Shadow As Threshold Guardian
The Sage speaks:
The effort required to hold back darkness is wasted effort. It would require a greater power than any known in the Universe to hold darkness in check, for it is an aspect of the whole great cosmos! Try to stop the sun from setting. You will always wind up in the dark. When you resist it, you embrace it unwittingly.
And know this: you must have all your wits about you when facing the great darkness of your own spirit. Do not fool yourself into believing the child’s tales told by simpletons, “There is nothing in the dark that isn’t already in the light.” Going into your darkness unprepared and unarmed is not worth doing. The task of making the assay through the darker labyrinths of spirit is wondrous and miraculous—a journey of healing, not a frightful thing. Once you begin this journey in fear, you have begun with a constricted heart, and it is your heart that is needed, for it is privy to a great body of knowledge.
The dark will ask many questions of your heart, but know that where there are questions, there must also be answers.
Beyond the presence of the shadow is the unknown, the threatening void, and shadow uses the threat of this to its advantage. It keeps us in patterns of behavior that are comfortable and well known, which are the ways of “the community,”36 as Joseph Campbell puts it. The ways of the community take us down paths that are brightly lit, but that ultimately go nowhere for the one who wishes completion and power. It is not the issues of the community that are the primary focus of the magical work of the Witch or shaman. Once caught by the community, you can fmd it difficult to move beyond it, even if its ways are not in your best interest.
Living solely within the compound of the village, constantly repeating familiar patterns, is not where the power of the Witch, shaman, or mystic lies. The community stands for human order. The shamans and Witches of tribal cultures move beyond the order superimposed by others out of spiritual necessity, in order that their journey toward power should go uninhibited.
That is not to say that no order at all is a preferable way of exisiting within a community. But a shaman is one who consciously explores the boundaries imposed by others and often crosses over those limits to bring back new information. The difference between a shaman and a “madman” is that a shaman can come back from a journey beyond the cultural limits and can resume a functional role within the community. A shaman or Witch is flexible and moves “between the worlds” of man-made order and cosmic order. A “madman” also explores the limits of what is acceptable by the culture, but does not do so consciously, nor can she or he return from beyond at will.
In every fairy tale and myth throughout the world, the heroine or hero begins as a member of the “community;’ but then ventures into the world of the unknown, beyond the limits. As these tales begin, characters commonly operate within the strictures, codes, and laws of the village or kingdom. This symbolizes the idea that they operate mostly within the mundane world, created by a society that often operates with indifference to matters of spirit. That is when trouble usually arrives-the golden ball gets lost, the princesses disappear every night, or the cow runs dry and must be sold for beans.
Once trouble appears on the horizon, it is time for the heroine or hero to face a period of transition, for passing through a threshold. The threshold is a boundary space between what is known and what is not. The difficulty or trouble that propels the tale’s adventurer into encounters with unknown forces is a manifestation of the shadow.37
Of course, all of the symbols found in the tales of the fairies apply to us, and this encounter represents the second phase of working with the shadow mask. When we dare to move beyond the confines of the known and approach the unknown—a threshold—we will always find our shadow guarding the gates to whatever lies beyond, to whatever power we might claim just beyond the village gates. The shadow is the keeper at the gate that detains us. It presents to us the riddles of the sphinx; it tells us that beyond its bounds lies the unanswerable. It whispers in our ears all of the doubts and worries that can plague us throughout our lives. The shadow, in this aspect, makes us question ourselves. Though this prospect may seem a bit daunting, it is this aspect of your shadow that begins the process of making you whole, of weaving together your light and dark qualities.
Here then is a tale of a questioning shadow—a threshold guardian.
The Red Ettin
Long before time, there were two brothers who lived with their mother in a faraway land. One day, it came time for the eldest son to make his way in the world. Before he left his home, he gave his brother a magic knife and told him that as long as the blade stayed shiny, he would know that his brother was safe, but if the blade became rusty, then he would know that his brother was in trouble. The younger brother accepted this gift with gratitude.
