Why Inner Child Healing is Failing: The Forgotten Descent and the True Spiritual Growth
Depression, the Dark Night of the Soul & creativity are the unconscious forcing a breakthrough. All are important for inner child healing. A timely subject in the current astrology month. Read why ➤➤➤
Nothing blooms without first submerging into the wet womb of darkness. This aligns with the alchemical concept of Nigredo, where the old self dissolves to make way for new awareness. Spring teaches us this too: rebirth follows decay, it does not bypass it.
Many mistake healing and creativity as tools for self-improvement, chasing the illusion of becoming “bigger,” “better,” or more “high vibrational” while rejecting the so-called “shameful darkness”. But this is not depth. This is “ego consciousness”, namely spirituality hijacked by a patriarchal, neoliberal mindset obsessed with achievement.
☆ Why call it “ego consciousness”?
Because it is built on escape. It glorifies only the Light while denying the descent, thereby encouraging people to chase their idealised projections.
“Ego consciousness” is not just a modern invented spiritual term. Carl Jung himself insisted that real spiritual growth is embodied, messy, and confrontational - not about building a “better self,” but about integrating all the aspects of oneself. These aspects interestingly are not only the Light, the Dark and the Shadow, but even the Unformed (I will post soon another article on this, for paid subscribers).
Together with his successors, Jung extensively explored “ego consciousness” - as both necessary and deeply deceptive in the individuation process. While the ego is not the entirety of the psyche, it remains the centre of consciousness. When the ego dominates, it distorts reality, resists the unconscious, and tricks us into false forms of “growth”. The descent is not an obstacle to enlightenment - it is enlightenment.
As Carl Jung famously warned, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” The quote is popular in modern spiritual echo chambers, but how is it applied? More often than not, it is misinterpreted - not as a call for true descent, but as a brief confrontation with darkness, just enough to acknowledge it, offer it love, and then swiftly return to the light. This short-circuits real integration, keeping people looped in illusion rather than leading them into genuine transformation.
☆ Why call it “neoliberal”?
Because it reduces healing to a marketable, individualised pursuit of personal success. It sells the idea that spirituality is about levelling up, manifesting more, and becoming a shinier, more polished version of oneself, and commodifies inner work (to self-help formulas that promise quick results), while bypassing the necessary descent into the shadow, the wounds, and the raw material of real transformation.
☆ Does all of this annihilate modern spirituality beliefs entirely?
Short answer: No!
But what it does is: redefining it and grounding it, tethering it back to the daily life and to the embodied existence rather than escaping into abstraction.
True growth isn’t about rising above, it demands integration, surrender, and the courage to confront what has been buried. The descent may feel uncomfortable for a lot of us, even unbearable to our egos, but it is the only path to real spiritual transformation.
I. An important preamble
☆ The Cosmic Descent at Play (Current Astrology)
Note: If you are not astrology inclined, you can skip to the part: *Core Message* and read further from there. It still remains an essential read though because March is incredibly important turning point on our spiritual paths.
1. March’s Eclipses And Beyond
The current astrology landscape is conducive to this deep work. We have two eclipses this month and the first one is the total South Node lunar eclipse on March 14, occurs in the sign of Virgo, just before the spring equinox. I will only discuss this eclipse in this article, briefly, and write later about the second eclipse.
Lunar eclipses are often associated with culmination and revelation, bringing hidden aspects to light. In the context of the descent, this eclipse is about the unveiling of subconscious patterns and the need for purification - a very important spiritual cleansing before the renewal of spring.
This powerful South Node eclipse demands not to avoid, bypass or brush over the past childhood wounds but that we integrate them! There’s no other way.
The simultaneous retrogrades suggest a potent time for inner work, where communication (Mercury) and values (Venus) are reexamined.
All of these astrological events in March 2025 prompt us to embrace the descent into our inner worlds, confront unresolved issues, and prepare for the renewal and alignment with our authentic self, symbolised by the upcoming spring equinox on March 20-21.
