#shadow psychology

[howhow326]

Mattholomule is Gus Shadow

Oh boy! I sure do love everything about Watching & Dreaming but I have to say my favorite part is when Gustholomule became canon and that's a thing that happened actually!!! Anyway, it's neat that most of the TOH ships have a sort of opposites attract dynamic: Lumity has the shoujo rivals trope; Huntlow is crushing-watermelon-with-thighs meme; and Gustholomule has the best dressed boy with an unwashed rat-man.

But with I told you that Gus and Mattholomule are more similar than they seem? What if I told you that the two boys are so similar to each other that they are like two halves of the same person?? What if I told you... ehh, you already read the title.

What is a Shadow?

First we need to go over what a shadow is: A shadow is: "an unconscious aspect of the personality that does not correspond with the ego ideal, leading the ego to resist and project the shadow. In short, the shadow is the self's emotional blind spot..." (Wikipedia). In other words, the Shadow is the shadowed side of one's personality, the part of themselves that they don't want others (or themselves) to see. However, ignoring the shadow dosen't make it go away, it just makes it stronger, seeping into one's everyday life as flaws and bad choices. Or in the case of Persona, giant fetish monsters (this is a joke, the persona games actually do a really good job of writing psycho-analysis even without the video game bosses). So, what does any of this have to do with Gustholomule? EVERYTHING!!! Which get's clearer in the next few paragraphs :)

Gus & Mattholomule's backstories

From TOH wiki: "Augustus Porter is the son of reporter Perry Porter, who wants his son to be a master illusionist (there's a source for this but I deleted it so Tumblr dosen't hide my post). Due to his skills in illusion magic, Augustus is one of the youngest students at Hexside School of Magic and Demonics, taking high school-level classes despite being twelve years old. However, due to his young age, Gus was often overlooked and ignored, and he was gullible to the various students that took advantage of his intelligence. The only place where he felt he mattered was the club he led, the Human Appreciation Society. Besides the other members of the H.A.S, the only other student he befriended was Willow Park, who helped him calm down from an illusionary memory with a breathing exercise he remembers to this day."

In short, Gus comes from a history of people tricking him in order to advance themselves (this is in Bold because it's gonna be super duper important for my argument later). Despite that, Gus wasn't destroyed by his backstory because he had people like Willow to help him (also important).

For Matt: "Mattholomule used to attend Glandus High, where he was friends with Bria, Gavin, and Angmar. Due to Glandus's social structure favoring the strong, Mattholomule was bullied by other students, including his three "friends" who had manipulated him. Eventually, he switched out of Glandus and started to attend Hexside, but still stuck around Bria, Gavin, and Angmar due to having nobody else to be his friend."

Just like Gus, Matt comes from a history of veing bullied and used by others. Unlike Gus, Matt didn't have anyone in his corner but himself (and Steve but like apparently adults are weirdly useless at helping their kids witch school problems which is actually extremely realistic now that I think about it).

In otherwords, Gus and Matt have nearly identical backstories, but turned out differently because only Gus had a real friend. And in my next few paragraphs, we find out that the "difference" between them is a lot smaller than it seems.

Something Ventured, Someone Framed

So if you've been paying attention, you have probably come to the conclusion that Gus is "good" person. And while that definitely isn't a bad conclusion to come to, this episode is going to hit you like a truck:

Gus: L-Luz, a-about the ban, I, uh, used my H. A. S. presidential authority to pull some strings. You've been given a full pardon!

Luz: You mean...

Gus: I got the ban lifted!

[Does a little dance when she's gone lol]

Willow: You lied to our best friend and told her you got the ban lifted. That seems like a potential problem to me.

Gus: You don't understand. The members were going mad. They were bloodthirsty. They were touching objects. I had no choice!

Note: instead of saying something like "one of the members is lying to the others" or something like that, Gus "had no choice" because... they were breaking his rule of no touching?!

Now, some people did catch on to Gus behavior and were mad at him for it. I'm not one of those people, in fact, I'm the exact opposite. This episode made me LOVE Gus' character! Before SV,SF Gus was just comic relief that was attached to Willow's hip. But now, Gus has flaws! He can exist as his own character!! He's lying to and mainipulating people like the little illusionist he is!!!

