Here is a good way to begin the process of integration between the Shadow and the Light. It is something that you can use during both the light and dark half of the year. Of course, like any good plan, it’s subject to change. See yourself sitting in a room objectively observing the shadow and the light. Now have them turn and acknowledge each other. What does your Shadow look like to you? What does your Light self look like to you?

It’s not scary, it’s just you. Remember that our logical minds can deceive us too. I remember one individual whose emotional shadow self was dark, with fangs, and claws, and big yellow eyes. Another person’s physical self shadow was obese, sloppy and didn’t smell very pretty. In another case the Logical self was a professor with glasses, perfectly dressed as an Edwardian era Peer.

Each of us puts together what we see based on the inner workings of each of ourselves. These pictures are the clues we use to begin our integration of our shadow. The first step in any relationship with your shadow is to meet and acknowledge its existence. It’s a relationship,not a battle,a relationship. To facilitate this relationship, envision your ideal location for meeting a new person. For me I would imagine a coffee shop where I am sitting by the fire in a wing-back chair, reading a book with my favorite coffee drink, espresso. Then someone comes and sits on another comfy chair with their drink, a Café Americano, (no accounting for taste) reading the same book as me- but the words are backwards. I can see the cover but right to left instead of left to right. I look over the top of my book and see that the person is also looking up at me. I start a conversation, say “Hi”, introduce myself and go back to reading. The person acknowledges my greeting and introduces himself. I imagine that his name is Derfla, Alfred spelled backwards. Afterwards, we both go back to reading our books. The next day we are in the coffee shop again together, and this time we start a conversation.

You see where I am going with this? Build a relationship with your Shadow, and start small. Start with one aspect of yourself and let that body and its shadow start a relationship.

After a while, begin sharing your thoughts, aspirations, opinions – this is what I mean by the beginnings of integration and accommodation between the shadow and the non shadow. Let’s not call it Light and Dark or Shadow and Light anymore, let’s call it shadow and non shadow, or just call it self.

Work on this, no fear, no pain, no past, no future; only now and integration. It will take time and some of the work might be uncomfortable, however, in the end you will see the benefits when the shadow and non shadow aspects of yourself are completely integrated.

In Pagan circles this is the time of the turning of the year. The nights are becoming longer and the days shorter. It feels like there is not much time to complete all the tasks of the day. For some they wake up before the sun rises, go about their day, and come home in the dark. To them, it’s almost as if there is no day, no light. This is what it sometimes feels like when the shadow is manifesting. It breeds discontent, depression, and anxiety. Looking and hearing what is deep in our own shadows helps us to heal and become stronger more complete individuals - what I call a Warrior of Spirit. It is the way we increase our own vibrational pattern to become Homo Luminous and an agent of change in the universe as we slough off the remnants of the Piscean Age. It does not matter how old you are chronologically, or even how old you are emotionally, I am sharing a paradigm that you may or may not have thought about. I encourage you to look at this from a new perspective.

The way to do this is to release judgment on yourself and others. Release it so that you can learn from each new experience and take responsibility for your actions and let others take responsibility for theirs!

No one controls you, you are the controller! It’s okay to let go of society’s strictures on your being. Society’s expectations are not your expectations.

If you want to go to a festival and dance naked around the fire, (where appropriate) go ahead! Do it. Commune with the world around you in the way that you desire. No one has the right to dissuade you. It does not matter what your shadow says about your body, it is your body, you need to accept it!