5 BRUTAL TRUTHS ABOUT SHADOW WORK NOBODY TELLS YOU

I've been diving deep into shadow work lately, and let me tell you, it's not the Instagram-friendly spiritual journey that gets packaged into neat little infographics.

It's messy. It's uncomfortable. Sometimes it's ugly as fuck.

But it's also the most transformative inner work I've ever done.

Before we go further, let's get clear on what shadow work actually is. Carl Jung (the OG psychologist who wasn't afraid to explore the weird, mystical side of the human psyche) described the shadow as the parts of ourselves we've denied, repressed, or disowned. The traits, desires, and aspects of our personality that didn't fit with who we thought we should be, or who others told us to be.

Your shadow isn't just your "negative" traits. It's anything you've hidden from yourself. Including your power, your brilliance, and your gifts. The shadow is simply what's been banished to the darkness.

Shadow work is the process of bringing light to these denied aspects of yourself. Of acknowledging, accepting, and eventually integrating these disowned parts back into your conscious self.

Through my own journey with shadow work, through art, meditation, psychedelics, and some seriously uncomfortable self-reflection, I've uncovered some truths that nobody really talks about.

Here are five brutal realities about shadow work that you should know before you start:

1. YOUR SHADOW ISN'T WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU. IT'S WHAT YOU THINK IS WRONG WITH YOU

The first time I really understood my shadow, I was sitting in sitting in a trip while having psilocybin in my system. About two hours in, I had this crystal-clear realization: What I judged most harshly in others was exactly what I was hiding from in myself.

My shadow wasn't the traits themselves. It was my judgment about those traits.

I used to get triggered as fuck around people who were openly ambitious. Who wanted recognition. Who weren't afraid to be seen. I'd label them as "ego-driven" or "attention-seeking." Looking down on them made me feel better about playing small.

But during that trip, I saw the truth: that I was actually ambitious too. I wanted recognition too. I wanted to be seen too.

I had just pushed those desires into shadow because somewhere along the way, I'd accepted the story that wanting those things made me shallow or spiritually immature.

Here's the brutal truth: Your shadow is filled with completely natural human traits that you've decided are unacceptable. Your anger isn't the problem. Your judgment of your anger is. Your desire isn't the problem. Your shame about your desire is.

Shadow work isn't about eliminating these parts of yourself. It's about eliminating your rejection of these parts.

2. SHADOW WORK OFTEN MAKES THINGS WORSE BEFORE IT MAKES THEM BETTER

Nobody warns you about this part. When you start bringing your shadows into consciousness, they don't just politely integrate. They can temporarily take over.

Not to be weird, but a few years ago I had an experience at a music festival that I was attending. At the time, I was under the influence of whatever I could get my silly little hands on. But one of those being psilocybin, which has inspired me to create PsiloKyrin.

However, in my experience, I had ended up FaceTiming my family. For some reason, I was having a moment where I was battling for the spotlight in my mind. I found myself spilling out things I've never told anyone out loud. I've always been scared that I've been cursed because my shadow has been so prevalent in my life. It got so bad to the point that I thought that I was the Antichrist or some whack ass shit like that. But obviously that is crazy talk, but the physical act of saying it out loud for the first time unlocked something in my subconscious.

As soon as I had confessed this thought that I have had consuming me for 26 years of my life (at the time, I'm 29 now), dark particles began to come off in the crowd above me and in front of me formed a huge dark cloud that wasn't just a normal cloud. It was cognitive, it was aware, and it was the darkest/most powerful thing I have ever laid my eyes on.

While this dark entity/cloud was growing in front of me, I found myself being in two places at once. Through my left side of my eye, I could see the dark entity growing larger and larger in front of me.

Then through my right eye, I was in the middle of a golden field with an oak tree in the middle of it. There was a seraphim there, which at the time I didn't know what that was. And if you don't know what that is, a seraphim is a type of "angel" in Biblical books, etc.

