I am so humbled when I see people talking about Shadow Work. Of course, the concept comes from Carl Jung. My contribution is the name which seems to have inspired so much interest in the topic. I never heard anyone call it Shadow Work until I did and it is just amazing to me to hear it stick let alone that so much interest in it has developed.
When I saw the Campbell Foundation had released the above video I felt so grateful. I literally had tears in my eyes. I know from experience that these things are released because of interest. Enough people asked the Campbell Foundation about what Campbell knew of the Shadow that they released a video of him discussing the topic. I don't believe that the Shadow is necessarily the same gender as Campbell will say on the same subject in the video below. Too many people cast their opposite gender traits into the shadow for that to be a case. The Anima/Animus tends to get mixed up in the Shadow...when the energy of the opposite gender (in Spirit we don't really have a gender but have the qualities currently assigned to both genders). How profound to hear one of my personal heroes talking about this subject! The importance of Shadow Work really comes from some of the conspiracy theory fear based ideas people had expressed.In particular the idea of Shadow People and The Hat Man concepts which were causing people very real fear. I realized those were just a projection of the people having those experiences interior Shadow. What they were experiencing was very real but for various reasons they were assigning it to an outer force. They just needed to change their perspective to heal themselves. I'm so grateful to see a movement arise that can counteract that negative fear based idea. The opportunity for people to heal that repressed part of themselves is so tremendous. One of the main reasons I created this blog and my YouTube channel was to offer an alternative positive explanation. A lot of what emerged at first in the Spiritual Community was negative fear based information. Even now I see people straying into that mind frame from time to time. Yet, it doesn't seem as dominant today. I don't know if that's because YouTube deleted people who were sharing that fear based nonsense that was having a negative impact on some people who were already psychologically fragile or if people are healing. I prefer to believe it is the latter but it just might not be on my radar anymore. I have disconnected from so much recently that I really don't know. I really just keep to what's on my radar and that's pretty much it. That's why it's really interesting to see videos about Joseph Campbell speaking about the Shadow or Numerologist.com which I find a little annoying sharing information about Shadow Work. I can only imagine how much more is out there that I am not hearing. Conclusion I'm really amazed at how this Shadow Work concept has taken off in the Collective. When watching the movie trailer for the IT sequel I realized how Pennywise is a metaphor for the Shadow. With shows like New Rockstars breaking down those trailers and movies there is a new dimension to these collective experiences. I think things have shifted in a very positive and very good direction as some of this stuff goes main stream. I never imagined that breaking down movies to find out meanings would become mainstream in some ways. Marvel played a huge part by saying, yes, they do little Easter Eggs just so fans can find little details. I think that's so much fun. Shadow Work, though, is really something I am grateful for because it was so healing for me to comprehend that idea. I'm so grateful that everyone has access to it now and some people are doing so much better at explaining and working with the concept then I. That's what's truly beautiful. I think it's long overdue. After all, Carl Jung passed away in 1961. It's taken almost sixty years for the world to catch up and comprehend his healing ideas! The funny thing is that it's not even Psychology that's giving practical tools to people to do this work...it's the spiritual metaphysical "new age" community. Psychology, sadly, has become so interlinked with Psychiatry and the pharmaceutical companies that it's the faintest image of potential...because that would be the branch that could truly embrace the Holistic approach recommending different doctors for different afflictions. If only society would start thinking outside of the block. In many ways what Jung shared was not anything new. After all, there were Ancient Systems that worked with the Shadow. Systems of belief that were in tune with nature and viewed mankind as a part of nature (not above it, or a steward, or superior to nature) saw the reflection of this internal structure in the changing of the seasons. Yet, that is an entirely different blog. I think, for most people, accepting it as a modern psychological discovery is far easier to believe. We've been conditioned to believe that humanity is more intelligent then ever before...where as I tend to believe that we were just as intelligent in the past but it was necessary that we descend into ignorance for a few Ages. That too is an upcoming blog. Who would have thought that things would change as much as they have in the past five years?
