Shadow and Archetype Work

Shadow and Archetype work is another extension of Inner Work Practices and aids in discovering the hidden parts of ourselves that we repressed, allowing us to work through fears, doubts, guilt, shame, emotional pain, and traumas from our past. Shadow work is about making space within our inner landscape for our shadow sides to be seen, heard, accepted, and understood. 

Practicing shadow work involves retrieving memories from our history, working through and honoring our feelings and emotions, acknowledging and accepting our past, and addressing our behavior patterns, unmet needs and emotional injuries that resulted from childhood and our past experiences. 

We all can benefit from shadow work because we all have shadow sides. When we are born, we enter the world free from constraints, we can be exactly who we are without fear of judgement, rejection or abandonment. As we navigate from adolescence into adulthood, we have experiences along the way that cause us to judge ourselves. 

We learn as children from our family, teachers, classmates, friends, and society as a whole, what is “proper” and “acceptable” behavior. These messages encode into our internal systems causing us to ignore and repress these parts of ourselves. Forcing what society deems unacceptable into the shadows.  

As we continue to reject these fragments of ourselves, we suffer. Our shadow sides start our small but as we continue to experience pain and trauma in our lives and do not address it, our shadows will grow. What was once a small shadow, that came through as a slight annoyance or tinge of worry has now morphed into a medium shadow and is now causing disruption in relationships and daily life. 

If we continue to leave our pains, traumas and shadows unseen, unheard, and unresolved, they continue to grow into larger shadows patterns. What started out as frustration or disappointment has now morphed into rage, anger or full-blown depression, causing chaos and destruction in our lives. Our shadows do not pause, or take a beat, they just continue to get worse the more we ignore them. 

With shadow work, we go on a journey of self-discovery, a journey through the past to our present day. Through self-examination we discover our repressed thoughts, feelings, fears and negative behavior patterns that resulted from leaving our shadows in the dark.  As we shine a light on our shadows, we begin to uncover the hidden wisdom within, our true nature.  

The self-development journey starts at the beginning. Many of our pains and traumas will be discovered in our childhood as well as throughout our adult lives, but there will be some that we will struggle to identify. The shadow and archetype path can take us back to the beginning of time, to past lives.

This is important as many of us are left with chronic illnesses or pains we are not able to work through and release. This could be a result of a Soul Life Lesson, that we are destined to live our lives with a chronic illness to learn how to ask for help or embody nonjudgement of others who are different, for example. 

On the other side, it could be that our pains and struggles are from a past life, a lesson we needed to learn along the path of our soul journey but have failed to learn this lesson. Shadow and Archetype work can guide us to retrieve memories from past lives and aid in healing old wounds so we can learn our Soul Life Lesson and find a path to healing. 

As adults, when we do not honor our feelings and experiences, and ignore our inner self and our inner child, we will find it difficult if not impossible to create and sustain successful relationships or take responsibility for ourselves in the physical world. Leaving us as a wounded victim and the shadow manifestations of never feeling accepted or stable in the physical world.

Shadow work gives us the space to go inside of ourselves and explore our true feelings and the parts of our personality that were rejected and labeled as “too much” or “inappropriate” by family, teachers, classmates, friends, and society. Allowing us to accept and honor who we really are. 

Working with the energy of our shadows and archetypes can open a new pathway to life. Our twelve archetypes represent our strengths, creativity, emotions, as well as our weaknesses and challenges. They serve to guide us on our path to embody our true nature. 

When we go deep within to explore our shadows and archetypes we peel back the layer of our thoughts, beliefs, and our coping mechanisms. Do we tend to conform to what others believe so we are accepted, or do we stand firm in our views? Do we avoid challenges, or do we numb our feelings instead of working through them? When we get to the root cause of our struggles we can fully accept and embrace every part of ourselves. 

Like inner work, shadow/archetype work is a long-term commitment to healing from within. Going deep to discover hidden and repressed memories and heal our wounds from the past, identifying fears, shadows, tribal beliefs and negative behaviors and dissolving the hold these patterns have over us. As we continue to do so we cultivate a deeper connection to our archetypes and shadows and find soul centered balance in our lives.

Shadow work can be challenging. When we embark on this journey, we uncover hidden and repressed memories that were buried deep within, we are forced to face our own beliefs, attitudes and behaviors, as well as the onslaught of feelings and emotions that come to the surface as a result. The journey may get dark, but there is light, hope and healing on this path. 

Our shadows simply want to be seen, heard, understood, explored and integrated into our consciousness. Once we begin to understand and accept our shadow sides we can begin to work with their energy in a positive way, allowing them to live in their light. Our shadows and archetypes contain a wellspring of knowledge and wisdom to empower us and guide us on our journey.

The key to shadow work is to recognize that we are working with repressed portions of ourselves. The parts where we were told were unworthy, unlovable, abnormal, or improper. With shadow work, we go on a journey of self-discovery, and through self-examination we can work through our repressed memories, feelings, fears and negative behavior patterns that resulted from leaving our shadows in the dark.

Shadow work changes us at our very core, at soul level as it targets the root cause of our issues, helping us develop a deeper understanding of ourselves and our attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. Allowing us to enhance our mental clarity, embrace the depths of our emotions, improve our relationships with others and ourselves, rediscover our hidden gifts and talents and cultivate a peaceful, balanced life. 

Shadow work, like inner child work, does not replace the need for therapy or programs that aid in healing childhood abuse, neglect and trauma. Shadow work is designed to work in conjunction with all healing paths, including metal health support. No matter what kind of past or childhood we experienced, shadow work can get tricky alone, please don’t hesitate to reach out to someone for support. 

Whether you decide to journal, write, create art, or choose self-reflection/self-examination, or another practice you read elsewhere, the exercises and prompts below can help get you started on your shadow work journey.

Think about someone who triggers you

Ask yourself why this person triggers you, your reaction, and how it makes you feel. Take a moment to reflect on what you observed in this person that could be a reflection of a deeper part of you. Ask yourself if you find that you criticize yourself for the same behavior or if this person reminds you of someone who hurt you in the past. The answers to these questions can cultivate a deeper connection with our shadow selves.

Label your emotional experiences

In this exercise you will put a label on your feelings and then ask reflective questions as to why you feel this way. For example, if you are feeling sad, ask yourself what kind of sadness this represents. Do I feel lonely, isolated, depleted, exhausted or hopeless? Labeling our emotions can create a deeper awareness and can help us cultivate a healthier emotional landscape. 

Dig Deep with Reflective Questions

This exercise can have profound effects on understanding, embracing and accepting our shadow sides. With this exercise, journaling your questions and answers can provide a powerful path to healing as it opens up our inner landscape. 

Ask yourself the following:

1. What messages have you received about your shadow traits and emotions? 
2. When you were a child, were you allowed to feel your emotions, or were you judged, shamed or even punished for these feelings?
3. During the course of your life did you learn to ignore your shadow emotions early on? What was the reason?
4. When sharing your feelings in a significant relationship have you ever been met with overwhelm or anger?
5. Do you judge others harshly? If so, why? 
6. Are your thoughts critical of yourself, of a relationship, of others, of a specific situation or interaction? 

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