Saturday, December 21, 2013

Shining the Light on Your Shadows

 
 
Welcome to the Yule Tarot Blog Hop!!  
 
 
 
Hermit card from Snowland Tarot by Ron and Janet Boyer
 

Welcome to the Yule Tarot Blog Hop!  I am but one stop on the beautifully lit journey.  You should have gotten here from Karen Sealey's blog.

Traditionally, since farming couldn’t be done in the winter months, the dark time of the year was a time of rest and introspection.  Although things have changed tremendously over the years, for many, including myself, we still use this time to go within ourselves and decide what has been working and what has not.  Like the Hermit here, we use that inner light to search our inner depths, getting to know our true selves.  
 
As we celebrate the rebirth of the sun this Yule, many people are preparing for the New Year, making plans, goals and resolutions so the next year will be the best that it can be.  Some resolutions are chosen to live life to the fullest, such as learning a new hobby or crossing some things off of our bucket list, while others are chosen to better ourselves, such as quitting smoking or losing weight.  The idea of the resolution can really be a fantastic thing because they come from a place of us wanting to change for the better.  Our desire is there, however, a majority of resolutions fail.  We have the best of intentions but our desire for that particular change fizzles out for one reason or another leaving another “failed” resolution.  The problem can be that we are putting a band aid on a wound that we think is something minor but actually goes a lot deeper.  Of course this is not the case with all resolutions, but it is with some.  To have success, we have to dig a little deeper and get to the root of the deeper issues.  In other words, we have to do some shadow work.   
 
For those that are unfamiliar with the term, the shadow is those parts of ourselves that we keep buried deep down inside refusing to acknowledge them until they come out at the most inopportune times, sometimes wreaking havoc in our lives.  Our behaviors can be erratic, seemingly irrational and we can have issues making changes to ourselves (thus the “failed” resolutions). 
 
In order to free ourselves from our shadows, we must bring them to the surface and learn to live with them rather than fight them. When we start making resolutions, these are our shadows starting to peak out, wanting to be acknowledged.  We get a glimpse of them by wanting to make those changes to ourselves, but when we do not follow through with those changes, the shadows go back into the deep, barely acknowledged and we make our shadows worse because we may think less of ourselves because we weren’t able to follow through with our resolutions. 
 
When we make a resolution, we want to bring the shadow of that resolution to the surface, shine a light on it and reveal it for what it is.  Here is a spread that will help get to the bottom of things.
 
Ray of Light Spread
 
                                      2
                              3
         1             4
                               5
                                         6 
 
  1. Issue at hand/Shadow to work on
  2. How the shadow holds me back
  3. How does it help me
  4. What can I learn from it
  5. How can I heal it         
  6. What gift will I receive after it is healed
By revealing and healing our shadows, we celebrate ourselves and the light within us while also becoming a beacon of light for others.  Celebrate the return of the sun by celebrating the light within you.

Next stop on your journey is Shari B. Yetto's blog.
 
Happy Yule and happy hopping!
 
Shine on everyone!!
 
 
 



16 comments:

  1. I love the idea of resolutions as the shadow trying to heal itself. And a very useful spread to go deeper into the process. We've had a lot of good spreads this time around! Thanks for your contribution. I don't usually do New Year's resolutions, but your post has inspired me since there is a deeper process behind it. Thank you, Machelle!

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    1. Thank you Joy. :) I'm glad to have inspired you. You inspire me every day. :)

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  2. I've made for the first time a list of things I want to work on this coming year. I think there might be some shadowy parts of me starting to wake up. But the more you fight them the stronger they get. So easy does it

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    1. You are correct, Ellen! The more you fight them the stronger they get and eventually they can become some pretty bad monsters. I'm glad that you will be doing some self work. :)

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  3. I love this post, and the spread is awesome. Writing it in my notebook!

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    1. PS, how do you like the Snowland deck? It looks fun!

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    2. I love it!! It's so much fun. It brings out the kid in me and reminds me of the holiday cartoons.

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  4. Thank you Thank you for stopping by and for adding another lovely spread for me to try! Bright Blessings!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! I'm glad that you like the spread. :)

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  5. I dislike resolutions. Never keep them. But I think this spread is going to help me, you know. Eversince I studied astrology, I have been working with my shadow card. That I think will be my significator for this spread. Thanks Machelle!

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  6. A lovely spread to try out, thank you.

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  7. Nice spread Machelle... I'll be giving that a whirl, thanks!

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  8. I love that you point out that our shadow also always helps us in some way, if we can learn from it! Great spread :)

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  9. Another spread! Whoop! :D Love this one. thanks so much for addressing that the shadow is not a bad thing.

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  10. Another fine entry in this blog hop! Thank you.

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