Later, the ingress of Saturn and Neptune in Aries will bring a huge shift in how we engage with both personal and collective accountability.
Since 2011, Neptune in Pisces has deepened spiritual movements, artistic visions, and dissolutions of reality, but has also blurred boundaries, encouraged escapism, and created mass disillusionment (including spiritual bypassing, cult-like ideologies, and misinformation).
Saturn’s time in Pisces, since 2023, has already forced a reckoning in the collective, dissolving structures and testing our spiritual ideals.
2. “Astrological Ouroboros”
Still in fall (an astrology debilitation - weakened position of a planet), the transiting Mars in Cancer - the animus - clashes (squares) with the eclipse’s ruler, Mercury - the knowledge bearer, and Chiron - the wounded healer turned self-forger. Both Mercury and Chiron are in Aries, the domicile sign of Mars.
Being in Cancer, its fall sign, Mars is further bound by its own dispositor - the very force of the lunar eclipse itself, the Moon in Virgo. Cancer is the domicile sign of the Moon.
Furthermore, Venus - the anima - is in detriment (another astrological debility1) in Aries, and, also, currently in retrograde - up to April 12, when it will go back into Pisces. Being in Aries, Venus is also disposed by Mars, weaving another layer into this karmic thread.
This dispositorship creates a loop - what I call as a true “astrological ouroboros” - which emphasises integration, introspection, and healing of childhood wounds linked to the mother and the feminine collective. This speaks not only to authoritative maternal wounds, but also to the deeper imprint of survival: the ways in which the feminine has long been forced to shield itself under the weight of masculine armor.
3. Mercury, Ruler of The Eclipse (Shadow & Retrograde Periods)
Mercury in its last pre-shadow day. It will commence its retrograde just the next day after the eclipse, on March 15 in Aries, lasting up to April 7, when it turns direct while being back in Pisces.
Especially because it is the ruler of this total lunar eclipse in Virgo, Mercury will intensify the need for deep reflection, reassessment, and healing rather than immediate forward movement. Mercury is not just intellectual in this context, it is the messenger of the unconscious, bringing material up for review that we may have previously ignored, misunderstood, or rationalised away.
The themes that emerge during the eclipse will likely resurface and require deeper reevaluation once Mercury moves retrograde. Hence, this eclipse is not just a momentary event! It’s the trigger for a longer cycle of introspection and integration, extending through Mercury’s retrograde and post-shadow phase.
Miscommunications, hidden information, and unresolved issues may first appear now, only to be fully processed during Mercury’s actual retrograde cycle.
4. Cazimis And Star Point
The Venus cazimi, or the exact conjunction of Venus with the Sun, is marking a “Venus Star Point”. It is set to occur on March 22, which is right next to the spring equinox! This event is highly significant. Both the Venus Star Point, and the spring equinox symbolise a rebirth or new phase.
To understand this better, the Venus synodic cycle unfolds over an 8-year period, during which Venus orbits the Sun in a pattern that traces a perfect five-pointed star (pentagram).
Every 9.5 months, Venus aligns with the Sun at one of these five points, creating what is known as a Venus Star Point. This alignment occurs either during Venus’s retrograde phase (inferior conjunction) or its direct motion (superior conjunction).
This Venus Cazimi marks a powerful descent and rebirth, a pivotal moment for self-worth, relationships, and transformation. As Venus disappears into the heart of the Sun, we are called to reassess love, independence, and the balance between anger and assertiveness.
This is not just a reset but an initiation - echoing the heroine’s journey, where descent into the depths is necessary before rising in newfound sovereignty. It is an invitation to honor both the wounds and the wisdom gained, the struggles endured, and the bold new beginnings ahead.
The next Mercury cazimi, or exact conjunction with the Sun, is anticipated on March 24. This event signifies a moment of clarity and heightened communication, often viewed as an opportune time to gain insights or convey important messages.
