The term “wounded healer” has its origins in Greek mythology. Asklepios was the estranged son of the God Apollo, who was raised by Chiron the centaur. Asklepios came to be known as the God of Healing and of Physicians, and there were many Asklepian healing temples throughout ancient Greece. Pilgrims would come to these temples to sleep, dream, and receive guidance, vision, and blessing. Both Asklepios and Chiron were wounded and by way of their wounding came to be skillful and effective healers.
For those of us called to an embodied, shadow-sensitive path of transformation and healing, we are each asked to participate in an Askelpian healing temple that is found within our own bodies, weaved into the cells of our hearts and into the strands of our DNA - as well as in the midst of our ordinary lives of love and work.
It is through tending to our wounds that we are able to live fully, to know ourselves at the deepest levels, and to connect with others and with life in a way that is authentic and creative. It allows us to revision, to find purpose and meaning, and to fully participate in the mysteries and sacredness of this life.
It is through attunement to our own woundedness that we are able to connect with healing vectors in the psyche which allow us to be a vessel for healing in the world. Regardless of whether we identify as “a healer” professionally, we are all in relationship with this archetype as we each carry a wound that is mysteriously related to a unique longing within us to create, to feel alive, and to love and be loved.
This path is one of direct revelation and need not be mediated through any person, teaching, or belief system. Rather, it is oriented in your primary, first-person experience. It is one that includes the entirety of who and what you are, especially your vulnerabilities, sensitivities, and eccentricities, which have shaped you at a deep soul level and are essential to your path to individuation and wholeness.
- Matt Licata
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