Topic: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

I have heard that said here a more than a couple of times, but I've never asked what it means. I know what it means to me, but do others see it differently?

For me, I will, and do seek to face the darkness within me.  For me I don't know if embrace is the word I would use - though perhaps it is appropriate. I will stand so to speak toe to toe with my darkness, acknowledge it within me, seek to find it's root/ origin. I will figure out if it is holding me back or keeping my vibrational level lower(which if it is darkness it propbably is) and release it. I also make a conscious effort to seek those i have hurt/ offended with my darkness and shed light on it that way too by asking for forgiveness.

If used to compare against others I become self-righteous, but if used for comparing against myself it becomes a tool to measure my directional walk (STS/ STO) which to me is a lateral direction as well as a vertical direction in measuring am I growing into 4D, 5D etc. It's not that I don't recognize it as never having been a part of me but that is where I was, this is where I am now and it can help figure out where I am going and other darkness may be in my life.

I guess embrace may work if it's with the idea of accepting it as being or having been a part of me - but not with the idea of letting it remain unchanged within me.

Others thoughts?

Peace,
Teddy

"It means the Matrix can't tell you who you are" - Trinity

2 (edited by nebulousmuse 2007-07-01 13:57:03)

Re: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

The shadow, it's not a negative influence but something within.  If I hurt someone I apologize. I don't ask for forgivness...it's up to them to grant it to me. What can be percieved as a hurt may not be in the long run....how many of us have been crushed by an other but only to find ourselves in a better place afterwards? Certainly the hurt they caused was from their shadow (or maybe our ego?) but yet we attained a better place.
  We live in a world of dualtiy so every "sunny" aspect will have it's shadow side. I do not seek to control it, or even manage it. (can it really be managed or controlled? The more control we exert over something the harder it is to hold on to control.) I learn from it.  I don't fear it.
I love to give mine a hug...sometimes take it out for a beer or something a bit more illicit.. tongue I even thought about dating my shadow...haha. It's all about being human, I love to revel in my humaness. That includes the lightness as well. I'm enjoying being here... from drunken lunacy in a graveyard to basking in the sun light that hits the forest floor, to walking through a city, to creating art, falling in love, and experiencing the pain from love it's all part of it. To me that's being human.
Plants still grow at night, certain flowers can only bloom at night, most of us sleep during the night, yet at the same time there is light in the darkness just as shadows persist during the day. I feel my shadow is my friend as well as my lightness. ( I wouldn't trust anything that is all light or all darkness...in my book it goes against nature. Night and day, day and night)
smile

This isn't pancheta DAVE!

Re: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

Excellent post, Nebulousmouse!   That last part, especially, regarding plants.... I've had the same thought.  We're conceived and born from the darkness of the womb.  And who among us doesn't welcome the shade of a tree on a hot summer's day?  The mysterious feminine is dark, cool, comforting.  The key is being able to see in the dark so that you don't stumble or fall-- or become prey.

Re: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

Lono wrote:

Excellent post, Nebulousmouse!   That last part, especially, regarding plants.... I've had the same thought.  We're conceived and born from the darkness of the womb.  And who among us doesn't welcome the shade of a tree on a hot summer's day?  The mysterious feminine is dark, cool, comforting.  The key is being able to see in the dark so that you don't stumble or fall-- or become prey.

I forgot about the womb! The cave! Thank you!

This isn't pancheta DAVE!

Re: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

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http://forum.noblerealms.org/viewtopic. … 25&p=1   #12



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Re: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

My view is that there is a difference between acknowledging the shadow in order to identify and uproot it, and embracing the shadow in order to identify with it and thereby rationalize it. The predator, a "foreign installation" as don Juan called it, has ways of rationalizing its own usefulness despite being an artificial construct grafted upon us through social and genetic programming. Reveling in the shadow is useful to the extent that perhaps you will burn yourself out like the prodigal son and return home through the wayward path. It would be better to do that, than to prolong its existence by denying it and letting it fester in the subconscious and be projected upon others.

There is also risk of confusing social/moral taboos with spiritual taboos. Maybe you have an impulse or talent that comes from your spirit but is looked down upon by society as nutty, irresponsible, heretical, or antisocial. That these exist and should be freely expressed does not justify other things that society looks down upon, but which go against spirit as well. The latter is what I'm talking about in regards to identifying and uprooting rather than embracing and rationalizing.

