Spiny Shadows

In the distant past; and now more recently I have been somewhat drawn to and have encountered the Spiny, whiptail Shadows and while I have seen one or two pieces of artwork pertaining to them (Mostly Archer's portraits, an old image, and the OKA entrance page.) I have not been able to find much about their culture personally..but.. I've been getting the impression that they especially are rather elusive, and subtle in their appearances.

To clarify, I've noted that they have the following characteristics: Androgynous humanoid shape, Whiplike tail with a barbed tip like an arrowhead(the source of the stereotypical "Devil tail" I'd imagine), Often but not always varying amounts of "Spines/quills" along their head, shoulders, and spinal area most commonly, and occasionally functional bat-like wings

Primarily I'm hoping to hear from anyone who has past experiences with their kind and perhaps information about their culture. I suspect they may have some "ties" to another type of Shadow, the sort that resembles a wispy, hooded "Grim Reaper" sans scythe.

Thank you in advance. ~Varkadevi

Oddly enough, the first "type" of shadow you've described is almost exactly as I remember myself looking in my original form. I'm not 100% certain, but often have these images recurring in my mind.
The first thing I'd advise you to do would be to try to get hold of Archer, as she would have a lot more experience than me and would probably give more coherent answers, but she hasn't been around here for a while, and I haven't seen her on any forum or related website either.

I don't remember an awful lot, except for minor interaction with other shadows (or similar energy beings), and perception in not exactly colour, but in different shades and textures. It's awkward to explain, as I'm not entirely sure how it works, and may be describing it terribly. The ones I've encountered usually tend to be quite reclusive, and shy away from most forms of contact.

I know that isn't much, but hopefully it might help.

Actually skorpio that helps confirm alot of the things I've suspected and heard previously so it definitely helps me out.. I've already emailed Archer but I think she is unavailable so I'm currently sniffing out some other contacts. Also, pertaining to your remark on "shades and textures" this seems to correspond with Archer's article where she mentions that these worlds of darkness that many shadows reside in have texture to them; and Shadows seem to navigate them without "sight" as we know it, and yet retain a sense of the locations of other beings..perhaps some ability to sense energy "fields" in those realms like the "Electroreception' that sharks and birds use to navigate the Earth's Electromagnetic fields. So that being said, it makes sense to me that a Shadow would not necessarily require the light-spectrum vision that other spirits have.. very interesting stuff to mull over eh?

Actually the reason I brought this up is because for a long time I gravitated towards dark/demonic type things where my phenotype was concerned and recently realized that my personal energy-system may be being actively suppressed by some beings I've been dealing with..hence not fully making the identification as a Shadow. It would explain certain things for me but without being able to actually AP and "see" my true form it's hard to say, you know?
I recently have been working on a sort of "portrait" of what my soul "feels" like via the phantom limbs I feel and my own intuition..which I've mistakenly ignored in lieu of external sources for quite some time. The end-results so far are rather similar to the Spiny Shadows that I've met, with some perceived differences I cannot yet account for. If I might ask, do you ever feel any spines/phantom-limbs that corroborate with those images, skorpio?

Thanks for the input!

There's a few phantom limbs I've felt for at least ten years, although it took some time for me to accept that they may actually be there, and others have noticed them there when I haven't even mentioned anything of the sort to them, ever, which can be awkward.
From about my shoulders to just before the middle of my back, I feel two appendages protruding which may be wings, but they could be something else that just feel similar. I feel small spikes along my lower back, and a couple of slightly larger ones near my elbows.
What confuses me are two....antennae?...that I feel near the base of the back of my head. I tried to ignore them for about two years, trying to convince myself they couldn't possibly have a purpose even if they were there. It still makes me uncomfortable mentioning them, although the only conclusion I've come to is that they might act as some form of sensors. I'm not sure entirely what for.

If you want to, PM me and I'll send you an email or something similar.

Varkadevi Wrote:In the distant past; and now more recently I have been somewhat drawn to and have encountered the Spiny, whiptail Shadows and while I have seen one or two pieces of artwork pertaining to them (Mostly Archer's portraits, an old image, and the OKA entrance page.) I have not been able to find much about their culture personally..but.. I've been getting the impression that they especially are rather elusive, and subtle in their appearances.

The idea of an over-arching shadow culture, even for shadows with similar forms, is pretty much bound to be false. For example, I have distinct memories of a progenitor shadow that had myriad types of dark entities working under it. But our culture was relatively homogeneous. Conversely, I also have memories of interacting with "wild" shadows that were all very different, even though some of them had almost identical forms to shadows working under said shadowdad.

