Thread: The Shadow

In Jungian dream work, 'The Shadow' is one of the essential archetypes. The Shadow represents all of the unknown, repressed, or undesirable traits about ourselves. Not all of it is bad, but perhaps the majority of it is. Some of it can be hidden gifts.. after all, many people run from their own power or don't believe in themselves and their gifts. It is also where our pride is stored, our hidden insecurities, our immature reactions, our evil intentions. Everyone has a shadow, but the more integrated (and self-aware) one becomes, the less shadow one has. It is our ego.

What experiences do you have with your own Shadow archetype? For those of you who practice dream interpretation, do you have a consistent character or characters that usually play the part of your Shadow? Have you ever had a shadow integration experience in a dream? Have you ever questioned a Shadow dream character while lucid?


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For myself, I know when I see my sister or my old friend from high school, I am experiencing my Shadow. She is me, but she is impulsive, sometimes selfish, often insecure, and emotionally reactive. She is me, but she is the unconscious version. Like an evil twin or clone. On rare occasions, I've heard her saying things, my own voice saying things, I would never say. Things I don't think or feel on a conscious level, but perhaps some repressed unconscious part of me (maybe 1% of me) feels that way. I don't know, but it's startling sometimes. Luckily, this doesn't happen very often.

I've also had a shadow integration experience. At least one (it's hard to remember back then). In that lucid dream, after I rescued a dog, it turned into me as a child and literally merged into my body. The energy sensation afterward was amazing, and I felt it the next day. It was like feeling more wholeness in my chest. I've also had many experiences of being lucid and working with shadow characters, who have told me things about myself, things I did not realize.

Anyway... anyone else have these experiences?