So the eldest bid his mother farewell and set off into the countryside. Before long, he came upon an old shepherd. The roving youth asked to whom the sheep belonged. The shepherd told him that they belonged to a fierce beast named the Red Ettin of Ireland. This shepherd also told him to beware of the beasts of the field he should next meet.
So the young man went on and soon he came upon a multitude of dreadful beasts with two heads and four horns on each head. He was quite frightened and waited in hiding for a chance to run away as fast as he could. He was glad when he was able to run at top speed away from the beasts. He soon came upon a castle that stood on a small hillock. He approached the castle and found an old wife sitting outside. He asked her if he might stay the night, as he was weary from travel. She said that he might, but that this was the castle of the Red Ettin, a terrible beast with three heads who spared no man’s life. The young man would have gone away, but he was afraid of the beasts out side the castle, so he asked the old woman to hide him as best she could and not to tell the Ettin he was there.
Soon enough, the Ettin came home and noticed the scent of an intruder in his castle. He began to tear apart the rooms of the castle until he finally found the young man. He pulled him out of his hiding place and said: “If you can answer me three questions, your life will be spared:’ So the first head asked, “What is a thing without an end?” But the young man did not know. Then the second head asked, “The smaller the more dangerous, what’s that?” But the young man could not answer. Finally the third head asked, ‘’What is dead, yet carries the living?” But again, the young man knew not an answer. So the Ettin took a mallet, struck the youth on the head and turned him into a pillar of stone.
Back home, the younger brother noticed the magical knife that his elder brother had given him had become brown with rust. He knew his brother was in trouble. So the younger brother bid his mother farewell and set out into the countryside in search of his brother.
On his way, he came across an old woman who asked if he could share a piece of his bread with her. He shared what little he had, and lo and behold, she transformed herself into a radiant being. The transformed woman told the youth that she was a fairy, and in return for his kindness she would give him a magic wand that would be of service if he were to use it for good. Then the fairy told him a great deal of what would hap pen to him in his near future, and what he ought to do in all circumstances. After that, she vanished from sight.
Soon the boy continued on his journey. Just as his brother had, he came upon the old shepherd, who told him that the sheep he tended belonged to a terrible monster called the Red Ettin of Ireland. Soon the youth was continuing on the path again, just as did his brother, and he too saw the beasts just outside the castle of the Red Ettin. But he did not stop nor did he run away, but went boldly through amongst them.
Soon the youth came to the castle, knocked on the door, and was admitted. The old wife inside tried to warn him of the Red Ettin, and of the fate that had befallen his brother, but he demanded admittance to the castle.
The monster soon came in and siezed the young boy. Once again, the Ettin said, “If you can answer me three questions, your life will be spared.” He was given the three questions, but because the young man had been told everything by the good fairy, he was able to answer all the questions. So when the first head of the Ettin asked, “What’s the thing without an end?” he said, “A bowl.” And when the second head said, “The smaller, the more dangerous, what’s that?” he answered, “A bridge” And when the third head asked, “When does the dead carry the living?” he youth replied, “When a ship sails on the sea with men inside her” When the Ettin heard this, he knew his power was gone. The young man then took an axe and hewed off the mon ster’s three heads.
The boy then found his brother who had been turned into a pillar of stone. He touched the fairy’s magic wand to him and his brother started back to life. He also took the great treasure of the Ettin, and when all was in his possession, he and his brother went home to live happilyfrom then on.38
Application of “The Red Ettin”
The story of the Red Ettin depicts an encounter with shadow as a threshold guardian, which is similar to the role of an initiator. Initia tion is a word used in spiritual paths to denote a transition point dur ing one’s spiritual journey. This transition point usually involves a symbolic death and rebirth, just as crossing a threshold involves leav ing one sphere and entering another.
In the tale, the shadow poses three questions or riddles that seem unanswerable. This symbol tells us that shadow does indeed test us. Your shadow mask-your behavior—will similarly ask questions of you in an attempt to keep up the illusion that there is nothing beyond it. It wants you to think that you cannot live without it. It wants to stump you so that you will continue to cooperate with it, so that you are in its power. It keeps you behind the gates that open to whatever it is that lies beyond cultural limits. It does not want you to move beyond the limits of your previous realm, beyond your previous behaviors and ways of being in the world. Most shadow masks have so much power over us that it inevitably feels painful to cut back their influences.
