This powerful work from the acclaimed Jungian analyst and best-selling author of He, She, and We explores our need to "own" our own shadow—the term Carl Jung used to describe the dark, unlit part of the ego. In this rich work, Robert Johnson guides us through an exploration of the shadow: what it is, how it originates, and how it interacts and is made through the process of acculturation.

Johnson asserts that until we have undertaken the task of accepting and honoring the shadow within us, we cannot be balanced or whole, for what is hidden never goes away, but merely—and often painfully—turns up in unexpected places.