The Dark Man
The Shadow That Follows Us All

Deborah Wells

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

From the beginning of time a dark spectre has walked beside the human race. People have known this spectre by many names, such as the Shadow, Hades, the Bogeyman, the Devil or Death. And the misunderstandings and falsehoods surrounding this entity have resulted in an unfathomable amount of misery and suffering. In The Dark Man we look at the confusion and mystery surrounding this phenomenon and tease out the stories into one coherent whole. We consider, amongst other things, who or what the dark man may be, the forms he can take, the environment in which he is found and the 'job' he performs, before we turn our attention to the role he has within our own lives. You see, the dark man is not some abstract phantom or fairytale diabolus, he is a real, valid entity that is a part of all our lives - right now. He is the source of our most terrible nightmares or the way to our happily-ever-afters. The choice is yours.

About the Author:
Deborah Wells is a writer and a teacher. She lives in Yorkshire, England. A county saturated with the energy of the Dark Man.

Review by Geoff Ward (310311) Rating (8/10)

Review by Geoff Ward
Rating 8/10
This is an intelligent and perceptive guide to dealing with the dark side of our personalities or, in the terms of the psychologist Carl Jung, confronting one's Shadow, upon whom Deborah Wells draws deeply, along with Joseph Campbell, Robert Graves, ancient mythology and Clarissa Estés, the American poet and Jungian psychoanalyst.

According to Deborah, the Dark Man - the 'man in the long black coat' - can be ghoul or guide, and many things in between, but is far from simply being evil personified, as he is able to bring messages of reassurance, direction and hope.

This dark spectre, known often also as Hades, Set, Pluto, the Bogeyman, Lucifer or simply Death, has always accompanied the human race, with misunderstandings and falsehoods surrounding him resulting in untold anguish and suffering. He arises from our unconscious, taking many forms, one imagining him, for example, as the onset of fear or anxiety, some indeterminate frightening or threatening presence, a tempter or a dark-mood inducer.

A writer and teacher who lives in Yorkshire, England, Deborah considers who or what the Dark Man may be, the forms he can take, the environment in which he is found, the work he performs and the role he might have in your own life. She stresses that the Dark Man is neither abstract phantom nor fairytale demon but a powerful, living entity which is a fundamental part of us and our world, whether we regard him as an archetype, a law of nature or an old god. She wants to open our eyes to this universal phenomenon so that we can restore our 'natural balance' by engaging with him.

Deborah feels sure we all have at least one 'Dark Man' experience to recount, but I suspect many of us have 'Dark Woman' encounters we could describe, too, which can be traced through to the Kali, Hecate or Medusa myths. Jung posits the Terrible Mother archetype, for instance. I, for one, can testify to this, so perhaps Deborah could write a sequel!

However, as Clarissa Estés writes wisely in her poem Abre La Puerta, in Theatre of the Imagination, which seems to refer to such transformational encounters: 'All strong souls first go to hell before they do the healing of the world they came here for. If we are lucky, we return to help those still trapped below.' In a strange way, we need the Dark Man in order to see the light.
Geoff Ward (31st March 2011)