Active imagination and the personal shadow: access to the unconscious, integration and conditions of the clinical frame

Abstract

The personal shadow, as formulated by Carl Gustav Jung, designates the set of traits, affects and potentialities that the ego excludes from its self-image during its constitution, and whose permanence outside consciousness produces projection, affective irruption and impoverishment of the personality. This article examines active imagination as a method of confrontation with this instance and discusses the hypothesis that a previously delimited entry point might render the procedure more accessible without distorting it. The approach is theoretical-conceptual and unfolds in three movements: the personal shadow is delimited and distinguished from the collective shadow; the architecture of active imagination is reconstituted in its phases, separating it from neighbouring procedures with which it is commonly confused — reverie, guided visualisation and passive fantasy; and a structured access protocol is proposed, here designated the LS Protocol, whose status is that of a working hypothesis rather than a validated instrument. It is argued that gains in accessibility are legitimate only when accompanied by explicit statements of indication, of the contraindications recognised since Jung, and of the requirement of an analytic frame conducted by a qualified professional.