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Dreaming Through Darkness: Shine Light into the Shadow to Live the Life of Your Dreams
The shadow is made up of all that we hide from others: our shame, our fears and our wounds, but also our divine light, our blinding beauty and our hidden talents. The shadow is a huge source of benevolent power and creativity, but until we bring it into the light this power will remain untapped and our full potential unreached.
In this transformative book, lucid dreaming teacher Charlie Morley guides you into the dazzling darkness of the shadow and shows you how to unlock the inner gold within. Using ancient methods from Tibetan Buddhism alongside contemporary techniques and Western psychology, he reveals how to use lucid dreaming, meditation, shamanic mask work, creative writing and spiritual practice to help you to befriend your shadow with loving kindness, heal your mind and open your heart to your highest potential. This book reveals:
What the shadow is, and how we create and project it
The different types of shadow, including the golden shadow, the ancestral shadow and the sexual shadow
Exercises, visualizations and meditations to connect deeply with and transform your shadows
The life-changing benefits of shadow integration, including increased energy, authenticity and spiritual growth
How to lucid dream and lucidly call forth your golden shadow and embrace it with love.
Through over 30 practical exercises, this book will take you on a life-changing journey into the heart of spiritual transformation. The light you’ll find there is brighter than you could ever imagine.
In this transformative book, lucid dreaming teacher Charlie Morley guides you into the dazzling darkness of the shadow and shows you how to unlock the inner gold within. Using ancient methods from Tibetan Buddhism alongside contemporary techniques and Western psychology, he reveals how to use lucid dreaming, meditation, shamanic mask work, creative writing and spiritual practice to help you to befriend your shadow with loving kindness, heal your mind and open your heart to your highest potential. This book reveals:
What the shadow is, and how we create and project it
The different types of shadow, including the golden shadow, the ancestral shadow and the sexual shadow
Exercises, visualizations and meditations to connect deeply with and transform your shadows
The life-changing benefits of shadow integration, including increased energy, authenticity and spiritual growth
How to lucid dream and lucidly call forth your golden shadow and embrace it with love.
Through over 30 practical exercises, this book will take you on a life-changing journey into the heart of spiritual transformation. The light you’ll find there is brighter than you could ever imagine.
288 pages, Paperback
Published May 30, 2017
91 people are currently reading
304 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 1, 2018
Enlightening, invigorating, exceptional
If you’re not familiar with Charlie Morley’s work, this is as good a place to start as any: it’s clear, full of compassion, and if everyone in the English speaking world were to follow the instructions in this book, we’d live in an entirely different world. So we start with ourselves. Read it. Do it. Pass it on.
If you’re not familiar with Charlie Morley’s work, this is as good a place to start as any: it’s clear, full of compassion, and if everyone in the English speaking world were to follow the instructions in this book, we’d live in an entirely different world. So we start with ourselves. Read it. Do it. Pass it on.
August 24, 2018
Well, that was a trip.
This book started out as the very best kind of woo-woo: the solid, meat and three veg, pragmatic kind of woo-woo that is easily digested and not so difficult to apply, particularly for the spiritual-but-not-necessarily-religious-because-there's-too-many-tedious-rules sector of society. Morley recommends working through various exercises where you'll be asked The Big Questions in order to recognise and essentially befriend the 'shadow' side of your personality. Despite immediate connotations, the shadow is not comprised of merely negative aspects of ourselves, but essentially anything at all that we do not expose; shame, anxiety and fear, for example, are located in the 'Dark' half of the shadow, and in the 'Golden' half of the shadow you might find unfulfilled potential, hidden talents or a shit-hot recipe for scones that you're petulantly determined to take to your grave.
Let’s break down the shadow of someone we can all relate to: Luke Skywalker. We could say that Luke’s dark shadow encompasses frequenting desert cantinas with questionable characters, parental denial and that one time where he pashed his own sister. It's only when Luke comes to terms with this dark shadow (by forgiving daddy, accepting that the hot guy ends up with his sister, recognising and harnessing the Force etc) that he is able to move forth into all the glory of his golden shadow, allowing him to restore order to an entire galaxy, albeit one that is far, far away.
Then we have the second half of this book, also known as the middle three Star Wars films. Close, but unfortunately no cigar. This is where our aforementioned garden variety woo-woo turns into full-blown, rainbow-meets-a-unicorn-and-has-a-threesome-with-an-aura type stuff. Morley lost me in the chapter on how to explore our Sexual Shadow when he outlines an exercise involving putting on a mask, looking into the mirror and speaking about sex and sexuality for EXACTLY 36 minutes. The exercise must be repeated over 9 days - but mercifully, you can take longer if you need to. (?!) This is the part where I didn't ask myself IF he was on drugs, but which ones and if I asked nicely would he share them with me?
