🖤 Weekly Witchy CHALLENGE- From the Shadows

[Artemisia]

@francisco Glad to be able to contribute to my first Challenge Yes some of the work in the workbooks is dark but those prompts can always be skipped for those not ready to delve that deep. We’ll see how far I get!

@Garnet Journaling can be hard for sure! The only time I was ever good or consistent about it was when I was a teenager. Funny and strange to read through it now but glad I can. As @Rowan suggested, I write down quotes I want to remember or draw when I can’t think of what to write just to keep the habit of opening the book and putting ink to paper.

@anne2 I am in the same position. Hubby knows I’m interested in doing shadow work as part of my therapy so I will work on the second one when he’s home (although I do keep my responses in my journal and not on the printout) but he doesn’t know I’ve come back to magic again after so many years. As a man of “rationality and science,” he doesn’t understand the draw and importance for me. But life is a work in progress and things can change so I hold on to hope. Right now I want to get comfortable returning without the added pressure of openly integrating it into my life.

I did get through the first spread today and will work on the prompts that come from it tonight.

Kat

[Jeannie1]

Thank you for this challenge, I’m not sure were to begin honestly! I just did Silver Bears meditation.
Thank you for that I have some focus! I am doing a ritual right know to cleanse my soul first before I dive inn to any shadow work! Thanks for being her for me in spirit!
Jeannie

[anne2]

@Artemisia

(although I do keep my responses in my journal and not on the printout)

I have mine in my personal laptop, there’s a password to even use my laptop, I knew enough Japanese to make the password in its roman form. Anyone who’d even think of using it will have to figure out which Japanese word did I even write down as password for it.

@Artemisia

ife is a work in progress and things can change so I hold on to hope

Same, everyone changes for better or for worse, it’s a fact of life too

[anne2]

It is @BryWisteria , I did Shadow work yesterday, during it though, I think allowed all self control of mine loose in that typing I did yesterday in my laptop’s journal. I actually skipped the process of anger for most survivors and ended up in the 2 other stages instead of the first stage where anger is the typical reaction. So it seems I dealt with 8 - 9 years of compressed rage last night, the spirit guide I had was thankful I finally allowed it all out too, said it really wasn’t helpful I had sealed the anger off for so long. I can see now why there are those who need someone to vent all their frustration on but I won’t do that part, typing the rage out seems to be therapeutic when done in moderation too, Thank you and Blessed Be - Anne

[AliceInWonderdab]

I’d love to share a prompt from my shadow work journal!

[IrisW]

I’ve made a start and I’m putting together my own thread to keep my thoughts in order…

[elizabeth5]

I am really interested in joining in this challenge. I have never done any shadow work officially but I have wanted to. It is definitely needed! I printed out shadow work cartomancy session and the shadow work workbook so that is where I am going to start.

[Garnet]

Anne, you don’t need to go through grief and or grieving in any sequential order. Sometimes you do suppress rage, or disbelief, or whatever, we all do.
What’s right for you, is your road to acceptance. it’s not easy and you may even revisit the steps. There is no wrong in healing.
Anne, you are not alone. We keep you in our thoughts.
I give you soothing energy, not to stop your rage, you both need and have a right to your ‘rage’. It will pass, but but it takes time.
Forgive yourself and everyone else you need to, when you’re ready your heart will lighten.
Love and strength will be sent to you as I light a candle for you .
And cinnamon for strength and healing,
As it is said, so mote it be.

[mary25]

This was my first foray into Shadow Work. I had never heard of it before this challenge. I did this challenge late Saturday night. The moon was 10% – almost dark. I like Correspondences and had a feeling Saturday was a good night for this.
I did a little background reading but still felt fuzzy on the concept so I went with your suggestions and Spells8 spells. If you don’t know how to cook, use a recipe book, right?

