Everybody is some kind of healer. Well, maybe not everybody. Every-awakened-body is some kinda healer.
Seems to me that humans have put some of our healers on pedestals, or shoved them out to the outskirts, or cloistered them away, either because we’ve been in awe of them, or freaked out by them, or terrified of them. Maybe sometimes we’re ashamed that we even need them.
When I was a kid, lots of moms seemed to almost worship doctors. Her generation still seems far too obedient to people in white lab coats. How many pills are our parents on? How many doctors are prescribing what now? Who is making sure none of these are redundant or in conflict with other meds? Oh, your pharmacist at the Walmart? Good, good . . .
I was so over-medicated as a child that I’m still detoxing from it. I’d hear the adults talking about pill-pushing doctors, and 10 minutes later it’d be time for my medication. But nobody really thought that a doctor would possibly prescribe something that would actually do harm. It seemed impossible. And nobody could believe a doctor would succumb to drug abuse or sexually abuse patients. That seemed . . . just too far beyond the pale, even though we saw the sad stories in the newspapers all too often.
The fact that we held them apart from us didn’t help them at all. They were isolated from their real communities, or at least most were. Very few doctors would hang out where the rest of us plebes did. It was the country club set, cocktail parties, big fancy dinners, being courted by Big Pharma, going on cruises and other junkets, and being treated . . . differently. Like they were better and more deserving than the rest of us. And truth be told, it really didn’t do them any favors.
Witches, wise women, cunning folk . . . they were a different kettle of fish.
They were pushed to the outskirts because they were just too weird to hang out with. Nobody wanted their company. They associated with the sick and the dead, and they birthed the babies, and that put them just a little too close to the edges of life for anybody’s comfort. They were visited secretly, sometimes after dark.
And some of them cultivated weirdness in order to keep people at a distance. Healers need solitude like plants need water, and Witches needed solitude for research as well as for sanity. Sometimes, a Witch has to be her own guinea pig. Best to leave her be for a while.
But the truth is, we need to stop doing that. We need our healers close.
This model of keeping our healers at arm’s length is a long-standing one. Fortunately, it’s starting to change–at least in the complementary healing community. We live where we live, we engage with people. Lots of us volunteer, do demonstrations, teach classes, and exhibit at healing expos and other events. If you aren’t a presence in your community at some level and you’re trying to make a living at this, get out there. Find or start a monthly healing circle of some flavor; register for a table or booth at a local expo (they’re usually not very expensive); volunteer to do healing sessions at a local care facility, mental health center, or shelter. Show up. Do good work. Live where you live, don’t just sleep there.
That means giving yourself time to recover and recharge, oh absolutely. Don’t burn yourself out on it. Do what you comfortably can, and be sure you build in the reset time, because if you can’t do that part of it, you can’t maintain your own best health and well-being, and then what kind of role model are you?
It’s not an easy high-wire to walk, but it’s incredibly worth it when you get it right. We need our healers close, and we need more people to embrace their healing gifts and desires. Every one–humans and our feathered, finned, four-legged, and antennae’d siblings–needs healing. I don’t know a single person who hasn’t been wounded to one degree or another. This is why we need our healers close, and more of ’em.
Do you have the desire to be a healer? Let’s talk about it, because there is a modality out there waiting for you.