Illustration of a highway scene with a red fire truck, a man in a white shirt and black tie, a red barn, and a scenic background with fields and sunset, framed inside a stylized keyhole shape. The text reads '4 Highway Healer' and features a U.S. Route 66 shield.

4       HIGHWAY HEALER          

KEY CONCEPTS:  manifestation, dexterity, diplomacy, sickness, loss, pain, suffering, emergency, healing, person in a healing profession, possibly the querent. (Corresponds to Magician)

MESSAGE:  Highway Healer appears in your life as a kind of magician, responding to emergencies with lightning speed to share lifesaving gifts.  But consider,  first there must be pain, sickness and loss to experience healing. Without these setbacks recovery need not exist.  Chiron, the centaur of Greek myth, sustained an agonizing and incurable wound when pierced by a poisoned arrow.  As an immortal being, this wounded healer could find no escape from eternal pain. It’s human nature to wish for nothing but good times to keep rolling as our tires spin down the road. But as unbearable as it sounds, endless suffering doesn’t necessarily accompany eternal pain.  Suffering dissolves within acceptance.

Like Chiron, legendary healers are those who first were injured.  How else could they learn empathy? How could they develop crucial skills required to comfort the infirm and foster recovery? Master medics of the motorway learn how to temper stern protocols with a diplomatic bedside manner.  Compassion blossoms when Highway Healer remembers his stint as convalescent: he can utilize his own loss to invoke his patient’s gain.  Accidents sound a wakeup call to the soul.  Are you rooting yourself in here and now? Healthy folk bustle endlessly about; in their distraction they fail to notice the fruitlessness of their earthly pursuits. Sometimes a tragic loss of well-being offers the only path to understanding that health is a sacred gift.

“Bloody 66” was the site of many crashes, including tragic fatalities.  We owe a debt of gratitude to paramedics who regularly rescue travelers in need. Will you reach out of your comfort zone to help others, dear traveler?  Or if tables turn, could you accept aid from those who offer?  We all will one day find ourselves on the other side of the gurney; life calls us to play roles of both carer and patient.  If you pulled this card today remember: Highway Healer doesn’t represent long-term nursing care, rather a timely response to urgent need.  Take care of yourself and others, but don’t drag along a stretcher when you’re dancing.  Pull over if you notice travelers in distress.  Patch up the injured, convey them to safety and let them go with love.

RELATED SITES:  CLINE’S CORNER, NM; DEAD MAN’S CURVE, TOWANDA, IL; DEAD MAN’S CURVE, MESITA, NM; SAMMY DAVIS JR. CRASH SITE, ROUTE 66 AT KENDALL DRIVE, SAN BERNARDINO, CA; SITGREAVES PASS, KINGMAN TO OATMAN, AZ.