Spiritual Healers & their Shadows: A Complete Guide

What is a spiritual healer?

What does a spiritual healer do? Are they real?

Is spiritual healing necessary? If so, why?

Can it be dangerous to go to one?

We’ll address these questions and much more in this in-depth guide.

Let’s dive in …

CONTENTS

A Quick Note from the Author

What follows are my opinions and perspective based on experience and lifelong observations. I mean no disrespect to those who consider themselves “spiritual healers” (or healers in general).

In my 30s, I went through an extensive “exploratory” phase. I had many different ailments and issues to address.

I sought virtually every kind of healer and “alternative” practitioner to help address these problems, including energy healers, Reiki masters, Jungians, applied kinesiologists, acupuncturists, shamans, psychic healers, and other so-called “masters.”

Some of the perspectives shared below may be off-putting to some readers, but if you’re curious enough to read through this guide, you’ll at least be able to process a different point of view.

What is a Spiritual Healer?

The term “spiritual healer” is very general and can be applied to various modalities, methods, and intentions.

A spiritual healer’s function is to heal an individual using “nonphysical” methods. These methods may include the use of internal energy (prana/chi), meditation, prayer, psychedelic substances, consciousness, or some form of psychic ability.

Spiritual healing may involve:

Repairing past trauma,
Releasing repressed emotions,
Restoring mental or emotional imbalances,
Unblocking chi energy,
Overcoming chronic addictions,
Undergoing past life regression therapy,
Examining ancestral trauma,
Reconnecting with the Divine

One might say a spiritual healer’s role is to help “heal the soul.”

Who Do Spiritual Healers Serve?

Who needs a spiritual healer? Why would someone seek out such a healer?

Individuals who look for spiritual healers may be experiencing:

A growing sense of internal discontent
Pervasive feelings of meaninglessness or emptiness
Feelings of hopelessness and despair (“dark night of the soul”)
Existential depression
Chronic addiction
Strong feelings of isolation and disconnection
Chronic disease with no known medical cure
Suicidal thoughts or tendencies

Essentially, at a deep, internal level, the individual senses something is wrong. Something nonphysical is causing great discontent.

And, as a general rule, conventional healing methods do not address these more profound and potentially pervasive psychic malalignments.

Types of Spiritual Healers

One challenge with the term “spiritual healer” is that it’s vague. “Nonphysical” or “metaphysical” (beyond physical) can imply many different things.

For example, psychologists who address mental and emotional problems are also working “beyond the physical,” but they are not spiritual healers (in most cases).

Ultimately, the Healer is a powerful archetype. It represents a universal image and set of tendencies that extend throughout time and location.

A wide range of spiritual healers exists. They may be called:

Energy healers
Psychic healers
Mystic healers
Shamans
Medicine man/woman
Alternative health providers

In most cases, spiritual healers are closely aligned with the magician and sage archetypes,

Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor

The Healer’s Origin Story

Effective healers generally come from one of two origin stories:

1) The Wounded Healer

Most often, healers endured extensive trauma or intense psychic malady in childhood. (This archetypal variation is specifically called the Wounded Healer.)

After bringing this trauma to consciousness and healing it, there may arise a drive to help others suffering from a similar malady. In this context, healers often feel internally “guided” to become healers.

2) The Healer’s Heritage

Alternatively, extraordinary healers often come from a lineage of healers. Treasured skills and healing abilities are passed down from generation to generation in a kind of master-apprentice relationship.

Because these healers often begin cultivating their talents at an unusually young age, they become remarkable adepts.

Common Traits and Signs of Talented Healers

Generally, the Healer archetype is characterized by a distinct set of traits and qualities.

Natural healers tend to be:

Intuitive (they have a dominant “intuitive function” from a Jungian sense)
Introverted (they draw energy mainly from themselves, not others)
Empathic
Energetically sensitive
Compassionate listener
High level of intrapersonal intelligence
Contemplative

Likely, spiritual healers have experienced the “dark night of the soul.” They are usually engaged in inner work to gain a deeper understanding of their psyche.

They are intimate with existential angst and the search for meaning. Most likely, they have already initiated their own spiritual awakening.

How Spiritual Healing Works

Numerous models exist in the Eastern traditions and Western alternative fields to explain how spiritual healing (or any nonphysical healing) may work.