Acquiring fringe knowledge is like digging for diamonds in a mine field.

Re: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

As often happens with me, I read the responses here and have my own (that I can't seem to put into words succinctly), so it occurred to me to look up the word "Embrace" to see if it might help at all. Surprising to me was how it's defined in various ways that change the meaning enough to cause confusion. Especially with regard to a relationship to "the shadow".   (*sigh...language*)

Hypertext Webster Gateway: "embrace" wrote:

Embrace \Em*brace"\ ([e^]m*br[=a]s"), v. t. [Pref. em- (intens.) + brace, v. t.] To fasten on, as armor. [Obs.] --Spenser. [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)
Embrace \Em*brace"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Embraced} ([e^]m*br[=a]st"); p. pr. & vb. n. {Embracing} ([e^]m*br[=a]"s[i^]ng).] [OE. embracier, F. embrasser; pref. em- (L. in) + F. bras arm. See {Brace}, n.] 1. To clasp in the arms with affection; to take in the arms; to hug. [1913 Webster]

2. To cling to; to cherish; to love. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

3. To seize eagerly, or with alacrity; to accept with cordiality; to welcome. "I embrace these conditions." "You embrace the occasion." --Shak. [1913 Webster]

4. To encircle; to encompass; to inclose. [1913 Webster]

5. To include as parts of a whole; to comprehend; to take in; as, natural philosophy embraces many sciences. [1913 Webster]

6. To accept; to undergo; to submit to. "I embrace this fortune patiently." --Shak. [1913 Webster]

7. (Law) To attempt to influence corruptly, as a jury or court. --Blackstone.

http://www.bennetyee.org/http_webster.c … thod=exact

"The most important decision you have to make is whether you live in a hostile or friendly universe."
~ Albert Einstein

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. ~Marcel Proust

The evolution of humanity is an evolution of the heart. The path is through the heart.

Re: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

I think the societal taboos, at least in part help define spiritual taboos and vise versa. Could you give an example by what you mean? I have a burning desire to return to the hunt, to run with the animals and to hunt...to a friend of mine, actually a few, that is a spiritual taboo. I'm not sure what you are getting at.


montalk wrote:

My view is that there is a difference between acknowledging the shadow in order to identify and uproot it, and embracing the shadow in order to identify with it and thereby rationalize it. The predator, a "foreign installation" as don Juan called it, has ways of rationalizing its own usefulness despite being an artificial construct grafted upon us through social and genetic programming. Reveling in the shadow is useful to the extent that perhaps you will burn yourself out like the prodigal son and return home through the wayward path. It would be better to do that, than to prolong its existence by denying it and letting it fester in the subconscious and be projected upon others.

There is also risk of confusing social/moral taboos with spiritual taboos. Maybe you have an impulse or talent that comes from your spirit but is looked down upon by society as nutty, irresponsible, heretical, or antisocial. That these exist and should be freely expressed does not justify other things that society looks down upon, but which go against spirit as well. The latter is what I'm talking about in regards to identifying and uprooting rather than embracing and rationalizing.

\

This isn't pancheta DAVE!

Re: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

nebulousmuse wrote:

I think the societal taboos, at least in part help define spiritual taboos and vise versa. Could you give an example by what you mean? I

Social taboos that can be spiritually okay in some cases:

* Dropping out of school
* Being opposed to marriage or having children
* Turning your back on blood-relatives
* Believing in non-mainstream things
* Subverting authority
* Being kooky because you are being yourself
* Doing whatever is necessary for the greater balance, even if illegal.

Socially accepted things that are spiritually unwise:

* hedonism, materialism, atheism
* sacrificing yourself for financial success
* being an illusion-fanatic, like technophile or political pundit
* political correctness
* being a doormat
* promiscuity

Social taboos that are spiritually unwise:

* mugging old ladies and other violent crimes
* rape, molestation, sodomy
* getting fried out from drugs and alcohol

Socially accepted things that are spiritually okay:

* Playing games in the park.
* Doing volunteer work.
* Being a nice person in general.

Acquiring fringe knowledge is like digging for diamonds in a mine field.

Re: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

*quick post*

aahhh...so the dark, in its purest form, is a safe place in which to grow, transform, etc.  cool

nebulousmouse, in my opinion (FWIW) i don't see anything wrong in the hunt.  there is a "time to kill" and when it's done with respect and gratitude then hey, that's okay.  it's quite natural.  also in self defense.  people like trophy hunters and war mongers are the ones who turn it into something ugly.

