The wounded healer archetype may assist us in uncovering what is hidden and repressed—the shadow. The shadow energies represent an invitation for greater consciousness and living more ethically. The uncovering process is generally painful and intense; however, it breaks down the status quo. At this point a renewal may occur as we learn to transform wounds into gifts.
Jung links the archetype of the wounded healer back to the Greek myth of Chiron—the story of how a centaur was wounded accidentally by an arrow from Heracles’ bow. Chiron does not die; instead, he suffers excruciating pain for the rest of his life. It was because of his wound that Chiron became known as a renowned healer in ancient Greece.
The notion of wounded healer is one of the main principles of shamanism. Like Chiron, a shaman goes through “an initiatory crisis—a prolonged stage of deliberate physical illness and/or psychological crisis that the initiated has to undergo as part of the training process. Such afflictions and their eventual cure serve as evidence that the shaman-to-be was indeed chosen by the spirits”.
The healing journey can be a long and winding road but no matter how hard it gets that road is taking us somewhere new. Renewal is a process that takes place over time and requires our active participation. Time alone does not heal all wounds. Healing is not done to us; it is something we do for ourselves often with the support of others.
When we are willing to feel and release past pain, our wounds transform into gifts; we discover, as Rumi writes, “The cure for the pain is in the pain”. On Monday, Sept. 8th there is a full moon in Pisces (the collective unconscious) conjunct Chiron (the wounded healer), a potential for deep healing is upon us—that is if we don’t resist and try to hang on to the status quo.
Replies
One of the benefits of a mythic approach is that it encourages us to find and redream specific mythic stories, as with your mention of Chiron. It can be interesting to get into the details. For instance, Chiron freed Prometheus in one story. What if he had left him chained up? Would our genetic and weapons scientists suffer from so much Promethean hubris? Interesting to play with the stories and see what happens.
I like the notion of "finding and redreaming specific mythic stories" with the nitty gritty details of the stories themselves, within our own psyches and at varying degrees of cultural and environmental distance. There is just so much fertile ground to engage!
Maria Stella, what are a couple of your favorite mythological resources?
Yes, changing the myth/story can alter the worldview and create change--a completely new world, as Craig suggested.
Here is a website for classical western mythology: http://www.classics.ucsb.edu/faculty/morstein/classes/mythology/res...
I like the work of Jonathan Young, here is his website http://www.folkstory.com/resources.html
And I love Marion Woodman.