Solutions of the Shadow

From the Tarot of the Radiant Path, the Devil; from Mirrors of the Heart, Mirrors:

          The Devil is shown with a background of humans trying to deal with overwhelming emotions. Most of us would prefer to detour around such feelings, which is right up this demon's alley. He tells us we should indulge and comfort ourselves with various vices, because we deserve them. His reasoning is that we need the narcotic effect such behaviors offer to get through this in one piece. Of course the devil is only the ego in my head; it wants only pleasure and success with no challenges or pain to deal with (an impossibility as a human). The Mirrors card (actually the title card that I accidentally drew but decided to keep) shows a face partly in light and partly shadowed. Life shows me both sides of who I am, including the darker sides of my personality. My shadow side includes what my ego considers to be facets of my inferiority, and to compensate, it projects these characteristics on other people. Jung stated, "A man who is possessed by his shadow is always standing in his own light and falling into his own traps." The only way out is to acknowledge this side of myself, rather than numb it or project it onto others. Yet seeing the hearts in her eyes, I am reminded that there is a luminous aspect of myself too from which I can choose to act.

And when we can see that we are all chipped and broken, we begin to value our life as an expression of the teaching that we are truly perfect and complete, just as we are.

—Pat Enkyo O’hara