In the Yogic tradition, the five kosha (layers or sheaths) represent different dimensions of the self.

The five koshas are:

Anamaya Kosha: food sheath, associated with the physical body
Pranayama Kosha: subtle body (energetic body and breath)
Manamaya Kosha: mental body
Vijnanamaya Kosha: wisdom, astral, or psychic body
Anandamaya Kosha: bliss body

Traditional medicine focuses on healing the physical body, the food sheath.

“Spiritual healing” may directly address one of the other four sheaths, focusing on the energetic body and the psychic body.

Here’s a simplified framework from the Taoist tradition (Neigong):

Image Adapted from Daoist Nei Gong by Damo Mitchell

From a Taoist perspective, all physical, emotional, and mental issues have an energetic component. Thus, there must always be a release on the energetic level to facilitate healing and lasting change (even with perceived physical-level problems).

Energetic healers from various traditions, including Qigong, Yoga, and Reiki, operate on this principle.

Why the Need for Spiritual Healing is Great

Societally, the need for spiritual healing is arguably greater now than it has been in recent history. Why?

Let’s quickly run through four factors:

No Living Myths

The late mythologist Joseph Campbell argued that, as modern folks, we struggle because we lack collective living myths.¹

While many people believe in and practice various Western religions, these religions aren’t “alive” in an individual’s psyche as they once were. Plus, a growing number of people have abandoned the old myths, but haven’t found anything adequate to replace them with.

A Crisis of Meaning

Without a living myth, humans tend to experience a crisis of meaning. That is, we tend to feel empty inside.

Many individuals struggle with existential angst. They struggle to find a higher meaning in their existence or haven’t yet established a personal meaning for their lives.

This sense of meaninglessness can lead to a “dark knight of the soul,” triggering existential depression and chronic addictions.

Misaligned Cultural Values

One can argue that dominant cultural values, such as achievement, success, status, money, fame, competition, and image, can weigh heavily on one’s soul.

These cultural values can fuel a crisis of meaning and lead to feelings of moral bankruptcy. (Discovering your personal values can assist with this.)

As a whole, modern society values success and social status far more than the cultivation of cardinal virtues.

The Rise of Social Media & Technocracy

Lured in by the promise of “advancement” and “progress,” this technological age ultimately fails to support any of the five bodies (koshas) outlined above.

Instead, individuals feel far more isolated and disconnected overall.

The adoption of daily social media use is highly correlated with an increase in anxiety and depression.²
Coveted smartphones are like dog-tracking collars that disrupt our body’s natural energy fields, radiating us and damaging us 24/7 on a cellular level.³
Interacting with artificial intelligence (AI) can foster a sense of soullessness, especially in children.⁴

There are many additional relevant factors, but let’s move on …

Photo by Jeremy Bishop

A Deeper Look at Spiritual Healing

Spiritual healing is a misnomer. The term implies that the Spirit needs healing, which is never the case.

Each tradition has its terminology to describe the Spirit, including terms like:

Atman,
Original Face,
Original Nature,
Original Spirit,
Higher Self,
Oversoul

The problem is not the Spirit, but one’s disconnection from it.

The Spirit or Self is present at birth, but the disconnection begins soon after (often immediately).

We are severed from the core of our being via trauma and what the Taoists call “mundane conditioning.”

Spiritual Healing = A Return to the Self

Some of us manage to maintain a minor connection to the Self, but for most of us, by adulthood, we are a collection of conditioning, programming, and installed behavioral patterns. The ego (small self) has taken the driver’s seat, and the Self isn’t even in the car.

That is, the outer world tends to shape our reality over time, and through this process, we lose our direct connection to inner truths, wisdom, and spontaneous self-healing.

We come to lack an understanding of ourselves and our environment. Carl Jung, for example, referred to the process of returning to oneself as individuation, a process that may be initiated by the individual, especially around midlife.

But by whatever name, path, method, or process, the primary goal is to return to Spirit. Healing, or wholeness, represents this Return.

The Dark Side of Spiritual Healers

Like any archetypal pattern, the Healer is not without a dark side.

In truth, the drive for life (Eros) cannot be separated entirely from the drive for death (Thanatos).

