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The Darkness of The Deep

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Shadow Work: Pt 1, Introduction


Not A Rockstar

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There is a lot of talk of "shadow work" - much of it wrong or being repackaged into needless trappings as fast as a new wanna be guru can come along and read a book on it. I have zero interest in being followed, and have been using these basic concepts for several decades now, well before I ran into Carl Jung's work. It is one of the tools deep within occultic thought that has extraordinary value and usage and is quite archaic, actually. I could not be happier than to see it becoming main stream and stripped down in form and function so it is accessible to anyone. There is nothing "evil" about it, just it is part of what is fundamental to many occultic paths and more than a few religions in todays' world. It is one of the parts that really work.

In this series, I will attempt to answer the question "What is shadow work and how can we use it?" Here are the main themes I will touch on in this series:

1. What is the Shadow and who is this Jung fellow?

2. Jung wrote down a good theory and approach we see as modern, however this has been around for centuries and goes all the way back to our own beginnings once our brains ascended past mere instinct and rather bestial subconscious functions to begin to project the ego and create awareness of the conscious reality we take for granted today. The words and understandings and approaches may vary, but the effort to seek and understand the shadow side we each have for various purposes of growth and insight is an ancient one and there are some archaic forms of shamanism which could be said to be based greatly in this very pursuit.

3. Our mythology, religions and tales often hearken to this dichotomy between the person we are and who we think we are, so this is hardly a discovery by Jung, and yet, we have to credit him with bringing it out of the lists of the occultic into the mainstream of psychology today.

4. Modern applications (emphases on New Age as that is my arena) for better or worse/ manias, psychoses and sanity.

5. What understanding this well can do for us, whatever our spiritual or ideological bent, and how to use it rightly and safely. Results for the diligent practitioner.

Before we get going, here is the needful disclaimer: I am NOT a licensed psychiatrist, nor a clinical psychologist. I am a Master Shaman, a Christian Mystic, a Counsellor and an Adept in a few occultic or esoteric paths. I draw from that experience for the bulk of what I write, however I have always advocated for reading and learning everything out there you can get your hands on, with special emphasis on works by jerks who believe you are nuts :) . That done, let's talk.

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Carl Jung (1875-1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who was a copious writer and thinker in his field. He remains influential, though in my opinion, his finest work was what is known as "Shadow Work". 

Simply put, as we go through our lives, we form an idea of who we are based on inputs from others to a large degree. Perceived approval or disapproval for our appearance, our behavior, our ideas, how we perform. Those inputs we accept or like we take on as part of our idea of who we are. The hurtful things we shunt off apart from our conscious awareness as rejected. It is this body of rejected things apart from what we remain aware of as "us" which is stashed down there in our subconscious to swelter, steam, stomp around and hide thoroughly from us. The more we modernize and lose touch with ourselves and introspection, the greater the gulf between that part of our self and who we run around being most of the time.

It is very easy to suppose, "Yeah, ok, I know about my shadow side, so this is nothing special", however, I find it fascinating to read that "We know that the wildest and most moving dramas and not played out in the theater, but in the hearts and minds of ordinary men and women who betray nothing of the conflicts that rage within them except possibly by a nervous breakdown. What is so difficult to grasp for the layman is that for the most part the patient has no idea of the war raging within their unconscious. If we remember that there are many people who understand nothing about themselves, we shall be less surprised to realize there are also people who are utterly unaware of their actual conflicts." (paraphrase of "New Paths In Psychology" CW 7: Two Essays in Analytical Psychology p. 425). 

My own experiences in self psycho-analysis and also working as a counsellor for others has proven this out to me. I have learned more than I ever dreamed about the human consciousness through this, and it has granted to me a sad insight into some of the troubles of our world today. Because of this, I have a trace of missionary zeal to encourage others to study this and increase their own insights into it to help themselves and perhaps gain insight into each other to help us all communicate more effectively and also maybe, just maybe, forgive a little easier, too.

The fact of the matter is that the less we are aware of this side of our self, the darker it is. Ignorance is not bliss. When someone "snaps" and goes on a shooting rampage, or explosion of domestic violence, for example, it is this ocean of repressed anguish and yuck and rage and uncontrol that streams out. It is alien stuff, on a demonic scale for the individual when this happens. (I am not speaking about your basic psychopath here, but normal seeming folks who suddenly snap and become something alien to their norm for a duration. Later, they have trouble even comprehending how they could do anything like that).

Thankfully, that remains rare. Manifestations that are more common are things like chronic self sabotage, depression, self harm, and/or personality quirks we sometimes dislike about ourselves but never seem able to change. It may surprise you to know many assumed to be paranormal experiences can be attributed to this as a source for some people. 

You can go to a psychiatrist and work with one for years, or you can do this for yourself, using the same tools they seek to teach, because bottom line, nobody can do this for you, nobody can go with you through it. It is your own, solitary journey into your own darkness, shining the light of your conscious mind and awareness into the darkness and bringing it out bit by bit into your awareness to handle it, know it, accept it, heal it, integrate it. The more we do this process, and lessen the dark ocean within, the clearer that inner water becomes. The clearer that water is, the more genuine self control and self knowledge we have. This is the highway to emotional freedom and release of many limits we didn't even know we were suffering from.

Hurtful things are in there, yes, dark things we do not like to have to find out, which is why we stashed it there to begin with, but, this is not about good and evil so much as it is a sort of inner child stuffed into a closet to languish away unloved and unknown. It is a journey of self discovery, self forgiveness and insight and self love in a healthy sense of the meaning. It is a transcendent process of self acceptance and knowing. We hide these things away to protect our actually rather fragile ego, so it behooves us to release and free what we can to support a healthy ego for ourselves as we grow more and are able to handle those things that caused so much hurt when we were younger and stashed them there.

In part 2 I will talk about how this hidden dark side of our personal "force" is addressed in many traditions, religions and archetypes. 

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