... wait a minute, "...and he was gullible to the various students that took advantage..."; "...Gus comes from a history of people tricking him in order to advance themselves."; "...ignoring the shadow dosen't make it go away, it just makes it stronger, seeping into one's everyday life as flaws and bad choices." This is Gus Shadow: a hurt child that's willing to trick people the same way that other people tricked him. Heck, there's even a name for the exact shadow that Gus possesses: The Know-It-All Trickster (I swear Im not anti gus wtf). From Artofmanliness .com (That name is so much worse than it seems), "The Know-It-All Trickster knows how to charm his way out of trouble. He’s adept at deception and manipulation and will gain the trust of those around him, only to betray it when they least expect it." While this is a lot more sinister than Gus at his worst, it dose perfectly describe what happened in SV,SF: Gus became friends with Luz recently and deceives her at a time when she would never expect it. Although, that description also sounds a lot like another character that shows up this episode (Mattholomule is inside your walls).

Of course, while Gus has flaws, he isn't the same as the people that tricked him. The older kids got their homeworks worth out of Gus and left without taking any responsibility for their actions. But Gus didn't do that, he endanged himself in order to save Luz from detention, and then he took responsibility for the mess he caused. He even saved Mattholomule from detention because "no one get's left behind"! Gus has flaws, but he was able to rise above them during his first focus episode, which is highly impressive for a twelve year old.

Through The Looking Glass Ruins

This episode's plot is interesting in that, while Gus is technically lying to people again, it wasn't even his idea! Gus was the one that didn't want to hang out with the Glandus because "he's just an illusionist" (an idea that Gus Shadow, Matt literally echos) so Luz goads him into hanging out with him in order to build back his self confidence.

Unlike SV,SF where Gus creates a lie that endangers Luz, Luz starts the lie that Gus is a "super witch" and Gus only upholds it to hang out with the Kool Kidz. Basically, Gus did nothing wrong.

Anyway, Gus gets a crush on the Boneghazi girl. Weird. I don't want to spend too much time talking about Bria because she's crazy shaped, but she is the next entry in a long line of older kids that trick Gus and ruin his self confidence. Then, the most important part of the episode happens:

Mattholomule: This is exactly how it was at Glandus. Always Bria's stooge.

Gus: Better a stooge than a clown. Bria was right, illusions are nothing but high-def party tricks.

Mattholomule: Yeah, I used to think that too. [He makes a saw of rock to cut the vines trapping Gus and The Keeper.] But then I met some dork who used his powers to save me from a man-eating detention pit. All I'm saying is, if a dumb illusion can save a jerk like me, maybe it's not as useless as you think.

Replace illusion with "Gus" and this conversation is practically the same. Gus is saying he can't help anyone and Matt is telling him "you already helped me" (the perfect start for the perfect ship).

Focusing more on Matt, this moment is a bit more than just him reaching out a hand or doing the right thing. As I said before, Matt has the same history of people using him just like Gus (it even happens in this episode). But unlike Gus, Matt didn't have anyone in his corner but himself. So instead of staying the victim, Matt became "villain". He most likely joined the H. A. S. with the intention of replacing whoever was in charge by using the same methods that Bria uses, trickery. Matt wanted to be on top of the social ladder through any means nessasary, and when his plan failed in SV,SF he went crawling back to Bria so he could gain some sense of power.

So why does Mattholomule help Gus in this episode? Simple, He's not Bria. Even when Matt tried to walk the same path as his bullies, he could never fully suppress the part of himself that had morals, that wanted to help people. And by choosing to help Gus even though the odds are stacked against them, Matt finnaly accepted that he wasn't a 100% jerk.

Plot twist: Gus is Mattholomule's Shadow. Just like how Matt represents Gus's capacity to become like the people that took advantage of him, Gus represents the part of Matt that was weak enough to be taken advantage of, a good person. There's even a word of Matt's Shadow: a Golden Shadow, the positive qualities of one self that they suppress.

