Have you ever felt like there's a part of you lurking beneath the surface, a side riddled with emotions you'd rather not face? I invite you to journey with me into the depths of the shadow self. This isn't just about introspection; it's about understanding the tapestry of our being that's interwoven by the soul pre-birth, designed for spiritual evolution. Together, we'll unearth how past lives colour our present, embracing every sliver of jealousy and flare of anger as we pave the way to an extraordinary existence in the most seemingly mundane moments. It's time to confront the shadows and, in doing so, illuminate the path to self-discovery and growth.
Reflecting on humanity's imperfect evolution offers a humbling perspective on how we collectively contribute to the universal consciousness. The second chapter invites a heartfelt discussion on the continuous learning process of this cosmic entity, manifesting through our shared and solo experiences. By fostering self-love and compassion, we actively participate in the maturation of the greater being within us all. I am deeply grateful for the unwavering support that breathes life into this podcast and eagerly look forward to expanding this conversation with you on the Wisdom app, where our live discussions can flourish even further.
Have you ever felt like there's a part of you lurking beneath the surface, a side riddled with emotions you'd rather not face? I invite you to journey with me into the depths of the shadow self. This isn't just about introspection; it's about understanding the tapestry of our being that's interwoven by the soul pre-birth, designed for spiritual evolution. Together, we'll unearth how past lives colour our present, embracing every sliver of jealousy and flare of anger as we pave the way to an extraordinary existence in the most seemingly mundane moments. It's time to confront the shadows and, in doing so, illuminate the path to self-discovery and growth.
Reflecting on humanity's imperfect evolution offers a humbling perspective on how we collectively contribute to the universal consciousness. The second chapter invites a heartfelt discussion on the continuous learning process of this cosmic entity, manifesting through our shared and solo experiences. By fostering self-love and compassion, we actively participate in the maturation of the greater being within us all. I am deeply grateful for the unwavering support that breathes life into this podcast and eagerly look forward to expanding this conversation with you on the Wisdom app, where our live discussions can flourish even further.
Welcome. My name is Penny Frampton and I am the host of the podcast A Little Light on the Path. A Little Light on the Path is a series of talks about esoteric philosophy from a practical and experiential perspective. I will be presenting intellectual concepts but from the point of view of how they impact our lives and our spiritual journey, how those ideas work out through our ordinary lives, in other words, how to live an ordinary life in an extraordinary way. So in previous talks we have covered some basic techniques of spiritual practice.
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In previous talks we have covered some basic techniques of spiritual practice, the importance of man know thyself before ever attempting powerful spiritual practices. We've talked about becoming aware of emotions, thoughts and patterns of behavior, and also about becoming aware that we are essentially not these things At the essential level of the soul, beyond the personality. We are not our emotions, we are not our thoughts, we are not our behaviours. In fact, we are not even our personalities. And I want you to bear this in mind as we talk about the shadow self, because essentially we're not even our shadow selves. So what is the shadow self? Well, personally, I have not done any shadow work per se. Consciously, I've not sat down and said to myself now I'm going to do some shadow work, but for years I worked with my shadow self and I expressed my shadow self. I did it in a controlled and safe environment. Mostly, however, I was consciously aware at the time that I was expressing a shadow part of myself. I say this because what I understand as a shadow self does not come from any textbook or training or counselling session. It comes from truly experiencing and expressing that part of myself to its fullest extent. So what do I understand by the shadow self? From my own experience, to understand that, I have to become a little esoteric for the moment.
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So before we are born as this manifest physical form with emotions and thoughts which create behaviours and a personality at the level of the soul consciousness, we decide what we need to experience in a lifetime in order to achieve, at a soul level of spiritual evolution, and we translate that into a blueprint onto which we fashion a physical form and a specific personality type. This blueprint is created out of etheric matter and gradually draws physical matter to itself, assisted by the beings of the Devachanic Kingdom, and that creates who we are going to be in each lifetime. Now, also woven into this expression are patterns of behaviour from previous lives that we have not resolved, lessons we have not yet learned, karma we are still working through. So patterns of these things are also woven into the being that we are to become. And in order to create this experience, physical molecules, etheric, astral and mental matter are all chosen to create our form and our nature. Now, many of the souls incarnating today were last in incarnation in the far distant past, on the evolution of humanity, and so we bring echoes, if you like, of those lives into the present, and I want you to bear this in mind as I move forward in this talk.
