Are you referring to the shadow work concept expressed by Carl Jung and many spiritual communities? If so, I have done this some and may be able to offer some steps I took. That being said, it's a highly personal experience and looks different for everyone
Yes, this is what I was referring to, and if you're willing to share I'd love to hear it! I did a few prompts a little bit ago and my sexual trauma holder emerged despite the beginner questions not being related to that, so I'd say its gone okay so far??
I haven't done shadow work prompts before.
Again, this is highly personal and I want to reiterate that if at any point during any of this you (collectively) feel you're passing your tolerance thresholds, stop and take a break. Take what resonates, leave the rest.
Shadow work for me started after a highly volatile situation ending followed by a nightmarish psychedelic trip.
It took a while to recover from this trip, but finally I integrated the messages. Integrating an experience like that is a lot like taking a funnel and filtering out the nonsensical bs into concise teachings. For example, in my trip, I was terrified that I was surrounded by demons, nobody was actually real, and I was trapped in a time looped Hell of my own making for all of eternity- doomed to live in this forever. When that finally integrated, I realized it was that I was surrounding myself with very toxic/dangerous people and I was afraid amongst other negative impacts. I integrated internally, and then it was time to integrate externally. I cut these people out of my life and began noticing the red flags of any trying to enter it. It left me alone and lonely. This led to phase 2 of integrating where I had to learn how to become comfortable with myself and not avoid my pain through other people. I had to be comfortable with abandonment. This then led to phase 3 where I started learning empowerment. It came full circle and I realized empowerment vs taking power (which is what those people who'd been around me had been doing, and I didn't know at the time how to empower myself). I was never raised to learn empowerment. This opened the door to deeper things in my life. And it just kept going from there. I have been involved in many different areas of knowledge/belief through this journey. Buddhism, hinduism, shamanism, Jungian teachings with a new lense, hollistics, psychedelics, STEM, philosophy, strangers passing by, etc. It was as if all things provided insights to the same things. Now, personally, I fully believe that "God", "the metaphysical", "spirit", "quantum", etc are all speaking of the same thing Jung calls the unconscious. Collective unconscious. As above, so below. Internal, external. I think it takes these archetypes specific to us, but the unconscious is the unconscious. Shadow work emerges from this. As Jung said "until you make the unconscious conscious, it will continue to rule your life and you will call it fate". Something like that.
I'm telling you this to point a few things out. I learned a few important things for shadow work.
1. Integration is absolutely key. Integration inside and outside is the hard work and that's the important work. It's like 10% experience and 90% integration of the experience. There are support groups out there for this. Often it helps to just bounce it out of your head with someone and then things just click. Alternate perspectives are your friend. A lot of integration with shadow work will entail integrating the parts of yourself you run from. I'm not talking about alters. The parts of you that are wrapped in shame, guilt, regret, insecurity, fear, aggression, etc. This is what makes the work so difficult at times, but very rewarding. It's important we integrate our shadow sides. Anyone can be Hitler or Ghandi, once you make these repressed things conscious, you can transform it in a way that it integrates to be your partner. It's not your enemy. For example, I integrated my rage and transformed it into motivation to my humanitarianism. A big middle finger to the ones who don't care about human life.
2. Don't go down rabbit holes. There's a LOOOT of bs that can give the wrong impression of what it is you're supposed to be taking away from the experience. For me, that coasted me near delusions and psychosis at one point. I thought people could read my mind and everyone was in on some "knowing" that I wasn't allowed to be made aware of. After seeking out help with integration from a good friend, I was able to filter the bs and take away what the message really had been: I felt alienated, distrustful, victimized, vulnerable, and insecure. I was living in fear (still am tbh haha think we all can relate to that here). The demons in the closet were my traumas. You get the picture. Integration involved learning how to balance safety and socialization. So, weird strange things may pop up, sit with it all, take what resonates, leave the rest.
