eisley hallows

love letters from the liminal

this week during shadow study (my seasonal guided shadow work course), i opened class by asking everyone, "do yall know anything about dandelions?" and it was probably my favorite class ever.

sometimes i find inspiration just by gazing out my bedroom window.

and thats where i found it this time, too!

right outside my front door, right off my front porch, there's a little concrete pad that the previous owners poured for like, grilling and stuff.

it's decorated in a way that's super personal to them-- they spelled out their names in little stones and the patterns in the concrete are unlike anything i've ever seen anywhere else. you can tell it was a labor of love!

but, you can also tell that the ground wasn't prepared very extensively beforehand, too.

there are lots of little cracks that dandelions have burst through. around them, the hairline cracks in the concrete have widened and some of the concrete is crumbling away.

the thing about dandelions is that they're designed specifically for two things: survival and repairing the ground they grow in. they're also great for lots of other things-- but these are the Big Deals about being a dandelion.

they have taproots that reach DEEP into the ground. these taproots loosen the compacted soil around them, making it more suitable for growing other plants that wouldn't have taken root there otherwise. the soil soaks up more water and its more arable after the dandelions have done their job and die off, decomposing into the soil they've spent their whole lives dedicated to.

and, they ADAPT TO SURVIVE. if you mow them down over and over to keep them from blooming-- they will simply grow shorter than your mower blades can reach, to spite you.

when you're doing shadow work, seeing the similarities between your shadow and these amazing plants is easy.

your shadow is deeply, deeply rooted, and will seek the path to sunlight no matter how thick a layer of concrete you smother it under. the cracks are where the light gets in, and there is always a crack somewhere.

and, when you let your shadow be free to do the job it's trying to do, it loosens up all the hard, compacted thought patterns and ruts you've gotten yourself stuck in.

when you let your shadow run the course it's meant to run, all its pieces return to you and integrate into the fertile soil of your unconscious mind.

BUT-- if you chop it down over and over in an attempt to not deal with it
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it will adapt to survive, you're going to have to deal with it some way anyways, and you dont get any of the benefits of simply letting it be what it's meant to be.

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love you,

eisley

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ps. i'm now accepting new clients. i love working with weirdos and people who feel like aliens on earth. drop me an email and we can chat <3

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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