What is the Shadow?

Written by Vesper

The concept of the Shadow as we’re using it originally comes from the world of psychology, and the work of Carl Jung. Jung’s model of the psyche included aspects we are not consciously aware of, aspects that we deny or repress, that nevertheless still affect our conscious thoughts and the way we interact with the world. Though the shadow doesn’t only include negative aspects, our focus in shadow work tends to be on our hidden traumas, shames, fears, flaws, desires, etc. Our shadow includes all our unlived dreams, our shameful desires, our unresolved conflicts, our denied needs and our socially unacceptable thoughts and behaviors. Psychology teaches that we must make contact with and acknowledge our shadow aspects in order to integrate them, grow beyond them and accept them with radical compassion.

Though spirituality brings a slightly different perspective to the concept of the shadow and to shadow work, the concept is basically the same. Self-knowledge is the beginning of our power, and we cannot fully know or understand ourselves without confronting our shadow aspects. Our shadow aspects, and the archetype of the Shadow generally, also have a particular spiritual energy that can and should be worked with like any other. Shadow work, ranging from the mundane psychological to the fully spiritual and everything in between, helps us understand and make peace with the darker parts of our nature and claim our full power—in our lives and our magic.

This is heady, powerful, scary but essential work. It’s also a life-long journey. But by putting in the work, you’re making an important and worthwhile investment in yourself.

Collective Tarot Energies for October 2025

Two of Cups Reversed and the Page of Wands
The Shadow and The Journey | War and Hope
Conflict and Creation

Written by Aster

The Two of Cups (Inverted). The Two of Cups when upright is a card about harmony and the bringing together of two energies. When reversed, it can indicate that two energies are at odds with each other—how apropos for both the theme of shadow work and the situation we find ourselves in as a nation. Reversed, this card holds the energies of arguments, divorce, not seeing eye to eye, conflict, and yes, war. A few other cards here would indicate mutual annihilation, but the suit of cups is rooted in emotions and healing. Paired with the Page of Wands, there is hope for a rebirth, or reconciliation.

On the individual level, this card in reverse talks about our inner reflection—a conversation with our shadow (the parts of us we repress and ignore, the inner saboteur, or the voice in our head that says, “You have no power.”)

On the societal level, I think it’s quite easy to see how collectively we are an emotional wreck stuck in the energy of blame and pointed fingers between two sides. 

Page of Wands. This Page, like all Pages, indicates something new: new growth, new beginnings, or the catalyst for change. The Page watches as new growth sprouts from their wand as they dream of their ideal world. 

The Page of Wands teaches us that our power to move into the reality or timeline we desire first starts with envisioning and foresight. To know the desired outcome is step one to true shadow work. Once you know where you want to be or how you want to show up, you are better able to see the obstacles that prevent you from getting there–and how they got there in the first place. Through this process and the reabsorption of discarded energies, we are able to create with more clarity. 

Together. There is a certain energy in this reading that could indicate “the start (page of wands) of war (two of cups, reversed). That’s a scary thought. I do not want to fear monger, but with a certain secretary calling upon all of the leaders of this entity for a speech on domestic war preparedness (just days after I pull this duo), I am forced to state this. I believe it is important to be prepared and to be safe and aware. Below is the original interpretation of this reading on theme with shadow work, and as we know, Tarot is always multilayered. I saw this secondary meaning and believe it is important to share before sending out this edition.

With these two cards, a possible interpretation is a classic layout in Tarot I like to call, The Problem and The Assignment—that is to say, the energies currently presenting themselves followed by advice from the Tarot.

The problem? Division. 

The assignment? Action. Curiosity. A flame of unity and transmutation.

Throughout our lives, we are shaped by experiences that teach us what behaviors are good and accepted, and what behaviors should be hidden or obscured in some way. We split ourselves up by repressing certain emotions or aspects that are deemed inappropriate. These emotions and energies we suppress don’t dissipate but instead get buried in the subconscious, where they will influence your behavior, health and thought patterns, especially during moments of non-observation/auto-pilot. We call this the shadow self. 

The shadow self unattended is the reflection within us that can impede our growth, potential, and authenticity. This shadow grows due to expectations from family, society, and dominant cultures. This unhealed energy can be chaotic. It is the voice that seeks to keep you ensnared in pain, it is the knee jerk anger that breathes fire, and it is the unconscious pattern we fall into when we lose ourselves to our habits. Question: Who does it serve to be at odds with oneself?