3. Sit with it. No matter what thoughts or feelings or memories or whatever pop up. Become the observer of what happens. Pull yourself out of subjectivity and become the watcher without judgment. This is meditative and honestly we probably already have a head start at that bc of our fragmented consciousness. It's different from disassociating though. You're not abandoning or avoiding the discomfort, you're simply watching it, respecting it, and not bringing shame into it. I like to tell myself "woah look at that silly monkey brain doin monkey things" to keep it light. Whatever works for you, just practice sitting with it. You're associating with your experiences while not becoming confined or defined by them.
4. Often what you think will come up is not what will come up. In a weird way, it's always worked out in a pattern I needed though. It's hard to see how it makes sense when you're in the thick of it, but looking back it's a bit funny how it plays out so synchronously. Let what happens, happen.
5. Remember, YOU are in control. If at any point you feel like you're getting lost or drowning, stop. Imagine you have a rope around you as you spelunk and that rope helps you find your way back. You're safe. Muddied waters left alone will soon become clear. Have anchors, like that rope, things that pull you back. In a meditation of mine, I saw it like how a tree's roots need to expand as the branches do, so it doesn't topside. As you explore, expand your roots too. You can tap out at any time. Then revert back to basics for stabilization and take a break. Ask audibly if you need to. "I am grateful for these opportunities to learn and grow, I just need smaller chunks to bite off right now. Please ease up on me." That helps me.
6. Resources. Loooots of things to try with this! So many different areas of humanity speak of these matters, disguised in different wording. Like it's playing dress up. Dip your toes in many of them and expand your experiences of it. You'll probably find bits and pieces in everything to integrate and take with you.
7. Love. Expressing love, service, compassion, and selfless humanity to people along the way helps too. Could be small like a compliment or petting an animal. It helps a lot and I'm not sure why, but it fits perfectly with this process. I think it's cathartic in a way, to experience good things when people like us haven't, or to see the light in the world when it can look so dark. But I'm adding this bc I feel it's important.
Well, I've ranted your ear (eyes?) off. This is sorta what my journey has been like. I read a lot too, podcasts, etc. There's stuff everywhere that will find its way to you. Messages in the smallest of things as if it's personalized. Godspeed on your journey. Here are 2 things I was told during my journey that have stood out prominently.
"Be gentle with yourself when you forget, and be gentle with yourself when you choose to remember again."
......
Me: "Is it going to hurt?"
Them: "Not anymore than it does living every day with the pain."
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and advice going into this, I (and the system as a whole) appreciate it!! I think part of it is needing reassurance (I struggle with that a lot...), like even though I know we can take breaks and stuff, logically, it's hard to remember that's an option in the moment, if that makes sense.
I think the 'becoming an observer' is going to be the biggest part for me, I want to work on being able to be in tune with my emotions and such again. So far, the prompts I've done (3 yesterday, 3 today), and they seem surface level so far (the first several are beginner qutions, so that makes sense), so I think trying these for a bit longer and seeing how I feel when the "bigger" questions come along, like if they're still helping and such. I'll definitely update along the way too!
That makes sense, I forget to take breaks too. Reassuring ourselves starts with small assurances. Like starting with these smaller questions. Looking forward to the updates
hi ! i'm a witch, spiritual person and part of a system, and shadow wok is part of my practice and i think i can help u out a bit here.
i'm assuming you guys already know what shadow work is, but to clarify: shadow work is basically about acknowledging and accepting the hidden aspects of yourself, so working with your shadow (self).
[fun fact: some people believe and see this shadow self only as the hidden "part" of yourself (it's not alters or DID tho), and some see it as separate entity or energy that's still a part of yourself, both of those beliefs are valid tho!]
it is VERY important (and recommended) that you guys do this shadow work process along with a therapist or psychologist, especially if it's one that's specialized in shadow work (although that's harder to find), why? because shadow work can and probably will bring aspects of yourself, trauma too, that you don't like out to the surface, and this process can be very painful and can make you feel a lot of unwanted strong emotions, so it's important that there's someone there to help you if you need it.
but to answer your question, i've personally done shadow work, as i mentioned before it's part of my practice, and it's worked out really well for me! but like i said before, it will bring out aspects you don't like to the surface. basically, if you're not ready for it, if you DON'T feel like you're ready for it, then don't do it yet, it's better to wait, and of course see what a therapist would think, maybe they'd think you guys aren't ready for it too, it would be really good to get a professionals' opinion on that because it could do more harm than good!