While the entity was growing, the seraphim took control of my body and my hand moved up with light. Not to destroy the dark entity, but to transmute it’s energy. Within a matter of seconds, I found myself speaking in a language I had never heard of or spoken prior. Something just took over me. My body filled with, the closest thing I could describe it to, was a feeling of Absolute Truth. It wasn't really about the noise that was coming out of my mouth, but the intention and frequency that I was emitting to transmute this dark entity.

There's a term called "glossalalia" which according to google: "Glossolalia, also known as speaking in tongues, is a phenomenon where individuals utter unintelligible, speech-like sounds, often during intense religious experiences or ecstatic states. It is not a language in the conventional sense, as the sounds have no recognizable semantic meaning."

Which is what I believe happened to me in my experience.

And in that experience, I had realized that we are in a spiritual warfare.

The fear that I've been holding onto for so long was so powerful that it manifested into something only I could see.

THAT IS SOME POWERFUL SHIT.

That experience showed me that we all have the divine spark within us and we have access to higher power when we are fully aligned with ourselves and our Absolute Truth/Divinity.

This experience was honestly what started me down my rabbit hole of shadow work.

3. YOUR "SPIRITUAL PERSONA" IS PROBABLY YOUR BIGGEST SHADOW

This was perhaps the most humbling realization for me.

I had built this identity as a conscious, aware, spiritually-evolved person. I meditated. I ate clean. I talked about energy and frequencies. I created art that expressed higher consciousness.

And there was truth in all of that. But it was also a persona. A mask that hid a shadow.

Because while I was focused on transcendence and light, I was ignoring the very human, very primal aspects of myself that didn't fit that spiritual image. My anger. My jealousy. My desire for material success. My judgments. My capacity to be petty as fuck sometimes.

I realized my "spiritual identity" had become yet another way to dissociate from parts of myself I didn't want to face.

True spirituality isn't about transcending your humanity. It's about embracing all of it, the sacred and the profane, the light and the dark.

Some of my most profound artwork emerged after I stopped trying to create from only my "highest self" and allowed all of me, including my shadow, to participate in the creative process. The pieces became more raw, more authentic, more alive.

4. THE PEOPLE CLOSEST TO YOU MIGHT RESIST YOUR SHADOW WORK

Here's something they don't tell you about this journey: Not everyone in your life will be thrilled about you embracing your full self.

They've formed relationships with your persona, the edited version of you that felt safe to present to the world. When you start bringing your shadow qualities into the light, you're essentially changing the terms of those relationships.

I lost friends when I started expressing anger I'd previously bottled up. I faced resistance from family when I began setting boundaries I'd previously been too afraid to establish. I watched people get uncomfortable when I stopped performing the identity they'd come to expect.

This is perhaps the most painful part of shadow work. Realizing that some connections in your life were conditional upon you remaining in your familiar patterns, even if those patterns were hurting you.

But here's the flip side: The relationships that remain (and the new ones that form) will be based on the real you, not just the acceptable parts. And that kind of authentic connection is worth the painful transitions.

5. SHADOW WORK IS NEVER FINISHED

If you're looking for a nice, neat ending to your shadow journey, I've got bad news for you. This isn't a linear process with a clear finish line.

Shadow work is cyclical. Seasonal. Lifelong.

Just when you think you've integrated one aspect of your shadow, life will present you with a situation that reveals another layer. Another blind spot. Another disowned part of yourself.

Ever heard the term, “another level, another devil”?

The good news is that over time, you get better at recognizing your shadows. You develop more compassion for yourself in the process. The integration becomes less dramatic, more fluid.

But the journey itself? That's ongoing. As long as you're breathing, you're creating new experiences, new conditioning, and yes, new shadows.

This isn't a bug in the system. It's a feature. It's how we keep evolving, keep expanding, keep becoming more whole.

HOW PSYCHEDELICS ACCELERATED MY SHADOW WORK

I'd be bullshitting you if I didn't acknowledge the profound role that plant medicines, particularly psilocybin, have played in my shadow work journey.

Psychedelics have this remarkable capacity to temporarily dissolve the barriers between your conscious and unconscious mind. They can bring you face-to-face with your shadow in ways that might take years of conventional therapy to access.

