Shadow People: Bumps in the Night...

As a mental health nurse and shamanic practitioner, I get to hear about a lot of bizarre experiences. Psychiatry has a tendency to label people’s experiences as perceptual disturbances (ie. Hallucinations) and prescribe medication to minimize overwhelm of what is happening. The issue with this is sometimes it does not work with stopping the source of the anxiety – the actual seeing or hearing of beings/entities. This leaves people feeling unheard and dismissed by those who are meant to help them.

Inspiration for this article came from recent personal experience and hearing other people’s stories. There seems to be an increase in experiencing dark beings in the night time. Talking with clients, friends and strangers on social media, I have seen a recent spike in the occurrence of seeing shadow people.

What are Shadow people?

Shadow people are a phenomenon where dark silhouettes of human shapes are seen, often times in the peripheral vision. Various cultures and spiritual/religious systems state these are supernatural entities of the underworld. For instance the concept of Jinn in Islam, are dark entities that come to create fear and issues for people. There are also some theories that indicate these beings could be inter-dimensional – especially when we get into the theory on the Hat Man, which personally still gives me the shivers. Whatever they are, they obviously bring up fear inside and make it hard to get a restful night’s sleep.

I have heard from some people that they have had physical experiences with these beings touching them or creating changes in their environment, but these are rare. It seems more likely that people get spooked and then the shadowy being leaves. The theory also exists that these being are there to create fear because they feed off of our emotions. If this is the case, then it is important we don’t give them power over us.

So why and what causes this experience?

There are various reasons for this shadowy phenomena. For myself and so many others, it could be due to having a psychic sensitivity to these phenomenon. We are in tune, especially at night, to beings that want to be seen/heard/acknowledged. Just like a stray dog that may be scared, they still want to eat and may come begging at your feet. As mentioned above some may want to feed off of the fear that is elicited and this is the best way in which they know how to get it.

Sometimes there are psychological and physiological reasons to these experiences. The main one being limited sleep. Being exhausted and lacking in sleep (understandable if you’re worried about sleeping in the dark) could lead to more of these types of experiences. I know when I am overtired, I tend to see things and my mind plays tricks on me – oh altered states!

Another reason for these experiences could be related to substance use. Drugs like cannabis, crystal meth, alcohol and even prescription medications cause altered states and thin the veil of reality so we more easily pick up on these shadow people. Being mindful of how these substances impact our perspective and reducing use will help ground you.

What can I do moving forward?

Here are 5 steps you can take that many have found helpful to overcome these fears:

1. Acknowledge the fear - there is something out there that you may not be able to understand. This will help you to come to the reality versus trying to minimize it and hide from it. This empowers you to be willing to take the next steps

2. Clean your space – you can do this physically and energetically. Make sure your living space is clean and organized; get rid of clutter and minimize the physical noise. You can also tap into energetic cleaning of your space, such as using sage or other cleansing tools to shift the energy and remove negative energies.

3. Be willing to face your shadow. Often times we want to repress the dark parts of ourselves. You know when you can be selfish or greedy or rude – we try to hide these from others, when in actuality we are all these things and it is in love that we can fully embrace all these parts of us and finally feel comfortable being at home. Shadow work is a powerful way to face these shadow parts and to step fully into your power.

4. Tell them to F*ck off – set energetic boundaries and use your words to do this. Someone very wise once told me a story of how as a kid they finally had had enough of these shadow beings and decided to tell them to get lost. He stood up to the entities creeping in his dark bedroom and it was after that they disappeared. You are so much more powerful than you may believe friend!

5. Still not gone? Give energy work a try. This is why I do what I do. Many of my practice members have found success in reducing these types of experiences through Reiki (energy healing), Shamanic practices and Compassionate Depossession.

So if you are finding yourself in an encounter with a dark or shadowy being, then I encourage you to give these five steps a try. Trust your intuition to guide you on what is going on in your environment and reach out if you need support.