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The Wounded Healer

… It’s at this point (if we are fortunate) that the Healer appears.  He or she is usually someone who has suffered the same wounds as ourselves.  He or she offers both Wisdom and healing, often of a startling and challenging kind, urging us to question our state of being. In many cultures this kind of work was the task of the Shaman, who was sometimes called « The Wounded Healer ».  Not that we need to be wounded in order to be able to heal, but that the wounds themselves are doorways into other realms of consciousness.  Shamanism works directly in the realm of the Soul, and as such it offers a particularly powerful way of treating the innate causes of woundedness.  Being prompted to question your present state of being, to identify and acknowledge various wounds, and to actively seek healing.
The language of Myth and Fairy Tale is the language of the soul, which is the language of symbol and dream, for through the imagery of the story, is a powerful technique of healing. As children we understood these stories in a different way; they stepped right into us and took up residence in our inner most hearts.
Now we need to re-learn the ways to understand the great myths which are the heritage of our culture and of our inner lives.  It becomes very dangerous when a wound is so common in a culture that hardly anyone knows that there is a problem.  There is general discontent with our way of life but almost no one knows specifically where to look for its origin.
Modern medical Science is the result of our technological progress, but it represents a world view that has fragmented the mind and body, the individual and society, spirit and landscape.  New stories which help us to do this are much needed today to bring us back to a feeling of wholeness and happiness which is our birth right.