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Oct 2, 2003

Hi All:

This might read at first like, "Confessions of an eccentric Medical Intuitive"( like where was I when I needed me?), but my recent experience with surgery and the art of avoiding self-care has set me thinking about the life, stress, behavior, and over all management of oneself within the arena of the Healer archetype. I have long spoken about the characteristics of the Healer archetype, from its "wounded" aspect to its inherent healing threads. But I never gave any serious thought to what it means to care for the self - truly care for the self - when one is involved, or in practice, as a Healer. And here, I define that rather broadly in that the Healer has many, many presentations, from someone who actually works one-on-one in the healing arts with those who are confronting physical illness, to helping people through emotional, psychological, and spiritual crises. And then there is the far more obscure realm of helping someone who is coping with a psychic disorder.
To some extent, every one holds the potential of assisting others in their healing, regardless of whether that assistance comes under the title of "professional". I've experienced enormous infusions of energy from the wacko humor of some of my friends who can re-sculpt the worst that life has to offer into something to laugh about - if only for a moment. That's healing for me. As for me, I never considered myself a healer as such, but more of a teacher/writer. I write information that has a healing potential for people, but I never felt that qualified me for the trademark of the Healer. I am now redefining my hard-core academic perspective a bit because I think that I eclipsed in some way the need to recognize the delicate energy field that surrounds those of us who participate in the healing arts in any way, practitioner or writer. In fact, any one who is open to the well-being of others has a more receptive, sensitive energy field and at the very least can appreciate that they have a more positive influence on others than negative - and that is healing versus illness, no? I am wondering now if it is time to focus a bit more intuitive attention on developing the art and science of managing or nurturing "the Healer's body, mind, and spirit". I don't care for either of those words - managing and nurturing - because I don't like their implication. Managing sounds so technical and nurturing so weak and emotional - I need a new word...something more on target...I'll come up with something. My point is that knowing you are a healing practitioner does not necessarily mean that you are fully cognizant of how to "manage" that type of semi-etheric wiring. Waiting for "burn-out" to hit before taking it easy - much less an actual health condition that needs attention - is obviously a foolish move, and yet, as I think back on the number of conversations that I have had with people who have reached "healer burn-out", I am now very aware that few of them truly saw it coming of a tsunami wave, the after math of a subterranean earthquake.

It is very, very easy to put others before oneself as we are reared in that paradigm. And it is right that we learn to care for others - think of the cycle for a moment: We begin by learning to care for others, then we resent that we were not cared for or that all we do is care for others, then we go off to find someway to care for ourselves in order that we can return and care for others.....Is that not the pattern? Reads like lunacy. But what's caught my attention is that somewhere amid the psychic concerns of wanting to be available to others, of wanting to also take care of ourselves, of assuming degrees of responsibility that are just a shade more intense then they should be....and of missing or ignoring our own signals, exists the greater mystery of the Healer and the art of managing/maintaining/consciously relating to the energy that runs through that archetype into the spirit of those so deeply connected to its call. This is the point of my intrigue. I think the burn-out syndrome and the high voltage mood swings - from depression to anxiety to isolation - are more symptoms of personality imbalances brought about by obvious occupational stress. Our capacity to engage with the more subtle, transcendent energy that precedes the subjective, chronos world is what has captured my attention. Another way to describe this perhaps is that the alchemical design of the Healer archetype is fundamentally a template for timeless light to enter into dense, used matter for the purpose of alchemical transformation - not that difficult a concept to understand, but a most difficult process to grasp, much less learn. Intellectual acuity on the subject of healing does not and should not imply that one has also learned the art of engaging the Healer archetype within their field of life, greater than their work, greater than their intellectual interests. For regardless of whether one is actively involved in a healing art, the energy of that archetype remains continually active and we are hardly always aware of what that activity is generating in our energy field.

So, I think I am going to delve a bit deeper into these waters. My mind is flying around the room with insights and mysteries right now...the way I ignite when I'm about to embark down a new rabbit hole. Let me know if you're interested in my sharing any of my ponderings....
And now that I am back in the driver's seat of my computer after a four week absence, I am busy outlining my next Salon - Just as a refresher, I left you in the midst of a seven part series on, "Why We Sabotage our Enlightenment". This next Salon is on, "The Fear of Living the Intuitive Life." I hope you'll enjoy it...You'll have it in a few days. I am not quite up to full steam, but I am rapidly returning.

I hope all of you had a lovely summer. I can feel the cold air pressing against the window pane of my office....How fast summer goes, no? I saw pumpkins yesterday...
Oh, one final request - the CUBS are in the play offs with the Atlanta Braves....now, I've never asked a sports type favor - in fact, never even mentioned that I like the CUBS. HOWEVER, this is no time to be psychically passive....SO if any of you have any spare psychic energy in these next few days (AND if you are NOT a Braves fan) - then as soon as the CUBS game begins, you do one of those alchemical rituals - you know, like lighting a candle or whatever - and image the CUBS winning. They have not won a world series since 1908 - how bad is that? AND IF they win the play offs, seems to be they'll be facing the New York Yankees....whewie - what a race that would be.....

Alrighty then....I am sending you all so much love and thank you for your kind emails of healing support. I am more than on the mend...

Love,
Caroline