The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped

Anna’s dark night began in 2012. Facing a potential cancer diagnosis, her system – which had been in survival mode since childhood and her mother’s illness – crashed overnight. She experienced intense anxiety, terror and suffering, and thought she was going crazy – she “had no clue what was happening.” After six months, a friend lent her a book by Eckhart Tolle, and she started to understand that she was reconnecting with a deeper part of herself. Slowly, she realised that she was carrying intergenerational trauma, and that there was an intelligence to the process. Amongst many other things, Anna and I talk about being unravelled and undone; the role of resistance; and learning how to stay with ourselves. We mention the uniqueness of each person’s journey, and how much we stumbled around; gradually moving towards greater wholeness; and touching into the deeper mystical level. We discuss meeting the shadow; wanting to be perfect; and the compassion that comes with seeing the actual nature of things. We also talk about our individual and collective madness, and how “we’re waking up from thousands of years of insanity.” Finally, we touch on love and power; becoming self-led; and knowing that – ultimately – the dark night is good news. Anna Teggelaar guides people in self-healing and embodied inner work, helping them to make the process their own. Her work is rooted in the self-healing capacity of consciousness, and supports the integration of conditioning and stored emotional energy, so you can live more freely and from the heart. What began as her dark night of the soul in 2012 grew into a deep passion for the transformation of human consciousness. She offers online sessions, writes about healing, and has developed three practical guides to make inner work accessible and grounded in everyday life.Connect with AnnaFiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She works one to one with people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops for therapists and counsellors.Connect with FionaIf you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share. You’re welcome to contact The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped via email: darknightunwrapped@gmail.comMusic by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit

Fiona’s dark night began during Covid. After a sudden break up, she went to Mexico, and something started shifting – her “soul wanted solitude.” She felt like she was losing her mind as her whole way of being was slowly unearthed. After a while, she moved to Montreal, and then to an island; there was a pull towards “the soil in which I could dismantle and decompose.” During this time, she encountered her deepest attachment and existential woundings, and gradually found solace in not knowing. Amongst many other things, we talk about what happens when the ‘should’ structure falls apart; starting to navigate by our bodies and hearts; and the dethroning of the mind that happens in the process. We discuss how layered the dark night is; the immense anger, grief and shame that came in; and how nothing worked “as a means to run away from it.” We touch into no longer being able to mask ourselves; becoming the wise older women that we needed; and the shock of actually being here, rather than being dissociated in some way. We also describe the gift of living it, whatever it is in the moment; and discovering simple, organic resources along the way. Fiona Matalon is a somatic psychotherapist. She offers a holistic approach to those who are looking to deepen their relationship to themselves and to live a life that is led by their heart, soul and inner knowing. In sessions, together with her clients, she uses the intelligence of the body to allow a deeper exploraton that goes beyond the everyday mind. She brings her own deep lived experience and continuous learnings into her practice. Connect with FionaFiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She works one to one with people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops for therapists and counsellors.Connect with FionaMentionsFiona mentions Jeannie Zandie. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share.You’re welcome to contact The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped via email: darknightunwrapped@gmail.comMusic by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit

Following on from our previous conversation in episode 16, Kristy and I explore the mirroring of individual and collective dark nights, and how we’re currently living in a moment in which “the public body is waking up to the control mechanisms.” We talk about the hierarchical structures – both within and around us – that are desperate to hold onto power; the power-over conditioning that teaches us to ignore our own natural intelligence; and the nature of empire, and how it requires us to be numb or deadened.We touch on – amongst many other things – reconnecting with the ancient aliveness that lives within us; the depravity of empire and how it impacts our nervous systems; and what happens when “we get to see the way the state has become internalised.” We discuss clarity, and the trust that comes from jumping into the abyss; becoming our own prison guards, and our unintentional complicity in our own degradation; and beginning to see that a much better life is possible, both individually and collectively. We also wonder at following the thread of the natural intelligence; the importance of dismantling both inner and outer empires for future generations; and wanting to experience how good it could be.Kristy Johnsson has spent over 20 years diving deep into the historical, cultural, and spiritual roots of our collective crisis, doing federally-funded research in Alaska and teaching college students in Arizona, before ending up practicing somatic ecotherapy as a licensed therapist. She has been facilitating somatic sessions for a decade and is now using a somatic approach to help people turn the emotions they feel about world issues into power, insight, and creativity.Connect with KristyFiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She works one to one with people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops for therapists and counsellors.Connect with FionaMentionsKristy mentions US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s speech at the Munich Security Conference in February 2025.She also mentions Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse by Luke Kemp. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share.You’re welcome to contact The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped via email: darknightunwrapped@gmail.comMusic by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit

