Welcome to Level Two of the Light Congress!
We have successfully navigated the pitfalls of the quarry (of childhood, religious upbringing, or personality development). We have also identified some treasures from this entry location on the spiritual journey.
It is now time to for our next challenge, uncovering the “wound that does not heal.”
As with most problems in life, the first step to navigating any problem is to identify what it is. Let’s start by discussing the secret identities of Cernunnos and his Green Lady for they are central to the concept of psychological wholeness.
Here’s a link to Chapter 2 of the Light Congress for reference: https://thelightcongress.com/2026/05/11/chapter-2-the-wound-that-doesnt-heal/
Coniunctio
In Jungian psychology, coniunctio refers to the union of opposing pairs or archetypes which is another step on the road to individuation.
Carl Jung postulated that this process of joining together has three distinct steps.
The first coniunctio is a unification of conscious and subconscious elements or what has also been called “shadow work”. (For an expert in this topic, I recommend looking at the work of Dr. Connie Zweig.) The sign post in this chapter for the first coniunctio is my insistence that I don’t remember visiting the woodland realm before. (Which is 100% true.)
However, the god and goddess do remember me and indicate that there is a deeper “self” beneath the conscious mind that waits to be reintegrated through this spiritual journey. Also, maybe there is a past history of spiritual experience that I do not yet recall. This is a nebulous concept that honestly freaks me out a little bit, but one must be brave when venturing into other worlds, so we shall soldier on.
The second coniunctio has been described as the “sacred marriage” or union of the divine masculine and feminine archetypes within the self. (Alchemy is a whole field of study by itself. Here’s a Wikipedia article that gives you a good jumping off point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieros_gamos or I recommend taking a look at Jung’s Mysterium Coniunctionis.)
This step in the individuation process is necessary for wholeness and also stands in contrast to the singular animus figure of the god Horus from the first chapter.
Cernunnos and the Green Lady rule together as opposed to ruling over earth elementals and carrying people from one world to another without my spoken consent. There has been a balance struck in the mind and this union makes for a much friendlier experience with the divine.
Which brings us to the third coniunctio, a “spiritualization of the individual” or when someone’s ego integrates with a centralized self, providing a bridge or a feeling of connection to a larger spiritual experience of reality. The dream image of entering the god’s heart through a sacred basin makes this metaphor explicit.
I see my waking world through a spiritual lens, pretty much all the time. For me, it is the reverse that I find to be the most difficult- maintaining a material viewpoint for the material world, which, in many ways, feels like some sort of unamusing trick being played on humankind until we can all figure out how to get along on this planet together.
This spiritual experience and record of my journal, which I am calling a game, have very little that is ‘game-like’ about them. I don’t like to think the joke’s on us, but I know there are some out there who believe it.
Let’s not be like them and keep faith in the goodness of whoever it is who put reality together. I’ll hold that vision for you and you can hold it for me. We will be spirit warriors for each other and demonstrate unconditional love for all creation in this way, a united front on a very scary gameboard of existence.
The Wound that Doesn’t Heal or the Legend of the Fisher King
The highly symbolic tale of the Fisher King is a part of the classic Grail Legend in which we meet a king who has a wound that never heals. It is emblematic of a larger wound that is carried by the land the king rules over and, in a magical association, the king manifests this other wound on his own person.
I learned in a class from Applied Jungian Studies on “Gnosis, Initiation, Individuation, and
the Four Streams of Western Mysticism” that the appropriate question to ask the legendary wounded king, when you encounter him, is “What ails you?”
This helps the seeker not only understand the cause of the wound but also lead to the first steps of soothing it, another marker on the way to individuation.
And, as an aside, I find it is a helpful conversation starter with any suffering spirit you meet, in this world or any other. You can rarely go wrong with “Are you alright?” Listen carefully to their response and, from this, you can help them choose the best path forward from present circumstances.
My thoughts on the wound “spirit is perfect, therefore the god should be whole” are in direct contrast to the goddess’ perspective at the end of the chapter when she says the heart of the king isn’t wounded.
One may be injured in spirit yet still be able to rule the inner worlds and experience wholeness. This, I believe, is a part of the mystery that is the path to individuation. As within so without, as without so within, or so the mystics say. Your experiences may vary.
Assimilation of the Archetype
In the final climatic moments of Chapter 2, I perceive the Woodland Realm god and goddess speaking in my own voice. This demonstrates internalization of external forces in the psyche.
Or so they say. I think it is giving voice to the voiceless with presence and intention. If the forces of Nature are going to communicate with us, maybe they need people to speak through. Anyway, just a thought.
Back to the therapeutic idea of ‘assimilation of the archetype’, what was once outside is now within or, to use an occult saying, what is above is also below. The boundaries between the divine and every day are vanishing and integration has occurred, a goal of Jungian therapy.
What to do once you achieve this integration? Good question. I have no idea. Do you?
Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey
This chapter, like others in the Light Congress, borrows liberally from the Hero’s Journey theory but not necessarily in any specific order.
