Top solicitor gave up being a partner in a law firm - to become a shaman

Tiffany Stephens, 54, juggled both occupations for a while but decided to prioritise her true calling as a cross-cultural shaman.

She worked as a solicitor in a North London firm for nearly 20 years, and specialised in conveyancing but also did criminal law and matriominal law.

READ MORE: Proposals for former Glasgow nightclub Archaos site revealed

But her decision to pack it in was prompted after another lawyer took their own life.

In 2007 Tiffany became a professional healer, practicing methods pioneered by ancient civilisation the Toltecs of Mexico.

Mum-of-one Tiffany describes her vocations as Light Bringer, Soul Healer, Truth Seeker and Way Shower.- but is still a signed up to the Global Alliance of Integrative Law.

She trained in Quantum Touch Energy Healing - a form of therapy which is supposed to channel the energy of the universe - as well as Alchemical Healing.

READ MORE: Glasgow financier Hugh Hendry tells how Castlemilk gave him tools to become a global high roller

Tiffany, who lives in Glasgow but is originally from Canterbury, Kent, also works as a celebrant.

More conventional jobs she has done included managing a nutrition centre, and she worked with several local authorities on health related exercise which gave her a grounding in health and medical conditions.

Unlike shamans in the Amazon and Peru, Tiffany does not practice 'plant medicine'.

But she says altered states of consciousness can be achieved with drumming, and that humans have got out their heads through repetitive beats since the dawn of time.

Clients include retired GPs and people with 'normal' jobs including other lawyers, and Tiffany does not consider her calling to be 'New Age' or hippie.

Tiffany said: "It's a drastic career change and I definitely don't regret it.

"I often congratulate myself for making that change.

"There are days when I go 'I could be working in an office for eight hours', it was the stress that made me leave.

"I felt that I could be doing something more exciting.

"Law has one of the highest suicide rates of any job, and I could see why - I knew a lawyer who committed suicide.

"That was another reason for saying 'I can't do this any more.'

"I left Law because my soul was screaming 'get me out of here'."

Her interest in the esoteric began as a teenager - but when she began her profession she completely lost interest.

Tiffany said: "When I was 19 I bought a book on how to be a medium, but then I went into being a lawyer shortly after that.

"I totally lost touch with that world.

"I can remember saying 'I don't believe in anything I can't see or touch'.

"When I had my daughter it seemed better to have a desk job rather than going to police cells in the middle of the night.

"When I was about to leave Law I started getting into crystals and that opened the door back to me.

"I trained in cross-cultural shamanism, originally it came from Siberia, and settled across Central and South America."

Through her shamanic practises, Tiffany helps clients to release emotional blocks which are hindering them.

Unlike traditional forms of therapy and counselling, she does not ask participants to rehash their experiences.

She helps people to identify their 'guides', which can even be their pets - and to begin 'soul retrieval'.

She said: "My clients are normal every day people.

"A lot of them are in caring professions.

"You take away the emotional force of a situation and it doesn't have an impact any more.

"Some people want a magic wand but you've still got to get to the root of the problem."

Tiffany believes there are five 'bodies' - the physical, spiritual, emotional, etheric, and mental.

She said people who try to ignore obstacles in their emotional lives will often end up with physical problems as a result.

Tiffany said: "We are taught that we are a physical body, but we aren't.

"We have a soul and spirit which drives the vehicle.

"Every experience that we have in life, if we don't deal with how we feel about it, it goes into our backpack of baggage.

"It becomes a filter in our energy system.

"If we don't clear it often enough, it impacts on everything.

"When you don't clear that you become physically sick - people with anger often have liver problems.

"We all have guides we can work with, they might be people or animals.

"The shamanic journey helps us to work out what that is."

Shamans exist in many different cultures, including ancient Norse, Mexico where they are the only people legally able to administer psychedelic cactus Peyote, Brazil, Peru, and Europe.

Tiffany said: "I don't do Law anymore, I do the odd favour for friends but I don't really use it.

"I thought maybe there was a way to combine my time by providing my services to lawyers.

"Helping people with personal empowerment and wholeness are the key components of my work."