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This month, since we are in Gemini, appears to be a really good month to do Shadow Work.
I've come out of the situation that I was in and I am taking small managable steps towards the goals I have set. Buy myself one gift per month, take time out for myself at least once a week (which ends up being at night when the Little One is alseep), record one video a month and get back to posting on Wednesday/Fridays on this blog. I have felt so much better already this month as Summer seems to be kicking in finally. Not that I am complaining. I really enjoyed the rain this year because I didn't have to drive and my yard is looking beautiful! To see the Mulberry Tree that we planted in honor of my daughter makes me a very happy camper. Shadow Integration I haven't delved into Astrology as much as I would like but I am studying it and I'm fascinated by Gemini. My mother is a Gemini. What is really interesting is the Dual aspect of Gemini. They really have two sides- which all of us have. Yet, like never before, it seems like Integration of the Shadow/Repressed side and our conscious pesona is the theme. When those two halves of us are not working together- when we are not integrated- it's like two people in a row boat and each person has a paddle but they are paddling in opposite directions. We end up going nowhere. I've been seeing this theme everywhere and I want to share it with you because it's possible you're experiencing this same theme. Celeste There is this game that came out a couple of years ago. I just happened to be watching an old Ryukahr stream and he was playing it. I realized the story was pretty rad so I looked it up on YouTube and watchced the storyline (I don't have the time to play a video game right now) as my daughter napped in my arms. The story is about a girl who has PTSD. She goes to climb a mountain called Celeste. She's doing it because she's running away from her fears. During her quest the repressed part of her escapes from her and takes on a form of it's own. By the end of the game she accepts her shadow side and starts working with it. I thought the story was absolutely amazing and the gameplay looks really fun. That a game like this exists blows my mind. Really, anyone who is on the Path of the Seeker is aware that it is referred to as Climbing A Mountain. Clearly, Madeline has had a Dark Night of the Soul experience that has driven her to this point. Shadow Integration is the Alchemical Marriage and a very important stage. So, this is one of the best Hero Journey story I've seen in a long time. Add in the Heart Cave at the end of the game, a sort of bonus level, and you even have the Cave of Wonder. This little video game is a good metaphor for the Path of the Seeker. We live in exciting times. Here is a clip showing Madeline trying to disown her Shadow:
We Are Our Own Twin Flame
Lune Innate also posted a video on a similar theme. She talks about how we are our own Twin Flame. I totally understand what she is saying. I felt like I had a portion of myself missing for a very long time. That was the source of my depression when I was younger. Then I started out on the Path of the Seeker and as I've integerated more and more of my Shadow Self (which was huge, there was so much unowned energy from multiple lives!) I started to feel more and more whole. The truth is that until we really connect with our Soul Self we will feel as though something is missing. Our soul, our divine spark, is what's missing. Most people seek to fill that hole with drugs, posessions, people, and objects. None of those ever fill that aching hole that makes you feel so empty and hollow. I call people who are disconnected from Spiriause...in a lot of way that's what they are! They are easily led by marketing campaigns to get them buy the latest and greatest thing to fit in or a church that tells them they have to donate money or buy a certain t-shirt to go to heaven. Tithing is a great thing...but not when it's done out of fear or with an underhanded motivation for good karma. I can say now that I not only feel Whole but I really feel like I don't 'need' anyone else. I have and can live on my own and be perfectly happy. I love my little family and can't wait to see it grow...but I know when all is said and done when the kids move out...I'll be happy. I don't 'need' them to stay with me out of some sort of weird co-dependence. That's one of those things I've seen a lot too...people having kids to try and complete themselves or have companions for life. So, you really should check out the video below...it's well said because our Shadow Self tends to be our Anima or Animus...the part of ourselves that we repress the most and all of us have both Male and Female. Our bodies are a gender but mentally we have both and the Integration of both in Alchemy is the Alchemical Marriage.
