Eating Poison

Life contains poison—toxic experiences, harmful energies, destructive emotions, and painful truths. The question is not whether you will encounter poison, but what you will do with it. The immature response is to avoid it, deny it, or be destroyed by it. The mature response is to eat it—to transform it into medicine.

The Manipulator uses poison to harm others. He spreads toxicity rather than transforming it. The Dummy is destroyed by poison. He can't metabolize difficulty. The Mature Magician transforms poison into medicine.

Eating poison requires:

Face it: Don't take in poison without awareness. Choose what you're willing to work with. Set clear intentions.

Feel it fully: Don't suppress, bypass, or dissociate. Feel the poison in your body. Let it move through you. This is where transformation begins.

Hold it in awareness: Bring consciousness to the experience. Observe it. Name it. Don't identify with it—you are not the poison, you are the one who can hold it.

Find the medicine: Every poison contains medicine. What is this teaching you? What strength is it building? What wisdom is it offering?

Integrate and release: Take in what serves. Release what doesn't. Let the poison transform into wisdom, compassion, power, clarity.

Share the medicine: Once transformed, the poison becomes medicine that can heal others. Your wound becomes your gift.

The dose makes the poison. Not all poison should be eaten—some should be avoided, some neutralized. Know your capacity. Work with support.

This skill takes years to develop. The young Magician often overestimates his capacity and gets overwhelmed. The mature Magician knows his limits and works within them, gradually expanding what he can hold.

The Magician who learns to eat poison can sit with others in their darkness without being pulled under. He can transform his own wounds into medicine for others. This is the path of the wounded healer.