Elphaba and the Inner Healer
In a sparse room that smells of antiseptic and efficiency, the Physician’s Assistant asks me a litany of questions, marking down numbers and checking off boxes while she collects the data points that determine where I land on the health chart.
Once complete, I dare to ask a question of my own: “It feels like my body is changing. Things are off; like something is wrong with me. I’m 48. Should I be doing anything about menopause?” Her response is direct: “We don’t offer hormone replacement therapy.” I take a deep breath, “Okay,” and push further, “but can you tell me where I am, maybe, so I can do some research?” I can sense the desperation in my own eyes. “I will see what I can do,” she offers, though I am not sure where that leaves me. I’m not sick, not really, but I’m not exactly well either. I can feel I am crossing a threshold that requires something of me. But I don’t really know what that is.
Leaving with more questions than answers–is this what healing looks like?
Learning to fly
In the movie adaptation of the musical Wicked, Elphaba also feels like something is wrong with her. Shunned by those around her and even her own father because she is astonishingly green, Elphaba struggles to find her place in a society that adores sameness and simplicity. She seeks healing for her perceived affliction from the Wizard of Oz, whose reputation boasts of his all-knowing ability to fix anything.
Through a series of serendipitous events, Elphaba finds herself attending university with her sister. The university separates her from her society, which shunned her, and exposes her to others seeking knowledge, or at least pretending to do so. Although those around her continue to fear her differences, Elphaba learns how powerful she is under the tutelage of Madame Morrible. Her abnormal greenness is tied to her incredible magical powers, and she begins to recognize that what she is attempting to suppress–what she thought was wrong with her–might actually be her greatest gift.
This blog was written for and published by The Joseph Campbell Foundation on June 1, 2025
