Unconscious of your story, you are in its grasp; but with consciousness, an alchemical process begins: The solidity of the complex dissolves and you can open up to the arrival of a new archetype, the birth of a new cycle of life. In the shadow, then, lies our myth and our fate.

Shadow-making happens in families and makes us who we are. It leads to shadow-work, which makes us who we can become.

There is an enemy-maker in each of us. We make enemies of the people we love the most and the people we know the least.

The shadow disguises itself in our projections, when we react intensely to a trait in others that we fail to see in ourselves.

Each of us wrestles with the dark giant in our own way.

The rewards are profound. Shadow-work enables us to alter our self-sabotaging behavior so that we can achieve a more self-directed life.

Once you uncover the history of this pattern and trace its roots, you will see that your reaction in the present moment is really a reaction from the past, a shadow character's attempt to protect you from reexperiencing an old emotional wound, which instead sabotages you in the present.