Shadow Work Glossary: Essential Terms and Concepts

A

Active Imagination

A technique developed by Carl Jung for engaging directly with unconscious material. The practitioner enters a meditative state and dialogues with inner images, figures, or archetypes that arise spontaneously. Unlike passive fantasy, active imagination involves conscious participation and ethical engagement with what emerges from the unconscious.

Anima / Animus

In Jungian psychology, the anima is the unconscious feminine aspect within men, while the animus is the unconscious masculine aspect within women. These archetypes mediate between the conscious ego and the unconscious, often appearing in dreams as figures of the opposite sex. Integration of anima/animus is essential for psychological wholeness.

Archetype

Universal, inherited patterns and images that derive from the collective unconscious. Archetypes are not specific images but underlying patterns that shape human experience across cultures and time periods. Common archetypes include the Mother, Father, Hero, Trickster, and Wise Old Man/Woman.

Related: 7 Types of Shadow Archetypes

Attachment Styles

Patterns of relating formed in early childhood that continue into adulthood. The four main styles are secure, anxious, avoidant, and disorganized. Understanding attachment patterns is crucial for shadow work in relationships, as they often contain significant shadow material.

C

Collective Shadow

The shared unconscious shadow material of groups, cultures, nations, or humanity as a whole. The collective shadow contains the disowned aspects of group identity—historical traumas, cultural repressions, systemic injustices. Shadow work at the collective level involves acknowledging and integrating what the group has rejected.

Collective Unconscious

Jung's concept of a layer of the unconscious shared by all humans, containing universal patterns, images, and instincts (archetypes). Unlike the personal unconscious, which is formed by individual experience, the collective unconscious is inherited and transcends individual and cultural differences.

Complex

An emotionally charged group of ideas or images organized around a core theme. Complexes form when experiences (often painful or traumatic) are split off from consciousness. They function autonomously in the unconscious and can "take over" when triggered, causing disproportionate emotional reactions.

D

Defense Mechanisms

Unconscious psychological strategies the ego uses to protect itself from anxiety, discomfort, or unacceptable thoughts and feelings. Common defense mechanisms include repression, projection, denial, rationalization, and displacement. Shadow work often involves recognizing and working with these defenses.

Depth Psychology

Approaches to psychology that explore the unconscious mind, dreams, symbols, and the deeper layers of human experience. Includes Jungian psychology, psychoanalysis, and related schools that view the psyche as having multiple levels beyond conscious awareness.

Dissociation

A psychological process where parts of consciousness, memory, or identity become separated from awareness. Mild dissociation is common (like "zoning out"), but severe dissociation can be a trauma response. In shadow work, understanding dissociation is important for recognizing when parts of the self have been split off.

E

Ego

The center of conscious awareness and identity. In Jungian psychology, the ego is not the totality of the self but rather the conscious part that mediates between inner experience and outer reality. The ego's job is to maintain a coherent sense of identity, which often requires pushing uncomfortable material into the shadow.

Embodiment

The process of integrating psychological insights and unconscious material into the physical body. True shadow work involves not just cognitive understanding but somatic (body-based) integration. Embodiment means the transformation has reached the nervous system and cellular level.

G

Golden Shadow

The positive qualities, strengths, and potentials that have been repressed or disowned. Just as we reject "negative" traits, we also reject "positive" ones that feel unsafe or threatening (power, confidence, creativity, sexuality). Reclaiming the golden shadow often feels as uncomfortable as facing the dark shadow.

I

Individuation

Jung's term for the lifelong process of becoming your true, whole self—integrating all aspects of the psyche, including the shadow, anima/animus, and Self. Individuation is not about perfection but about wholeness, accepting both light and dark aspects.

Inner Child

The part of the psyche that retains childhood experiences, emotions, wounds, and needs. Often a significant carrier of shadow material, as the wounded inner child holds pain, unmet needs, and rejected aspects from early life. Healing the inner child is central to shadow work.

Related: The Wounded Inner Child

Inner Critic

The internalized voice of judgment, shame, and self-attack. Often formed from critical parents, cultural messages, or traumatic experiences. The inner critic is both a defense mechanism and a shadow carrier, containing aggression turned against the self.

Integration

The process of consciously accepting and including shadow material into your sense of self. Integration does not mean acting out every shadow impulse, but rather recognizing and taking responsibility for disowned parts. True integration leads to greater wholeness, self-acceptance, and freedom.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

A therapeutic modality developed by Richard Schwartz that views the psyche as composed of multiple "parts," each with positive intent. IFS provides a systematic framework for shadow work by helping clients access and heal exiled parts. The approach emphasizes self-compassion and the innate wisdom of the Self.

P

Persona

The social mask or role we present to the world. The persona is necessary for functioning in society, but over-identification with it leads to loss of authentic self. The shadow often contains what the persona rejects. Jung said, "The persona is that which one is not, but which oneself as well as others think one is."

Projection

The unconscious process of attributing your own unrecognized qualities, feelings, or motivations to others. What you cannot see in yourself, you see exaggerated in others. Projection is one of the primary ways to identify shadow material: what you strongly react to in others often reveals something about your own shadow.

S

Self (Jungian)

The archetype of wholeness and the regulating center of the psyche. The Self encompasses both conscious and unconscious, ego and shadow, and represents the totality of who you are. Individuation is the process of the ego coming into proper relationship with the Self.

Shadow

The unconscious part of the personality containing all the qualities, impulses, emotions, and potentials that have been rejected, repressed, or denied by the ego. The shadow includes both "negative" traits (anger, jealousy, selfishness) and "positive" traits (power, desire, confidence). Carl Jung wrote: "Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is."

Related: What Is Shadow Work?

Shadow Work

The practice of exploring, acknowledging, and integrating the shadow aspects of the self. Shadow work involves bringing unconscious material into conscious awareness through techniques like journaling, dream work, therapy, meditation, and self-reflection. The goal is not to eliminate the shadow but to integrate it consciously.

Related: Start Here Guide

Spiritual Bypassing

Using spiritual practices, beliefs, or experiences to avoid dealing with painful feelings, unresolved wounds, or developmental needs. Common forms include premature forgiveness, toxic positivity, and using concepts like "everything happens for a reason" to avoid grief or anger. Shadow work is the antidote to spiritual bypassing.

Related: Healing vs. Bypassing

T

Transference

The unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another, typically from past figures (parents, caregivers) to present ones (therapists, partners, authority figures). Transference reactions reveal shadow material and unhealed wounds. Recognizing transference is essential for conscious relationships.

Trigger

An external stimulus (person, situation, word, image) that activates an unconscious pattern or shadow material, causing a disproportionate emotional response. Triggers are valuable teachers in shadow work, pointing to unintegrated wounds and rejected aspects of self.

Related: Why Triggers Are Teachers

U

Unconscious

The part of the psyche outside conscious awareness. Jung distinguished between the personal unconscious (containing repressed personal experiences) and the collective unconscious (containing universal archetypes). The unconscious is not merely a repository of the repressed but an active, creative source of wisdom and transformation.

MYTH & MIRROR