This is the third part of the Cernunnos series. Stay tuned, we will be posting these leading up to Hekate's Sickle Festival , where Cernunnos will appear and share his wisdom of animals with us!

In December of 1994, spiritual archaeologist Aluna Joy Yaxk’in wrote an article entitled “The Reawakening of the Cosmic Human”. She wrote that people were having and would continue to have a connection to the deep inner calling of hidden truth. The article also reported that in the spring of 1995, we entered a new cycle of time that has started a deeply profound and exceptional transformation, bringing us to the time when ancient and hidden knowledge is to be reawakened in the human DNA. The Mayans understand it as the end of the “Age of Belief” and the beginning of the “Age of Knowledge ,” the Itza Age. Or, as we of the Western world say, the Age of Aquarius. With the initiation of this new cycle of time, we will no longer be veiled by illusion. We will remember all that has been forgotten, and the limitations of the unconscious will be wiped away.

Each year as the wheel turns, we have the opportunity to put away those things that were not useful to ourselves. With the coming of the dark, we can let them lay in the ground, sleep, deteriorate, and come again in the light half of the year as positive lessons of the past.

This self-assessment is part and parcel of what we call the Warrior of Spirit. Think for a minute, and realize that you are part of the cosmic cycle of re-awakening. So, what do we have to fear from our own shadow? Nothing. Then what, truly, is the Shadow’s part in our own lives, and how can we incorporate the Shadow Self in a real and meaningful way?

Since the shadow is neither good nor bad, how can we describe it? It seems to me to be the more wild, untamed parts of the self. I can see how it would sometimes seem scary - all those aspects of ourselves that we bury deep down inside and hope to hide from ourselves, that sometimes just break out when we least expect it. However, while the shadow is sometimes wild, it does not have to be scary. Here is a secret: you are in control!

With the Great Shift of the Mayan structure, and with the higher vibration pattern of the world and each of us in it, we are all moving toward Homo-Luminous. If we can begin to recognize that some of those things that we put in our shadow are protective measures, we can gain a better understanding of our Shadow . Each time we have a trauma, especially an emotional trauma, we create a mechanism or measure to protect ourselves from being hurt again: we take the hurt itself and place it in our shadows. Each of these things then gets “hidden” from our day to day life until it either comes out on its own or we bring it out. Here is a simple example of what I am saying:

When a child of 3 or 4 years stands in the kitchen and sees the hot stove, they want to investigate the glowing fire, or the bubbling pot, or whatever. Usually a caregiver who sees this says something to try and stop the curious child from touching the hot item. In some cases, the child (me for instance) still reaches and reaches until they get to see what they were trying to see. Well, we all know what happens, it burns and there is pain, so the child files away touching the stove is painful and, in the most extreme cases, they do not want to ever touch it again. Now, in this hypothetical case the child never goes to the stove again, and over time places so much of the “I am not touching a stove again” into their awareness that as an adult they still will not use a stove. The original issue occurred way long ago, yet the compensatory mechanism is not to go near a stove. Over time they have forgotten what occurred, and yet they still will not use a stove. As an adult they use a microwave, but the stove in their apartment is always clean. They do not know why they do not like stoves, but they do not like them.

Sitting deep in their shadow is the physical hurt from when they touched the stove and got badly burned. One day they may decide that they are going to work through the issue, but then emotions get involved and they lash out in anger at anyone who is trying to convince them that using the stove is okay. It’s irrational, but it just comes out. Their shadow believes that the stove will cause pain, so it tries to protect the person.

See, the Shadow is really your friend. As we work more with our shadow, we learn to understand and accommodate for its actions. By creating consensus within ourselves, we can gain more self-control and move closer toward Homo Luminous.

Stay tuned for the next part to this series!