the shadow

Some understanding of the nature of the psychological types facilitates our approach to the ambiguous domain of the destructive side of human nature, which Jung calls the "shadow" and which in astrology is connected with Saturn, the "Dweller on the Threshold".

The planet Saturn symbolizes a psychic process as well as a quality or kind of experience. He is not merely a representative of pain, restriction, and discipline; he is also a symbol of the psychic process, natural to all human beings, by which an individual may utilize the experiences of pain, restriction, and discipline as a means for greater consciousness and fulfilment. He is the "Dweller of the Threshold", the keeper of the keys to the gate, and it is through him alone that we may achieve eventual freedom and self-understanding.

For some people it is easier to assume that the "Devil" has created all the evil in the world, thereby removing human responsibility from the issue altogether. They fail to realize that evil is really the repressed negative energies of the collective unconscious being projected onto the "Devil". It is, and has been, a very convenient method of explaining man's dark side or shadow.

Edmund Whitmont describes the phenomenon of "shadow projection" as it is know in analytical psychology in his book, The Symbolic Quest:

"Ask someone to give a description of the personality type which he finds most impossible to get along with, and he will produce a description or his own repressed characteristics - a self-description which is utterly unconscious and which therefore always and everywhere tortures him as he receives its effect from the other person."

"The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge, and it therefore, as a rule, meets with considerable resistance."

Recognizing one's own darkness appears to be a necessary prerequisite not only for self-knowldege, but also for knowledge and acceptance of others. If it is not brought into the light, it will be projected.

It is not only significant in an individual's own development and in his capacity to form personal relationships; it is also extremely important in a collective sense. Were we more cognizant of this darkness in ourselves, it is entirely possible that collective phenomena which exhibit the projection of a group shadow - such as persecutions, inquisitions, purges, racial intolerance and prejudice, and other phenomena which involve the sacrifice of the scapegoat - would never occur.

The shadow consists of all those qualities which are inherent in the potential consciousness of the individual yet, because of their apparent darkness or destructiveness, are excluded from consciousness during the course of development. The individual then remains comfortably unaware that these qualities belong to him.

Every cop is a criminal,
And every sinner a saint.

If you wish to have your shadow interpreted as indicated by the placement of Saturn in your horoscope, please send your name, address, birth information - (date, time, location ) and a money order in the amount of $50 to:

Carol Reimer
22 Pioneer Blvd.
So. Huntington, NY 11746

Upon receipt, I will send you a 30 minute cassette tape with an interpretation of your shadow.