Mirror

The mirror is the oldest instrument of self-confrontation. Chinese tradition gives us the bagua mirror, used to reflect negative energy; European folk tradition, the mirror as a threshold through which the dead may return. Jung placed the mirror at the center of shadow work: what you see in the mirror is not always what others see, and not always what you are. A dream in which you don’t recognize yourself in the mirror is one of the most common — and most useful — dreams a person can have. It marks a time when the identity you have been performing is no longer matching the self that is forming. Notice whether the reflection lags, changes, or speaks.