Given Mercury’s rulership over the upcoming lunar eclipse in Virgo on March 13-14, this subsequent cazimi will further amplify the eclipse’s call for deep introspection and reevaluation - particularly in our routines, health, and the way we structure our lives, including our spiritual paths.
5. The Symbolism of Mercury & Venus As Evening Stars
Mercury and Venus are currently in their waning phases, as evening stars visible shortly after sunset. Venus retrogrades every 18 months, disappearing from the sky before re-emerging as the Morning Star (Lucifer, the Light-Bringer).
This mirrors Persephone’s myth. The Moon in Virgo can represent Demeter’s grief and meticulous search for Persephone - her attention to detail, her refusal to let the cycle continue without intervention, and her need to restore balance. Virgo is ruled by Mercury, making it associated with wisdom, cycles, harvest, and meticulous care. Virgo is also a sign of purification, sacred duty, and embodiment, qualities that align with Demeter’s role as a mother goddess who ensures the fertility of the Earth.
In the context of this blood Moon lunar eclipse, a Virgo Full Moon could signify Demeter’s sorrow, rage, or desperate attempt to restore order after Persephone’s descent.
To keep it simple, this is how the descent works:
• Pre-retrograde (Shadow Period) → Persephone is still the maiden, uninitiated into transformation. This is the time of foreshadowing what is about to surface.
• Retrograde Period → Venus and Mercury begin their descent into invisibility, just as Persephone is pulled beneath the surface. Here, she is stripped of her innocence and undergoes a profound transformation.
• Venus Cazimi (Underworld Rebirth Moment) → If we did our shadow work, we reach a symbolic death-rebirth moment. Just as Persephone transitions from captive to Queen of the Underworld, Venus is reborn, preparing to emerge with a new form of wisdom, depth, and sovereignty.
• Mercury’s Role as Hermes, the Psychopomp (Soul Guide) → Mercury is the only god who can freely travel between Olympus, Earth, and the Underworld. When Mercury retrogrades, it acts as a psychopomp, leading us deeper into the unconscious.
• Mercury Cazimi (The Turning Point of Integration) → During Mercury’s exact conjunction with the Sun (cazimi), clarity emerges. This is Hermes delivering the message that it’s time for Persephone to ascend. This is the beginning of integration.
The retrograde periods, much like Persephone’s time in Hades, are our initiations into depth, mystery, and transformation. Hermes (Mercury retrograde) retrieves lost knowledge, buried memories, and repressed truths. Just as Persephone eats the pomegranate seeds (symbolising an irreversible transformation), Venus retrograde forces us to confront the truths we cannot unsee.
6. Retrograding to the degrees of September 17, 2024’s eclipse in Pisces!
A very interesting synchronicity, both the Mercury and Venus retrograde periods in 2025 traverse the late degrees of Pisces and early degrees of Aries. Specifically, they both retrograde over the 25°-26° Pisces mark, which aligns closely with the degree of the Lunar Eclipse in Pisces on September 17, 2024 (25°41’ Pisces), the corresponding pair of the eclipse of March 13-14 eclipse in Virgo!
This overlap indicates a period where we will be called to deeply introspect and reassess areas of life that were highlighted during the September 2024 eclipse. It will have influence up to the end of these retrograde and the post-shadow periods in mid-May. The universe insists that we need to integrate the lessons from the past, facilitating personal growth and alignment with our higher purpose.
7. Spring Equinox and The Major Lunar Standstill
And this is not all, folks! The spring equinox itself is also very special, coinciding with a Major Lunar Standstill, which started last year. It’s a rare cosmic event that occurs every 18.6 years when the Moon’s orbit reaches its maximum inclination relative to Earth’s equator.
This is a unique energetic window, when the Moon’s influence is at its peak, facilitating profound spiritual insights, shifts in consciousness and a powerful opportunity for spiritual growth.
If you engage in introspection, healing, dream analysis and other rituals this will be a potent time for magnified capacity for introspection, emotional healing, and the setting of transformative intentions.
