WOUNDED HEALERS
OF THE CELTIC WORLD ©
by Dillon Carlyon
Shamans are sometimes referred to as “wounded healers,” a term that has its origin in Jungian psychoanalysis.[1] Jung drew the term from the Greek myths of Asclepius and Chiron. Asclepius was a God-hero conceived by Apollo's lover Coronis. In a way, Asclepius died before he was even born—his mother was killed by Artemis for being unfaithful to Apollo, yet when Coronis's body was cremated, Hermes rescued the unborn child and gave birth to Asclepius (whose name means “to cut open”) by incubating the fetus in his thigh and delivering the child through an incision. Paradoxically (and shamans, too, are often charged with reconciling paradoxes and contradictions), Asclepius was killed by Zeus for bringing the dead back to life, yet healing continued in the God's name at sacred sites such as that at Epidaurus, where those needing healing would receive instructions regarding cures in their dreams. Asclepius's mentor, the centaur Chiron, was wounded in the thigh by one of Heracles's poisoned arrows and could be relieved of the pain only if he renounced his immortality and thereby died.
Chiron and Asclepius are not alone. In fact, coming of age stories and tales of life-changing transitions which involve the hero or protagonist being wounded, maimed, or crippled are common throughout Europe, and this is perhaps indicative of a common mytho-historical archetype. There is certainly no shortage of such stories in the Welsh, Irish, and Scottish traditions.
In the Arthurian legends, the Fisher King who guards the Holy Grail is wounded in the thigh; in one account, the one who delivers the wound is the Invisible Knight—the Fisher King's evil brother or shadow self.[2] In his book Fire in the Head, Tom Cowan makes an excellent case for the Fisher King as an unintegrated, or dysfunctional, shaman.[3] The Fisher King guards the Holy Grail and the Grail Lance, which are power objects of healing, yet his healing can only be completed by another—Peredur, Percival, or Galahad, who themselves are shamans seeking initiation.[4] If we make the stretch that the Fisher King's wound in his “thigh” is actually a wound to his loins or genitals (and indeed, depending on where he has been wounded in the thigh, this could certainly result in impotency), his lands are wasted and barren because he cannot fulfill his marital duties to the Goddess of Sovereignty, which is the responsibility of every Celtic king or chieftain.[5] He is a King who fishes, seeking the Salmon of Inspiration from the surface, because he is unable or unwilling to successfully enter a trance state and plumb the depths of the unconscious for healing and wisdom.[6] He has rejected his shamanic vocation. He cannot heal, he cannot live, and he cannot die. His healing must be accomplished, or rather aided, by an initiated, integrated shaman.
In the Mabinogion, Bran the Blessed is killed in the great war between the Isle of the Mighty and Ireland by a poisoned dart to the foot, after which he dies and his head, which is removed from his body, recites poetry and delivers prophecies.[7] Is Bran dead? Is he alive? While the Fisher King is neither, Bran is, in contrast, both. Bran's head is in this realm, while his body is in the Otherworld. Bran is dead yet immortal, and fully able to deliver the magic and inspiration of the unconscious. He is the integrated, initiated shaman.
In “The Wasting Sickness of Cu Chulain,” a story transcribed in the Lebor na hUidre or Book of the Dun Cow, Cu Chulain pursues a flock of Otherworldly birds only to be lured into a trap by Fand and Liban, women of the Sidhe who strike him with horsewhips and thereby inflict him with a mysterious illness that remains on him for a year.[8] Finally, Angus, brother to Fand and Liban, comes to Cu Chulain's sickbed and bids him to return to the standing stone where he fell asleep before being assaulted by Angus's sisters. Cu Chulain makes a journey to the Otherworld, aids Angus, Fand, and Liban in battle against three great enemies, and returns to Ulster in victory. The story begins with Cu Chulain missing the birds with a cast of his spear—the first time he has ever missed in his life; it ends with him becoming a warrior not only of this world, but of the Otherworld, a transformation that heals and renews him.
