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Shadow Work

7/2/2013

8 Comments

 
Note of Caution: You should be aware that even so much as writing this article has proven to be very disruptive and problematic.  If you are particularly sensitive to negativity, I would suggest that you promptly mark this entry as read (assuming you use an app like Feedly) and move on with your life. I'll be discussing some pretty negative stuff here.

You're welcome to stick around and read through this, but if you do, it may spark off some pretty noticeable changes.  Proceed at your own risk.

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Still sticking 'round?  Ok, down to business....

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In response to a series of questions a long-time client of mine has posed, I have decided to talk a bit about shadow work, the associated risks and implications, and the possible benefits of doing the Work. Herein will be a few methodologies that one can use to engage their Shadow and progress past their limitations.

Before I start, I must stress that this Work is FAR more dangerous and advanced than anything I've written about previously - hence the warning at the top of this post. This isn't stuff you do for fun.  It isn't something you do out of convenience either.  Its something you do when you don't have a choice.

We're complicated creatures, and there are times that we seem to be half angel, half demon.  We've got a side of us that wants to lie, cheat, steal, murder, rape, drink, and drug ourselves into a stupor.  Its dedicated, in many of us, to taking the easy way out and gets a thrill out of harming someone else in the process. We've also got a side to us that's good-natured, caring, compassionate, loving, and aspires to doing good deeds for the benefit of others. Its a lot like the story of the two wolves, pictured below.
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We're all different, and some of us have an easier time tapping one of those wolves over the other.  That's natural and normal, but it just because its the way of things doesn't mean that you're doomed towards dealing with one specific side.

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In the end, its a bit like dealing with the angel on one shoulder and the demon on the other. (Much like Kronk in The Emperor's New Groove)

In the Nature VS Nurture argument, the eventual realization is that our leanings are a product of Nature and Nurture, and as a result, eventually choice has a great deal to do with it.  In my experience, I have found that strength comes from being able to utilize the powers of both sides while still keeping them in balance. This is why we have rites like the Banishing Rituals of the Hexagram, Middle Pillar, grounding, and centering exercises.

Most everyone is familiar with the "Holy Self" or "Higher Self" in one form or another - some even go so far as to call it the "Holy Guardian Angel".  The other half isn't really talked about.

Your shadow, on the other hand, (also known as your Evil Genius, Evil Daemon, or doppelganger) is the part of you that's typically kept deep inside of you. It serves the functionality of a spiritually alive storehouse for all of your worst traits, your fears, your insecurities, It represents the abused, the liars, the broken, and the incomplete.  The shadow is comprised of pure, unadulterated fucked-upedness, and working with it is often one hell of an unpleasant ride......

Your shadow makes even the denizens of the Qliphothic shells look cute and cuddly - this is doubly so if you've been through extreme trauma in your past.

Working with one's shadow, however, can be very fulfilling when one's reached the appropriate stage of awareness and ability - knowledge of and communication with your HGA is mandatory. Mastering it does have its benefits, though mastery of one's shadow is an ongoing process that is repeated as one lives his or her life.  Its a set of practices that can, eventually, lead to some amazing realizations about one's self and the universe around them, and, as a result, be a major reservoir of power that can be tapped on demand.
Below is a ritual format through which one can connect to, work with, and overcome the portions of their shadow. It follows a strict flow and I would not recommend straying from it, lest you endanger yourself.  The sigils for each part of the shadow self can be found at the bottom of this article, and I would suggest that you only utilize one at a time.  Do not draw them unless you intend to use them.
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Ritual Outline

  1. Provide offerings to your guardian spirits

    By this point, you should have a pretty decent handle on the nature of your guardian spirits, both local and ancestral, as well as the allies you've cultivated through your ongoing spirit work.

  2. Perform an Invocation of your Higher Self

    By this point, you should have your own method for getting in contact with your HGA/HS for ritual use. Proceed with it, as you will need the essence of this portion of you present to balance out the extreme negativity that will be raised as you progress through this rite.

  3. Draw the sigil for the aspect of your Shadow that you intend to invoke

    You will need to use consecrated parchment paper for this purpose.  I would suggest that you trace out the sigil, then pray over it to empower it.

  4. Prayer to the Keystone

    The Keystone an entity I've worked with for quite some time.  Its purpose is simple: to watch over the keys so that they are not accidentally activated through tracing them, visualizing, etc.

