What is the Golden Shadow (+ 3 Ways to Discover your Potential)

Here’s why embracing your golden shadow is the key to unlocking a more fulfilling and purposeful life…

The Golden Shadow is the hidden potential that’s buried within your unconscious. Maybe you’ve already heard the psychological term: shadow, or even dabbled in a bit of shadow work?

Well, the golden shadow is a big part of this. And it refers to the gleaming jewel of your brightest light.

To the greatest potential that you don’t even realize you have…

The brightest.. and the darkest part of you

Do you ever feel like there’s another “you” hidden somewhere inside?

A brighter you, that is confident, capable, gifted, aligned, and empowered to live FULLY in every single moment…?

Well, that hidden aspect isn’t just a figment of your imagination….That YOU is real! 

S/he IS there, just below the surface of your consciousness… contained inside something called the “golden shadow”.

Read on, and you’ll discover exactly how to track that source of golden juju down…

But isn’t the shadow considered dark and scary?!

When most people talk about the shadow, they primarily associate it with traits, aspects, and qualities that are perceived by our society as “negative”. In popular culture, the term shadow or shadow side usually refers to the ‘darkness within’. To the disowned and socially shamed parts of humanity. To parts that are dark, dangerous, ugly, unwanted, and forbidden

Well, this isn’t the golden shadow.

The golden shadow is something a little bit different. But to see how all the pieces fit together, let’s do a quick recap on the shadow and shadow work.

What does it mean to do shadow work?

It was the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung who first coined the term “Shadow Self”. Meaning the unknown, unconscious side of the psyche.

Usually, this unconscious side of your psyche forms because your culture, society and even (especially) your own family don’t accept a certain quality you express. So as children, we take on the belief that the world won’t accept us if we express these sides of ourselves. So, we suppress and disown those qualities. We hide them from view, in order to keep ourselves safe and supported by our caregivers.

This is absolutely normal considering the world we live in!

It’s called conditioning.

To do shadow work, is to excavate your personal darkness

It means turning away from the conscious mind, and looking to the other side – the darker side – of the psyche.

Separating out the aspects you find there, and processing the feelings and emotions this causes, is shadow work.

YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT SHADOW WORK HERE

Why does the golden shadow form..?

It’s highly likely that some of the qualities that were criticized in you earely on in life – the aspects of yourself that learned to suppress and disown and push into the shadows – were actually pretty darn amazing! Full of beauty and power and pulsing life force energy. BUT just like the rest of your repressed darkness, you learned these pieces of inner light were negative, even shameful,

…Incredible qualities and really positive traits that – had you not been triggered into rejecting – would have developed into your greatest gifts and talents!

It’s a tragedy, isn’t it, and one that most people won’t ever be aware of?

And what’s even more tragic is that very often it’s your creative potential that isn’t embraced or accepted. So THAT’s what ends up buried in deep in the subconscious mind. Again, it was Carl Jung who identified the golden shadow as FULL of submerged creative potential.

So why does creativity end up in the golden shadow?

Creativity (and the endless supply of creative potential that SO many people have is often wild, unpredictable, expressive, loud, colorful, and free!

…And these are exactly the kinds of traits that larger society tends NOT to favor.

**Think that’s not true? Where do governments always make their first funding cuts? And if you’re under the impression Tik Tok and Instagram are choc full of “creatives”, ask yourself  how genuinely creative you can actually be when your parameters are a three-inch digital square..?

Most “creativity” that we are offered in today’s world isn’t real, unrestricted human expansion. It’s not self-actualization in its real form. Its distorted creativity.

Look around with fresh eyes, and you’ll see that creativity (and the raw power it holds) has been stuck in the dark shadow of the collective human unconscious for too long. Its true nature has been forgotten.

Because the truth is: real and genuine, creativity is rejected, because it threatens the status quo.

(And if you’re sitting there thinking, “well, I’m not creative so this doesn’t apply to me…. Think again. You could be EXACTLY the kind of person with such submerged potential. Maybe your golden shadows are brimming with untapped creative talent!

