Don’t Run From Your Shadow …
“That which we do not bring to consciousness appears in our lives as fate.” Carl Jung, MD
On February 2nd we will collectively celebrate Groundhog Day, which marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. While there are various celebrations involving groundhogs around the country, perhaps the best known involves Punxsutawney Phil, that famous groundhog from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
As weather lore has it, if Phil emerges from his burrow on February 2nd and sees his shadow, he will retreat and there will be six more weeks of wintry weather. If he does not see his shadow, then early spring weather is right around the corner. Groundhog Day has a rich history based on a deeper meaning; it speaks to the triumph of spring over winter, birth over death, light over darkness. If this is the case, then why would Phil retreat from his shadow? Indeed, what might such a retreat symbolize for any of us?
The “shadow” is a concept first coined by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung to describe those aspects of the personality that we choose to reject, deny, or repress. For one reason or another, we all have parts of ourselves that we don’t like or are concerned others won’t like, so we push those parts down into our unconscious psyches. Shadow integration is a process of bringing the hidden parts of the Self “into the light” so they are not exerting unconscious influence over our life choices. According to Jungian psychologist and author David Richo, PhD, “This shadow side of our ego contains the disowned, disavowed, unlived, and excluded traits and powers of our personality. … It is both negative and positive…. The positive shadow contains all our untapped creative potential.”
It was just over a year ago that the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported in the US and the World Health Organization declared the virus a global health emergency. Over that 1-year time, we have had numerous opportunities to confront our individual and collective shadow; the good, the bad, the ugly, and the lovely. And there has been plenty of each. Like Phil, it is tempting to retreat from that shadow. In doing so, however, we will not only be prevented from taking an important step toward greater individual and collective integration and wholeness as we see ourselves as we fully are, flaws and all, but we also miss the opportunity to access that untapped creative potential. And we could sure a full measure of that right now!
So this year I’m hoping on February 2nd Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow and doesn’t retreat back into his burrow, as an example for us all. And don’t worry about the weather. As the Farmer’s Almanac says, “If he sees his shadow, we’ll have six more weeks of winter; if he doesn’t, it’ll be six weeks until spring.” Either way, spring is right around the corner …