As such, consider the following:

What happens when healers are unconscious of their shadow?
What happens when they assume they only have “good intentions” for their clients and patients?
Does the average spiritual healer know they likely have a dark witch or warlock within them? (And does the patient know this?)
If not, what is happening on the unseen psychic or etheric level when the Healer heals?

Have you ever gone to a practitioner to resolve a persistent problem, have it successfully addressed, but then discovered a new problem taking its place?

The Constant Play of Opposites

One part wants to heal; another seeks damage and destruction. (Shakti and Shiva in an endless dance.)

Similarly, in the patient, one part wants to be healed while another part may like the attention from being sick (hypochondriac archetype).

These unconscious internal tensions may be beneficial for business, but detrimental to actual healing.

The Wounded Healer Revisited

As mentioned above, a Healer is typically someone who has experienced deep wounds.

I think it’s fair to state that a strong drive to heal others isn’t going to arise in a “healthy” individual. Their interests would go elsewhere.

The drive to heal is built on one’s wounds.

This is a general principle echoed by the ancient proverb, “Physician, heal thyself.”

That is, at the deepest level, the drive to heal others stems from an internal directive that’s projected outward.

Now, some healers come to understand this consciously. They may take many years to heal themselves and integrate their experiences before devoting their attention to healing others. Doing so helps them actualize their true healing potential.

Hidden Behind the Drive to Heal

However, I would argue that this is NOT what happens in most cases.

Instead, the drive to heal others becomes the central focus at the expense of directing one’s attention inward.

(We can observe the same tendency in general physicians who are grossly overweight and unhealthy, and therapists who are overwhelmed by their unaddressed mental issues.)

This subconscious aversion is a subtle form of self-deception. “Healing others” becomes a means of justifying this fundamental avoidance of one’s internal tensions.

How can individuals seek to heal (make whole) others who are themselves fragmented and divided?

The same goes for energy workers and psychic healers:

How can someone with stagnant or blocked energy channels seek to “unblock” the energy in others?

If someone’s energy pathways were fully fluid and open, would they even be interested in “healing others”?

(Something to seriously consider.)

The Business of Enlightenment

An additional shadow element of the healing trades relates to money and profiteering.

Consciously, the would-be Healers’ drive may be “to be of service.” However, unconsciously, the primary motivation may be to feel elevated or become “rich and famous.” (I’m not suggesting that it’s wrong for healers to charge for their time/services.)

For this reason, healers need to become intimately acquainted with their shadow. And the reality is that too few actually are.

There are countless stories of popular “healers,” gurus, and teachers who end up forming cults that harm others. Many wounded individuals are attracted to these charismatic personalities, forming a co-dependent relationship with them.

Again, just something to be mindful of—for both spiritual healers and their potential patients.

Ground Yourself with a Digital App?

Okay, so what I’m going to share with you now may sound like science fiction.

Eric Thompson is an inventor and the founder of Subtle Energy Sciences. Using quantum resonance technology, Eric engineered a method of encoding digital images and sound files with specific energetic signatures.

The result is what he calls Digital Mandalas or Quantum Energy Apps, which combine beautiful digital art with layers of various energy-related sound technology.

Earth Pulse is a digital media program that broadcasts the amplified energetic signature of the Schumann Resonance (7.83 Hz cycles per second) through your electronic devices. The end result is that it makes you feel more grounded!

I always have at least one of Eric’s mandalas running on my computer and other devices (usually more than one). Earth Pulse is currently open as I type this.

If you’re open to exploring new technologies, check out Earth Pulse.

Use code CEOSAGE30 for a 30% discount on Earth Pulse.

Now, if you don’t have energetic sensitivity, you may feel nothing at first. If that’s the case, Eric offers various ways to augment and amplify the effects.

(Disclaimer: affiliate link)

Spiritual Healers FAQ

Now, let’s explore a few commonly asked questions related to spiritual healing:

Should you seek out a spiritual healer?

Now that we’ve laid out a framework for understanding what a spiritual healer is, various types of healers, and why the need for them is prevalent, let’s consider:

Should you go to a spiritual healer?

Obviously, this is a personal choice. My role here is simply to offer my perspective and various data points to help you evaluate such a decision.

It’s common for individuals, especially early in their “awakening” process, to be highly exploratory and open to new experiences. (I certainly was.)