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So remembering we are not essentially our personality and all that makes up our personality, but our personality is created by our soul for itself, to experience certain things, to achieve certain goals, to work through certain karma, and some of those things may be echoes from past lives and they influence our emotions, our thoughts and our behaviours without us even being aware of it, our behaviours without us even being aware of it. So that brings us back to what is our shadow self. We know that it is a part of our personality, but not our essential self. At the soul consciousness level. We know that all parts of our personality are in place for a purpose to experience something we need to learn from, to repeat a pattern of behavior we haven't learned from, or perhaps to play out some karma from the past. And I'm talking about all parts of us have a purpose, including what we call the shadow self.
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So why do we call some parts of our personality the shadow self? Well, shadow suggests not wholly in or of the light may be cast in shadows as in partially hidden, some hidden aspect of ourselves that's not fully acting in line with the light, for the greater good, if you like. As essentially a being of light, we may judge those parts of ourselves for acting out in such a way. Those parts of ourselves may want to stay unnoticed in the shadows, afraid of the light, afraid of exposure. Perhaps At some level, we also may be aware of those parts of ourselves, but don't want to look or accept them. We judge them. Perhaps we are even ashamed of them. Perhaps we are even ashamed of them. So what possible parts of ourselves would we judge and be ashamed of?
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So, as in the personality makeup, there are several levels to become aware of. At the emotional level, we have feelings not fully attuned to the light that we don't express because we are judged and ashamed of them Jealousy, perhaps, hatred, anger, lust, feeling of arousal by behaviours deemed dark or evil, like power over someone or inflicting pain on someone At the mental level. We have thoughts of taking actions based on those feelings, which include imaginative fantasies of those actions. Well, we all have them, every one of us. Everyone has those emotions, thoughts and fantasies arising from patterns woven into our blueprint, by our souls, for us to experience and to learn from, unless they're coming from another source, which we'll talk about in a moment. Even the darkest, most evil emotion, thought and impulse are there for our learning, to see how we respond, to see how we can change that behaviour. It may be a behaviour that in a previous life was acceptable within society.
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At the time, in Atlantis, coupling with beasts was common. Where do you think the sensual fantasy novels about werewolves and other half-human beings in romances comes from? Also, homosexuality was common practice in Atlantis and also in previous historical civilisations, and I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions from that. And I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions from that. Murder and killing was war and between clans and families was very common in past history, and that is also woven into our blueprint. None of this needs to be judged, none of it needs to be shameful. All of it is there to be learned from, to become aware of and to appreciate it for what it actually is the seeds of experience to be reviewed and to be changed through our evolution.
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The important thing is how we act upon these emotions, thoughts, fantasies, impulses and how we respond to them. Subconsciously, humanity continues to act out these old patterns and we get homosexuality, gender fluidity, bdsm and its various forms and, if uncontrolled, the desire for power over and the extremes of torture and murder. They are all their seeds in our circumscious blueprint. So what makes one person act out of them and another person not? Well, it's well documented in psychology and used again and again in TV series, films and books, but it stems from stress upon the personality. This can be in the form of physical or emotional abuse as a child or even as an adult. Increasing levels of fear and anxiety within our modern society, intolerable levels of pressure within our working or personal lives. All these things contribute to a point where a personality is no longer in control of their choices of behaviour, seeded or fuelled by the blueprint created for our personality, to experience and to learn from.
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So what is the answer? What is shadow work? Well, like with all the discussions before about basic spiritual practices, we can use the same steps with one additional step, which I'll come to. So, first of all, as before, become aware of these emotions, thoughts, fantasies, impulses, behaviours, at whatever level they arise. But remember our definition, anything within our nature that is not fully aligned with the light. Seeking the shadow, some aspect of ourselves that we judge or are ashamed of. And remember what you judge in others, you are also judging in yourself. Second step sit with that for a while without indulging. Acknowledge it, don't reject it, don't judge it. Become aware without detachment. And it's at these moments of awareness, as we talked about before practice discernment. Are these emotions and thoughts your own or are you sensitive and picking them up from other people or peers, your environment, whether that be neighbours, family, friends, partners, work environments, or are they part of the belief system of your local community, your local church, your family?
