UnCommon Sense . . .
"Psychology:   Study of the soul" or "study of the mind" . . .

"Psychology:   from Greek: "breath", "spirit", "soul"                                                                                                                                                     
Wikipedia

In This Issue

I Have a Liite Shadow

SoulCollage® Workshops

Art Classes

UnCommon Quotes

SoulCollage® Corner

Workshop dates

Sunday Aug 8
The Shadow & SoulCollage®

Sunday October 10
Pendants the Easy Way

December 10 - 12
Breitenbush Retreat

April 22- 24, 2011
SoulCollage® Facilitator Training

UnCommon Quotes
 

My Shadow

Robert Louis Stevenson

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.

He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;

And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow-

Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;

For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India-rubber ball

And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all

.

"I'm right here. This is who I really am. I'm not pretending."

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

If you imagine someone who is brave enough to withdraw all his projections, then you get an individual who is conscious of a pretty thick shadow. Such a man has saddled himself with new problems and conflicts. He has become a serious problem to himself, as he is now unable to say that they do this or that, they are wrong, and they must be fought against. He lives in the "House of the Gathering." Such a man knows that whatever is wrong in the world is in himself, and if he only learns to deal with his own shadow he has done something real for the world. He has succeeded in shouldering at least an infinitesimal part of the gigantic, unsolved social problems of our day.

Carl Jung
"Psychology and Religion" (1938). In CW 11: Psychology and Religion: West and East. P.140

"The other day when I was walking through the woods, I saw a rabbit standing in front of a candle making shadows of people on a tree."

Stephen Wright

Taking it in its deepest sense, the shadow is the invisible saurian tail that man still drags behind him. Carefully amputated, it becomes the healing serpent of the mysteries. Only monkeys parade with it.

Carl Jung
The Integration of the Personality. (1939).

"All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring; renenwed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king."

The Lord Of The Ring
 J.R.R. Tolkien

"What is your substance, whereof are you made, that millions of strange shadows on you tend?"

William Shakespeare

Beware that you do not lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.

Aesop

Every man casts a shadow; not his body only, but his imperfectly mingled spirit. This is his grief. Let him turn which way he will, it falls opposite to the sun; short at noon, long at eve. Did you never see it?

Henry David Thoreau

Projections change the world into the replica of one's own unknown face.

Carl Jung
Aion (1955). CW 14: P.17

I am not bound for any public place, but for ground of my own where I have planted vines and orchard trees, and in the heat of the day climbed up into the healing shadow of the woods.

Wendell Berry

I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an endless labyrinth. I have tried to shed some gleams of light on the shadow of man startled by his anguish.

Marcel Marceau

I've seen George Foreman shadow boxing and the shadow won.

George Foreman

Shadow is a colour as light is, but less brilliant; light and shadow are only the relation of two tones.

Paul Cezanne

To light a candle is to cast a shadow.

Ursula K. Le Guin

eSoulCollage®
Corner
Tips for diving into your SoulCollage® cards

Simple Shadow Work

Here's a simple way to start to work with the shadow:

• Divide your cards into 2 piles:  those you like and those you don't like or don't understand. 
• Spread each pile out and look at the themes and symbols.
• Do a little reading with one card from each group. 
• Then do a dialogue with a card from each pile, asking for specific advice about something in your life, even something as mundane as "what should I have for dinner."

Journalist Meets the Shadow

Here's a more in-depth project to work with shadow material:

Pick one card that you particularly dislike, fear or simply don't understand. Ask the card to answer these questions:

1. When did you come into my life?  What events or circumstances gave rise to your role in my life?
2. What do you fear? What is your worst fear?
3. What are your hopes and dreams?
4. What do you do when I'm not aware of you?  What are you working on?  What are you working for?
5. What do you think of my life?  Friends?  Work?  Home?  Family? Hobbies?
6. What do you know about my health problems?
7. What advice do you have for me?  What do you think I "should" do?
8. If you could make a single change in my life, what would it be?
9. Who is your favorite SoulCollage® card?
10. Which SoulCollage® do you most dislike?
11. What do you want from me?
12. What is your gift to me?

Other Easy Ideas

Simply gather images that give you the creeps, scare you or fascinate you.  Find pictures that represent your secret dream and see if there is a card that wants to be made.  Do the "I am the One who . . ." with these simple images.

Use poster putty and create a wall collage using your cards.  Arrange them into the shadow hugging cards, and the shadow boxing cards and simply look at them every day.  They will be working whether you are conscious of them or not.

When someone is irritating you, image that they were one of your SoulCollage® cards and do the "I am the One who . . ." and see what they, as your shadow, have to tell you. 



Feedback
This is one of my shadow cards that seems to puzzle and poke me after 2 years of looking at it.  I can never remember what it has said.  There's more to learn here.  If you would like to read this card using the "I am the One who..."  I'd love your feedback.

Quick Links

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Indie Arts DVD Magazine
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Providence Behavioral Health
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Contact Me

suzie@suziewolfer.com

503-224-3318

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Dear Susan,

Finally here in Oregon, a day without overcast, above 79 degrees. 

With the sun's reappearance, we cast bigger sharper shadows.  The more light, the more interesting shadows.  Shadow play can be fun with a camera on a bright day, as Robert Louis Stevenson poetically writes.  When it's our inner shadow that can be a different story.

This month we have a fun way to get to know your shadow selves through SoulCollage®.

And if you'd like to work individually or with your partner on Inner Shadows, we're proud to introduce Gwen Welch LCSW at our new therapist at the Portland Relationship Center.

With 30 years experience, she brings gentleness and compassion along with skills to help you get results.

