Why shamanism is the new religion for the 1 per cent
Helen Kirwan-taylor explores the fastest growing faith in England and Wales and finds a world of innerdance facilitators, psychedelic chocolate – and sky-high bills
First, they were interior designers, then they were psychotherapists, or sold bijoux jewellery or made high-end cupcakes. But now, the ladies of London have found a new calling: one which involves rattling bells, burning sage and charging clients the same rates as a corporate lawyer. These women (and occasional men) are self-proclaimed shamans. And they’ve tapped – and microdosed – their way into a very happening trend.
According to the new Census report, shamanism is the fastest growing religion in England and Wales, with the number of people practising it rising from 650 in 2011 to 8,000 in 2021.
If you’ve not signed up yet, don’t worry. It’s coming to a country spa or mid-sized city hotel near you soon. You’ll be joining a congregation that includes fellow “worshippers” such as Jim Carrey, Sting, Jennifer Lawrence and Daniel Craig. The high priestess for shamanism, though, is surely Gwyneth Paltrow, who introduced us to the idea of having one’s own practitioner. In her case, a bisexual former model called Derek, who changed his name to Durek Verrett and whom Paltrow calls “her light in shining armour”.
Verrett (private sessions cost around £1,600 an hour) is now engaged to Princess Märtha Louise of Norway. The princess has her own spiritual schtick going. Apparently, she “makes contact with the dead”, which may have been how they met. Because – hold on – according to Paltrow’s Goop blog, Shaman Durek “had to actually die, and then physically put himself back together” before he could start to practice. Presumably, the couple met in – literally – another life, though who among us non-believers can say?
This may prove to be rather offputting. Communing with the dead may not be quite what you had in mind. It’s why so many of us run for the hills when offered a piece of laced “chocolate” at a dinner party (yes, these show up now in Notting Hill).
But then shamanism, it should be stressed, is not your typical alternative therapy. OK, you get to talk about yourself to someone who is paid to pretend to listen, but it can be a tad on the psychedelic side.
To wit, it often seems to involve magic mushrooms – or to be more precise, the compound psilocybin found in the aforementioned fungi, if one is to gain any benefit.
At least, it does if you decide to embark on the extreme route to enlightenment by taking a specialist trek in Peru or Jamaica (pro tip: check out the Tripadvisor reviews first). Also, much like a wax, don’t expect to enjoy it at the time. Vomiting often appears to be involved. Shamanism, it seems, is more about the after-effects than the time spent in situ.
Having said that, big pharma is taking notice. Stories of recovery from depression after controlled psilocybin use are making more doctors sit up and listen.
I have a young friend – we’ll call her Alice – whose search for respite from acute anxiety led her to one of the Balearic Islands. She tells me: “I thought I was going to be taken to some gorgeous mountain top to watch the sunset, but instead found myself an hour-and-a-half inland, driving down some dusty track to an open-fronted hut with bowls and coloured lights, meeting an older woman who didn’t speak a word of English.”
After eating chocolates, which had been blessed and laced with psilocybin, Alice lay down on a mat and put on an eye mask. After two hours listening to the woman recite Irish poetry, she still felt nothing.
The woman then blew “rapé “(a type of tobacco that increases the effects) up her nostrils, which Alice describes as being like “wasabi times one million”. She adds: “You don’t know if you’re going to throw up or pass out.”
Suddenly, Alice found herself weeping. “The woman held me in her arms, as though she knew I needed to be mothered.”
After four hours in the hut the moment came when Alice’s “body and mind fully connected”. Her main thought was “that I never wanted this to end”. But the ceremony did finish after six hours with a bowl of vegetable soup (and a fairly substantial bill).
Since then, Alice says she feels less anxious. “People are desperate to find a spiritual answer to get them out of their dysfunctional lives,” she says. “Personally, I think a lot of people can’t be bothered to do the work that therapy involves. They want to take the drugs to get out of their heads.” Indeed.
If you’re going to sign up for a more British approach – sans psychedelics, which are a Class A drug in the UK, though mushroom spores aren’t illegal – we have practitioners here, too.
Lisa Butcher, TV presenter and former wife of chef Marco Pierre White, runs retreats in Hertfordshire and west London, where she helps to “retrieve souls”. Among her many listed credentials are “Innerdance Facilitator” and “Lightarian Reiki Master”.
India Rose Waters, the daughter of former Pink Floyd musician Roger Waters, learnt classical and core shamanism at the feet of indigenous shamans from Sri Lanka, Burma, Mexico, Siberia and Bhutan. She has since offered shamanic work in the NHS as well as privately.
Upper-class truth-seekers head to Jo Bowlby, who charges £250 an hour, who I met through Trinny Woodall years ago. I confess, I did have a session with her but can’t claim to have noticed any positive effects.
Perhaps it’s a good time to try it again? At a recent dinner party, I met journalist-turned-shaman Anna Hunt (aka “The Shaman in Stilettos”), who runs retreats in Peru and Spain. She uses music and bells to release deeply-held tension, and admits to being previously mocked about her line of work.
The pandemic, according to Hunt, has proved to be good for business – she now has a waiting list of people with conditions including long Covid and depression.
Covid “put a massive mirror to our face,” says Hunt. “It made us consider things we take for granted, like personal freedom.
“As a society, we are moving away from organised religion,” she adds. “But we want to believe in something.”
And shamanism, apparently, is it.