Conclusion

Gustholomule is a deep relationship between two people who are really the same person that walked to different paths. However, it's only through meeting each other and forming a tight bond with each other that these two boys were able two accept their hidden selves and complete the process of self actualization. Truly a magnificent journey of self growth indeed.

Gustholomule is best ship fight me

#gustholomule #toh gus #gus porter #toh matholomule #matt tholomule #toh willow #toh bria #toh luz #luz noceda #the owl house #toh #character analysis #black representation #black characters #psychoanalysis #jungarian psychology #shadow psychology #shadow

[disciple-of-jung]

But make no mistakes. Accepting &/or releasing does not necessarily have to be a blunt straightforward expression of anything that comes to our mind....

I think it simply means accepting a particular situation we are in, a phase we are going through or maybe a state of mind that we are in rn in order to prevent ourselves from initiating and getting stuck in something called the "Feedback Loop From Hell" in the book titled The Subtle Art of not giving a F**k by Mark Manson.

Feedback Loop From Hell : We feel bad about feeling bad. We feel guilty for feeling guilty. We get angry about getting angry. We get anxious about feeling anxious, etc. - Google

Also,

`We cannot change anything until we accept it.` ~ Carl Jung....

#Instagram #philosophy #psychology #spirituality #awakening #carl gustav jung #carl jung #mental health #healing #shadow psychology #analytical psychology #growth #self accepectance

[cemeterything]

you should always be careful when you fall back asleep again after waking up because sometimes you will just have a pleasant little snooze but sometimes you'll get trapped in TIME PRISON. unfortunately there is no way to predict this.

#🐉 #brains will really be like oh you think 10 minutes isnt long enough to psychologically torture you? lol #you get TEN THOUSAND YEARS IN THE SHADOW REALM

[cu-taibhseil]

shadow work isn't witchcraft. "shadow worker" isn't a real witchcraft title, because -- again -- shadow work isn't witchcraft, or folk craft, or related to the occult literally at all. it was co-opted into witchcraft recently. it's a facet of psychology/psycho-analysis invented by Carl Jung to help people going through trauma therapy. since it's not witchcraft: you don't have to do it, you shouldn't put up with being shamed for not doing it, and you should definitely be seeing a therapist -- who has experience with it -- when you attempt it, because it can dredge up some really nasty shit if you're not ready or equipped to handle the fall-out. AND you should start mentioning this and talking about this in every witchcraft/occult space. get people talking about it and researching its history. because lord above if i have one more person talk about shadow work like they're doing something more ethereal or mystical than journaling i'm going to lose my shit. and there are a lot of witchcraft spaces i don't want to get booted from.

#personal #woowoo #witchtok #witchblr #witchcraft #witchstagram #shadow work #carl jung #psychology #therapy

[theshadowworker]

The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are

- Carl Jung

#shadow self #beautiful quote #shadow work #individuation #jungian psychology #psychology quotes #psychology #jungian shadow #carl jung #jung #jungian archetypes #philosophy quotes #philosophy #witchblr #archetypes #shadow work quotes #inspiring quotes

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

#films watched in 2024 #Saltburn #Emerald Fennell #Jacob Elordi #2023 #Netflix #Barry Keoghan #Rosamund Pike #Richard E. Grant #Alison Oliver #satire #rich #poverty #black comedy #drama #thriller #psychological drama #summer #title credits #shadows #swim suit #bathtub #tres

[theambitiouswoman]

How Childhood Trauma Can Show Up In Adulthood

Childhood trauma can have a deep and lasting impact on your development, some scenarios we would not even consider to be " trauma" but it comes down to how you as a child perceived the situation. To add to that, you could have had a great childhood factually, or by your understanding, because it is all you knew. I’ll give you an example, do you find yourself putting everyone else before you? Maybe when you were little you had an experience with a parent where they put someone else before you in a situation that was significant to you at the time, and that feeling got registered in your subconscious. Maybe you got rewarded for the experience or reprimanded. It could have been very harmless. You may not even remember unless you start to think about it. None the less the root of a lot of our triggers, habits and insecurities boil down to our childhood experiences, that stay buried in our subconscious and often manifesting in various ways during adulthood.

You have a have a hard time controlling your feelings. You might get super angry or not feel anything at all.

You are scared to fail.

