Folk who has done genuine shadow work, what did you do?

[stratamaster78]

I'm about to begin the whole 'self inventory' process myself as well as working the Elements in a structured way.

I agree though that most positive and negative traits can be assigned to any Element if you analyze it long enough.

When I first started studying the human qualities associated with Earth, Air, Water, and Fire and trying to decide where I was deficient or out of balance my main discovery was "Damn all my S***'s are out of whack..." Lol

Truth is I'm overly afflicted with 'Air' being a Mercury influenced Gemini and I'm always in my head over thinking things.

It also makes me indecisive because I'm always weighing pros and cons about everything.

So on one hand the process should be easy to adopt because it's the type of thing I do naturally....but it will also be difficult because I have to shift from judging things that are external to me to judging things that are internal and have to be dealt with.

Like @pixel_fortune I had a volatile childhood but to my detriment I repressed it my entire life and have just now started to remember things that I had locked away in my mind.

I was an only child though so unfortunately I didn't have a brutally honest sibling around to wake me up.

So... now I have to wake myself up and so far it has not been pleasant.

From my current perspective Elemental Shadow work is going to be a necessary process but also very difficult and super not enjoyable.

 

[Vandheer]

I'm not a fan of the elemental aspect honestly! I agree with what you said, that you can attribute different qualities/flaws to any of the elements of you think about it enough

Thats what I was refering to earlier when I said "why not just get into the problem instead".

The mom/dad approach would be a lot more benefical to me. Never considered that ever.

 

[Viktor]

My shadow work brought me a lot of bad reputation and a lot of enemies in RL,

I'm manipulator and one doesn't easily trick me, I'm able to read people but on another side I'm an open book myself because I've been exposed.
There is sadly no way back, if only I could be given another chance with current XP.

I wish to be completely unknown person.

 

[Xenophon]

Thats what I was refering to earlier when I said "why not just get into the problem instead".

The mom/dad approach would be a lot more benefical to me. Never considered that ever.

I did it Bardon's way some longish whiles back. I can see a rationale for indexing it all to the elements. I can't see it's a really urgent rationale. An individual who dithers over how to classify his problems is, to that measure, putting off addressing them. "Is being a 'miserable chicken**** little bas***d" more of a water element flaw or an earth one..?"

 

[Diluculo_DelFuego]

Best I can say on shadow work is to know yourself and your family dynamics.
List the pros and cons. Examine people you admire. Why? What would you do as that person in prior bad events? Become that person in the next bad event.

 

[HoldAll]

Like @pixel_fortune originally said: the soul mirror is just an inventory, nothing more. You could do any number of online personality tests instead but they usually offer a lot less options for individual replies than the eight of the soul mirror (four elements and dark/light for each element). The main thing is to get the ball rolling somehow and gather fresh insights, and that may be enough to stop acting like an automaton and at the mercy of unacknowledged personality patterns; for example, I've resolved some issues out of sheer embarrasment because they made me appear so pathetic, just realising I had them in me proved enough.

Post automatically merged: Feb 23, 2024

For example realising just in time that I started to behave like my father or mother in a given situation would often stop me cold. Mind you, some traits are so deeply ingrained that it is next to impossible to eleminate them. Some authors approach the whole self-transformation business like we are all pieces of clay, so to speak, that can be moulded and shaped at will until we reach some illusory state of perfection (with religion and most of the ancient philosophers that would equate with 'virtuousness'). Someone somewhere said: "Realise who you are and then try to be yourself as hard as possible!" That is the other extreme but 'being entirely myself while attempting some modifications' sums it up for me neatly.

 

[Xenophon]

Like @pixel_fortune originally said: the soul mirror is just an inventory, nothing more. You could do any number of online personality tests instead but they usually offer a lot less options for individual replies than the eight of the soul mirror (four elements and dark/light for each element). The main thing is to get the ball rolling somehow and gather fresh insights, and that may be enough to stop acting like an automaton and at the mercy of unacknowledged personality patterns; for example, I've resolved some issues out of sheer embarrasment because they made me appear so pathetic, just realising I had them in me proved enough.

Post automatically merged: Feb 23, 2024

For example realising just in time that I started to behave like my father or mother in a given situation would often stop me cold. Mind you, some traits are so deeply ingrained that it is next to impossible to eleminate them. Some authors approach the whole self-transformation business like we are all pieces of clay, so to speak, that can be moulded and shaped at will until we reach some illusory state of perfection (with religion and most of the ancient philosophers that would equate with 'virtuousness'). Someone somewhere said: "Realise who you are and then try to be yourself as hard as possible!" That is the other extreme but 'being entirely myself while attempting some modifications' sums it up for me neatly.

There was the Hasid tzaddik (sic?) who said, "When I finally stand before God He won't ask me 'Why weren't you Moses?' but, 'Why didn't you do a better job at being Nachman?'" (I think it was Nachman, anyway.)