This theme of the shadow as a threshold guardian—one who initiates you into power—is a common one throughout the world’s mythologies and fairy and folk tales. For instance, tribal folk of Central Africa describe an apparition called the Chiruwi. If he is ever encountered along the plains, the Chiruwi challenges the journeyer to fight, says the tale. If the journeyer wins the fight, the apparition will plead: “Do not kill me. I will show you lots of medicines” Then the journeyer becomes a person of power. But if the Chiruwi wins, his victim dies.39 Thus the shadow presents us with only two options: become its slave, which is symbolized as physical “demise” in the folklore surrounding the Chiruwi, or meet the shadow’s challenge and become transformed.
The tale of the Red Ettin dearly reiterates this idea of the two paths you can take once the shadow calls you to initiation. Having no answer, in essence claiming no power in the face of the shadow, is the first path. In the tale of the Red Ettin, this is the path of the elder brother.The Ettin asked his three questions, and the brother failed to answer.The result of this path is paralysis, the inability to move in effectual ways through your life. In other words, you are enslaved by the shadow. The brother who became a pillar of stone was the symbol of this principle. When you have no answer for the shadow, when you cannot meet the challenge of initiation, you too fall under the spell of the Red Ettin, and your consciousness becomes as inflexible as a pillar of stone.
The second path, which is illustrated by the younger brother in the story, is that of meeting the initiation of the guardian shadow by having answers. But how can we have the answers? They are given to us at the hands of what the story calls a “fairy.” But what exactly is this “fairy’’ from the tale who prepares us for the assay? To best understand the symbolic value of the fairy, we need to look once again at the study of symbols, dreams, and myth, which all emanate from the same zone of the psyche-the unconscious.40 Dream analysts and Jungian folklorists suggest that one way to read a dream or fairy tale is to consider each element of the story as part of the dreamer or reader.41 From this perspective, you could say that the two boys of the fairy tale are aspects of yourself. But if this is true, then both the Ettin and the fairy woman are part of your conscious ness as well. The fairy woman is an aspect that you can access in the face of the shadow, which is your own personal Ettin. The fairy aspect is your innate wisdom. The fairy symbolically represents your light consciousness, your beneficial, affirmative, constructive affect, and your inherent wisdom.42 The questions asked by the shadow may feel unanswerable, but in truth they are questions to which you already know the answers. The unconscious houses both your light and dark qualities, and you have access to both at any time throughout your life’s journey. You need to bring forth wisdom from your light self to answer the questions of the dark self in order to move through the shadowy threshold of initiation.
Once properly prepared at the hands of the character represented as the “fairy” of the story, the younger brother was able to pass the tests of the shadow (in this case, the Ettin) and take its power over him away. The key to passing the initiation of the shadow is access to your inner wisdom.
There is one other aspect of the shadow initiator you need to know before you begin the journey of preparation:the shadow has a self giving aspect. Although the task of passing through the shadow’s doorway may seem unattainable, it is important to know that your way is never completely blocked. It presents to you its test to reveal to you its weakness, which represents the entry point through which you can pass. What this means in practical terms is that once you can face the call of the shadow by providing answers to its supposedly “unanswerable” questions, you rob the shadow of its power over you. What’s more, by giving you a test, your shadow shows you that it can be won; it offers itself to you in this roundabout way, By revealing its weakness, it is telling you how to master it.
This self-giving aspect of the shadow is one that is made manifest in some initiation rites throughout the world. For example, in the arduous initiation rites of the Arunta tribes in the Australian outback, the youths preparing for the initiation are held captive for long periods of time, during which they are fed on the blood of their ini tiators.43 This blood-eating ritual is common among the various tribes of the Aborigines, and it serves to illustrate the idea that the shadow can actually be a source of spiritual nourishment, if you are able to assimilate its presence through initiation.
