The "Shadow" Side of a "Positive" Card
Please remember not to comment on our personal cards - just sharing this one to help us understand the many kinds of Shadow Work that SoulCollage® facilitates. Thank you!
Every card in our decks, no matter how lofty they appear, has the potential for shadow.
And every shadow in our deck can be harmonized back into balance.
I’d like to share a quick example of how a card that I’ve always perceived as “on my side” revealed its shadow dynamic when I was least expecting it.
Recently, I pulled my Facilitator card (see above) – a card that shows a woman lifting her arms up to the sky and enjoying some perfect self expression. This is typically an aspirational card for me– the woman on the card is doing her life’s work to such a high degree, she’s all lit up and golden.
Being a SoulCollage® facilitator and creating meditations and other contemplative experiences for people is one of my special “super powers”. I am good at leading and facilitating – not only professionally – but I also have informal leadership roles within my family and groups of friends. So that’s a strength, right? And this card is all about that strength, so any day I pull the Facilitator card is going to be about me in my power, right?
Nope.
On this day, I pulled the Facilitator card and by midday I was hyper-aware of her shadow; and it wasn’t a tiny shadow, she cast a big shadow.
I realized I was over-thinking and micro-managing the members of my immediate family. The Facilitator was in overdrive and outside her jurisdiction. This was not a nice realization, but it was helpful.
Maybe because I recently worked with the Alchemize meditation (see below) with a few of my traditionally shadow-y cards, I was able to see what The Facilitator was doing in real time. After a few moments of contemplation with the contrast of who The Facilitator normally is and how she was showing up in me today led me to the realization that I needed to re-balance my Facilitator energy. I did this intuitively by talking with my family and acknowledging with playfulness and humility that my inner teacher was on overdrive. And we laughed and moved on. And I released myself from the self-imposed pressure to “facilitate” my sweet family members that really didn’t need me telling them what to do.
And suddenly, all the tension was released. The Facilitator was alchemized. There was no need to demonize her moving forward and once her energy was harmonized she became my ally once again.
The insight and relief from this micro SoulCollage® experience were REAL.
That’s what Somsara and I call alchemizing shadow – extracting the gold from the out-of-balance. It’s one of my favorite processes that SoulCollage® facilitates. (see what I did there? : )
If you are ready to become a true master of this card/life alchemy be sure to check out ALCHEMIZE, a guided experience through this kind of courageous and rewarding magical shadow work.
Balance the energy of shadow cards so they turn into gold with this one-of-a-kind 20 minute meditative process.