Intro to Shadow Work 

Just gonna... leave this here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kfMGfF3TSjM.html

I always called this "having tea with my demons".

Me when I start my Shadow Work: Hey demons its me, ya boi!

Brilliant video! I tell people that if you stuff that "Monster" into a box, eventually that "Monster" will escape and cause problems. Instead, why not take the "Monster" for a walk and start to understand each other.

I was raised a through and through Christian and this video helped me accept the fact that I’m bisexual and I can’t ignore that.

When you realize you’ve been doing shadow work for years

I like my shadow, and it knows it's place, only I hold the key to release it when it is only absolutely necessary. It is my protector, and in turn, I protect it, to insure it doesn't become my ego. My blessings are with all who seek growth, self knowledge and wisdom. Much love.

me: ooo this should be a nice video! me, throughout the whole video: dang that one pretty human

Ive been doing Shadow Work since I was 16 (15yrs... jeez I feel old 😂) and Shadow Work helped me with my PTSD years ago. I no longer have PTSD, depression or anxiety (or any of the symptoms that go along with these illnesses) because of it, and I still do it just so I can keep on top of my own mind, keep in touch with my self. Method: back then I would vent my emotions into a journal til the emotion was all out, then come back when Ive calmed down and write out my objective observations on what caused the emotion and how it came about and where it started in my life. Now its a LOT less emotionally charged, but I still find writing from that emotional stand point, and then moving on to objectively picking apart the root of the issue in the one sitting is possible... but tbh I think thats only because of years of practice. Meditation is great, perhaps after the emotional vent, because IMHO its important to honour the feelings you have because no matter how bad they feel or if you're ashamed of them, they are valid and its healthier to express the emotion than to repress - and what healthier way to express emotions you might be embarrassed or ashamed of than quietly into your book where you can eventually come back to years from now and see how far you've come. Some things I found to be important observations while doing Shadow Work over the years that Id like to impart is: (as above) your emotions are valid, dont repress them, honour them. They may have come about from faulty mental programming, but they are yours and are just as important as your happinesses and joys. Make sure to remember that the objective isnt to fight and conquer your demons, but to sit them down for a cup of tea, get to know them and make friends with them. Be patient with yourself - we are always hardest on ourselves, so remember that altering deeply ingrained beliefs and habits will take a lot of work and you ARE going to make mistakes along the way. Be gentle with yourself, forgive yourself for being imperfectly perfectly human and be proud of yourself for being willing and ready to grow - a lot of people refuse to continue growing and stagnate... but not you - you brave self mastering magickal being! You change your mind and you change your world. And finally, remember that you arent alone in having a Shadow Self. We all have them, we all hide something of ourselves, and so while you may walk alone, dont get caught up in the belief that you're alone. May your journey be as fulfilling as mine has been. Xx

Moondancer has a whole series on this called '30days of shadow work' she goes through each day and gives you one thing to work on. Check it out!

i’m having a rly rough time rn and this intro is soothing the hell out of me

From what I've learned about witchcraft so far is that it's a lot like therapy. I've also learned that I've been practicing many of these same things for a while now, especially shadow work. Witchcraft seems like the next step for me in my therapy. Thank you for your explanation :)

“Shadow aspects are the Egos unwanted children” -Kelly-Ann Maddox She’s a great person to watch in regards to shadow work. Thank you for your video Olivia! I’ve recently started my shadow work journey and it’s been very interesting. I started because it was suggested from a different RU-vidr upon starting a witchy journey to go thru shadow work in order to clear the mind and let go of the baggage that can weight you down and affect spells and manifestations. Not sure I explained that well lol but you get the point! ☺️ Blessed Be, love. 🖤

