{"id":9972,"date":"2014-07-01T01:10:47","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T06:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=10322"},"modified":"2014-06-27T22:27:11","modified_gmt":"2014-06-28T03:27:11","slug":"tink-about-it-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2014\/07\/01\/tink-about-it-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Tink About It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shadows<\/strong>
\nHello darkness, my old friend,
\nI’ve come to talk with you again\u2026.<\/p>\n

As I told you before I\u2019ve always been a moonchild. I love the night. The dark gives me a safe, cosy and peaceful feeling. Life slows down, I slow down. I enjoy walking my dogs in the middle of the night. Deserted streets, the sound of silence, soft moonlight. A ship blows its horn in the distance. A lone cyclist races home through the dark. A pub owner turns off the light and closes the door. He smiles and nods. He knows me, a fellow night owl\u2026
\nI really don\u2019t understand why \u2018dark\u2019 or \u2018black\u2019 has a negative connotation. I\u2019m not afraid of the dark, on the contrary. Dark isn\u2019t negative, just the counterbalance of light and just as much part of life! You need to embrace your shadow to be able to enjoy the light\u2026<\/p>\n

Of course there is also an entirely different league of darkness, the evil that hides in the dark and gives the dark a bad name. That\u2019s not what I am talking about here. I won\u2019t encourage a murderer to embrace his shadow… What I mean are our less-desirable features like jealousy, impatience, bad behaviour, insecurity and the like.<\/p>\n

It keeps surprising (and at times annoying) me though, that quite some pagans seem to have a problem acknowledging and accepting their shadow or \u2018dark side\u2019. I hear a lot of love & light messages. Sometimes when people react with \u2018lots of love & light\u2019 I think: NO! I need to feel this now. I need the darkness, being alone with me, myself and I. Of course they mean it well and it\u2019s great when people show their compassion, but still it might be a good idea to leave it up to the other. Nothing wrong with love and light of course, but it is if there is no room anymore for the other side. Even worse, a lot of people (try to) ignore their not-so-light side.
\nI\u2019ve had numerous chats and online discussions with people about this. Some call themselves \u2018light workers\u2019. Again nothing wrong with that in itself, but personally I want to work with \u2018all of me\u2019. I strive to be a good person and I believe I am basically, but I also have another side and so does everyone else. That\u2019s nothing to be ashamed of, no need to hide. The harder you try to cover it up, the harder it will come back to haunt you. To me it\u2019s much better to give that side of me attention too. I try to find out why I feel depressed, jealous, unsatisfied, etc. or why I act in a certain way. I explore the possibilities to do something about it. If that\u2019s not possible, at least I try to acknowledge it. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes not. Hey, I\u2019m only human\u2026 and so are you!<\/p>\n

When I was studying with Phyllis Curott, one of the workshops she gave us was called \u2018Dancing with your shadow, an intensive workshop devoted to self-discovery, healing & empowerment\u2019. She taught us that your shadow is not the reflection of your limitations, but rather a teacher and guide to a life of wholeness and happiness. We worked together to uncover our shadow beliefs, insecurities, weaknesses , etc. The dark qualities you bury, deny or project onto others can be a source of self-knowledge, freedom and fulfilment. That\u2019s what Phyllis promised us, and that\u2019s what we got\u2026
\nIt was quite the revelation, that workshop. We went in deep, very deep. We laughed and cried together. We did several meditations, shamanic journeys and exercises to meet and interact with our shadows. Some I knew, some were \u2018sort of new\u2019 to me. As was to be expected a well-known and long-lasting issue in my life surfaced, and to my surprise I really made progress. Make no mistake, let me emphasize that witchcraft is by no means a substitute for therapy! Still, in a certain way this shadow work brought me more than 20 years of therapy\u2026 A completely different approach made the difference I needed, caused a breakthrough and set things in motion, finally. To me an important part of witchcraft is learning and developing myself. A recurring theme in my life is balance. It\u2019s something I work on all the time, so it\u2019s no surprise it comes up on my spiritual path too. That\u2019s why I need to give attention to both sides, it\u2019s the healthy way to do things if you ask me.<\/p>\n

\u2018Shadow work\u2019 is a Jungian term that refers to practices that creatively engage repressed or hidden aspects of the self. It can be done on your own, but if you work in a group that can certainly be a synergetic bonus. 1 + 1 = 3, if you understand what I mean. Be prepared for some difficult themes to surface, but if you work through it the reward can be huge.
\nIf you can\u2019t find a workshop or group to work with, or just like to work alone, there are also books that can help you. I just name a few, by no means the only ones, just some books that I like on the subject of shadow work.<\/p>\n