WOUNDED HEALER
A SHAMANIC PATH TO FREEDOM
The state commonly labeled as “manic-depression” is described here not as a mental illness, but as a profound psychological process—one Jung saw as needing completion in order to reset the psyche.
In this view, extreme mood states represent a deep encounter with the unconscious rather than a chronic disease to be suppressed.
Contemporary psychiatry is portrayed as interrupting this inner process by chemically numbing the psyche, which is said to cause serious harm to the individual.
• The text argues that, because the mental health system is heavily financed by pharmaceutical companies, profit tends to take precedence over genuine healing.
Authors such as John Perry, R.D. Laing, Thomas Szasz, Roberto Assagioli, and Carl Jung are invoked to support the idea that psychotic or manic breaks can be terrifying but meaningful encounters with the unconscious, occurring without a strong enough ego to contain the experience.
From this standpoint, such crises are not viewed as “illnesses” but as destabilizing, potentially transformative psychological events
Responsibility is ultimately placed on each person to investigate, question, and choose a path of healing rather than automatically accepting drug-centered care
Insider's view of Shamanic initiation
Insider's view of Shamanic initiation
Your way forward will often be met with hostility, doubt, and misunderstanding.
• Those who have never entered this altered state of consciousness—including many mental health professionals and clergy—typically have no inner reference point from which to truly help
The initial phase of this experience generally requires about six weeks for the individual to begin reorienting to what is happening.
Periods of seclusion, along with supportive changes in diet and lifestyle, are presented as essential elements of the healing process
In earlier decades, dedicated centers such as Diabasis House, Soteria House, The Agnews Project, Burch House, and I‑Ward were created to support this process and consistently showed outcomes that validated a non‑medication approach
These programs were eventually closed due to lack of funding, while the conventional medical model, worth billions of dollars, was expanded because it generated profit rather than simple healing.
Confronting a billion‑dollar system is extremely difficult and often futile.
A more empowering choice is to do your own research and consciously design a personal system of healing that aligns with your experience and values.
A INITIATION PROCESS
Mistaken for Mental Illness
Fighting For My Tribe
Just because we have been graced by 'initiation' does not grant us any special entitlement. We have just come to awareness of another reality - just as we cannot see ultraviolet rays and X-rays in the light spectrum or hear the highest and lowest frequencies in the sound spectrum but know they exist. We are the ones' that have experienced the 'other' frequencies of the one accepted reality that we all agree on. It is not a matter of faith with us, it is a matter of experience.
It is your choice and your choice alone whether or not to take on this challenge. It is not a one-time goal and you're done. This is a life choice - a life path that you will walk your entire life. Maybe you discover that you have the gift of healing, maybe you find that understanding this is not enough. Like any field of study there are those who were born to be healers and there are others who learn to be healers. You were born to be a healer.
I found a 'way'. I found the answers to my questions. I found my truth. And like any other path in life we choose, we still have to do our personal work. The physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and ethical considerations are also part of the program. There are aspects of our character that needs to be molded, pruned and molded and pruned again. We need to be able to function as a productive member of society at the same time that we walk on this path.
There is an old indian story about what the First Warrior said to the Great Spirit.
The first Warrior looked out upon the land that was his home, he saw the hills, and the stars and he was happy. For giving him this home the first warrior told the Great Spirit that he will fight and win many battles in his honor. The great spirit said no, do not fight for me, fight for your tribe. Fight for the family born to you, fight for the brothers you find. Fight for them the Great Spirit said, for they are your home.