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To: alt.satanism,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick.chaos
From: "Mr. Scratch" 
Subject: Re: Satanism, Shadow, Chaos and K@s
Date: Wed, 15 Feb 1995 12:30:57 -0800

For those who are unfamiliar with the subconscious impulse known to 
psychologists as "the shadow":

     Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied
     in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and
     denser it is.  At all counts it forms an unconscious
     snag, thwarting our most well meaning intentions.
                             -Jung

     The shadow is the personal unconscious; it is all those
     uncivilized desires and emotions that are incompatible 
     with social standards and our ideal personality, all 
     that we are ashamed of that we do not want to know about
     ourselves.  It follows that the narrower and more 
     restrictive the society in which we live, the larger will
     be our shadow.
                    -Fordham, _An_Introduction_to_Jung_.

The Shadow is our unrecognized, unwanted "darker-half".  It appears to 
exist and react almost independently of our conscious-selves, yet it 
shapes and molds our behavior, often in ways we do not want.  The shadow 
it the "devil" on your shoulder, telling you to do what you know you 
shouldn't.  (Yes, this even applies to Satanists!) 
One of the most obvious and dangerous aspects of the shadow is that, in 
our efforts to separate ourselves from it (and all the things we secretly 
dislike about ourselves) we project the rejected characteristics onto 
others, and symbolically seek to harm, discredit or destroy them.  In 
this way, the shadow has us chasing our own tails.


 On 13 Feb 1995, TOKUS wrote:

> Kali Yuga 49950213
> 
> "Mr. Scratch"  quotes Dr.NEMO III and writes:
> 
> |the personal shadow is far too painful and threatening to examine or 
> |confront, so it is left to its own monstrous means (the rather stupid 
> |and unethical behavior that is commonplace in this movement).  
> 
> |My only complaint with Chaos' example is that they applied the former but 
> |neglected the latter.
> 
> That is a valuable criticism of the model.  Thank you.  As you claim to
> have extensive experience with Jung's Shadow concept, do you have any
> suggestions as to whether I would need to delve my own shadow in order 
> to tie directly into that of society, or whether I might be able to 
> manifest a reflection of society's Shadow without drawing upon my own
> shadow for substance.  Is it possible that they are in some sense
> concentric as I have speculated, the societal containing the individual?
> 
One of the tricky things about dealing with the social shadow as opposed 
to the individual shadow, is that it is possible to emotionally separate 
yourself from society and gain something of an outsider's view.  It is 
difficult to do this with oneself, however.  Hence, the manifestations of 
the collective usually seem more obvious, especially if one rejects the 
taboos and restriction of that society.  But how does one go about TRULY 
rejecting ONE'S OWN values and restrictions?  The things we hold at our 
very core?  One must be able to do this, (at least temporarily) if one is 
to catch even a peripheral glimpse of ones own shadow.  How to do this?  
You will have to explore this on your own, though I recommend reading 
Zweig's _Meeting the Shadow_, a collection of shadow essays.

Should you delve into your own shadow in order to reflect that of society?
From my own experience, I have found that it is easier to identify 
society's shadow now that I have struggled to become aware of my own.  I 
feel that I can better identify in others what I had once rejected in 
myself.  The key here is to IDENTIFY the shadow elements and not to fight 
them.  The shadow is far less formidable when it is exposed to the 
daylight of consciousness, than when it is fought and pushed down deeper 
into the primordial subconscious where it actually thrives.

Is it possible to manifest a reflection of society's shadow without 
drawing upon your own shadow for substance?  By "drawing upon your own 
shadow", I take it you mean some form of projection.  The answer:  I 
don't know.  I would be interested in your results if you decide to try 
this.  I have my doubts, as I think 
one would have to be emotionally motivated to do such a thing.  If you 
are working against something out of a sense of justice or some direct 
emotional fulfillment, than there is a 
good chance that one sees in the "opposition" an element of yourself that 
you would like to further repress.  If you are interested in maintaining 
some degree of control over society though, learning to harness the 
shadow would be a powerful means of approach.    

As a side note about the shadow and our sense of "justice", I saw an 
interesting example on TV, surrounding the Susan Smith case. (Smith is 
the woman who reported her kids stolen, but it was later discovered that 
she drowned them herself.)  When people were out looking for the kids, 
the searchers seemed to come from all walks of life.  Once the truth had 
come to light, the crowd of followers narrowed to a select group of 
people with a vested interest.  The crowds of people screaming and 
jeering Smith as she was led to jail were comprised mostly of women, 
anywhere from their late 20s to early 50s.  The DA had to return 1000s 
in donations from people who demanded her execution.  I would be willing to 
lay down money that there was a high percentage of mothers among them.  
Could it be that this was a massive attempt for mothers to reinforce their 
repression of their own infanticidal urges? Such an event would surely 
force mothers to acknowledge the possibility of murdering their children 
(I am told this is a common impulse among mothers) and for some, the best 
means of repressing this urge would be to strike out directly at the 
outside "source".

One woman I saw held her  child above her head as Smith was being 
escorted away and screamed something to the effect  of "This is my 
baby!  I would never kill my baby!  I would  never kill my baby!".  If her 
feelings toward her child were never in doubt, why such an overwhelming 
display?  Why were her sentiments directed toward herself?

> tyagi/TOKUS
> -----------

--Mr Scratch

P.S; The new Smoking Mirror Pylon of the ToS is doing indepth research 
on the shadow and it's Black Magic applications.  Interested Setians may 
E-mail me for more info.