Embracing Anger and the Shadow Self

Anger is a spiritual tool and teacher.

One of the foremost mistakes that lightworkers and spiritual folks make, in my experience, is denial of the shadow self. The shadow is the part of ourselves that we repress or deny, the part(s) which have gotten us into trouble, or embarrassed us in front of others. Anger is one of the most potent. We’ve learned over time and acculturation to push those facets of ourselves way down deep so they never see the light of day again. We are taught to deny them, and we learn to be ashamed of them.

Or so we think.

But those feelings don’t go anywhere. They sit, stir, and solidify, later showing up in the body as discomfort if not downright disease. They fester within us energetically, and then they begin to manifest physically. They lay on us in the form of extra weight or pain in our joints and muscles. They ache within us for release. But what does that entail?

When I was born I was mad. Pissed. My face was angry, I cried for months almost on end, and then at about a year old I started talking, at 3 I was reading, and as soon as I had access to language, I was soothed. An old soul stuck in a muted body was not a recipe for a joyful start to life. How many of you came in to this world mad and pissed off too? Maybe you were anxious about the soul contract you’d signed up for; sounded good on the other side but now you were HERE having to do the WORK and the reality check was upsetting. Or maybe you were content until age 10 when you were bullied at school, and then the rage began. Or fine until age 20, 30, 60. It can come out at anytime, anywhere.

Here’s what I propose: Some part of you is angry. Some part of you rages. And that is your FIRE, that is your power, and your place of transformation. That is your crucible, your alchemy, your invitation. Anger and rage are, to me, tools of spiritual growth if you can:

A) Identify them
B) Allow and make space for them in safe ways
C) Integrate them into something more openly acceptable, and productive in your life.

If you’re mad and you know it, change your life! Embrace it, work with it, accept it, and use it to fuel your drive forward. Channel the fire.

When you walk through your life, always remember that people have anger and rage, and they are capable of showing it to you in a variety of ways – not to be scared or fearful, but to be real. AT THE SAME TIME, (this is so important!) know this: most of the displays of rage you will see from others in your life are projections onto you because you are mirroring something to them that they struggle to process. Most rage isn’t about you. It has nothing to do with you, so stop taking it personally. Work to protect yourself energetically so you do not have to take on the emotions of others. And if it shows up in your life in the form of abuse, you have no obligation to tolerate it. Only you can set your own boundaries and create your reality! But you might want to show the raging person this blog post. Just sayin’.

I think the greatest gift we can give ourselves in this life is FULL-BLOWN loving acceptance of who we are. The queen or king in us, the beggar and fool in us, the loner and freak in us, the weeping widow in us, the lost child in us. We are all of those things. Once you let those skeletons out of your closet they lose the power to sneak up and surprise you. Skeletons in the light lose their power over us. Take a breath today and ask yourself, what part of myself is most unknown to me? What part of myself scares me the most? And do me a favor – actually, do the entire Universe a favor, and do your incarnating karma-bound soul a favor – look at it. Work with it. Soothe it. Dialogue with it. But don’t put it back in the pill and swallow it. Work with stones for shadow work, journal, create art to express it, breathe through it, do what calls to your soul.

It will come up for air one day, whether you allow it or not. Better to allow.

May your rage and anger become your gift. And so it is.

Love,
Athena

To learn more about integrating your shadow into the light, join me for my Of Light and Shadow Class Series.

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