Full Description
A guide to shadow work with animal teachers
• Explains how the animals we fear or dislike can help us recognize and investigate our shadow side: the hated, abandoned, judged, and denied aspects of ourselves
• Explores the lessons of a wide variety of shadow animals, including snakes, rats, bats, and spiders, as well as those that only seem shadowy to some, such as dogs, cats, birds, and horses
• Looks at the elements of the psyche each shadow animal represents and presents thirteen animal-inspired exercises designed to examine, embrace, and integrate our shadow selves
We often project qualities onto animals that we don't wish to admit in ourselves. Thus, snakes are evil, spiders are creepy, rats are dirty, and so on. As Dawn Baumann Brunke explains, the animals we fear or dislike can help us to recognize our Shadow: the hated, abandoned, judged, and denied aspects of ourselves. As teachers and guides, shadow animals can help us to reclaim the inner strengths, abilities, and wisdom that we have forgotten or disowned.
Brunke explores the lessons of numerous shadow animals, including those that many think of as shadowy, such as snakes and bats, as well as those that only seem shadowy to some, such as dogs, cats, birds, and horses. Though shadow animals may initially appear frightening, they offer profound healing and expert guidance in helping us identify, learn from, and embrace our shadow selves. Brunke explains how shadow animals represent unexamined elements of the psyche--from secret fears and suppressed emotions to unacknowledged prejudices and repressed trauma. She presents thirteen animalinspired exercises, each uniquely designed to help us find and better understand the lost, wounded pieces of our psyche.
Presenting an animal-centered guide to shadow work, Brunke reveals how shadow animals protect and advise, challenge and encourage, inspire and offer support to the spiritual adventure of enlightenment as we awaken to who we really are.
Contents
INTRODUCTION
The Cat, the Snake, and the Shadow
A Short Guide to the Shadow
Animal Teachers
Shadow Animal Teachers
Working with the Shadow
Shadow Animals
1 Arachnophobia
Exercise: Spider's Web of Intrigue
2 Hidden Treasures
Exercise: Rat's Treasures, Three Ways
3 Suspense and Suspension
Exercise: Be-ing with Bat
4 The Knower of Secrets
Exercise: That Cat--It's Just a Story We Are Telling Ourselves
5 Trust That Turns
Exercise: Sitting with Dog
6 Scapegoat
Exercise: Reclaiming Our Projections with Goat
7 Nightmare
Exercise: Meeting the Night Mare
8 The Birds
Exercise: Becoming Bird
9 That Which Swarms, Stings, Bites, Burrows, and Invades
Exercise: What's Bugging Me?
10 What Lurks Below
Exercise: Exploring the Deep Psyche with Shark
11 Metamorphosis
Exercise: Frog's Mirror Meditation
12 The Fear of Knowing Who We Are
Exercise: Continuing the Quest with Snake
13 The Most Dangerous Animal of All
Exercise: A Celebration of Selves
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
