CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE KARMU AS WOUNDED HEALER A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education, Educational Psychology, Counseling and Guidance by Janet Z. Gile1.. June, 1981 The Thesis of Janet Z. Giler is approved: California State University, Northridge ii Copyright by Janet Z. Gi1er - 1981 This work is dedicated to the memory of my mother who died of cancer sixteen years ago, and represents everything I would have wanted to say to her except thank you for loving very special flowers. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The list of people who have helped me define and execute this project are numerous. The ones who stand out most prominently are my committee, teachers, friends and family. I would like to thank the following, while acknowledging their contributions: Margaret Thompson, my chairperson, who took me seriously and debated with me about the nature of healing; John Cogswell, Luis Rubalcava, Joe McNair and Dorothy Doyle, who have taught me and allowed me to grow; John Hubacher, who shared his years of research in parapsychology; Sam White, who showed me how to observe without interpreting; Alan Ruskin, who spent years helping me clarify many of the concepts; Debbie Johnson, who helped keep me sane and grounded; Joann Culbert-Koehn, who helped me sort through my own experiences; and Michael Shoob, who showed me the difference between the written and spoken word. Lastly, I would lH:e to thank my family for providing an environment whieh taught me to question, and KF-trmu, who allowed me to see that reality was greater than I had percei vecl. 1v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION . iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv ABSTRACT .... vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .......... ]_ The Medical Model and the Denial of Death . .. 3 Healing: An Old or New Paradigm? 5 II. LITERATURE REVIEW 8 Between Psyche and Soma 8 Soma Rules Psyche 9 Between Psyche and Soma; A Systems Approach 14 The Archetype of the Wounded Healer 17 The Shamanic Tradition of Healing 20 The World View of the Shaman 23 The Divirte Healer 26 The Alchemist as Healer 29 III. METHODOLOGY 32 The Gathering of Data 33 How to Introduce Ka.rmu? 36 Page IV. A HEALER Nk~ED KAR~ru 38 Section One: Karmu as Person; Karmu as Shaman 38 "Just an Ordinary Cat" . 38 Witches, Voodoo and Other Teachers 41 The Misplaced Shaman . 47 Section Two: Snake's Root and Other Elixirs 50 First Night Impressions 50 Levels of Healing 54 Being Touched by Magic . 60 If You've Got the Proper Mind 61 Section Three: How Healing Occurs 63 From the Psyche . 64 The Bioenergetic Body 69 The Energetic Force-Field 71 Section Four: Karmu as Wounded Healer 76 Karmu as Shaman 77 Karmu as Alchemist 81 Section Five: The Song of the Shaman 86 V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS 100 REFERENCE NOTES 103 REFERENCES 110 APPENDICES 117 vi ABSTRACT KARMU AS WOUNDED HEALER by Janet Z. Giler Master of Arts in Education, Educational Psychology, Counseling and Guidance This thesis explores the definition of wholeness, for healing involves attaining the experience of the whole. As psychotherapy is defined as healing the psyche, psyche is defined and the relationship of psyche to the whole is discussed. Two paradigms are presented: the medical model which offers an inadequate model to explain how the psyche and the soma are interrelated, and an older system of healing defined in terms of the archetype of wounded healer. The meaning of wholeness within the archetype of the wounded healer is discussed in terms of three sub-models: the shaman, the alchemist, and the divine healer. vii In moving from the general to the specific, a healer named Karmu is described in depth through my obser­ vations arid knowledge learned as an observer, participant and student. The literary descriptions are intended to appeal to both the readers' intuitive and rational pro­ cesses, so as to enable them to personally assess Karmu and how he functions. Explanations as to how healing occurs are offered, and the paradigm of the wounded healer is described through Karmu and how he practices as a shaman and an alchemist. In conclusion, the paradigm of wholeness is further explored and some suggestions for further research are made. viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Healing is defined as a return to a state of wholeness, the "restoration through mending of a breach." Wholeness is defined as "not broken off, defective, dam­ aged, injured; or intact; a complete organizatiol'! of the parts, a unity or an entirety.'