This intro is giving me lifeeee

When I was younger and in therapy one of the things I learned was to write letters to people when I was angry or sad or discontent or whatever and then burn them, as I've gotten older I still use this trick but I re-read my letters and try to evaluate why I needed to write it in the first place before burning and sending it all away, it has helped tremendously with my shadow work to see the things that trigger you in anger and understand the reasoning behind it. I write the letter and stash it in my desk and come back to it in a day or two when I've calmed down and when I read it again I'm often embarrassed with how I reacted but it puts things in perspective and helps me to let go of that feeling. I hope maybe that will help somebody out there trying to face themselves. Thank you again for the video Olivia, you are great! Keep giving us all your insight, you are an excellent teacher and talker! I know you will help many people coming to terms with themselves and finding themselves through this outlet. 🖤

I"m taking both a psychology of good and evil and personality theory. I talked about Jung for my class presentation. He's so awesome and he gets so much criticism for combining psychology and mysticism, but I think it's beautiful and fascinating. I recently had to write a paper about my shadow self, and It was a really hard paper to write.

I recently discovered one of my root shadows, I guess. I got upset because of some stereotype that was associated with my zodiac sign (virgo). I started out ranting about it, and it slowly transitioned into my personal insecurity and not knowing who I am. It then turned into me talking about feeling like I could never satisfy anyone due to bullying I got and feeling like I was never enough. It then turned into abandonment issues started by my biological mom threatening to leave me and never being there for me as a child. That's what caused me to try and please everyone around me, so they wouldn't leave. Now, I'm trying to make myself happy, and realise that I dont need others to have self worth. Shadow work is very helpful.

I’ve been working on this for years and my biggest issue is that I can recognize my toxic traits instantly but honestly can’t remember far back enough in my life to figure out where they came from

Just wanted to put this out there: I had alexithymia (inner blindness) and so even the first step of seeing we have a reaction to something can, for some people, be nearly impossible if you don't know what you're feeling or thinking. Then, my next hurdle was dealing with the really strong traumatic feelings that would come up if I so much looked at my feelings or behaviour, and understanding those feelings weren't here right now, they were memories. Another important part is learning to see that thoughts and feelings aren't necessarily literal. To me, anything I thought or felt seemed like fact, like how reality was, rather than happening as a consequence to lifestyle factors (not sleeping well, drinking too much coffee, etc.), from having a narrow window of tolerance (being more easily stressed than others and taking longer to calm down), from my expectations or beliefs, or from straight-up re-experiencing. I thought I would bring this up because some people have work to do before they can even begin the shadow work process. And that's okay. Everyone is different cognitively but you CAN get better. I had no hope of ever being a normal person after my prolonged trauma and I was treated as such by professionals. I'm happy to say I've made a miraculous recovery, but it came from focussing elsewhere first--on the basics I never learned in my childhood.

Shadow work has been way easier in my "crone" stage. I was so hard on myself in my youth , where as now I believe everything I went through and experienced has brought me to a place where wisdom has allowed acceptance and forgiveness that in the long run equals strenth.

This reminds me of cognitive behavioural therapy which I’ve been doing for years. Pausing, identifying trigger, identifying belief (why it triggered you), reasons for and against the belief, and then disputing the belief. I guess the difference is that you don’t try to accept the belief or the behaviour, you try to change to it. Well, you need to recognise and accept that you are a certain way (in my case a catastrophic thinker), and once you’ve accepted that that’s how your brain functions, then you can begin changing the patterns. It’s something I practice everyday and it has helped me become a better and more stable person, but it’s something that’s always there and I need to constantly be aware of it so that I don’t fall back into past patterns. Anywho, I really enjoyed this video and your explanation of everything.⭐️

I was listening to Olivia read Dr. Jung's quotes and I thought the one about consciousness and fate sounded familiar. It turns out that that same quote just happened to be the quote of the day on my desk calendar! Now THAT'S fate!

While watching this, was feeling really emotional. The idea of accepting something so you can move past it and grow has been such a foreign concept to me. Seriously thank you for this. From the bottom of my soul.