The initiation rites of certain Wiccan traditions illustrate another such manifestation of the principle of shadow or initiator as a nurturer.44 In several traditions, there is a ceremony called “the passing of power.” At a certain time in the growth of a Wiccan initiate, when the initiate is ready to face greater responsibility and become an elder, an initiator wills all of his or her power to the initiate.45 Thus, at the hands of the initiator, the initiate’s spirit is fed, and similar to the young Aboriginal initiates, a Wiccan priestess or priest passes from the innocence of youth to the wisdom that comes with maturity.
The Ettin, initiator, or shadow does not want to consume you as much as it wants to heal you, to nurture you. The tale of the Red Ettin provides a clue to help you face the shadow’s nurturing initiation. When the second youth comes across wisdom, symbolized by the old beggar/fairy woman in the tale, he is able to answer the call to initiation. It is the fairy who tells the youth how to answer the Ettin’s initiat ing questions with success so he can pass through the threshold that allows him his “reward” in the conclusion.It is this same aspect of your consciousness that will guide you through the shadow initiation.
Exercise: Embracing Wisdom
This exercise entails meeting the inner Crone or Sage, which is the personification of your wisdom. In this exercise, men may discover either a Crone or Sage as the personification of their inner wisdom. Women may tap into either the female or male archetype dwelling within as well. To say that men can only connect with the inner Sage and women only their inner Crone would be magically untrue. Exclusion through specific gender assignment of roles takes the Witch or a shaman away from the diversity of consciousness needed not only to be creative, but to make magic.
Undeniably, men will never have the full gender experience of being female, nor may women ever fully understand what it is to be male, but opening ourselves to imagination is one way of deepening understanding and empathy,46 as well as broadening the scope of our magical power. There is no sense in resisting the form, whether male or female, that your wisdom wishes to take. Try to remain open to the possibilities of this exercise.
A Word on the Symbolism Used
In this exercise you will be taking a classic shamanic journey to con nect with your higher consciousness. Some call this force the higher self, the spirit guide, the wisdom self, or even the guardian angel, depending on the spiritual tradition.
Most shamans and Witches have at least one spirit guide that personifies this wisdom self. However, the idea of a spirit guide is not exclusive to those shamans who claim lineage to Northern and West ern Europe; the figure is common to shamanic and magical people globally.47 For example, according to the anthropological literature regarding the shamans of Siberia, shamans have a spirit guide which they call a “tutelary spirit” Thousands of miles away in Mexico and Guatemala, the shamans communicate with a spirit guide called the “nagua1”48 In the Polynesian magical tradition called Huna, shamans call the wisdom self the ‘’Amakua.”49
Whatever the name, contact with the wisdom self is essential to magical work—especially work that concerns the shadow. It is this portion of your consciousness that you will be contacting during the upcoming meditation.
Also, within the meditation you will use an astral or spiritual form of what was historically called “the Witches’ flying ointment.” Witches and magical flight are two images that are inextricably intertwined. Although this concept may seem fanciful, it is one that has actual historic roots. Fairy tales, and later on, mass media forms popularized this lore surrounding the magical flights of Witches.
In sorting out the realities from fantasies, the important factor is the flying ointment itself, which was according to all accounts a noxious combination of poisonous and hallucinogenic herbs blended into a salve and applied to various parts of the body. The reports surrounding the use of ointments made frequent mention of flight, journeys to other worlds, and transformations into animals and other creatures.
Although you will not be using a physical ointment, you will use an astral one to symbolically unlock your higher spiritual potential. The two forms of ointment produce the same effect, but the spiritual form will not create the side effects that the ancient Witches endured (usually prolonged illness and then death).
Finally, in the exercise, you will be using the glyphs or signs of both the moon and sun:
The sigil of the moon is one of the signs of women’s power and wisdom; the sun is traditionally associated with men’s power and wisdom.
It may be useful to have a partner read the instructions for the following meditation exercises out loud, or else record them and play them back while meditating.
Meditation: The Keeper of Wisdom
Close your eyes and take several slow, deep breaths.With each breath sense where in your body you hold tension and allow it drain into the ground, into the earth, where it is neutralized.
