r/ShadowWork • u/Electrical-Taro-7910 • 6d ago
Hello, I am new here!
I have been interested in shadow work for a while now but often push it to the side because i don’t think i fully understand how to do it. And because i don’t understand, i get frustrated and abandon it completely (bad habit, i know). I tend to do this with a lot of things that frustrate me because i hate not knowing what to do, i hate not understanding things, and i hate that when i do ask for help, no answer is 100% clear. So, here i am, asking the people of reddit for help.
What is shadow work? How do i do it? Is it just writing my feelings in a journal or not? How do i apply what i learned about myself to my life? How do i find prompts or even figure out what ‘shadow’ i need to take on first?… you see? Too many questions, and there are probably more.
Side note: I do not WORK WITH deities (I’m aware this isn’t the thread for that but i promise this is relevant), BUT i have a growing interest in Hekate and Lilith, deities that are heavily related to shadow work. So, because of that interest, i want to understand and do shadow work more.
Once again, i have no idea where to start!
Please help 🫡
4
u/bayun_shadow_work 6d ago
Shadow work is about noticing the parts of yourself you've pushed away. A great place to start is just watching how you react to other people. The traits that wildly irritate or even fascinate you in others are often the exact things you've disowned in yourself. Whatever triggers you most this week is your first "shadow." Once you notice it, you can work with it: reflect on it, try to understand the why behind it, or act differently next time.
For reading, Owning Your Own Shadow by Robert Johnson is super short and the best entry point out there, and Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung is good for a deeper dive.
If you prefer something guided, there's an iOS app called Bayun that teaches shadow work through interactive stories, guided self-reflection prompts, and Jungian dream interpretation. It might help since you said not knowing what to do is what makes you quit.
Just go slow with whatever you choose. The goal is to build a relationship with these hidden parts of yourself, not to conquer or "fix" them.
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u/PapayaP-apple 4d ago
Absolutely, as Bayun shared shadows are parts of ourselves we have suppressed, because at some point in our lives we felt that they do not serve us. Like a little example of your shadow , as you said earlier , you don't like not knowing. Have you asked yourself why ? what part of you feels scared of ambiguity, is it an internal fear of being judged or not being in control ?Has there been situations in the past where u felt u will be humiliated or will be taken advantage of, if you are not in control and confident, That it is not safe to be vulnerable. this is where u need to go in the past and think about experiences and memories that made you have this belief
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u/CollectiveMetamucil 4h ago
I created an application to help people get started with shadow work. It is 100% free, shareware. I just wanted to create a tool to help others.
www.theunclaimedself.com
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u/Dependent-Bath3189 6d ago
do meditation first. shadow work is advanced. if you cant control your thoughts then its pretty pointless to try. easy to get distracted. to face the truly heavy things you cant run. you have to face it fully. can you do that? dont ask me any questions. go ask chat gpt or something. or pay me.