What to expect from a shadow alchemy session?
What is Shadow Alchemy?
One of the services that I offer is the foundation of any spiritual practice. It is called shadow alchemy.
You may wonder. It sounds so negative, dark and heavy taking about shadows.
Should you not use light work to get to a lighter space, such as meditation, energy work and lightworkers’ journey? Energy work and things that feel good, you may say, should be the foundation, no? Love, peace, unicorns, fairies, incense and positivity. Is this not the way to a spiritual practice and to the ever sought after enlightenment?
Often, there is an expectation for spiritual workers and leaders to be “perfect”, to be constantly happy and handle life easily. The role model that one is placed on a pedestal to be must be that role model all the time.
This is far from the truth.
It is why in this blog, I wanted to explore the other side of the spiritual journey, one many may not speak about.
I will explain in more depth how shadow alchemy is a beautiful, and yes this term may be contentious, practice whereby we can start meeting our own soul’s truth. Not only through love, light, unicorns and floating stars but through a deep inner reflection.
Shadow Work Imagery
A shadow can be thought of as a light shining on a surface. However, there is an object between the path of the light and the surface. Instead of seeing the surface clearly, there is now a dark and murky spot, known as a shadow.
This is a similar image to shadow work where our soul essence is being blocked from shining fully and expressing our true inner purpose and light to the world around us. Instead, the light is being hidden or blocked from showing its true strength and potential.
How did shadow work come about?
Shadow work comes from the term shadow self. It has been coined by a genius who, in my view, has brought the soul into psychology. He was someone who followed a shamanic and deeply spiritual path. At least in my opinion.
He described the shadow as “shadow is that hidden, repressed, for the most part inferior and guilt-laden personality whose ultimate ramifications reach back into the realm of our animal ancestors.”
This does not sound very positive, does it? We will get there.
What is shadow work?
Let us break it down: Shadow work is working with your subconscious mind to uncover the parts of yourself that have been repressed, hidden or buried from your conscious self.
Shadow Work as a Practice
The shadow has come to be through what I call energetic trauma. This doesn’t have to be something huge and awfully traumatic like experiencing war. It can be something small, even insignificant at the time, but still can affect your life in a huge way.
This can include trauma or parts of your personality that you subconsciously consider undesirable. This may come from experiences, society, our family, our internally struggles and more.
It is parts of us that we have often had to “get rid of” in order to survive. To be accepted in our earth family and space.
The thing is: the shadow drives us. Our thoughts, our actions, even our choices. Even if we do not know it, they are still there.
It can present itself as bursts of uncontrollable aggression, unrealistic fears, irrational desires or immoral fantasies.
It can leave one feeling in a space of fear, loneliness, disconnection, emotional pain or emptiness.
These aspects of the shadow, which are subconscious, pull us away from our soul’s truth and so block the light from shining through.
Now, that we have a brief understanding of what shadow is, let us explore the concept of alchemy.
What is Alchemy?
Alchemy is an ancient branch of natural philosophy that is often shrouded in mystery and the supernatural.
In ancient Egypt, they saw alchemy as a way to cure disease and find the one thing that is always sort after: immortality. It was also thought to be a way to find the philosopher’s stone, the source of all knowledge. There is also a practice where one transmutes metals into the prized possession of gold. Sounding a bit like a harry potter novel, isn’t it?
Their reality is it was probably a mix between science and deep esoteric understanding more than a magic practice. Its aim was on health and exploring the soul.
Shadow Alchemy Transformation
This is what shadow alchemy is about: it is about transforming ourselves into a more conscious and higher frequency version with deep self-knowledge. It is about discovering the pure and golden spark within us and reconnecting with our souls’ turth.
Shadow Alchemy
This is how shadow alchemy comes about. Through a combination of shadow and the process of alchemy.
I connect with the shadow aspect, those aspects that are blocking the light and I take these aspects, that may be shrouded in silver and seem pretty unremarkable. But they are still there. They still govern us. Often we do not notice them, even though we feel their effects. I shift this into gold. I shift you into a space of light, of shining. Not a false sense but a real one where there is nothing holding you back.
Light as escapism
As mentioned, this stuff is there hidden away, guiding us from a space of fear, guilt, anger and heavy emotions even though we can’t see it.
Often energy work bypasses this. We raise our frequency, feel good, do the energy work and connect with unicorns, do ayahuasca and move into a space of hippieness and namaste love.
I am talking from experience. I got into the light work long before the shadow work and I was stuck. I was feeling on a high that I kept chasing but things didn’t remain and flow through a space of love as it has now I have done the shadow work.
Even if you bypass the shadow, ignore it, or repress it; it doesn’t change the fact that it is still there.
This becomes the basis of the practice and how you live your life. When we first go into this, release a lot and have a solid foundation, then we can fly, connect with unicorns, love and light in a genuine and permanent way.
So I am not saying avoid the light work until you do the shadow work. Sometimes the light opens the path for the shadow as it did for me. Sometimes we need to be in the light for some time until we are ready for the shadow work. We each have our own path and we can love and respect our own journey. I am just saying, don’t forget the shadow. When you are ready, you’ll be guided.
Who can do shadow work?
Shadow work is for everyone although it can require a bit of maturity and a state of readiness.
When to do shadow work?
Shadow work can be done when you see triggers. When you get angry or feel fear or immoral desires and you are not sure where they come from. These are part of the human experience but there is something driving them that should be brought to consciousness to be examined and healed.
This is not a once-off thing. It is a lifelong process. Once you have done shadow work, there will be more. Once you have done enough of the shadow work, you can do shadow work for others. Then you can do shadow work for the consciousness of the planet.
What to expect in a shadow alchemy session?
These sessions provide a powerful and safe space to get to know the self, make peace with one’s nature, find love and deep acceptance and find the deep gifts within that can only be seen when meeting and then bringing the shadow to life.
In these sessions, we will have a bit of a discussion. Through a gentle discussion, we will explore your current situation, aspects that you may not be happy with, any heavy emotions you are sitting with through questions and reflection. I will hold space for you to find your intuition guidance and answers within.
We may work with archetypes. These are universal, inborn models of people, behaviors, and personalities that play a role in influencing human behavior. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung’s theory suggested that these archetypes were archaic forms of innate human knowledge passed down from our ancestor. We will work with them as archetype tarot readings. This is a creative way to connect with your story and find a way to rewrite your narrative.
Since shadow work originates from the past, we will do a bit of digging through guided visualization and imagery work. We will access the power within us through our minds by connecting with the inner child work where we connect with parts of ourselves that we repressed into the shadow as being unacceptable. We may also move into past lives.
But most importantly, we will do intuitive energy healing.
Through shadow work, we meet our darkest points, those painful parts. No, this isn’t beautiful. It isn’t easy. It takes courage and strength. But if you are reading this I know you have it.
It also does not have to be an extended and painful process.
We do a bit of archetype work, a bit of storytelling, some creativeness and guided visualization, to promote awareness. But the real healing comes through energy work. This is where major shifts can happen.
Often, I can do this work for you. I can take those steps and guide the journey.
I hold you every step of the way.
In shadow alchemy sessions, we will find your soul’s gift and your purpose.
