5 Signs You’re a Wounded Healer

A wounded healer is a shaman at heart, a spiritual alchemist who is called to transform their pain into a source of power.

On the spiritual wanderer’s journey, accepting the call of being a wounded healer is a sacred calling that not only gives our awakening paths a deeper meaning and purpose but also empowers others along the way.

But not everyone is called to be a wounded healer. 

There are many ways the Soul wishes to express itself, and being a wounded healer is one of them. 

Are you a wounded healer? I’ll explore some signs to look out for in this article, plus a few examples to illustrate this archetype’s deeper nature.

Examples of the Wounded Healer Archetype

An archetype is a universal pattern of energy or behavior – and this was a concept first created and popularized by psychiatrist Carl Jung back in the early 20th century.

The wounded healer is one such archetypal energy that can be found throughout many cultures and periods of time.

Here are some mythological and historical examples of the wounded healer archetype:

• Chiron – Said to be the origin of the wounded healer archetype, Chiron was a centaur renowned for his wisdom and special healing capacities. Even after being incurably wounded by a poisoned arrow, he was still committed to the well-being of others.
• Thich Nhat Hanh – Zen master who used his experiences of war and exile to spread teachings on compassion and mindfulness.
• Maya Angelou – Famous author and poet who used her experiences of childhood trauma as fuel to write profound books and poems to inspire and help others heal. 
• Jesus Christ – Seen as an ideal expression of the wounded healer archetype, as in Christian theology he was said to have died for the sins of humanity.
• Viktor Frankl – As a Nazi death camp survivor and psychiatrist, Frankl used his horrific experience to inform and shape his profound works on logotherapy and books like Man’s Search For Meaning.
• Florence Nightingale – Considered the founder of modern nursing, Nightingale suffered from chronic pain and illness yet still managed to help many.

Other examples of the wounded healer archetype can often be found in shamanic cultures, such as Black Elk (Lakota medicine man), Ai-Churek (Tuvan shamaness), Davi Kopenawa (Brazilian Yanomami shaman), and others like Sandra Ingerman (Western shamaness).

Essentially, anyone who has experienced some big trauma in life and has used the pain of that experience to help others is a wounded healer.

5 Signs You’re a Wounded Healer 

Nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not ‘How can we hide our wounds?’ so we don’t have to be embarrassed but ‘How can we put our roundedness in the service of others?’ When our wounds cease to be a source of shame and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers.

― Henri Nouwen, psychiatrist and theologian

As a wounded healer myself, I’ve learned that this path is open to all, but not everyone embraces the call. 

If you’ve experienced stages 5 (turning inwards) and 6 (facing the darkness) of the spiritual wanderer’s journey, you’ve either been given the opportunity to adopt this role, or you’ve already embraced it as a way of life.

This is a beautiful but also difficult path that brings much meaning and purpose, but it’s also not without its dangers (see our guide on spiritual healing to learn about the traps).

Below, I’m going to focus on the five main signs that you may be a wounded healer:

1. You’ve experienced some major trauma in life

In short, trauma is about loss of connection to ourselves, to our bodies, to our families, to others, and to the world around us. This loss of connection is often hard to recognize, because it doesn’t happen all at once. It can happen slowly, over time, and we adapt to these subtle changes sometimes without even noticing them.

– Peter Levine, Healing Trauma

Trauma can be a one-off shock or an ongoing event that brings great distress. 

Examples of major trauma include near-death experiences (NDE), major or chronic illnesses, childhood abuse, the sudden death of a loved one, experiencing war, surviving a natural disaster, being orphaned, physical/sexual abuse, religious abuse, having a severe mental health crisis, and so on. 

The trauma you’ve experienced is usually the trigger that awakens an inner desire to go searching for more.

2. You’re deeply committed to your healing journey (it’s not just a hobby)

Recognizing that you’ve gone through some trauma that has caused you to experience soul loss (or disconnection from your deeper Self), you feel called to go on a healing journey.

But this healing spiritual journey isn’t just a side hobby or casual interest that you pick up from time to time – it is a deep need and daily obsession of yours. In other words, you’re deeply committed to healing and overcoming the root of your pain.

Various healing modalities and spiritual healing practices may become a central focus of your life, and you may even train in some of them.

