Laravel: Get instance of Illuminate\Database\Capsule\Manager

I'm looking to encapsulate functionality that can be integrated into both a Laravel 5.6 webapp and a PHP-based command-line application. The functionality involves database interactivity.

For the sake of modularity, I decided to implement this functionality as a Composer module. Within the module, a constructor accepts an instance of Illuminate\Database\Capsule\Manager. I believe this to be the appropriate way to use Eloquent outside of Laravel, and thus assumed it would serve as a satisfactory lowest common denominator among Laravel and the CLI-based application. (The module itself works great.)

I am now attempting to wrap this module within a Laravel Service Provider, and am encountering a problem: Laravel seems to mask its underlying Illuminate\Database\Capsule\Manager resource behind a DB "facade", which implements only static methods.

Question: within Laravel, how can I access the underlying Illuminate\Database\Capsule\Manager instance?

I'll note that I've been programming for 15+ years, but am relatively new to Laravel. With that said, if my thinking here is fundamentally contrary to the "Laravel way", please let me know of other architectural options. Thanks.

via Chebli Mohamed