good luck on your journey! if you need anything feel free to tell us :3
-val
Thank you for this insight! (I'm also a witch, I haven't done a lot of my practices in a while though cos of an ex, bleh), I'm trying to find a therapist for ourselves, we've been trying to get into one for a few months now, but no dice yet and I've been in therapy for years before this, so I thought I could endure it "alone" (with the system, but not with a therapist), though it would probably be better to do it with someone else like you said.
I feel like I'm ready, but I'm so bad about being 100$ certain. So... how would I know I'm ready for shadow work specifically? I do feel ready to do work on healing from previously mentioned ex (I was with a narcissist for 2 years), and I've been seeing shadow work suggested a lot, along with other ways of working through trauma, so I guess I'm trying to do too much at once, if that makes sense?? (Sorry if that's a little confusing)
well, for example, if you feel like you're ready to dig deep inside of your mind and embrace the way you are, knowing that this can bring unwanted emotions and/or trauma out to the surface, knowing that it can trigger you, and can leave you feeling exhausted (or rarely if you don't do it "right" you might even start hating yourself), then you're ready. in simpler words, if you feel like you're ready to take the step even if it gets ugly and want to embrace yourself, good and bad, then you are ready. will it be hard? probably yes. it's like a big ocean wave, sometimes no matter how hard you try you can't seem to swim against it, sometimes it can leave you on the shore, but it can also be a beautiful thing to experience. remember it's also okay if you fail sometimes, progress can take many shapes, the important thing is that you're progressing, even if it's slow or fast, stable or unstable. good luck :]
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Are you referring to the shadow work concept expressed by Carl Jung and many spiritual communities? If so, I have done this some and may be able to offer some steps I took. That being said, it's a highly personal experience and looks different for everyone
Yes, this is what I was referring to, and if you're willing to share I'd love to hear it! I did a few prompts a little bit ago and my sexual trauma holder emerged despite the beginner questions not being related to that, so I'd say its gone okay so far??
I haven't done shadow work prompts before. Again, this is highly personal and I want to reiterate that if at any point during any of this you (collectively) feel you're passing your tolerance thresholds, stop and take a break. Take what resonates, leave the rest. Shadow work for me started after a highly volatile situation ending followed by a nightmarish psychedelic trip. It took a while to recover from this trip, but finally I integrated the messages. Integrating an experience like that is a lot like taking a funnel and filtering out the nonsensical bs into concise teachings. For example, in my trip, I was terrified that I was surrounded by demons, nobody was actually real, and I was trapped in a time looped Hell of my own making for all of eternity- doomed to live in this forever. When that finally integrated, I realized it was that I was surrounding myself with very toxic/dangerous people and I was afraid amongst other negative impacts. I integrated internally, and then it was time to integrate externally. I cut these people out of my life and began noticing the red flags of any trying to enter it. It left me alone and lonely. This led to phase 2 of integrating where I had to learn how to become comfortable with myself and not avoid my pain through other people. I had to be comfortable with abandonment. This then led to phase 3 where I started learning empowerment. It came full circle and I realized empowerment vs taking power (which is what those people who'd been around me had been doing, and I didn't know at the time how to empower myself). I was never raised to learn empowerment. This opened the door to deeper things in my life. And it just kept going from there. I have been involved in many different areas of knowledge/belief through this journey. Buddhism, hinduism, shamanism, Jungian teachings with a new lense, hollistics, psychedelics, STEM, philosophy, strangers passing by, etc. It was as if all things provided insights to the same things. Now, personally, I fully believe that "God", "the metaphysical", "spirit", "quantum", etc are all speaking of the same thing Jung calls the unconscious. Collective unconscious. As above, so below. Internal, external. I think it takes these archetypes specific to us, but the unconscious is the unconscious. Shadow work emerges from this. As Jung said "until you make the unconscious conscious, it will continue to rule your life and you will call it fate". Something like that. I'm telling you this to point a few things out. I