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The White Beard Way
50 Years of Practice. A Lifetime of Insight.
If you’re going through your own 'dark night of the soul', you don’t have to navigate it alone. You can find support here to help you gain clarity, discover a sense of direction and better understand what you’re experiencing.Your support can include soul coaching sessions, free courses, insights from Spirit through oracle card readings, and ongoing guidance.
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About
A Personal Tale Of Four Spiritual AwakeningsDuring my own 'dark night of the soul' process, when the call of the Road Less Travelled became irresistible five decades ago, I knew little of what was in store for me.Back then, there was no internet and there were very few books available on mysticism, yoga or Buddhism etc. At the time, I relied on a second-hand book dealer who specialised in these subjects.I was living in a rural part of Northern England, which meant that at the time there were no classes or centres nearby that I could visit. I was inspired by Spirit and guided by it.This self-reliance had its advantages and disadvantages. Firstly, I learned to trust my inner guidance and secondly I avoided the trap of visiting ‘special gurus’. However, there was no one around to correct my mistakes or to discuss these things with.My First AwakeningA few years into my meditation practice, following the "Who am I?" enquiry of Sri Ramana Maharishi, I had my first awakening. I simply blew out of my mind during a meditation at home, into an altered state of consciousness.It was like finding a trap-door in a dark cellar I’d been in up until that time, and running free into sunshine and fields around the house.It only lasted a few minutes, before my mind kicked in with something along the lines of “holy fuck, what the yogis said is true”. I then collapsed back into my mind/body process and stayed there for the next couple of decades.The period that followed, sometimes referred to as the ‘dark night of the soul’, was challenging and I slipped into a mild form of depression. I had no one to talk to about my experiences and no idea how to manage the life-changing perspective I’d found. I had the fear that if I did open up about it, I’d be labelled as ‘mentally ill’.Awakening Number TwoBy now my practices had matured and diversified.Was that a good thing? In some ways it allowed me to clear out the side-effects of karma and the general trauma associated with rough and tumble of living. The downside being that complexity seldom helps in spiritual matters. Simplicity and focused practice often helps the process to deepen.I wrote in my journal:“Sitting on the train, doing a ‘Who am I’ practice – just looking out of the window at the passing scenery – not interpreting what I saw – just looking.“I then wondered what being is behind it all? As a result, a curtain parted, and my consciousness opened up and continued to expand into the eternal, limitless beingness behind all life. I was awed and almost in tears, busily trying to hold myself together and appear normal to the other passengers on the train.“This opening up into the vast consciousness of life carried on for several hours – an ongoing expansion into limitless being.“In the end I brought the process to a close, as I felt that I would either go insane or die from the amount of energy flowing through my brain.“I experienced that at the heart of life is no-thing and that no-thing is All of Life.”Now comes a challenge: how to reconcile my everyday life with this experience and how to modify my spiritual practices having found what I had been searching for for many years.The side-effect on my everyday life was that my values and identity had now changed. After experiencing the emptiness of all things, what do everyday concerns like careers, possessions, relationships etc. really mean?And all my spiritual practices up and to that point had been ‘searching’ for this. Now it had found me, what was there to do? I understood that in a sense, we’re already enlightened beings, so searching for it invalidates this truth.A Third Awakening HappensThis isn’t a slip of the pen, we don’t achieve awakening – it finds us when we’re ready.For me, this was seven years after my previous awakening experience. A different scenario again – this time in the mountains of Peru – on an ayahuasca retreat.A different kind of awakening too. The first two had been awakenings of the mind, this one was a heart awakening. Prior to this awakening, I’d only ‘thought’ I was coming from my heart, i.e. it was really a mind-based perspective.Through the relentless guidance and ruthless persistence of the Spirit of Ayahuasca to endlessly repeat a ‘love and blessings’ mantra, I broke through my internal barriers to my heart centre – and truly learnt to dwell there.My heart awakened: Pure bliss – dwelling in the boundless unconditional love and compassion of God.A Fourth Awakening Comes AlongThis one was a little less dramatic and it centred on my body, when taking part in a meditation retreatIn my journal I noted:“This body is the living truth.“Enlightenment is here and now. It is in our every cell, every atom of our body, not in some special state, not somewhere else.”It served as a reminder of the utter ordinariness of enlightenment; that awakenings are simply a remembering – a remembering of who and what we already are.In SummaryAs you can see from the above experiences, spiritual awakenings come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.We prepare ourselves with our daily spiritual practices and rituals. We follow some itch that we cannot quite scratch. We trust a process that we don’t fully understand, and maybe we never will. How, when and to whom spiritual awakenings happen remains a mystery.When awakenings do happen, it is through the Grace of God.I hope you enjoy my courses and other services.With Best Wishes,
David R. Durham,
Mystic lover of God.
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Soul Coaching
A 90-minute clarity and reflection session. A one-on-one online exploration for people undergoing a period of inner upheaval, and who are feel a loss of meaning and purpose.A next-level blend of coaching, journeying, and meditation. Regain your sense of identity and purpose, and clarity on your way forwards.
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Oracle Card Reading
A Fresh Perspective.Feeling stuck or unsure which way to turn? An Oracle Card Reading offers time to pause, explore what’s on your mind and see things from a different angle.We’ll explore themes that may help you reconnect with what matters and consider your next step. We use the beautiful imagery and mythic stories of the Weavers’ Oracle, or the messengers of the Other World from the Murder of Crows tarot deck.Your reading is recorded on video and delivered to your email address. So no appointments are needed.
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Simply complete an investment of £65, using the button below.
After you have made your payment, please use the form below to send me your details and reading question. Please see the question guidelines below.
Question Guidelines
Here are a few guidelines to help you formulate your question:
😇 Your question should be an open-ended question ie it doesn't attract a 'yes' or 'no' answer
😇 Your question should be seeking support and guidance, not asking the Spirit to make a decision for you.
😇 Ensure only one question is being asked and it's not a multi-layer question squeezed together and pretending to be one question.
😇 I don't encourage time-based questions such as "when will X happen?" because the answer will only be accurate for that moment in time. Depending on what action you choose to take after the reading could completely change the time frame given in the reading.
😇 Avoid 'either/or' questions as they can confuse the energy e.g . don't ask "should I do this or should I do that?".
Reduced Fees
For your in-depth testimonial that I have your permission to use on this website, I am offering fee reductions for a limited time.Please use the 'Contact' page below to find out more.