Healer: Dancing with the Healing Spirit - Hardcover

Andrew Weil, M.D., is a clinical professor of integral medicine as well as the founder and director of the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona's Health Sciences Center in Tucson. He is the author of eight books including Spontaneous Healing.

Readers of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell will be familiar with the concept of archetypes, symbolic figures that embody key aspects of our contradictory nature, from the hero to the fool. The highly innovative and gorgeously illustrated series, Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious: Reflecting American Culture through Literature and Art, considers American variations on these ancient themes in volumes that combine provocative writings, Native American myths, and extraordinarily well chosen images, both handmade and photographic.Andrew Weil introduces The Healer by discussing "the paradox of the healer archetype," the fact that although people depend on a healer, whether physician or spiritual guide, to eradicate their ills, healing must come from within. And sure enough, the essays that follow depict the complexities and mysteries of the healer's role. William Carlos Williams portrays a doctor who becomes enraged by a stubborn child, and Oliver Sacks describes an 89-year-old patient who presents him with a surprisingly accurate self-diagnosis. Other eloquent contributors include Langston Hughes, Lewis Thomas, and medical intuitive Caroline Myss. Donna Seaman
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