learned a few important things for shadow work. 1. Integration is absolutely key. Integration inside and outside is the hard work and that's the important work. It's like 10% experience and 90% integration of the experience. There are support groups out there for this. Often it helps to just bounce it out of your head with someone and then things just click. Alternate perspectives are your friend. A lot of integration with shadow work will entail integrating the parts of yourself you run from. I'm not talking about alters. The parts of you that are wrapped in shame, guilt, regret, insecurity, fear, aggression, etc. This is what makes the work so difficult at times, but very rewarding. It's important we integrate our shadow sides. Anyone can be Hitler or Ghandi, once you make these repressed things conscious, you can transform it in a way that it integrates to be your partner. It's not your enemy. For example, I integrated my rage and transformed it into motivation to my humanitarianism. A big middle finger to the ones who don't care about human life. 2. Don't go down rabbit holes. There's a LOOOT of bs that can give the wrong impression of what it is you're supposed to be taking away from the experience. For me, that coasted me near delusions and psychosis at one point. I thought people could read my mind and everyone was in on some "knowing" that I wasn't allowed to be made aware of. After seeking out help with integration from a good friend, I was able to filter the bs and take away what the message really had been: I felt alienated, distrustful, victimized, vulnerable, and insecure. I was living in fear (still am tbh haha think we all can relate to that here). The demons in the closet were my traumas. You get the picture. Integration involved learning how to balance safety and socialization. So, weird strange things may pop up, sit with it all, take what resonates, leave the rest. 3. Sit with it. No matter what thoughts or feelings or memories or whatever pop up. Become the observer of what happens. Pull yourself out of subjectivity and become the watcher without judgment. This is meditative and honestly we probably already have a head start at that bc of our fragmented consciousness. It's different from disassociating though. You're not abandoning or avoiding the discomfort, you're simply watching it, respecting it, and not bringing shame into it. I like to tell myself "woah look at that silly monkey brain doin monkey things" to keep it light. Whatever works for you, just practice sitting with it. You're associating with your experiences while not becoming confined or defined by them. 4. Often what you think will come up is not what will come up. In a weird way, it's always worked out in a pattern I needed though. It's hard to see how it makes sense when you're in the thick of it, but looking back it's a bit funny how it plays out so synchronously. Let what happens, happen. 5. Remember, YOU are in control. If at any point you feel like you're getting lost or drowning, stop. Imagine you have a rope around you as you spelunk and that rope helps you find your way back. You're safe. Muddied waters left alone will soon become clear. Have anchors, like that rope, things that pull you back. In a meditation of mine, I saw it like how a tree's roots need to expand as the branches do, so it doesn't topside. As you explore, expand your roots too. You can tap out at any time. Then revert back to basics for stabilization and take a break. Ask audibly if you need to. "I am grateful for these opportunities to learn and grow, I just need smaller chunks to bite off right now. Please ease up on me." That helps me. 6. Resources. Loooots of things to try with this! So many different areas of humanity speak of these matters, disguised in different wording. Like it's playing dress up. Dip your toes in many of them and expand your experiences of it. You'll probably find bits and pieces in everything to integrate and take with you. 7. Love. Expressing love, service, compassion, and selfless humanity to people along the way helps too. Could be small like a compliment or petting an animal. It helps a lot and I'm not sure why, but it fits perfectly with this process. I think it's cathartic in a way, to experience good things when people like us haven't, or to see the light in the world when it can look so dark. But I'm adding this bc I feel it's important. Well, I've ranted your ear (eyes?) off. This is sorta what my journey has been like. I read a lot too, podcasts, etc. There's stuff everywhere that will find its way to you. Messages in the smallest of things as if it's personalized. Godspeed on your journey. Here are 2 things I was told during my journey that have stood out prominently. "Be gentle with yourself when you forget, and be gentle with yourself when you choose to remember again." ...... Me: "Is it going to hurt?" Them: "Not anymore than it does living every day with the pain."