You blame yourself for your mistakes and bad choices from your past and have a hard time forgiving yourself.

You worry about what other people think about you or in general and may feel scared a lot.

You are too clingy or too distant and cant find a balance.

You don't trust yourself to make decisions and need constant validation or someone else to make decisions for you.

You feel really sad and down most of the time.

You suffer from negative self talk, are very hard on yourself and really believe those things to be true.

You constantly criticize others.

You need external validation to feel accepted.

You are always anxious.

You are hypersensitive to criticism.

You are terrified of change.

You find it hard to take compliments and truly believe you are not worthy.

You find it hard to keep good relationships because you're scared of getting hurt and feel like you cant get close to others.

You try to be perfect and want to do everything perfectly because you think it will help avoid bad things from happening.

You might eat too much or too little because you are feeling bad or want to control things.

You can't stop thinking about bad stuff that happened before and might have nightmares or feel like they're living it again.

You may feel like they're not really in their body or like things around them aren't real because of what happened in the past.

You avoid things because they remind you of bad stuff that happened.

Sometimes people stay away from things that remind them of bad stuff that happened.

You might have more health problems like headaches or stomachaches.

You do things that hurt you or others, and you don't even realize it because you learned it from when you were young.

You might work extra hard to be successful because you want others to like you or because you don't feel good about yourself.

You rather be alone because you feel embarrassed or worried about what others think.

You try really hard to control everything in your life.

You water yourself down and put everyone else before you.

#trauma #shadow work #self development #self helf #personal development #personal growth #self esteem #self confidence #inner child #memories #psychology #neuroscience #level up journey #self healing #healingjourney #healthy relationships #mental health #glow up tips #dream girl journey #dream girl #dream girl tips #dream girl guide #personal improvement #healing #journal

[thebiscuitlabryinth]

[prev]

Nowadays, Pure Vanilla has gotten used to his sleep fluctuating wildly between turbulent dreams and sleep like the void itself has swallowed him whole. It seems like a game of chance whenever he rests his head down, and neither option leaves him any less tired the next morning.

Today, his dreams are absurd, swirling and spilling into each other, and vividly upsetting in a way he can't identify. He shut his eyes tight, but that doesn't block out the rest of his senses. He can hear begging, crying, shouting, and the scent of something burning and wilted lilies clashes in the air, creating a suffocating smell that winds around him slow. It is awful, but it is slightly less so, now that he knows how to recognise when he is in a dream. More importantly, he has a question, and he is more than aware of Shadow Milk's lingering presence.

"You founded the study of Dark Moon Magic, didn't you?"

It is a soft question, but one that is sure of itself. Instantly, the sounds and smells and sensations that had been plaguing Pure Vanilla disappear. Pure Vanilla keeps both his eyes closed for the time being, just in case. Tonight, his staff is absent like a missing leg, and he misses the added security of being able to look through it.

"Oh, come on! Don't interrupt the scene, we were just getting to the good part!" Shadow Milk's voice responds with frustration, the sound coming from all sides. It is precisely because it comes from all sides that Pure Vanilla keeps his eyes closed, not quite trusting that the shards of his nightmares have been fully swept away. He doesn't want to find out what Shadow Milk could possibly consider to be 'the good part' amidst the sounds of suffering and anguish.

Instead, Pure Vanilla sighs. "It was your choice to stop everything when I asked that, wasn't it? You can't blame me for that."

"Bzzt! Wrong! I can blame you because you did interrupt. It doesn't matter what I did in response, a disruption is a disruption." Shadow Milk declares loudly, voice a little rougher, as if he was daring Pure Vanilla to argue back. But his voice is now only coming from one source, right in front of him, so Pure Vanilla cautiously opens his eyes to check the surroundings.

He finds himself in the library of Blueberry Yogurt Academy, and nostalgia eagerly rears its head within him, somewhat surprised. He's stood beside a littered table, surrounded by the deep blue bookshelves of his youth and the comforting smell of aged paper. The details blur a little past that, some of the shelves lighter, more like the bookshelves in his chambers in the Vanilla Kingdom, leaving it less like a perfect replica and more like a collage made out of bits and pieces of his lifetimes' worth of memories, but it is mostly the Blueberry Yogurt library.