• I started with the Lunar Ritual for tonight, which happened to be Hecate’s Justice Prayer. Nice fit! I made an offering of mushrooms and garlic and lit a Dragon’s Blood incense stick.
• Next, I did the Spells 8 Shadow Work worksheet. I could tell I have a lot to learn.
• I did the Return to Sender Spell. That felt right. I wonder what I should do with the lemons, though, after the spell is done?
• I did the Quick Banishing spell for two people who have been giving me so much grief for many years. I’ve tried everything I know to improve the situation and now it’s time to just get rid of them (without harm). I also put some bad habits of my own down to banish. Instead of using a tealight, paper, meditating and throwing the remains away, I used a white, uncoated paper plate and a white birthday candle, I wrote the banishment on the plate, I adhered the candle to the plate with wax and chanted the banishment until the candle burned down. The repetition definitely enhanced the power of the spell for me. Then I tore it up and burned it in my cauldon outdoors, right at midnight, coincidentally, how magic is THAT?! LOL. Burning the remains felt more in line with the burning part of the Return to Sender spell I had just completed. I liked this spell a lot and felt like I really connected to it. I had been leery of banishing anyone in my life before but in this case, I felt like I was taking back my power more than, I don’t know, shunning anyone. Although I will avoid them.
• I wrapped up with Silver Bear’s meditation and journaling on Shadow Work. It was difficult for me – and yes, a little scary, I did see some meaning but still felt unsure if I truly understood it. I will keep reading about this topic and maybe it will become clearer to me. Thank you for these terrific challenges! Learning so much here
  
  

[NickWick]

For your first time doing shadow work, I find you did well. Sometimes everything takes time before it is mastered and some of the thing you are not to good at yet becomes the things we do very well at the end of it all

@mary25

I wonder what I should do with the lemons, though, after the spell is done?

Well… for the lemons for what I know, you can either dispose of them or bury them into the earth. Everything else was well outlined. You did a great job for your first time.

[NickWick]

I have put together a thread to my witchy challenge for this week since it was a bit lengthy Shadow Work Spell Thank you so much in advance for reading

[Kasandra]

I did some journaling a few nights ago as part of my Shadow Work.

One of the questions I asked myself was why I’ve been getting very angry lately when people are rude to me while I’m working or shopping. Sadly, the people in my town aren’t that friendly. One time, when I was in Walmart, a woman yelled, “Hello, you’re in my way” instead of saying, “excuse me”. I had the urge to just stand there defiantly and not let her through. But it was a week or two before Christmas and Yule and I didn’t want to make things difficult for other shoppers.

My friendly/polite customer ratings have gone down a bit at work. My boss has told me that’s it’s not that difficult to be friendly and polite. That he works more than I and always try to be friendly and polite. I too always try to not be rude, even when I’m tired or just having a bad day (which I’ve failed to do occasionally). My grandpa has and dad has the attitude that “if I can do it, so can you.” Unfortunately, I carry this attitude with me sometimes.

I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and remember that everyone can’t do what I can do because we’re all different physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Everyone has a reason for why they’re being rude, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s just part of their personality. They might be tired from work, might not be feeling well, under a lot of stress, and a myriad of other reasons.

This challenge was a bit difficult for me because it’s never easy to confront the darker aspects of yourself, but none of us are perfect beings and it’s not shameful to admit or acknowledge your flaws.

[Jeannie1]

Anne2,
They say the best medicine is laughter! 10-4

Jeannie

[Amethyst]

For this challenge, I turned to a book I got last month, called Journaling the Tarot. How it works is when you pull a card a day it has a list of questions you can use as journaling prompts. Like the cards some are happy and some not so nice.

So I went to the Nine of Swords, the most depressing card in the deck in my opinion, and went to the first question. “What are you overthinking? How might you form a better sense of balance?”

And I realized that I still overthink what people say and think about me. I shouldn’t care but I do. I worry about if I’m polite enough if people will like me, all those superficial things. Because society demands we conform probably, not sure why else I would worry. As much as Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers tell you it’s okay to be different, school kinda beats it into your head that everyone has to be the same.

Not quite sure when this turned into a phobia for me, but it did. I’m getting better though, and at least I’ve admitted it’s a problem and am now working on it. Something for me to journal on in the future.

So that’s what I worked on for Shadow Work. Hope everyone else is doing okay.

[Jewitch]

TW/Content warning: Blood, depression, anxiety. I will blur out any parts that may cause discomfort, but just a head’s up that it will contain content about blood and mental health. Please feel free to skip over this post if that will make you uncomfortable.

As I said earlier in this thread, this was a perfectly-timed challenge because I’ve been wanting to delve deeper into Shadow Work, and to start working on harnessing the energies of the Dark Moon, especially as it relates to Hekate.

I’ve been working through a flare-up of my depression and anxiety symptoms the past two weeks or so, so I haven’t been diving into this challenge quite as deeply as I’d like to, and I’ve been as gentle as possible on myself while still working to embrace my shadowy side. I have saved the workbooks shared by @Artemisia (thank you for sharing these! ^_^), and will work through them after I’ve worked through this cycle of not-perfect mental health.

