Staff of Asclepius
By Masery
The main purpose of a medical alert ID is to communicate vital information about your health to paramedics. A limited number of characters will fit on the ID so always list main diagnosis, allergy, and main medication especially medication that can have serious side effects if combined with others or missed. Secondary information includes your name (at least first) and a significant contact person such as a relative or spouse. If there isn’t room for personal names, that can be included in an emergency information wallet card.
When picking one of the three available symbols, make sure you choose one that you are comfortable with looking at every day. You’ll be wearing it every where and maybe even while in the bath. For my medical ID I chose the Caduceus because of it’s connection to Thoth, Hermes, and messages between the divine and humanity. Writing is part of my magickal practice and I want to make sure emergency personal not only read my medical information but understand it. When they read insulin, I want them to wonder about my current blood sugar levels. Then think about how any medications administered on the scene will interact.
The Caduceous reminds me of spiritual essence or energy, flowing through the body and uncoiling the great serpent or kundalini, a great force coiled at the base of the spine. In part 1, I mentioned how I didn’t want the ID to remind me each day of my fragility or disability. So I chose the winged serpent coiled around the staff to remind me of inner strength and possibilities taking flight.
Charging or enchanting an object is focusing on the purpose of the object, raising energy, and filling the object with the purpose driven energy. Depending on what you are comfortable with, it can be as simple as holding your ID and meditating, or doing a full ritual with it on an altar surrounded by sacred and symbolic objects. You can enchant it during the full moon, a specific astrological date and time or while you sleep if you do dream work. I charged mine at a Godsmack concert.
Pumped up excited crowds madly participating in screaming and moving their bodies put out massive amounts of ambient energy. Sully Erna, the lead singer, is a Wiccan so I expected he would be doing some energy work at the event and there was a high probability that area Pagans would attend. Sure enough a young girl in the next row identified as Wiccan and said she had been a fan since Sully came out of the broom closet. So not only was there energy, some of it was being used and manipulated by magick users. I held my ID between my hands as I danced, gathering the energy that had risen to the top of the stadium. I cleansed it of other people’s thoughts and put my intent of personal power into the charm. As people sang along with the lyrics I thought about the universal language of music and the strength of shared ideas to enchant the ID with clear communication. Let there be rock, and it rolled through me and into my charm.
Part 1 www.patheos.com/community/paganswithdisabilities/2010/09/08/33/
References
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