Shadow Work know to basics: Shadow Work - What is it and how does it work?

Shadow work is the process of exploring the hidden parts of ourselves that affect our daily life in ways that we’d rather they not. Our shadow hides old wounds that haven’t quite healed and ways that past injuries have turned into present anxieties. Internalized and unexpressed pain find a home in the shadow. The shadow is actually an ally - but it can be hard to see it that way. Our shadow attempts to hide pain from us to protect us from feeling hurt. Hidden pain, though, becomes more powerful over time. Doing shadow work can be like meeting the monster under your bed -it's a creature that has terrified you all of these years but you come to find out that you had put them there in the first place. We often forget the origins of our shadows, because that is the nature of our mind, which is why spending time exploring our shadows when the veil between the worlds thins (including our inner worlds) can be so beneficial. Our shadows represent an opportunity for integration and finding the ways to help us match up our inner landscape with our actions in the world. 

You will always have a shadow with you no matter how much you ignore it or just simply not noticing it. Take time to dig deep and get to know your shadow see what has built up and work with it to learn new things about you and strengthen the understanding between you and it. You're shadow is here to help you grow stronger and become more courageous against the things that once affected you negatively.

An exercise you can do to get to know your shadow would be to draw a few tarot cards and look at them. what in those cards make you unsettled? What don't you like about them? Pic out those negative things you see and then think about ways that card could improve the negatives of that card. That the first step in understanding and healing your shadow.