Onyi’s dark night began when cracks appeared after she was let go from her third job in a row. She could no longer ignore the incongruence between her self-concept and reality, and “a lot of the foundation of who I thought I was” began to shatter. Initially, her defensive armour fought back, but “once the floodgates opened,” her ego began to dissolve. Gradually, and with the support of a therapist, she went from being adrift at sea on a raft to building and learning how to sail a sturdy, capacious ship.Amongst many other things, we talk about the importance of radical honesty and the desire to be rooted in the truth; the sheer exhaustion that comes with having to keep the floodgates closed; and coming down into a reality deeper than rigid ideas of good and bad. We touch on understanding our trauma strategies and how they were born out of real moments; how therapy and spirituality can be used to bolster the self-concept; and how the false ego needs to be mourned. We also discuss discovering more stable foundations on which to rest ourselves; taking baby steps to grow a new self; and how our initial realisations have deepened over time.Onyi Ijeh is the host of Interesting People of Earth, a digital campfire for meaningful dialogue about life and purpose. Onyi has a background in International Development and Communications but has recently had to pivot her career due to political developments in the U.S. Onyi has taken this time to pursue her passion for storytelling and person advocacy via her tik tok @wontonamera and her podcast @interestingpplofearth.Fiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She works with many people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers both a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops for therapists and counsellors.Connect with FionaMentionsOnyi mentions Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please rate, subscribe, and share.You’re welcome to contact The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped via email: darknightunwrapped@gmail.comMusic by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit

Julian and I “begin before the beginning” and discuss the Christian origins of the phrase dark night of the soul. I remind him of an email he sent to me at the start of my dark night; we talk about the downward trajectory of the descent into soul, body, history, and pain, and how it is the opposite of the idea of spiritual ascent; and we describe it as an ongoing shedding of armour, ideas, expectations, shoulds, and more.Amongst many other things, we also touch on no longer being “on the old map with the old co-ordinates”; dissolution, and the collapse of the old structures; the problem with dismissing our own cultural roots; and Jesus as an archetypal story of divine embodiment. We share our experiences of serious wobbles and severe anxiety; the sudden dawning of what has previously been invisible; cleaving to suffering and the tendency to fall back; and the importance of not getting washed out of the boat. We acknowledge how tough it is to be in the dark night; we mention healing, and what that might mean in this context; and we talk about how love, sanity, and capacity slowly begin to seep in and imbue us.Julian Carlyon is the author of two books: One Earth, Three Worlds: The Pattern that Connects Dreams, Synchronicity, Physics, Homeopathy, Spirituality and Somatics, and Understanding Homeopathy, Homeopathic Understanding: Foundations of Homeopathic Philosophy and Practice. Since his early twenties, he has explored an eclectic range of disciplines, including homeopathy, transpersonal psychology, alchemy, and movement practice. He sees clients from around the world, lives in the UK, and is a father and grandfather.Connect with JulianFiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She meets with people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops for therapists and counsellors.Connect with FionaMentionsJulian mentions the Diamond Approach, founded by A. H. Almaas.Julian paraphrases this quote from C. G. Jung: “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share.You're welcome to contact The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped via email: darknightunwrapped@gmail.comMusic by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit

Suzette has had many dark nights of the soul, the most recent of which began when her oldest daughter passed away seven years ago. Her heart cracked open as she was plunged into a profound initiation, a kind of natural vision quest; from that point on, she has been “walking in multiple worlds.”Amongst many things, we talk about being humans subject to the laws of nature, rather than machines that are constantly expected to be or do more; the unfurling that happens as we move towards what we’ve previously tried to stay away from; and the aloneness and seclusion of the dark night. We discuss the overlap between grief and the dark night; how visceral both experiences are, and their similarities to childbirth; and being in the place of “nope” where it is impossible to imagine how we will get through the terrain we’re in. We acknowledge the times of inaction or waiting that happen in the dark night, and how hard it can be to change our behaviour. We also touch into stepping back into our bodies; rediscovering our wild, untamed, undomesticated selves; how little lights can unexpectedly guide us; and embracing the fullness and miraculousness of ourselves.Suzette Winona Summers has been on a conscious healing and awakening path for most of her life. She is a sacred circle weaver, shamanic practitioner, Ecstatic Dance Journey Facilitator, and cosmic midwife/coach who works with both individuals and communities. She offers shamanic healing sessions, craniosacral sessions, and intuitive massage, and she also weaves sacred ceremonies, offering both ecstatic dance journeys and heart-centred talking circles. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky.Connect with SuzetteFiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She meets with people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops for therapists and counsellors.Connect with FionaIf you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share.You’re welcome to contact The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped via email: darknightunwrapped@gmail.comMusic by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit

