Our shadow selves are those dark and mysterious places within us that we have refused to shine the “light” on, for one reason or another.
The human shadow contains every thought, feeling, desire, and personality trait that we have rejected or suppressed.
Consider this test an initiation into the shadow work path if you haven’t entered it already. No matter what result you get, it’s always crucial to incorporate some level of shadow work into your life and spiritual awakening journey.
What is Shadow Work?
Shadow work is the practice of finding, befriending, and transmuting the wounded, suppressed, and buried parts of yourself (i.e., your shadows) so that you can regain access to your inner Light.
What's Your Subconscious Hiding?
Your subconscious mind is like the basement in which all of the material not currently inhabiting your conscious awareness is stored. What's lurking in yours?
Our Dark Side & Carl Jung Shadow Self Quotes
Where does this idea of having a dark side come from in modern times? The concept of the shadow originated in the work of Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung.
Here are a few of the most famous Carl Jung shadow self quotes to contemplate:
Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.
(Psychology and Religion)
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognising the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
(Aion)
People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.
(Psychology and Alchemy)
The shadow is a tight passage, a narrow door, whose painful constriction no one is spared who goes down to the deep well. But one must learn to know oneself in order to know who one is.
(The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious)
Shadow Self Test
So, how dominant is your shadow self and what effect does it have on your life?
Find out by taking our free Shadow Self Test.
What result did you get in this shadow self test?
Share your results!
Want to take another test? Try our Shadow Archetype Test.
Need more shadow work guidance? See our Shadow Work Journal, Mindful Shadow Work book, or Shadow & Light Membership for more ongoing support with working to embrace and transmute your Shadow Self.
Nope it’s wrong I think. It says small shadow but I kicked someone a year ago and want to hurt people sometimes and don’t feel bad…
Medium shadow.. Parents divorced by 18 months old. Mother left me with her mother (my nana) to raise me. Mom was minimally existent in my life, cold person, very self centered selfish, no hugs, no loves told not thin enough, grades need to be B or better, lots of critisiams. Dad visited up to age 4 then came back in around age 8 only saw him 4 times per year, then gone from 16 to 2. Reconnected age 21 and I saw him yearly (he moved to FL when I was 16) until his death and yes I was by his side when he passed. Mom still with us and now I am thrust into her car giver role and yes she is still self-centered and selfish. I read something now I can’t find it that there are issues with shadow self when you were raised with parents who were distant. I am so very grateful for nana, loved me unconditionally always hugged me told me she loved me. Part of me feels a bit guilty of having ‘issues’ becuase nana was such an amazing and loving woman and did the very best that she could. Going to be a tough road but needs to be traveled. Thank you
I’m so sorry that happened to you! :(
Small shadow… although my parents and a few family members excepted me for who I am without too much conflict… for the most part… the rest of the world did not. It was hard and challenging… still is at times. I’ve always fought to be myself. As hard as it was and still is atvtimes… I would not do it any differently. I see all these fake miserable people around me and feel sorry for them. Being your authentic self you can at least be happy in yourself no matter what life puts in front of you.
True that
Small shadow, believe me it wasn’t harmonious growing up, I do alot of inner work every time something triggers me, sometimes that is daily, my younger life was very abusive sexually and physically. My father when I was 13 told me “when he divorced my mother, he divorced us kids too. He made a sexual pass at me when I was 17, and I learned to keep my distance from him, when he was sick w Parkinsons at my brother’s funeral, he asked why I didn’t come around, I just looked at him, turned and walked away. I wasn’t there for him at the end. I don’t regret this decision.
I’m not sure what is the truth about me or how I can help convey my message: everyone of us has light and dark. That is our constant struggle. There is no exception we all come under.o e side or the other we can move over. The point if our existence here is to remove the heaviness of our souls from the dark to the light. Noone can do this for you it’s your journey.
I got Small Shadow Self, I was abit suprised actually because at this point in my life, at this particular stopped point in my journey, i would have though that if i had to focus on re doing something or having to kind of sift through some old stages that might be ready to pounce back and put abit of lemon on some old wounds that it might have been the old shadow self but without being too negative- i might have just hit a roadblock elsewhere and now its a bummer because i thought my shadow self might have had all the problems and therefore all the answers lol but ill have to dig abit deeper because something feels a miss around me and i cant quite put my finger on it, useually i can, but its an oddness- its such a stillness but an unpleasent awkwardness like that shitty first day at school, before it gets exciting. you know that feel……Actually I think i just figured out the feelingbut it sort of applies to every single aspect of my entire life…..its not any kind of depression, its an awkwardness thats been pulled up and out from the bottom of my shoes if i can explain it that way, its a weirdness to try and regulate myself through to perk up out of, its like silence and thats what awkward because everythings ive explained its the opposite of who i am as a person and having come so far over the last 17years on my spiritual journey if not since way way wya before then going back into my kid aged days- its a different feel in the air. Sorry for such a long post, does anyone else feel what im talking about is it something in the planets or the alignments or is it an individual thing?