~ In most healing systems throughout history, wholeness involved a dynamic inter- relationship between body, mind and soul. It has only been in the last four centuries that our current paradigm has changed the concept of the whole. The current medical model relies on an etiological approach which excludes soul, gives partial recognition to the psyche, and concen­ trates mostly on the body and its physiological and bio­ chemical mechanisms. The body has been thought to be sus­ ceptible to invasions by foreign bodies such as germs or antigens. Physicians have adopted an ameliorative stance. Their goal has been to repair the damages rather than pre­ vent the imbalances which cause the body to be susceptible to invasions. The term !!psychotherapy" literally combines the G::ceek word "therapeuein" which means nto heal n with 1 2 "psyche," which was origin::tlly defined as "soul and later came to refer to "mind." The issue of varying definitions of "psyche" is addressed throughout this work. The omis- sion of the notion of "soul from the 1:erm "psyche'' caused a fundamental breach by divorcing the individual from the collective aspects of consciousness. Koestler aptly de- fined the dual character of all parts and wholes: Every organ has the dual character of being a sub­ ordinate part and at the same time an autonomous whole. The individual ... is an organic whole but at the same time, a part of a family or tribe. Parts and wholes in an absolute sense do not exist anywhere. (1972, p. 111) Sjmilarly, Jung believed in the psyche's dual nature. He called it a relatively closed system because it describes the potential for consciousness within a specific individual who functions as a discreet system. Yet, the psyche is a partially open system because it is also part of a whole, which is defined as the collec- tive aspects of the unconscious. (Jung's contribution to psychology was to classify the aspects of this shared domain through the use of archetypes which are a priori potentials for the coalescing of psychic energy around specific themes. They differ in cultural contexts but are not reducible to cultural determination. Ulanov, 1971) The concept of the psyche, offered by Jung as both indivi- dual and collective, resembles what the ancients called the "soul." 3 Not only has the current medical paradigm removed the soul leaving only the mind, but healing has come to refer primarily to the body. A "doctor" is a clear refer­ ence to a specialist concerned with the body while a "therapist" refers to a specialist of the mind or psyche (depending on their orientation). The notion of "healer" is even more ambiguous because the healer's paradigm neither splits mind from soul, nor psyche from body. The schisms have developed over the last four centuries. They have been attributed to Cartesian logic and Newtonian physics which have emphasized the-observable,. the defin­ able, and more specifically, the measurable. Through the discoveries over the last thirty years of quarks, subatomic particles and postulated unified field theories, the ruling paradigm has been challenged. The need for a paradigm shift, which is actually a revolution in ideas and usually is completed by the ascent of a new ruler to the throne (Kuhn, 1962), is indicated by the emerging perspective that the mind and body are indeed an interrelated system. Although the new theories are diverse, what is apparent is that healing belongs to both the body and the mind. The Medical Model and the Denial of Death Kenneth Pelletier (1979) made the observation that the ratio of illness to health within civilizations seems 1 to remain constant, differing mostly in etiology. Though 4 the medical model has refined techniques of observation and diagnosis, and many older afflictions have been success- fully cured, modern equivalents have replaced them. The philosophy of amelioration of the diseased condition needs to be questioned. Lewis Thomas (quoted by Pelletier), comments on our obsessive preoccupation with health: The general belief these days seems to be that the body is fundrunentally flawed, subject to disintegra­ tion at any moment, always on the verge of mortal disease, always in need of continual monitoring and support of· health-care professionals. There is a public preoccupation with disease that is assuming the dimensions of a national obsession. (1979, p. 4) One of the reasons for our obsession with health, our desire to rid ourselves of illness, is a fear of death (Becker, 1973). Guggenbuhl-Craig (1980) points out the constructive aspects of what he defines as the archetype of the invalid: Invalidism is . an on-going confrontation with physical and psychic limitations. It allows no eseape into fantasies of health or away from an awareness of death. It promotes patience and curbs obsessional doing. Because the archetype . emphasizes human dependence, because it forces acceptance of our mutual need of and for others, it is an important factor in relationships. We are haunted today by a psychological fata morgana-­ the illusion of the Independent Person. Knowl­ edge of our own deficiencies and weaknesses, of our own invalidism, helps us to realize our eternal dependence on someone or something.