Dig deep and discover nine crystals for shadow work. Stones to support you through deep self-healing, shadow healing and integration. Face fears and shift inner obstacles…
What Is Shadow Work?
Shadow work is a term used in psychology and personal development. In recent years you hear it mentioned a lot in the spiritual community. But what does it mean? We all have a shadow self, the side of us that we are not fully conscious of. Despite this, it has a big impact on our personalities and life. Our shadow contains the parts of us we don’t want to see or deal with.
It usually originates from our childhood (and teens) where our personality was still forming. Usually, we have a bad experience that causes us to limit ourselves, repress a part of our persona or carry fear or a false belief with us. If you want to know more about the origins of the shadow self I recommend the following article by Mind Body Green – What Is Shadow Work?
Doing The Work
You are probably already aware of limiting beliefs, old stories you tell yourself that hold you back. This usually causes some kind of pattern of behaviour. Perhaps like many of us, you experienced bullying and that has had an impact on your self-confidence?
Doing shadow work does involve self-analysis and confronting some uncomfortable memories. It’s not for everyone and you need to be ready to do this kind of inner work.
Through recognising where these fears or self-limiting beliefs about yourself come from you can begin the process of healing them. This allows you to see how the event made you believe something that wasn’t true about yourself. This allows you to free yourself.
“Shadow work isn’t quick or easy self-development work. You may have to speak to a mental health professional, especially if you have gone through any kind of trauma or suffer from mental health conditions”
Shadow Integration Vs Shadow Enabling
This is just something I have noticed and not everyone will agree with me. The term shadow integration is used a lot. What this means is seeing and dealing with the shadow aspects of your personality. Recognising the untruth or pattern of behaviour so you can learn from it, overcome it and become stronger from it. You are often unlearning things that are holding you back from your highest potential.
I see some people think integration means allowing toxic and harmful behaviour to continue. It’s like they believe the shadow is who they are, completely missing the ‘work’ part of the shadow work. This could be potentially dangerous and keep you stuck in the cycle, never really making any progress.
To me, the goal of shadow work is to learn from the past and break the chain of self-limiting beliefs. You are recognising something inside you that isn’t true and needs healing.
“Shadow work is like inner alchemy, you want to turn that lead you found into gold”
Working With Crystals For Shadow Work
You can work with crystals for shadow work. Crystals support the process by helping you identify harmful patterns, locate the source and begin healing. They can also clear negative energy around the issue and as it comes up. Crystals won’t do the shadow work for you but they can support you on your healing journey.
As always, please read the info about each crystal below. See which ones you are most drawn to. You can carry, wear, meditate with these crystals. Go easy, self-healing is not a race. If you feel uncomfortable, stop, take a break from it.
9 Crystals For Shadow Work
SMOKY QUARTZ
This is probably the most easy-to-find crystal for your shadow work needs. Smoky Quartz is cleansing, clearing negative energy caused by negative thinking and challenging emotions. This earthy crystal is useful in managing fears as they come up. Smoky Quartz helps balance emotions and encourages self-acceptance.
BLACK OBSIDIAN
Pitch Black Obsidian is known for its ability to absorb negativity. This form of Obsidian helps reveal the source of your shadow wounds and supports you in facing your fears. Working with this stone brings out your inner warrior and helps you cut etheric cords to harmful situations or people from your past.
TIP: If you find this too strong for you then you could try Apache Tear, Snowflake Obsidian or Rainbow Obsidian.
PRESELI BLUESTONE
This British stone brings the inner strength and the determination you need to overcome inner obstacles. Preseli Bluestone is a wonderful healing stone that also supports facing your fears and confronting your shadow aspects.
DANBURITE
This isn’t a crystal that most will think of when they think of doing shadow work. I recommend it here because it teaches you not to overidentify with your shadow side. Danburite is cleansing and shifts you out of a lower vibration. It is a good one to use after doing the shadow work. Danburite can help you align yourself with your higher purpose.
BLACK MOONSTONE
This black and dark brown form of Moonstone clears negative energy. Black Moonstone helps in healing the emotional body, healing your emotions. This dark lunar crystal helps with feelings of hopelessness too. If you can’t find it you can use grey Moonstone.
SMOKY LEMURIAN SEED CRYSTAL
These are also known as Smoky Lemurian Quartz or Lemurian Shadow Healers. These may not be easy to find but they are a powerful crystal for shadow work. Smoky Lemurian Seeds detoxify your aura and help heal your emotions. They can shine a light on the root cause of the shadow issue and assist you in working through your fears.
