Welcome to your Shadow Journal Before we start taking a look at the exercises within this journal, it is best that we work up to those by understanding what a shadow self is and what shadow work can do for you as a witch or even as just an average everyday person. What is the shadow self? Shadow Self and Psychology: The shadow self - sometimes simply called our shadow - is the unconscious part of the brain, which drives a large amount of our behavior. Automatic responses to triggers, deep-seated habits, and emotional patterns "live" in this shadow self. What is the Shadow Self, like really what is it and why is it important to understand it on a fundamental principal level before diving deeply into witchcraft? The concept of the shadow self comes from Jungian psychology. Carl Jung was a colleague of Sigmund Freud. While they may have worked together, their theories and findings were on total different wavelengths. Jung took Freud's concepts of the conscious and subconscious mind a step further, Jung identified the disowned, shamed parts of our mind as our "dark side" and often spoke of our repressed desires as the "shadow." Today, we understand that shadow work tackles the challenging tasks of fixing old patterns and acknowledging our darker and more wicked sides as part of a larger whole. To work along one's shadow self is to try and achieve balance and harmony, to break cycles of pain-learning and healing from them.