our shadow realm

                                     

we all have a shadow realm: the same realm for us all

There was a period in my early spiritual training, where, to my surprise, I became aware of a shadow realm. It wasn't some great 'peace and light' happening, but there were some 'trade-offs' which went with it, for when we are traversing the shadow realm:

• we will be very psychic
• we will also see others' shadow aspects, sometimes in dreams, meditation, or yoga nidra. Do not be alarmed, this is quite 'normal'
• surprisingly, we will also be quite accepting. Well, I was, so I'm assuming that everyone else will be too
• we will see the person who smiles all the time and is always sweetness and light but their shadow side is full of anger. Maybe even violence. Such a person (and who among us has never been that person!) might not even be aware of what's inside of them. They may have pushed it down, over and over
• someone's shadow side might be that of a wretched person, from karmic suffering, over and over, but their main operative aspect could be highly spiritual. 

I'm giving examples as I want you all to know that this is perfectly 'normal'.  This is just the way that it is. And just so you know, it's inside all of us, too. Buried deep. Nothing to get worried about, we all have shadow aspects. And we have other, more beautiful aspects too, for we are multifaceted beings.

the two wolves

In the shadow part of us roams a wolf. You may have heard that we have two wolves: 

• one is fed with avarice, greed, malevolent thoughts
• the other is fed by love etc

It seems to me, and from my experiences as a healer, that the first wolf is not so much only fed by 'bad' thoughts but is more the product of 'bad' things happening to us, big, bad things which create deep trauma. These traumas (some examples: war, rape, murder, extreme cruelty, trauma to our children, plagues, famine, etc), these are all big karmic events and somehow our psyche needs a representation of the mental, emotional and behavioral outcomes of them. Hence the so-called 'bad' wolf. 

Myself, I don't see it as bad at all. I see it as the form of ourselves which has, literally, lost it's way. It roams in the darkness, in the shadows of part of our psyche, lost. Rangy. Cowering.

In this shadow realm are our anguishes, our emotional pains, our deepest fears. Please understand that these fears have nothing to do with 'having our own way'. They are crippling fears, from extreme trauma. We have them here, like having them in a house, or a box. This is where they live.

                                 

the tree of life

In this realm is also a darkened aspect of our 'tree of life'. There is a tree of life for each lifetime, very beautiful when you finally get to see it, but at the shadow level it's a bit pitiful. Dark, barren, droopy. And, surprisingly, this realm also has a beauty of it's own. Hauntingly lovely. It seems eternal. If you don't already love the night, this realm can bring you to appreciating it.

As we traverse the differing spiritual realms (and the shadow realm is definitely part of them), we go 'past' the shadows. We go further into the light. This is at another realm. The chakra and realm where our tree of life blossoms, is rich, lush. Here in this realm, the other wolf appears. It's the wolf who 'shows us the way home'. She is a spiritual guardian, and very beautiful. She's the one who is 'fed' by love etc etc. 

But, again, I don't quite see it that way. When the deep well of universal love opens within you, the white/ soft grey wolf will appear. She is truly lovely. You haven't so much 'fed' her with pseudo-'love' such as emotions, concepts, and illusion. You have revealed her due to the deep true eternal depth of love inside you. Inside us all.

She is there to let you know that you are On The way Home. Home being your own true, Higher, nature. You have gone past the shadow realm. You are now part of The Light.