As a collective, we are living in increasingly divisive times. Every day it seems we are driven further apart from any sense of unity. When we do approach a road of mutual agreement, there seems to be a large-scale event that drives us even further apart. Not saying it is on purpose, but I am not not saying that. Disparate narratives are being fed to us through personalized digital algorithms, driving us further and further apart. Question: Who does it serve for groups of people to be at odds with one another?

Start asking questions. Follow these queries to the benefactor to reveal the truth. Repetitive questioning and the uncovering of the layers is what we call shadow work.

On the individual level, this can be seen as starting the journey of mediating between the conscious and unconscious selves. Diving into your underworld to recover lost aspects of yourself you have disowned or forgotten. These aspects often hold keys to unlocking energy, timelines, and solutions to your problems. This can be anything from realizing you deny yourself feeling anger, and reclaiming it as the fuel to take action toward injustices in your life, to denial of your sexuality which causes you to hate a specific demographic due to them being so comfortable in expressing your darkest secret. The shadow is a personal reflection that will manifest in many different ways. It is up to you as a shadow worker to get curious with the shadow and see what is feeding it, and discover how to reclaim and redirect that energy. 

When you identify an internal shadow ready for transmutation, dig deep and give yourself the classic who/what/when/where/why. Who did I learn this from? When was the first time I thought this? When was the last time I truly felt this emotion? Where am I feeling this in my body? Why am I holding on to this? Who does this serve? How does this thought keep me trapped? How does this thought keep me safe? Questions like this are how we start the necessary dialogue of shadow work.

I’d like to be hopeful and say this reading represents that the seeds for integration and oneness are being sewn this month to create more unity on the macro scale, but I know things will play out in their own time. And I know we haven’t quite reached the climax to this narrative.   

This is however a call to action to take steps toward self analysis and the self journey of integration. A message of “Control what you can.” We may not be able to affect the macro level individually, but we can affect our own world by reclaiming lost aspects of ourselves that will be useful in enduring (and likely fighting) the path ahead. End the war within, to aid in the war without. 

This reading is an ask to witness how something (or someone) seemingly so opposite to our nature, is really just a hyperbolized version of something denied. Our country is going through its shadow work process by bringing up ideologies we have repressed or denied as a whole. We are seeing the ugly, the twisted, and the authoritarian rear its head, ready to take actions to survive. It is doing so because it has been uncovered. How will we redirect this energy? How do we collectively embark on the collective shadow work this country is asking us to muddle through? 

So many of us want that loving society of community, freedom, and the uplifting of our fellow humans. Right now, we have the vision, and are being shown the obstacle of the deep dark underbelly of the past–the shadow of the American dream. Can you see the parallels between the shadow work process and what we are witnessing?

October Reflections, Tasks, and Journal Prompts:

• Who does it serve when you are at war with the self? Who does it serve when you judge yourself? Who profits off of this energy? Think deep.

• What actions do you take to subdue various fears you hold within? Do you distract yourself from the shadow or interact with it?

• Think of a fear you have—fear of aging, fear of being alone, fear of failure, etc. How is your shadow ensuring that you will inevitably meet that fate? What actions can you take to prove that voice wrong?

Discernment is necessary at this time. Shadow work is necessary at this time. The home of both intuition and trauma is the unconscious. The key to accessing your intuition without falling into the traps of illusion is to Know Thyself. In knowing and integrating your shadow, you learn how to feel into truth without falling into your patterns.

At the heart of shadow work, we stare at the mirror self, and ask: what is the equation that brought us to this moment? How do we transmute energy to yield the results we want?

(Current state) + (Energy Expenditure * x) = (Ideal Outcomes); where x is the relationship to the shadow attribute taking away or multiplying your energetic efforts. It’s not as easy as solving a math problem, but I hope this paints a helpful picture for someone. No matter what you want or try to do, if there are self-limiting beliefs in the system, energies expended will be nullified. Shadow work is the variable to how effectively the changes you want to make in your life are able to stick.

Action is required. That’s why they call it Shadow WORK. Nothing changes without a little fire energy, a lesson of the suit of wands. Start by challenging the problem. Start by illuminating the darkness. Images of Persephone being led by Hekate, the torch bearer, through the darkness come to mind. We have walked this path of integration for thousands of years.

Remember to find moments of joy,

Aster

Want a reading? Maybe even seeking help to connect with your inner shadow and what gifts it holds? Book Here and follow @astersoluna on Instagram and TikTok.

Shadow Labor

Written by Nico

When we say Shadow Work, it feels like one word: ShadowWork. Today, we want to invite you to have a little fun with synonyms, and join us as we talk about Shadow Labor. 