This is why this article is not only timely but highly significant, going beyond astrology, to explore exactly that: the descent! - the soul’s most misunderstood process - and why it is not a curse, but an initiation.
☆ The Core Message
And there is a deep message at the heart of this article:
Marie-Louise von Franz captures the descent in her quote above. This is how: when the ego is too strong, the unconscious forces a descent often through depression or existential crisis. If we try to “ascend” away from it, we reinforce the very problem we seek to escape.
This is where creativity and play come around as profoundly essential. They are not about climbing higher, they are about loosening the ego’s grip, allowing flow, and integrating what has been buried.
Therefore, this article further explores two often misunderstood aspects of spiritual transformation:
1) The necessity of descent not “ascension” like the New Age discourse teaches and
2) The vital role of creativity and inner child’s play, which is frequently dismissed as immature.
Both are crucial in navigating depression, integrating the shadow, and fostering true growth.
Let’s get right to it. How can the descent affect us and what can we do to transition it with wisdom?
II. Depression vs. The Dark Night of The Soul
How do they differ? The key distinction is that depression is often an inner stagnation and can sometimes be purely psychological, whereas the Dark Night of the Soul is always existential and spiritual.
Unlike depression, which can become a stagnant loop, the Dark Night demands a radical descent: a complete reset of the psyche and a surrender to the unknown. It disintegrates meaning and identity, stripping away our illusions before a new, more authentic self can emerge. Though this process may feel like a metaphorical death, it ultimately leads to rebirth and deeper spiritual integration.
A Dark Night of the Soul can feel like depression because it involves deep sorrow. However, if the suffering pushes us toward profound self-inquiry and existential questioning, we may experience both depression and a Dark Night simultaneously.
☆ Where Does Shadow Work Come In?
Shadow work, too, differs from the Dark Night of the Soul. The key distinction is that a Dark Night goes beyond shadow work - it is not just a descent into total emptiness. Shadow work is an integration process, the active engagement with what emerges from the descent.
Whether someone is experiencing depression or a Dark Night of the Soul, shadow work is what helps translate that suffering into transformation.
But, just as it does with depression, a Dark Night often triggers deep shadow work because it shatters illusions and exposes what was hidden. This is why engaging in shadow work before an eventual Dark Night is valuable - it strengthens one’s ability to face the unconscious without breaking down completely.
☆ The Jungian Purpose of Depression
When misunderstood, both depression and the Dark Night of the Soul are misinterpreted as conditions to “fix”. Depression, in particular, can lead to a loop of over-identification with suffering, where one either:
• Tries to escape it prematurely - through spiritual bypassing, repression, or forced positivity.
• or they become trapped in it - mistaking suffering for depth rather than movement toward integration.
It is true, the purpose of depression is neither stagnation or escape, but to initiate transformation. But we must keep in mind too that both depression and the Dark Night of the Soul are natural survival defence mechanisms, responses that the psyche develops in order to cope with distress.
Furthermore, in Jungian psychology, depression is not a meaningless affliction, but a psyche-driven descent. The word “depress” literally means to press down, to lower the level of consciousness.
As von Franz explains in her quote at the start of this article, depression arises when the ego becomes too rigid, too tightly constructed, blocking unconscious material from surfacing. In response, the psyche demands transformation, pressing downward - it forces a break in ego rigidity and triggers a descent.
The psyche doesn’t do this with the aim to destroy, but as preparation - it has to break down outdated consciousness for something deeper and more authentic to emerge.
Hence, depression is a necessary disruption of rigid ego structures and a forced confrontation with the unconscious - which can be done through shadow work.
The Dark Night, too, is not an obstacle, but a process. Its purpose is not to be “healed”, but to dismantle our illusions, to strip away our false structures, and to force in us a deeper transformation. This is why it often converges with depression.
Take away: The suffering itself is not the point, but the dissolution it creates is. Only through surrendering to the descent can real shadow integration occur.