3. You feel deep resonance with the archetype of the medicine wo/man or shaman

In his book Jung and Shamanism in Dialogue, scholar and clinical psychologist C. Michael Smith writes, 

The wounded healer is a fundamental aspect of the shaman. It is through the tended wound that the shaman is able to see, to empathize, and heal.

As we can see, the archetype of the wounded healer and the shaman or medicine wo/man fit together perfectly. In fact, we could say that the term wounded healer is really just another word for shaman or medicine keeper. 

If you feel a deep connection with or maybe even a calling to learn more about and train in this path, take this as a strong sign that you’re called to be a wounded healer. 

4. You’ve experienced a dark night of the soul

A dark night isn’t just a bad day, week, month, or a form of seasonal depression. When we undergo a dark night, we enter a profound process of spiritual death and rebirth.

It is common for those experiencing a dark night to feel total separation from the Divine, as well as a feeling of the ground crumbling beneath them and life itself falling apart. 

Dreaming of dark forests, black holes, abysses, eclipses, and hellish realms – or feeling as if we’re metaphorically in these spaces – are all symbolic representations of the dark night of the soul.

If you’re called to be a wounded healer, you’ve either gone through or are presently going through a dark night.

This is a disturbing experience that, although painful, provides you with the clarity, wisdom, and spiritual resilience to support others in the deepest possible way once you’ve emerged from the dark chrysalis. 

Some lessons can only be learned in the darkness. Some medicine can only be collected when the clouds have blocked the light.

And as a wounded healer, you’ll realize that facing and embracing your shadow self is a source of profound wisdom and power.

5. You feel called to give back and share your wisdom with others (aka., you’re other-centric versus self-centric)

There are many spiritual paths that are self-centric, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. 

Awakened sage Ramana Maharshi, for instance, famously said, “Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.” He was speaking to those of his followers who were seeking to become spiritually enlightened and free from the bondage of the ego.

Those who walk a non-dual, ascetic, occult, or even new age path tend to be more on the self-centric side of things – meaning that they are more focused on personal achievement of healing or spiritual accomplishment than necessarily dedicating their lives to helping others.

Then there are more other-centric paths, such as those who commit to a Bodhisattva way of being, an Abrahamic religious practice, or a wounded healer path. These people tend to focus on supporting others at various points on their spiritual awakening journeys through compassionate action.

(However, do keep in mind that I’m making broad statements here – some new agers, for instance, do focus mostly on helping others, while some religious folks are mostly focused on enriching their own souls. Like anything, there’s nuance here.)

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If you’re a wounded healer, you will be more other-centric than self-centric. Sure, you may be interested in self-healing. But you don’t want to stop there. You’ll feel a deep inner yearning to give back and share your wisdom with others.

In fact, without an outlet to give back in a way that feels fulfilling, you may feel restless, uneasy, or depressed. This may be because you don’t know where to start or even how to ground yourself on your spiritual path.

Finding Your Path and Purpose

Finding your path and purpose as a wounded healer and spiritual wanderer can take many years. 

But remember, the path itself is just as important as the destination. On the way, you’ll learn and grow in so many ways, and all of them can help you to evolve, transform, and deepen your wisdom and compassion as a wounded healer.

Speaking from experience, it took me more than a decade of consistently working on this website to find my path and purpose. I had to go on so many weird side routes and explore endless topics to finally realize that I’m meant to be a spiritual educator and soul guide on the spiritual wanderer’s journey. 

This discovery led me to craft and alchemize our Spiritual Wanderer course, which can help you find more clarity and inner purpose if you’re feeling lost on the path right now. 

This psychospiritual map of awakening crystallizes over a decade of intensive soul searching, and it’s a powerful way to go deeper and gain a clearer understanding of your path and purpose as a wounded healer. 

As poet and writer Mark Nepo writes,

It takes six million grains of pollen to seed one peony, and salmon need a lifetime of swimming to find their way home, so we mustn’t be alarmed or discouraged when it takes us years to find love or years to understand our calling in life.

Being a wounded healer is a profoundly fulfilling and enriching life path that requires a high degree of integrity, compassion, and insight.

Don’t worry if you’re unsure what to do next. The most important thing to realize is that you’re called to turn your pain into power and transform your wounds into a source of wisdom and nourishment for others. 

Could there be anything more meaningful or beautiful than that?

Tell me, do you feel called to be a wounded healer? What is the biggest life lesson you’d like to share with others based on your own experience? I welcome you to share below.