By Sarah Taylor
Without black, no color has any depth. But if you mix black with everything, suddenly there’s shadow — no, not just shadow, but fullness. You’ve got to be willing to mix black into your palette if you want to create something that’s real.
— Amy Grant, musician
I don’t know about you, but the year so far has seemed to be about an inner search and transmutation of a particular kind: that of a confrontation — whether gentle and measured, or fierce and fast — with monsters and demons. Or, rather, with what we believe is monstrous and demonic about us. The truth tends to be far removed from what we fear is real.
It is this that prompted me to return to the subject of the shadow two weeks ago, and it’s what I am continuing with today, aided by the Scorpionic territory we are inhabiting, and a retrograde Mercury. It is also reflected in yesterday’s momentary disappearance of the Sun behind the Moon — symbolic of the light of what is conscious and understandable making way for what is shadow-bound and intuitive.
There is such a strong current available to us that I thought I would get practical this week with a tarot exercise on the shadow. What I have done in past exercises is suggest that you pick a card that resonates with your shadow: one that is simultaneously repulsive and fascinating. It is an effective exercise, but only one of the ways that tarot can be used for shadow work. Moreover, its approach is predominantly psychological because anyone taking part has an active choice in the card that they pick. It does not depend on one of the most powerful aspects of tarot: synchronicity, or meaningful coincidence.
Today, then, I’m going to suggest we use the tarot as both a psychological and a divinatory tool by leaving it to synchronicity to come up with the card that will best express what shadow work means for you.
A tarot exercise in shadow work
Take a minute or two to centre yourself, shuffle your real deck (or virtual deck — one that allows you to pick a single card), and ask that you are divinely guided to a card that you are ready and able to engage with. Then draw your card.
Make a note of your first impressions, with no censorship or judgement. Write them down if that’s helpful.