Honestly I’m confused. I got medium shadow self. I don’t know what any of this means. I just want to fix parts of me and be more strong minded and baddass even lol
I’ve learned through shadow work, when I began to open my pineal gland last year, that every human experience is complex, multi-faceted and unique. Therefore, I have no right to assume or pass judgment on anyone at all, but to help shed some light by showing compassion and sharing my own personal journey through many years of suffering, to another soul who is suffering. Words often fail, yet positive energy through a hug or even lending a sympathetic ear is so cleansing. I’m a massage therapist by trade, and I prefer to work with those who’ve been traumatized, such as myself, in my dark and tumultuous past.
I’m grateful for the lessons I’ve learned on my 40 years on this planet. I’ve gained knowledge and wisdom. I accept everything that has happened and strive to keep thriving. At the apex of my pain, I learned to surrender to what is, what was. Nothing happens by coincidence. God did not put us here to suffer or be tormented. We have challenges we all must face. With the love of God, we shall have nothing to fear.
Peace and love to all❤️
Beautifully expressed. Thank you.
I suffered trauma as a child due to the death of my loved one and became invisible, and I have struggled over the years to free myself from feeling unworthy. I am now into my sunset years and I have done a lot of inner work and now I am at a place of peace, joy and healing.
“Small” shadow self, but I would rather call it autism. Or the effects of being born into an incredibly abusive “family” who labels you as worthless, stubborn, and bad and starts referring to you as “nothing” a 5 year old. My only safe place was my mind. And I can’t even explain how that works because there’s always been a deep inner knowing that I deserved fairness, or to not be tormented and shamed for being born when I didn’t even ask for it.
When your parents set the bar so low, there’s really nowhere else to go except up, or in.. Another perk of growing up abused is that nobody wants to talk to you so you never have to lie or say things you don’t mean… I never “learned” how to judge the good or bad parts of myself because everyone made it clear that I did not belong anywhere. I also don’t know many words and struggle to get my thoughts on paper.
I knew they were wrong. Their words and actions never aligned and I always spoke up. Not labeling them as bad, but simply asking them why they do things. I internalized this. I learned to always ask myself why I do things… always be conscious and curious.
When you have nothing, or nobody, you see something in EVERYTHING and everyone. As an adult who’s lived many different lives, I’m able to find parts of myself in everyone I see. I didn’t know self acceptance was a thing people struggled with until it isolated me as an adult. I couldn’t just “get over everything” and shove my feelings aside. It made everyone feel weird. I sat with it. I’m still growing but now I’m learning how to empower others with their own humanness, our own humanness. It’s neat.
I think people are too hard on themselves. They try so hard to make other people like them, they abound on themselves which turns to self loathing which projects into more dissonance and suffering in the world. It’s so weird. Why can’t we all cry and talk about it so we can move on and be happy doing things that make us happy
wow large shadow self. i already knew that though. i’m a very quirky individual. i grew up in the hood but i am not a hood person. because of that i am ridiculed a lot because i am not tough enough or strong enough. so i tend to hide from myself and others a lot. i had my first spiritual awakening (that i can recall) at 28, i’m 31 now. i was drawn to mysticism and started to explore divination. because my family considers themselves christian this was frowned upon and i was warned that i should not look into it. but for some reason i am very drawn to it. i even bought a few decks and performed readings for a few friends. i don’t know how i was able to know things about them that they never told me. it was a feeling deep in my chest that let me know exactly why to tell them. to be honest i had a few experiences while exploring divination that scared the shit out of me. i can recall a night that an entity attacked me and left scratches on my body where it touched me. the next day i watched a divination video and the woman said “you were attacked last night, but the angels saved you”. i can remember thinking god help me. when i thought that, the entity flew backwards and disappeared. after that i shied away from exploring my spirituality. but now i am entering another dark night of the soul. i am afraid of who i really am, from the inner work i have done i figured out that my ancestors were witches and i have had a few people tell me that i am a witch but i don’t know it and that i am very powerful. to be honest i don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. i feel completely lost and afraid. i have no clue what to do at this point.
Hey Shalandra, thank you for sharing your story. It’s often difficult to cultivate these interest when our community and even family doesn’t understand what’s calling us. I’ve found it best to find ways of ‘bridging’ the place where they come from and the direction I’m heading towards. So with Christianity as a faith, there’s amazing things happening within it, which is almost like a return to the ‘grass roots’ of it, I especially like the new movement of ‘progressive Christianity’ by some of the more aware teachers that have a mystical inclination.
Sometimes we need to feel lost, in order to get rid of old ‘skins’ and see what we discover. It’s a time to tune into ourselves, I don’t pay too much attention to what people think I’m ‘good’ at or not, it often can confuse us more because we feel the need to live up to that idea or image rather than tune into what we really are feeling or drawn towards.
All the best :)
Everything that happens to us it’s for our highest good even if it doesn’t look like that. And the shadow realm helps us to get to the light because if you are experiencing dense energy, psychic attacks and interference it means that you need to raise your vibration and start establishing strong energetic boundaries and saying No to others, so you can put yourself as the priority. We are never alone, the universe always sends someone.
I had a similar upbringing and was also called to the mystical. Religion is wonderful for those still finding their way, but eventually it must be thought of as training wheels, and you must find the truth for yourself. There are unlimited pathways to God. Don’t be afraid of your readings, but do learn to set up protection, like a circle or ask for your angels to keep away any entity that doesn’t have your best interest or truthful information. Then learn how to use a banishing ritual or prayer to cleanse your space after. Just like in this realm, the spiritual realm is full of wonderful loving entities, but not all are that way. Love and light to you.