HEALER’S GOLD
This gemstone is also known as Apache Gold. I’ve always found Healer’s Gold to be an excellent crystal for personal transformation. This beautiful black and gold stone guides you through inner or outer changes in life. Healer’s Gold increases faith and hope and can even support you through a dark night of the soul.
LARVIKITE
This gemstone is also known as Norwegian Moonstone or Norwegian Black Moonstone though it is not the same as Black Moonstone. Larvikite encourages self-reflection and all inner work. It points you in the right direction by turning inwards to discover the shadow aspects of yourself that need healing.
SHADOW LEMURIAN JADE
This is the sister stone to Midnight Lemurian Jade (black). Shadow Lemurian Jade helps reveal your blocks and fears. This healing grey gemstone can guide you through all aspects of personal transformation.
BONUS CRYSTAL: ROSE QUARTZ
Before we reach the end of this post, I thought I would add an extra crystal for you to consider. Rose Quartz is a good companion crystal to pair with any of the above crystals for shadow work. Its energy is soothing and supports self-love and self-care. Its message is to be gentle with yourself and to be kind to yourself. It’s also good to use after doing any kind of shadow work.
More About Shadow Work Practices
If you’re new to shadow work and need more guidance on specific practices please do more research first. There are some good shadow work tips and practices in plain English in the following article by Mind Body Green – What Is Shadow Work?
Have you done any shadow work before and how has it helped you? I would love to hear from you in the comments below (PLEASE keep any questions you have concise and stick to this blog post topic if you want a response).
If you are looking for other information please use the search box or visit my FREE Resources page to see if it’s already been covered elsewhere.
With gratitude,
Ethan
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Copyright © Ethan Lazzerini – Not to be used or appear elsewhere without permission from the author Ethan Lazzerini.
Great post. I have been reaching out to others to see what they use. I have smoky elestial quartz and black moonstone to use with shadow work specifically. The black moonstone, for me, is very powerful. So much so that when I tried to sleep with it, I did not sleep well. In my experience it is best used in meditation.
Thank you. Yes, I can imagine with the Black Moonstone. Some of these crystals are a bit intense
Great article, I totally agree, we have to be careful not to over identify with the shadow. I’ve also found that during shadow work is really important to stay spiritually protected, and for me, I’ve found that using silver sheen Obsidian is helpful.
Lovey stone for protection
Totally love this post and will follow the suggestions.
Thanks for this article Ethan! I am always (it seems) in the throes of shadow work…especially this time of year when the veil grows thin. (For me, shadow work happens most readily in this liminal space…a season when I tend to go inward anyway!)
I use Smoky quartz and Black Obsidian for much of my shadow work. I’m so glad you added Rose Quartz to the list. That is my go-to and always-have-with-me stone. I believe love is always the answer, even (especially) when dealing with my shadow.
Thanks again for the lesser known stones. I’ll be looking for them!
You’re very welcome. Yes, it can be an ongoing thing and yes I thought this is a good time for this type of work.
I did a lot of shadow work to learn more about my darker self in my late teens. Everyone is a mix of Light and Shadow sides, and the key seems to be getting the balance right for you as an individual. Without the one, you can’t know or recognise the other, so it strikes me that we actually need our Shadow sides in order to be complete beings. We are, neurologically, the sum of our individual memories, so it doesn’t make sense to me to alter even the darkest parts of my life.
My go-to crystals for the shadow work I did were Apache Tears (I didn’t have any Black Obsidian at the time), Smoky Quartz, and Black Star Diopside, with support from Clear Quartz (no Danburite back then either), Rose Quartz and Morganite.
Love and Light.
Thank you, Ethan. I hadn’t heard of one or two of these crystals so I will be trying to find them and learn more about them. So far when doing shadow work I have used guided meditation and journaling . It is a long process to understand and accept our shadow self.
I’ve never worked shadow. This is first time to hear. Thanks for this article. It’s very interesting and hope useful for me.
Thank you so much for this article & the extra resources. I’m not sure if I’ve done Shadow Work before or not. I have faced childhood experiences before, but I haven’t healed them. I’ll have to work on that. Thanks again!
Merci pour cet article. Je vais commencer à travailler sur moi.
J’ai téléchargé le guide discover your guadian stone ,mais il est en anglais et je ne peux pas le traduire, existe-t’il en français? merci .
Hi, I’m sorry it is only in English at the moment.