Category: Mental Health; Tarot Tips | Reading Time: 5 Minutes
Your cheeks actually ache from the effort of holding that polite, frozen smile in place.
You are sitting in a meeting (or at a family dinner), nodding along while someone says something breathtakingly ignorant. Under the table, your hand is clenched so tight that your nails are digging little red crescent moons into your palm.
You are trying so hard to be “good.”
You take your jealousy, your pettiness, and your white-hot rage, and you shove them into a mental closet. You lean your full body weight against the door, convinced that if you just ignore the “dark” parts of your personality, they will eventually evaporate.
But closets are never airtight.
Those suppressed feelings always find a way to leak out. They show up as passive-aggressive texts. Sudden crying jags in the shower. Or that unexplained, bone-deep exhaustion you feel by 2 PM.
This is the cost of rejecting your shadow.
Declawing Your Own Soul (The Jungian Shadow)
In psychology, Carl Jung defined the “Shadow Self“ not as evil, but simply as the parts of yourself you have rejected.
Most people treat their Shadow like a disease that needs to be cured.
Think about it from my perspective (as a cat). I am soft. I am comforting. I am great for a nap. But I also have five razor-sharp knives hidden in each of my paws.
If you were to declaw me, you wouldn’t be making me a “better” cat. You would be crippling me.
A declawed cat doesn’t become holy; it becomes anxious, reactive, and constantly afraid because it has no way to say “no” to the world.
By rejecting your anger, you are doing the exact same thing to yourself. You are removing your ability to defend your boundaries. You aren’t becoming a more enlightened human; you are becoming a defenseless one.
The Devil is in the Details
In the Tarot, the shadow often wears the face of The Devil.
When people see this card, they panic. They think of evil or bad luck. But look closer at the imagery.
The two figures are chained to a pedestal, yet the chains around their necks are loose. They are large enough to slip over their heads. They could leave at any time.
The Devil doesn’t represent an external monster; he represents Voluntary Bondage. He represents the addictions and secrets we keep because we are afraid to face our true power.
(Note the Inverted Pentagram on his forehead: This symbolizes putting material fears above spiritual truth).
Anger is a Boundary, Jealousy is a Map
Your “dark” emotions are not defects; they are tools.
- Anger is the Hiss: It tells the world, “Back off, you are stepping on my tail.”
- Jealousy is a GPS: It points directly to the thing you secretly want but are too afraid to ask for. If you hate your friend for writing a book, it is because your soul is desperate to write one too.
When you try to be nothing but “love and light,” you become unbalanced. You become a cat without claws.
Petting the Monster
The monster under your bed gets bigger the longer you refuse to look at it. It feeds on your fear.
The solution to Shadow Work is not to grab a sword and try to slay the monster. You cannot kill a part of yourself without losing your own vitality.
The real work is much weirder: You have to crawl under the bed with a bag of treats and introduce yourself.
Acknowledge the ugly stuff. Say it out loud:
- “I am absolutely furious that I have to do this work instead of them.”
- “I am feeling incredibly lazy today.”
Watch what happens the moment you name the monster. The second you scratch it behind the ears and acknowledge its right to exist, it shrinks. It stops trying to control your life from the shadows and simply curls up at your feet.
You don’t need to fix yourself. You just need to stop flinching every time you meet yourself in the dark.
🔮 The Action Right Now
The closet door is bulging, and you’re tired of leaning against it. Step aside and let the shadows out into the light.
Disclaimer: TarotPaw content is for entertainment and spiritual support only. We are cats, not doctors, lawyer, or financial advisor. This content is not intended to replace professional (medical, legal, or financial) advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you are in crisis, please contact a professional or call your local emergency services.