One of my most profound experiences was with a fairly heroic dose that showed me how much resentment I'd been harboring toward people who hadn't lived up to my expectations. I had constructed this identity as someone who was chill, forgiving, and didn't hold grudges. But under the psilocybin, I could see the seething mass of unexpressed anger I'd been denying.

It wasn't pretty. It wasn't comfortable. But it was real.

The medicine didn't just show me this shadow, it helped me understand its roots. How it connected to childhood experiences of feeling let down. How it had shaped my adult relationships. How much energy I was using to keep it hidden from myself.

That single trip created more movement in my shadow work than years of intellectual understanding ever had.

But here's the thing about using psychedelics for this work: They're tools, not solutions. They can show you your shadows with remarkable clarity, but the real work happens in how you integrate those insights in your sober life.

After every mushroom trip or journey, the question becomes: How will I honor what I've been shown? How will I use this awareness to live more authentically?

THE ART OF SHADOW INTEGRATION

My art completely transformed when I started consciously incorporating my shadow work. Instead of creating only from the parts of myself I approved of, I began allowing all of me to participate in the creative process.

The result? Work with more depth. More tension. More life.

One of my favorite pieces emerged after a particularly difficult shadow session where I confronted my fear of being truly seen. The piece combined elements of exposure and hiding, vulnerability and protection. It wasn't "pretty" in a conventional sense, but it had a visceral quality that my previous work had lacked.

Art became both a method for exploring my shadow and a way of expressing what I discovered there. Sometimes the creative process itself would reveal shadow aspects I wasn't consciously aware of. I'd look at what I'd created and think, "Whoa, where did THAT come from?"

The beauty of creative expression in shadow work is that it gives form to what's often difficult to verbalize. It creates a container for emotions and realizations that might otherwise feel too overwhelming to hold.

HOW TO START YOUR OWN SHADOW JOURNEY

If you're feeling called to begin your own shadow work (and if you've read this far, you probably are), here are some practical ways to begin:

1. Pay attention to your triggers

What makes you disproportionately angry, judgmental, or defensive? These emotional reactions are often pointing directly to your shadow. If someone's behavior drives you crazy, ask yourself: "Where do I do this same thing, but haven't acknowledged it?"

2. Look for patterns in your projections

Notice the qualities you repeatedly praise or criticize in others. We typically project our disowned positive traits onto people we admire and our disowned negative traits onto people we judge.

3. Examine your "always" and "never" statements

Statements like "I never get angry" or "I'm always the responsible one" are clues to shadow material. Any time you've rigidly defined yourself as always or never being a certain way, you've likely pushed the opposite into shadow.

4. Create safe containers for expression

Whether it's art, journaling, movement, or working with a skilled therapist or guide, find spaces where you can safely explore and express aspects of yourself that feel taboo or uncomfortable.

5. Practice radical self-compassion

Shadow work isn't about beating yourself up for what you discover. It's about expanding your capacity to embrace all aspects of your humanity with compassion. The goal isn't perfection, it's wholeness.

THE REWARD IS WORTH THE DISCOMFORT

I won't sugarcoat it: Shadow work is some of the most challenging inner work you'll ever do. It will confront you with aspects of yourself you've spent a lifetime avoiding. It will challenge your cherished self-image. It might temporarily turn your life and relationships upside down.

But on the other side of that discomfort is a freedom that can't be found any other way.

When you stop running from your shadow, you reclaim the energy that's been tied up in keeping it hidden. When you embrace the parts of yourself you've rejected, you become more whole, more authentic, more alive.

Your relationships deepen because you're showing up as your full self, not just your edited highlight reel. Your creative expression becomes more powerful because it's drawing from the full spectrum of your experience. Your spiritual connection becomes more genuine because it's grounded in your whole being, not just the parts you deem acceptable.

This is the paradox of shadow work: By embracing what you once considered your darkness, you actually bring more light into your life.

So here's my invitation to you: Get curious about what you've been hiding from yourself. Get brave about facing it. Get compassionate about embracing it.

Your shadow isn't your enemy. It's the key to your wholeness.

And wholeness? That's what this journey is really all about.