Shadow work is one of the more important parts of being a witch, especially when a person is a witch/person that deals with the dead. The shadow in shadow work is the part of oneself that we choose to repress or hide that we do not like. The reason that witches that deal with the dead and why it is important to do shadow work is for the reason is that the dead tend to feed off one’s emotions when around. If you don’t have enough emotional energy then they could try to feed off one’s soul. There are several examples of these shadow aspects are selfishness, aggressive impulses, being self-centered, arrogance, and fear. The ways these can manifest in everyday life would be behaviors such as criticizing someone else that has one’s flaw, letting people know a person is entitled, judging people unfairly, and always being the victim. Even as a regular person that has bad past bad experiences that could be addictions, uncontrollable rage/anger, social anxiety, self-sabotage, depression, or really anything that could inhibit personal growth. Through this, it is known to be very beneficial to do shadow work. In itself, shadow work is when a person takes the time to explore the darker or traumatic past experiences and the ways it affects them. If someone were to ignore the shadow it could cause a person to project onto others what they wish to bury. There are various ways to do this but the main first way to start is to acknowledge the inner shadow, and then the last/final goal would be to embrace and befriend it. Some people even claim that without confronting one’s shadow that it can leave one feeling incomplete, fractured, and compartmentalized. So, why would you want to master one’s shadow self? It can come with many benefits, some obvious and some not so. They can include improved relationships through understanding oneself and accepting others, increased energy, improved immune system, overall enhanced state of wellbeing and mood, better communication with others, ability to set boundaries in life and to know one’s limits, and to be able to cease the cycle of self-destructive tendencies. Now, before any specific ways are listed in how to do it, shadow work is not easy by any means. It can make one cry and drain your emotional energy. Feeling tired for a day is not uncommon as it can leave a person going through an emotional roller coaster. Some shadow work exercises would be watching how one emotionally reacts to certain ideas or situations. This is a way in which an individual can identify their main shadows. So, for instance, if a person was to make fun of someone for being able to create art or by wearing different clothes, no matter how good or bad it was. It could be an indicator that the one poking fun could have an issue with creativity or self-expression. The next exercise would be engaging in inner conversation. While some people may say that talking to a person’s inner self is crazy but it actually can help work out why one would feel certain things about certain past actions or bad emotional habits. An example is just letting out some of the bad thoughts, like when one is on a plane and a baby won’t stop crying. A person could think they just want the baby to stop but more violently get it to stop. Take the time to acknowledge this and have an inner conversation about why one might be thinking this. Even having a moment to try and understand that when a person says or does something with the afterthought of why did they say it is understanding that some inner part of them was taking charge. A third exercise would be taking the time to list all the good qualities and bad qualities of a person. After creating the list, take a moment to highlight what the opposite of the good qualities is. For example, if one defines themself as a typically disciplined person, it is possible that one can be repressing the lazy part. It can lead to the shadow side influencing one’s behavior and constantly challenging the disciplined part. To help overcome this, identify with the lazy part. Accept it. Make friends with it. It is okay to be lazy too. One of the main ways a witch or more spiritual person would be to use tarot, oracle cards, and runes. Through using these divination tools one can connect to their inner struggles a tad more easily as those tools are meant to connect to things unseen. By using certain shadow work spreads and asking the right question they can reveal what you need to work on or bring up past traumas that one could benefit from looking back on.
コメント