Also, all those pictures are pictures of Archer.

Quote:To clarify, I've noted that they have the following characteristics: Androgynous humanoid shape, Whiplike tail with a barbed tip like an arrowhead(the source of the stereotypical "Devil tail" I'd imagine), Often but not always varying amounts of "Spines/quills" along their head, shoulders, and spinal area most commonly, and occasionally functional bat-like wings

That's a very broad net, despite how specific that form is, due to aforementioned variance in shadows. At this point, when characterizing an individual shadow, I'd honestly recommend focusing on other entities it has ties to, if any, unusual behavior, and unique body odor

Quote:Primarily I'm hoping to hear from anyone who has past experiences with their kind and perhaps information about their culture. I suspect they may have some "ties" to another type of Shadow, the sort that resembles a wispy, hooded "Grim Reaper" sans scythe.

As I said above, the problem with this is it literally could be any random bunch of shadows. That's the flaw with relying on visual identifiers like form when discussing shadows.

Quote: So that being said, it makes sense to me that a Shadow would not necessarily require the light-spectrum vision that other spirits have.. very interesting stuff to mull over eh?

Shadows do not use the same "light-spectrum vision" that other spirits do, no.

Quote:Actually the reason I brought this up is because for a long time I gravitated towards dark/demonic type

I fail to see what demonic entities have to do with shadows, other than the fact that shadows are superficially ooky-spooky, and demons are ooky-spooky.

Quote: recently realized that my personal energy-system may be being actively suppressed by some beings I've been dealing with..hence not fully making the identification as a Shadow.

<!-- s:| --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_neutral.gif" alt=":|" title="Neutral" /><!-- s:| -->

I have it on decent authority, that spiritually speaking, my system is pretty badly wrecked. Almost astonishingly so. Despite this, I still knew I was shadow. Browsing through your post history, you've definitely been more active in pursuing energy work than me, far more active. I really do not understand how you would not notice that you were shadow after what you've done long before now. In energetic terms, being shadow is a pretty base component of what you are. The only comparison I can make is having a gluten allergy all your life, getting sick every time you eat bread, but feeling wonderful whenever you don't, and never noticing.

That being said, if you think you are making progress, you should probably keep looking at this in more detail.

Quote:I recently have been working on a sort of "portrait" of what my soul "feels" like via the phantom limbs I feel and my own intuition..which I've mistakenly ignored in lieu of external sources for quite some time. The end-results so far are rather similar to the Spiny Shadows that I've met, with some perceived differences I cannot yet account for. If I might ask, do you ever feel any spines/phantom-limbs that corroborate with those images, skorpio?

Note: other entities can have a similar phantom limb structure to shadows. The most important part of classifying something as a shadow is the type of gunk it's made of.

I hate using the word energy in this context. I refuse to do so.

Noise Wrote:

Varkadevi Wrote:Actually the reason I brought this up is because for a long time I gravitated towards dark/demonic type

I fail to see what demonic entities have to do with shadows, other than the fact that shadows are superficially ooky-spooky, and demons are ooky-spooky.

OooOoooOoH...
(sorry, had to)

Noise Wrote:I have it on decent authority, that spiritually speaking, my system is pretty badly wrecked. Almost astonishingly so.

Interesting you mention this. I was told the same about the entity joined to me. I wouldn't say that the person who told me this was a "decent authority," however...

Noise:

Quote:The idea of an over-arching shadow culture, even for shadows with similar forms, is pretty much bound to be false. For example, I have distinct memories of a progenitor shadow that had myriad types of dark entities working under it. But our culture was relatively homogeneous. Conversely, I also have memories of interacting with "wild" shadows that were all very different, even though some of them had almost identical forms to shadows working under said shadowdad.

I didn't necessarily mean that there was a single culture for *ALL* Shadows but that certain Shadows with particular similarities would group together for social/survival reasons, which has been demonstrated to me via personal encounters as well as conversations with Archer. I'm mostly interested in hearing if anyone had experiences with such groups, in part so I could try identifying who I've been communicating with.

----

Quote:Also, all those pictures are pictures of Archer.

My Quote:

Quote:Actually the reason I brought this up is because for a long time I gravitated towards dark/demonic type

Quote:Note: other entities can have a similar phantom limb structure to shadows. The most important part of classifying something as a shadow is the type of gunk it's made of.

