The Sacred Wound
From Pain to Possibility
In every human life, there are wounds — some obvious, others hidden beneath the surface. These may be injuries of the body, but often they are wounds of the psyche: betrayals, losses, shame, trauma, rejection, abandonment. Some of these wounds resist healing for years, even lifetimes. Yet among these deep, core wounds lies a possibility: The possibility of transformation. This possibility is what I, and many in the fields of depth and spiritual psychology, call the “sacred wound.”
The sacred wound is more than suffering. It is a threshold — a doorway into something larger than the self. When we honor and engage with that wound, instead of ignoring or repressing it, we invite not just healing but rebirth, insight, and authenticity.
I am deeply grateful to a former therapist of mine, who first introduced me to the concept of the sacred wound. This insight marked a profound turning point in my own healing journey, opening the door to a deeper understanding of myself and laying the foundation for my approach to guiding others in healing.
Roots in Jungian and Archetypal Psychology
The concept of the sacred wound draws from the tradition of Carl G. Jung and those inspired by him — a tradition that recognizes pain, shadow, and trauma not simply as problems to “fix,” but as potential openings into psychological transformation, individuation, and deeper soul life. According to this tradition, “only the wounded physician heals” (Center for Action and Contemplation, 2015).
Sharon G. Mijares (n.d.) describes sacred wounding as trauma that, though devastating, can become a portal to transformed identity when approached within a psychospiritual framework. Similarly, Bill Plotkin (n.d.) describes these core wounds as psychospiritual signals — not arbitrary misfortunes but meaningful irritants, like the grain of sand that causes the oyster to create a pearl. He notes that wounds may “catalyze a special type of personal development that requires a trauma for its genesis” (Plotkin, n.d.).
Perspectives on the Sacred Wound
Other voices emphasize the sacredness embedded within suffering. One author writes, “In the goblet of the wound there is the soul” (Ancestors & Archetypes, n.d.), while the Center for Action and Contemplation (2015) teaches that “the place of the wound is the place of the greatest gift.” Mijares (n.d.) notes that trauma held within a symbolic context can “open doors to transformation,” allowing for renewed identity, insight, and meaning. Similarly, the 13th-century Sufi mystic Rumi wrote, “The wound is where the light comes in,” and musician Leonard Cohen echoed this truth in his lyric, “There is a crack, a crack in everything — that’s how the light gets in.” Across centuries and traditions, the wound has been understood as a sacred portal to metamorphosis, a threshold through which profound healing and awakening can emerge.
These perspectives converge around a core insight: Suffering need not be wasted — it can be deeply rich compost for a more meaningful and empowered life. Pain, loss, betrayal — these may fracture us, but if we engage them consciously, with compassion, and in good containment, they can lead to deeper self‑knowledge, empathy, and purpose.
How I Work with the Sacred Wound in Therapy
When I invite clients to work with their sacred wound, I encourage a process that involves:
Identification and recognition — bringing what may have been unconscious or repressed into awareness.
Differentiation — discerning what belongs to the client to heal versus what belongs to others or systemic contexts.
Reframing shame and self-judgment — responding to the wound with compassion and curiosity.
Integration into narrative — authoring a new story that incorporates the wound as part of resilience and wholeness.
Holding the wound with reverence and support — tending the wound with presence and psychological/spiritual containment.
Accessing the sacred medicine within the wound — I believe each client’s unique medicine for themselves and the world resides in their sacred wound. By engaging it consciously, a person can heal, access its transformative gifts, and, if one wishes, share this medicine with others, creating a ripple of wisdom and healing.
Clients often discover that what once felt like brokenness can transform into inner strength, authenticity, and compassionate connection with themselves, others, and the world. While this does not create a constant sense of ease, recognizing and understanding the sacred wound provides greater access to self-compassion and insight, which supports the nervous system during moments of activation and enhances one’s ability to view challenges from multiple perspectives. Singular, limiting stories originally embedded in the wound — such as “I am not good enough,” “I don’t matter,” “no one understands me,” or “I must earn love and belonging” — can be edited through sacred wound work, allowing clients to rewrite these narratives into empowering, possibility-rich roadmaps.
Why the Sacred Wound Matters
Depth over superficiality: Encourages soulful engagement rather than quick fixes.
Transformation, not just recovery: Promotes rebirth into a more integrated self.
Empathy, connection, and service: Cultivates compassion and the capacity to hold space for others’ suffering.
Meaning and soul-making: Opens pathways into unconscious, mythic, and spiritual dimensions of experience.
References
Ancestors & Archetypes. (n.d.). Sacred wounding. https://ancestorsandarchetypes.weebly.com/sacred-wounding.html
Center for Action and Contemplation. (2015, October 16). The sacred wound. https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-sacred-wound-2015-10-16/
Edinger, E. F. (1992). Ego and archetype: Individuation and the religious function of the psyche. Shambhala.
Hillman, J. (1975). Re-visioning psychology. Harper & Row.
Jung, C. G. (1969). The archetypes and the collective unconscious. Princeton University Press.
Mijares, S. G. (n.d.). Sacred wounding: Traumatic openings to the larger self. Psychospiritual Resources. https://www.psychospiritual.org/papers/psychospiritual/sacred-wounding-traumatic-openings-to-the-larger-self
Plotkin, B. (n.d.). The sacred wound. https://enfleshed.com/blogs/moments-for-common-nourishment/the-sacred-wound