Slow down, do your shadow work

Carl Jung, the Kemetic tarot and a regenerated wicca feature in Shadow Zine, a boutique publication from cutting-edge coven The High Priestxss. 

Its editor, designer turned shadow sorceress Claire Yurika speaks to me atop the blasted heath of Zoom.

Claire Yurika put the brakes on a glittering fashion career to focus on her inner work.

“Allowing shadow to pass through a room brings softness, like switching from overhead office lighting to a lamp-lit glow,” is her eloquent description of life post ‘shadow integration’.

Psychologist Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud’s star student who favoured a spiritual and proactive approach to living, claimed the world would be a much better place if we all did the same. 

"Shadow work could be explained as exploring life”

Crucial to this effort was a merciless examination of ‘The Shadow’, the side of us that we suppress and deny. Taming these instincts involves earning their trust. Shaming them leads to frustration, and later madness.  

“The shadow is where there is subtlety, and mystery”

Dr Rick ‘Spirit Molecule’ Strassman stressed the importance of self-reflection to psychedelic therapists in his Vital lecture earlier in the syllabus.

And at 2022’s Breaking Convention conference Magnificent Maria Papaspyrou (The Psychedelic Divine Feminine, Institute of Psychedelic Therapy), cited collective shadow integration as key to emerging from our liminal age intact.

“Most of our shadow work is about fear. It's fine to be fearful of wasting your life. Investigate why that scares you”

Shadow Zine is Claire’s polished, playful and practical companion for our own shadow work, published by her cutting-edge coven The High Priestxss in London. In my latest broadcast interview, Claire talks about how shadow work can save the world, slowing down, self-agency and ancient Egyptian magick in the cosmopolis. 

Follow Claire on Instagram for more shadowy goings-on.

Grab your copy of Shadow Zine here.

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