What other amazing qualities end up in the golden shadow?

There are many other incredible qualities that also end up in the dark side of the psyche, taking the form of golden shadows. The list is endless, and could include things like –

• Confidence
• Speaking up for yourself
• Having strong opinions
• Being loud
• Being quiet
• Taking time for yourself

But most have something in common: At some point, in some way, they were perceived to be threatening to others. If your inner light shines too brightly, other people may want to put it out. There’s a fine line for some, between intense admiration and envy.

Our own potential can also scare us, fueling the fire of self-doubt.

The famous Marianne Williamson quote: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us”. Speaks of golden shadows so clearly…

So we self-sabotage, in order to protect ourselves from the perceived threat of our own potential success… fragmenting pieces of our psyches.

Where do these separated + submerged fragments of our shadow forms go?

They go into your golden shadow.

Golden or not, all shadows live in the unconscious

… And this means you’re not conscious of them! You’re likely not aware of anything that your shadow contains – it’s out of your line of sight. This is why shadow-seeking is an art and a practice to learn…

3 fast ways to discover, embrace and liberate your golden shadows

Like ALL shadow work, tracking your golden shadows begins with a practice of self-awareness. Here are 3 pathways in…

Method 1 – Track external judgments

Notice the times and situations when you cast criticism + judgment outwards, tracking your own personal triggers.

For example, are you ever triggered by people who seem happy, joyful, and at ease in their own skin? Or maybe you can’t stand to be around people who are ambitious, set huge goals, or talk about money?

The next time this happens, notice when you criticize, find fault, or shame others. Even if you don’t actually say any words out loud, track your inner dialogue.  Get curious about what leads you to accuse other people of being “wrong”.

Take extra careful notice of the qualities in them that you’re most triggered by. This is a pathway for you, to explore your golden shadow…

Method 2 – Track internal judgments

Notice the times and situations when you cast criticism + judgment inwards, tracking your own personal triggers.

As before, begin to notice people or situations that trigger self-doubt or self-criticism. When does your self-esteem plummet? When does your body recoil?

For example, are there certain people who cause you to question yourself?

Who makes you feel less than others?

 Who makes you doubt your own capabilities?

Again, take careful note of the qualities that you’re most triggered by. This is another pathway for you to explore your golden shadow…

Method 3 – explore your positive projections

Often manifesting through the teacher/student relationship, the relationship you have with a mentor, guide, or even spiritual teacher or guru can be a mirror for your golden shadow.

Your positive projections may be obvious to you, but if not, ask yourself…

• Who do you admire?
• Who do you envy?
• Who do you idolize?

When you’ve landed on someone, write down the qualities they have that stand out to you.

• What is it about this person that draws you in?
• What do you admire/envy/idolize especially?
• What is it about them, that activates you?

Try to hone in on some specific gifts and talents, and write those down…

The more active the emotion you feel in your body when you do this, the more likely it is, that those traits are held inside your golden shadow.

Yep – that’s right. The gold that you SO desire is actually within YOU!

The only difference is that you’ve got used to denying yourself access to them… but that’s about to change!

How to reclaim (+ integrate) your golden shadow

Shadow integration is a gentle process. It’s also something you need to do carefully. This is because when fragments of self have been in the unconscious landscape for a big part of your life, they become distorted. So you want to ensure you straighten them out before integration.

This usually happens over time. It requires a whole lot of honesty, self-awareness, courage, and humility to call that piece of gold back. And it takes work to reach into the darkness, over and over to first discover, then accept, embrace, appreciate, and eventually love and nurture that gold, back to beauty and power.

When you can SEE the part of your shadow fully, it’s no longer shadow.

It becomes conscious.

It can go from being unfulfilled potential, to part of your soul path.

This is what emotional healing is, and it’s how more and more people are expanding themselves, and what they’re capable of in the world.