Baridegi: The Process of an Abandoned Soul Transforming into a Healer

Introduction: Until an Abandoned Child Becomes a Savior

‘Baridegi,’ a child born as a princess but abandoned for being a daughter. Her story is the narrative of sadness and recovery most deeply rooted in the unconscious of Koreans. Baridegi’s journey to Seocheon-seoyeok-guk (the Western Heaven) to save her parents who abandoned her is, psychoanalytically speaking, a process of ‘psychological alchemy’ that converts giant wounds into healing power.

In this post, we will analyze the archetype of the ‘Wounded Healer’ contained in the Baridegi myth.

1. Sadness of a Discarded Being: Birth and Abandonment

The moment of being born as the seventh princess and being abandoned by parents symbolizes ‘abandonment anxiety,’ the most fundamental wound that the ego can suffer.

• Rejected Self: The experience of collective rejection that “my existence is not welcomed” leaves a serious narcissistic wound. However, the myth shows that the seeds of healing are inherent even in the wounded ego by having Baridegi survive and grow without dying.

2. Journey Toward Salvation: Superegoistic Sacrifice and Compassion

When the parents who abandoned her fall ill, Baridegi sets out on a difficult road to find the water of life to save them. This is a process of moving to the stage of ‘compassion’ and ‘forgiveness’ toward an object that is utterly unforgivable.

• Endurance of Pain: Walking through a hellish, arduous path and serving for nine years for Mujangseung (the guardian of the life-giving water) is a time for the wounded mind to widen the ‘vessel of emotion’ to understand and accept the pain of others. Psychoanalytically, it can be said to be a process of sublimating repressed anger into ‘productive energy.‘

3. Birth of Mujosin (Progenitor God of Shamans): Birth of a Wounded Healer

Baridegi, who became Mujosin who guides the souls of the dead, is now not simply an individual, but a ‘symbol of healing’ that soothes all suffering souls.

• Sublimation of Wounds: The water of life that Baridegi obtained is medicine made of tears and wisdom drawn from her wounds. The truth that “only those who have been most hurt can fix the pain of others” has been embodied through the frame of shamanic myth. She is a true healer who learned how to connect with others through her wounds instead of denying them.

Conclusion: The Water of Life is Flowing at the Bottom of Your Wounds

The Baridegi myth tells us that the most painful wound we have experienced can, paradoxically, be the most powerful force to help someone.

If you are feeling loneliness or deep loss as if you have been abandoned now, think of Baridegi’s journey. When you walk that path silently without avoiding your pain, your wound will become diamond-like water of life that saves someone’s soul. You are a great magician who turns the wounds of your life into healing.

This concludes the study of major Sumerian and Korean myths. In the next post (Batch 15), we will explore the giant and colorful ‘Chinese mythology’ and the universal unconscious of humanity contained within it. Thank you!