Imagine that a blue mist begins to swirl around your feet in a counterclockwise fashion. The mist slowly begins to climb your body. It covers your ankles … now your knees … now it covers your pelvis and your waist … now it covers your middle body and your chest, hands, and arms … now it covers your head and envelops you completely, like a cocoon.
The mist begins to lift you and take you away from the room to a sacred place that your spirit will recognize. It is journeying to a place that it has been before. It is taking you back to the place called the shadow chamber, where your mask resides. The journey is long, but you are traveling at speeds beyond sound or light or time.
[Partner: pause for ten to twenty seconds of silence.]
The mist begins to set you down now and to dissipate. As it does, you find yourself at the top of a staircase that spirals downward to the shadow chamber. Go down the stairs. As you spiral downward, look along the wall for the magical symbol that opens the door. This sym bol will be embedded in the marble walls, but will detach from the wall as you touch it. Take the symbol and go to the bottom of the spiral staircase, where you will find the door to the chamber. Unlock the door and move into the room.
There on the far wall is your shadow mask. Go over to it and take it from the wall. Since this is your second time in this room, your eyes seem to be more accustomed to the dim light and you can see features you couldn’t see before. In the adjoining wall there is a fireplace, with an old heather broom leaning close by. There is a small table near the fireplace, too. On the table is a jar with ancient designs inscribed on it.
This jar contains the sacred ointment of the priests and priestesses. It is the ointment of sacred visions. Open the lid of the jar, take a dab of the ointment on your fingers, and rub it into your third eye, which rests in the middle of your brow, at a point between your eyes.
When you do this, notice that your body becomes lighter, almost weightless. Your feet barely touch the floor and your arms are like feathers. Hold on to the mask and stand before the opening in the fireplace. Before you know it, you are pulled up into the dark recesses of the chimney. Feel your body rush skyward through the chimney. Soon you are out of the tunnel-like space of the chimney and you are flying through the night sky with your mask.
[Partner: pause for a moment.]
Soon you are gradually set down on the mist-covered ground.The time is midnight, and you find yourself on a dirt path that travels through a gully between two close, wooded hills. As you walk along this path, you look into the night sky and see the waning moon. It is a thin, pale yellow crescent in the heavens.
As you journey along this path, you see a small cottage or hut just ahead. A flickering oflight emanates from what appears to be a window or some other opening in the side of the structure. Approach this cottage. Go to the doorway, knock on the door, and wait to be admitted The door opens silently by itself to reveal an elderly person sitting by a fire. This wizened one beckons to you.
Ask this wise one’s name.
[Partner: pause for a few seconds.]
Show this wise one your mask and ask what questions this mask will ask of you. Ask what you will need to know in order to confront this mask and pass its initiation.
[Partner: pause for two minutes.]
If you do not understand how these answers apply to your shadow, ask now.
[Partner:pause for one minute.]
After you have received your answers, this wise one will hand you a magical tool that you can use to transform the darkness. What is this tool, and what are the powers associated with it?
Thank the wise one when you are finished, and let the blue mist begins to swirl once again around your feet. It begins to cover your body once more. When indeed you are covered, you begin to lift up. You are brought back to the place where your body rests comfortably, the place that exists in ordinary time and space. Journey now back to your body. When you are back in your body, the effects of the flying ointment will have disappeared completely. When you are ready, open your eyes and answer the journaling questions.
JOUrnaling
What is the name of the wise one you encountered?
What are the questions this mask will have for you?
What are the answers you need to know in order to face the shadow effectively?
What was the tool given to you and what are its powers?
The Shadow Bracelet
The shadow bracelet halts the effects of the shadow mask in your life. This is the first step in transforming the effects of subshadow from a downward pull on the psyche to a true internal power. Once you know when the shadow mask appears in your life, you have a better chance of working with it for growth. For now, it is best to halt the negative effects of the shadow mask, which is what the shadow bracelet helps you to do. However, this tool is not meant to establish a full resolution or assimilation of shadow.
It is easy to make and to use, and it is highly effective. The idea behind the shadow bracelet is to become consciously aware of each behavior generated by your subshadows. Typically, shadow mask behaviors are destructive or in some way harmful to yourself or to others, which makes them easy to detect. Shadowy behaviors influ ence your feelings of empowerment (or non-empowerment) and can indirectly affect how others view you and consequently how they act toward you. Halting the effects of the shadow mask can have imme diate and transformative effects.
