The work of spiritual and psychological awakening and growth is the Individuation of the Self;
The evolving core essence-consciousness is the ‘higher Self.’ Call it the unfolding Atman, the Spark of Indwelling Gnosis, the Soul or the Guardian Spirit, it is the first serious magickal and mystical step towards wholly embracing your Genius or True Will.
There is, of course, an equally important and more visceral process done IN TANDEM with the Individuation of the Self, that is the embrace and Integration of the Shadow. Your Monster.
The whole binary dynamic or dialectic is rather stale and trite,
but the analogy is useful
As we open the Jewel in the Center of the Lotus,
we must also enter the dark tunnels below the Earth, below the Tree of Life,
to accept, embrace and reconcile the hidden or atavistic parts
of unconscious mind. Our Animalself
All we have repressed, all the dark and uncivilized thoughts and feelings,
all the ‘dragon mind’ lower cortex primate and primitive
reflexes, instincts, violent and antisocial aspects of our Id:
our pure animal
This is a crucial, powerful and useful part of us.
Polite society reviles, banishes and vilifies the Shadow,
often persecuting anything smacking of the primal or animalistic as bestial, animalistic, devilish, rogue- a monster.
YET inquisitions and persecutions and witch burnings
demonstrate the real power and evil of suppressing the Shadow.
The beast, the monster within is feral but not hateful
Their violence and hate a clear object lesson to integrate, not reject.
Our Shadow, our Daemon, our horned and hoofed and furred and clawed imp –
our Monster, our werewolf
makes us whole, makes us strong, instinctual and able to survive
It gives us psychic durability and power and intensity, toughness and strength of will
It enables us to recover from loss and attack and pain
It helps us defend our physical and emotional and spiritual self
From the onslaught of a dangerous and horrific world
from danger or enslavement by others worse than monsters
Here’s the thing.
Those on the the hidden or ‘occult’ path
know the following:
Once we step on this path, we can’t leave it without great peril,
for it is more a tightrope than a path
and it is really two tightropes,
one leading up into the light and the other leading down into shadow
and we must, like every Hero, descend into the underworld
to embrace our shadow and so be reborn
AND journey upward, like every shaman,
into the heavenly sphere to unite with our Self-Star.
Full individuation, full initiatory illumination,
means accepting and embracing both your higher being as well as your monster. One can not be only Yang or Yin, one must be both as One-and move beyond. Those who have insisted on purity and white-light only
Have collapsed horribly as the suppressed Shadow eventually,
like all suppressed primal urges,
erupts.
Alchemy shows us that the Great Work is transmutation
through the union of seeming opposites
which are really two parts of one being, whole.
Two become one, the instincts and eroto-primate-darkness
energizes and helps the light and positivity of Self survive,
This extends the Gnosis out into a vibrant life life
So we will never lose touch with our wonderful,
crazy-making sexy-wild animal selves
without which we would miss much of the joy of life.
In many ecstatic ritual situations, holy or mundane, a lot of illuminating fun is to be had as a ‘Party Animal’
As long as Self centers and integrates Shadow, all is well.
Much of what makes us human is tinged with the Shadow,
this in no way detracts from spiritual evolution or advancement,
it anchors the ethereal ‘white light’ in the muck and mud of the fertile Earth,
the dirty, difficult business of living, mating and co-habitating with other humans
in an imperfect and trying daily life.
It is the animal-shadow-monster that cuts loose, goes wild,
gets a bit out of control;
It is the Self that keeps the wildness and the chaos focused on the positive
and not the cruel or selfish,
but only when one had fully accepted and embraced the Monster
and all those parts of your Deep Darkness.
To move forward on the Hidden Path
you must Love Yourself, and it must be ALL of you,
not just the parts that are easy to love.
In this initiatory practice, we use the gods and spirits within us
The divine Monster Tropes, or archetypal models
They exist still in our nightmares and in our movies for a reason-
for working with your Shadow Self!
Such tropes, like Rorschach Blot tests, offer us a powerful and ancient way
to approach and work with your Monster- think about it.
The most ancient, universal and deepest trope or archetype is the shapeshifter
The human who becomes animal.
The oldest monster of all, the one on cave walls tens of thousands of years old
Today we here know it as Wer-Wulf- human/wolf-Werewolf
A monster of instinctual intensity, a predator, exuding wildness,
and offering heightened senses, protection, hunting prowess, intense loyalty, primal passions and ferocity!
Deeply connected with the most ancient rites of lunar energy.
In ancient cultures are cultures across the world, the shapeshifter animal-human monster lives and breathes! It is truly universal! It is shaped from primal memories of giant predators like dire wolves.
It is existing in the shaman within us all who communes with animals because they speak to the animal inside us, the animal we are.
Werewolf magick is about this- rediscovering, reintegrating, renewing!
We must embrace, integrate and sublimate/integrate our Monster.
In this way our Shadow Self can help, serve and empower our Self.
That is the great journey of the Hero, the descent into the Unconsciousness Darkness of the Underworld, the discovery, challenge and integration of the Shadow Monster, Wolf headed Cerberus, and so accomplishing of the Quest for Self and the alchemical wedding that leads to new bliss-centered life
So we can become a Whole Being who is guided by the Star but strengthened and empowered and protected by the Shadow.
And so we enter the deepest darkest primeval forest on our quest
but we do not fear nor shirk, for we enter as mere humans seeking truth
And we shall emerge as powerful wer-wolves with magic and joy.