Shadow Milk is across the table from him, tutting when Pure Vanilla takes too long to reply. He leans his elbows on the table, propping his chin on the bridge of his linked fingers. "Sneaky, silly-Vanilly, trying to use me to get out of your funny little nightmares. Very, very sneaky."

"It worked, didn't it?" Pure Vanilla says, a bit stiffly, because that had never been his main intention, mostly because Shadow Milk isn't nice enough for him to think it would work. No, his main intention is genuine curiosity, and that is exactly why he continues to prod. "...You didn't answer my question."

"Because it's a stupid one." Shadow Milk hums back, tilting his head to the side. He tilts it far enough that his cheek is now resting against his hands instead of his chin. "You should be able to figure that out yourself. Didn't I already tell you where my home is?"

Pure Vanilla doesn't answer for a moment, laying a tentative hand on the edge of the table as he tries to squint at the papers across its surface in the dim lamplight. It takes him a second to realise that they're all forbidden texts on Dark Moon Magic, and when he does, he murmurs back. "It's better to clarify than assume, isn't it?"

This time, Shadow Milk is the one who doesn't answer for a moment, instead staring at him with those piercing eyes. Pure Vanilla can feel more around him, behind him, lurking in the shadows pooling in the nooks and crevices and he can't help it – he shivers slightly.

That reaction must be enough for Shadow Milk, because he snorts, and pushes off the table to lean back, kicking his feet up onto the table and right on top of texts, which is already enough to make Pure Vanilla wince. Poor library etiquette aside, the movement is horribly uncanny to watch, partly because he is leaning back onto thin air instead of a chair, partly because he moves so quickly it's like his limbs snap into place, and partly because his smile is stretched far too thin as he does so.

"Of course I did. I'm very talented, you know." Shadow Milk announces smugly, his eyes never leaving him. They narrow slightly, all of them in suspicious synchronisation, and he raises his eyebrows expectantly. "But I must admit, I am crumbling to know why you brought it up."

Whys are always difficult to answer, especially for something as difficult as motives, which can morph and change over time. Pure Vanilla hates lying, but he hates lying in front of Shadow Milk even more, because he seems to recognise every single one and Pure Vanilla doesn't want to give him the satisfaction.

But he really can't admit the core of the matter to his face. He can't admit that ever since he glimpsed the ghost of Shadow Milk's past, he hasn't been able to stop thinking about it. He can't admit that he is actively trying to glimpse it again, and what better way to try and draw it out than with any scholar's pride and joy – their work?

"It's impressive. I, myself, have mastered White Magic over the years, and I certainly contributed to its development, but I cannot claim that I created it as a school of magic." Pure Vanilla explains instead, and it isn't a lie either, just lacking all the details. He fidgets a bit, tugging at his own sleeves, adding quieter. "Dark Moon Magic is forbidden too, so there aren't many detailed sources left on it. I want to know more about its founding."

I want to know more about you.

There is another lapse of silence, and Pure Vanilla is tense with tentative hope. After all, if Shadow Milk was really against the topic altogether, he wouldn't have gone through the trouble of plucking him out of his nightmares.

Shadow Milk's smile is sharp like a knife, clashing with the casual way he folds his arms behind his head, almost languid as he finally muses. "Oh, really? That doesn't sound right. I'm sure there's enough details lying around to get the gist of it. After all, you've used Dark Moon Magic before, so you must know something about it already."

Pure Vanilla flinches back, and it isn't a surprise that he knows about that too, not anymore, but it still leaves him with unstable footing. Regardless, he doesn't let that scare him off the topic, which he suspects is exactly why Shadow Milk said it. "...I've only really used it once, and I don't remember much about what happened. So I may know something, but that something is rather little."

It's a confession, and the truth. His brief tangle with Dark Moon Magic is a complete blur in his own mind, watered down to blinding sensations and a heartache so intense he had felt like he was crumbling. Theoretically, he knows enough about Dark Moon Magic to hold a conversation, but he remembers nothing about it in practise.

