Shamanism, an ancient practice and way of life found in all cultures and traditions across the world, is deeply rooted in the belief that everything in the universe is interconnected, including the visible and invisible realms. Healing is central to Shamanic practice in our evolving world as the practice is known to take you into the parts of yourself which has restricted your connection to your authenticity, nature and the world of spirit. This involves addressing certain problems beyond that of the literal level and looking more at the holistic view: spiritual, emotional, and energetic imbalances. In this exploration, we delve into the highly misunderstood concept of "dark matter" within the metaphysical landscape, understanding its significance, and how shamanism can help you work with it to create deep healing and transformation.
Understanding Dark Matter:
The Law of Polarity
To understand the function of the dark matter, it’s important to first understand polarity. The universe is held together by positive and negative polarity, both of which have equal value in our existence. Newton’s third law of motion: “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction” perfectly sums up the idea of positive and negative polarity. Everything comes in pairs: negative and positive, action and reaction, masculine and feminine. We need to honour and welcome both as when we stick to what feels safer, we can easily end up ignoring half of our consciousness, therefore limiting our own growth through programmed fear. In terms of spirituality, we are wired to deem what lies within the darkness as evil and the light as good, when in reality, neither are good nor bad - they just are. A lot of this comes from passive, religious programming of Heaven and Hell. It’s this programming which deems certain aspects of ourselves as good and evil, causing us to gravitate towards states of consciousness that feel safer, even if they keep us within a place of disempowerment. As implied by Newton’s third law, we all have polarity within us, meaning we all have positive and negative charges within us whether we like it or not.
The Role of Dark Matter
In scientific terms, dark matter refers to mysterious, invisible material that makes up a significant portion of the universe's mass but does not emit light or energy, rendering it undetectable by traditional means. Similarly, within shamanic contexts, dark matter symbolises the unseen, hidden aspects of existence - those obscured by the veil of ordinary perception. It encompasses the depths of the subconscious, unresolved traumas, suppressed emotions, and energetic blockages that can manifest as illness or dis-ease. So according to the dogmatic view of good and bad that we are programmed with, it is very easy to view what makes up dark matter as evil, causing us to shame those parts of ourselves, pretending that they don’t exist. However, this gives these parts more of a power over us because the main reason that suppression happens in the first place is because a part of us believes that what dwells in the darkness defines who we are, therefore causing these parts to continue to orchestrate our lives from within the unconscious. We then end up labelling these things as Demonic, which only gives them more of a power over us. Carl Jung would refer to dark matter as the “shadow self”, which is essentially the part of the psyche that holds everything we deny about ourselves, the pleasant things, as well as the unpleasant. So to truly understand ourselves on a deeper level and to keep growing and changing, we cannot simply stay in the light, we have to honour the fact that we are both light and dark and work towards befriending our shadow (what lies within the darkness). A great Shaman once said to me: “if we keep fighting our shadow, we will always lose, but if we become friends with our shadow, we will always win!”. The part of ourselves that is wired to avoid what is in the shadow is the Ego.
The Ego and The Shadow
Since we all separated from Source into a very complex creation (humanity), we need an ego as the main vehicle of separation to handle the complex laws of this separated state. As we forget so much of our power by limiting our consciousness within this reality of separation, we also create a shadow to hold sacred everything we have disowned, until we are ready to own it again (the dark matter). The ego and the shadow are diametrically opposed, as the ego keeps us in separation, whereas our shadow is our way home. The two are therefore natural enemies. The ego always lies, while the shadow always tells the truth. At the root of all illusion and limitation, is the fact that people tend to run from their shadow and listen to their ego. However, the ego is not evil, it is just there to protect us from perceived danger, much like a child that hasn’t grown up.
The Ego’s Role In Suppression
When we come into this reality from the Oneness, there are certain tools that we need to create to make it work:
Time - this is needed in order to have fun
Space - so we can lay things out to see how things work
Past - our backdrop to reality that helps us explain the picture more deeply
Present - our playground and feedback system, where we do everything and get feedback on how we’re doing
Future - which acts as our motivation so that we do something. Everything we do is because of our future, so cause is in the future and not the past.
When life gets this complicated with all of the above, we need a helper, an eye through which we perceive the world. Its job is to take all the sensory information coming in and make it into a picture of what's around us. If you have ever come out of a deep meditation and for a minute, although you see things, you are not putting it into a whole picture, that’s the moment of no ego. Then gradually it wakes up and tells us where we are, what room we are in etc. So, the ego gives us the content of our reality, so we can consciously put it into form and context to make sense of the world around us.
In our infancy, its entire concern is with survival - food, love and security. Whilst in adolescence, it is concerned with being good enough. At the young adult stage, it is concerned with learning or growing fast enough. The mature ego needs to conclude that it is enough.
The ego gets stunted in its growth when we burden it by not taking responsibility for the form and context; i.e., by not thinking for ourselves. According to where it is stuck, it will keep giving the same limited messages. The biggest problem is that it gets used to controlling form and context as well, which it is not capable of doing, so it always fails. It is like a mail delivery boy becoming managing director of the whole corporate structure because no one else is doing the job. It fails, tries to hide its incompetence, refuses to ask for help and becomes sick.
