People are sometimes surprised to learn that I enjoy horror flicks. I am not sure why they are surprised. It may be that I seem so Zen to them. It may be because I, as a shaman, help people to heal from the horrors that their lives have inflicted upon them. Whatever the reason, they are surprised to learn this about me.
I have often said that, in order to be a balanced individual, we must have a balance between the light and dark within us. Most folks think that the way to be balanced is to deny the darkness within and focus only on love and light. But that practice only leads to pure evil within, in the guise of love and light. The religiously self-righteous are so often the ones who inflict pain and suffering on those around them. After all, you cannot spare the rod without spoiling the child! So this becomes an open invitation for abusive practices, all in the name of God or Jesus. Conversion therapy camps, where young LGBTQA+ children are sent to “scare them straight” are nothing more than torture camps, some of which have actually harmed to the point of maming or killing kids.
Those are the TRUE horrors of our world. The horrors that live in the minds and actions of humans far outweigh the horrors of a horror flick.
But what horror flicks tend to do for us is they get us in touch with our fears and phobias. They help us to understand that we have some aspect to our personalities that needs healing. I remember watching The Bone Collector. Everything was just fine until the scene where a young man was kidnapped, tied up in the sewers of New York City, cut into and left for the rats to eat him. That one freaked me out so bad. The reason? When I was a kid I was attacked by a rat in the middle of the night. That is when we found out that the farm we moved to had rats in an old, unused sistern in the basement of the house in which we lived. It was nasty. NASTY. And, because of the trauma of that, I now have a phobia around all forms of rodents. It doesn’t matter if it is the smallest mouse or mole, you will find me clutching the ceiling and breaking out in a cold sweat. I can get rid of a dead rodent when they show up in the yard. That is not so bad. But if it is still twitching…nope. This is why I use bait stations in the outbuildings and under our deck, where none of the dogs can access them. The mice will eat the bait, wonder off and quietly die before I ever have to deal with them. And the dogs, should they munch into one of them post bait mealtime, will not be harmed.
Imagine the horror when I found out that our dog, Milo, is fast enough to chase down and eviserate a squirrel! First off, I was so impressed that he was fast enough to do that. Secondly, I was totally disgusted by the carnage! This has earned him his nickname of Zen Dexter. Because on a daily basis he is the most Zen and loving little fella. But once that killer instinct kicks in, he becomes Dexter, the serial killer! Come to think of it, he does seem to take after me that way. I am usually Zen, but if someone pisses me off at exactly the wrong time…CARNAGE.
I have to say that there have not been many horror flicks that have freaked me out at all. I find them entertaining. I am the one who, when seeing how a character is killed, will say, “Ewwe, gross! I LOVE it!” When it comes to horror flicks that are based upon demonic possession or characters I am ALL IN. Truly, in my line of work, those flicks don’t have much that I have not encountered in real life, so it does not phase me at all.
What I appreciate about them is that they help us to address our own shadow side. The shadow side can actually be an ally for us. It cannot do so if we are continually running away from it. But once we embrace it, then the fears and insecurities tend to diminish. I am still working on the rodent situation, but other aspects have certainly been healing just by addressing them. Sometimes we don’t even know we have those fears until we see a horror flick. But once we do know, then we can do something about them!
The shadow side of our characters, our personalities, our souls, can give us the strength and resilience to move through the dark times in our lives. They can be our strongest allies and keep us connected to that fire within that will become volcanic if threatened. We do not have to cower away like a mouse. We can rise up and fight for what is right and just. We don’t have to necessarily be aggressive about it. In fact, some of the most effective methods are extremely quiet indeed. But we cannot access those methods without our shadow side.
So go ahead and enjoy your horror flicks. They may be serving you in ways that are much more profound than anyone could possibly imagine!