III. The Primal Pull: Descent as Nature’s Own Intelligence
The Dark Night of the Soul is a term originating from Christian mysticism, describing a profound spiritual crisis that leads to a deeper union with the divine. While not everyone undergoes this specific experience, many people face significant existential or spiritual crises during their lives. These periods often involve intense introspection, feelings of desolation, and a subsequent transformation or awakening to the true essence of Self.
The occurrence, intensity, and interpretation of such experiences vary significantly across individuals and cultures.
As mentioned earlier, in depth psychology, depression and the Dark Night of the Soul are not “malfunctions” of the psyche. The descent is often seen as a natural process of maturation of the psyche, a psychic cleanup, a necessary phase of renewal. It is an archetypal necessity.
At the deeper primal level however, there’s an organic nature of this descent, something beyond psychology and spirituality. It’s an inherent function of life itself, deeply embedded in nature, biology, and myth, a mechanism that mimics natural cycles of death, decay, and regeneration.
In the same way that forests burn to make way for new growth, or snakes shed their skin, the psyche must periodically dissolve outdated structures so that something more adaptive, authentic, and alive can emerge. The body regenerates itself constantly: shedding skin, replacing cells, repairing tissue. Seasons cycle through decay and rebirth - fall and winter strip the earth bare so spring can bring new life.
Myths across cultures tell of the necessary descent eg. Inanna, Persephone, Odin, Christ, the alchemical Nigredo etc. The concept of descent often represents a journey into the underworld, a realm of profound transformation and rebirth.
In the myth of Persephone, for example, Persephone was abducted by Hades and became the queen of the underworld. Her annual descent and return symbolize the cycles of nature, death, and rebirth.
Mercury, known as Hermes in Greek mythology, serves as the messenger of the gods and the guide of souls to the underworld. His role as a psychopomp links him directly to themes of transition between realms. In mythology, Hermes (Mercury) assisted other gods, including guiding Persephone back from the underworld. In astrology, the archetypes of the planet Mercury and Venus play the same stories. Venus’ retrograde motion can be seen as a symbolic descent of Persephone, and Mercury’s retrograde motion also aligns with this symbolism, being a time traditionally associated with reflection and revisiting past matters.
On a biological and nervous system level, depression or the Dark Night functions like a forced hibernation, a shutting down of energy so the psyche can withdraw, process, and rebuild. In deep depression, the body and mind slow down, instincts retreat, and the outer world loses meaning. This isn’t failure, but a primordial response that allows deep reconfiguration to take place beneath the surface.
At an evolutionary level, this psychic descent may have once served as a survival mechanism: a way for individuals to withdraw, reflect, and adapt when faced with major life transitions, crises, or shifts in social identity. This process is not linear but cyclical. It doesn’t happen just once in a lifetime, but repeats in different forms at key turning points:
• Puberty and adolescence (initial ego formation and identity crisis)
• Quarter-life and midlife crises (disillusionment and restructuring)
• Trauma and loss (shattering and reintegration)
• Late adulthood (the final descent into surrender and acceptance)
Death precedes Rebirth.
Silence precedes Insight.
Destruction precedes Creation.
And the psyche, like nature, knows when it is time to dissolve and begin again.
Rather than acting impulsively or forcing old patterns, the psyche forces stillness and introspection before emerging stronger and wiser.
Thus, depression, the Dark Night, and the descent into the unconscious are not just personal struggles, but they are fundamental aspects of life itself.
Take away: In modern times, we fear and resist the descent because we are conditioned to believe in constant growth, productivity, and “high vibrational” states. But in truth, to descend is to participate in the oldest law of transformation. The missing piece isn’t more analysis, it’s a shift in perception: The descent is not an interruption to life, it is life.
IV. The Roles of Play and Creativity
Depression, the Dark Night of the Soul, and shadow work represent different facets of the descent, yet they intertwine in ways that directly connect to creativity, inner child play, and authentic spiritual growth. Engaging in inner child play and creative expression can help rebuild the connection to the authentic self, allowing what was lost beneath false identities to re-emerge.