Finally, there is Athena from Sage Goddess's Full Moon ritual video. I loved that she joined the two candles together to show the combination of the Conscious mind and the Shadow. What a beautiful way to symbolize the two.
The questions she asks are brilliant as well: What does your Conscious Mind want to manifest? (For me the answer is a beautiful happy home- my astrological sign is Cancer afterall and we're natural homemakers). What does your Shadow Mind want? (To play!) Check out that video below:
Conclusion
Shadow work has really been the theme recently. I think that's beautiful! I hope that if you are walking this part of the Path of the Seeker that you take heart, as I do, that you're not alone. This can be rough but this is where we find our Spiritual Gold and really plant the seeds for a new Paradigm...which means a new chapter of our lives! We get to choose if it's a tragedy, a comedy or a love story. I prefer a love story, myself, not just with my partner but with life itself and all of Creation. I wake up in the morning and I feel so much Gratitude for the life I have right now because it was my biggest dream! To have achieved it so unexpectedly and almost against my will is hilarious! Thank you Brave Soul for walking the Path of the Seeker with me! You are so very precious and I'm sending you infinit love and support on your path.
This year has been a little different for me in a lot of ways.
One of the things I've done when I have these Dark Nights of the Souls is that I usually work out what I want on some level. I set goals of some sort. Sometimes it's with a vision board. With that foundation under my feet I usually can start attaining goals and gaining traction. Last time I went to see the Medium Robert Brown and the channel Bashar. This year I created a bucket list where I wrote down the things I really wanted to do....visit Sea World that left an intersting impresson on me as a child and go whal watching were the first two. The next was a genetic test which I did do and I'll write a review along with my experience in a future post. Next I placed on the list, "See Peter Woodbury Speak" and "Have A Session With Peter Woodbury," Right after that he announced he was coming to Los Angeles for a workshop and would also do a rare regression session for the entire group. I couldn't miss the opportunity. The experience was a little strange for me in a lot of ways and I'll explain that in a future post as well...sorry to say that so many times here but I want to share what I think is the most exciting. Opportunities to write are rare and I'm running with what I'm most amazed by in the moment. The most interseting aspect for me was Peter Woodbury himself. Also a fan of Carl Jung and open minded he's fascinated me for a bit. On Facebook he is the most active and friendly members. I also wanted to thank him for interperting the dream I had last June. He's made comments on my posts when I was in need and that really impressed me. What struck me most, in person, was Peter's need for Shadow Work...and that his greatest work where he can help the most lies in that area but he's walking in the shadow of his past life regression teacher, Brian Weiss. Weiss has never intersted me because he seems like a one dimensional blissed out guru. He's done good things but I've never bought his books...I did use his online regression session and both Peter and Kim Trottman (whom I went to for a one-on-one past life regression session) were trained by him. So, indirectly he has positively affected my life but as a person- as an individual- he's never impressed me. He's like a tape with one song on it...after a while listening to him is boring. What Surprised Me About Peter's Workshop I realized that Peter has some major Shadow Work that he needs to embrace to find his own unique voice. I have to admit, I was surprised by how painfully honest he was when confessing his shameful Past Lives to a room of strangers. First, Peter told us he had cancelled two trips out to California because of Karma in the area. Second, when he spoke about being regressed by some of his students to the in between lives level he made some interesting statements. First, he thought that the reason all of his guides were in awe of him was because they had mistaken him for Brian Weiss. However, he explained, the 'love fest' was ended when he was shown that