our culture. To come home.
It has enabled me to heal myself, travel to the depths of my soul and into the heart of life. It has also helped me to laugh at myself and life a little bit more, become more playful and accepting of the nature and limits of life, paradoxically while experiencing the limitlessness and mystery of existence.
Esther: From your perspective, or even in a nutshell what is Shamanism?
Jez: An earth based spirituality, focused on healing.
Jez: An earth based spirituality, focused on healing.