The dark night “pulled” at Melanie in her twenties, but it wasn’t until her forties that she was willing and able to hear its calling. As her work and marriage fell apart, she found herself in a dark, heavy place, and “went down into a different space of me.” Having always been a “good little girl” who walked on eggshells and did her best to please everyone, she began to encounter everything that lay beneath her persona. Like an archaeologist, she painstakingly worked through many layers of self-hatred and shame.Amongst many other things, Melanie and I talk about finally being able to say no, and refusing to pass the dysfunctional buck onto the next generation; the crumbling of the old ways and what happens when our operating systems stop working; and refusing to pretend. We also discuss the humaneness of including all of ourselves; cracking our hearts open and touching into the breathtaking, heartbreaking beauty of life; and learning how to trust ourselves whilst also leaning on others. Finally, we touch into the sanity that emerges out of the dark night process and how, even though at times it feels like madness, “you might actually be finding your sanity.”Melanie Balint Gray PhDSome influential moments:1. Living abroad for ten years as a child honed adaptability, tolerance, empathy, and compassion.2. Steeping in familial secrets honed shame, guilt, self-hatred, and victimhood.3. A PhD in Immunology expanded critical thinking.4. Raising children brought meditation, the super-sensible, and a new view of humanness.5. Facing divorce, job loss, and depression peeled away worn out beliefs.6. Now I sit with others while they see what wants to be met and/or fall away.Melanie can be reached via email: graymelanie111@gmail.comFiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She meets with people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops for therapists and counsellors.Connect with FionaIf you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share. You’re welcome to contact The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped via email: darknightunwrapped@gmail.comMusic by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit

Following on from our previous conversation, Tim and I touch on the profound mattering of every life, even in the face of futility and nihilism. We discuss the reckoning with mortality that occurs in the dark night, and he proposes that, rather than fixed objects, we are dynamic processes in time, and thus the possibility of radical newness is inherent with us.Tim shares his philosophy of death, which is informed by his experiences of being with dying people, and by extensive research on NDEs (Near Death Experiences) and terminal lucidity. He suggests that, while the biological dies, the psyche continues on and enters into “the ecology of soul” before (at some point) re-combining with the biological. We mention the physicalist view that consciousness originates in the brain; the notion of pastivity as an organisational system; and the way in which “the ability of the psyche to survive the death of the body has evolved.” We also talk about the importance of cultivating what Tim calls psy-sensing – the sensing of the phenomena of the psyche, including thoughts, memories, dreams, spiritual experiences, and the imaginal realm – and how all of this is just the beginnings of an understanding.Tim Freke has written many books on religion, mysticism, and spirituality, one of which – The Jesus Mysteries, co-authored with Peter Gandy – became a bestseller. In 2017, he wrote Soul Story: Evolution and the Self-Realising Universe, which offers a new narrative connecting spirituality and science. Tim also leads experiential retreats, both in person and online, in which participants experience the “Big Love” of deep communion. His new podbook, Why Your Life Really Matters, explores his latest philosophy in detail.Connect with TimFiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She meets with people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops for therapists and counsellors.Connect with FionaIf you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share. You’re welcome to contact The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped via email: darknightunwrapped@gmail.comMusic by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit

