According to Carl Kerenyi, the image of the serpent, carrier of potentially deadly poison, has since time immemorial represented also the image of healing [the caduceus-see images below]. “The wounder shall heal,” declared Apollo through the Delphic oracle; hence the healer can also wound:
The Illiad describes Apollo as a bringer of death, yet he is father to Asclepius, the archetypal physician, who in turn is slain by Zeus, presumably for healing too many people. Chiron is a mythological healer carrying a wound that never heals; he chooses death as his vicarious offering to free Prometheus.
Mankind suffers illness; human beings inflict wounds and hurt each other and themselves. We suffer our own inner conflicts and inflict them on one another, and we help heal one another. We also inflict wounds and injuries upon the physical world we live in. As the destruction- and consciousness-carrying “cells” of the earth organism, we wound our earth, we interfere with its vital functioning and, as our consciousness of self and world gradually increases, we also strive to heal these wounds. (191)
This process is symbolized alchemically as the destruction and rebirth of the king (sacrifice of status quo) and the conversion of dross (impasse/illness) to gold (new synthesis/health). (214)
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