"The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner opposite, the world must perforce act out the conflict and be torn into opposing halves."

DR CARL GUSTAV JUNG

Shadow is a term initiated by the late Dr Carl G. Jung. It represents aspects of our personality that are unconscious, underdeveloped, repressed and denied. The shadow contains both wisdom and warning, it holds both the potential light and dark aspects of our character. Shadow is not limited to the few, for within us all there lies a repressed figure struggling to be free. Sooner or later this dormant archetype will awaken and step out of the shadow to explore the light of day. More often than not it will find its way into our psyche as a result of an obsessive love interest. The target of which will be someone whose behaviour mirrors our own shadow, creating in us an uncanny sense of familiarity. Is it any wonder we keep falling in "love" with the same kind of person? What the psyche is trying to do is make us confront the deeply imbedded contradictions within ourselves, the imbalances and embrace the unconscious shadow.

The inner state of our consciousness will keep showing up outside of us until the psyche can bring it into our consciousness. If we do not reflect on the reasons why, we will seem almost cursed to repeat these patterns; integrating similar people and similar situations into our lives time and time again. The shadow has profound energy and like a magnet will draw itself to itself over and over again. The love interest is always a good "hook" for our projections as they act out all our inhibitions, therefore mirroring the polarized shadow. It is not uncommon from time to time to feel repulsion or even hatred towards the projected love interest, thus creating havoc in the relationship; there is nothing easy about two extremes trying to balance each other out. Although we are strongly attracted to this "love" interest there are characteristics about them that we are likely to despise and therefore want to change. It is not unusual to find ourselves over reacting and being emotionally charged around this "coat hanger", for our deeply held principals are being challenged by this projection. This is the psyche's way of bringing the shadow to light, for you can almost bet that these intense infuriating moments are really encounters with our own repressed shadow.

The song Shadow was born after reading Count Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina and realising that I shared some of Anna's shadow .Since the novel has been a world wide best seller since its inception in the 19th century, I considered that there where many people who identify with Tolstoy's characters, not least of all Anna; the repressed wife and mother who became blindly impassioned and ultimately imprisoned by her love for Count Vronsky. Although in our more modern world, society's social acceptance of these affairs of the heart has changed considerably, still within the novel lie's a clear example of the repressed shadow gaining the upper hand. The result being the tragedy that was to become Anna. The incomprehension of her shadow eventually leads to her tragic decline and eventual downfall. In the end Anna throws herself beneath the wheels of a train; symbolic of the dismemberment of Anna heart. Who has not felt sympathy or empathy for Anna's crucified heart; the conflict between profound passion versus moral values and personal responsibility, the sheer terror of obsessive love, for it has the power to awaken such deeply embedded parts of our psyche that often we feel it would serve us better not to open what has the potential to become a Pandora's box; full of dark rejected miseries, ones that we decided a long time ago caused us such pain that they were better buried beneath the surface of our being.

But not all undeveloped shadow is dark ugly stuff. Much of the repressed shadow is light and positive and should be brought to the surface. Why else would the psyche try so hard to get us to acknowledge what is unconscious? The psyche only wants what is best for us. It is finding the correct balance that is essential and that is only brought about by self awareness and integrity with the self. Achieving this can be a difficult life long process but like all processes it is best achieved by participating, by doing, by learning about the self and having the courage to face ourselves and our shadows honestly.

If Anna has stayed in her marriage she would have died alive; dismembered from her soul. Although an illicit affair with the romantic impractical figure of Vronsky leads to her untimely death, she died having felt love, having embraced the deeply imbedded Aphrodite that struggled through her initial defiance to be free. However there has to be warnings when attempting to unleash the dormant shadow and the character of Anna gives us great insight into this; once awake the repressed shadow needs harnessing; new powers and strengths are required in order to control the new found archetype and its liberation. Unless managed the dormant parts of the psyche that are suddenly unleashed can take hold and like the tragic Anne become a danger to the self and others.

To quote an inscription by the Greeks at the temple of Apollo in Delphi "know thyself" and "Nothing in excess."

"Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. At all counts, it forms an unconscious snag, thwarting our most well meant intentions."

Dr. Carl G. Jung