Shadow Work is the art of actively turning towards the parts of yourself you have buried, denied or learned to fear. Your anger, jealousy, self love, grief, desires, wildest dreams, pain and vulnerability.
Most people spend their lives trying to keep these parts out of sight. Society teaches you repeatedly that these emotions are bad, shameful, selfish or unlovable and that good people should always be pleasant, controlled and composed.
That is not real life. It is a performance.
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What can I expected from these sessions?
What can you expect from me and what does the work require from you?
Why Chthonic Shadow Work? How is that different from “normal” Shadow Work?
I specifically use the term Chthonic Shadow Work to draw a distinction between my work and more recent mainstream spiritual approaches to Shadow Work.
Some spiritual trends have rebranded Shadow Work as working with the things within your subconscious that need to be “fixed”. They use language like “raising your vibrations”, create lists of “low vibration” emotions and imply that you need to replace each of these with “positive thinking”.
We don’t do that here. That is not what Chthonic Shadow Work is.
You don’t need “fixing”. You certainly don’t need to “raise your vibrations and start floating 2 inches above the pavement”. Chthonic Shadow Work is about becoming more deeply rooted in the reality of mortal life, not trying to escape from it. It is about taking you deeper, not higher. Into the earth, into yourself, into the fertile darkness that holds all of your potential.
The word chthonic means “under the earth” and comes from the Ancient Greek khthṓn, meaning earth or soil. It is used to describe the underworld and the deep realms beneath the surface.
That is why I use the phrase Chthonic Shadow Work. My work is specifically informed by my connection with chthonic spirits and the way they approach transformation. They do not passively transform you. They burn down the old prison Tower, illuminate the crossroads and expose your hidden desires, your fears and your illusions. The path is yours to walk, but they will guide you to walk it with your eyes wide open.
See Spiritual Approach for further information on the entities I work with and how this informs and feeds into my practice.
So what is Shadow Work really?
Shadow Work is the deliberate act of meeting what you have pushed away, not to fix you, but to reclaim the power lost through hiding. The shadow holds your rawness, creativity, wildness and deep instinctive wisdom. We are not just excavating your anger or your jealousy, although recognising and understanding those emotions is part of it.
These parts are not mistakes. They are an essential part of your humanity and, when integrated, they serve important and necessary functions.
When these parts remain buried, they do not disappear. They influence your choices, your reactions and your behaviour, often without you even recognising what is happening. The aim is not to bury them deeper or force them into silence. It is to bring them to the surface, understand them and learn how to work with them. Your anger can protect you. Your jealousy can show you what you long for. Your grief can reveal what mattered. Your fear can warn you of genuine risk.
When you stop fighting these parts of yourself, you can begin to hear what they are actually telling you.
What can I expect from these sessions?
My Shadow Work is delivered as a package of 3x 60 minute sessions to allow us to reach the necessary depth of the descent.
Sessions may involve :
– deep conversation: exploring thoughts, emotions, patterns and contradictions through Jungian-informed coaching and questioning
– embodied work: learning to listen to your own body through meditation, energetic connection and mood wheels
– creative expression: poetry, creative writing, drawing, music, whatever inspires you!
– visualisation: externally through practices such as mood boards, or internally through guided visualisation
– ritual and divination work: tarot and oracle cards, elemental magic and intuitive ritual
Session 1: The Exploration – Clarity
Our starting point is always your longing, your dreams, the ache that you have denied yourself because it felt too big, too far out of reach, perhaps too selfish to want.
We explore what that vision really looks like for you – sometimes what we initially express we want is plastered over a much deeper longing hidden under the surface. Together we begin to remove the polished surface, the “acceptable” desire, and find what it is you really want when you stop trying to make your dreams small enough to fit everyone else’s expectations.
We then begin to look at what has been holding you back from your dreams. Your own self-limiting thoughts: I cannot do this. Wanting this is selfish. The expectations of others, whether real or imagined. And the genuine fears: if I choose this, what am I risking? Security? Reputation? Relationships?
Session 2: The Descent – Honesty
This is the work, this is where we descend into your own metaphorical underworld together and excavate what is hiding in the darkness. This isn’t a gentle meditation session, this is a confrontation with everything you have been looking away from.
We will use techniques like guided visualisation to let the fear, the hurt and the anger be felt without immediately silencing, minimising or trying to fix them.
Don’t enter this session expecting to return with all the answers and solutions – that is not the objective. Sometimes a solution becomes apparent. Sometimes the feeling just needs to be felt in order to let it go. And sometimes the fear is real. The risks are real. The only choice is whether you move forward anyway, knowing exactly what is at stake, or decide that the price is too high and choose another path.
That is progress too. That is personal power.
Guided by your personal spiritual practices, we may use tarot and oracle cards to ask deeper questions, and surface what remains hidden. This session is about putting all the cards on the table and not looking away.
We will always finish this session with the ascent back to the surface, a grounding practice and energetic realignment. The aim is for you to see clearly, never to leave you unmoored and lost in the dark.
Session 3: The Journey – Courage
The final session is focused on moving you forward.
If your week 2 session arrived at you wanting to move forward with making your dream a reality, then we look at the practical steps needed to get you there. We lay the first foundations, make the vision tangible, real and actionable. This is about you owning your vision and moving it from a lofty dream into a manifested reality. Here we confront the realisation that noone is going to throw a ready-made cake into your lap; if you want to eat the cake, you have to source the ingredients and actually bake it.
If you decided that the dream remains too big, too high risk and not worth the potential cost, we will work on integrating those feelings. We will look at ways to process the grief of the loss of your dream. But then we look at what remains, why you choose to stay where you are or walk in a different direction altogether. Here we shift your perspective back into the present, to what matters most to you and why, and find not just peace but rediscover the joy in that version of your reality.
What can you expect from me and what does the work require from you
Shadow Work is not gentle. I will create a space where you can bring your dreams into form and confront what’s keeping you from claiming them, free from judgement and free from needing to explain yourself. I will not coddle you, I will not fix your life for you, I will not tell you that “everything will be okay”. I will guide you, challenge you, hold up the mirror, walk with you into the underworld and help you find your way back out of the darkness. Together we will create a toolkit to take with you on your onward journey. But I will not walk the journey for you.
In return, you will need to bring honesty and a willingness to stay present with versions of yourself you would normally avoid or minimise. This work asks you to take responsibility for what emerges rather than bypassing it or pushing it away. I ask you to be honest with me and yourself. To say what works and what doesn’t work. To guide me as much as I guide you. This work is not passive; it requires active participation and collaboration. You are not here for me, you are here for yourself. Demand from me what you need and demand from yourself that you engage with the work – both during the sessions and with the homework inbetween sessions.
Nothing changes if you are unwilling to change anything.
Pricing & Booking
Shadow Work Package
3 × 60-minute one-to-one sessions
£300
Sessions are available online via Zoom or in person in Arbroath, Scotland.
Payment is due in full before your first session.
Payment plans are available by arrangement – please contact me to discuss this.
Ready to begin?
All Shadow Work begins with a free 30-minute conversation. This gives us an opportunity to talk about what you want to explore, answer any questions and make sure this is the right work for you.
Shadow Work is offered as a coaching service. It is not psychotherapy, counselling, psychiatric care or any other form of regulated medical or mental health treatment. See my Services Disclaimer for more details.