Rather, to illuminate and engage it more consciously, as partner, emissary, even lover. While at times it may appear as enemy, underneath the disguise the ally is revealed.
It is only through cultivating a relationship with it that we will not project its contents onto others or into the world… to allow it to take its rightful place in the larger ecology of what we are, as one voice or figure among many. In this way its wrathful intelligence can find its way here.
The shadow is not some worthless, neurotic repository of unenlightened thoughts, feelings, and impulses, but hidden expressions of wisdom, creativity, and soul, awaiting redemption and the light of awareness.
It is through the very natural and human process of projection that we come to know disavowed and previously undisclosed parts of ourselves, pieces of soul that have fallen out of awareness or have not yet found a proper portal for emergence.
That which we are unable to access, dancing and twirling within the personal and archetypal psyche, will make itself known as it is evoked in another or enacted within the relational field.
The purpose of shadow work is not to eliminate shadow. Shadow is not pathology but is path.
Photo by Anja/ cocoparisienne
My new book - A Healing Space: Befriending Ourselves in Difficult Times - is now available for pre-order at Amazon and will be published by Sounds True in November. Learn more about the book (including a full list of online retailers) and early editorial reviews and endorsements here.
My previous book - The Path is Everywhere: Uncovering the Jewels Hidden Within You - is available at Amazon.
We've decided to leave our monthly online community, Befriending Yourself, open for enrollment during these uncertain and challenging times. For more information, please visit the course page here.
