NOT AFRAID OF SHADOWS

A good measure of what we do while we’re here on Earth has to do with self-improvement. At least when we’ve recognized the cause to do so. Take chainsawing: learning and practice yields better results, cleaner work, happier woods, safety for our physical self, beauty and satisfaction all around.
 
We may be unconsciously doing that work, gradually learning by trial and error. Maybe we have noticed how our actions skew towards suffering or happiness. Karma in a nutshell.

​I like to consciously identify my own weaknesses and work to understand them, and then learn to live better with the recently disempowered version of my darker side.
 
Jung wrote about the shadow, that part of our unconscious being where we stuff the thoughts, feelings, behaviors we don’t like. On the conscious side we have what we and those around us see on the daily, our persona. The gatekeeper between the two is the ego. Not the boisterous attitude kind of ego, but a devious arbiter who doesn’t want us rooting around in the unconscious. Because, and this seems quite clear to me, when we are able to bring the unconscious into the open, up and out into conscious perception, we put ego out of a job. We can become more fully accepting of our whole self. The downside about this work is we have to confront the shadows we find in the unconscious.
 
When someone asks me what I do for a living, I resist saying I’m a safety trainer or a writer or a this or a that. People often confuse what a person does with who they are. But I do have an answer that reveals what I do and I am happy being defined by that. I say I’m a shadow hunter.
 
As Senator Sanders might say, “Let me be perfectly clear…”, digging around in repressed memories, traumas, and self-destructive patterns is no picnic. So much so, that a Jungian friend of mine once said, “Oh, no, I’m not doing that, I’m too old for that.”
 
There is a huge payoff if you do this work. Sure, it can be uncomfortable, sometimes downright debilitating. It is kind of like going to the gym after a period of absence - you feel better after you've done it. Greater self-love, compassion towards others, improved relationships, less negative self-talk, processing of buried feelings, and improved physical health can all come from bringing the unconscious into the conscious light.
 
“How do I do shadow work?” you wonder. “Asking for a friend,” you add. Together we chuckle. Then you want to know if it is safe. Yes, for the most part, but it will surely be uncomfortable at times. If you are concerned about the elephant in your room down there, the really big trauma, fear, or addiction, get a helper(s).
 
There are lots of ways. Talk psychotherapy with a Jungian therapist is a common approach. Other approaches include: EMDR involving rapid eye movement, sound healing, sand tray therapy, breathwork, and Gestalt therapy. Another tried and true method is to use mediation. There’s also journaling, especially noticing what strong emotional, physical, or spiritual experiences you have had or are currently experiencing.
 
Some folks write down their dreams. This essay came to me in a dream and I’m sitting here right now with a cup of coffee getting it all down on e-paper. My reward: out to the woods, felling some dead wood for late season firewood, splitting up an ill birch tree at the neighbors, then some quiet time wandering in the fallen leaves on perhaps the last warm overcast day of autumn.
 
In the rest of my dream I was practicing another kind of shadow mining and it was as peaceful and kind to me as it was juicy and effective. Let me tell you about it. In real life, I had a bought a deck of archetype cards and a book to go with it written by Caroline Myss.
 
Archetypes are character templates. Oxford says the word comes from arkhetupon, meaning “something moulded first as a model.” Plato was writing about archetypes, though the idea may be even older. Human archetypes include: Princess, Trickster, Sage, and Warrior. There may be a hundred of them.
 
[scribbled in margin] Trees have archetypes, too. Just sayin’. Pine is the elder, long-lived, a teacher. Birch is about healing, regeneration, flexibility. Honorable Tree Felling workshop explores tree archetypes, gender tendencies, and even how we can see the world as a tree.

​Myss’ deck of eighty cards aren’t for divination like Tarot cards and you can’t play pinocle with them. But like Tarot cards, they each reflect aspects of a person that can be represented in the best light or as a darker expression. You might want to say each card can express a trait as good or bad, white or black, right or wrong.

I usually say, skillful versus not skillful, or in power v. out of power.

​Myss labels her cards “light attribute” and “shadow attribute.”

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Look at this card here for the Goddess archetype. Skillful goddesses can express the feminine through wisdom, Nature, life force, and sensuality. The out of power goddess is likely to be involved in the exploitation of female nature and form, presumably her own form or others'.

​All of this brings me back to my plan for the day. After I close my laptop, top up my coffee, and pull on my pitch-stained forestry pants, I will head into the woods. I have to fix my splitter’s trailer hitch so I can tow it to my project for the afternoon. I need to sharpen my chainsaw for the dead tree cleanup.
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And then, when time permits, I will reward my work in the woods with a little gentle shadow work. Myss’ archetype cards are a perfect way to kindly explore my shadow patterns and behaviors. I’ll lay out the archetype cards that best embody me. Myss recommends four universal cards for traits common to all humans, then another eight helper cards to round out my Sacred Contract. And then, I’ll admit to myself that I still exhibit certain shadow attributes, like “Compromising [my] vision to make it more acceptable to people” when I could be “Envisioning what is not yet conceivable to others.”

At day's end, I'll feel a little tired, both physically and emotionally. Tomorrow, I will emerge stronger in both respects.
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