Shadow Wisdom Teachers
Shadow Wisdom Teachers
If you are committed to your spiritual journey, sooner or later you will encounter who will challenge every cherished belief, both spiritual and mundane, as well as your integrity, self-esteem and your patience. This person is your chosen shadow wisdom teacher.
Why include “wisdom” in their title? Simply because this person teaches you what your soul values in reverse. In other words, eventually you return to your inner values and wisdom through embracing your shadow self. For example, you might discover you value kindness as a result of experiencing its polarity, which may be cruelty. Or you may realize trust is one of your values by experiencing suspicion and distrust. If clarity is one of your values, you may experience confusion. If you value honesty, your shadow wisdom teacher might invite you to collude in ventures that lack integrity.
In my experience, shadow wisdom teachers are masters of impression management. Since intuition is one of their many resources, they excel at reading your energy. Remember that energy is information. Once they attune to your vulnerabilities, they work skillfully to become your ideal friend, lover, advisor, or colleague. For example, if you value sensitivity, your designated shadow wisdom teacher will ooze empathy. If you enjoy adventure, he/she will enthrall you with tales of intrigue and invite you to co-create a life of excitement. If you appreciate knowledge, he/she will impress you with cognitive mastery. If you seek commitment your shadow wisdom teacher will overwhelm you with devotion. He/she may also promise protection, advancement, or special powers, all the while feeding on your energy and light.
Shadow wisdom teachers disguise their real motives while they manipulate and thrive on dominance and control. Publicly they profess their generosity, love and even awe of you. Always look beyond the words to the behavior.
Discernment is seldom present during the seduction phase and especially absent during the take over phase. Here are some questions to answer if you suspect you are or were under the spell of a shadow wisdom teacher:
Did you grow in the relationship?
How did your designated teacher treat you when you are alone?
How does your designated teacher treat others?
Does your designated teacher encourage your friendships with others?
Does your designated teacher support you in pursuing your individual passions?
Does your designated teacher honor your knowledge, values and your light?
The key question to ask is, “In this relationship, are you in alignment with the light?”
Firing your shadow wisdom teacher can be a fierce struggle. Some describe the encounter as a life or death duel. Remember your designated teacher is an energy vampire and it is unlikely that he/she will cooperate with your desire to end the free banquet. Yet your commitment to end the toxic relationship is a desire to be free in your own energy and to realign with your soul purpose.
Remember that honesty and discernment are essential for self-mastery. Also, remind yourself that shadow wisdom teachers are skillful magicians. First, take responsibility for allowing or inviting your teacher into your life. The first step is taking back your power to take full responsibility for attracting this energy vampire into your life. Next, take an honest inventory of your core vulnerabilities and any unfinished business in your life. Were you bored, lonely, scared, and ready for an adventure, without direction or seduced by an offer of financial abundance? Did you enjoy the attention or the pursuit? Be aware you might have been motivated by multiple needs.
Then surround yourself with compassion and send it to the wounded part of yourself that attracted your shadow wisdom teacher. As you let go of resentment, there is room for the energy of forgiveness. Take a moment and think about how you may have played the role of a shadow wisdom teacher for others in this lifetime. Next extend forgiveness to yourself and your teacher. Why? Resentment and judgment dim your light and decrease your ability to love yourself and others.
Now it is time to create a release ritual. Why? A ritual creates a boundary between who you were and whom you are coming. It is an act of empowerment.
I wrote this journal entry about firing my shadow wisdom teacher for all time.
I walked to the deserted beach. The sun was high in the sky. It was almost high tide and the waves crashed to shore. I selected a large black stone and poured all the energy draining incidents that I associated with my shadow wisdom teacher into the stone. One incident that dimmed my light tumbled over another and another. When I felt finished with my story, I said out loud: I, Rosalie Deer Heart, from the Essence of my Being hereby dissolve and disintegrate all my links and cords with you from the past, present, and future. I breathed deeply into my belly and imagined letting go of my shadow wisdom teacher. When I felt like I had more room in my energy field, I continued:
I, Rosalie Deer Heart, from the Essence of my Being, now bless and release you to the schools of wisdom where you may grow within the light. I thank you for teaching me the consequences of not listening to myself, not loving myself, and for teaching me in reverse how much I value kindness, peace, love, creativity, and community. I command you to leave. Now.
Then very unlady-like noise arose from my belly. I repeated the breathing exercise a few more times to be certain I was free. Then I ran into the cold ocean and I flung the stone as far into the water as I could.
When I returned to dry sand, I breathed in and reclaimed qualities that are in alignment with my soul purpose. I giggled and moved my arms, legs, and hips as I breathed in the energies of clarity, self-love, trust, creativity, power, humor and joy. Then I celebrated my freedom by dancing barefoot on the wet sand. My return to myself felt like a glorious homecoming and I giggled and yelled, “Yes” to the universe and to my heart.
Looking back, if I had remembered to ask my intuition if the person who pursued me was in alignment with light, I may have saved myself much pain, isolation and soul searching.
Then again, maybe the crash course offered by my designated shadow wisdom teacher was important. For sure, I recovered myself and learned to trust my instincts.