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And I was going to keep my mouth shut! But nooooooo I've got an opinion or two to share with you and you may as well sit down. I'm not dealing with Brevity 101 here.

It occurs to me that "Shadow" itself is a word that is beginning to be a catch phrase for all sorts of things, and it is also a coined label. I use it myself from time to time, but it is definitely not "traditional" upon any of the paths I've explored. Following this conversation I think we're going to have to get used to it though.

IMHO People are trying to find their own way to describe dimensional situations and this is catching on if you will. Not simply here at Spirit Lodge, but everywhere. There aren't many places you can go today without someone speaking of the shadow aspect of something and it's merely the unknowns or challenges presented to them.

When your Guides or Totems are working with you on an open and functional basis they do not dwell in shadows, they step forward into the light and make their presence known. As they come forward they may do so slowly stepping out of the shadows or observing you from there for a bit but they do step out when they think you are ready to handle the face to face part. At that point they are not playing shadow games with you. But to get there you have to

I have seen people's Guides superimpose themselves over the individual's faces. I see them appear in photos too. That's what I would consider a Shadow Image. These Guides are presenting themselves encased within the aura of a person and it gives a shadowy context at first but they will clear too. Why? Because our Guides and Totems appear to us from another dimension, be that superimposed or manifesting into a physical merging with an individual, there is a dimensional "look" to them. Those new to the experience tend to start looking for a label to put on it so everyone knows what they are talking about. They are simply energy bodies that we are seeing and sometimes they appear to waver sometimes they are more solid, I've even seen them appear like mirages on a hot summer highway.

While I've heard talk of Shadow People for years now, often that term is used to describe beings who merge dimensionally, or disincarnate spirits....those who have crossed over, ghosts, that type of thing. I've heard theories of them being glimpses into dimensional realms merging with the physical reality. I've used the term Shadow Teacher, or Shadow Lesson for a long time and by that I mean something we're not seeing at the time, usually an experience or individual that teaches us how *not* to behave, or treat others, what we do not want to be and why does this happen?

Because we need the experience in a negative way to have compassion for others when we find ourselves in a similar situation as the one we are learning from. Once learned you see it coming a mile away, you instantly recognize the energy signature that brings that kind of pain or discomfort to things. It shadows the reality, makes it murkey, muddies the integrity to behave in those ways and learning by experience it impresses upon us a need to curb it in ourselves. This is the external version of the internal Great Smoking Mirror...it reflects things back to us...things we don't like to see, or fear or find distasteful...to gain understanding of what we will or will not be ourselves.

Here in this thread I believe there have been 1/2 a dozen definitions or more, lots of speculation and theory, and it's even slipped back into the Ego issue. We need to get used to the term, I've heard it for the past 10 years or more and there are countless interpretations to go with it still lingering. Personally I think when we hear someone speak in this way we need to ask them to define exactly what they are saying and take it from there with our own associations or lack thereof. Guessing at it and then tearing the guesses apart is serving nothing but to confuse the issue itself.

Spirits are like us, they have personas and they have intent that determines the integrity of their actions for good or bad, just like we do, but you do need to get acquainted to know them and what that intent is. Shadow, dark, unclear, foggy they all imply a less than optimal perspective don't they? And isn't that what we seek spiritual growth for? To overcome those things in our nature or to clear our way to answering our questions?

Our Guides and Totems are here to help us benefit from their advice, teachings, and through their natures they do what they can to see us moving along our paths. It's not a Shadow that's the issue, it's how we perceive and work with them, how we embrace instead of disect what they are telling us. Learning our own symbology, what things mean to us personally, and understanding the nature of predator/prey with animals as well as humans we see where the shadows (grey areas) come into play but it's up to us to shine light on those areas to clarify them. Understanding the essence of the creature itself, it's habits and habitat adds to the knowledge of why they are making gestures. Understanding the Sacred Directions and where they come from to where they go tells us more.

These are real spirits we're talking about, not figments of imagination and this thread feels like a deepening shadow at times obviously creating more confusion than understanding. I think that's because speculation is moving into the focus rather than definition and that very definition is something that we each place on the word in our own way. Slide the term into the New Age category, ask someone to explain what they mean some other way. If they can't then they don't know what they're talking about through experience but rather in theory only.

It's simple if you want it to be. Human nature is to complicate everything. But until you understand the simple basics how can you understand the more advanced lessons? You can't. So until you fully open to the Spirit Helpers working with you there are going to be areas around them bathed in shadows, shadows of your own making IMHO, because once you do open there are none, again IMHO...and my experience.

My first Totem came to me as a Shadow-Wolf, she was always in shadow, always watching over me, but never took on a 3-D form or markings of an actual Wolf. That scared me, I was 5 years old at the time. It was a few years before she did take form and that was my fear keeping her in that *shadow* image. She would not break it until I broke through the fear. Now she appears as a full Wolf, her face as clear as the person sitting next to me, (and she has a cold nose too! LOL) but in the beginning her features were all shadows. As I opened she got clearer. It's the same with the lessons and experiences we have with dimensions. We block ourselves with fears of the unknown and create danger and drama around them. While we should not discount risks and we should do things carefully, if we do we have nothing to fear at all.

While spiritual experiences are often dramatic, we don't need to create that drama, it's there when we open to them and find the awe and beauty behind them. This is just my opinion on the matter based on many years of experiences with these situations and you can take from it what it's worth to you, but then that was the point of this thread...wasn't it? Ha! And I wasn't going to say anymore about this! LOL Well I'll leave you to munch on it for awhile and hope you find some insight that you can digest. *Grins*

It's a fair topic Arctic,

And one worthy of discussion. I think your tradition uses the term shadow to mean dimensional overlay.

Wachituga, the post is staying *S*. I just wanted to clear the air a bit.