Photography is all about light. Photo, as a word, is Greek in origin and translates to “light.” The graphing of light, however, is incomplete without shadows. Shadows give distinction and character, dimension and shape. Without shadows, a photograph wouldn’t be much to look at.
Psychologically speaking, the same is true about the mind, or the psyche. The shadow part of our personality, the “dark” side, has its place and a fair amount of therapy is geared towards looking at, accepting, and working with this shadow.
The shadow is considered an “archetype.” Archetypes are like blueprints. Archetypes tend to come in pairs. There is the “good” and the “bad.” The good “hero” is typically considered the antithesis of the bad “villian.” The hero is light, the villian is shadow. The hero, is honest, the shadow is deceitful. The hero is……and the shadow is………so many “positive” and “negative” qualities to list. There are other blueprint types found in psyche: the jester/joker, the magician, the elder, the child, the rebel, the servant, the teacher, the student, the man, the woman……Psyche can be well populated….YOUR psyche, IS well populated……