Table Of Content“To find our way to world peace and a truly creative society, we have to
deal with our negative past, especially our colonialism. Kira Celeste
offers an all-important depth psychological perspective on it, with many
precious insights. I found her words inspiring, deepening my conscience
about the terrible history that underlies my comfortable world.”
Thomas Moore, Author of New York Times #1
Best Seller Care of the Soul and Soul Therapy
“The Colonial Shadow: A Jungian Investigation of Settler Psychology,
offers the reader a deeply explored perspective and heart opening
narrative on Canadian white settler racialized culture and the inter-
generational trauma it has inflicted on Indigenous people. The brilliance
of this book by Dr. Kira Celeste lies mainly in its powerful determina-
tion to keep the lens of her words moving in a revealing fashion that
continuously engages the reader with knowledge of the psychology of
white settler racism. The author successfully investigates mythology and
alchemy using both, especially the latter, to take us on a journey of
better understanding unconscious psychological states of attention. This
investigation by Dr. Celeste offers us not only views of the alchemical
poison of racism but also the potential remedy. There is no other book,
from a Jungian depth psychological perspective, that so clearly
articulates the historical psychological origins and traumas of coloniza-
tion where the author contemplates her own ethnic lineage. In addition,
the author recognizes the need to give voice responsibly, owning
through the claiming of this voice, and the use of a culturally white
alchemical lens, that for settlers, moving towards integrity and account-
ability is not only possible, but a responsibility. The Colonial Shadow is
a brilliant book that brings us to the edge of the racialized abyss,
inviting us to look down and see what is below. Dr. Celeste’s powerful
and meditative narrative can also give us the opportunity to gaze
upwards to the stars and find the light there that is held by the darkness.
This is a book of hope and courage, opening us to seeing new ways of
healing centuries-long suffering of unconsciousness racism.”
Fanny Brewster, PhD, MFA, LP, Author of The Racial
Complex: A Jungian Perspective on Culture and Race
“A thought-provoking analysis of how the myths and stories of ‘new
lands’ and ‘white superiority’ that explorers and white settlers carried
from Europe forged a deeply ingrained colonial consciousness that
perpetuates oppression and injustice today. Celeste encourages readers
to dig more deeply into the roots of their own colonial consciousness in
ways that are potentially healing, decolonizing, and transformative.”
Paulette Regan, Author of Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian
Residential Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada
“Kira Celeste’s study of European colonial consciousness and alchemy
brings to light the hidden mythos that has been at work for hundreds of
years in the settlers of North America. Through a series of compelling
insights, she shows how alchemy also provides a way forward as a
model for healing the generations deep settler colonial consciousness so
desperately needed in our world today. In so doing, Celeste underscores
the valuable contribution that depth psychological perspectives bring to
issues of colonialism and race. What she offers is a way for people of
colonial European descent to reflect and engage with collective shadow
material through mythopoetic material so to engender healing and
ultimately greater understanding of our shared human condition.”
Dr. Safron Rossi, Author of The Kore Goddess:
A Mythology & Psychology
“In this very timely and valuable book, “Colonial Shadow,” Dr. Celeste
uses concepts drawn from the works of C.G. Jung to explore how
reconciliation and reparation can occur. She believes that settlers must
face and be accountable for their own personal and cultural shadow.
Celeste argues for the importance of settlers engaging in this work with
humility, a willingness to sit with discomfort, and with an openness to
letting ideas about themselves they have held dear, fall away. “Colonial
Shadow” poignantly addresses the needs of our times.”
John Allan, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Counselling Psychology,
University of B.C., Vancouver, Canada
The Colonial Shadow
The Colonial Shadow examines the colonial psychology that has shaped what
is now known as Canada. This psychology has perpetrated devastating harm
over the last half a millennium and continues to oppress Indigenous people
and degrade the environment. This book is inspired by the tenet of depth
psychology that stories and myths from one’s own ancestry can bring about
transformation and deep changes in perspective. As such, it investigates how
an alchemical way of imagining into white settler‐colonial consciousness
might contribute to its accountability and psychological healing today.
