Today is Groundhog Day. If the groundhog chosen by the all-powerful groundhog chooser sees his shadow today, expect six more weeks of wintry weather, according to 19th century American folklore. A shadow that indicates much more than six weeks of wintry weather.
Shadows take various forms.
Perhaps you have experienced a shadow of depression, or grief, or abuse, or rage, or oppression for no better reason than the way you look to those in charge. These figures seem to fuel themselves on the evident light of their victims. Pedophiles, rapists, abusers, torturers and all other forms of dark humanity seem to gain strength with every silent victim. Perpetrators of such crimes gain this strength because their victims seem to blame themselves for what is not their fault. They fall prey to a shadowy code of self-punishment and shame imposed on them by a dark perpetrator and even darker enablers who allow the perpetrators to continue their crimes by existing in a very destructive type of denial.