What Do Our Shadows Hold?

What will we find when we explore the catacombs of our soul?

I wrote this poem in response to my introspection in 2003…

Awaken from Dark Fancy

In angst I shine my light to cast the demons from my soul.
Come forth thou darkened theater, depart your recessed hole,
Whose rot and fester haunt the hoard of my subconscious hold,
Do permeate my sight, my touch, my being’s every fold.
Forgotten, not forgiven, wretched tragedies, take flight!
Away! Begone, dark demons—oust the shadows by the light.
They are but vapors of dark fancy—creatures wrought in fear.
So see them as they are—awake! And know that love is here,
Rise up in waking presence full, awaken to love’s giving,
Awaken to love’s essence pure. Awake to join the living.

If we don’t look into our own shadows, we will never see the untruths that we have believed about ourselves that have, by default, formed the foundation of our lives.

It’s in the looking, and in the feeling of what has remained unfelt, that shines our light on those untruths, allows us to finally hear the messages they contain, because they always contain a message we need to hear, and, in their felt, heard condition, they are released from the dungeon where we’ve kept them for so long.

Their mission is done, their time is served, and their energy is transformed for our repurposing.

Although it is never “one-and-done”, we heal in layers. With every layer we release, we lighten the weight of the rocks we’ve been carrying in our backpack through life. And we also remove the layers of cataracts and the numbness through which we perceive and feel ourselves and the world around us.