"You know who could help you with that?" Shadow Milk asks, seemingly unbothered, but the words curl with open mockery and a smirk. He tilts his head back slightly so he can look down on Pure Vanilla and throws his arms out dramatically. "Our beloved, newly coronated Guardian! She has plenty of experience with–"

Pure Vanilla's heart lurches painfully.

"Don't talk about her!" He interrupts, voice bursting out louder than he expected and panic fluttery in his chest. He doesn't want to hear him tear at her old wounds, even if she can't hear it herself. He knows how vulnerable that cry makes him seem though, and he fumbles to lower his voice to something softer, less shaky. "Don't– please, I'm asking you for a reason."

Shadow Milk giggles, a strange grating sound that climbs higher with each breath, until he is laughing in earnest. He curls into himself, arms wrapped around his middle, and the position looks painful with his feet still planted on the table. Pure Vanilla watches him warily, a little shaken by the mention of White Lily, and wonders if maybe, he was wrong about what he thought he saw in Shadow Milk. He has been seeing more things that aren't there, recently.

His laughter stops abruptly. The stillness that follows is jarring, but doesn't last long.

Slowly – so slowly that it is unnerving, for someone who typically moves as erratically as him – Shadow Milk reaches forward with one hand and plucks a scroll up from the table. He unrolls it with a lazy flick of his wrist, the other end tumbling away over the edge of the table and across the floor. It is a smooth movement, Pure Vanilla notes through the pounding of his heart and his scrambled nerves, a practised motion that speaks of thousands of opened scrolls.

Shadow Milk peers over at the contents of the scroll with an empty, disinterested expression, his legs melting through the table until he appears to be sitting somewhat politely again. The sudden switch to this from his near hysterical laughter leaves Pure Vanilla disturbed, unsure if this is progress or not.

"I wanted to strike a balance between Black and White Magic." Shadow Milk says, his voice a disconcertingly low murmur, almost monotone. While his main eyes remain steadily on the scroll, the rest are eagerly burrowing into Pure Vanilla from all sides. "Black Magic draws from the void, making it unpredictable and destructive by nature, but full of potential. White Magic draws from the moon, primarily, and other celestial sources, making it safer and easier to use, but limited in its purity. If I could find the middle ground, I could harness magic with more flexibility and power but less unpredictability."

Shadow Milk pauses then, his eyes sliding up to stare right at Pure Vanilla, and his lips quirk upwards. When he speaks again, his voice gains a little more character but remains mainly flat, like a poorly-delivered theatrical monologue. "The dark side of the moon was the obvious choice for a source of that kind of power, because it's the natural overlap between the moon and the void. Once you figure out a source for magic, it's simple to find a way to draw from it, and to make it simpler, I had access to the knowledge of the Witches at my fingertips. All I had to do was write everything down, and the school of Dark Moon Magic was born. Easy-peasy!"

Shadow Milk throws the scroll to the side with little fanfare, not even sparing a glance at those ancient texts as they land in a heap of old paper on the floor, uncaring of if they damage or rip. And why would he? They both know this is a dream, and even if it wasn't, he had written that scroll himself.

Pure Vanilla would have cared, dream or not, if he wasn't wholly distracted, reduced to only a wide-eyed blink.

Because Shadow Milk may feign a bored face and voice, as if reading off a report or a particularly uninspiring script, but when their gazes meet, his eyes glitter like shooting stars, sparking with pride and passion and something else.

It captivates Pure Vanilla, the very same shine that comes with a breakthrough for every researcher. It is exactly what he had been hoping to see again, but the sight still leaves him feeling unmoored, even if pleasantly. Intruige and hope swirl within him, and he suddenly finds himself desperate to hold onto this ghost of the past, to make it stay longer and help it spill into the present.

"What does it feel like?" The question comes out before Pure Vanilla can think it through, focused on continuing the conversation before Shadow Milk can pick up his showmanship again in full. "Dark Moon Magic, I mean."

Shadow Milk huffs, a playful grin settling on his face again, and a sickening mix of dread and disappointment trickles through Pure Vanilla as he watches him lean over, crushing more texts beneath his palms. For a scary moment, he expects him to make another quip towards his previous use of the magic, or worse, bring up White Lily again.

