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On 23rd October, Drumming Circle enters the Shadow Half of the year, a period traditionally associated with darkness, descent, reflection and the gradual turning inward of both the natural world and ourselves. As daylight diminishes and the rhythms of the season change, our focus moves towards those aspects of ourselves that are more easily overlooked during periods of activity, expansion and outward expression. This is a time for connecting with Crone Goddess energy, understood as an archetypal expression of wisdom, transformation, endings and the capacity to encounter difficult truths without turning away from them.Our exploration will draw upon the concept of the Shadow developed within the analytical psychology of Carl Jung. Jung proposed that the Shadow contains aspects of the personality that remain outside conscious identification, including qualities, emotions, impulses and possibilities that we may suppress, reject or fail to recognise as belonging to ourselves. Shadow work is therefore not simply an encounter with what we consider negative. It is an examination of the unconscious material that influences perception, behaviour and relationship precisely because it has not yet been brought fully into conscious awareness.
The Crone offers a powerful symbolic framework through which to approach this process. She represents the stage at which appearances can be stripped away and experience transformed into understanding. Within the darkness of the year, her energy invites us to consider what has reached completion, what we continue to carry unnecessarily and what parts of ourselves are asking to be acknowledged rather than avoided. In this sense, darkness is approached not as an absence but as a condition in which different forms of perception become possible.
There are interesting parallels within the physical sciences. Darkness is not a substance but the relative absence of visible photons reaching the eye, while the universe itself contains phenomena that cannot be understood solely through direct observation. Physics repeatedly reminds us that what is immediately visible represents only part of the systems we seek to understand. Science advances through careful observation, measurement and a willingness to revise existing models when new evidence appears. Although psychological introspection and physical science are distinct disciplines, this principle provides a useful metaphor for Shadow work. What remains outside immediate awareness can still exert an influence, and understanding requires us to investigate rather than simply dismiss what we cannot initially see.
Rhythm also has a material reality. Sound is produced through mechanical vibration travelling as pressure waves through a medium, while repetitive auditory stimulation can influence attention, arousal and our subjective experience of time. The drum therefore occupies an intriguing meeting point between the physical and experiential. Its vibration is measurable, yet our individual psychological and emotional responses to rhythm are deeply personal.
Through meditation, self reflection, drumming and song, we create a deliberate framework for introspection during the dark season of the year. The drum provides rhythm, meditation creates space for observation, self reflection encourages conscious enquiry and song gives expression to experiences that may be difficult to articulate through ordinary conversation alone.
On 23rd October, we gather not to conquer the Shadow, but to become more conscious of what it may contain. As the year moves further into darkness, we turn towards the inner landscape with curiosity, discipline and courage, allowing the wisdom of the Crone, the insights of Jungian psychology and the physical power of rhythm and vibration to accompany us into the Shadow Half of the year.
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£20
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This class is held at the tree sanctuary a sacred space for women’s gatherings.
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Tree of Life Holistics Rugby, Paradise Street,Rugby, Warwickshire, United Kingdom
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