Re: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

Michael Tsarion wrote:

The Shadow is what you see...The Shadow is what you SEE.

Your own looking forms it. Your own fear gives it form. Your own attitude morphs it into what it becomes. Your thoughts towards it make it. This is the secret.

The face we turn toward the unconscious, becomes the complexion of that unconscious. The man in fear, the man of hate, or self-loathing, of inner trepidation, experiences just these things when in contact with the unconscious, that is in his dreams, nightmares, altered states.

The man who does not have such a conscious disposition, character, attitude, profile, whatever, has a different kind of experience.

The Shadow is a Mirror, a Smoking Mirror. Never forget that.

At 17/12/06 5:59 PM, mtsar said...

Re: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

Clearing out my documents.  Posting this for  777 posterity.

Victim Mentality

This planet primarily attracts two types of beings those with a victim mentality and those with an oppressor mentality. In order to be a victim, you must have oppressors. In order to be an oppressor, you must have victims. Together, this creates balance in God-Mind.

This planet is designed as a place where beings with a victim mentality can learn to overcome it. Therefore, any 'higher level' being will not become involved because it is necessary for those here to have the opportunity to work through their victim mentalities. To become involved would mean interfering or taking away the lessons of those with victim mentalities. Higher level beings will be objective observers who will guide and instruct you through your victim mentality once you reach them, but that is all. They are not here to "save" you or this planet.

Any being who says that they are here to "save" you is interfering in your soul growth. Only you can "save" yourself from a victim mentality. Only you can "save" yourself from a victim mentality. Only you and the lessons you self-design will teach you about victim mentality. Only you can move through these lessons that will allow you to make a final release of your victim mentality. No one is waiting to help you do not be fooled by any being making such promises.

When you learn to move through your victim mentality, your mind pattern will no longer attract oppressors. The more stubborn you are in your determination to hang onto your victim mentality ways, the more intense the lessons that you attract to get you to release those ways. This means, metaphorically speaking, a bigger, meaner, stronger, stick until you finally "get it."

You have to get hurt, belittled, and finally, angry enough to stand up for yourself and declare that you will no longer be a victim to anyone, anywhere, any more! Perhaps when you finally have had enough, you release your victim mentality by saying, "I just don't give a dam anymore what anybody thinks! I am speaking my mind regardless! I am taking care of myself, regardless!"

Sometimes, people are beaten up so much that instead of releasing the victim mentality, they decide to become the oppressor when the opportunity presents itself. This is why cycles repeat themselves. People who were oppressed find other victims, because this gives them a sense of control. In doing so, they relive their earlier experiences when they felt like they had no control. They become the perpetrator, just so they can be the "winner" for a change. Of course, this is another imbalance, or extreme flip from victim to oppressor.

The ideal is to find a happy medium, or balance, between victim and oppressor. Victim and oppressor are opposite sides of the same coin in the Mind of God. In this case, two individual soul-personalities are needed to maintain an equilibrium in God Mind. One carries the weight of a victim, one carries the weight of an oppressor. What you need to do is find the balance within yourself, so that equilibrium within the Mind of God is maintained within one soul-personality instead of two.

Yes, you must learn to speak your mind and not allow anyone to walk on you. Yes, you must sometimes be harsh and cruel with words and sometimes even actions. But when this must happen, it must be done in an objective manner what is best for everyone involved to get the point across while causing the least amount of pain. Boundaries must be set.

What are your boundaries? Who crosses them and how? Who is a belligerent person in your life that you try to avoid because of their bullish, pushy ways? Why do you avoid this person? Why not practice letting go of your victim mentality and speak your mind to him/her? So what if your knees shake so hard that you think you will fall down, and your voice is shaky, squeaky, or barely audible? Somewhere along the way, you must stop your victim mentality before it stops you. Learn to be proactive instead of reactive.

When you allow others to push you around, you become angry, sullen, and introverted. Then, you lash out at the undeserving with misdirected frustration and anger. Sometimes your body becomes ill because of all that you suppress, or you insulate your body, or perhaps stop eating. One way or the other, you suffer.