Following on from our first conversation, Jen and I explore how culture skews us towards pathologically trying to fix ourselves, and the sighs of relief that come when we put down the glaring searchlights; coming into and tending to our inner houses with care and gentleness even amidst collapse, dismantling, mess, renovation, reconstruction, and expansion; the importance of “trusting the alchemy of your own house” such that it becomes a safe and unconditionally loving place to be; and the usefulness of understanding the dark night as a non-linear process of alchemical transformation.In addition, we talk about Jen’s experience of chronic pain, and how being in a broken body – her spine held together with hardware – is a spiritual threshold, a portal into her inner world; how the forced descent into broken-bodiedness has been an initiation into a different kind of presence; and how the realities of physical pain and disabilities are often overlooked (or worse) in spiritual teachings and communities. We also touch into destruction in the service of creation; the “particular signature scent of healing and unfolding” that every human being has; and the pain, awe, and wonder of being in the space of “even this.”Jen Peer Rich, PhD is an author, artist, and alchemist whose work explores healing, multiplicity, and the spiritual architecture of selves. Her debut memoir, The Alchemy of Being a House: A Memoir About The Body That Broke, The Voice That Barked, and The Home That Became Us, is the first in a series of intimate, genre-defying books tracing the nonlinear path of trauma integration and homecoming. With a background in ecological philosophy and decades of lived experience as a disabled, queer caregiver, Jen brings a rare blend of insight, humor, and radical compassion to her storytelling. Connect with JenFiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She works one to one with people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops for therapists and counsellors.Connect with FionaMentionsWe refer to the seven stages of spiritual alchemy, which are: calcination (burning), dissolution, separation, conjunction, fermentation, distillation, and coagulation.If you've enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share. You’re welcome to contact The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped via email: darknightunwrapped@gmail.comMusic by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit

After fifteen years of disciplined meditation and spiritual seeking, Paul hit a brick wall. He got ME/CFS, lost his job, his ideas about spirituality crumbled, and he lost interest in all the teachings he had tried so assiduously to follow. With no role in life, and no sense of direction, he felt like he was falling into a bottomless pit. Occasionally, a deeper sense of peace came out of nowhere, but he doubted himself, calling himself crazy. Eventually, after several years, he found himself ready to have a role in the world again.Amongst other things, Paul and I talk about the impossibility of “achieving” surrender; putting on a brave face and trying not to feel our feelings; the myth of enlightenment; and how therapeutic and spiritual interventions frequently feel like coercion or violation during the dark night. We also discuss drinking the "meditation Kool-Aid", and the blind alley of trying to be a detached witness to our experience. We run with Paul’s metaphor of Sisyphus endlessly rolling the boulder up the hill; we ponder what we’d say to our younger selves; we wonder at how the dark night stretched our capacity to be with ourselves; and we mull over the paradox of being grateful for having suffered.Paul Currie worked as an actor as a young adult, before eventually becoming disillusioned and unfulfilled by performance and deciding to embark on a spiritual search. In his mid thirties he experienced a dark night of the soul process during which everything seemed to fall apart, especially all of his notions of becoming a spiritual person or an enlightened person. Following this experience he trained as a counsellor and psychotherapist and now dedicates his time to being with people experiencing challenging and difficult states.Connect with PaulFiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She works one to one with people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops and a reflective space for therapists and counsellors.Connect with FionaIf you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share.You’re welcome to contact The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped via email. darknightunwrapped@gmail.comMusic by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit

Following on from our first conversation, Li and I begin with the hamster wheel that is capitalism, colonialism and imperialism, and the effects of living within power structures that threaten us in a variety of ways, depending on who we are. We talk about how it was impossible to keep up being an efficient cog in that wheel during our dark nights, and how it’s natural to no longer want to participate in “this deadening culture.”We discuss the “con job” that often masquerades as spirituality; how the dark night rattles the construction of personhood and all our ideas about who we are, who we’re supposed to be and who we shouldn’t be; our somatic survival patterns and the nature of what Li calls the mental body; and the wisdom and clarity of the heart body. We also touch into the undoing of binaries; the expanding capacity for love and compassion towards ourselves and others; times when there’s been a starvation of heart and huge amounts of shame towards ourselves; and totally unexpected moments of grace. Finally, we lean into the realm of unconditionality and connecting to the actual – breath, gravity – and the ongoing dance of being on this planet.Li Meuser is a full-time student of being fully human, and is deeply passionate about connecting and interrelating. As a somatic therapist, integrative primary prevention trainer, and creative writing facilitator, Li utilizes transformational and wisdom-based practices in supporting people with their somatic intelligence/energies. In learning how to embody our creativity, we are able to consciously choose to discover, move into and remember the realms of interdependency and liberation for all. Li has an extensive collection of science-based recordings to regulate the brain and nervous system on the Insight Timer app.Connect with LiFiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She works with many people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers both a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops for therapists and counsellors.Connect with FionaIf you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share.You’re welcome to contact The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped via email: darknightunwrapped@gmail.comMusic by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit

