I’ve fallen in love with a shadow-eating ally. I first met this cheeky African trickster during the sitting sessions for J’s shamanic power altar. We were already in a deep state of meditation and inner attunement when he showed up.
No respecter of the status quo wherever it might limit truth or love, he somersaulted around, tipping sacred cows left, right and center. I could feel his power to disrupt entrenched patterns, easily turning the limiting constructs of an entire auditorium of people upside-down, inside-out and sideways. The next thing I knew, we were enveloped in a state of healing grace. A blast of rainbow starlight, all pink, gold, white and blue, lifted us up into a realm of pure love and joy. Underneath the surface of this cheeky trickster lives a master of transmuting and alchemizing shadow energy through unlimited love, compassion and understanding.
So began the journey of creating The Shadow-Eater, my newest shamanic art work. Once I assembled my palette (images, colors, textures and materials that held a similar feeling tone to what I registered in our first sitting sessions), I called J back in for another session. I needed to confirm and deepen the connection to this ally. Again, he showed up, revealing more about the mechanisms of shadow energy and how to heal and integrate it.
Anything denied, disowned or polarized against becomes distorted and twisted with a negative, destructive effect. He lifted off the shadow of distortion to return us to the true energy underneath, pulling us into a primal archetypal layer of human consciousness. Then a healing bubble of grace enveloped us again.
I didn’t realize it during the creation of the piece, but looking back, I can see how this shadow-eating trickster has steadily, without respite, brought me to confront my own shadow energy. Despite the ways he’s fucked with me to make sure I couldn’t pull a shroud of unconsciousness over me again, I’ve fallen in love with him.
I didn’t sculpt his head until the very end of the creation process. My love for this being deepened through the tactile experience of molding his features and embedding his 3 horns, all under his direct guidance. Painting his head brought him all the way through into physical reality. My heart filled with love and gratitude for his blessings.
J commissioned this piece to give her a massive boost of energy, power, connection, alignment and support to manifest her work in the world. Her purpose as a transformational coach and teacher is to help heal the collective shadow of race and the sexual abuse of women of color. J needs every bit of the primal energy and healing grace this piece embodies, every bit of the power it radiates, every bit of the clear light of truth and clarity it focuses, every bit of the love and support it holds. I think it may be my most potent piece yet.
