Dealing with a Poisonous Situation

There are 3 ways of dealing with a poisonous situation when it occurs. All three are valuable in varying degrees of skill and elegance.

Say you find a tree with poisonous fruit in your back yard. What will you do?

• You can cut the tree down and be assured that nobody will die as a result of eating the fruit
• You can put a fence around the tree and put up a warning sign
• You respect and utilize the tree and fruit and make a medicinal potion that cures certain illnesses

The first strategy can be appropriate when we try to let go of an unwanted addiction or behavior. To cut it down and conquer it may be a necessary step on our evolving path to living wisely.

It is also how cancer and other illnesses are frequently treated, especially if they defy our understanding. We simply try to eradicate them out of existence. While this approach may work sometimes, it often does not.

In some ways, it is a rather blunt way to dealing with the problem.

Also, the problem may persist, meaning that out of the seeds of that tree, a new poisonous tree might grow.

The second level is considered more refined and more compassionate. Instead of killing the problem, we acknowledge the danger, and will warn anyone approaching the tree that there is danger - including to remind ourselves. We approach with respect, what we do not understand.

The third way is the way of the shaman or the yogi. Not only do we respect the poisonous tree and seek to understand it, but furthermore we will be able to transform the poison into medicine.

It takes a courageous heart to transform the poison - thus the need for spiritual practices.

I encourage you to look at your experiences - what would you need, to move towards the yogi's way?

From Poison to Medicine

A week or so ago, Joshua was shaving in our bathroom. All of a sudden he felt an electric shock in his foot, as if someone had inserted an electric needle. When he looked down, he saw a six-seven inch, giant centipede that had just bitten him on the toe. It was still attached when he literally catapulted himself five feet back. It hurt like a son of a b....ch. We treated it with soap and water and he took a pain killer. But even so he had little electric shocks surging through his body all day long and his heart was pumping hard. We could see how the poisonous creatures could give an older person a heart attack or kill a dog. The strangest thing was that Joshua called me later from work, saying that he felt great; better than he had in a while.

That night, we looked up mythologies about centipedes and it was very enlightening. The centipede was treated in many cultures with great respect. In Egypt there was even a god named after it because of its power to eat and chase away all nasty insects. In a native story, the centipede had been flattened and lost his ability to walk. So it went to a Medicine Woman and got its legs sewn back on. A hundred of them to make sure it could move efficiently!

Fascinating.

From our research we concluded that Joshua had gotten a shot of medicine from this strange creature. Ever since, Joshua has been moving around on "many little legs," and setting up his own business as we speak. While he might have consciously chosen a different totem animal, say an eagle, the centipede is what he got and he is researching tattoos to help him embody the gift this creature gave him.