Shadow Men
I want to take a moment to get personal about something.. not just because I think it would be an informative topic for some, but because I'm welcoming feedback from others with similar experiences. I'm not one to start looking up comparisons online because frankly, I learned more about Shadow Men by having conversations with people that have also seen them. I urge anyone that's had experiences with ghosts as a child to consider this, and I will tell you why...
Firstly, I must say that I decided myself to use the plural form of the name, because I'm sure it's more of a "classification" of their presence and role, and not all the same, one being. But there is one very undeniable fact about them - and it's that they all look the same. Just as the name suggests, they appear as a shadow, but it's features are unmistakable. Their form includes a body-sized cloak, a brimmed hat.. and some variation of facial feature depending on your interactions with them. As a child, I thought my imagination created it's details as I was always quick to retreat anytime I saw him. But when he one night progressed to stand over my bed, I was sure I saw that his eyes were hollow.
It was my experience with this spirit that caused me to shut down psychically, and the fact that I was a mentally unstable (depressed, anxious) child ensured his presence affected me into my adult years. Only when I was getting my Priestess of Light certification - and had a one-on-one with my teacher - did I finally get rid of the attachment to it! Naturally, this was only the beginning of me finally feeling relief from parts of my past that were still holding me back. And to be honest, I didn't think much more of it until I met a Shadow Man while working on a client.
As part of my Soul Alchemy services, I offer Inner Child work - which is groundbreaking inner work for anyone that's experienced any trauma in their childhood or are looking to recover repressed memories. These sessions focus on manifesting your childhood self for further interaction and discovery, but that's just the beginning. I was working on a client in what seemed like it would be a relatively straight forward session, when suddenly and unexpectedly, another presence appeared. I couldn't deny noticing it looked like a Shadow Man, but I like to err on caution of projecting and asked my client to confirm it's appearance; to which she relayed the details as mentioned above.
I admit I was taken back for a moment. The very thing that left me terrified as a child is now presenting itself in a healing session... yet for the first time, I'm not afraid. Interacting with it seems to be the cause for it's chilling "face-changing" features, which honestly opens a door to them that you don't necessarily want to open. It was in this moment that I realized one had found my client as a child and attached to them too, and that perhaps my experience with this allows me to see and remove them.
Then came a rather marvellous scene as we all joined hands, calling in our angelic teams to form a line, which sent the Shadow Man running around in mad circles. It knew it's time was running out and with nowhere else to go, it was going through the motions of accepting it's fate. I can only say I followed my intuition on how to safely and effectively banish it - allowing us to resume the session as intended - but it opened a door to new information in my brain to have gone through that, and that information poured out as feedback at the end of the call.
So from what I can say, Shadow Men aren't around to do you any good, so you don't want to seek them out for any reason. They do seek out children that are psychic (can see them), but they like to linger around and attach themselves to vulnerable children. They have some weird traits, which oddly enough seem to protect us as children if we're experiencing any forms of abuse, but it leaves us stuck later in life. From what I've seen and experienced, I would say they feed off our negative energy, (similar to how energy vampires feed off our positive energy)... but this also keeps us stuck in negative energy because they don't want us to get better and no longer sustain them.
This is why I believe the attachment can only be removed once someone's spiritually ready for it. I personally did a lot of inner work (Inner Child work to face past abuse, Shadow work to become more confident & speak my truths, Reiki & daily cleansing practices, etc.), but still felt held back by a negative force; and that was when this dark entity & attachment presented itself to be removed. I would be lying if I said I didn't finally feel free after that.. but it was an emotional integration process that made me understand their presence a bit better.
While that is as much as I can share right now, I know deep down that there will be opportunities for me to learn even more about Shadow Men. The alarming and intrusive feeling they emanate is really all you need to know, and inviting one in does not bring any good fortune (at least, without pain). If you had an encounter as a child and believe it's caused a lasting effect, connect with me - I can help you!