Mother Teresa's shadow self

Explore the lesser-known aspects of Mother Teresa in my latest video, "Mother Teresa's Shadow Self." This video delves into the hidden sides of her life and beliefs, challenging her traditional saintly image. Perfect for tarot enthusiasts, reformed Christians, and those deconstructing their Christian beliefs, this video offers a fresh perspective on a famous historical figure. Learn about the complexities and contradictions in Mother Teresa's spiritual journey and see how they connect to your own path.

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#MotherTeresa #EsotericWisdom #TarotJourney #ReformedChristianity #DeconstructingFaith #SpiritualAwakening #HiddenTruths #ShadowSelf #SpiritualJourney #ChristianMysticism

[LuciZ]

Wow Ellie, a terrific spot-on reading. The cards captured her crisis of faith & shadow side perfectly. I’ve been researching her for a while now for a project on understanding and/or defining what we call a “religious or mystical experience.” Her story is a sad one, as she had ONE such mystical/religious experience of/with “God” on a train in 1946.. & basically never had another one in her entire life. Her interior life completely dried up, as she wrote in her letters, that she “felt no presence of God whatsoever either in my heart or the Eucharist, ” had little faith & grave doubts about God’s existence— as you noted, for most of her life. Her doubts & anxiety about it were so great that her final years were plagued by illness & calamities such that in a 1-2 year period she broke her collarbone, got malaria, & had heart failure, which prompted the Archbishop of Calcutta to order an exorcism be performed on her as he thought she was under attack by demons. Unbelievable, yet true. Mother Teresa! (I suspect she would have been mortified to know she was canonized as a Saint by the Church in 2016, given her internal sense of doubt & fraud.)

I have such empathy and sympathy for her, as I suspect that she had such a rigid- (Catholic informed) - definition of what God is, or what a mystical/ religious experience could be that she spent her whole life seeking something that was right there before her, yet she could not see or feel it due to having such a high bar & rigid definition of what that could be. (As Jesus said, For those with eyes to see, let them see…) And as Thomas Merton so perfectly stated it, “I have no program for this seeing.  It is only given.  But the gate of heaven is everywhere.” Sad indeed that she made such a hard life for herself, having been, in my opinion, led astray by religion & the great (sic) Universal Church & their rigid structure & definitions. The cards presented & summarized her life, crisis, dilemma & shadow self perfectly. Amazingly smart & perceptive, your cards—Thank you!

[bubala]

She was a product of her time and history. She couldn't do as a modern person might want. She was what her time and circumstances made her. Very heartfelt and rings of truth.

[Thealignmentkeys]

She brought much money to the church, which is why she was canonized. It had to be conflicting to know it was more about money. I am a recovering Catholic. Brilliant reading.

[ShellyVincent-zf]

Goodness, Ellie ! The cards speak to you in a way I’ve never seen with any other tarot reader. 🌈⭐️ truly magnificent!

[dishy]

Brilliant reading Ellie. A quote I love by Leonard Cohen applies to all of us- " there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in"

[teresadragstream]

I understand Mother Teresa and have cleared my karma in much the same way this lifetime. I have battled lifelong depression by serving others, which makes me feel worthwhile. It’s not the way for everyone, but it’s worked for me this time around.

[sherrylong]

She was once asked by a friend if God had ever spoken to her, and she said, 'yes, when he told her to go to Calcutta, and she never heard from him again.' 😢 She has been called "patron saint of doubters".

[rmschindler]

you know, I don’t know if you are aware — probably you are — but your vibe is inspiring . you carry the vibration of someone doing what her soul wishes her to do, as if this is something close to your heart . so beyond the content, which is very interesting indeed, there is this “ahhh”, this relief, like here‘s somebody in touch with her inner compass, doing what she loves . I am grateful for that; and for you . 💚

[elsang]

Questioning, doubting and having crisis of faith is not the shadow, it is human.

Many great men and women have gone through such crisis of faith to gain wisdom, transformation, find themselves and their humanity and/or faith!

Journaling and admitting it to oneself is a great first step to self understanding and of one’s relationship to God, and how we can bring shadow to light.

And of course Mother Teresa does have a shadow like everyone else. What makes it a shadow is if she’s could not tell the truth and share openly her crisis of faith, given she lived in a more oppressive time of truth and honesty, especially when religion and churches were more powerful than ever with great need to hide the ugly truths.

These days we are more able to be whistleblowers and anonymously expose the truth.

If she’s inside the church and saw all the ugly secrets behind the scene and not allowed to tell the truth. If she’s having crisis of faith with no one she could talk to or trust; and not allowed to be honest about it, in order to keep the image of her role and the church, of course it has to remain in the shadow.

Did she claim to be and insist on being the saint? Or was it the church’s doing due to the public projection and how it might inspire and cement others faith? Was she used as puppet to maintain the church’s image?

I am not saying that’s what happened but just sharing some possibilities, other than what’s suggested here.

