We all have shadow aspects of ourselves. Most have been told or taught to deny, suppress, and shove these dark aspects down because they are not welcomed in society. This is because society likes to whitewash everything to keep it simple, but suppressing these aspects of self, makes things worse. Society puts emphasis on things being positive and shiny at all times, but to be whole we must acknowledge and embrace our dark and light sides.

Those who are mermaids and witches know and need to learn about our darkest depths on our life paths. Witches know we can shift from full light to dark phase that include moving through moods and emotions. We worship the dark nights as much as the full moon. Those with mermaid souls understand we cannot always stay on the gentle surface waves, but must sometimes dive deep among the shipwrecks of the past, finding our core and innermost treasures of who we are in life.

At some point on our path, we all run into our dark halves which some call the underworld journey or the shadow self. The shadow self teaches us to transform pain and may present itself as:

• Extreme
• Ugly
• Doubtful
• Depressing
• Anger
• Self-Absorbed
• Ungrateful
• Jealous

Our spiritual journey is never simple or smooth and at some point, we must take a hard look at the mirror self. My shadow self is demanding and often restless, but must be faced. If we refuse to face the shadow self, they end up manifesting physically as poor health or blockages that hold us down. This causes us to re-live the same lessons until we acknowledge them and start doing the work to improve. To do this, we must learn to shadow dance. Shadow dancing shred the ego, attachments, identity, and very being, but once it does and you face things, they will be returned. These things the shadow self takes from us are not really who we are or what defines us, but we must lose them to learn to truly embrace them.

You will know you are facing your shadow self when you feel horrible, when you put up walls, and when old doubts start repeating in your head. To process this shadow self and journey through your underworld, you have to openly feel the things you want to run from at your own pace. This cannot be forced. It will not be comfortable, but will be good in the end. Try the following to start your shadow self-journey.

• Write down the terrible thoughts, then throw away the paper while saying you have no power over me.
• Try art therapy to turn the negative into something beautiful.
• Cry it out.
• Meditate and allow the toxic feelings to flow out of you.
• Take a long bath in Himalayan salt
• Scream or howl
• Talk it out
• Book some me-time to de-stress

Dance with your shadow self and let it be freeing. You will come out better on the other side.