A Shadow Work Story: Chapter 8

As we talked about in the New Moon post this month, Virgo season brings the beautiful energy of discernment. The ability to notice. To recognize patterns. To see what others might miss. Discernment is definitely a gift. But every gift has a shadow, and Discernment's is a doozy:Judgement. 🥴 I see this shadow show up often in self-proclaimed, 'enlightened', spiritual spaces. Where somewhere along the path of healing and becoming, some people begin to believe that their own work has qualified them to assess everyone else's. 'They haven't done the work.' 'They're still operating from their wounds.' 'I thought they had healed that by now.' 'That's their ego talking.' There is a particular irony in judging someone for being in their ego while sitting on our own spiritual high horse.But there is no spiritual finish line where we get to turn around and grade everybody behind us. ⚡️News Flash: If you're still walking the planet, you've still got your own 💩 to sit with. Besides, we never really know where another person is on their journey or what they are truly up against. We don't know what their soul is working through. We don't know what lesson they're living inside of. And sometimes, despite how certain we feel,we don't actually know what is happening within them at all. This is the slippery slope where discernment can quickly become spiritual ego. But there is an important distinction between honoring what we sense and believing that what we sense must be true. There's even a simple litmus test:Discernment leaves room for curiosity. Judgment has already reached its verdict. And the real test lies in if you can allow yourself to be wrong. Can you honor an instinct without immediately turning it into a truth about another human being?Can you recognize that your intuition is moving through a human body with its own wounds, experiences, fears, projections, preferences, and biases?Do you hear someone else's judgment of another person and allow it to override your own direct experience? Sure, you should honor your intuition. If you need to, absolutely you should draw a boundary. But can you leave room for the possibility that what you sense isn't the whole truth? Can you recognize that your perception is still moving through your own experiences, preferences, and biases? The Shadow is only half the story. The medicine lives deeper. 🔥 Paid Supporters of Energy Alchemist can continue reading below.