2025 has been a rough year . . . oh, wait, it's already 2026? Ok then, 2025 IS a rough couple of years, and while it's far from a deep darkness, I'm having to do a lot of processing in the moment. Serendipitously, I was given Kelly Ann Street's Embracing the Dark a few months ago.
This book is a gift, a guide, a lamppost in the winter storm.
Divided into three parts that align with a typical journey through dark times Street acts as an invisible presence, friendly without being transactional, wise and direct. So much of what she wrote spoke to me, "When darkness knocks, we can turn away, or we can get curious. We can ask the question, or we shut down the sensation. We can run, or we can stay. There’s power in the dark, even when it breaks us open and lays bare what we’ve only sensed was missing. . . . We become faced with the darkness in moments of crisis and often we hold on for dear life until the crisis passes, or we find ourselves stuck and unwilling to acknowledge the pain." (Intro, pages 4 and 6) Done at the outset, Street's "A Note on Memory" speaks to the lived wisdom of someone who has done the work of uncovering painful subjects and processing them into moments of strength and stories of resilience. This short piece was all I needed to feel comfortable and supported in my own journey through Embrace the Dark.
In Awakening, we are gently reminded that darkness is an inevitable part of life and offered a framework for navigating these times. Street describes spiritual and psychological tools to assist in our journey.
In Reclaiming, Street discusses how there are times when the darkness comes upon us uninvited. You know these moments: betrayal, loss, a diagnosis, the unraveling dream. Here we are invited to consider that darkness isn't a punishment, but a place in which to heal old wounds and nurture a new Self. As part of this, Street utilizes a Wheel of Life incorporating ten areas of living: emotional health, relationships, love, environment, business or career, finances, spirituality, growth, adventure, and physical health. Each chapter includes stories from the lives of the author and her clients as well as specific practices.
In the last section, Embracing, focuses on our emergence from the dark. We are guided through modalities that recognize the work we have done and how to continue using them outside of times of crisis. Street reminds us that healing is not linear, a checklist, "that was then, but no longer." Instead it is more like a labyrinth of cyclical looping paths; we will return to the places that need healing, they are then skinned and prone to damage for some period of time.
"The spiral path reminds us that healing is not about “fixing” ourselves. It is all about embracing the journey, knowing that each step brings us closer to wholeness. It offers permission to revisit and release, to grow and transform, and to integrate and learn, always moving us toward greater authenticity and acceptance." (p 170)
Street has made an offering to the dark, and we are the recipients of its gifts. Get this book into your hands as soon as you can.
~review by Lisa McSherry
Author Kelly Ann Street
Llewellyn Publications, 2026
pp.240