 

[JGVDRG]

In my case, I know my shadow work will not be completed in a lifetime. But as I get closer to the cycle of descent, which happens from time to time, I've grown (mostly) apt to deal with it. My lack of self worth and youthful edgyness, of course, was a natural lubricant in the way to know my accusers.
Basically, I've became aware of my "inverted" side, my saboteur, personified as a world of pain, suffering, agony and disgrace, all of them very related to me at many levels. This was manifested before my soul when I've had my first spiritual experience with ayahuasca. Long story short, I've became a follower of this particular religious congregation and had these confrontations with my "world of pain" every weekend for 4 straight years. Then I realized I wouldn't "fix" it, got tired, then I went on my own way, tormented for some time because of the intense vivid experiences I've had. Became more solid when it comes to material life, much less sensitive about many fears and my personal suffering in general. I've got aware of the worst in me and it stopped shocking me with time. There's still a lot to be found and worked around, though.

 

[Voidking]

This is my subjective exprience of shadow work, please note that I use the individuation model as my foundation for alchemical transmutation.

Shadow integration can be done in multiple ways, an example would be creative imagination, ritual work, or even watching movies. Obviously, attention/awareness and self-observation are pre-requisites for spotting your shadow-unconscious mechanistic reactions and judgments-projections.

The shadow as coined by Carl Jung is simply the repressed aspects that are deemed inacceptable by your surrounding, they don't have to be "evil", just inacceptable by the social conditioning around you. Assertiveness could be a repressed trait...

Speaking for myself again, I also initiated into the Qlippoth and work with infernal divinities to help me "shed light" on my shadow. The process is extremely empowering, but yet very lonely. Basically I sacrificed comformity, "illusionary" happiness, comfort, for the sake of self-empowerment, authentic individual self-expression, and a very sharp eye for spotting "manipulative" behaviour, which in most cases is carried unconsciously by the perpetrator.

The biggest danger of this type of work is to become a misanthrope and bear the risk of abhorring human society. Sadism can be a "flawed-extreme" integration of the shadow, unmercifulness. The biggest advantage would be to finally get to know yourself, your shadow is part your self that you have denied, this will endow you with trust in your own self. Shadow work is a lifetime process.

 

[Diluculo_DelFuego]

Make a pro and con list of yourself and face them.

 

[Amur]

Becoming harmonious is the key.

 

[Vandheer]

Becoming harmonious is the key.

I am not interested in one sentence answers thank you, but no thank you.

 

[Amur]

I am not interested in one sentence answers thank you, but no thank you.

Thought I was smart for once

Ok here is a bit about becoming harmonious. We have to think that we work like in our dreams, different characters are different aspects of ourselves and so are the objects in the dreams. This leads that we can really alter our different ego parts by for example cleaning our apartment and so forth. Altering an object symbolically within changes it without and vice versa.

My own experience into this is through my awakening experience in 2003 where I had a fullblown kundalini awakening and came to the preliminary enlightened state except that I went mad and spent 20 years inside a dream state also known as psychosis. When I was younger I thought that I could go through any trauma in a whim but it wasn't like this. The deeper I meditated into darkness the more insane it seemed and the emotional hurt was really bad inside, except that I had been repressing it for life. 21 years later I'm finally coming down to the material realm and it has been a wild ride with many suicide attempts in between but when I noticed that Death itself didn't want me then I stopped trying to suicide. Still the thoughts remain that I want to die but it's getting better now all the time. One way to trick feelings is to tell yourself that you can do it later on which seems to hold true for suicidal thoughts and emotions.

One suicide led to a Near-Death-Experience which also hurt me most physically. Had also an Out-of-body-experience during the same experience which wasn't good for my mental health.

Been into the occult for 20 years as atleast with occultism or symbolism I can direct the energies Within that can be a bit stormy waters at times. Also read alot of psychology and Neuro-linguistic-programming and so forth and can do suggestions for normal individuals. Was thinking of learning also hypnosis to be able to cause some changes in other human beings. As in trance states the deeper aspects of the psyche can surface. Done alot of mindfullness meditation and meditation during the years. Also delved into self-hypnosis and hypnosis of different kinds with NLP and programmed a new consciousness within myself which isn't so fanatic. It boils mostly down to flow states, the current flow where you now reside locally in relation to the current collective flow. For many years I strengthened myself to go against the collective flow, but I'm done doing that now and will flow with the collective and with the current goverment where I'm living.

 

[Wannabewizard]

My whole kind of existence right now is like a living shadow work. I make it up as I go along. Kind of Gnostic with affirmations/words of power to counter any negative patterns I discover. That's a lot of negatives

I bought a book, Dark Goddess Craft by Stephanie Woodfield, in the hope of finding an effective tool for digging around in the muck of the soul. I have already had some nasty downward spirals/relapses and I could do without that again.
I don't see a way other than working with a god form when alone. I do wonder if its possible to perform shadow work with lighter gods than scary dark feminine energies?