He doesn't. Shadow Milk kicks his legs up behind him, so that he is laying on his stomach in mid-air, and cheerfully asks, "How about I show you?"

He doesn't wait for Pure Vanilla to process what he said, let alone reply. He reaches out and ensnares Pure Vanilla's hand, the one normally occupied with his staff, and laces their fingers together. Pure Vanilla doesn't reciprocate the hold, surprised, but only tries a small unsuccessful tug in response.

Shadow Milk's grip is an oppressive pressure, tight but not quite painful. He presses their palms together firmly, and Pure Vanilla gasps.

Magic bursts through the contact, rushing through his jam in a dizzying, warm flood. It is thicker, heavier than the magic Pure Vanilla is used to, thrumming and twisting as if it has a mind of its own, almost scratching at his dough as if trying to consume him, and he can't even concentrate on it because– because–

He can see everything.

Pure Vanilla really, truly can. He can see Shadow Milk's curling smile in front of him, he can see the Faeries having a feast, he can see Black Raisin greeting the moon from one of the Vanilla Castle's towers, he can see Dark Cacao striding through the citadel, he can see White Lily going through her morning routine, he can see his own sleeping body, and places and Cookies he doesn't have the presence of mind to recognise, all simultaneously. He doesn't know what to focus on, doesn't even know how to focus on anything, and his head hurts like it is falling apart.

This is how Shadow Milk has been watching me, he thinks deliriously, the only thought he can manage as he drowns in his sights.

And then, in a snap, he is back in the library with only one scene to see. His vision swims a little at the edges as if it didn't get the message, and he wobbles in place.

Shadow Milk is still holding his hand, but the grip is slightly looser, and the stream of his Dark Moon Magic is gone like a whisper. His grin is sinister and too big for his face, but his eyes still burn like stars.

"Fun, isn't it?" Shadow Milk coos, giddy like it is a shared secret, lifting Pure Vanilla's trembling hand and brushing a kiss to the back that buzzes with Dark Moon Magic. "My very first masterpiece."

Pure Vanilla wakes up disoriented, with a ringing headache and an itch in the back of his hand. White Lily notices his poor state almost immediately when she sees him – wonderful as she is – and she asks if he had a nightmare with that gentle, concerned slope to her brows.

Pure Vanilla adjusts his grip on his staff, leaning against it more than usual.

"No." He assures her lightly, not quite the truth and not quite a lie.

[next]

#oops this was longer than i expected #i mainly just wanted an excuse to wax lyrical about possible interpretations of their magic systems <3 #sm is having the time of his life btw. pv? not so much #writing this is like a tightrope act between pv's idealistic hopes and sm-related psychological disturbance #pure vanilla cookie #shadow milk cookie #shadowvanilla #vanilla milkshake #pureshadow #echo paradox au #the biscuit library

[jorrated]

its so embarrassing to draw sonic stuff in public

#jo.art #sonic the comic #shadow the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog #gijinka #done during class </3 sorrey im so bored #i duuno if im just going insane #but i feel like after a certain point going to uni for psychology you just watch classes tha make you go '....no shit?' #or its the same gucking concepts but explained a lil bit differently

[wedarkacademia]

And when neither parent is a comfort, you live haunted by their shadows instead of finding your way out from under them.

Soman Chainani, from Quests for Glory

#haunted #no comfort #family trauma #childhood trauma #arrested development #ptsd #stunted #holding me back #relatable #unhappy childhood #fraught #in their shadow #lack of independence #can't move on #psychology #family #parents #quotes #lit #words #excerpts #quote #literature #soman chainani #quests for glory #the school for good and evil

[hyperfixated-homo]

Was in a horror au mood. And also an environmental one, apparently :)

#rottmnt #tmnt #leonardo #tmnt leonardo #rottmnt leo #rottmnt leonardo #tmnt leo #psychological!leo #rottmnt horror au #shadow draws #art

[crazycatsiren]

I feel like it should be mentioned that psychology has come a very long way since Carl Jung's time in the beginning of the 20th century.

