CADEUCUS

The art, the science, the calling of being a physician….  a doctor…. a healer. The glass sword of reason separates the spiralling snakes of health & disease. Death… the confidante, the consultant… the touchstone. Compassion…. the abiding principle… the sincere dedication to relieve suffering. The redemption of health, of wholeness comes from the balance of all parts… the whole greater than the parts…. the colours of the circling centres of the energy fields rising from red to yellow, through blue to indigo. It is the clarity of awareness…. the certainty of knowledge, wisdom & intuition that allows the precise decision…. the moment of movement beyond contemplation that defines the act of healing. Healing is the deep desire to become whole…. physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually…. Whole.

COMPASSION

“To suffer with”.  If reason is the tool I use to understand suffering, compassion is the medicine I use to ease it. Reason is a precise, cold, glass sword. Compassion is the white bird rising free. There is a difference between empathy & compassion. Empathy involves an energy, an action, an entering into another’s suffering. Compassion eases me alongside… a being with. Empathy can be exhausted. It is a resource. Compassion if truly felt is boundless… oceanic. Illness opens the door to profound suffering. The art of healing is the art of compassion. Suffering is universal. Understanding Suffering opens the path to spiritual freedom. Compassion allows us to know we are not alone on that path.

CLARITY

In the practice of the healing arts I seek clarity. I hope to know with crystalline certainty the steps that need to be taken to restore my patient to health… to all four realms of health… physical, emotional, psychological & ultimately spiritual well-being. This is a profound & often unattainable goal. It remains my ideal. I need to see clearly what needs to be done to move the individual forward into their highest state of balance. To make the diagnosis  I wield the sword of reason. When I am in my calm, centre as a healer I know with the clarity of mountain spring water… with the translucence of the noon day sky what needs to be done. Fearless with that certainty I am able to act… to show my patient the path to abiding health.

CRYSTAL SKULL

In medicine we present death as the enemy…. a foe to be defeated. In fact, death is our ally. Memento Mori. John Donne had himself painted in his funeral shroud as if he were dead. He kept the painting close to where he worked. Tom Sawyer & Huck Finn let people think they had drowned & witnessed their own funeral. There is no defeating the Grim Reaper. In medicine, we need to take the reality of our pursuit in hand. Death spurs us to open up the possibility of health to our patients…  physical, mental, emotional & most important spiritual health. The point of living is to learn how to die. Once we master the art of dying living becomes a breeze.

THE POISON PATH

"Red touches yellow... kills a fellow....Red touches black... Venom lack" Amazing. The King Snake. The Coral Snake. Nature provides poison & antidote in the same colours. The poison path. A construct I can live by. I walk between two polarities. One is deadly. One gives Life. The path winds gracefully & precisely between the two essences. Medicine & poison are one & the same. The secret is to know  much, when & why. This is the Source of the Tao… of the way to walk with the clarity of the abiding Light. The Shadow close at hand. Danger on one side. Protection on the other. Two snakes coiling. Together. Forever.