Aligning with the Lower / Shadow self

After a somewhat lengthy blogging break of nearly 3 months, I felt like it was time to return to sharing some Witchcraft and Pagan related teachings. Today, I am covering the Lower self, or Shadow self, exactly what it is, why it is important, empowerment and wholesomeness, how to connect with this aspect of yourself to hone your psychic and magickal abilities as well as to heal emotional trauma.

What is the Lower / Shadow self?

If you read up on my previous post on "Aligning with the Higher / Light self", you would be right in thinking that the Lower or Shadow self must embody our more human, or animalistic traits, and you are, for the most part, correct. Whereas the Higher self is the manifestation of our Higher, or virtuous nature that guides our conscience and morality in this world, the Shadow self represents our most basic animalistic needs, this will cover creature comforts, instinct, also known as intuition and our more emotional aspect, the Shadow self houses the following faculties or aspects in our being:

Emotions - This Shadow self contains all of our suppressed emotions that were either too painful to deal with so we shoved them under the proverbial rug, or emotions that society deemed pathetic or unnecessary - such as when men become emotionally upset and are then made to feel shame because they are not "Manly" enough. It can be the suppression of homosexuality, the suppression of hurtful words or behaviours from others and how those things made us feel, the Shadow self also houses all of our traumas from the loss of our most beloved animal companion to the trauma of a marital breakdown that ended with much abuse and discord. You could jokingly call it our emotional dumping ground.

Instincts - It is now believed that there is a strong connection between instinct and intuition - we are not talking about mystic peg and fortune telling - but that both bring forth emotional prompting in equal measure, the bird knows when to shift to avoid the hawk it cannot see, the young lady walking down a normal neighbourhood at night but can "feel" eyes on her, they are prompted by emotion, whether we call it instinct or intuition, it is their Shadow self, or "unconscious mind", prompting them that danger is near.

Needs - For many of us, our emotions hold considerable sway over how we operate in this world, we can argue this is when the Shadow self is more prominent in the psyche of the person than their Middle (rational) self, or their Higher self. These impulses or "urges" are normally our body's way of saying exactly what we want or need in that moment, be it a sugar high from a craving, a dose of caffeine to stimulate us, a break to travel and explore. If you watch other animals, such as reptiles, they are heavily guided by this part of themselves, they do not sit and resist the urge to pursue what they want, it more often than not just happens organically. Be aware of these impulses going forward and acknowledge their validity unless the inclination is towards something toxic or unhealthy.

Grounding and Connection - Due to the Shadow self corresponding to all of our more animalistic and natural needs and desires, it is the aspect that deeply anchors us to this Earthly plane as well, the Middle self communicates with others in this and other realms and the Higher self, is our conscience. We do sometimes become ungrounded and can lose some awareness of this part of ourselves, particularly when abusing drugs/alcohol to get "High" or by becoming overly logical whereby we shut our emotions and intuitions out. We need to pay attention to the Earth, to our needs and emotions.

Psychic Ability - The word "Psychic" simply means soul-energy, or the energy of a living or animated being in this world or any other, the Shadow self is a master at detecting shifts of energy in the ether, or in animals and people, it can help us navigate danger, find balance or even help connect us to our purpose in this lifetime. When a professional psychic performs a reading, it is this aspect that they work with, to "see", to "hear" and to "feel", all very impulse related senses that most animals also experience.

So what's the big deal with healing the Shadow self?

I am glad that you asked. To heal the Shadow self is not just to refine psychic ability, receive clear promptings regarding bodily needs and our place in life, it is to gradually, and I mean gradually, release all of our emotional turmoil from various traumas in our lifetimes so we stand in our own power without being owned by these emotions or other people as triggers to them.

Trauma is not just severing a limb in a car accident, or your parent passing, it is any event in life that has a significant emotional impact on you and affects you short-term, or long-term, how you function within and respond to the world around you. To heal emotional traumas, one by one, is to surface these emotional experiences, to fully live them again and to release the emotions once and for all, either through prayer, meditation, spells, whatever it takes to release them, some people find a mood journal a fantastic tool. You will feel a burden lift when you manage to fully release the emotional tug. One such example I will give below:

So you query with your spirit guides exactly when you started to get bullied in school/work, who started it and why, you wondered:

"Why me?", "What could I have possibly done wrong to warrant such abuse?", "Maybe I deserved it?", you would have likely gone through all of these questions as you then begin to blame yourself.

And lo and behold your Shadow self rises in your psyche and says:

"Whoa, it was not me! I did not deserve this! It was that B*****d making fun of my (look, for eg)"

Which is what led others to then perceive you as a target and start bullying you. This is a trauma, that led to a string of mistreatments, and your Middle self would have shoved it down into the Shadow self and just got on with life as it could not reason why, until you realise once again, likely now a bit or much older in life, "Oh that's where it started!".