    Keystone, bearer of possibilities
    Stir, waken, hear, and become available to me
    I invoke thy name and call for thy presence
    Stand alongside me as I work through the Umbric Keys
    Face me so that I might face my Self

    [Seal the invocation by tracing a lemniscate in the air]

  5. Evoke or invoke the Shadow's aspect

    How you proceed here is up to you.  Evocation tends towards being gentler than invocation, but invocation will allow you to do more than simply wrangle with that aspect of your Self.

  6. Complete the rite and dismiss all invoked forces

    Dismiss that which has been conjured and ground yourself in the manner of your choosing.

  7. Deal with the outcome of the rite

    If you did the work right, you will have stuff to deal with.  You'll learn about certain things that motivate you, how to diffuse your temper, etc.  That's the real reason behind this work, after all.  If you should need help, which you may, you'll want to reach out to me through my contact page.

The Shadow Sigils

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If you choose to follow this path I've laid out here, good luck.  You will need it.

As mentioned previously, should you need help, feel free to contact me.

Regards,

SE
8 Comments
AW
7/2/2013 07:41:28 am

What about one for incompetence. Some of us are just not up to tasks for variety of things and unable to over ride that causes much harm.

Reply
SorcerousEndeavors
7/16/2013 07:53:33 am

AW,

Incompetence is a matter of being unwilling or unable to learn something new, so I'd say that's partially related to fear and partially related to sloth; one whose afraid of new things or lazy won't bother to learn. ;)

Regards,

SE

Reply
J.
9/18/2016 08:07:51 am

Hi SE,
I've been following your blog for a while and I've found a lot of interesting information, so firstly I want to thank you for sharing them..!
I have a question regarding shadow work. Do you have acknowledgment of what would happen if inexperienced person try to work with his/her shadow by using those sigils (and by skipping first and second step)? It's not something I would personally try, but I am really curious.
Thanks in advance :)
J.

Reply
SorcerousEndeavors
9/23/2016 09:59:12 am

J,

Thank you for the comment & query. Glad to read that you're enjoying the material herein. :)

To answer your question, when it comes to dealing with magical work along the lines of what I've shared here, it can make things get a bit hinky. If you've got a fair deal of experience with spirit and sigil work, then you're probably going to be well enough aware of what can happen when your works go awry, so you'll be in a position to handle those newfound frustrations. In essence, the skillset you've acquired through years of practice then puts you in a position to enchant your way through the snowstorm.

If, however, the one working through these sigils is a neophyte, they lack the knowledge & wisdom required to get through these trials. Instead of successfully getting through the storm, they usually become snowblind & unable to successfully chart a course.

It sounds rather dramatic to say, but if you cannot navigate through your shadow, you're going to get stuck in it. This stucknedness frequently leads to contamination of the subject, which can then cause the seeker to be overly-impacted & swayed by his darker desires. If those desires involve narcotics, they're probably going to thrillseek their way into rehab or, worse yet, wind up on the streets as a result of their dabbling with the hard stuff. In Russia, its not uncommon for folks with such leanings to turn to Krokodil, which can then permanently mark them as a user, causing them to be cast off from society both at that time and well into the future.

Say, instead, that the person's addictive leanings take the form of sexual obsession. Arousal generally leads to a breakdown in cognition at some point, as one becomes more and more inhibited by their desire for intimate release. If one's able to fulfill that need at home, then for a time they'll be more or less unimpinged by their obsession...but what happens when a man so-motivated lacks a girlfriend or wife? Instead, they take to bars & attempts at dating, and at times they can spiral into such desperation that they seek the care of prostitutes or less savory means of release. Risk-taking & sexual satisfaction are often joined at the hip, and with the STD rates being incredibly high in recent years, there's a distinct likelihood that the individual will come home with something. If its incurable, that person will be forever marked by their disease, regardless of whether or not they overcome their addiction, and this can, ironically, cause them to spiral further.

There are other examples to be had, as with the nasty crap in our heads, there's not really a limit. For some, their particular demons can be described by the above examples; for others, its self-flagellation or self-mutilation, rape, murder, pederasty, or some other demon that drives them. If you're going to tap these notes of your consciousness so as to become a more aware, more inspired individual, that's laudable. Trouble is that not everyone can handle these vibes.

Yes, this is hyperbole, to some extent, but if you're talking about the worst case scenario, these are valid examples. Since posting this back in 2013, I have seen half a dozen people wreck themselves and their lives & communicate these failures to me. About a dozen have used this and done exceedingly well, so it all falls to whether or not a person has the stamina for this. It is hard, but I've found it to be incredibly useful, powerful material that's changed my life for the better.