I think I've been doing shadow work for 20 years without realizing it. I was just questioning myself on why it's taken me so long to finally do more than just research my practice. Then I answered my own question immediately - younger me wasn't ready or willing to do the practice I've always wanted and my subconscious was like, "hell no get that immature, emotionally uncontrolled child away". Turns out 34 is the age that I can finally be an intuitive green witch that wants to give, not take, and doesn't want to universe to fight her battles for her. Being here now, I see exactly why younger me couldn't do that.

Literally started jumping with excitement when I saw the notification 😂

for me, it's the term "witch". I want so badly to be able to call myself a witch, Its such an empowering word and when I see other people call themselves a witch I'm really like, wow, that person is so powerful and strong and I love that, but when I call myself a witch I feel weird about it. it might be because I grew up thinking witches were just fantasy, but I cant think of any other reason. I wish I could call myself a witch and feel powerful and confident with that title, but I dont know how to feel comfortable with it. can anyone help me, or can anyone relate?

I just started doing shadow work and let me tell anyone else wanting to start It's not easy ,It's exhausting,Frustrating And sometimes saddening But each step you take in it is worth all the hardship to better understand and yourself . you become more of a whole concious person which is so fufilling. A huge part of my recent shadow work is rebuilding my beleif system and releasing myself from subscribing to others perspectives out of guilt and omg how many emotional barriers I broke down but how good it felt ♥️

So glad to have found some one who's also doing Shadow Work. It is one of the first practices I did when I started out on this journey in 2016. Not the most fun thing in the world, but it really helps me understand not only me but also people around me as well. Shadow work is like a door to some unknown world about yourself, and it can be scary. You can check out Teal Swan video. She explains really well about the definition and the process for anyone who wants to learn more.

Working with the Shadow is extremely important 🖤 Jungian psychology is so interesting and I find myself returning to it again and again through the decades.

I love shadow work. Makes me feel lighter and iam living life again.

me in late 2006: Wow, this ps2 game looks cool. me, now: *ends up here*

Did anyone else get goosebumps and start crying? I really needed to see this right now and this helped me alot

I'm so glad you posted this. I've really been delving into this practice and I love hearing your take on it. Thanks boo! 💜

You might be interested to learn that Carl Jung, a disciple of Sigmund Freud, refused to work psychologically with a patient unless he could read their tarot cards first. Love the vid, keep up the great work!

Your videos always fill me with a sense of peace. Thank you for doing what you do Olivia.

"This early psychologist" really does not do Jung justice. He was, and still is, the real OG.

I have to say that I'm constantly trying to evolve and reflect. As an empath I often see things as a third person. I try to be as compassionate and reflective as possible. However, I have made peace with my dark side and at times of need I am not afraid to unleash it. Shadow work is important and you are so young to realize this. Blessed be to your future endeavors with that third step.

I ask myself "why does that make me feel that way" all the time. "Why do I like gardening?" Because I like feeling depended upon and I like saying "I'm needed"

This video hits me so deep, since I am a past abuse relationship victim trying to overcome and heal from my PTSD and trauma .. it's hard but I love that I am growing through passion and magic ❤ thank you for sharing this video with us

I've seen many other videos and researched Shadow work on my own many times to get a better understanding of it. And this is by far the BEST most to the point and easy to understand video on the subject that I've seen. Thank you so much Olivia! 🔮🖤🤍💜 You are a light in the darkness. 🕯 Your videos have helped me immensely. Love your transparency. 🔮🙏

You are very wise. I loved this explanation & description of shadow work. I've been doing it for years. I've been to therapy to get me through the first part of dealing with trauma. It saved my sanity & moved me through more quickly than I could have myself. You must be a wise old soul to be exploring your own shadow & to be able to share it with others. Blessings 🙏💖

When she hits you with the same struggle Legit have been talking about facing emotions all week (I began my concious journey into shadow work about 2 weeks ago) Your videos have helped so much with helping me feel comfortable in not "getting it" yet

Something I have found is that as a person, you really ebb & flow through the understanding & accepting portion. One day you may feel you have fully accepted the shadow but then the next week you’ll be triggered again, or like you said, you’ll find another shadow.