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Even so, the third step and this is very useful with shadow work, you can use other methods for bringing these hidden patterns or beliefs into the light, and one I've used extensively in the past is called archetype journaling. So choose an archetype which is something like a ruler or a king, sorcerer, warrior, shaman the fool, and set pen to paper and just write first of all, as if you were that archetype expressing all the darker aspects. Don't judge, just let the words flow. Let the words flow. Then do the same thing coming from the light aspects, the loving aspects of that archetype. Now I found this really revealing because if I felt I only represented the darker aspects of me, I discovered that I also represented the light. If I was archetyping, say, a ruler, the darker aspects might be power over the people, for fear of being overturned or brought down from my pinnacle of power, but the lighter aspects I would find to be as servant to the people, serving the country which I represented, rather than ruled over. So, becoming aware then of both, I recognized a darker aspect acting out, but I could then consciously choose to bring in the light aspects of what I was acting out. It's a lot of fun to play with. But I actually took this a lot further and I used a role-playing online platform to act out many aspects of myself, from the dark, shadow side to also the brilliant, lighting, love aspects of myself. Great fun, did it for many years.
Speaker 1:
So the next step obviously, this brings up and allows you to become aware of how you feel about these shadow parts of yourself, and most often those feelings will be judgmental, dislike, shame, even hate and fear. You are judging, hating, fearful of, ashamed of a part of yourself you are rejecting, hiding in the shadows, trying to ignore a part of yourself and a part of yourself that has a purpose, and that purpose is somehow to learn from it, to change and evolve from it. Learn from it to change and evolve from it. So, in reflection, the other side of the coin, how do you think that shadow part of you feels? It feels judged. A part of you feels judged, ignored, shamed, feared and hated. And here is the key to shadow work what is the most important thing for any being in this world to experience and to learn from and to be changed by? Well, actually there's two. There's safety, but the most important is love.
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Those parts of you do not feel loved, they do not experience love and they begin to feel unworthy of being loved. If a child or a person does not feel loved, what do they do? They act out, they try and attract our attention, and the more we ignore them, the more they act out or they shrink away into the shadows, holding resentment, hurt, pain and feeling unworthy. This is why it's so important that you become aware of these parts of yourself that you judge and are ashamed of, that you are aware of those parts of you that feel unworthy of love, that parts of you may be acting out because they are in emotional pain. It's important that you acknowledge them, understand them, know that they are seeds of the past to change and transform, and the best way to do that is to feel into compassion and love for those lost shadow parts of yourself. And you will find in that moment that that part of you will change. In the moment that that part of you will change or it will simply disappear and become part of the whole that you are. You will also find, as you do this work, that we also stop judging others so much and move into compassion and love for those that you are judging.
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At one level, we are all one. Humanity is an expression of a greater whole. Those parts of humanity as a whole that we judge, that we are ashamed of, that feel unworthy of loving, are some parts within ourselves and vice versa, which brings me to the principle of as above, so below. Why are these parts of humanity that act out in this way? Well, so above?
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It may be hard to believe, but the great being that manifests and expresses itself in order to experience and become self-aware through us, through humanity, is not perfect. Self-aware through us, through humanity, is not perfect On its own path of evolution. There are lessons to be learned through experience, karma to be resolved, and through us as a whole and as individuals, that life expresses, experiences, learns and evolves. And as each of us as an individual comes to love every shadow of ourselves and thereby develops compassion and love for the shadow aspects of humanity as a whole, so we contribute to the evolution of the one in which we live and breathe and have our being. By becoming self-aware of every aspect of ourselves, by learning to love every aspect of ourselves, by living an ordinary life in an extraordinary way, each and every one of us contributes to the total evolution of humanity and thereby to the creator, who expresses itself through us.
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Thank you for listening to A Little Light on the Path and thank you to all my subscribers. Your monthly donations are what enable me to continue to produce future podcasts for you all. I can also be found on the Wisdom app every Sunday at 7pm GMT where you can actually guest on my talk and talk directly with me. Otherwise, I can be found on Facebook and Twitter, or X, as it is now under A Little Light.
