E34 | Azra Bertrand | Our Bodies Are Biomantic: On the Magic, Mystery, & Medicine of Being Alive
“Our body is made of magic, with incredible powers of regenerative healing and intuitive wisdom.”
Here is an audio version.
A video version can be found below.
Azra begins by sharing about his time alone in the Alaskan wilderness as a young man—how it awakened his primal senses and reshaped his path, connecting him to Earth and to his deep self in profound ways. We explore the long integration of those initiatory experiences, including the challenges of navigating medical school and academia while holding a worldview that often felt at odds with the mainstream.
Through this crucible, Azra’s understanding of life and healing began to crystallize into what he now calls biomancy—a relational, reverent way of engaging with the intelligence of biology. Rather than “hacking” the body, he invites us to romance it, to court it as we might a river or a mountain. We speak of the body as a womb of living magic, rooted in bio-quantum processes and capable of astonishing healing and transformation.
Azra shares stories from his clinical experience and reflects on the difference between domination-based approaches to healing and those grounded in slowness, humility, and connection. We explore individuation, ancestral healing, and the imaginal realm as core to true medicine—realms where image shapes reality, and where magic arises from reciprocal relationship.
A Year to Live
Find Thematic Show Notes Below
Connect with Azra:
Website
Instagram
Connect with WHR:
WHR Instagram
Coyotei Counsel Instagram
Tei’s Instagram
Email - whr.link@gmail.com
Thematic Show Notes
Wilderness as Initiation:
“When the background glow of civilization vanishes, perception becomes clear.”
Living alone in the Alaskan wilderness as a young man.
How primal senses awaken in silence and solitude.
Nature as the first teacher and initiator.
Bringing Medicine into the System:
“We bring our medicine into challenging terrain sometimes, and I trust that purpose.”
Struggles and transformation during medical training.
Being forged by the tension between intuition and institution.
The importance of integrating heart, soul, and intellect.
Biomancy:
“Our body is an amazing womb or cocoon of micro-quantum biological terrain.”
Biomancy as the synthesis of Azra’s life work.
Moving beyond biohacking toward romancing the body.
Seeing the body as a sacred ecology, not a problem to be fixed.
Magic Rooted in Relationship:
“Magic is rooted in relationship, connection, and communication.”
Moving away from a war-based model of healing.
Disease as a breakdown in connectivity.
Healing as a relational, humble, and listening act.
The Imaginal Realm & Biodelic Reality:
“We don’t take psychedelics—we are psychedelic.”
The imaginal as a living realm of communication and creativity.
Daydream, vision, and shamanic inner travel as legitimate sources of revelation.
The body's natural design for mystical experience.
Destiny, Individuation & Deep Relationality:
“Our destiny is to be so deeply integrated with the sun, the moon, the earth, in incredible symbiosis.”
Breaking free from inherited ancestral patterns.
Individuation as an ecological, relational emergence.
The soul’s journey toward symbiotic belonging.