How to Travel to the Underworld
Have compassion for your darker emotions to thrive in all realms of life
I descended into the underworld after my heart shattered into a million pieces from a doomed love affair that was also the catalyst for my recent divorce. The underworld is not a comfortable place for me to be. After all, I considered myself a goddess of love and light. The underworld is dark, painful, and lonely.
Rather than sit with my painful emotions or contemplate existential questions like “Am I loveable?” I quickly tried to escape the Underworld by talking myself out of it, buying crystal bracelets (rose quartz for love, smoky quartz for protection, and amethyst for intuition), and fixating on my appearance because even if I was inherently unlovable, at least I could look like I was worthy of love (whatever that means).
I later learned that not resisting the Underworld is the only way to get out of it. I needed to sit with my feelings of unworthiness. The anxious little girl who is fearful of abandonment and the skeptical, bitter teenager who no longer trusts the intentions of men couldn’t be cast aside. They needed to be seen and cared for.
Carl Jung taught how individuation is the act of reclaiming all aspects of ourselves — not just the nice, pretty parts. Our darker emotions, the…
