We All Suffer at Times from Our Personal Demons
Allione, Tsultrim, (2008). Feeding your Demons: Ancient wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict, Little Brown and Company, New York.
“Demons cannot be neglected”, (p. 1x”) they will persist until they are recognized, integrated into our psyche consciously and then they have the ability to transform with us.
“The need for transformation of our demons is universal. We all suffer at times from our personal demons, whether those of confusion, anger, self-hatred, trauma, on-going grief and loss” ix Kornfield
Tsultrim Allione shows us how to transform the energy of addiction, shame, illness, anxiety, fear, and anger into the energy of liberation” Kornfield.
Buddhist teaching tells us liberation can be found exactly where we are – not by avoiding the suffering of life, by turning towards them with a great heart of compassion” It is in the “personal” grasping of these traumas and griefs that we can transform our demon energy into freedom with their help and guidance, as an ally.
To this goal Allione shows us how to “feed our demons not fight them“ turning inner anxiety, panic, depression, anger and despair into freedom.
How do we do this?
We use the one TRAIT that sets Human beings apart from animals—IMAGINATION”. It is called “Imaginal Psychology”. And yes it is a real thing, a working “intervention” and disruption in the patterns of our own demonic archetypal forces that can dominate and possess us, keeping us stuck in life.
We bring the possession of these archetypal forces into focus by becoming aware of our demons one by one, putting a form to them and then feeding what this demonic force requires to stay calm. We make a new inner guide and ally, gain considerable energy from these psychic archetypal images once brought into consciousness, allowing us to engage life fully with emotional freedom and creativity.
According to Tsultrim, “As it turns out, when liberated, the energy of the demon that has been locked in struggle is the treasure.”(p.21)
These demons are our dark side as described by Carl Jung, the Swiss Psychologist well known for his work on the “shadow side of out personality”. The shadow is an archetypal pattern which often shows up in our dreams or we project it onto others. “The shadow he described consists of these parts of ourselves that the conscious mind deems unacceptable. The shadow is the repressed self, the unwelcome aspects of our personality we disown. It might be our shame, our anger, or our prejudices. It is that which we don’t want others to know about us, and it often appears in dreams doing things our conscious self would not consider” (p.21)
Tsultrim continues, “The process of feeding our demons is a method for bringing our shadow into consciousness and accessing the treasure it holds rather than repressing it. If the shadow is not made conscious and integrated, it operates undercover, becoming the saboteur of our best intentions as well as causing harm to others.” (p. 21).
There is a lot to cover in this book that will require a reading by you, but let’s get to the meat of this writing and list the steps for “Feeding Your Demons”.
Feeding your Demons:
Begin with Nine relaxing breaths and a clear Motivation:
1) Find the demon
2) Personify the demon and ask it what it needs
3) Become the demon
4) Feed the demon and meet the ally
5) Rest in awareness
It is always best if one attempts to do this process to have a trusted colleague or friend accompany us (probably not family member because so many of our demons are historically steeped in trauma, thus triggering may occur, between family members). And of course another choice is a therapist who is familiar with this process and theoretically understands the shadow side of our human nature and how to safely bring it into the conversation. In Jungian terms this is called “Individuation”.
Also if in the process of reading this book one is intrigued, Tsultrim Allione offers retreats at her Tara Mandala Center in Colorado: For more information on her retreats and this work and other personal work at Tara
Go to www.taramandala.org
Her writings in this informative book offer clarity around the original ancient practice of demon feeding to change them into our helpers for what ails us.
To quote Emily Dickinson:
“The palate of hate departs,
Anger as soon as fed is dead:
‘Tis starving makes it fat”
The majority of information in the book review is directly from Tsultrim Allione’s important book “Feeding Your Demons: Ancient Wisdom for Resolving Inner Conflict”