Maybe it’s the time of year, as the energies of fall are conducive to delving into the shadow, or maybe it’s a nudge from the universe but I feel moved to do a short blog series on shadow work. Online I find a lot of offerings of people whom you can pay to lead you through shadow work but not a lot of nitty-gritty how to do it on your own information. It’s fine if you want to pay someone to walk you through it, there’s nothing wrong with that, but I’m more of a do it yourself kind of girl and I’m just feeling really moved to write about this topic at this time. I started doing my shadow work at the age of 19, revisiting it at different points in my life as I feel the need. Though you may not do shadow work on a regular basis throughout your whole life chances are that you’re going to revisit it several times during your life. It is not a one and done kind of thing. You are a work in progress every day of your life and this is something that you’ll need to revisit from time to time.
You’ve probably heard the term shadow work before but you may not know what it is. Shadow work really started with C.G. Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist born in 1875. The concept of shadow work involves the Jungian concept of the shadow self or shadow personality, which is made up of energies that are really in a sense different selves that have been disowned or repressed into the subconscious. We often consider these selves to be unlovable or unworthy. These shadow selves begin to develop in childhood as we’re programmed by our caregivers of what is and isn’t acceptable about ourselves and they continue to develop through adulthood as we have different life experiences. These unconscious energies affect how we behave and how we judge others. They affect our relationships with our loved ones, our money and our profession. What we bury in the subconscious will bubble up in ways we don’t understand until we draw them out and into our conscious thoughts.
Our shadow self is made up many energies and none of them would be considered pleasant aspects of ourselves. These aspects could be things like jealousy, a fear of abandonment, a fear of intimacy, anger, or many other things. These selves may stem from experiences in our childhood but we don’t always trace things back to our childhood. Sometimes things stem from our adolescence and sometimes things stem from much more recent events in our adulthood. This is not a rainbows and lollipops undertaking, it gets emotionally messy and dirty and you really have to ask yourself before you begin if you are ready to undertake this process.
To do shadow work we must shine a light on these buried selves, accept them, and work to heal them. Though not strictly a Pagan practice this kind of work can be a very spiritual experience. The goal of which is to make the unconscious integrated into the conscious where we can work with these selves on the conscious level and allow acceptance of ourselves as a whole. It’s about creating a good relationship with yourself. It allows you to change your views, perspectives, and beliefs. While we are striving for self-acceptance here, that does not mean that we just say oh it’s okay that I behave like a raging wildebeest and folks can either accept that or get lost. You are not going to be a perfect person after doing shadow work and you do need to accept your flaws but you also need to take responsibility for your flaws and work to better yourself. Not for the sake of others but for the sake of yourself. By bringing these selves to our consciousness we can work to fix the broken behaviors and harmful patterns in our life.
Keep in mind that shadow work is a very individual experience and no two people will progress through it in the same way. You can’t compare your experience to anyone else’s and there is no one right way to do shadow work. I think that’s why how to information can be a little hard to come by, because it’s so individual. That said in this series I will discuss some things that can guide you on your way, even if I can’t give you an exact road map.
Something to keep in mind when you undertake this journey are the 5 A’s of shadow work, which I got the idea of from Kelly-Ann Maddox’s Youtube channel.
The 5 A’s of Shadow Work
1.Acknowledge– This is exactly how it sounds you are acknowledging the existence within your psyche of the shadow self.
2.Allow– Allow yourself to spend time with your shadow personality.
3.Amends - Think of how these aspects of yourself have hurt you or others and make amends. You could make amends face to face, by writing a letter that you don’t send, or by way of ritual. However you feel moved to make amends.
4.Admit– Take responsibility for that part of yourself. Allow it to become part of you consciously.
5.Aware– You now recognize this part of you and you have control over it.