Labor sounds longer, doesn’t it? It feels sweaty, and involved. In English, we use this word to describe birth and extreme, repetitive physical exertion, and it isn’t out of place in the realms of wrestling with our Shadows. When facing down our Shadow, we often come into conflict with our basest instincts and, most often, outdated coping mechanisms for painful things that have happened in our past.

“Why did I do that?”

“Why did I react that way?”

“I got so angry. I don’t know why.”

We all have a … different level of willingness to engage in our real life circumstances. This is one of the reasons we seek out counsel from spiritually gifted people and their unique perspectives. Aster actually had a reading earlier this month where he saw the options laid out before a client and was forced to ask: Do you want me to give you the answer that feels good, or the truth?

Whew! The truth is often difficult, and there is a humbleness in accepting what is, or has been, true for you. Looking back with that truth in hand, it can change the topography of your life as you see it, knowing what pain was at play underneath the surface.

“That’s why I couldn’t face her afterwards. I was ashamed, because of (X).”

“That’s why I felt like I had to do something, or else I’d lose my place in life.”

“I felt like I couldn’t ask for help, because support like that was never available for me as a kid.”

It can be a truly incredible experience to have Spirit guide you to an important realization about yourself. I would upgrade it from realization to Revelation! It often feels more intense when an “outside” force like Spirit or plant medicine is helping you arrive at a buried wound, and we must remember that, if we are being led, there must be a purpose.

However, the way forward is often an afterthought. People get stuck on the discovery and don’t know what to do with it, or even that there is something to be done.

Not to say that your spiritual consultant should be designing a life plan for you after a big realization! But most think that the most difficult part of Shadow is the hearing and accepting the truth about yourself. There is an afterward, and it is significantly less sexy than The Revelation! 

Some people even get fixated on the WOW and never make it to the WORK.

It’s great fun to have a tarot reading! The experience can be solely for amusement, of course, but when you serve enough clients, there are patterns. Some people come again and again to be “seen”, or for the wow factor of being told something mysterious and sexy about themselves—information that spirit is sharing because it’s relevant to their life circumstances—only to go home and do nothing about it. 

Eventually, many of us are forced to end these kinds of relationships because our purposes don’t align. It’s often a matter of education vs entertainment. We want to help others help themselves, not put on a show. Eventually you will run out of questions to ask and we will absolutely run out of ways to say the same thing you need to do (that you have always known that you needed to do, and simply won’t because life hasn’t gotten uncomfortable enough for you yet to justify the risk).

Yeah.

Still, Spirit is a hell of an informant, and even the most experienced of us can understand the temptation of a sparkling new truth: something that ties difficult elements of our lives together in a sensical way. That pristine AH-HA moment. The revelation, passed down by god(s).

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Ever.

Vesper felt this same relief and dual pain after receiving an ADHD diagnosis as an AFAB adult. Finally, all of the idiosyncratic behaviors and difficulties that she couldn’t describe made sense, and she certainly wasn’t alone in her struggles. Then the frustration came. 

What (the fuck) to do about it? 

The naming of her truth didn’t change her lived reality. Now, it was about intelligently designing life to be less difficult for her, which took a big amount of courage for her to request of her loved ones. It’s a work in progress, because we don’t know exactly what will cause her to “trip” until she’s flat on her face … and often the rest of us don’t know until she tells us, which is a whole other kind of labor for someone so independent.

Knowing WHY you do something is only one step, and doesn’t solve the circumstances that may endlessly provoke it. Having a conversation with that WHY and determining whether it is a valid and helpful adaptation or a knee-jerk reaction is only the second step. Then, maybe, the labor can begin. 

Knowing is half the battle. This is the other half.

Correcting yourself when you fall into old patterns. Encouraging yourself when you fall short of new patterns. Changing your circumstances, piece by piece. Having the tough conversations with those who make up your circumstances, so that you can truly build a healthy container to grow in.

Shadow Work is about looking yourself in the eye and asking yourself, how am I holding myself back?

Shadow Labor is about choosing to change your patterns going forward, and you can’t do that without claiming your personal power—the extent to which you create the rhythms of your life.

There is an Avatar: The Last Airbender episode where the gAang find themselves in a small town with a fortune teller. While they start out doubtful, soon even Katara is chasing this woman down for the smallest of questions, famously demanding, “But what should I have for breakfast”? This illustrates a danger not only in placing ultimate trust in someone for something as inconsequential as breakfast, but essentially giving up on your own power. 

You have the power to create, direct and improve your own life, yet people are always looking for someone to “heal” them when what they really want is someone to fix their problems for them.