he was a pirate. He was very, mournful, about being a pirate...almost ashamed. Now, that is a major shadow aspect. When you have a past life that you can look back on and your ashamed of there is work to be done. Not to mention, everyone knows that pirates who have a good heart are extremely popular- just look at Han Solo or Jack Sparrow. Most people don't like Luke or Will Turner because they are too good...they just aren't relateable (some people have the same issue with Jesus- he was just too perfect to relate to...he's been depicted so archetypically that he doesn't feel real to most people). The difference is as obvious as the Fool Tarot Card versus the Hermit Tarot Card who casts his light from the Mountain Top to guide wayward souls. The Hermit has seen some serious shit folks but he has grown from it to the point where he can guide others. I would befriend the Hermit way before I considered befriending the Fool. With Hermit I may learn something...with the Fool I'm more likely to find trouble. Third, when Peter was talking about having to use a manual microphone instead of the cordless little microphone so popular now, I joked that he had been both a Pirate and Lounge Singer. (In all honesty, I feel a little ashamed of myself as I nodded and talked a bit too much during the entire workshop. I feel as though I was being a bit rude and stealing his thunder but it was my intuition and I went with it...it was already super odd that I was there alone in the first place. He did thank me for 'guiding him' when I thanked him and gave him a hug before lunch. He gives good hugs which also put him up a few notches in my book). Well, he stopped and he admitted that he had been something simlar to a touring Mariachi in Calinfornia and had enjoyed the company of prostitues. I couldn't help but laugh. Again, he had said it as though he was ashamed. Granted, he is a spiritual individual who comes from the most sexually repressive religoius background....Catholocisim. The Catholic Church really screwed things up when they indireclty made sex a sin. Sex is a very necesary part of the human experience. I'm sure it had to do with sociological programming to safeguard their income from the potential of the entire congregation dying of a sexually transmitted disease. Anyways, I just laughed and replied that I ran brothels in the Middle East in a past life, these things happen. Fourth, he mentioned two themes in his paitients. I forget what the other one but one, for sure, was Shadow Work. By coinicidence the woman who was facilitating his individual readings over the course of the next few days, happened to be sitting next to me and I told, "He needs to write a book." Everyone has told Peter this forever and she nodded saying that she's been telling him this and I continued, "He needs to write a book on Shadow Work." She started to agree and then stopped saying, "Oohhhhh!" Apparently, that had never occurred to her or to him. I even thought abotu writing him a letter urging him to write a book on Shadow Work. That he needed to own his shadow...those past lives he was ashamed of...and find the spiritual Gold hidden within them. Past Lives books are a dime a dozen but a book on Shadow Work...well, now, that would help millions of people and his semi-christian audiance are among the ones who need to hear the message the most. My intuition told me not to message him. That on the Spiritual level I would reach out to him and he would get the message. Well, I don't known if that happened or not but you can hear him say in the video below where he was talking to a convention of Empaths, "It turns out I had to accept the shadow." He even talks about Shadow Work where he gestures indicating placeing something in his shadow and saying, "Not me..." That blew my mind. Check this out below because this is a very different interpertation of his past lives then what he shared in Los Angeles and I am so proud of him! My heart sung in joy when I watched this video.
Further more, my mind was blown last month when both Gillian (she runs the Lune Innate ASMR channel that I love) and Blanca on the Emerald Paradigm YouTube Channel talked about Shadow Work and what they felt it meant. To hear a term I coined, that I had never heard before and was uncertain of using because it could invoke a negative connotation in the Christian Groups, was beyond awesome.