#mother witch ramblings #witchblr #witch community #shadow work #psychology #carl jung

[cauldronlakefiles]

what if Scratch was the friends we made along the way

#alan wake 2 #alan wake ii #aw2 #alan wake 2 spoilers #mr. scratch #alan wake meme #I stg we have this conversation every day and can never reach a consensus #I do genuinely believe he is a Jungian archetype of the Shadow but if there is one thing i don't like about AW2 #It's the over reliance on Jungian Psychology to the detriment of the plot that drove the first game and AWAN #Though now that I'm thinking about it the Jungian shadow theory doesn't work with Alan's rejection of Eternal Deerfest #AGGH so confusing

[rchetypal]

"It is a fact that human beings are never perfect; they may have wonderful and idealistic purposes but they cannot create anything without the black substance included. Whoever creates light must create shadow, and whoever creates shadow creates also light."

— Carl Jung, Zarathustra Seminar

#242 #carl jung #psychology #jung #duality #human #shadow

[theshadowworker]

In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer

- Albert Camus

#shadow work #inner warmth #inner warrior #beautiful quote #philosophy #mindset #inner light #psychology #psychology quotes #shadow work quotes #philosophy quotes #witchblr #albert camus #camus #existentialism #shadow self #jungian shadow #inner power #inner strength #quotes

[elsannej]

Shadow and Rouge can never quite understand to how it feels to be mechanical in both body and mind, and vice versa; Omega can never fully comprehend organic thought processes or physicality.

(500 words of ruminations)

Sure, Omega has a pretty good grasp on the organic brain:

How they're inferior because they can't process huge amounts of data like he can, nor do they have his perfect memory or sense of direction. On top of it all, they constantly make bad decisions based on a bunch of hormones: Biological brains function on thousands of years old evolutionary directives, and they react illogically, such as freezing or otherwise disabling the body at the face of danger, simply because some gland is producing excessive amounts of molecules. "Pain" is an archaic warning the brain gives to inform the body of sustained damage, but it can also completely immobilize the individual. - Organic functions seem to all be self-sabotaging at their core, and it's one of the reasons Omega deems most organics inferior to him.

This is all irrelevant because when Shadow got his first crippling PTSD episode, and began to hyperventilate on his bedroom’s floor at 04:18:25 after awakening from a nightmare, Omega felt powerless ineffectual way out of his element. - Shadow did not show any response to audial cues, and physical contact only made the situation worse. Omega learned this when he went to place Shadow back on the bed after he'd ignored Omega calling out his name for 24.8 seconds: Shadow’s breath hitched and he started to immediately trash in Omega’s hold, eyes frantic. His reaction didn’t cease even when Omega dropped him onto the bed, and instead tried to deliriously induce Chaos Control, eyes locked on Omega without any recognition. Omega was in the middle of calculating the next best manoeuvre when Rouge barged into the room. The commotion had alerted her from her sleep, and Omega could only watch as she kneeled down to Shadow and started doing breathing exercises with him, Shadow's irregular breathing turning into sobs shortly after.

…Or when Rouge sustained serious enough injury on a mission to the point where she couldn't mask her pain, and Omega had to pick her up despite her flinching away with a scream at the initial contact – a noise Omega had not registered form her previously. He tried to adjust his grasp to insignificant success, every bit of movement prompting a noise or a muscle twitch from her, as he carried Rouge through her teeth-gritted wails. She cursed and screamed at Omega until her voice became sore, leaving her with only tears running down her face. – “Hon~ you could never catch me crying. Why, it'd ruin my makeup!” – Her alcohol-based cosmetics were completely intact even when she was being strapped to a stretcher, about to be transported via a G.U.N. medical air carriage. Shadow had been hovering over her for the past 21 minutes - he'd been glued to her ever since teleporting to the rendezvous - and despite being in the middle of arguing with the paramedics, Omega could see him gently holding Rouge’s hand, with her squeezing back.

#e 123 omega #shadow the hedgehog #rouge the bat #team dark #(thinking about... #Omega's learning curve of dealing with his organic team mates and #learning to recognize and harbour sympathy towards their physical & psychological reactions #and how dogshit he was at it at first) #my writing #my hcs #//team dark on my mind - team dark in my brain :3 #e-123 omega #angst #??? #StH