Shadow Dance by Ami Amore' 2021 Life is fleeting Emotions are vicious Snowing and sleeting A blanket of thick, wet tears fall Quick, fast and plenty Like wolves to nature’s call They accumulate like a murder of crows With an appetite to stimulate An army of them mocking and teasing All unsuspecting passerby’s They find this taunting quite pleasing Thoughts slowly spreading out and creating An intense network of feelings Weaving a web in waiting In a nearby field of desolate mind Ice crystals form unmatched shapes A fall from grace left behind Self mirrored reflection in angry pools Causing danger and trauma To unprepared and brazen fools Take a look closer only if you’re brave The ice is sharp, secret side is dark Will you let the pits of your mind enslave Will your bout with this be your grave Will you embrace the shadow self you save Do you dare enter this cave? Journey to the center of the mind A never ending horror The tunnels are haunting and unkind Feel your way as you go deep This arduous voyage Will surface every dark thought you keep. Stalagmites of memories from below Crowding, cutting making you bleed Providing opportunity to grow A shadowy yet familiar figure appears Cascading around one another Dancing with most secret fears This dark mirror of thy self We tango in passionate and painful embrace Continuing eternally liminal delf Flesh, blood and bone Mind, body and soul Ongoing enlightenment to hone Exhausting and seemingly pointless duty Integrating our perverse, repressed and chaotic self To find whole inner complete beauty. A run on sentence that ran too far The waltz of a thousand waltzes The counting of a million stars
I first heard of shadow work a few years ago listening to a podcast and it piqued my interest. I soon began to read articles and find out as much info as I could on the subject including this book called Existential Kink by Carolyn Elliott. How the hell does this relate to my writing and dancing?
Over the course of 20 years I have kept journal after journal. Words, when written with intention, have magickal powers. They have the power to heal, to end, to create. I kept all journals as proof. Everything I have ever wanted and wrote down and day dreamed about, has happened. That’s why the prose above was so important for me to sort my thoughts, my journey with shadowwork.
In the past few years, unconsciously my dance performances have become more spiritual and healing in nature. I have used my performances to reclaim my power, work through my grief, honoring the dead, conquer injury, push through body image and self confidence issues. I could not stop dancing even if I tried to be honest. My body is my most powerful instrument for magick. And incase you didn’t figure it out by now, I am a woman who manifests her own destiny and creates this world she lives in, I am WITCH.
What did I find in the past year of doing this Shadowwork? I found that it’s scary at times, but also not scary at all. I have found acceptance and being honest with myself as the hardest part. Yeah, you’re going to realize there are things you do that you actually delight in and are comfortable to you, but are deemed unsavory by society, etc… the truth is, we all have a dark side. While we may be scared of the dark, maybe there is enlightenment there, comfort, strength. Unearth the fears and insecurities, they really only exist in our own minds.
I dug deep for this performance drawing from my experience with the pandemic in the past year. I did a lot of shadow work. Facing the parts of me that I would rather not see, leaning in to those parts I’d rather no one know about. Shadow work is based on archetype theories of Carl Jung. This piece was written, choreographed and performed by me. The editing was a collab with my dear friend Kasper Bellydance. The music Gripir by Danheim inspired me to create this piece drawing from the prose above I created on a snowy night the past winter.
Enjoy this journey in my mind and soul friends. Thanks for being here!
If you’re interested in a little more info about archetypes and the Shadow, I invite you to google Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist. Jung believed that we are made up of archetypes. I am only going to mention the 4 main archetypes of our personalities, cited from this article:
Persona – How we present ourselves to the world
Shadow – That part of ourselves which we repress. Composed of parts we’d rather not share with the world including, but not limited to- repressed ideas, weaknesses, desires, instincts, and shortcomings.
The Self – represents the unified unconsciousness and consciousness of an individual. The whole complete personality. Jung believed in order to be the youest you you can be, that we must integrate all aspects including our Shadow.
Anima/Animus – represents the “true self” rather than the image we present to others and serves as the primary source of communication with the collective unconscious.
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