We see this imbalance echoed in plant medicine journeying, where I (Nico) work. It’s easier to understand getting “addicted” to the highs of a hallucinogenic plant, perhaps, but the psychology behind it is the same as tarot tourists. We see the same pattern of chronically uncomfortable people chasing sexy, shiny novelty without understanding that the key to keeping some of that glimmer in their lives is the post-journey work.

This is why Medicine journeys are generally made up of three stages: Preparation, Journey/Ceremony, and Integration. Each of these stages may consist of multiple parts depending on the tradition, but there is always the Before, the Journey, and the After. Preparation consists of building intention and practicing surrender, balancing your expectations with the great unknown of the Journey. 

After the Journey, you are changed, touched, moved, but from where? To where? How? After glimpsing infinity, where do you go from here/there/everywhere?

Integration is the practice of crystalizing realizations and emotions from your journey and bringing them with you into your daily life. This can be done through mindfulness, meditations, journaling, and usually deep, necessary conversations with ourselves and our loved ones. Assisted by the clarity of the infinite, we must talk about emotions, expectations, old stories that are ready to end and old wounds that are ready to close up.

Without integration, the wisdom of the Medicine fades like a touch forgotten and the larger Journey stalls. We are changed, but we just can’t remember how. It was a wonderful experience, and it’s over.

Integration is also the word we use for the last stage of Shadow Work, because our goal is not to “purge” and forget these painful parts of our past. We are not a contaminant unto ourselves, though we can get in our own way a bit. We must understand, heal and re-integrate our Shadow aspects to become whole, or as whole as anyone can be in one lifetime. That way, we have access to the wisdom that Shadow brought to us while transforming wounds into “a place where the light enters”, allowing us more empathy and love for others suffering from the same Shadow.

As I type this, it is Mabon and the dark season is upon us. Light your candles and don your robes and look in the mirror, yes, but have a journal nearby. After the fear passes, are you prepared to try to love and understand what you see? Are you prepared to invite it to tea the next day, and offer it sugar despite how it rages and spits and breaks your grandmother’s plates? Are you prepared to sit with it as the sun comes up, and gently soothe its own childish fears of disappearance and obsolescence?

Will you look until you really see yourself? All of you?

We hope so. Happy harvest.

“Meeting the Shadow” is one of the quintessential books on shadow work. Though not explicitly written from a spiritual perspective, it’s collection of essays from prominent thinkers across many fields help us get a grasp on the nature of the Shadow from a variety of angles. It includes essays from Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell themselves, two of the foundational thinkers in describing shadow work, and gives a practical starting point for learning from our darker, hidden natures.

“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” – C.G. Jung

BONUS: We also recommend a short a list of classical fiction works that can teach us a great deal about the Shadow: “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde, “The Invisible Man” by H.G. Wells, and “Dracula” by Bram Stoker.

(The links above and below are affiliate links through Bookshop.org, which benefits your local bookstores, and which may pay us a small commission if you make a purchase.)

Shadow Work Activities

Written by Vesper

Shadow work is essential to the spiritual seeker and/or witch, because sovereignty and self-knowledge are essential to our spiritual journey and abilities. Shadow work means diligently becoming aware of that which has been unseen—of your subconscious patterns, beliefs, addictions, traumas, secrets, and unfelt emotions. Even our positive traits that we have repressed out of fear of rejection or shame. Becoming aware of our shadow aspects helps us shake loose blockages, get our energy moving and actually feel.

Our shadow aspects are those things that have been feared, judged or rejected by our ego. The work to reconnect with these parts involves identifying patterns, integrating opposites, and connecting with universal truths and our truest selves. This work is—like our most archetypal myths describe—a journey to the underworld, to confront aspects of the dark, and return with new knowledge and a fuller grasp of our own power. 

Which is to say that shadow work is work. If you’re doing it right, it will make you feel uncomfortable, even scared. But it is necessary work both for emotional healing and for unlocking your full connection to spirituality and magic. It will make you confront difficult things, sever ties, accept endings, and face very real loss. It is the opposite of spiritual bypassing, forcing you to learn that negative thoughts and emotions aren’t things to be avoided.

But the good news is that, with work, it gets easier. You will learn that the discomfort will pass and that you will feel like yourself again. You will learn that you are capable of more than you knew. You will learn that you have influence over more in yourself and in this world than you ever thought possible.

And there are some things you can do to prepare yourself and make the work easier. There are three things it’s helpful to have prepared and have some practice with before beginning shadow work:

(Become a paid subscriber to gain access to 15 shadow work activities and 7+ journaling prompts below! Our subscription is only $1.99 to support a community of writers for creating this information for you while keeping AI from scraping our content).

Subscribe to Three Cups Circle to read the rest.