But, there is a part of you that feels that you deserve to suffer. There is a part of you that enjoys this pain and self-punishment. It feels good to some part of yourself, or you would not do it. Some people create others to give them pain, sometimes physical, sometimes emotional, sometimes both. Some people do it for themselves a self-contained, fully functional, victim mentality unit. Some people are extremely successful at this.

Why do you feel so bad about yourself that you feel like you are meant to suffer, to be alone, to feel guilty, to have ill health, to be over or underweight. Did it start in this lifetime, or did it start before? Follow those feelings, and allow yourself to release it. This physical reality is your chance to overcome it. The more you ignore this situation, the harder and more intense lesson you will attract to beat it out of yourself. You came here to learn now do it. Quit whining moaning, and complaining because there is a part of you that enjoys that too.

Aches and pains can create a lot of entertainment. You can run from doctor to doctor, trying to find a cure for something that will never be cured as long as you maintain your current mind-pattern.

"Bad luck" can attract a lot of attention and sympathy from others. Dire circumstances will force someone to pay attention to you. Never getting a raise or a promotion is an excuse not to climb higher in your career or company. You can moan all you want about being alone, with a partner who does not understand you, or without one at all. But this self-imposed isolation also gives you time to selfishly take care of yourself without any interference. The same for saying you want children but are unable to have them. A part of you does not want a spouse, or a caring spouse, or children, because if ALL of you wanted this and it was truly in your mind-pattern, you would have it!

Victim, victim, victim! Let us count the ways! Refuse to be a victim. Find a new source of entertainment. Release yourself from this mind-pattern so that you can move into new vistas of growth - ones so vast that you cannot even imagine or comprehend them. You must let go of the old to make room for the new. No one can do it for you. No one can "save" you from yourself. No one is waiting to help this planet. Only you can make a difference. Only you can save this planet. Do it!


Are you A Mind-Control Candidate?

Does mind-control sound like a foreboding subject that people in dark, mysterious places practice upon unsuspecting victims? Do you read about other people’s claims with interest, while thinking that it really has nothing to do with you? Remember, if you are reading about it, it is in your world. If it is in your world, it is a reflection of some part of yourself or it could not exist. So, are you a mind-control candidate for sinister forces?

To fit the profile they are looking for, you must be controllable. Are you? What does your mind-pattern look like? Are you in control of your own life, or is your life in control of you?

If anything, anywhere controls you, you have an established mind-pattern that any force can use and manipulate. All the force has to do is enter your auric field through this "hole" in your mind-pattern. To close the holes and correct the mind-pattern, it is important to find out what in your life is controlling you so that you can stop it.

What controls you? Is it a person? Anyone who "pulls your strings" or "pushes your buttons" is controlling you. Anyone who you allow to put you down, or who makes you feel like less of a person is controlling you. When you react to their manipulation, you are not in control. The other person controls you. This could be a parent, spouse, child, relative, co-worker, or neighbour, for example.

Do your emotions control you? When emotions are out of balance, they can create their own subpersonalities. Each emotion has its own color, tone, and archetype within your auric field. Anger is comprised of the color red, Fear is yellow, Jealousy is green. Every time you have experience these emotions without passing them up to your Oversoul, the energy of these specific subpersonalities are fed. Anger gets stronger, Fear gets stronger, Jealousy gets stronger. Now, they are in control of you. You can make all the promises you want, but what happens when your buttons get pushed? All of a sudden, Anger is controlling you, or Fear, or Jealousy. You have lost the battle. Your emotions are in control.

Perhaps it is illness that controls you. Do you need that illness in order to feel important, or as a way to get attention and/or love? Do you have chronic health issues that never seem to go away? Or you just get rid of something and something else pops up to take its place? What part of you needs and allows this type of control?

Do alcohol and drugs control you? How about tobacco? Sex? There are support groups for alcoholism, drug, and sex addiction; for people who cannot stop shopping, gambling, and/or shoplifting. There are support groups for people controlled by bulimia, anorexia, obsessive compulsive disorder. You name it, it is out there controlling somebody, somewhere. Is it controlling you.

Does food control you? Food controlling you does not imply that you are overweight. Could you go a day without chocolate or sugar? Could you fast for 24 hours without anything but water? Most likely you would not starve to death and die, so could you??

How about fashion? Are you the first to get the latest clothing, hairstyles, home decor, without thinking if you even like them or not? How about cars, motorcycles trucks, motor vehicles, boat... the list is endless.

