Motorcycles, Medicine and the Mythic : Liz Jansen

Motorcycles, medicine and the Mythic are but one example of a symbiotic partnership that takes us on the inward journey of discovery, the hardest, yet the simplest, most illuminating and joyful journey we can take in this life. We have evolved to a place that is so far from our natural condition, it’s difficult to sort out who we really are.

Having researched and studied this topic for years, it was my honor to attend an intensive study program recently, exploring indigenous shamanic wisdom, based on the teachings of Alberto Villoldo/The Four Winds Society, learning to discover my own attachments to the past and how they prevent me from being all that I can be. I also gathered new tools, aka medicines, which I can use not only for my own journey, but integrate into my work so that you might benefit from them too, if you choose.

Held together by a powerful lineage, this wisdom is passed through the generations by an oral tradition, learned through experience rather than, the written word.

Although I’ll try and describe the concept here, it has to be experienced to be learned, and for healing to take place.

The Mythic

For tens of thousands of years, indigenous people around the world have held a close relationship with all of creation – the earth, stars, sun, animals, rocks and humans. In spite of regional variations, shamanic wisdom teaches that all of creation is made of energy – vibration and light – and shares a connection to the same Source. The power that orbits the planets around the sun, creates the galaxies, fuels the sun and makes the seasons flow through a precise cycle is in each one of us. Mostly untapped.

It’s a very simple perspective and one that can re-acquaint us with who we are, what we’re here to do and our relationship to all other living things.

The Mythic is that awareness we bring to our lives of the connection to Source. When we live at that level, our lives are less about the passing drama and more about everlasting art. We are centered in our life energy and in the flow of creation. The Mythic might be another name for the Spirit Zone.

Handing your worries and concerns off to the Mythic means giving it to your higher source – Spirit, God, the Universe, Source – however you refer to it.

Medicine

As we journey through life, we gather tools to help us do our own work. These are our medicines to share with others, if they choose – the gifts, attributes, knowledge and skills we accumulate. Some we’re born with a natural propensity for and develop throughout life; others are more difficult and take more work. Both are honed through continuous learning. After all, we can’t give it to others if we haven’t learned them ourselves, especially given the experiential nature of this wisdom.

To understand the significance of this process, it’s important to recognize the four levels of our being:

Physical – structure, bones, muscles, tissue
Emotional – words, feelings, ideas
Soul – poetry, music, great art, connection with others
Energy – spirit realm. There are no words to describe this; only experience.

Because we are essentially energy beings, the energy body has the most powerful influence on our well-being. It’s here that imprints created by the beliefs, or the stories around events in our past, can eventually create a physical effect.

By helping us learn the lessons from our experiences so we don’t have to keep repeating them, our medicines help us heal energetically, emotionally and physically.

The more we heal the imprint, the more we process at the energetic level instead of the physical, allowing us to change how we live and die.

Motorcycles

For me, motorcycles are a medicine; a tool that I can use for self-discovery, symbolism and personal growth. And adventure.

They teach me life lessons and help me connect to Spirit. They provide stories and experiences, which I can use in my work to illustrate and teach. They are a gift I have been given to share with others on my journey, but they are not the only gift.

Nor does everyone share this gift. Others have other equally powerful medicines with which to do their work.

Bringing it all together

Shamanic wisdom purports that we define who we are by who we are becoming, not by what we were. Since we are each souls here on our own journey, for our medicines to be most effective, we must follow the calling of our heart. This is the greatest solo journey we take.

We are all part of the Mythic; the Power which has no words and can only be experienced. Each of us has our own medicines, or gifts with which to heal ourselves. Although we can only heal ourselves, some of us are called to facilitate this process in others as co-creators, so they too can heal themselves and change their life.

Some of us have motorcycles; others share medicines of art, engineering, teaching, farming or driving a truck.

Discovering our unique calling for our soul journey through life is our most direct connection to the Mythic. It gives us the medicine we need, as we need it, to become the best we can be.

And that is an adventure!

photo credit: Jack Heart via photopin cc