The goal of Shadow work is to integrate the dark side of ourselves; the side we have attempted to hide or run from; and the side we are not aware of. Shadow work cannot be accomplished with a single method or trick of mind. It is a complex ongoing process calling for great commitment, vigilance and honesty. Owning our shadow involves a deepening and widening of consciousness to include what has been rejected. Shadow work involves an ongoing process of taking another point of view to respond to life with our undeveloped traits and our instinctual sides. It involves shining the light of consciousness into our dark corners and owing what we find there as our own. To live the "tension of the opposites" - holding both good and evil, right and wrong, light and dark, in our own hearts.

Robert Johnson (see book below where most of this workshop description comes from) states that doing Shadow work means peering into dark corners of our minds where secret shames lie hidden and violent voices are silent. Doing Shadow work means asking ourselves to examine closely and honestly what it is about a particular individual that irritates us or repels us; what it is about a racial or religious group that horrifies or captivates us; and what it is about a lover that charms us and leads us to idealize him or her. Doing Shadow work means making an agreement with one's self to engage in an internal conversation that can, at some time down the road, result in an authentic self-acceptance and a real compassion for others.

To take the first step and acknowledge the darkness lying inside every human heart, can be sobering and humbling. It may be initiated by a betrayal by a loved one; a lie by a trusted friend; a deceit by an honored teacher; rape or mugging by a total stranger. In every case, meeting the shadow robs us of our innocence.

If we are able to see in the mirror, and see these behaviors in ourselves, recognize the deeper truth that the lover and the liar, the saint and the sinner live in every one of us, we may be stunned and paralyzed at the gap between who we are, and who we thought we were.

Like Beauty and the Beast, our beauty is deepened as our beastliness is honored.

Shadow work also involves discovering the qualities of our own shadow by closely watching our reactions to other people and admitting that they are not the other, or the enemy, but that an impulse within ourselves makes them appear in this negative guise. This is how we re own our projections and repossess the energy and power that belongs to us.

As each layer of shadow is uncovered, as each fear is faced, each revulsion repossessed, we continuously uncover yet another covered container of shadow energy. Mining the dark recess of our psyche is endless. However, at a certain point, those qualities that before seemed wicked or weak, or stupid, appear attractive; and those that were alluring and full of light, are cast into darkness.

In this battle with our opposite side, the battleground is encountered everywhere. Refuge is found in the human heart. Somehow, in a compassionate embrace of the dark side of reality, we become bearers of the torch. When we shine the light of consciousness into our dark corners we become more whole. We open to the other - the strange, the weak, the sinful, the despised - and simply through including it, we transmute it. In so doing, we move ourselves closer to wholeness.


Books on the Shadow

Richard I Jontry, Ph.D., MAC, CAC Diplomate
P. O. Box 129 • Chadds Ford, PA 19317
610.361.0108 [fax] 678-693-6008
Mailto:rijontry@gmail.com

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