I admire her for writing down her true feelings. That might be how she hanged on to the truth and her true self!

I am glad her journals were published to show how human she was. It is the churches that needed saints to inspire faith.

I think it is healthy to have crisis of faith if we’re to be real with ourselves!

[SherrLee-irhe]

So interesting Ellie. I must admit I struggled seeing the light in her. I must have seen her shadow self. No disrespect as we all have a shadow self. Thank You. Grateful for this insight. I will look into my shadow side.🫣

[MaryRuke-qfyi]

I am a Catholic. From my memory Mother Teresa felt she had a calling from God to serve others in the way she eventually did. However, there is a strict hierarchy in the church and a nun is not high on that list. As best I understand it she was not received well when she sought support from church leaders about what she felt God was calling her to do. However, she was relentless in pursuing her goals and eventually received some support. It appeared she had to keep proving herself worthy to those in power in order to keep earning the support, although at some point it may have become difficult to not support her work once it became so well known. This might also relate to the feeling of being unloved by a male figure, all authority figures in the church are male, and to having feelings of being a fraud. She also had difficulty being accepted by the people who served, most of whom held different religious beliefs and were suspicious of someone they feared would try to convert them. My understanding is that she worked very hard to impress upon them that conversion was not her intention, but that she wanted to serve them and help them out of love for them and in service to a loving God. Some people were converted as a result of their experience with her, but that didn't seem to be the main focus of her service to others, my understanding seems to be more that her ministering to the needs of others in the most vulnerable populations was her way of demonstrating God's love for humankind as an act of faith . This might also have caused a sense of conflict and of being a fraud. My guess is that church officials would tend to view the work of a missionary to be conversion. I admire her more for being love and service based which I understand to be more in line with the actual teachings and example of Christ's life. I wish we Christian's would also focus more in that manner in today's situation. Thank you for a very interesting reading and all that you do for us

[kerryallen]

I loved this. There’s lot of stories of her denying pain killers to people who really needed them.

[radhikanandasw.]

Very interesting, Ellie, and very SURPRISING reading!
Wow. Would never have guessed! The idea of suffering as a way to God is very Catholic. I think self-denial can go very askew when there is no value for self. I’ve had to work through quite a bit of that, , too. Raised Catholic and then joined an eastern religious cult when 20 years old . Weren’t allowed to think or question any part of the beliefs or what we were told to do. Still learning about self-value from the higher standpoint at age 70!
Thanks for this reading. 🙏🏽💗🪷

[AzaleaLala]

Wow, I'm always surprised by your readings. You did this with the utmost respect for Mother Teresa. Once again a nuanced reading. What you said at the end about her looking inward was my first thought at the beginning of this video when you described her. All she had to do was look within. You might find Cash Peter's soul crossing video on her interesting.

[briettasonlen]

Wonderful episode, Ellie! So much gained with introducing shadow self.

[InvincibleSummer]

Ohhh! Thank you for this. (Also, I love that you chose a ‘non-villain’. What a fresh breeze).

[marycornwell]

Great reading. Lots of accurate deductions. Martyrs don’t often go for therapy. Having been a catholic, the church was relentless on stripping away the ego/sense of self. She did give everything she had to “God” which the church identified as The God to its followers. The king of pentacles was the church that represented God. She was crushed when she realized it was not. She was truly now alone with her tortured image of God. But in her dark night of the soul she kept her vow to God to continue giving to others rather than exposing her realization that the church was not God without denying the followers of their God. Her anguish was multifaceted. As you said, Ellie, we are all on the fools journey as imperfect beings moving fwd to learn our lessons. This truly was a very difficult incarnation for Mother Teresa. I’m sure her final review was her first therapy appointment which probably brings to light a high percentage of shadows for those of us left still undisclosed. Or, do you think she could have done more? 😉

[marya.]

Ellie, this was so deep and truth revealing. wow. amazing. Thank you for ALL that you do and offer💖

[tamseasalts]

Thank you. I like the stubborn, keep-your-head-down, plodding along energy. We all have moments of Spiritual Disconnection, and sometimes, doing the next Right Thing To Do IS the path back to connection? Even if i can't feel it, today, i am where i know i am meant to be, doing what needs doing.

[DebbieCherek]

Wow, very interesting reading. Brings back memories of being Catholic, In which I excommunicated myself. I was born and raised Catholic and I went to Catholic school for eight years. For the most part, the nuns have to take vows of obedience, Chasity and poverty. The men who became priest only took vows of obedience, and Chasity. The Catholic Church believed that you are automatically guilty and if you were suffering through all this, that was a good thing. Women are thought to be lower in status so they had to take the vow of poverty. Sacrifice was another big thing. Jesus sacrificed himself for your sins so you were supposed to sacrifice yourself also. You were taught that you were born guilty and when babies were born, they needed to be baptized as soon as possible because they were born into original sin. If they died before they were baptized, they wouldn’t go to heaven. I remember being taught a lot of fear based beliefs. Not a good religion, but then again what religion is good?