Carl Jung and other Jungian analysts emphasise that when the unconscious is allowed to emerge in symbolic form - through art, dreams, or active imagination - the ego can integrate what was previously repressed. This aligns with his concept of the transcendent function, in which the psyche seeks balance by reconciling the conscious and unconscious through symbolic, imaginative expression.
Creativity is a natural shadow work tool because it allows the expression of what the conscious mind struggles to articulate. When the unconscious is pushing to break through, creativity becomes the bridge, channeling its energy into form and serving as a transition point between depression and transformation.
Play itself activates flow states, where the ego - along with its rigid, repetitive thought patterns - loosens its grip, allowing energy to move freely. Play disrupts ego control, allowing the unconscious to surface and integrate naturally. Von Franz highlights play as a tool to lift depression, precisely because it facilitates this flow. As a result, the psyche reorganizes without force or needing immediate intellectual understanding.
Ultimately, play and creativity are deep expressions of the inner child. Creativity gives the inner child a voice, while play reintegrates lost aspects of the psyche - particularly joy, imagination, and spontaneity, which were often suppressed. When we engage in these processes, we are not escaping the descent, but allowing it to unfold in a way that leads to true integration.
☆ Focus on Integration
Healing the wounded inner child is important, but fixating solely on pain can create a loop where suffering becomes the primary identity of that part of the psyche. When inner child work remains locked in endless trauma processing, it risks reinforcing the very wounds it seeks to heal, keeping the focus on what was broken rather than what is still alive.
However, departing from this fixation is not avoidance, it is integration. True healing does not mean endlessly excavating pain but reclaiming the full spectrum of the inner child’s existence, including the parts that know joy, wonder, spontaneity, and trust.
Avoidance would mean bypassing pain altogether: denying it, suppressing it, or numbing it. But choosing to engage with creativity, play, and life itself is not an escape, it is a shift toward wholeness. Trauma is a chapter, not the entire story of the inner child. To integrate means to expand beyond the wounds, not to erase them, but to place them within a broader, living context.
By reconnecting with the inner child’s capacity for joy, curiosity, and creative flow, we are not rejecting past pain, we are allowing that part of us to evolve beyond it. This is not avoidance, but completion.
True integration means not being defined by suffering, but reclaiming the ability to experience life fully. This is done by rewiring our nervous system, through reconnecting with the parts of us that know how to live, create, and trust and one way to do this is by reviving the inner child’s capacity for joy, curiosity, and creative flow.
Take away: Today, in our cultures, inner child work becomes fixated on healing pain and endlessly processing trauma. Pain shouldn’t be our only point of contact with that part of ourselves. Hence, the goal isn’t just to fix the wounded inner child, but integration.
V. Final thoughts
Marie-Louise von Franz reminds us that the unconscious does not respond to forced upward movement. It does not yield to pressure, suppression, or the demand to ascend prematurely. Instead, it responds to surrender, depth, and openness. Depression, the Dark Night of the Soul, shadow work, creativity, and inner child play all follow the same fundamental truth:
Healing is not about climbing higher; it is about going deeper. True transformation does not come from escaping into a more “elevated” version of the self, but from surrendering to the descent, trusting that whatever emerges from that darkness is more real, more integrated, and more alive than anything the ego could have manufactured.
The descent into darkness is necessary, but we do not rise again through analysis alone. We rise through engagement, embodiment, and expression.
When approached with courage, creative expression is not just an outlet, it is a way through. This is why art, movement, music, (Venus in astrology) and storytelling (Mercury in astrology) are not just entertainment; they are essential pathways to psychological and spiritual integration.
Creativity (ruled by Venus in astrology) does not just excavate the past, it revives the inner child’s joy, curiosity, and capacity to trust in life. Healing is not meant to be an endless loop of processing wounds but a reclamation of the parts of us that know how to live, play, and create freely.
Take care of that inner child, please! 🩵
Not just by healing its wounds, but by letting it live.
