The Definitive Guide to Shadow Work Using Jungian Psychology

In life, there are two sides to everything.

Our world is a world of duality and relativism, so naturally, there are going to be opposite poles.

Here and there. Hot and cold. Light and dark. Yin and yang. All seeming opposites.

One of the most important types of duality is psychological duality. Namely, our shadow selves – the sides of our personality that we keep hidden.

The process of uncovering and integrating that personality is known as “shadow work”.

After you read this article, you’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of shadow work, shadow psychology, and some tools/exercises you can use to do this work on your own.

[toc]

The Origins of Shadow Work and Carl Jung’s Psychoanalytic Theory

If we want to know how to do shadow work properly, it helps to understand why we do it and where it comes from.

Shadow work is nothing new. In fact, it is as old human civilization. Cultures and societies stretching back to the dawn of time have had their own ways of exploring different “sides” of the human face.

The people of the Amazon used ayahuasca in an attempt to explore altered states of consciousness.

Religions and philosophies such as Zen Buddhism have talked at length about “kensho” which means “seeing one’s true nature”.

Many cultures had a shaman or divination expert who would be the de facto “psychologist” in a village or town. This person would apparently see into the future and give advice to individuals or families who were struggling with issues.

Now, we come to the modern era. In the 21st century, Carl Jung was a Swiss psychoanalyst who wanted an answer to the question:

“Why do seemingly good people do obviously bad things?”

Jung came up with the answer in the form of archetypes, which are a psychological representation of different emotional and mental states of the human mind.

These archetypes in turn rise from the subconscious/unconscious mind:

“Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. If an inferiority is conscious, one always has a chance to correct it. Furthermore, it is constantly in contact with other interests, so that it is continually subjected to modifications. But if it is repressed and isolated from consciousness, it never gets corrected.” – Carl Jung, Psychology and Religion

This is the home of the shadow self.

What is the Shadow Self?

Think of a time when you flew off the handle at someone for no real (justifiable) reason. Also, think of a time when you did something that was “out of character” for you.

You considered those “anomalies”, didn’t you? Something that was a “blip in the radar”.

Well, those were elements of your “shadow self”.

A person’s shadow self is the part of their psychology that they keep hidden from others (or even themselves) in an attempt to fit in with other people.

Where does this come from?

In childhood, we are socialized to behave a certain way, to follow a certain set of rules.

As a child, you knew very little about the world, so it is the responsibility of your caretakers to teach you about the world and its written and unwritten rules.

Following these allow us to “fit in” with society and operate as productive citizens to be successful.

Some of these rules are actually good because they allow a society to function. In order to get massive amounts of people to “build” a civilization, you need them all to be on the same page with one another. So, rules were created to reduce the friction amongst people.

However, as we all know“ shit happens” and many people in Western society (or even the world at large) have not been trained or socialized to face discomforting things that happen in life.

Think back to your socialization process. Did your parents teach you coping strategies? Did they teach you how to relax? Did they teach you how to examine your emotions? How about how to think constructively? Some people got this type of teaching, many didn’t.

Many people were raised in an environment of intimidation, threats, verbal and/or physical abuse, or even complete apathy.

Add this up over millions of people and you get a great deal of collective repression.

Repression creates what is known as “cognitive dissonance”:

In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort (psychological stress) experienced by a person who simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values.” – Wikipedia

Cognitive dissonance is the disconnect between who we “think” we are and who we “actually” are.

On the societal level, cognitive dissonance is responsible for a large amount of insanity in our world.

On the individual level, it’s responsible for failure to connect with other human beings and create harmonious relationships.

What is Shadow Work? How Is It Done?

“Ironically, the term personality is derived from the Greek word for mask (persona), reflecting our tendency to confuse the masks we wear with our true selves, even long after the threats of early childhood have passed.” – Ian Morgan Cron, The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery

Shadow work is the process of diving into the unconscious and revealing its fixations in order to integrate them into conscious awareness.

This is not a walk in the park and most people will actively resist this process.

A few of the ego’s most beloved techniques to prevent further shadow work inquiry is the use of projection, rationalization, and social masks.

Projection is the act of ascribing character traits onto other people.

Rationalization is a justification of certain acts or behaviors in certain situations.

Social masks are the guises that we wear on a daily basis to fit in.

Here’s a few examples of these in action:

Close Relationships

Relationships offer a productive (if very difficult) environment in which to do shadow work because of how much they expose triggers.

Any type of close relationship will be a potential powder keg of emotions. As a general rule, the closer the relationship – the more greater potential for an explosion of emotions (both negative and positive).

When you grow to an adult, you can keep your friends and even your parents at arm’s length, but your significant other will be the most intimate relationship you will have with any external person.