Or fads, be it body-piercing, tattoos, or acquiring all kinds of doodads and knickknacks that will be useless practically before you even have them out of the box. Do you have to have whatever everyone else has.

Plastic surgery controls people. They keep going back and redoing every part of the body until there is nothing left to redo. Then they start over again.

Some people start exercising and cannot stop. They exercise continually and constantly, sometimes building up muscle masses that would put Hercules to shame. Others exercise until they do not have a drop of fat on their bodies, then begin destroying their muscle tissues, ligaments, and internal organs.

Do your experiences use and control you, or do you use and control your experiences? This is the bottom line. If anything or anyone controls you in any way, shape, or form, you are a prime candidate for mass and/or individual mind-control. When you are in control of your own self, no one and no thing can control you. Everything in moderation is acceptable, but when something takes over your life to the degree where it controls you, you create a mind-pattern that says "outside forces can and do control me."

This leaves holes in your mind-pattern and auric field that tells anyone who can understand this information that you are a perfect candidate for mind-control. Learn to breathe yourself into your centre. Identify the strong aspects of your mind-pattern and the ones that need strengthening. Anchor yourself in the strength of your own Oversoul and God-Mind. Take control over absolutely anything that has control over you, remembering to keep the balance. You can be pulled off-centre in every way imaginable, and you will be. These are your tests.

Be the monitor of your own progress. The more you use internal monitors, the less chance outside monitors can step in to do the job for you. Whenever you let your guard down, there will be somebody or something that will knowingly and gladly push you out of your centre.

Part of your reason for existing in physical reality is to find out who and what you are. Being pushed out of your centre tells you who you are not. Operating from outside of your centre allows others to define you according to their terms. They can mould and bend you like clay to create the person that they need for their own purposes. You are so busy moulding and bending that you do not have time to recognize what is happening to you.

Only when you stand firm in your centre, in control of absolutely every aspect of your life, are all the holes of your mind-pattern completely sealed shut. When this happens, no one or no thing can control you. But even when the door is closed to outsiders, remember that they will still come knocking. It is up to you to ensure that they do not enter.

For the life of me I can't find the source.  I can remember belljar saying it was from one of his fv's. site. Help I deleted this source if anyone can figure it out please post the site. thnx. Mille.

13 (edited by titmouse_ 2007-07-05 10:16:17)

Re: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

Odin's Stare


Bright moon shadows, darkly
Winter's winds brush across crusted sky
Sand dollars washed in pristine seashores
Youth-born treasures scattered silently below
Broken timbers adrift, as night birds meditate
Sea birds loft above midnight snow;
New moon shadows bright moon, darkly
Light has cast a glimmering show
Wild geese map season's changes
Starbeams diagram the undertow
Frosted whitecaps in blackened sea
Darker shadows depths unknown;
Jewels of Nature, human's taming
Secret bounty Heaven's Kingdom
Golden tombs wrapped in diamond caverns
Dreams enchantment, soul of wonder
Cast across ocean's frozen doldrums
Eternity romancing shadows of time;

Winter knows not  love for spring

--carefulcarpenter

Fun fact: Great Tits are common in Europe

To know love is to know trust; to know oneself is to know truth
~~carefulcarpenter


1+1=1

14 (edited by Blue 2007-07-06 06:45:30)

Re: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

Millenium wrote:

For the life of me I can't find the source.  I can remember belljar saying it was from one of his fv's. site. Help I deleted this source if anyone can figure it out please post the site. thnx. Mille.

Stewart Swerdlow: http://www.expansions.com/BBF.cfm

The original article has gone from the archives but is in page 209 of his book

BLUE BLOOD, TRUE BLOOD
CONFLICT & CREATION
A Personal Account
By Stewart A. Swerdlow


sampler: http://www.lorintuitives.com/images/bbsample.pdf

A lot of the book is within this (BS) page : http://www.zayra.de/soulcom/invasion/

Re: What does it mean to you? Embrace your shadow.

When emotions are out of balance, they can create their own subpersonalities. Each emotion has its own color, tone, and archetype within your auric field. Anger is comprised of the color red, Fear is yellow, Jealousy is green. Every time you have experience these emotions without passing them up to your Oversoul, the energy of these specific subpersonalities are fed
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Does the act of balancing them send them up to the Oversoul?

Good judgement comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement.
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You have to believe in the impossible in order to become.