Morley also asks us to explore Lucid Dreaming, which is the concept of working toward consciousness during dreams, to the point where you are actually able to speak out and exert control. (And let me tell you, some of his own personal examples could rival a drunken best man speech by Hamlet). So instead of randomly shouting 'Stop, thief!' and startling the cat during your usual boring repertoire, you can use lucid dreaming to direct the dream narrative in order to confront the dark or golden aspect of your shadow - whichever is presented as requiring the work.
Overall, it's certainly not for everyone and I can't say I'm scrambling to read Morley's back catalogue, but the book is an admirable achievement from someone who's passionate about exploring the nature of their own Force and helping others do the same.
This book started out as the very best kind of woo-woo: the solid, meat and three veg, pragmatic kind of woo-woo that is easily digested and not so difficult to apply, particularly for the spiritual-but-not-necessarily-religious-because-there's-too-many-tedious-rules sector of society. Morley recommends working through various exercises where you'll be asked The Big Questions in order to recognise and essentially befriend the 'shadow' side of your personality. Despite immediate connotations, the shadow is not comprised of merely negative aspects of ourselves, but essentially anything at all that we do not expose; shame, anxiety and fear, for example, are located in the 'Dark' half of the shadow, and in the 'Golden' half of the shadow you might find unfulfilled potential, hidden talents or a shit-hot recipe for scones that you're petulantly determined to take to your grave.
Let’s break down the shadow of someone we can all relate to: Luke Skywalker. We could say that Luke’s dark shadow encompasses frequenting desert cantinas with questionable characters, parental denial and that one time where he pashed his own sister. It's only when Luke comes to terms with this dark shadow (by forgiving daddy, accepting that the hot guy ends up with his sister, recognising and harnessing the Force etc) that he is able to move forth into all the glory of his golden shadow, allowing him to restore order to an entire galaxy, albeit one that is far, far away.
Then we have the second half of this book, also known as the middle three Star Wars films. Close, but unfortunately no cigar. This is where our aforementioned garden variety woo-woo turns into full-blown, rainbow-meets-a-unicorn-and-has-a-threesome-with-an-aura type stuff. Morley lost me in the chapter on how to explore our Sexual Shadow when he outlines an exercise involving putting on a mask, looking into the mirror and speaking about sex and sexuality for EXACTLY 36 minutes. The exercise must be repeated over 9 days - but mercifully, you can take longer if you need to. (?!) This is the part where I didn't ask myself IF he was on drugs, but which ones and if I asked nicely would he share them with me?
Morley also asks us to explore Lucid Dreaming, which is the concept of working toward consciousness during dreams, to the point where you are actually able to speak out and exert control. (And let me tell you, some of his own personal examples could rival a drunken best man speech by Hamlet). So instead of randomly shouting 'Stop, thief!' and startling the cat during your usual boring repertoire, you can use lucid dreaming to direct the dream narrative in order to confront the dark or golden aspect of your shadow - whichever is presented as requiring the work.
Overall, it's certainly not for everyone and I can't say I'm scrambling to read Morley's back catalogue, but the book is an admirable achievement from someone who's passionate about exploring the nature of their own Force and helping others do the same.
May 7, 2025
A nice comprehensive guide to embracing your shadow side that made me change the way I view my negative and positive emotions, and allowed me to understand them better. Plenty of exercises and techniques to explore it through multiple lenses.
May 31, 2021
This is a must read book for all of them who want to discover the side of themselves that we often fail to look or push aside and those who want to discover the true potential of your Golden shadow.This book has a lot of guided practices that help you to uncover aspects of yourself that you may not know and which are hidden.Personally this book has helped in my awakening and this is going to be a book that I'm going to keep going back to.
December 19, 2019
When I read Charlie Morley's books, I can hear his voice in my ear. The compassion and vulnerability that he demonstrates, are essential to working with your shadows and dreams.
July 31, 2020
One regret, dear world,
That I am determined not to have
When I am lying on my deathbed
Is that
I did not kiss you enough.
-Hafiz
That I am determined not to have
When I am lying on my deathbed
Is that
I did not kiss you enough.
-Hafiz
September 7, 2020
Better than I expected, excellent insights.
July 26, 2022
Charlie's books are always a yes.
Dive into shadow work, learn to face it and embrace it.
Dive into shadow work, learn to face it and embrace it.
August 17, 2022
This book has changed my sleep pattern and life.
December 26, 2023
Brilliant book on lucid dreaming and shadow work.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews