I sparkled with the lead of gold.

After the release

Following that pain,

The grief that poured

From my wounded soul.

Always after, never before,

Not during,

Obviously.

It is always after.

That the heaviness of the walk

Ground me.

In Love,

IAmMattVC The Alchemist.

© 2026 Matt Valentine-Chase.

Written by a human, Image by AI.

There is something in spiritual development called ‘shadow work’. It is, in very simple terms – exploring your dark side/depression/addictions/wounds/darkness with a sense of awareness that works in a semi-alchemical way.

It is perhaps intended to work in a completely alchemical way, but I see this rarely.

I mainly see folks get stuck in the darkness and indeed addicted to the ‘work’.

This isn’t really work at all.

This is where we trip ourselves up big time.

I know I have been clinically depressed at times and thought it was my shadow work. I have been stuck and reluctant to re-join the real world, as such called my avoidance ‘shadow work’. I see this a lot and I am very pleased to have experienced it myself, because I can spot it in clients.

There are a couple of things I want to mention with shadow work addiction –

Firstly, it is pretty much what I have already said – there is only so much shadow work you need to do. At some point – we have to re-join the world and live, work, love, laugh.

In the depth of shadow work addiction – it is pretty difficult to do this, yes?

The other thing I want to say is something I noticed a few months ago – I am unsure just as to how useful shadow work is now.

I think there is something significantly different about the etheric/cosmic energy now and the need for deep, dark, drudgery, ancestral dark shadow exploration is – perhaps – not needed.

Now, this could be a projection. I don’t really want to go back there, having been there many, many times – and now seeing friends and clients stuck there – I am wondering if they need to be.

Alchemy is often pretty quick. This is the point I am making. So as such is staying there for months or years useful to us now?

I can give you a clean, quick example of making it last longer than it needs to:

A friend of mine recently went on a retreat to a Shamanic Ayahuasca journey that took a month. He went to the jungle in Peru and worked with a Shaman he had trained with (he is also a Peruvian energy healer, not really a Shaman).

When he came back, he told me that he had been shown in his visions that he has an unhealthy relationship with sugar. He went into deep, dark, graphic descriptions of how his spirit guides presented themselves, the colours, the images, the visions that lasted days in a trance – that resulted in him having this realisation.

I said, ‘Excuse me being cheeky, did you learn anything else?’

‘No… just the sugar… but…’ and he again went into deep, dark, graphic descriptions of how his spirit guides presented themselves, the colours, the images, the visions that lasted days in a trance….

I did keep my mouth shut, because I didn’t want to be a twat. But I was thinking ‘it doesn’t take a month in Peru on a shamanic journey to realise sugar isn’t great.’

Now, don’t get me wrong, he identified the root cause of the sugar addiction – result.

But there is a sense of something here that isn’t quite right. Something darker than it needs to be. This is what I mean by addicted to the shadow.

Our shadows don’t really go anywhere, and as I get older, I am starting to think….

Maybe we should just leave them be.

In Love, IAmMattVCTM

There is Power and Healing: in speaking the TruthTM

Work with me: www.iammattvc.net

 (C) Copyright 2026 Matt valentine-Chase.

The ugliness had to get this loud,

It’s going to get louder.

But right now: it’s so loud,

Even the blind-eyes can see it.

Yes, contradiction in terms:

But you get the idea.

I read the posts.

I see the fake stats.

I delve, delve, delve:

Into the delusion of the intelligent.

But I see: deep into their eyes.

Then. I know.

I know that despite them still sharing the programme.

Aside from their politics being the same,

They can’t, just yet: be honest.

That would involve their death.

Ego needs to do this.

Die.

Die.

Buried.

Six.

Feet.

Deep.

So we need to be patient.

Yeah.

I hate that word too.

But do not forget:

The tipping point.

Has been reached.

In Love,

IAmMattVCTM

www.iammattvc.com

(C) Copyright 2026 Matt Valentine-Chase. All Rights Reserved.