How stories help us see our inner patterns and gain emotional health

Fairy Tales & Jungian Shadow Work

"Many of us are gifted with the ability to hold the darkness of others but we don't always know how to uncover it within ourselves."

This Creative Mind Audio is an excerpt from the free Shift Network video interview with Melissa Kim Corter: The Alchemy of Fairy Tales & Jungian Shadow Work.

Jungian depth psychologist Melissa Kim Corter comments, "Denzel Washington once said that some people will never like you because your spirit will irritate their demons.

"It took me years to understand that this is a gift that my warm and grounded presence can put people at ease to help them feel safe to unburden their hearts - yet others were instantly repelled by my presence."

She notes she was drawn to engage with Fairy Tales as a child: "There was something about these stories that allowed me to recognize patterns in my own life. They gave solutions. They had this magical and enchanting sort of quality where the natural world was alive and that really resonated deeply for me."

Corter writes on her Substack site Hauntingly Beautiful Things: "My ideas and words seem to resonate with those who never know their place.

"My psyche guides me as I write about the exiled parts of the mind, human behavior, and shadow. I collect broken pieces, like breadcrumbs, and try to make some sense of them. Putting them together in mythopoetic forms that speak to the soul.

"My writing blends psychology with symbolic forms found in film, fairy tales, and forensics. I have found value in the dark, misunderstood, and macabre dimensions of my personality..."

Perhaps you can relate. I certainly do.