You and your significant other are different people and as a result, you see the world differently. This will lead to conflict on some issues. Some of them may be minor, others will be significant. Some of your fights will be minor. Others may be significant.

However, it’s not about what happens during the argument, it’s about what you do after it. After an argument do you stew in resentment and anger for days?

It’s not uncommon for partnered relationships to turn into battlegrounds where people project bad things onto the other person or use rationalizations for bad behavior (such as cheating).

Messy divorces happen precisely because of projection and rationalization.

The 2020 Pandemic

The pandemic of 2020 affected many people at some level. Because life was disrupted in a major way, it forced us to examine what we believe to be true about ourselves and how the world operates.

Due to the lockdown situation, some people ended up getting closer while others got further apart. Some people fell further into addiction (if they had one), while others saw that their addiction was currently unsustainable and decided to get treatment.

Some people projected false character traits onto people or groups that may or may not have been existent.

Others rationalized certain types of behavior such as having large gatherings.

And of course, many people had their social masks shattered due to the collective trauma of the event.

Shadow Work and the Enneagram

“The Enneagram doesn’t put you in a box. It shows you the box you’re already in and how to get out of it.” – Ian Morgan Cron, The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery

A good tool that worth mentioning at this point is this thing called “the Enneagram”. It’s something that’s gaining some popularity in mainstream consciousness but has yet to really jump into the mainstream like Meyers-Briggs.

To some, it is too esoteric or “just another personality test”, to others, it is too “noncompliant with their religion” (*cough*dogma*cough*). However, that doesn’t dismiss the fact that the Enneagram can be a good source of light to shine on the shadow.

The Enneagram is a 9 pointed psychological framework representing the human psyche and its different egoic personalities. These personalities often become social masks that we use to hide our true selves from the world because of some trauma large or small that happened to us in childhood. We then confuse these masks for our true selves and believe that’s who we are inside and out.

And of course, each personality type has a massive shadow aspect that it uses to keep life at arm’s length.

The goal of the Enneagram is to help you transcend these limited fixed reactions and access the higher levels of life, light, and most of all – love.

Let’s use this example: you’re embarrassed in front of a group of people. They’re all standing around and laughing at you. Each of these 9 personalities will have a different instinctual reaction to this stimuli. Some will become enraged, others will feel worthless. Same stimuli, different result.

The Enneagram is a very complex thing, so I won’t do it any justice in a mere blog post. If you’re interested in this, I’d recommend checking out The Road Back to You and seeing how the system works.

Masculine Archetypes

No discussion of shadow work would be complete without a discussion on archetypes especially as they relates to males.

There are archetypes for the feminine as well, but for the sake of this discussion – this is how they relate to the masculine.

Carl Jung wanted to understand why certain myths or patterns show up repeatedly in certain cultures.

He eventually came to the conclusion that humanity has a shared “collective unconscious” that is derived from the ancestral memory of human beings. The world is a chaotic place, so different cultures across different times came up with different myths to put their world into context.

For example, the “zero to hero” myth where a boy becomes a man via a “vision quest” or the myth of the ”momma’s boy” and Oedipus syndrome where different men view their mother as a god of sorts.

All of these archetypes have their distinct shadow that must be identified, assimilated into consciousness, and overcome in order for a boy to become a man and for a man to become a whole human being.

The shadow archetypes of masculine and boyhood psychology have bipolar poles that can ensnare the ego within their grip.

The active poles of the shadow are usually outwardly destructive and can affect others while the passive poles are usually self-destructive and create implosion within the psyche.

A good model that discusses masculine archetypes comes from the book King, Warrior, Magician, and Lover by Robert L. Moore and Douglass Gillette.

If you want to learn more about masculine archetypes, I highly suggest you pick up that book.

Repression and Resolution of the Shadow

At this point, a good question might be asked :

What happens when someone does not do shadow work?

As stated earlier, a person ends up with a numerous array of personality problems.

The ego uses the aforementioned projection, rationalization, and social masks as a way to avoid connecting with the pain of the shadow self.

As stated earlier, people will do anything to avoid doing shadow work. But ignoring something doesn’t do away. It just shows up at a later time, often in other people, such as kids.

Parents unconsciously transfer their own biases and beliefs to their children during the process of socialization. Those children then grow up and become adults themselves and pass it on to their children and the cycle continues.

This can be known as a form of “ancestral trauma”.

If it is not broken, it continues infinitely.

So how do we go about solving these issues and this breaking this dysfunction?

We need to do the shadow work process, of course.

Benefits of Shadow Work and Integration

There are benefits to doing this work and integrating the shadow into your conscious awareness.