Quote:That's a very broad net, despite how specific that form is, due to aforementioned variance in shadows. At this point, when characterizing an individual shadow, I'd honestly recommend focusing on other entities it has ties to, if any, unusual behavior, and unique body odor

I can for the most part address all of these at once as.. from my perspective these are all interconnected for me, if only from personal perspective. The "old" image I mentioned was from the medieval period and it shows a black being with what would become stereotypical "devil" characteristics in popular culture which survive to present day. I've been operating under the hypothesis that sightings of Shadows might have partly inspired these works as sightings of Shadow people seem to be somewhat common. I believe that preliminarily I have been subconsciously gravitating towards the aforementioned portrayals of "Demons" as a means of connecting to my self and not because I believe that actual "Demons" look like this. (It's very easy to misinterpret the context in which certain terms are being used, heck so many terms are being thrown around in ways that render them almost useless, imo.)

As for my personal experiences, I have seen the rough "type" of Shadow that Archer looks like most often with many variations between individuals, I just threw those traits up there to give others and idea of what I was referring to, in hindsight I see I overgeneralized somewhat. Now..funny story, your comment about gluten-intolerance was also true in my case.. it took years for me to identify just what the heck made me and my host increasingly sick, it is genetic apparently..but getting back on track, up until very recently it was very hard for me to get a grasp on metaphysical "energies" despite sensing spirits and having various experiences of those sorts. I also have ignored certain things that I should have pursued, in part because of external influences which I have come to no longer trust.

Which leaves me in the present: I have recently pulled myself from the influence of certain beings which do not have my best interests in mind and am left to re-assess my experiences with a new perspective.
So at this time all I can say is that a). I have personal(largely benign) encounters with several Shadows that come to me. b) I have been gravitating towards and am developing greater proficiency in working with what I perceive to be Shadow energy. c) I feel phantom limbs which roughly correspond to some of the Shadows who have come to me and am currently investigating them more thoroughly without preconceptions I used to have as to what I am.
d) I still seem to have someone's proverbial boot on my throat and that still hinders some of my progress.

----
That aside, I too have noticed the different "manifestations" of shadow energy and have not thought much about the differences in "behavior" of these different "textures" of it, since I've previously free shadow energy wisp when it emanates from something, and just presumed that was it's natural state and it could just be "packed" more densely, is there more to it than that? (There aren't many good resources on such things, unfortunately.)

Varkadevi Wrote:I can for the most part address all of these at once as.. from my perspective these are all interconnected for me, if only from personal perspective. The "old" image I mentioned was from the medieval period and it shows a black being with what would become stereotypical "devil" characteristics in popular culture which survive to present day. I've been operating under the hypothesis that sightings of Shadows might have partly inspired these works as sightings of Shadow people seem to be somewhat common. I believe that preliminarily I have been subconsciously gravitating towards the aforementioned portrayals of "Demons" as a means of connecting to my self and not because I believe that actual "Demons" look like this. (It's very easy to misinterpret the context in which certain terms are being used, heck so many terms are being thrown around in ways that render them almost useless, imo.)

This is why I've put "Unsure" as my kintype description. I think I am closer to what would be defined as a shadow around here more so than what is defined as a demon, but I'm a small bit reluctant to put a label on myself, as I could still be confusing myself by doing so. I joined this forum when I was about 12, when I really didn't know what I was talking about at all, and had thoughts I badly tried to put into words. Most of my posts then made little sense.
Both terms (shadow and demon) being loosely defined can cause confusion, but I think I'm close to shadow, or something similar.

I posted visual traits just for reference and to spur on conversation; in no way are they meant to be definitive as to what a shadow can be perceived as looking like.

skorpio: Seconded in most regards.. though after all these years I still don't make much sense when I try to explain what's going on upstairs! <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->

HELLO PEOPLE

It's me, I'm Archer, I'm back.

Re types of shadows and possibly being one . . . to be honest, rather than looking at the outward shape of a shadow for classification purposes, I'd be more inclined to look at the shape of the internal energy system. It's hard to do that with someone else, but should be relatively easy for yourself; pour energy in, see where it goes, see what happens to it when it gets there.

Porcupines have spines but they don't work the same way mine do; in fact the spines on different parts of my body are different from each other in terms of function, and that is something that seems fairly immutable about me. So, don't worry about who has a spine here or a tail there. Ask what the spine does. Where does the energy sit? How many chakras are there? What kinds of energy can go in and out?

Those answers will likely help classify something far better than what shape it is.