I love new videos. They give me new topics to research and add to my learning journal then eventual transfer over to my grimoire.

I applaud you for doing shadow work. I have going on for several years. Life's an adventure.

*watching the video* it's kinda funny that the first time I remember starting shadow work was at my 12 yo with my best friend (best friend still ❤️) because we used to be so proud and full of ourselves that, when we fought, we used to be very angry to each other, until one of us give up and apologize. So we made this deal that every time we fight we would sit and say "well, you made this thing that makes me angry" and then we would work together to change stuff that would make us unhappy with each other and grow together as humans. I'm very grateful that I have had this opportunity to learn how to grow in such a early age ❤️ And today we still working together, even though we live far, we're always helping each other how to figure things out and I'm so grateful for her 😭 ahahaha Anyways, thank you for this video! It's really important to remember to pause and think before we rush into things ❤️ I love you and your content!

Watching this at 1:45 am while I touch up my hair color... Best after work night ever ❤❤❤

Thank you for this. I've done a lot of this on my own and worked through so much shadow work over the years. It truly is freeing. I appreciate this video as it shows me that intuitively I've been doing what needs to be done and will continue to do so. I truly appreciate all of your videos

Love that last piece! “May your gods treat you as you have treated others” love!!!

Well dang. I was really interested in shadow work, and listening to this video, it looks like I've been doing shadow work my whole life...

I'm living for that lipstick 😍

Best explanation of shadow work I’ve encountered so far. Thank you!

This is the best video I’ve found on shadow work. Finally, someone actually tells how to do it!

I've done shadow work for decades. You can easily lose yourself in it. Remember to grow the good qualities of yourself and not just focus on what needs fixed in you because that's a never ending process if you're honest with yourself, and you'll only see what's wrong when there's always the other side of the yin yang and there's so much of you that's right and kind

06:07 I was literally reaching towards my bullet journal to write that down.

I think contemplation is better for me than analysis. Holding the feeling or thought and breathing and letting it dissolve. It hasn't given me complete emotional freedom but I feel wiser and a little happier. Thanks.

Thank you for doing this video! I have watched so many videos on "intros to shadow work" or "getting started with shadow work" and they have all been so obtuse and incomprehensible; you break down shadow work in a clear way that is easy to understand for those not "in the know" and hence not understanding the inside jargon and concepts, making it feel a lot less daunting

This is a relief. I thought it was a dark magic practice, as I’m so brand new to this I still have sticker gunk on me.

wow ❤️

I have been doing my own shadow work over the past 1.5 years and it is amazing how freeing it is. I feel like on some topics, I have come a long way. On other triggers, I still have a very long way to go. In many ways, it has helped my confidence with who I am (my authentic self) and being willing to share who I am.

This is possibly the best explanation I've listened to yet on what the shadow is, how to recognize it, the goal's you're working towards and the reason for doing shadow work. Thanks.

Perfect timing. I was wondering about this topic

There are amazing artists who have actually written songs about Carl Jung's psychology. The songs are Persona by RM, intro:shadow by Suga and EGO by j-hope. You could really look at the lyrics and the MVs and it really gives another dimension of understanding.

I always get caught up in further self loathing when practicing shadow work. I found that separating the soul from the ego is super important to practice when branching into shadow work.

Loved this video! I have been doing shadow work for a while now, and truly do agree it is super difficult, but very helpful. Truly happy with how you did it justice.

The book “The Untethered Soul” comes to mind.

Making my tea and I'm here for this

Omg love u sm Olivia ur the most helpful person ever really , I could have never been inspired enough without you to start my journey so thank you for that

Anyone else excited for Map Of The Soul: Shadow

So I've been doing shadow work all this time? Now I know. I always thought shadow work had to do with spirits, and going or working with the shadows.

