7 BEST CRYSTALS FOR SHADOW WORK
There comes a point in our journey of spiritual maturation when we realise it's not all love and light and we have to face the fact that our thoughts, behaviours, intentions, actions, and effects on others aren't always 100% positive. Maybe, despite all our growth, self awareness, and spiritual practices, we find ourselves stuck in the same kind of situations, conflicts, and relationships over and over again. Or perhaps a feeling of incongruence or inauthenticity is quietly gnawing away at us in the background. Sometimes we might feel burnt out with no energy or motivation and we can't figure out why. Or we struggle with making decisions and connecting to our wants and desires. These are all signs that we may be denying aspects of ourselves and are not living our lives in a fully integrated way.
At this point we have a choice. Do we hide from ourselves, ramp up the spiritual bypassing to avoid the disquieting realisations that are surfacing at the edges of our awareness, and let things continue on as they are? Or will we be brave and face the things in ourselves we fear to see? For those courageous souls who choose the second path, the path of facing the difficult places inside ourselves is known as Shadow Work.
The idea of the Shadow or unconscious came from Freudian psychoanalysis and was expanded by Jung. Our shadow is the part of our personality that, on some level, we wish to remain blissfully unaware of. This is because it contains the unknown and darker parts of our personality that tend to steer our lives in directions that our conscious, rational mind can't understand. The less aware we are of these aspects, the more power they have to guide our lives. While the shadow does generally contain traits that we class as negative, they can also contain lost positive aspects of ourselves that we locked away in order to be safe and accepted due to negative life experiences when we were young.
Acknowledging and re-claiming these part of ourselves can be a painful and disorienting process but the reward is a life lived with more wholeness, authenticity, and acceptance of self and others. For those who want to embark on the journey, there are many ways to gaze deeper in the mirror at ourselves: seeing a therapist, healing practices, hypnotherapy, journaling, and mediation are all ways to do the long-term work of looking within. For those who find they benefit from working with crystals, here are some of the best crystals that harmonise with the goals of Shadow Work.
Black Obsidian
Black Obsidian helps you to have insight into where in your life you are fostering negativity. It helps you release these unhelpful patterns from your mind while increasing the strength of your boundaries. For this reason it is especially helpful for those who are empathically, mentally, and emotionally and sensitive. Black Obsidian is a perfect companion for Shadow Work and understanding the aspects of ourselves that we try to hide and struggle to accept.
Green Calcite
Green Calcite shows you how to accept yourself fully and wholly embrace your so-called 'imperfections'. It assists in dissolving old rigid beliefs, emotions, and thought patterns which is essential for dealing with the defenses that may come up when looking at parts of ourselves we'd rather not see. Green calcite restores balance to the mind and emotions, and opens the heart to healing and is especially helpful in difficult times of transition.
Opal
Because Opal brings light into darkness, it is incredibly useful for shadow work. Opal helps you face what is hidden in yourself and your darkest fears in order to live an integrated life filled with light and truth. Opal is the stone of the spiritual warrior who courageously faces the darkness in themselves without fear.
Covellite
Covellite helps you have a deeper understanding of your thoughts and feelings as well as intergenerational health and emotional problems that have been inherited from your family and ancestry. Covellite is a supportive healing stone for when you are delving into trauma that may have caused you to disown parts of yourself.
Hematite
Hematite helps balance polarities within you, facilitating a more balanced relationship between the unconscious and conscious parts of yourself. Hematite gives you strength when dealing with the adversity and challenges that can come up when doing shadow work.
Moldavite
Moldavite will bring to the surface that which you most need to recognise. Moldavite's soul activating and transformational properties helps you shed behaviours, beliefs, situations, and relationships that are not in alignment with who you really are. Sometimes in the Shadow Work journey, people around us would prefer we stay in the dark about what's within us in order to maintain old dynamics that benefit them. When we heal, face, and embrace those difficult parts of ourselves, people will find it harder to have power over you, project on you, and manipulate you because you own all your qualities: light, dark, and every shade of grey. This can lead to shifts in your personality, circumstances, social circle that better support the whole truth of who you are.
Turquoise
Turquoise helps you to accept yourself holistically, rather than disowning aspects you don't like. Acknowledging all aspects of yourself without judgement fosters a true sense of wholeness. Turquoise helps you to forgive yourself and release regrets, understanding that any experience can ultimately help us grow and learn.
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