Returning To Yourself
I know this reading is coming a few days after the eclipse itself, but I wanted to let the message unfold properly and give it the space it deserved. If spirit is trusting me to deliver something, I want to honour that, not rush it.
I was called to the Witches’ Shadow Oracle for this reading.
The cards that came through were:
The Authentic Self
The Bat
The Parent
And straight away, the energy I’m picking up on is someone who has spent a long time shaping themselves around other people. A people pleaser maybe. Someone who has felt misunderstood, or who has learnt to hide certain parts of themselves because at some point, being fully seen didn’t feel safe. This also feels like a message for someone with old wounds around acceptance, belonging, family, or being “too much”.
The Authentic Self
With The Authentic Self, I’m sensing you’ve been quieter than usual for a long time now.
This feels like the version of you underneath the masking, the people-pleasing, the overthinking, and the constant checking of how you’re being perceived. I’m picking up on someone who has learnt to edit themselves.
Maybe you make yourself easier to understand. Hold back your real thoughts. Tone down your feelings. Or maybe you’ve got so used to being who other people need you to be, that you’ve started losing sight of who you actually are.
But with this card, I’m seeing you standing in front of a mirror and truly seeing yourself. Maybe for the first time in a long time. Admitting where something no longer feels like you. Seeing what’s authentic and what’s performance. Finally realising you can’t keep pretending anymore.
This feels like a slow process. A quiet return to self. But you are ready to slowly shed the mask and be seen as you again.
The Bat
The Bat feels like the shadow part of this reading.
I’m sensing that some of what’s coming up might not make sense straight away. It might present as a feeling in your body, a discomfort, a pull, or just a knowing that something doesn’t fit anymore.
It’s giving that in-between phase feeling. Where you’re no longer where you started, not quite where you want to be, but very aware that something inside you is shifting.
I’m also getting a strong feeling of being misunderstood. Like there are parts of you that other people don’t know how to hold, so you learnt to hide them. Or worse, you started questioning them yourself. But being misunderstood doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. It might simply mean you’ve been trying to explain yourself to people who are incapable of understanding.
The Bat is your reminder to trust what you’re sensing, even if you can’t fully explain it yet. You don’t need to have all the answers. You don’t even need to make it make sense to everyone else. And you certainly don’t need to drag your truth into the light before it’s ready.
Sometimes simply admitting to yourself that something feels different, and accepting that, can start leading you in the right direction.
The Parent
The Parent is where this reading feels much deeper.
For some, this may link to actual parents, childhood, family dynamics, or old experiences that shaped how safe you felt being yourself. For others, it might be more about the inner voice you carry now. The voice that says you’re too much. Too sensitive, emotional, difficult, needy. Too different. Or not enough.
But you’re being asked to question where that voice came from. Because I’m sensing old conditioning here. Old rules and wounds. Things you may have absorbed so early that you didn’t even realise you were still living by them.
There’s also something here around the version of you that learnt to keep the peace. To read the room before reading yourself. The version of you that learnt being easy was safer than being honest. The version of you that learnt love, approval, or acceptance could be lost if you were too fully yourself.
But this card isn’t about blame. It feels like compassion. Looking at the ways you learnt to survive and saying, “I understand why I became that way, but I don’t have to keep abandoning myself now.”
The Parent feels like an invitation to hold yourself differently. To speak to yourself with more softness. To stop punishing yourself for having needs. And to let the hidden parts of you come forward without instantly judging them.
The Message Coming Through
The message isn’t to completely overhaul your life or force yourself into a brand new version overnight. It feels more like spirit is asking you to start noticing where things feel off. Notice where something feels heavy, forced or out of alignment.
Because returning to yourself doesn’t always begin with one huge life-changing moment. Sometimes it starts in the small places you’ve been ignoring. Saying no instead of automatically saying yes. Pausing before making a decision. Not being the first one to reach out every single time. Not explaining yourself to people who have already shown they don’t want to understand. Letting yourself want what you want without immediately talking yourself out of it. Seeking support, therapy, or safer spaces if old wounds are asking to be looked at properly. Choosing not to shrink your feelings just because someone else finds them inconvenient.
None of that is small, even if it looks small from the outside. Those are the moments where you stop betraying yourself in ways you may have got used to. And I think that’s what this reading is giving permission for. To notice what this shadow is bringing up for you, and to meet it with honesty instead of shame.
If this message resonates, it may be showing you where your authentic self is trying to come through, where you’ve been hiding in order to feel safe, and where old wounds are ready to be held differently.
You don’t have to fix it all today.
But you can start listening to yourself again.
Shadow Journal Prompts
Where have I been shaping myself around other people’s comfort?
What part of myself have I hidden because I was afraid of being misunderstood?
Whose voice am I still carrying as truth, even though it may not be mine?
Where am I being asked to show myself more compassion?
What small daily choice would help me come back to myself?
Where am I saying yes when my body already knows it means no?
What would feel supportive as I sit with what this eclipse energy has brought up?
Closing Message
The next eclipse in this season is the Lunar Eclipse on 28th August 2026 and I’ll be sitting with the cards again then to see what wants to come through.
For now, maybe just notice what this one has stirred.
Notice what feels old, what feels tight and what feels like it doesn’t belong to you anymore.
And if parts of yourself are only just starting to feel safe enough to come forward, don’t rush them.
Let them arrive gently.
Held with love and intention,
Chrystal
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