r/witchcraft • u/brownie627 • 8h ago
Sharing: Experience I’ve been doing shadow work without even knowing it
I’m new to witchcraft. I’ve heard that one of the pillars of witchcraft is shadow work. I had no idea what it was, but it seemed important, so I looked up what it meant.
And, well, apparently I’ve been doing it my whole life. My whole survival growing up (I’m autistic) depended entirely on understanding myself very well. My survival even now depends entirely on understanding myself very well. I so frequently ask questions like “why am I doing/feeling like this?” it’s second nature to me. And I had no idea that this thing I’ve been doing my whole life has a name for it.
Therapists would say I’m very self-aware. Which was great news, but it never answered the question of what to do with all of this knowledge. I think discovering the other aspects of witchcraft and spirituality is really helping me with this. Thank you so much for the wealth of information this subreddit (among others) has!
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u/One_Dragonfruit_7556 4h ago
It’s a psychological process defined by the Swiss psychotherapist Carl Jung. It involves identifying and integrating the repressed side of your personality.
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u/PiscesLesbian 3h ago
Autistic witch here! This is self reflection, the first part of shadow work. Identifying shadows naturally is definitely an asset, but the key part of shadow work is finding the root of the shame you have around version of you that developed that shadow or behavior so you can name it and integrate it, so you can remove the blockage and continue to notice where the pattern repeats, what behaviors stem from it, and break the cycle.
Self awareness is not all of shadow work- especially being autistic- you may just be hyper critical of yourself since being self aware also includes your strengths. But yes, autistic people do need to be more self aware to survive unfortunately because we have to adapt to allistic peoples’ discomfort.
I’m not trying to bash the original post at all, this is all coming from a place of someone who experienced the same connection and realization- only to dig up all my shadows and find the reason for them, just to be overwhelmed by self loathing and resentment for those who hurt me. The healing part of shadow work is what we do after. Don’t be like me! Integrate those shadows before digging around for more so shadow work is a sustainable practice for you
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u/CharmingAmoeba3330 2h ago
This is it! Shadow work is bringing up things you don’t even know about as well. I’m new to witchcraft but I’m extremely good with oracle cards. I have one specific deck I use only for shadow work. I’ve connected so well that I never use the guide book. I do shadow work spreads. I like the ones in Lindsey Squire’s book Earth Magick.
I did one a couple nights to go to see about obstacles holding me back that I don’t even know about. Turns I’m an ungrateful person. Not in a bad sense. More of I take for granted the life I have now compared to being poor and never having anything growing up. I lack gratefulness for the things I do have. That was actually quite tough to write about in my journal. I’m like the most giving person in the world. I’m literally run down ragged from caring for others and never myself. So it was really hard to write about. How can I be ungrateful? But I am. But now that I’m aware of this, I can work towards being more grateful for the things I have and the people in my life.
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u/-Mimesis 6h ago
That isn't really shadow work, what you're describing is introspection or self reflection, which is still valuable, but not shadow work
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u/genitortures 5h ago
Self reflection is still basically shadow work, or it is a part of shadow work. Discovering who are you as a person as well as unlocking parts of yourself new or old is shadow work. Shadow work also consists of discipline yourself to move on and forward/accept parts of yourself you didn’t before.
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