When properly used and channeled, the shadow self has traits that you can use to further your own personal development.
Here’s some of them:

• Creativity
• Intuition
• Problem-Solving
• Resilience
• Self-Esteem
• Greater physical health

The shadow self is the key to the ideal of the “balanced man”, one who acknowledges who he is fully and steps into it, accepting the good and bad parts of his personality.

This makes him a force and an asset to himself, his neighbors, his community, and his world as a whole.

But to get to heaven, you’ve to go through hell first.

How to Do Shadow Work: Techniques and Exercises

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. – Carl Jung

Shadow work is an inherently introspective endeavor.

It is a quest you can only embark on alone.

You can’t bring your parents, you can’t bring your friends, you can’t bring your pets. It’s only you.

Psychotherapy uses shadow work to a large degree, but the therapist is the tool by which the person uses to do the shadow work. The work is only done by the person and only they can determine how far they can go.

This frightens some people because many of us have been brought up to think diving into dark things is “bad”.

The only “bad” part is when you leave your shadow self un-examined and don’t do this work.

Here’s some ways to get started.

1. Silence is Golden

Silence is part one of the initiation process into shadow work.

We live in a world that encourages distraction and unconsciousness. Everywhere you turn, there’s something around the corner to help you forget who you are and what you stand for.

Shadow work removes this entirely from the picture. No cellphones, no TV, no Internet. Just you and yourself.

Sit in silence. Use this time for meditation, if you can.

2. Uncover the Darkness

Once you sit in silence, certain things will start to rise to the surface after a certain period of time.

The average human mind is a mixture of hopes, dreams, worries, fears, and doubts. As you continue shadow work, all of these will come to the surface in a super-messy mixture of congealed and wispy thoughts.

You may find that things you haven’t thought about in a while or memories you’ve repressed will start to emerge. This is normal. These were there all along, they just weren’t brought into focus.

Some of these will probably be frightening. You might even end up feeling bad and want to stop.

Don’t do it! Continue!

3. Sit with the Emotions

As human beings, we communicate in two ways primarily – verbal and nonverbal. Knowing how to combine those two is at the core of social intelligence.

Your emotions are the nonverbal part of you. They broadcast their way to others via your facial expressions and body language.

Your emotions are constantly trying to tell you something. If you have a “gut feeling” about someone or something, there’s a strong chance it could be right. This is called intuition.

When you do shadow work, you WILL feel strong emotions.

4. What are You Avoiding?

Your emotions are a signal to you. What do they tell you?

Do you feel social anxiety because you have a chemical imbalance or because you’re avoiding social situations?

Do you procrastinate because you’re “sooooo busy” or because you’re afraid of doing the work of “digging in” and accomplishing the goal?

Why do you smoke? Is it because you’re trying to “catch a buzz” or is it because your life seems meaningless and that’s the only thing you can obtain pleasure from?

What about Internet addiction? Are you seriously trying to uncover new information or are you just using it as a way to avoid doing something like shadow work?

5. Write it Out

The best way to do shadow work is to write as your emotions and thoughts out as you’re experiencing them.

The stream-of-consciousness writing of shadow work gives you an unfiltered window into yourself. In some circles, this is also known as “automatic writing“.

This “thinking on paper” helps you really have a distilled look into your thought process.

If you want to take this even further, ask yourself a question and then try to write out 10 answers in response to that question.

A question such as:

Why am I afraid of social situations?

You can extend this further.

…with people in positions of authority?

…with people I find attractive?

The first 3 answers to these questions will be easy, the next 3 will be hard, and the final 4 will be like squeezing water from a stone. But what happens when you finish this?

More clarity.

When you finish writing, you can either toss out the sheet of paper you were writing on, or keep it for future reference. If you do the latter, I would suggest getting a journal or some other type of record-keeping book.

6. See a therapist

As stated earlier, shadow work is a key component of psychotherapy.

A therapist is just an objective third party to help you get beyond the rationalization mechanisms of your subconscious mind and dig deep into your problems so you can uproot them and plant new seeds.

Many therapists are trained in some aspect of shadow work and are familiar with Carl Jung’s shadow work theory.

If you need a therapist, look for one in your area or try an online program such as BetterHelp.

Conclusion + Wrapping Up

After reading this post, it’s so easy to say “this seems like a really great idea! I’ll start tomorrow!” But then things start to get in the way.

A certain period of time passes and you’ve forgotten all about this concept. This is another “cloaking mechanism” that the shadow self and unconscious mind uses to disguise itself from view.

Shadow work requires vigilance and conscious awareness to do. Many people, especially in THIS society will never do it.

But if you do, you will reap enormous benefits that will take your life to the next level.

That’s the goal of self-improvement after all, and shadow work is just another tool in the toolbox.

Have you done shadow work? What are your thoughts on it? Let me know in the comments below!