Hope you're enjoying the SUN!

Fondly,
Suzie
suzie@suziewolfer.com 

I Have a Little Shadow

We cast shadows because of light. 
 
When we strengthen our "good" qualities, this good identity occupies a strong place in the sun. And this identity casts a strong shadow. 
 
Shadow qualities can be things we fear, find disgusting or hate, like the story of Jekyll and Hyde for example.

Ken Wilbur calls this shadow boxing.  We use the shadow, like a coat at a check room, to drop off things that we or others find unacceptable.  "We have neurotically tried to render our self image acceptable by making it inaccurate," as Wilber puts it.  And we have blind spots.
 
Our shadow bag, as Robert Bly calls it, can also contain qualities that we long for, but believe we do not possess.  Ken Wilbur calls this shadow hugging.  

Julia Cameron describes the Shadow Artist as one who has been chosen by the Artist Archetype, but has disowned this power. The shadow artist may buy art, critique art, run galleries, and dance around the art world when what she longs to do is paint, or write or act.

Mary, a client with some anxiety, wanted to feel more confident, instead of feeling so invisible.  She was overlooked at work.  Her friends and family took her for granted.  Her older brother seemed to always get all the glory growing up.  When she started to examine her "shadow bag," that thing dragging behind her that she feared people would see with all of her bad qualities, she discovered her  authenticity instead.

How did she do this?

Together we started examining the contents of her shadow.  She found her joy for life, some of her dreams . . . and the source of her anxiety - the fear that she wasn't "good enough."  This fear convinced her to edit nearly everything she felt or thought or did.  She stored her real self in her shadow bag for safe keeping.  She admired women who were witty, flamboyant, creative - the very things that she had dispossessed. 

She started with to work more actively with Shadow by by challenging it's fears.  She practiced saying a gracious but firm "no."  To her surprise, no one rejected her. 

She then tried observing the anxious part of her, which she called Anxious Mary.  She realized Anxious Mary needed her support and encouragement so she wouldn't take over and make then both invisible. 

As her confidence increased, she dialogued with Anxious Mary, and in the process found her sense of authenticity, little by little. This came as a surprise to her . . . but not to her therapist!

The purpose of the Shadow

The shadow works like a storage device that holds in safe keeping all of our potential, our complexity and multi-dimensionality, as well as the things we don't like. 

When we find ourselves worshiping another who has a quality we have dispossessed, we are likely to be looking at our shadow quality in them!

Most people work with shadow material at mid-life when our identities have become strong enough to allow for a little remodeling and expansion.

• In mid-life our curiosity can over- ride our fear of behavior patterns that block our progress. 

• At mid-life, we take our longings and dreams more seriously, since we realize time is limited.

Once we identify and make friends with shadow material, most people feel energized with the discovery of their own buried treasure.

Shadow work enables us to shine the light of conscious awareness into all the unexplored rooms of the mansions in which we live. 

Without knowing it, we may imagine we inhabit a condo, a shack, a small rented apartment or even the corner of a dark basement that we're afraid to explore, lest we meet unwelcome creatures. 

It can be scary to open the creaky, dusty door of a room that has been locked for years.  We never know if we'll find monsters, or treasure.  We don't realize we live in a vast and gorgeous mansion filled with something priceless -- the Self.


 
Counseling can make the job of reclaiming the shadow an adventure in search of buried treasure.  You don't need to do it alone.

Call 503-342-2510 or email us to make an appointment if you'd like to explore your shadow.  We accept most health insurance plans.

Sign up for the SoulCollage® & the Shadow workshop.

Don't believe everything you think.

SoulCollage® Workshops

NEW  The Shadow & SoulCollage®
Sunday August 8, 2010  12 - 5 PM   $60  New Renaissance.  Register at 503.224.4929 or New Renaissance online

The Shadow includes all that we abhor about ourselves as well as the hidden gold that we have buried inside for safe keeping. 

We disguise these negativities by seeing what's "wrong" with others.  Then we camouflage our positive potential when we admire or idolize others. SoulCollage® helps us embrace the Shadow and liberate us from limiting stories.  Unacknowledged, these stories are held in our subconscious, affecting our day to day behaviors. 

Meeting the Shadow turns the dark angles within us into beacons of light. 

Breitenbush Hot Springs

Women's Winter SoulCollage® Retreat
December 10 - 12, 2010
Tour Breitenbush and get details
 

SoulCollage® Facilitator Training 2011
Friday April 22 - 24, 2011, Portland OR
McMenamins Kennedy School

Art Classes

 
Pendants the Easy Way
Sunday October 10, 2010
6:30 - 9:30 PM
Here's an easy and fun way to use your favorite imagery and turn it in to jewelry.  All materials are provided.

Learn more and register at the Art and Soul Web site

You will make two mini canvases measuring 1.25 by 2 inches.  These can be single images or mini collages of your own design.  Then with a few simple steps, you'll end up with what looks like a gold bezeled pendant with dangling jewels or charms.  You'll have enough supplies to make 2 complete pendants.
It's easy and anyone can do it!

Register

UnCommon Quotes
for the Soul

To confront a person with his shadow is to show him his own light. Once one has experienced a few times what it is like to stand judgingly between the opposites, one begins to understand what is meant by the self. Anyone who perceives his shadow and his light simultaneously sees himself from two sides and thus gets in the middle.

Carl Jung
"Good and Evil in Analytical Psychology" (1959).
 Civilization in Transition. P.872 

Thanks for reading.  Please send any feedback or article ideas to me at suzie@suziewolfer.com

Sincerely,

Suzie Wolfer LCSW
Counseling Services of Portland

SoulCollage® Corner

 
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