Hello beautiful souls — welcome back to The Reiki Witch Podcast.

Today, we’re entering a sacred, brave space — a space to begin exploring something deeply personal, deeply potent, and often misunderstood: shadow work.

If you’ve been feeling stuck, triggered, blocked, or just like something’s missing in your healing journey… shadow work may be the missing key.

And when I’m teaching this, I guide my Reiki students through this process not to ‘fix’ themselves, but to remember and reclaim the parts of them that were cast away — the parts we were told were too much, too angry, too emotional, too selfish, too sensitive, too weird…

Today, we’ll talk about what shadow work really is — and I’ll guide you through a gentle practice to help you begin touching the edge of your own hidden self, with love.

Ok! Let’s talk about shadow work — because this comes up a lot in my work with Reiki students and spiritual entrepreneurs.

Working with my shadow is something I do ALL THE TIME and I’m going to be completely honest, it is a never ending journey. No matter how far you are in your spiritual awakening or how long you’ve been doing any sort of spiritual work, you will ALWAYS be facing your shadows, they will always creep up and right when you think you’ve fully integrated a wounded part, a deeper layer of that wound will surface and you’ll have to greet and integrate them again. And, if you ever come across someone who claims to have done all of their shadow work… they’re lying… they’re absolutely lying. It never ends as long as we are in a human body with human brains and emotions, it’s something we need to consistently work on. 

And here’s the thing:
It’s not just about healing your trauma.
It’s about integration.

Integration means calling all the parts of you — even the ones you’ve tried to hide — back into the light of your awareness.
It’s saying: “You’re allowed to exist. You get to be seen. You get to have a seat at the table.”

Because we’ve all been shaped by experiences that taught us to disconnect from parts of ourselves — to tuck away our anger, our sensitivity, our sensuality, our ambition, our grief.
And when we exile those parts, we lose access to their wisdom, their power, their creativity.

Integration is the sacred act of reclaiming what we’ve buried — and doing so without judgment.
It’s not about fixing.
I like to see it as befriending.

It’s the moment you realize:
Your sensitivity isn’t a weakness — it’s how you tune into energy.
Your anger isn’t something to fear — it’s the fire that guards your boundaries.
Your grief isn’t a burden — it’s a portal to deeper compassion.

And when you start to integrate all of these wounded parts or I like to call them shadow bits but when you start to give these parts of you that you’ve been neglecting attention, love and a voice, you start to become more whole.
And as you start to embody this wholeness, you start becoming magnetic.
It’s what allows you to lead, to heal, and to hold space from a place of truth — not performance.

Now let’s be honest with ourselves. We all have parts of ourselves we’ve pushed away — maybe because we were told we were too much, too sensitive, too angry, too loud… or not enough.

Carl Jung called this the shadow — the unconscious parts of us we repress, deny, or disown.

And you might be surprised by how it shows up.

It’s not always this dramatic or obvious thing that blows up in your life. Sometimes it is but not always.
Sometimes it looks like…

• Downplaying your spiritual gifts in conversations, using disclaimers like “I know this sounds weird, but…” — because a past version of you was shamed for being intuitive or different.

• You shut down during conflict, even over something small, because somewhere deep in your system, you associate disagreement with abandonment… maybe because you grew up watching one parent disappear when things got hard.

• Or, maybe you struggle with procrastinating for days on end when it’s time to launch a big project — not because you’re lazy, but because some hidden part of you fears being seen.

• Or maybe you’re always doubting your spiritual gifts — like getting a powerful intuitive hit for a client… and staying silent out of fear they’ll think you’re wrong, too much, or not gifted enough to trust.

Shadow work is not about shaming these parts.
It’s about approaching them with curiosity and compassion.
Asking: “Why are you here? What do you need? What story are you still carrying?”

And just to be clear — we don’t start with the heaviest stuff.
This isn’t about diving headfirst into your deepest wounds.

We start gently.
We start with love.

Because when you learn to sit beside your shadow — not to fight it or hide it, but to understand it — you begin to reclaim the energy and power you’ve lost or given away.

And that’s when things begin to shift.
That’s when your healing deepens — and your capacity to guide others expands.

As Reiki practitioners, working with energy means we’re also working with what’s beneath the energy. If you want to grow as a healer or spiritual coach of any kind, you have to befriend your own depth.” The more you explore your inner world, the more safely you can lead others through theirs.

Ok, so I want us to try a little something together. I’m not going to take you super deep today, I’m just going to give you a little taste of how you can start doing this sort of on your own.  It’s just a gentle, soul-led moment of reflection. Something to open the door, just a smidge.

• Find a comfortable seat in a chair or you can lay down on a couch or a bed. 

• Breathe deeply into your belly. As you exhale, feel your body soften. Take another deep breath in and on your exhale, feel your body become more relaxed. Do a simple body scan, and notice any tension you’re holding in your body. Allow these areas to release and become heavy. 

• Imagine you’re walking through a forest at dusk….

• You see a flickering light ahead… it’s a campfire.

• Around the fire sits a version of you — a younger version, or perhaps just a part of you that you don’t often acknowledge.

• What do they look like? How are they sitting? Are they tense? Curious? Sad?
  
  

• You don’t have to speak to them — just notice them. Let them feel seen.

• And when you’re ready, imagine offering them a small gift — a token of safety. Maybe it’s a crystal, a blanket, a stuffed animal, or a key.
  
  

• Breathe in love. Breathe out any negative or dense energy. Once more, breathe in love, breathe out any lingering negative or heavy energy.

• Let them know, silently or aloud: “You are not too much. You are not too little. You are allowed to exist.”

• Feel free to share with them any other messages that are surfacing for you.

• Now, start to gently invite awareness back to your body. Awaken softly, wiggling fingers and toes. When ready, open your eyes to a soft gaze. 

• Notice any emotions you’re feeling. Where are you feeling them in your body. 

• I invite you to take some time to journal about this experience. 

“If this practice stirred something in you — I encourage you to explore this topic more. 

Inside my mentorships and Reiki trainings, we explore this work slowly, safely, and soulfully — so you’re never facing your shadows alone.

If you are a spiritual entrepreneur, wellness coach, or intuitive healer, I’ll be hosting a mentorship journey in September. Inside my mentorship, we co-create energy practices and digital strategies that align with your unique spirit and the work you’re here to do on this timeline. If you’re ready to build a business that’s not just successful — but sustainable for your soul — hop on the waitlist. I’d love to work with you.

If this interests you, be sure to check the show notes for the link. 

And that’s it for today’s episode. Thank you so much for joining me today. I’m so DEEPLY grateful to you for tuning in. It really does mean the world to me. If you have any suggestions or questions about my podcast, please look in the show notes for a link to my podcast inquiry form. And finally, if you loved this episode and you want more like this, please subscribe and leave a review. It helps my podcast get found by other fellow magickal folk.

Stay magickal.  Until next time.