Three adjectives I used to describe Spider were creepy, dirty, and sneaky. This is what I shared with my friend and fellow author, Dawn, when she invited me to take part in an exercise she created to help with the fear others may carry about a particular animal which is in her new book that launched yesterday called, Shadow Animals.
What unfolded during that exercise is in chapter one of Dawn’s book. Like a Spider so beautifully and exquisitely spins a web, I’d come to realize that Spider and the adjectives I’d used were connected to my feelings from trauma as a young child.
I’d then recall how much I enjoyed the book and film as a child, Charlotte’s Web. It was Charlotte, the spider, who was so very kind to Wilbur the pig, reassuring him that everything was going to be okay. Watching that film around the time I’d gone through this exercise I’d realized how Spider had been an ally to me as a child assuring me that despite the trauma, I would be okay too.
When I received an advanced copy of Dawn’s book I realized I didn’t have a totem to honor the teaching I received from Spider. And so I set out to find something to do just that…
And I came upon this gorgeous beaded spider with a mandala as part of her body. She really spoke to me and she arrived today.
A mandala – a symbol in various spiritual traditions, often used for focusing attention and as a spiritual guidance tool to establish a sacred space or aid in meditation seemed so fitting for what Spider guided me in bringing to the surface as another layer of healing.
It’s when we can really be with that scared inner voice, listen with compassion, and allow ourselves to open to the insightful wisdom we carry within that we can shed layers of pain we either know are there or that may be hidden. Once recognized and acknowledged, how often we can set ourselves free from the angst that kept us bound too tight in a web that held us back from being our true self.
So this beautiful spider joins my Joyful Pause Cottage studio among the many other totem animals that have touched me in some shape or form. Welcome. I’m so glad you are here.
“Shadow Animals” by Dawn Baumann Brunke & my collaged card honoring Spider and her teaching and healing for me.
The song, “Me and My Shadow” popped into my mind and continued on an endless loop the morning after I finished reading the book, “Shadow Animals.”
In part the lyrics are:
“Me and my shadow
Strollin’ down the avenue
Me and my shadow
Not a soul to tell our troubles to.”
In this new thought-provoking and timely book, “Shadow Animals” by Dawn Brunke, the line “not a soul to tell our troubles to” brought forth a whole new meaning and expanded my love yet again for the animal world for all the wisdom and guidance they’ve provided me over the years.
It has been a deeply rewarding experience to have healed aspects of my shadow self because of the gentle, caring, and at times, loving persistence of the Animal Kingdom – especially those animals I held some fear about.
So it was an honor to be asked to take part in the chapter on arachnophobia and test a series of questions that Dawn developed that would help uncover clues about my angst about Spider. What it revealed and the insight that bubbled to the surface ushered in a welcome layer of healing!
As we continue to move through these challenging times of divisiveness and fear, it has become clear that the ones we really need to tell our troubles to are ourselves. That which triggers us and causes us pain or angst is an opportunity to go within and heal those shadow aspects of ourselves. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for!
And the animals – especially those we fear– called shadow animals – are the ones who can expand us in profound ways. They are here and waiting to walk lovingly beside us and inspire and encourage us to do the inner work to heal individually so that we may heal on a collective level also.
Dawn writes: “Shadow animals are unique teachers that can help us find and better understand the lost and wounded pieces of ourselves of which we are not fully aware. Some hold clues to repressed memories of trauma or abuse. Some are guides, helping us to explore the puzzling or guarded aspects of our psyche.”
Reading this book I found myself reaching for my Post-it™ note tabs over and over again, marking many passages that resonated, deeply moved me, or invited me to contemplate further. One such paragraph is from the chapter intriguingly titled, “Nightmare.”
Dawn says, “To consciously meet our nightmare invokes a deepened relationship between Shadow and self. What we find when we face our fears is often surprising. For beyond the face of fear we encounter a deeper presence. There, in the dark mirror, we see ourselves. Previously misunderstood aspects of who we are gaze back at us, no longer cloaked by fear but illuminated with wonder.”
The chapter goes on to share a short, but emotional dream Dawn had about a neglected and abused pony. I was moved to tears as I recognized once again that part of me that had suffered abuse as a young child.
She encourages us to ask these questions: “What is battered, damaged, abandoned, sick, or starved for attention within my self? What small, sad being is at last acknowledged as we open our arms to hold and love it? With care and attention, what might it become?”
While exploring the deeper recesses of our psyche is not always easy, it’s that deeper presence that Dawn speaks to that is the reward and once experienced changes us in a profound way.
From sharing the well-researched mythology and folklore and the origins of how many animals came to be deemed as “bad or evil,” plus meditations and simple, but powerful exercises, Dawn eloquently shows us how we can not only heal our wounds – a.ka. our shadow – but how we can also awaken and expand in the truth and bring back into the light the brilliant teachings of the Animal Kingdom.
And so Dawn’s new book, “Shadow Animals,” and the many years she has devoted to the extensive work and understanding of the animal world, I see as an exquisite gift and a wake-up call to our world at this crucial juncture.
The first step then is acknowledging we each have work to do. Then get yourself a copy of this book, take notes, do the exercises, and open yourself to the treasure that acknowledging our shadow is a way to deepen into a more peaceful place within. Most of all, welcome in the animals and share your fears and unhealed stories with them. They are waiting with the utmost love to guide us home to the heart of who we truly are.
So as I wind my way back to the lyrics that looped through my mind, I see “Me and My Shadow” along with the deeply insightful wisdom shared in Dawn’s brilliant new book, “Shadow Animals” as an invitation. An invitation to not fear our shadow, but instead befriend it, acknowledge it, integrate it, and dance in the wonder of it.
For the well-being of humans, animals, and the planet, I highly recommend this book as a way forward to living with more love and compassion not only for ourselves but for all beings.
xxx
You can read more and pre-order here.
You can also read chapter excerpts on Dawn’s website here.