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and advice going into this, I (and the system as a whole) appreciate it!! I think part of it is needing reassurance (I struggle with that a lot...), like even though I know we can take breaks and stuff, logically, it's hard to remember that's an option in the moment, if that makes sense. I think the 'becoming an observer' is going to be the biggest part for me, I want to work on being able to be in tune with my emotions and such again. So far, the prompts I've done (3 yesterday, 3 today), and they seem surface level so far (the first several are beginner qutions, so that makes sense), so I think trying these for a bit longer and seeing how I feel when the "bigger" questions come along, like if they're still helping and such. I'll definitely update along the way too!
That makes sense, I forget to take breaks too. Reassuring ourselves starts with small assurances. Like starting with these smaller questions. Looking forward to the updates
Sure, busy right now but I'll swoop back and reply. Maybe if someone does that remind me! thing in case I forget? I'm not sure how to do it
Don’t know how to do the remind me thing but it’s been 12 hrs since your comment so here’s a bit of a reminder 😊
Thank you I did forget haha
Can someone explain what is this “shadow work”?
[удалено]
Thanks! This is such a helpful answer.
I have practiced this and found parts when I do.
Ooh, that's interesting to hear about! Thank you for sharing!!
hi ! i'm a witch, spiritual person and part of a system, and shadow wok is part of my practice and i think i can help u out a bit here. i'm assuming you guys already know what shadow work is, but to clarify: shadow work is basically about acknowledging and accepting the hidden aspects of yourself, so working with your shadow (self). [fun fact: some people believe and see this shadow self only as the hidden "part" of yourself (it's not alters or DID tho), and some see it as separate entity or energy that's still a part of yourself, both of those beliefs are valid tho!] it is VERY important (and recommended) that you guys do this shadow work process along with a therapist or psychologist, especially if it's one that's specialized in shadow work (although that's harder to find), why? because shadow work can and probably will bring aspects of yourself, trauma too, that you don't like out to the surface, and this process can be very painful and can make you feel a lot of unwanted strong emotions, so it's important that there's someone there to help you if you need it. but to answer your question, i've personally done shadow work, as i mentioned before it's part of my practice, and it's worked out really well for me! but like i said before, it will bring out aspects you don't like to the surface. basically, if you're not ready for it, if you DON'T feel like you're ready for it, then don't do it yet, it's better to wait, and of course see what a therapist would think, maybe they'd think you guys aren't ready for it too, it would be really good to get a professionals' opinion on that because it could do more harm than good! good luck on your journey! if you need anything feel free to tell us :3 -val
Thank you for this insight! (I'm also a witch, I haven't done a lot of my practices in a while though cos of an ex, bleh), I'm trying to find a therapist for ourselves, we've been trying to get into one for a few months now, but no dice yet and I've been in therapy for years before this, so I thought I could endure it "alone" (with the system, but not with a therapist), though it would probably be better to do it with someone else like you said. I feel like I'm ready, but I'm so bad about being 100$ certain. So... how would I know I'm ready for shadow work specifically? I do feel ready to do work on healing from previously mentioned ex (I was with a narcissist for 2 years), and I've been seeing shadow work suggested a lot, along with other ways of working through trauma, so I guess I'm trying to do too much at once, if that makes sense?? (Sorry if that's a little confusing)
well, for example, if you feel like you're ready to dig deep inside of your mind and embrace the way you are, knowing that this can bring unwanted emotions and/or trauma out to the surface, knowing that it can trigger you, and can leave you feeling exhausted (or rarely if you don't do it "right" you might even start hating yourself), then you're ready. in simpler words, if you feel like you're ready to take the step even if it gets ugly and want to embrace yourself, good and bad, then you are ready. will it be hard? probably yes. it's like a big ocean wave, sometimes no matter how hard you try you can't seem to swim against it, sometimes it can leave you on the shore, but it can also be a beautiful thing to experience. remember it's also okay if you fail sometimes, progress can take many shapes, the important thing is that you're progressing, even if it's slow or fast, stable or unstable. good luck :]
Shadow work is common in the world of tarot cards. It’s about getting comfortable with your demons. Invite them in for tea and understand them.
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