Examples of wounded healers in Celtic tradition do not end with the advent of Christianity. Cowan also cites Saint Fursey, a relative of Saint Brendan who experienced visions of heaven and hell three times. During his second vision, a demon hurled a burning human at Fursey, and the burn scars resulting from the impact remained with Fursey for the rest of his life. He went on to perform a number of miracles, and like Asclepius, is said to have raised a man from the dead.[9]
Even today, many traditional shamanic initiations are physically and mentally rigorous, often to what would be considered an alarmingly dangerous degree by so-called “modern” post-industrial civilization. Korean shamans, for instance, can spend up to thirty years in a state of near madness and physical sickness and are healed only when they receive their God or spirit helper.[10]
Why, then, must shamans endure physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual sickness as part and parcel of initiation to their vocation? What purpose does it serve? The reasons, and the degree of suffering, may vary greatly from person to person because shamanism is such an individualized, internal, and personal form of spiritual practice. Be this as it may, the sickness, great or small, long or short, is how many shamans find and learn how to use the door to the Otherworld. As exemplified in Bran the Blessed's case, if someone exists “less” in this world—if they have an arm, a leg, an eye, or an ear in the Otherworld—they truly exist between worlds and can do the work of the shaman. One cannot simultaneously exist in both worlds for an extended period of time, however. This is where the incomplete shaman can get stuck, immobilized in the tug of war between worlds. If unable or unwilling to complete the journey, he or she will remain at the door, static and unmoving, like the Fisher King. The shaman is the special type of warrior who, through his or her unique perspective and experience, is able to move between worlds at will and retrieve what is needed from the Otherworld to restore balance where it has been lost. In short, a shaman must heal him/herself, and this is his/her first great challenge. A choice must be made, and the choosing is, essentially, a choice between life and death. While an older or more experienced shaman can help by pointing the way, all shamans are, at the moment of truth, on their own.
From a Celtic perspective, it is very interesting to consider that Kings, according to the ancient law tracts, had to be physically perfect, meaning no wounds, no scars, no blemishes or deformities. Yet there was no such proscription, at least that we know of, for the Filidh or for Druids, who often came from wealthy, if not royal, backgrounds. Perhaps a wound, scar or other such example of physical imperfection, or the less obvious marker of eccentric emotional or mental qualities, acted as a sign that a prominent son or daughter was not destined to be a King or Queen, but instead should seek the feathered mantle of the scholar, vision poet, or Druid.
The purifying flames of Beltane wash away the last of the bitter struggle of winter as the cattle are driven through them. The fire may singe the bodies of those who leap across it for its blessing, but the soul is, in turn, restored and healed. The balance is restored.
END NOTES & BIBLIOGRAPHY
1 “Wounded Healer.” from Wikipedia, the Free Encylopedia. Online, Internet. Last accessed 4/26/09. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_healer] (Return to Article)
2 Cowan, Tom, Fire in the Head: Shamanism and the Celtic Spirit, p. 164. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. (Return to Article)
3 Cowan, p. 164. (Return to Article)
4 pp. 167-171. (Return to Article)
5 pp. 165-167. (Return to Article)
6 pp. 164-165. (Return to Article)
7 “Bran the Blessed.” from Wikipedia. Online, Internet. Last accessed 4/26/09. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bran_the_blessed] (Return to Article)
8 “The Sickbed of Cu Chulain,” from Heroic Romances of Ireland, Vol.I, pp 57-85. A. H. Leahy, ed. London: David Nutt, 1905. Online, Internet. Last accessed 4/26/09. [http://www.luminarium.org/mythology/ireland/cuchulainnsick] (Return to Article)
9 “Saint Fursey.” from Wikipedia. Online, Internet. Last accessed 4/26/09. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Fursey] (Return to Article)
10 “Korean Shamanism.” from Wikipedia. Online, Internet. Last accessed 4/26/09. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/korean_shamanism] (Return to Article)
Currently living in California, Dillon Carlyon is an Oak Grove Ogham Master and has completed Year 1 of the Faery Shaman's Apprenticeship. A graduate of Loyola University New Orleans where he earned a B.A. in English, he has been studying history, religion, spirituality, the Celts, the Oghams, and shamanism for over ten years and hopes to move on to graduate work in the field of Old and Middle Irish. In his spare time he studies the Gaelic languages, Shotokan Karate, the Tibetan art of Boabom, and squeezes in reading, writing, making music, and DJing where he can. Dillon is the producer of the Society of Celtic Shamans Podcast. Contact Dillon at carlyond@gmail.com
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