The birth of healing power from the ‘original wound’ that we must address in the therapeutic relationship, belongs to the archetype of the wounded healer. Jung described this archetype as “the mythological truth that the wounded wounder is the agent of healing, and the sufferer that takes away suffering.” (1)
The myth refers psychologically to the capacity “to be at home in the darkness of suffering and there to find germs of light and recovery with which, as though by enchantment, to bring forth Asclepios, the sun-like healer” (2)
Chiron, then, represents ‘the one who is wounded,’ the one who wounds self and others, ‘the wounder’, and ‘the one who suffers’ because of the wounding. (3) Asclepios, often called the Father of Medicine, was said to have been rescued from his mother’s funeral pyre and raised by the centaur Chiron, who taught him the art of healing. (4)
An archetypal image can manifest in human psychology consciously or unconsciously, but mostly as a mixture of the two, entangled with our wound and presenting us with a problematic situation which we must address consciously, both as therapist and as patient.
The therapist as the healer has his/her own wound which may be drawn in if it provides ‘hooks’ for the patient’s projections. By each working separately on the problem, the archetype is constellated within the therapeutic space, bringing movement along the path. (5)
The wound holds a key: it plays an important role in the process of individuation as that which is the source of one’s inner suffering as well as the bringer of healing and transformation, not only to oneself, but also to others, a gift in service of Life. Looking back upon wounding encounters, we might see that it brought us inner growth and a deepening of compassion.
Von Franz said that, “In seeking for the meaning of your suffering, you seek for the meaning of your life. You are seeking for the greater pattern of your own life, which indicate why the wounded healer is the archetype of the Self – one of its most widespread features – and at the bottom of all healing procedures.” (6)
It might therefore be helpful to ask yourself: what purpose does my suffering, my difficulty serve?
References:
- CG Jung, Four Archetypes p. 136
- ARAS Concordance (wounded healer/TRANSFERENCE-COUNTERTRANSFERENCE): E. Edinger, Mysterium Lectures p. 317
- M Reinhart, Chiron and the Healing Journey p. 81.
- ARAS Concordance (wounded healer/NIGREDO): E. Edinger, quoting Kerenyi, Anatomy of the Psyche par 0.
- ARAS Concordance (wounded healer/SHRINES-AND-ORACLES-OF ANCIENT-GREECE): E. Edinger, Eternal Drama par 0.
- ML von Franz, Puer Aeturnus p. 114