Here is the Video:
Then I was reading the emails that Victor Odd sends out and he mentioned Shadow Work along with the statement that that's what all the 'cool kids' were calling it...I was beyond amazed. Then he shared another email with a link to his Website where he talked about the subject with his wife Pattie. Here is a link to the Podcast on Victors Website: https://awakeninghelp.com/shadow-work-what-it-is-how-we-do-it/ Conclusion Shadow Work is very timely right now. To think I used that term, and I was so uncertain of it last May and that it's take root now...it's amazing. You can watch the video below! Yes, it only has 23 official views on YouTube but somehow the idea is out there now and...it's becoming popular. Enough people listened to cause a shift in the collective consciousness. How freaking awesome is that? You can watch the video at the end of this blog. A lot of people don't want to own their shadow. They don't want to admit that they too are flawed. However, that's the only way forward because it's within those 'flawed' aspects of us that we can find our greatest strengths and the sweetest most rare Spiritual Fruits. Compassion and Forgiveness. The two harderst Fruits of the Spirit to gain on a Soul Level. Think of all of us as on a quest to collect certain Rings of Power or Infinity Stones (to borrow from two of my favorite fantasy franchises). Instead of objects, our souls are seeking the Fruits of the Spirit to prove that we have passed the Earth Test. Well, the hardest ones to gain are Compassion and Forgiveness. The only way to understand another person's plight- to not look down at them, to not judge them as inferior or as some sort of entertainment- is to pass through the darkness ourselves. That way, when we admit that we too have known the depths of despair, depravity, and hatred...we experience a deep sense of forgiveness and compassion for others. That way, when someone says in a hesitant voice that they were a Pirate in a past life...you can say, "Ha, awesome story! Those types of lives happen! All of us have ended up in the trenches or in the gutters at some point! Let me tell you about the time that I..." Of course, the difference is that in this life time we've learned what hasn't worked...and we use the times we stumbled to help others who are currently stumbling. Even better...when we do this we offer others...HOPE. So, my humble little YouTube Channel and this humble little blog has created a ripple effect that encourages me. I won't lie folks...I thought about giving up on all of this...of just fading to watch what would happen in the world. Yet, I am witnessing the most beautiful unfoldments and it's because of each and every one of you that stumble upon this blog. I love each of you so much that words can never capture the depth of my humble gratitude for all of the Brave Souls who take up the responsibility of the 7 Fold Path of the Seeker. We are making a difference and that....is truly beautiful.
This was a fun video to make.
I only did one recording and I loved the fact that my dog Angel comes in at the end. I loved that ending so I had to keep the video even though I didn't hit all of the points that I meant to hit. That's one of the flaws with improvisation (not having a script but making it up as you go). I kind of rambled at the end but that's one of the reasons I love that Angel cut me off. She had perfect timing. For example, I explain that the Square is usually represented by a male but don't explicitly say that the circle or sphere is connected with the female symbolically. I hinted at it and I could have and should have used an image of the masons square and compass and the chines god/goddess who hold the square and compass. All include that image at the end of this post. However, I feel that this a good introduction to this concept. As we go through the 7 cards of the Tarot Path of the Seeker these two concepts will be very important. In fact, the male and female that's in those images represent exactly this...the male is the self-conscious every day waking mind with it's ego construct and the female is the subconscious/shadow mind. I did forget to add at the end that once you dissolve/let go of the ego you discover that you can't return to that primordial state of being. By having experienced building a personality complex- even when you dissolve it- you continue to carry that experience within your Higher Consciousness. That's what gives your 'soul' a unique quality. The soul then carries those experiences and the knowledge/wisdom gained from them for eternity distinguishing it apart from the rest of creation with which it was once One. The result is a new state of consciousness. That is why I shared the Judgement Tarot Key at the end with the arrow pointing to the male (waking/every day consciousness) and the female (the subconscious) and the child (the new consciousness that is the result of their union. The ego/waking consciousness dissolves it's construct but it does continue to exist. Only now it's working in unison and aware of the subconscious. But we will get into all of that as we study the 7 Tarot Card Keys of the Path of the Seeker. I hope you enjoyed my little presentation and my new Traverler's Notes style! |
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Thank You For Visiting
Brave Soul! May Your Journey On The Path Of The Seeker Bring You Joy and Peace! I'm currently posting every Saturday. With a new addition the family I have pre-scheduled most posts through December 2022. Full Moon Posts will contain up-to-date content when I can get to them. Thank you so much for your support and understanding! This is a place where you can encounter new spiritual ideas that have helped me develop as an Individual On The Path of the Seeker. Take or Leave this information as you see fit. Archives
April 2024
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