Trying to find a hypnotherapist to help 'fix' me, especially sleeping properly. I guess I am subconsciously still afraid to sleep.

 

[lemuriantravels]

Studying your astrology chart is a good idea for this. Ive found certain traits correspond to aspects of my chart.

 

[Diluculo_DelFuego]

I agree. I think of Bardons Black-White mirror exercise like Frater S's Vice to Virtue ritual.
Get all known vices and virtues listed, like a pro and con list about yourself, done be unnecessarily brutal, just honest with yourself.
Take each house sign, and list the positive and negative traits for that house. Consider the meaning of that house number, starting with one, sense of self, and ascendant. List the positive and negative traits and see what rings true for you.
Go through each house in order.
When youre done, decide on how you are going to trandform the negative into positive and positive into negative.
The reason why is like trying to transform emotion at will.
Sometimes being mister nice guy doesnt cut it, and a good magician imo should be able to transform emotion or trait at will.
Your shadow may also appreciate this. It may show you hoiw it has been ignored or neglected and where your inner power lies.

 

[Voidking]

My whole kind of existence right now is like a living shadow work. I make it up as I go along. Kind of Gnostic with affirmations/words of power to counter any negative patterns I discover. That's a lot of negatives

I bought a book, Dark Goddess Craft by Stephanie Woodfield, in the hope of finding an effective tool for digging around in the muck of the soul. I have already had some nasty downward spirals/relapses and I could do without that again.
I don't see a way other than working with a god form when alone. I do wonder if its possible to perform shadow work with lighter gods than scary dark feminine energies?

Trying to find a hypnotherapist to help 'fix' me, especially sleeping properly. I guess I am subconsciously still afraid to sleep.

Hi, If I may suggest, I used to to label myself as "Luciferian Gnostic" and fall into the trap of duality. It feels good for the "ego" to justify the suffering and perhaps walk on the path of the adversary as an attempt to rebel against the "demirugic current" or modernity or whatever it is, all are labels.
I think this type of thinking is very dangerous and will lead to alienation and potentially misanthropy. I suggest to put your "shadow work" to a halt and do some kind of other work, perhaps Black and White soul mirrors as suggested by Diluculo_DelFuego, or self-remembrance by Gurdjieff.

Most of the authors writing on "Dark Goddesses" Psychology or promote the use of the Qliphoth don't know shit about psychology, they are just projecting their own subconscious, their writings say more about themselves than reality.

My patron is a Dark Goddess too but I also work with her in her empyrean/heavenly forms to make some balance, there is some times for darkness and some times for light and fluff too. Too much darkness is never too good. I just want to share this because I had moments in life in which I was obssessed about Dark Goddesses and the Qliphoth, and I can relate when you said "afraid to sleep"... indeed these energies manifest mostly during sleeping and dreaming, so please be careful.

 

[HoldAll]

Most of the authors writing on "Dark Goddesses" Psychology or promote the use of the Qliphoth don't know shit about psychology, they are just projecting their own subconscious, their writings say more about themselves than reality.

My patron is a Dark Goddess too but I also work with her in her empyrean/heavenly forms to make some balance, there is some times for darkness and some times for light and fluff too. Too much darkness is never too good. I just want to share this because I had moments in life in which I was obssessed about Dark Goddesses and the Qliphoth, and I can relate when you said "afraid to sleep"... indeed these energies manifest mostly during sleeping and dreaming, so please be careful.

Exactly. And what I would like to add is that the word 'balance' frequently leads people astray because they come to be convinced that there must be perfect equilibrium between the light and the dark in terms of 'quantity', degree, etc. is required in order to develop. Get to know your dark side, by all means, but don't reinforce it artificially until it takes up exactly 50% of your being.

 

[Voidking]

Exactly. And what I would like to add is that the word 'balance' frequently leads people astray because they come to be convinced that there must be perfect equilibrium between the light and the dark in terms of 'quantity', degree, etc. is required in order to develop. Get to know your dark side, by all means, but don't reinforce it artificially until it takes up exactly 50% of your being.

I couldn't agree more, particularly when reinforcing it artificially, I was there and I really talk from my own mistakes and delusions.
If I may add something, a quote from the French-Algerian philosopher Albert Camus and his philosophy "Absurdism", he basically said and I quote

"one must rebel, but rebellion must discover the limits that it discovers in itself... and in contemplating the results of an active rebellion, we shall have to ask ourselves whether it remains faithful to its first noble promise or whether it forgets its purpose and it plunges into a mire of tyranny and servitude..."

I think this quote is very applicable to shadow work.