THE SHADOW AND SHADOW WORK - A Thread. I am guided to share Shadow Wisdom at this time, in a thread and videos, as the collective Shadow of humanity is now so strong: yet Light arises to meet it! What is the Shadow, individual and collective, and what the work that must be done?

It's important to understand our Shadow is NOT all 'negative' (a word used almost always inappropriately). It is all that is rejected, repressed, denied. It might be immense tenderness, yearning, warmth, gentleness in men, unspoken love, talent, potential, unlived dreams!

Yet it is also anger (justified and unjustified), fierce, primal desire - tears unshed, repressed emotion, memories and trauma, long denied. The unthinkable thoughts. And, it may be in good part, the Wounded Child, the Shadow Child. The Lost Artist. The Exiled Self.

If we are to be whole our Shadow-self must be loved, healed, reintegrated healthily. It must not be given free reign. But long repressed, dammed up like water, it may burst from its bonds, destructively! We must, instead, own it, recognise it and harness it with love and wisdom!

In Jungian psychotherapy, and in spiritual practice, Shadow Work is working with the repressed, rejected, neglected and wounded aspects of our psyche (sometimes called the dark side, but it isn't all 'bad'): the Shadow, needs to be healed and reintegrated if we are to be whole!

This means becoming conscious of the Unconscious, owning, transforming, reintegrating your own 'Darkness' (that which we push under or keep hidden, even from ourselves). An artificial spirituality, obssessed with egoic 'Light' creates a very great Shadow...

That's because such false spirituality disowns and denies so much that doesn't fit the shiny, 'spiritually evolved', ego flattering self-image! This all goes to the Shadow! And the Shadow, unacknowledged, continues to unconsciously motivate the spiritually deluded and immature!

True spirituality embraces the wholeness that we are: dark and light, flesh and spirit, the conventionally called 'good' and 'evil'. That doesn't mean that so-called evil is unleashed, rather it is seen, recognised, owned, reintegrated, sublimated and transformed into 'good'!

Shadow Work, then, is about becoming more conscious, honest and whole. We bring the Light of love, understanding, responsibility and self-acceptance to our dark places. We are able to recognise our dark, inordinately selfish or self destructive motivations and transform them.

The Shadow is transformed simply by being seen, recognised, owned and acknowledged. We see ourselves in our entirety and chose the way of wisdom (balance) and love. In healing, transforming and reintegrating my Shadow I have approached it as a Dragon!

The Shadow Dragon is not to be slain, or even tamed as such, but wholly won over through love! To do this we must be strong in the Light, without denying the Dark. If we are not strong enough in the Light, the Darkness will overcome us. But the Light also needs the Darkness!

So it is a Balance, the Balance of Primal Unity that is in the Spirit, the Force, the Tao (Yin and Yang). As we enter consciously into Spirit, regularly, we will be confronted with the Shadow and given the opportunity to heal and reintegrate it! We must learn to ride the Dragon!

The Powers of Light and Darkness are with thee! In the very Heart of Darkness, there is a Sun that shines at Midnight! In the deepest dark, in the Shadow, is found the Hidden Fire! The Spark that will rekindle thee, in Wholeness!

We need whole, illuminated, individuated beings that have done the work. Because even as there is the individual Shadow, so there is the great collective Shadow - the Diabolos! It influences and works through the callous, the indifferent, the weak-minded, ignorant and selfish!

It is old; filled with the hatred and ignorance of Ages. Long ago it took on entity. It seeks to unleash its destructive force through men of power - strong-seeming men who, in truth, are the weakest of all - the puppets, the chattels of our collective Darkness.

They cannot be won over: they must be opposed. They must be fought. They must be disempowered. They must be resisted. And all the while we will diminish the power of Darkness as we own and transform it in ourselves. The work is both inner and outer work! It needs must be done!

If you have not begun the Shadow Work, you have not yet started upon the Path. Do not fool yourself into thinking you can be spiritual and not confront the Shadow - inwardly and outwardly. The spiritual path is the path of engagement and transformation, of self and the world!