Sunday, January 25, 2015

Shadow work and preparing for Imbolc

The last week of the Solitary Tarot and Oracle challenge is all about shadow work. And to be honest at first I wasn't excited about that at all. As soon as I heard Reacine mentioning the theme of this last week my I burst out  a whole repertoire of excuses: it is not the season to do this kind of exercises, my deck is far to sunny, I know my shadow part already, I don’t want/need to know my shadow parts, first I have to watch YouTube video or read blogs about shadow work etc. All these excuses were born out of fear and anxiety for the unknown.
And then I pulled the Four of Stones which summarized  how I felt perfectly: in the doorway to my path which will lead me to self-awareness is standing a huge heavy chest filled with blocking attitudes and false assumptions of safety. So reluctantly I've started with the last week of my challenge: I am dipping my toes in to shadow work. Since this is all rather too personal to blog about, I thought I’d show you my altar for Imbolc. 

Altar Imbolc Brigid Creativity

The goddess statue is a thrift store find from last week. When I saw her I immediately knew I had to take her home. I love that she is not overly detailed so I can see in her many aspects of the Goddess. For now she is Bridget to me. Lately I feel very drawn to the creative part of The Divine; to seek inspiration. A few days ago I was trying to write some poetry when I remembered that Brigid is the goddess of fire and inspiration and yes even of poetry. I thought it was fitting she would be my focal point for Imbolc.
Slowly the earth is waking up for Springtime and I feel it is time for me to open myself up to her energy too and allow myself  to be playful and creative. 


8 comments:

  1. What a lovely statue; I too love the ambiguity of her features (the difference between dogma and Mystery, in my opinion!). As you do shadow work, don't forget that sometimes what is in shadow is our gifts and talents that we fail to claim. :)

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    1. Thank you for your advice. It would make a lot of sense to discover treasures hidden under my fears and uncertainties
      Yes she does has something mysterious in her appearance :)
      A bit pensive...

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  2. wonderful post..and that Bev is so smart :)

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  3. Lovely card. And I like your interpretation. Made me think too!

    Wonderful altar. I always like you only use what you need :)

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    1. Thank you Steve! I guess everybody has stuff blocking their personal growth.:)

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  4. Shadow work can be very beautiful. And perhaps, a bit like your statue, it is a question of facing the mystery, the uncertainty, the lack of clarity, and embracing it… Lovely post and altar, Ellen!

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    1. Thank you Kerry. I suppose I am a bit of a control freak so facing a mystery is rather challenging for me. But I did try it and it felt strange but good and of course not so intimidating as I thought :D

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