November is full of darkness and shadows – and that’s actually good news …
I like to go into nature to receive healing and answers. Recently a magpie has been coming to me. “I don’t like magpies,” I’ll say to myself, “they’re ugly, aggressive, and greedy. What does it want?” I pulled one of my HEAL cards (I’ll tell you more about those down below) to get an answer.
This is what the card said:
Carl Jung, who invented depth psychology, called the aspects of the personality that we humans don’t want to own about ourselves the shadow. The shadow is everything you don’t want and are not aware of in yourself.
The shadow appears concretely in your life when you attribute to others those negative qualities you are not willing or able to own.
Right now in our world, we have the opportunity to project our shadow on others and go to “war” with them, or at long last to take it home.
When you get to know your own shadow, you become stronger and more whole – owning yourself as a complex human being with selfishness and altruism, hatred and love, weaknesses and strengths. It will be easier for you to like and be close to others because you no longer feel the urge to battle with your own shadow in others.
“To deny the so-called dark side of existence is to accumulate even more darkness.”
– Lars Muhl, musician, author, spiritual teacher, and mystic.
A story about the shadow from the Danish Islands:
In the little village on the island, behind the small fishermen’s houses, in a small yellow hut, the old woman lived alone. She was strange, and people said she “fell about” in broad daylight when she had hurt someone the night before. They also said that she had The Black Book, a kind of witch-manual and that it had been passed down through generations in her family.
Actually, the woman was very sweet, and therefore the children would often agree to go to her with the extra rhubarb porridge or liver pate their mother had made. They just did not like to touch the old tarred half-door when they had to knock, so they drew lots to decide who should do it. They ran away before she could open her door – shivering with fear and excitement.
If you want to work with the shadow in yourself and set yourself free, you can do this creative exercise:
Think of a conflict you often get into with your best friend, partner, parent, or boss. Notice what you always think the other person is doing wrong. Write it down. Afterward, write down all the examples you can think of where you have acted exactly like that yourself – even when only you know about it deep inside yourself.
Now let go of the idea of right and wrong and explore your shadow side:
Write a story about the part of you that acts in the way you don’t like as if it were an independent person. Let your shadow live and come out into the light. Understand it as an important part of you that you can get to know and that can help you become whole.
“Your life will be transformed when you make peace with your shadow. The caterpillar will become a breathtakingly beautiful butterfly. … Then you will have the freedom to create the life you have always desired.”
– Debbie Ford, author, teacher.
The story, quotes, and exercise come from the HEL CARDS in Danish. If you are interested in being the first to know when they come out in English next year please let me know!
With love and creativity,
Karin