Mike recently completely his PhD on the empirical evidence for interventions in spiritual crisis. Always interested in myth, magic, and mysticism, he has extensively studied religious and spiritual phenomena through the lens of transpersonal psychology. His research brings much-needed academic attention to an experience so often overlooked by both the spiritual and therapeutic worlds, and is deeply informed by his work supporting people going through spiritual crisis.In this episode, we talk about a central aspect of Mike’s research; the strands of what he broadly refers to as grounding – the practices, attitudes, and behaviours that might support a move from disconnection towards connection, or ungroundedness towards groundedness, during spiritual crisis. In the order we discuss them, these themes are: a connection to self, world, and others (including the transpersonal other); keeping a foot in both worlds; cultivating a relationship with experience; word-weaving with embodied metaphors; a centred, balanced, and embodied self; a balance between containment and release; resonance or contagion; and last but by no means least, a sense of humour. We also discuss the importance of creative expression; the difference between naming and labelling; and the interplay between culture and spiritual crisis.Dr Mike Rush is a researcher, hypno-psychotherapist, and co-director of The Spiritual Crisis Network in the UK. He has published in a variety of academic journals on subjects as varied as Near Death Experiences, the neuroscience of religious experience, and Western Esotericism. He co-facilitates online and in-person peer support groups for people going through spiritual crisis, and also offers one to one counselling and consultation.Connect with MikeFiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She works one to one with people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers both a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops and a reflective space for therapists and counsellors.Connect with FionaMentionsMike mentions the following organisation and individuals:The Spiritual Crisis Network UK.Marie-Grace Brook’s list of 84 possible grounding or integration practices.Emma Bragdon.If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share.You’re welcome to contact The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped via email: darknightunwrapped@gmail.comMusic by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit

Following on from our first conversation, Jessica and I delve into the moment she first heard the term ‘spiritual bypassing’ and realised that’s what she’d been doing, and we explore the rejection or exclusion of the body which is central to spiritual bypassing. Based on our childhood experiences, we touch into cPTSD (complex post-traumatic stress disorder) and the extent to which many of the teachings of self-negating non-duality mirror the messages of narcissistic abuse, shaming the self and its expression. We reflect on being drawn to the teachings that replicated our survival strategies and how, in Jessica’s words, “The shift from self-abandonment to self-compassion has been the most extraordinary shift.”We also talk about the damage wrought by self-negating non-duality and the cult-like dynamics that are often at play in spiritual communities; the shaming of need and the notion that suffering is a story; the importance of healthy boundaries; ego-bashing, how it perpetuates the inner gaslighter, and what our understanding of the ego is now; how dogmatic teachings that propound truth with a capital T erode self-trust and undermine our ability to critically question; and the attraction of and problems with certainty and wanting to know the ‘ultimate truth’.Jessica Eve is raising awareness about the dangers of self-negating spirituality like Neo-Advaita, supporting folks healing from harmful effects, and inspiring humanistic, life-affirming alternatives. Explore her blog, youtube channel and more! If you'd like to join her online peer support group, Collective Soul Revival, please fill out this form.Connect with JessicaFiona Robertson is the author of The Dark Night of the Soul: A Journey from Absence to Presence, and Eve Was a Realist: Poems for the Untamed Heart. She works one to one with people who are going through a dark night or spiritual emergency, accompanying them in this challenging terrain as they rediscover and deepen into their real selves. She also offers both a monthly dark night gathering group, and occasional workshops and a reflective space for therapists and counsellors.Connect with FionaMentionsJessica mentions Guy Smith, and interviews him here. She also mentions author and philosopher Tim Freke, who has critiqued non-dual spiritual teachings, and therapist Michael Lydon, who talks about how they can reproduce trauma.Jessica cites several non-dual teachers, including Rupert Spira: This is spiritual bypassing and I won’t apologise and Adyashanti: Don’t trust yourself.If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share.You’re welcome to contact The Dark Night of the Soul Unwrapped via email: darknightunwrapped@gmail.comMusic by James Waring / Design by Adam McKillop / Artwork by Stefan Armoneit