Happy conjuring!
SE

Reply
J.
11/2/2016 02:03:17 pm

SE,

Hello again and thank you for your thorough answer, I've had some extremely time-consuming obligations to handle and with chronic lack of time I just couldn't give proper thanks and response, but I really appreciate it!

I entirely see what you're saying, I did kind of suspected that one of the possibilities may be that ''stucknedness'' you've mentioned, which seems very understandable and not that dramatic or exaggerated at all. I've been no stranger to shadow work, but the nature of that work was exclusively psychological.
I got into ''stucknedness'' of a different kind (I've brought those negative aspects to the surface but just couldn't see any movement,improvement or change - positive or negative).

When it comes to magick, I'm definitely far from confident practitioner but with some sorts of magick work I've been familiar for some time (sigil magick is obviously not one of those :)) so I've decided to reach for that type of S.W.

The thing I was and am hoping for is sort of, well not so much shocking but definitely stronger, more intense,''shakey'' effect, which I believe may have better and more helpful impact on me (as opposed to slow psychological process I've been going through last 5+ years which was precious but not entirely sufficient). So I thought that perhaps that type of effect can be achieved through magick, don't know if I completely missed the point tbh.

I have a question which I forgot to ask last time - Where do those sigils come from? Have you created them for purpose of S.W. and if so, do you think they are universal, applicable for everyone?

And also, where do you think Shame would fit in? In fear category maybe, fear of abandonment, rejection or such?

I wouldn't know where to put it honestly, I kind of see it as a common denominator for all of those above mentioned traits, since for example laziness wouldn't be that much of a bad thing without shame accompanying it...I feel like it's some sort of ''meta'' feeling/characteristic, above all the others mentioned up there, because probably without it there would be no talking about ''shadow'' and bad, negative, shameful, undesirable aspects of human. But the type of shame I was thinking about was more that crippling, unhealthy feeling of unworthiness and desperate need to constantly prove yourself to someone.

Thanks so much in advance! :)
I look forward to read your insight into this
(Hope I'm not tiring you with all of this)
J.

Reply
SorcerousEndeavors
11/2/2016 05:04:21 pm

J,

You are most welcome & its quite alright. Responding to folks over the internet doesn't really trump the priority of taking care of necessities around you. Hopefully with time & some success, my advice will be useful to you.

Working with the darker sides of the mind and all that's held here is indeed psychological. Those influences can become physical and/or manifest around you in ways that could be intimidating, sure. I find that the "big boo!" effects whereupon a spirit's influence is physically apparent are less important, though, than our response to those events. Yes, you did just see a cup get thrown by something that wasn't there, but once this instance has ended you've got to fit this new experience into your worldview. That's...easier said than done.

Some are unable to move past it, and this seems to bring on this sense of being stuck that we've discussed. Others on the alternate extreme shrug, take is confirmation that spooky stuff does exist, and keep on keeping on. Most are found in the middle, but this "darkness of the soul" in which understanding cannot be easily found is detrimental.

What you choose to do during those temporary darknesses is crucial, since those choices are now setting the stage for all that you get up to. And this is essentially what you seem to be interested, given your expressed interest in having rapid psychological changes as an opportunity to improve upon yourself. Have you considered asking for an external entity to disrupt certain patterns? If not, might be worth a shot.

Shame, for example, is a peculiar concern. It manifests in a few different ways, but seems to be a mixture of pride, lust, and envy. Sometimes anger's in there, too, but shame seems to originate in the consideration of what one should be doing. If you're 100 pounds overweight and feeling shame, its probably because you're envious of a skinny, well-muscled guy or gal. Thus you're unable to feel prideful.

Fear, too, can factor in, as if you're so overweight, you could be afraid of dying alone.

Those are good emotions, though. They're unpleasant, but shame can move you to work out and lose weight. That's often a requirement for being happy. This is why I'm not looking to not feel these things...rather, I want them to be present with joy and excitement. I can then take each in stride. ;)

Blessings,
Chris/SE

--

PS: Regarding the sigils, they've been created/channeled by me, and have been inspired by my own work in this vein. I've yet to read tell of someone with magical talents being unable to use them, at this point, so I think they work with most folks. That was the idea, anyway.

Reply
Anonymous
12/1/2018 07:42:38 am

Very good

Reply
SorcerousEndeavors
12/3/2018 09:33:06 am

Cheers, Anon. Hope this info serves you well.

-SE

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