by Savannah Russe, 2006

We all have a darkside. When I write about vampires, I am really exploring our relationship to the dark, socially unacceptable parts of our being that exist within us, but that we don't want to acknowledge.

If you have ever said, "Oh I would never do THAT." You are fooling yourself and ignoring your Shadow Self, because every human has the capacity to do THAT, whatever THAT is.

Jung, simply put, believed that all our positive aspects had an opposite which we usually suppressed or denied--otherwise normally law-abiding young men could not go to war and kill, for example. The violent, the twisted, the cruel, the aggressive, the animal self are all alive and active inside all of us.

For my heroine Daphne Urban, her vampire self is her shadow self. It is promiscuous, amoral, and dangerous. It hunts down humans. It is immensely powerful. And that is the point...the Shadow Side has a purpose. It is powerful. It is what helps us survive. It keeps us from becoming victims because it will fight, not submit.

If we embrace our Shadow Self, and give it expression in non-harmful ways to yourself or others (art, music, writing and other creative acts), it can set us free, as Daphne is set free when she transforms into a bat. To deny our Shadow Self is to not know ourselves, and be at its mercy. To realize that even the sweetest, kindest person in the world has the capacity within herself to murder, for example, is both disturbing...and enlightening. Because knowing we have the Shadow Self lets us make choices to use it in positive ways. Viva Jung!