When I talk or write about shadow work I mean the practice and work of making the shadow conscious, confronting and getting to know what we unconsciously keep hidden from ourselves.
“The shadow goes by many familiar names: the disowned self, the lower self, the dark twin or brother in bible and myth, the double, repressed self, alter ego, id. When we come face-to-face with our darker side, we use metaphors to describe these shadow encounters: meeting our demons, wrestling with the devil, descent to the underworld, dark night of the soul, midlife crisis.”
~ Connie Zweig, Meeting the Shadow
Ending denial and avoidance of our shadow enhances our health and releases a vast reservoir of our energy which had been invested in suppressing the shadow and distracting ourselves from its existence. Knowing our shadow furthermore clears our perception from the distortions and delusions that arose from our painstaking avoidance of what we subconsciously denied. Shadow work is an indispensable tool of integration and emotional maturation.
“When I talk or write about shadow work I mean the practice and work of making the shadow conscious, confronting and getting to know what we unconsciously keep hidden from ourselves.”
~ Carl Jung
