Any honest and deeply intentioned desire to awaken to our True Nature is confronted with the emerging reality that our Shadow must be included as an integral part of the spiritual journey. Only recently are we understanding the negative impact that, in our denial of the Shadow, our very Shadow was hard at work keeping us from evolving further. The first question most will often raise is: "How do I tell the difference between my Shadow and Soul?"

We have witnessed acknowledgment of the Shadow move through three waves of awareness over the last eighty years from the time of Freud and Jung until the present.

Initially the focus of Shadow (or Ego) therapy and philosophy was focused primarily on those dysfunctional parts of individual self or our world that would benefit from psychoanalysis. In itself this was of profound contribution to self-growth and actualization. This approach was only indirectly connected to the spiritual journey. Most religions relied on dogma, commandments, and a strict adherence to a hierarchy of wisdom holders within their own system. We all know the kinds of penalties that would accrue if you strayed.

Only now, in this early part of the 21st-century are we starting to emerge from the second wave of Shadow-awareness. This second stage is often put in these terms: "The Shadow of the New Age, is that there is no Shadow." Perhaps because of the revolt against the unbending and dictatorial nature of traditional religious dogma and rules, along with the "I'm Okay, You're Okay" salve that way used to make it okay not to confront one's shadow, we learned to marginalize or avoid any direct confrontation with darkness or negative.

We were taught that simply by thinking and believing good thoughts, that good things would happen to us and the world. This gave the Shadow plenty of time and means to subtly grow stronger, especially in the spiritual arenas.

The time for our denial of the Shadow is coming to an end. Many spiritual leaders are once again recognizing Shadow-work to be of central importance to real spiritual growth. Shadow-work, along with working on moving through the Stages and States of Conscious evolution are being embraced with renewed vigor - in service of a soul's awakening.

Soulwork represents one of these approaches. By focusing on activating the essence behind each unique soul's individuated self, subtle and not-so-subtle shadow elements arise to be embraced and brought into alignment with the essential element they are blocking. This leads to an ever-increasing abundance of joy-filled moments.

The chart behind the image below has been used by many to learn the difference between their soul and shadow (or, as it's called in Soulwork; pseudo-soul).