one who
heals.
in any
fashion.
a doctor performing surgery is a healer.
a nurse tending a patient is a healer.
a friend bringing flowers and a smile and laughter to a sick or depressed companion is a healer.
a mother putting a band-aid and a kiss on the skinned knee of her child is a healer as well.
the traditional meaning of healer, however, is more specific. the priestesses and priests of the "old world" religions, the earth religions, the goddess paths. the herbalists who tended and grew and dispensed their plants so carefully, understanding what they did so fully. the shamans, channeling magic and medicine. the midwives, combining bits of superstition and magic with an infinite amount of tenderness and care.
these peoples of the old paths, the old and nearly forgotten paths where cures didn't come from a plastic bottle or at the end of a scalpel or under an x-ray machine. these people are the ones that are meant when the word "healer" is spoken, slightly whispered and tinged just slighty with an awe that does not come from respect of a medical degree, but rather something else more ... potent, more alive. something that comes from life itself.
these are the healers.