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with phosphorescent, other-worldly luminescence - reminding us that death, decay and rotting material have their own light, and can become the energy to fuel new potential, new possibilities.

3. MEDUSA:
Serpent-haired Medusa, too horrible to look upon, reminds us of the Shadow-self which (Carl Jung said) we all carry deep within.

"I saw you once, Medusa; we were alone.

I looked you straight in the cold eye, cold.
I was not punished, was not turned to stone.
How to believe the legends I am told?
I turned your face around! It is my face.
That frozen rage is what I must explore -
Oh secret, self-enclosed and ravaged place!
That is the gift I thank Medusa for!"
May Sarton, "The Muse as Medusa" 14

Any legitimate spiritual path eventually leads one to stand and confront this Shadow self. In most esoteric systems/ orders, this is an absolute pre-requisite to initiation - for very good reasons. Whatever characteristics we refuse to acknowledge within ourselves eventually fester and manifest as fear, hypocrisy, and bigotry ("I could never do/ be that way, but *those* awful people over there....." or, "Beware the dark side!").

It is absolutely foolhardy to go traipsing through the deep realms of the psyche without proper preparation and "tending" of one's own psychic equipment. Many a poorly prepared "wannabe" has discovered to their dismay that all is *not* white light, "good vibes", "warm fuzzies" and bunnies in these realms; that what you don't know CAN hurt you, and that whether you consciously "give power" to something or not, can be irrelevant: Your sub-conscious has plenty of room for demons and monsters.

The sub/super conscious realms of Spirit and Psyche have power of their own; there are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in our meager experience; and our psyches carry deep secrets - especially from us - that is part of their function - to protect us from such information before we are able to deal with it.

Many "New Agers" erroneously accept patriarchal demonization/fear of the "darkness" and its supposed equivalence with evil. In Spiritual Emergence, one often confronts these Shadow aspects as demonic personification(s) of all one's fears, weaknesses, or disgusts; when they manifest we should be ready to de-mystify and learn from them.

If we would know the substance of our own Shadows, we must look at the people who absolutely horrify, disgust, threaten, discomfort or irritate the heck out of us - even (especially!) if we think "legitimately."

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