You will then go through an extremely emotional experience, the rage, the anger, the hatred, the desire to find them and kick their butt. Seems dramatic right? Perhaps it is. But when we experience unpleasant emotions, believe me when I say you are not experiencing the emotion to its fullest intensity but the Shadow self is, and it is the choice of both parts of yourself whether to just release the emotions with the mindset of:

"Wait, their opinion truly means nothing to me", and it is released or you will internalise it to manage the pain on a more conscious level.

Now, imagine all of your lifetime traumas, your emotional reactions to certain situations - especially those others perceive no legitimacy to - "Oh, yeh, they are a bit too sensitive" - these people likely never bothered, or cared enough to ask "Why?", "What is the root cause of their sustained anger / reactiveness?". By delving into your own Shadow self you can heal these traumas, heal your emotions associated with these traumas and release the power then that others have over you and your happiness.

It sounds like a stupid saying: "The only power others have over you is what you let them have", it holds true wisdom, but people think of it in physical terms, they do not consider this in an emotional context. As soon as we are emotionally triggered by the words or actions of another, they have direct or indirect power over our emotions and thus over us. As Buddha nicely said: "Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned".

So if you now imagine that you are on a journey of healing your Shadow self, there are moments you will feel immense emotion or malice towards your former toxic colleague as you process this and release it, or heartbreak from how an ex treated you, imagine how you can feel if you no longer have these emotional states to passed persons and situations. It will bring forth an enormous amount of peace in the future, this state will empower you, especially as a Witch or energy worker, to no longer be burdened or triggered by these harms or idiocies of this world as you no longer let them have power over you.

We all experience necessary aggression, a strong desire through love to protect others and that is fine, but I am talking about the harms of suppressed emotions and their ongoing control over our being when triggered by others. As this is a deeply personal journey, you should only consider walking this path of healing when you are prompted from within, until then, you should still reconnect quite often to this part of yourself just to remain fully grounded and balanced in your being.

Meditation to align with the Lower / Shadow self:

This meditation is quite similar to the Higher / Light self meditation, you will not fully engage with your Shadow self but simply align to this part of yourself. Preferably go outside with your bare feet touching the Earth / grass, I want you, using your intuition and affirmative tone, to call out to your Shadow self like so:

"I hereby draw forth,

My hidden Shadow self,

I align to my emotions,

I align to my impulses,

I align to my needs,

Guide me this day,

Ground me and stay"

While sitting or standing in a comfortable posture, pay particular attention to your emotions and bodily sensations, ask your Shadow self to rise up from within, and with each breath, draw the cooling energy of the Earth through your feet, up passed your knees, into your core and down your limbs and feel the cooling energies fill your head and Aura. This will be quite a sensual experience that will bring stability, peace and power rather than emotional turmoil as this is not an attempt to heal traumas but to anchor into this part of ourselves as we do with the Higher and Middle selves. Give yourself and the Earth thanks, clearance and end your meditation.

Connecting with Ground Water:

Corresponding with the Earth and the connection of our Shadow self to the Earth, we can also connect by means of collecting some ground water and anointing ourselves with it, I would recommend doing this down your local woodlands. Look for a nice, clear puddle, it does not have to be near a quagmire or next to a pond full of ducks, just a nice deep puddle which has sat for some time on the Earth.

Ask the Earth and spirits nearby if you may take some for the purpose of gradually healing your Shadow self, if you feel a "yes" prompting from within, take out a small vessel, or a vial will do, fill it with the water, anoint yourself in that moment to connect to the land and your Shadow self, thank the spirits and Earth and leave a small offering knowing that they will be with you when you need their blessing.

Connecting with Crystals:

In reality, you can argue that any crystal will help you connect to the Earth because they are all from, and of the Earth, but I would stick to the darkest or green stones - Black Obsidian, Black Tourmaline, Snowflake Obsidian which shows the light within the dark, Red Jasper to ground but also Jade to bring soothing, grounding energies to help you to heal.

Connecting with Herbs:

In the context of herbs to connect with and heal the Shadow self, we would work with baneful plants such as Datura, Belladonna, Mandrake or Henbane but due to their poisonous nature I will not guide nor recommend these particular herbs. This does not mean the herbal collection is out, quite the contrary, there are herbs that assist in Shadow connection, and healing when need be, they are: Rosemary, Chamomile, Sage, Lemongrass and Lavender. Like before, you can use them as loose incense, wear them individually as a wash or blend them into a herbal oil to utilise.

Enjoy connecting to this deep, dark, divine aspect of yourself. A follow-up on techniques to help you to actively heal the Shadow self will follow.

Blessed Be, Mat. XxX

www.mathew-walker.co.uk

#witch #witches #witchesofinstagram #pagan #pagansofinstagram #wicca #wiccan #magic #magick #tiktok #tiktokwitches #love #empowerment #personalpower #freedom #shadowself #trauma #divinity #sacredness #underworld #fyp #foryou #foryoupage