Whenever a shadowy behavior arises while using the shadow bracelet, stop for a moment and ask yourself how this behavior is related to subshadow, to stuffed away emotions.
Construction the Shadow Bracelet
Items needed:
• String or yarn. Be sure to use colors that are connected with your shadow mask’s colors.
• Beads. The beads should have mouths wide enough for threading the yarn or string.Again, you should use beads that corre spond to the energies of your shadow mask.
Measure the yarn or string using your arm. Take the tip of the string and hold it between your first two fingers. Measure out enough to go down the arm to your elbow.
Now measure out two additional lengths of string of the same length. Tie the three lengths together in a knot, leaving five inches off the end, to form a bit of a tassel. Using the longer portion of the remaining yarn/string, begin to braid them all the way down until only two inches remain.
Tie the ends together, so that the braid does not come undone. Cut off two of these three remaining ends. Use the last end to tie a knot just above the first knot at the top of the braid; this creats bracelet’s loop. You will be tying the loose end onto the tassel end. You should tie the knot loose enough so that you can widen the bracelet to fit you comfortably.
String up the beads on each of the three ends of the tassel and knot off the ends of the string/yarn so that the beads cannot come off.
Using the Bracelet
Whenever you recognize a shadow mask behavior, flip your wrist from side to side, until the beads begin to slap up against your arm and rattle together. Take a moment to reflect on the possible origins of this mask. After that, say the following mantra, which is a prayer to either the Crone or the Sage Goddesses and Gods:
I call to thee in the triple sign
(Mother/Father) darksome and divine,
Bear with thee the holy sword,
To cut the darkness with a word.
36. Joseph Campbell, Transformations of Myth through Time, New York: Harper & Row, 1990, p. 37.
37. Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, New Jersey: Prince ton University Press, 1973, pp. 51-52.
38. Retold by the author from retelling of”The Red Ettin,” by Joseph Jacobs, English Folk and Fairy Tales, (3rd edition, revised), New York: G. P. Put nam’s Sons, (n.d.) pp. 136-142.
39. David Clement Scott, A Cyclopaedic Dictionary of the Mang’anja Language Spoken in British Central Africa, Edinburgh, 1892, p. 97.
40. C. G. Tung, Joseph Campbell (ed.), “Dream Symbolism in Relation to Alchemy,” The Portable lung, New York:Viking Press, 1971, pp. 324-325.
41. C. G. Jung, Joseph Campbell (ed.) “Dream Symbolism in Relation to Alchemy,” The Portable lung, New York: Viking Press, 1971, pp. 324-328.
42. It is a core belief in traditional psychoanalysis that the personality and the unconscious warehouse both light and dark qualities. In order to have full access to our light qualities, however, we must embrace and assimilate the dark. See, e.g., Jacqueline Small, Awakening in Time, New York: Bantam Books, 1991, p. 41.
43. R. and C. Berndt, “A Preliminary Report of Field Work in the Ooldea Region, Western South Australia,” Oceania, XII (1942), p. 323.
44. Primarily these initiation rites are those of the English Traditional Witches. Gardnerian, Silver Crescent, Alexandrian, Kingstone, and Geor gian traditional initiations are especially illustrative of this aspect of the self-giving initiator.
45. This rite is found in the Gardnerian second degree initiation. See, e.g., Morven Forest (ed.), The Rites as Practiced by Ouroborous et Ova,”Second Degree Elevation,” Chicago: Gardnerian Rite Church.
46. William Kurtines, Jacob Gewirtz, Moral Development Through Social Interaction, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1989, pp.l03--110.
47. Ruth F. Benedict, “The Concept of the Guardian Spirit in North Amer ica,” Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association, Menasha, Wis consin, 1923, v.29, 67.
48. Michael Harner, The Way of the Shaman, New York: Bantam Books, 1986, p.54.
49. Brad Steiger, Kahuna Magic, Gloucester, MA: Para Research, 1971, p. 19.