There may be a natural curiosity to experience modalities like past life regression therapy, Reiki, “chakra balancing,” psychic surgery, polarity therapy, hypnotherapy, kinesiology, or an infinite number of “alternative” treatments and methods.

The main thing is to be as transparent and honest as possible with your true intentions and goals:

Are you really trying to heal yourself?
Or are you just curious and seeking a new experience?
Have you tried to address the issue on your own?
Do you know what self-healing might look like?
Are you seeking an external savior because you’re unwilling to look within?

The more honest you can be with yourself upfront, the better.

Are there any risks in going to a psychic healer?

Remember that most healers still have their own wounds. They may still be largely unconscious of the archetypal forces operating within their psyche. They may know very little about their shadow.

For example, they may unknowingly be possessed by the vampire archetype.

Additionally, when someone seeks guidance from a spiritual healer, the potential patient may be vulnerable, naive, open, and undiscerning.

Consequently, they may open themselves up to various “etheric infections” and psychic attacks.

In fact, I would be especially hesitant to go to a psychic healer. Why? The etheric and astral dimensions are highly chaotic, filled with what the traditions refer to as “ghosts, monsters, and spirits.”

As a people, we are largely ignorant of these non-physical dimensions and the potential harms we can invite in through our naivety and passive consent.

(A similar warning goes for experimenting with psychedelics. By taking these entheogenetic substances, individuals leave themselves vulnerable to archetypal or entity possessions that may remain undetected. For this reason, most ancient traditions recommend avoiding these substances—even though that can be healing in the right “set and setting.”)

How do you become a spiritual healer?

Various certifications and diploma programs exist in holistic and healing modalities.

Some individuals naturally gravitate to specific training programs. (I’ve met and worked with individuals who maintained over a dozen such certifications as part of their practices.)

Other individuals are more intuitive and decide to study intensely on their own. This is especially true for psychic healers.

Sometimes, the skills necessary for healing are learned via a master-apprentice type relationship.

Regardless, there’s generally a strong “inner calling” to get into the healing arts.

Because healing and inner work often go hand in hand, many spiritual healers find their calling in the second half of life.

What tools and methods are available for self-healing?

Many modalities and methods are available for those interested in self-healing.

Many of these methods are integrative, working symbiotically and supporting each other in one’s development.

Here’s an incomplete list of available guides on this website that support self-healing:

A Beginner’s Guide to Jungian Shadow Work: How to Integrate Your Dark Side

How to Release Repressed Emotions (10 Powerful Methods)

How to Breathe Properly: Tuning Your Breath to Increase Clarity, Calmness, and Alertness

What is Chi Energy and How to Cultivate It

How to do Inner Work: A Beginner’s Guide to Exploring the Psyche

How to Access the Higher Self: An Integrated Approach

A Practical Guide to Active Imagination: How to Work with Archetypes

How to Center Yourself: 12 Powerful Methods to Reduce Stress, Increase Focus, and Recharge

How to Ground Yourself: 20+ Effective Techniques to Achieve Fast Calm

You can find dozens more in-depth, free guides on this website.

How to Be a Spiritual Healer … For Yourself

From the perspective of self-reliance and the individual process, spiritual healing is an inside job.

We are each responsible for self-healing—for returning to the Self.

While no one can accomplish this for us, external support is sometimes beneficial and, in some cases, necessary.

To be successful with an external healer, there’s generally some level of projection involved. That is, we tend to project a powerful part of ourselves (“inner gold”) onto the healer. Then, healing can take place.

But ultimately, that projection must be recollected. Otherwise, how can one realize any semblance of wholeness?

The Inward Turn

As I mentioned above, I interacted with many healers in the early stages of my spiritual journey.

Ironically, the concept of “healing” only became a tenable goal when I let go of the idea that anyone else could help or heal me. I stopped looking for any external sources. All that energy I had projected outward came rushing back in.

The more faith and attention you give the Self—whether it’s your experiential reality at present or not—the faster self-healing can occur.

Eventually, it dawns on you that what was seeking healing was, in fact, the false self. It’s a storyline with a set of characters, programmed from start to finish.

With this realization, conviction in the Self grows, and the drive to “seek healing” falls away.

Spiritual Healers & Their Shadow: A Complete, Real-World Guide