Amongst a bustling marketplace there is a man. He stands on a table rambling and pointing to the sky. No one pays him any mind, just enough mind to avoid eye contact and leave a measurable distance of space between him and themselves.
His eyes glimmer. Not the glimmer of hope, nor the glimmer of excitement. But instead, eyes layered with a sheen of despair. An aura that exudes franticness. A light that does not illumine but instead obfuscates and confounds.
He continues rambling, speaking to no one person in particular, at least no one that we can see. He speaks of Gods returning to Earth. Of investigative drones emitting radiofrequencies that install apps into our mind controlled by secret government agencies. Of geometric patterns imprinted in the sky that can predict future events.
The general population of the marketplace continues about their business, whilst in the corner a mysterious man studies the madman and whispers to himself, “he has gone to be with God.” After studying him for a brief period of time, he then goes on. As he enters his lair, he takes off his cape, and sits at his desk. There we see a sky map with pins and strings connecting into intricate shapes with a ledger on the side containing calculations and dates of past and future events. On his wall we see a flying device that has been pierced by a bullet, its electrical circuits and radio transmitters dismantled onto the floor below, a rifle stands on the side. In the corner we see an altar decorated with strategically placed sigils, stones, plants, animal parts, and a single candle lit in the middle.
We look at this man while he is engaged with the task at hand. Using a compass to measure the degree angles between vectors on his map, and noting each one. He speaks to no one, the voice in his mind guides him as he works and he responds with action. His eyes glimmer, with a clarifying glow of tempered excitement. His aura exudes diligence. He emits a light that confers lucidity.
This Man is The Magus.
The Magus and the MAdman receive intel from a common source. Yet, what each one does with that information is what makes the world of difference between the two. The MAdman is stuck. The Magus is flowing. The MAdman takes all his delusions whole-heartedly. The Magus refrains from blind belief and instead makes his home in observation. The MAdman is enclosed by fear, inspissated by anger and becomes dejected. The Magus is enraptured by curiosity, inspired by magic and becomes enlightened.
The MAdman keeps his head in the Heavens while the Magus keeps his feet affixed to the Earth. The Magus uses the Inspiration from the Heavens to Inseminate the Earth. His duty is to transform the messages of the spirit into tangible action of the physical space. He is an alchemist of the highest degree. This capacity is well exemplified in the First Major Arcana of The TAROT.
The Magus keeps one hand lifted to The Heavens Above with his wand serving as an antennae. The other hand is kept pointing to The Earth Below, the grounding force that stabilizes the energy received. This balancing act serves to produce a clean and pure signal for the Magus in The Middle; hence, the circuit becomes complete. The Magus stands at the precipice between the two realms, then goes forward with the tools of his trade laid out before him; The Pentacle, The Sword, The Chalice, and The Wand. The four elements from which he can create anything.
Malidoma Patrice Some, author, ‘Of Water and The Spirit’ tells the story of a young man, in his early twenties that began having difficulties in university. He could not keep up with his schoolwork, his grades suffered, he began missing class. Peers reported him to appear more and more disheveled, aloof, and overall absentiminded. He began spending a lot of time by himself, and whenever he was with others he spoke of non-sensical things in a non-sensical way. He became isolated and depressed and could not maintain his life at university, so he returned home to live with his parents.
His parents could barely recognize this new person. What had happened to their son? The allopathic doctors offered a diagnosis of schizophrenia and suggested to begin him immediately on a regimen of antipsychotic medications. The parents decided instead to seek a second opinion. They met the African Medicine Man, Malidoma, who offered a different suggestion.
“Let your son come with me, back to my community in Burkina Faso, there we will train him to be a medicine man.”
The parents didn’t quite understand. A medicine man? He cannot even stay in university and take care of his life?
The medicine man explained:
“This is a sickness that affects people who are being called into the spirit world. These are the people that work with the spirits and serve as mediums between between both worlds. In our society we know this, in your society you do not understand this.”
The parents decided this would be better than subjugating their son to a life of pharmacological stupor, so they let their son go to a new continent with this man.
Over the next several months the young man was immersed in a world of magic, initiation, ritual, spirits, and medicine. Within a short period of time his exasperating symptoms were reduced and refined until they became something else entirely, they became his superpower. He learned how to use divination systems and apply his senses to making medicines guided by the spirit. He became immersed in a new world with other people like him that could share in his reality. He was happy, content, and thriving. The seemingly uncontrollable and incomprehensible stimulation he was experiencing in the western world now had an outlet of expression in this new world that welcomed his talents. His parents came to visit him and were gratefully shocked at the transformation their son had experienced. When they brought up the topic of returning home, the son said, “This is my home.”
He was given the proper container to explore his subjective experiences, the “hallucinations”, the “delusions”, all had a place for him here. There was a system in place, a traditional spiritual system, developed over millennia through generations of medicine men and women. These systems allowed him to transmit his Heavenly inspirations into the Earth. He learned that his hallucinations and delusions were real signs calling forth into a deeper truth he had to delve into in order to return with something of substance for himself and his community. The key difference here is that, he was not made a pariah by society at large but instead, welcomed as a man of the spirit world that had an important role to play for all of humanity.
For all eternity, this has been the calling of the healer, the shaman, the medicine man or woman. It is a calling that all of us, at this time, are receiving. It seems like all around this there are either pockets of madness or medicine. Madness is spreading at an all time high, but with that Medicine is also creeping into the fabric of all our experiences. It’s the homeodynamic play of the Universe, Call and Response, Action and Re-Action…the Cosmic Echo.
I sit in amazement witnessing all that has become of the psychiatric system of medicine in the Western World. Human beings are subjugated to inhumane treatment from the institutions and society at large. This process of societal exile – in and of itself – is a huge risk factor for depression and psychosis. What if these MAd men and women were the saviors of the very madness that they exhibit? The saviors crucified by our ignorance.
Because of this suppression, we all must stand and suffer the madness.
We all have a role to play. Do you want to be the MAdman or the Magus?
Are you going to let yourself fall for all the delusions and illusions that society is selling you? Are you going to let fear rule your choices?
Or…Are you going to step into your true power? Are you going to be the captain of your senses, the curator of your experiences, the manager of your emotions? Are you going to fall for the lies they have told you about your gifts? Are you going to squander the larger than life reality that exists right beyond your fingertips for a bland narrative of oppression, fear, and scarcity?
No, you are not going to do that, you know better.
Learn Your Medicine.
Own Your Magic.
About The Author: Marcos Berrios Arredondo – Iberian/Congo/Taino Ancestry, Anatomist, Medical Doctor, Curandero, Apprentice Witch Doctor, Herbalist
The Medicine Way 
Leave a comment