13 Days of Shadow Work Challenge

Heal the Negative Qualities in Your Psychological Blind Spot to Avoid More Pain and Difficulty

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How Does the Shadow Form?
 
 
The shadow develops throughout our lifetime, but certainly begins in childhood. Even at a young age, we experience things like shame and humiliation, two of the most difficult emotions that we will do anything to avoid. So we bury deep within us those things that have caused us to be ashamed or humiliated by others. Shadow qualities can also be created by trauma or abuse of some kind, physical, emotional, mental in our formative years as well.
 
 
The Shadow is like a dark corner of the basement, or a locked closet. Everything that we repress, automatically goes to the Shadow. The traits that we deny or reject, are relegated to this territory that no one has admittance or access too, including our self. The shadow self is essentially trained into being. We all have one.
 
 
That's why these memories become repressed. They bring up difficult painful feelings that we would rather not feel, and that we certainly don't want others to know about, for fear of the humiliation and perceived judgement. If you follow astrology, this is the domain of the 12th house.
 
 
How Does This Come Out?
 
 
Naturally though, this judgment will come out, one way or another. As we continue to deny and repress our true feelings, our true self naturally needs to express the repressed emotions somewhere. We may become passive-aggressive towards others who do things that seem to bother us. We have a tendency to "judge" others, for the very things we internally and unconsciously feared being judged for.
 
 
This is called projection, and a prime vehicle for the shadow self to use. We "see" (and judge) in others, the very qualities that we have worked so hard to hide in ourselves FROM ourselves. These are qualities that developed in us, likely in childhood, in a myriad of ways. Every time we "hate" a quality about someone, we can ask ourselves, "how might this apply to me"? Be honest with yourself, after all, no one has to know but you. There are no "shadow police" coming to shame you!
 
 
With the help of our shadow self, we also can have a tendency to self-sabotage ourselves. We are afraid to take chances, to step out, to toot our own horn or stand up for ourselves sometimes. We may have limiting beliefs, negative self talk and harsh judgements of ourselves and others.
 
 
How Can We Heal our Shadow?
 
 
There is one thing that can make a shadow disappear- light. The way to remove our shadow qualities is to shine a flashlight into the dark corners or the closets of our personality. I know, that sounds fun!  Facing the things that your conscious has purposely hidden to "protect" you. However, of course, it's not REALLY helping us is it?
 
 
We must give light, give recognition, and give a name to what we are repressing and hiding. We must face it and call it out, and even more so, recognize that the shame and fear that we feel over these repressed qualities is likely misguided and will disappear completely in the light, just like a shadow.
 
 
There are several ways to work on healing your shadow. They all revolve around doing the hard work of facing things that we don't want to face or accept. Where do you begin? One good way is to start noticing the things that trigger you, and write them down. Keep a journal of the things that bother you in others, or in yourself. Take note anytime you talk negatively or judge yourself or others. These events will start to give you a starting point to work with. As you dig deeper, it may be like opening a floodgate.
 
 
You can do this work alone or with someone else, such as a therapist or a compassionate caring support person. It can be addressed in therapy, and interesting enough, we may find that some of our negative shadow qualities even come from previous lifetimes. It's also possible to use hypnosis as a way of uncovering things that our psyche has covered up for our own protection, shielding us from things we didn't believe we could handle or face.
 
 
Working Together to Heal the Shadow
 
 
No matter when you are reading this, it is a good time to begin shadow work! However, if you are reading this blog post at the time of it's publishing or shortly thereafter, in mid- October, than I invite you to join us inside of our fb group Tarot for the Modern Reader, where we will be holding a 13 day long Shadow Work incubator. This is an opportunity to begin this work with others and receive support and guidance from the community as well as myself.
 
 
I will be posting a prompt each day to consider, and you can use whatever modality you like, tarot, free journaling or any other tool of your choice. I've curated a list of 13 carefully chosen questions and prompts for us, and I will be taking the challenge as well. It begins on Saturday October 19th, and culminating on October 31st.
 
 
Other good times that you are metaphysically aligned to work with the shadow are times that you are having any significant transits to your 12th house in your astrology chart, either natally or by progression, any significant Neptune transits such as the midlife Neptune square Neptune, or any Pluto or 8th house transits as well. That being said however, ANYTIME you feel the call, is a good time!
 
 
A final note, anytime you sit down to begin or continue working on your shadow self, call on your guides to help and support you. You may call on any relevant archangels, angels, ancestral guides such as deceased family members or loved ones, close friends that have passed over, spirit animals or your personal guardian angel. A simple prayerful request such as "guides of the highest truth and compassion, please watch over me and  guide my work today with love and compassion", is a great way to invite your spiritual team to sit with you and help you with this difficult work.
 
 
I'd love to hear about your journey. Please know that while this work is not easy, you are not alone. Please join us in the group for this, or if you need a deeper level of support, you can always reach out to work with me directly.  I wish you much success on this journey.
 
 
Join us in our Facebook group Tarot for the Modern Reader right now!
 
 
Other posts in the Ocktoberfest: Embracing the Darkness Series:
 
 
Week 1: Autumn and the Suit of Swords
 
Week 2: How to Use Halloween to Catapult Your Tarot Reading Business
 
Week 3: The Shadow Self: How to Own and Heal Our Shadow Qualities
 
Week 4: Death and Rebirth- Letting Go During Scorpio Season
 
Week 5: Halloween Rituals for Tarot Readers