The ego can easily be recognised by its function of blaming, denying and justifying, by its inability to ask for help, and its messages about being “better than”. Its most persistent messages are “I don’t exist anymore” and “I don’t need any help”. Whenever someone says that they have no ego, it is the ego that is speaking, with no exception. It uses the “better-thans” to justify its denial, which all stem from living in a duality where one side is right and the other wrong, much like how what is known feels safe (the light/consciousness) and what is unknown is either evil or doesn’t exist (the dark/unconscious). All forms of bigotry come from the ego. When one feels uncomfortable with their emotions, they hide behind the ego which tells them that emotionality is weakness, so they never find the emotional depth and intensity which empowers all aspects of their life. This work is not about killing the ego, despite what a lot of the new age states. It is about being aware of how this part of us functions, and how it is simply trying to keep us safe, even if it means being disempowered in the process. It is through understanding it that we can learn to gradually mature the ego.
Co-Creating With The Dark Matter
How Shamans Utilise The Darkness
In case you haven’t realised yet, the darkness is not evil or good, it is just the mystery that lies within. Shamans have been trained to journey into altered states of consciousness, accessing realms beyond ordinary perception in order to receive insight and guidance from the world of spirit which once again, contains positive and negative polarities. Through meditation, drumming, chanting, or the use of Earth medicines, they enter trance states to commune with various non-physical entities, some of which vibrate on a more positive charge (such as angels and other higher-dimensional beings), whilst others vibrate closer to a negative charge (such as Daemons and other lower-dimensional entities), neither should be seen as good or evil, but more opposite ways of working. Many Shamans utilise the symbolic map of the three worlds in order to navigate these planes - The Underworld (the collective unconscious/place of the dark matter), The Middle world (the physical plane) and The Upper World (the higher dimensions/positive polarity). Most Shamanic Healing work takes place within the landscape of dark matter, which is the underworld/collective unconscious. All deep Shamanic work such as ancestral healing, past life journeys and soul retrievals take place within the realms of the underworld. It is this place that contains our greatest mystery and medicine.
Co-Creating With Spirits
Utilising our connection with the spirit world and using it as a mirror for growth is a core role that Shamanism plays. Rituals and ceremonies are integral components of communing and co-creating with different spirits, serving as bridges between the seen and unseen worlds. Through reciprocity, connections can be established with various spirit allies to assist the practitioner with various endeavours. In regards to working with dark matter, more primitive forces can be invoked in order to resonate more with the negative charge and are used to aid greater healing and transformation that the light cannot reach. Many Shamans work with darker entities in order to facilitate much deeper levels of healing and transformation for themselves and their clients. Much of the practice is about befriending the darkness within and channelling that chaotic energy to create greater power and healing in one's life. The more work that is geared towards befriending the darker parts of ourselves, the more whole we become and the more light we can bring into our lives. “Jaguar Shaman” is a way of referring to healer’s who are friends with the darkness and use it for healing.
Another area that is very common in healing work is the concept of intrusive energy or entity attachment. These refer to external parasitic energies that latch onto the individual and drain their energy. Once again, it is easy to view these beings as evil but in reality, there is always an underlying reason for them attaching to the person. They are attracted to us through unprocessed trauma, meaning if you experience an attachment, it can either be interpreted as something that is out to hurt you, or a lower-dimensional ally that is showing you what it is within yourself that you need to heal.
Shadow Work and Integration
Shadow Work is ongoing and functions as a central part of modern-day Shamanism. If someone ever feels that they have done all of their shadow work, that is a sign they probably need to do more! The process of acknowledging and integrating the dark aspects of the self can be a challenging process initially as it can feel uncomfortable and the ego will initially want to fight it. Shamanic Healing work can support this process as each healing will bring you into closer alignment with your authenticity and Shamanic Training and initiation will take this to a whole other level. My Foundation Course Into Shamanism is the place to start for this as it gives you a gentle but powerful introduction to the vastness of this sacred healing work. Shamans understand that true healing requires confronting and embracing the shadow, rather than suppressing or denying it. By shining light into the depths of the unconscious, individuals can reclaim lost fragments of their soul/authenticity, thereby fostering ongoing wholeness and empowerment.
Conclusion
When doing this work, understand that everybody has positive and negative polarity within them - what truly defines who we are is the parts that we choose to act on. Do not fall into the trap of shaming every dark thought or feeling that you have as this part needs to be befriended in order to channel this into power and healing. Befriending the darker parts of ourselves, does not mean acting on them! But using them as tools for your own healing and growth. Shamanic healing offers a profound paradigm for understanding and addressing the complexities of human existence. By embracing polarity and co-creating with the dark matter and working with the unseen realms, shamanism can bring deep transformation and healing on multiple levels. Through their ancient wisdom and timeless practices, they illuminate the path toward wholeness, harmony, and spiritual evolution.