The Colonial Shadow will be an invaluable resource for professionals,
academics, and students of Jungian and post-Jungian ideas, settler-colonial
and First Nations studies, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies as
well as for anyone interested in addressing the colonial complex.
Kira Celeste, PhD is passionate about supporting individuals in their jour-
neys towards integrity with self and others. As a white settler, she gratefully
acknowledges that the land on which she lives and works as a depth psy-
chologist and writer is the Unceded Traditional Territories of the K’ómoks
and Qualicum First Nations. Her Doctorate is in Depth Psychology from
Pacifica Graduate Institute. Fifty percent of the author’s proceeds from this
book will be contributed to First Nations organizations.
The Colonial Shadow
A Jungian Investigation of Settler
Psychology
Kira Celeste
Designed Cover image: Getty
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Kira Celeste
The right of Kira Celeste to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-28376-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-28374-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-29654-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003296546
Typeset in Times New Roman
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
With deep gratitude to Esk’etemc for welcoming this séme7 into
your community. It has been the greatest honour working for you
and with your children. The work in this book was inspired by your
daily strength, wisdom, and laughter. With all my heart,
Kukstsétsemc. Thank you to my family and my beloved partner for
your support in getting me here, the first woman in our lines to get
her doctorate. May the next generations be equally as able to
pursue their passions, and may they walk more softly on this earth
than we.
If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if
you have come here because your liberation is bound up with
mine, then let us work together. —Lila Watson
This work is dedicated to all the Esk’etemc, Secwépemc,
Tsilhqot’in, Innu, Dene, and Kwakwaḵ a’̱wakw children and young
women I have had the honour of working with, and for, over the
years. May you walk on this land in any role you are called to, with
all the freedom, love, connection, and empowerment that is your
birthright here, which my people have tried so desperately to
interrupt. This work is for you, and it will not be the last. Our
liberation is bound, and it is my greatest privilege working together
toward it. Kukstsétsemc, sechanalyagh, tshinashkumitin, mahsi-cho,
gilakas’la, thank you.
Over the past four decades, the People of the White Earth
(Esk’etemc) have been working on healing from past trauma. The
work continues today on intergenerational trauma, mental
wellness, and the impacts of Indian Residential Schools (IRS) in BC.
Today, Esk’etemc continues to improve the understanding of the
impacts of ‘IRS’ loss of ideals, culture, spirituality, and identity that
have long been on the minds of leadership. Esk’et continues to be
a leader in finding and seeking ways to recover, for the past seven
generations, and the next seven generations.
While we focus as a community on healing from the impacts
of colonization, it is important that white settlers also focus on
their own processes of healing and accountability and on
understanding their personal responsibility for the historic and
ongoing harms of colonization. A meaningful transformation of
white settlers and white settler society is necessary for true
accountability and repair. Kira Celeste’s book, “The Colonial
Shadow,” will hopefully be an important contribution to this
imperative work.
Fred Robbins, Kukpi7 (Chief) of Esk’etemc First Nation
Contents
Acknowledgement xiv
1 Introduction 1
But Why Alchemy? 6
Alchemy and Race 10
Terms 11
Statement of Positionality 11
2 Foundational Literature 15
Colonialism and the Field of Psychology 15
A Soul Illness 16
Jung and Racism 18
The Violence of Cultural Stealing and Appropriation 18
Decolonisation 19
Racism and Colonialism in Canada 20
Settlers’ Roles in Decolonisation/Unsettling Processes 20
Issues with Reconciliation 21
Decolonisation as a Settler Move to Innocence 22
History of the Field 24
Critical Race Theory 25
3 The Colonial Complex 27
What Is a Cultural Complex? 27
Colonial Complex 28
Christianity and Colonialism 29
Colonial Aversion to Dark and Veneration of the Light 31
Air: Ascension and Transcendence 34