In the meantime, I’ve been journaling and trying to figure out how I can continue to push through and continue this up-swing I’m currently on. I reached the conclusion that a large portion of my anxiety and depression has been related to my tendency to procrastinate.

I’ve had a huge boulder on my shoulders lately: I’m turning 26 in the next few days, and on that day, I’ll be losing my health insurance coverage because I’m ageing out of my parents’ plan. I’ve been so stressed out and absolutely overwhelmed by all the different options and how complicated and expensive healthcare is here in the US. I was finally able to pull myself together enough to overcome my mental shut-down and just bite the bullet and sign up for a health plan. As soon as I finished the process, I felt a HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders, and feel like I overcame a massive block in my self-improvement.

Now that that obstacle is out of the way, I can focus on working on overcoming my procrastination.

My journaling has also revealed the root of several of my other stressors and I’ve been able to work through what I need to do to work on overcoming them as well.

In terms of working with the energies of the Dark Moon, I’ve been working on forming a relationship with Hekate. I don’t want to go into too much detail because I feel like I want to keep something information personal. I will say that in addition to my usual devotion/offering to Hekate I’ve been doing, I suddenly got the urge one night to offer a bit of blood to Hekate. I got this feeling that she was waiting for me to show some sort of serious effort on my part, so I picked up some sterile single-use lancets.

The next night, I anointed a candle with Hekate Oil from WitchLab, and pricked my finger with one of the single-use lancets. I added three drops of blood onto the candle, one for each of the three aspects of Hekate. I lit the candle and reflected on Hekate as the Bearer of Light, and asked her to illuminate a proper path for me. Again, I don’t want to go too deep into the personal details, but I will say that I had a very intense experience, and feel like I’m a step closer to having a more full-on working relationship with Her. I CANNOT wait for the date of the actual Dark Moon, which isn’t until May 11!

At the expense of trying not to ramble too much, I’ll go ahead and end here. I thoroughly enjoyed the Shadow Work and Dark Moon work I’ve done during this weekly challenge period!

[Saulamay]

@Amethyst I can totally relate to where you are coming from, but as I get older is when something I heard long ago now comes into my mind and I try to repeat this whenever I have similar thoughts running through my head.

Other people’s opinions about me are none of my business.

I repeat that to myself a few times so it sinks in and those moments pass. I would consider myself a good person, I always try and do the right thing, but I realize that some actions may not bode well with others. I try not to say anything about anyone that I would not say to them face to face. And for me I follow the Rede “an ye harm none, do as ye will”.

Despite all of that there will still be those that feel the need to criticize the things I do, and I suppose it is their right, just as it is my right to do as I choose and not let their opinions impact me.

You can also do a daily affirmation to help when necessary. But remember you are an amazing person on an amazing path, we are here to help lift your spirits and provide support along the way.

Blessed be.

[Liisa]

I made a separate Post for this weeks challenge Blessed Be

[CelestiaMoon]

@Jewitch CW: blood

I’ve sometimes had a similar feeling with Lilith, that she might appreciate an offering of blood. How to practically extract it has been more of a problem than my willingness really! Sterile lancets sound just perfect for that, thank you for the idea.

[Amethyst]

Thank you @Saulamay! That’s incredibly kind of you. I’m doing better at the worrying over people thing, I used to be highly paranoid. To the point that if someone sat beside me at work one day and moved the next I wondered what I did to make them mad. If they were laughing at me behind my back.

Thank goddess that with time and meds and therapy it’s not that bad anymore. Still, your words make sense, I can’t control what other people think of me. And I’m blessed to have found this place on my path.

[CelestiaMoon]

I’ve recently started a Book of Mirrors that also doubles as a Shadow work journal, and I’ve been pretty happy with my progress with it. I’m finding spending a little extra on the look and feel of it was a good choice and helps me connect better with it.

Shadow work is an important aspect of my Craft, and complements my therapy sessions well too. My latest finding there has been automatic writing when consumed by strong emotions: excitement, frustration, sexual arousal, you name it! It gives a healthy outlet for the feelings and helps me express them in a more constructive and structured way if I so choose, and also leaves a record to come back to later with a different mindset.

I’m also waiting for the post to bring me this Archetype deck by Caroline Myss to explore archetypes with, and how I relate to them! Should be exciting!