The shadow is everything you do not want to be, what you have pushed out of sight. Jung saw it as one of the great figures of the psyche. A shadow pursuing you is a part of you asking to be accepted.
When the dream feels light
Talking calmly with a shadow speaks of integration and strength gained from the dark.
When the dream feels dark
A shadow that chases you or a dark figure at the window points to a repressed fear or trait.
Ask yourself
What do I refuse to see in myself?
Correspondences
- Archetype
- The Shadow — What you have refused to see in yourself, dark but full of force.
- Element
- Earth — body, matter and the real
- Planet
- Saturn
- Tarot card
- The Devil
- Alchemical stage
- Nigredo, the Blackening
What you push away follows you. Turn and greet it; it carries strength you have not claimed.
Related signs
The Wolf · The Rat · The Bat · The Goat · The Storm · The Forest · Night · The Stranger
The card of this dream
The Devil. The chains of desire, habit and fear that you have agreed to wear. The Devil crouches above a man and a woman chained to his pedestal, yet the chains are loose around their necks. He is attachment, temptation, addiction and the shadow: what binds you can be released, if you see it clearly.