Description

“The Poison Path of Hermogenes” illustrates the paradoxical nature of transformation, and how we have the capacity to transform poison into medicine.

This piece is about integrating the dual aspects of our nature, that which takes poison and that which desires healing, through the alchemical process. This is represented by the ravens, birds of Hermes, rising and descending through the 7 coils of the serpent, a symbol of the 7 steps of alchemy.

Much like the alchemical process, we all have the capability of turning the lead laden materials of our lives and psyches into metaphorical gold. 

When we hold space for curiosity and open ourselves up to exploring what initially may feel uncomfortable, we often find that the greatest medicine is often cloaked in discomfort and struggle. We understand that poison binds itself to medicine, and like Queen Anne’s Lace, who notoriously and elegantly roots herself in deteriorated grounds, the seeds of medicine grow out of poison laden soil…

Painful truths can often feel like poison to our systems. We consciously try to reject them with everything we have and yet, poison by it’s very nature is something we ourselves, consciously or not, choose to ingest. Unlike venom which is imposed upon us by exterior forces, we physically poison ourselves more than we may realize. Why do we do this to ourselves we might ask? Because somehow we know what we’re actually going to tap into is healing… We either have the awareness and the Will to find our medicine, or we try to continue down an old familiar path until the universe delivers medicine to is that is really hard to swallow. Either way, transformation will follow, because life wants to live…

To be willingly transformed, we must first surrender to this process, dissolve, and separate the poison from the medicine before we can begin recombining into the truth of who we now are. 

This visual talisman connects us with the spirit of transformation, reminds us of our ability to transform poison into medicine, and promotes greater ease and awareness through our own alchemical processes.