A Distraction at the Adventure’s Beginning: The hurdle of the enthusiastic bonfire dancers is successfully navigated and I go on to meet the union of divine opposites.
I’ve been asked if ‘dancing’ in this vision is just a euphemism for something else. Here’s the honest truth- I perceived this encounter as an ecstatic if free-form dance and ritual exchange of flower blossoms. Take from that what you will.
Meeting the Goddess and Boon: In this vision, I meet the rulers of the woodland realm and they gave me a gift rather than a further trial. In Campbell’s theory, this is how the encounter with the goddess or a matched pair usually goes.
In the previous vision, the god archetype took me to a new world. In this one, the matched pair gives me a additional gift to navigate the world we’re already in. I think the difference is important, but I’m not sure why. Any thoughts?
The Wounded King: This archetypical symbol is a call to a greater adventure and signals the beginning of the storied Grail quest. From whence flows the waters of eternal life? We’ll get back to this theme many chapters down the road, but for now, this is a signpost to future journeys of the spirit.
The Ascent towards the Moon: In opposition to the last chapter, this chapter ends with me being pulled up into the sky rather than buried in the earth. It is symbolic of the subconscious becoming conscious and indicative of the beginning of the next step of the journey.
Every day, there are opportunities to make the unknown known and vice versa. I call the conscious mind ‘light’ and the subconscious mind ‘shadow’. These two polarities work together in curious ways which are still being studied by those who are interested in such things.
Where do you find yourself today? Buried in the earth or drawn toward the moon? Or how about a state that encompasses both? More on that later in the Light Congress.
Game Recap
Level One Key Concepts: material psyche, chimeric dream images, singular and dominating animus, shadow integration, burial, earth imagery, Horus
Level Two Key Concepts: coniunctio, wound, assimilation, ascent, moon imagery, Cernunnos, earth goddess
My personal thoughts:
Despite my studies into various philosophies and after completing years of individual therapy, I still feel a rejection from my center when considering the concept of “the wound that does not heal”.
It is like there’s a child inside of me who clings to a vision of the world that is free of suffering of any kind, be that of the physical, mental or spiritual variety.
My comment of the “spirit is perfect, therefore the god should be whole” is a direct quote from my vision and glimpse of this viewpoint in myself.
Outside of my Inner Worlds, it really does feel like the every day world is constantly trying to convince me that I’m damaged in some way. One is never educated enough, wealthy enough, or insightful to dodge the misfortunes that inevitably arise as one goes about their day.
We ask each other questions, trying to ascertain where the trouble lies. Who has hurt you? What ails you? What did you do wrong? Why are you not whole and perfect?
There seems to be an unspoken assumption among the living- if you are free from suffering then you are blessed and must have done something right. If you are not, then the fault is in your court. And we all suffer in our lives in some way, each and every one of us. Therefore, what might one conclude but we are all doing this “life” thing wrong.
We run into people suffering from mental anguish, impatience and anger stemming from their own inner wounds, projecting themselves onto others and lashing out at this subconscious identification with everything that is wrong. We come up with words to describe this wrongness like ‘sin’ or ‘curse’ or ‘accident’.
I read the news websites and see natural disasters, famine, war, ills caused by both natural forces and humankind, bumping into each other as we run blindly through our lives, demanding more and more of the resources and land that should belong to all. It is wrong, wrong, and more wrong.
In many ways, it is a nightmare without end.
Why shouldn’t the spirit be perfect? (Here comes that Inner Child again.) Why shouldn’t it?! My vision of a supreme deity, as discussed in the last chapter, is of an omnipotent and omnipresent being. Perfection, whatever that concept means, seems built into this viewpoint as well.
Things happen in life, bad things, good things, inexplicable and suffering-causing things. But prior to our birth and after our death, why can’t we have been like this being, undivided in truth and wrapped in the undeniable presence of the one who put all of creation together? Next thoughts, if this wholeness is possible at the beginning and end of all things, then why can’t it exist with us, all of us, right now?
Thus, I believe, is the secret nature of my ‘wound that doesn’t heal’. I see the world in a way that is completely free from suffering, something which is empirically impossible, and, as I move about my day collecting evidence that my view isn’t the prevailing one, I feel attacked and dismissed.
Perhaps this wound, this “other” way of viewing reality, doesn’t have to cause suffering. What if I could harness this somehow, embracing my impossible viewpoint as a gift or a way to walk through the world rather than using it as a weapon and demanding that others see the world the way that I see it too.
I can live, love, and walk through a world of my own by placing my attention on those things that feel like a fit with me. In this way, I gather together those viewpoints that make me strong, building a community of those who dream the same dream, rather than feeling outcast in a world where I don’t belong and never have.
Freeing yourself from suffering, becoming and healing the wound that does not heal, these are conscious choices and form the way in which you interact with the world. You are uniting your inner and outer realities through the alchemical conjunction of the divine male and female energies in your life, both embodying an energy and expressing it from the same place, a space of wholeness and oneness of all things.
We take that which has hurt us and make it into metaphorical armor or glasses. But more on that later.
Game on!
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