You're the first person that is really able to explain shadow work in detail. Thank you 😉🙏😘

Wow, this has been me for ten years and I never knew what it was called. Thank you for this video. It made me really happy to know this is a thing and not just something weird I did myself

Omg i just found you a few hours ago and i was literally just in the middle of one of your other videos! 😂

When I hear shadow work I just think of Teal lol

Thank you for sharing this, I've been doing self work for a few years now but just now starting see it as shadow work. Your explaination is so perfect and exactly what I try to explain to others. So proud of you for doing your own shadow work, keep growing sister!

I’m really shook right now because I was wondering yesterday if Olivia would ever do a video on shadow work! I started looking into shadow work again this week and BOOM! She’s so freakin magical

AAYYYY my favourite witch doing a topic i’ve been thinking about WHOOO! you are gorgeous do you know that?

huh. i just called this "keepin' it real"

You are being very humble about your knowledge of shadow work! I've read enough Jung to know you're on point, plus you have experience to back it up. Brilliant video

Thank you so much for helping me understand how to shadow work. Thank you for the video. Love watching you. Sending you love and light. Blessed be.

I didn't know being a witch was so deep.

Who would dislike this??? Like, y??

There's a really great image that kind of encapsulates this whole process. Alan Moore's "Promethea" graphic novel literally shows that the only way to really overcome the demons you battle is to eat them. To consume them and recognize they are a part of you and always will be. And by doing that, at least in a metaphoric sense, they can no longer control you.

I feel like this video just changed my life forever. I'm crying. Thank you

I cry when someone tells at me. But that makes them yell more so listen to music or hide

I’ve spent the last year unknowingly doing shadow work, but feel like I’ve hit a wall with my healing process. I’m so grateful to have found this video on my suggested list, because I feel like I’m able to have a method to my process.

Just watched this at the perfect moment. Exactly what I've been needing. 🖤

1.7k likes and 12 dislikes lmaoooo those twelve really dont like their shadow selves 🤣🤣

thank you so much for this. for years I've been looking for ways to better myself as a person and I think this is exactly what I need

Thank you for this video! A lot of resources I use don't talk about what shadow work actually is and just brush over it as a term. At this point, I have found enough out to form a definition, but your video was a very concise source for what took me a long time to put together and figure out. Over time I realized I had been doing shadow work through my therapy and journaling without having put that name to it.

Watching this in October of 2020! I just did my first shadow work session last night, and I wanted to educate myself further today. Your video was extremely helpful, and I greatly appreciate you putting so much time and energy in to creating a positive learning atmosphere!

This was one of the best explanations of shadow work I’ve heard! Thank you for sharing your journey.

I really love how you put this in perspective and breaking it down.

I'm not a witch but believe knowledge is power. I have to say you r a breath of fresh air, humble and not pretending to be an expert or someone's guru!

I agree with what you’re saying about reacting to people, situations, things that are said . My bad reactions come from past events I’ve replayed them so many times it effects my mood just thinking about them sometimes. My major issue seems to be keeping those memories at bay if they’re not coming back I don’t have the same reaction. Thank you so much for this video. It is very insightful and helpful, keep up the good work !

I have been thinking about shadow work this past week, so seeing this video was confimation for me that I definitely need to do this. As someone who is just starting their Witch journey, I'm so glad that I discovered this channel. Thank you!

Love, love, love this video, thank you! I may not meditate as often as I should, never mind a journal...but I analyze myself ongoingly to understand myself. I have also on occasion researched many personality types & disorders, it never seems to get boring!

You... thank you for these. This talk was amazing. Good information in it. Good talk. Very glad that you are one of us.

I'm just starting my journey with witchcraft, but have been doing shadow work for YEARS now unknowingly, and ultimately it's what lead me to this path. I love your videos and they're so helpful and easy to relate to, especially this one. 18 year old me would be so disappointed in me now, but my life is so much more fulfilling since I've been on this journey and young me was wrong about just about everything. Thank you for all your videos!! ❤️

Wow... What an endeavor. But worthy. And definitely feels right for this time of year. Thanks for explaining so well! Have a great week! 💖💖