The Power of Silence

Our culture fears silence.

We fill empty rooms with television. We allow phones to ping us with constant notifications. We listen to music while walking through stores, driving our cars, and sitting in waiting rooms.

We multitask by having overlapping conversations. We feel the need to shout over each other to make our opinions heard.

When we have a spare moment to sit, many of us automatically grab our phone or a book without giving it a second thought.

For millennia, silence was sought out by mystics, sages, healers, and witches.

Why would they do this?

Because silence is sacred.

Because silence is where we receive what has been trying to speak to us all along.

Silence Is Not Empty

Most people think of silence as the lack of sound. Perhaps a quiet room, going for a walk in the woods, or taking a meditation retreat.

These can help, but silence is more than what’s going on outside of you.

True silence is an internal state.

It is stopping the need to figure it all out. It is relaxing the mind of over analyzing, controlling, and distracting itself.

True silence is allowing yourself to sit with whatever is showing up for you in that moment.

Sometimes that means sitting in silence while walking through the woods. Other times it happens while sitting and watching snow fall.

Maybe it comes to you while meditating, praying, or sitting on your front porch with a warm cup of tea.

Silence isn’t about where you are or what you’re doing. Real silence is about what is happening inside of you.

Listen to Nature

As an animist, I believe everything in this world is alive.

The trees are speaking to you.

The rivers are speaking to you.

Even the stones are speaking.

Animals. Insects. The wind. Messages are everywhere, but…

Not in words. They speak to us in subtle ways.

Everything is speaking, but it’s nearly impossible to hear them over the white noise of modern life.

A tree will not yell just to get your attention.

Mountains will not scream for you to notice them.

Nature whispers her wisdom.

She is patient.

When you sit in silence, you begin to hear what has always been there.

The magical rhythm of birds chirping around you.

The smell of pine trees fresh from rain.

The energy you feel standing under an ancient oak tree.

The Knowing Without Words

There is an understanding you come to when you sit in silence that does not need an explanation.

Most of nature’s teachings are not verbal. She teaches us through experiences.

When we sit in silence, we open ourselves up to hearing what she has to say.

Listen Close…

So much of who we are runs from itself.

We stay busy. Staying distracted. Staying entertained.

We do this not because we’re weak minded. Quite the opposite.

Stillness is often uncomfortable to sit with.

When we allow silence to penetrate our lives, we are allowing everything we’ve been running from rise to the surface.

All of it.

The sadness we’ve ignored.

The fears we don’t want to admit exist.

The dreams we’ve tossed aside.

Silence is a mirror. It forces us to be with whatever is hidden deep inside of us.

This is why sitting in silence can be uncomfortable at first.

And this is why sitting in silence can be so healing.

What we accept and are willing to sit with can be understood. What is understood can be transformed.

Silence as Spiritual Practice

Magick isn’t just about doing. Although there is plenty of magick in doing.

Casting spells. Chanting. Creating stuff. Manifesting dreams.

One of the most magickal things you can do is learn how to listen.

Before we go to the ancestors for guidance, we must be willing to listen.

Before we seek messages from spirit, we must allow the space for them to come.

Before we can trust our intuition, we must learn how to recognize it.

Our intuition doesn’t come to us in the form of a raging torrent that knocks us over.

Our intuition whispers.

When we sit in silence, we open ourselves up to hearing the magical whispers of our intuition.

Silence Allows Us to Understand…

The more you sit with silence, the more you realize life doesn’t need you to constantly push.

The sun will rise without you forcing it.

Spring will come even if you stay inside all winter.

Seeds will break through the ground whether you plant them or not.

The moon will wax and wane with or without your attention.

Life doesn’t stop because we neglect to listen, but it also doesn’t have to keep speeding up.

Silence teaches us humility. It teaches us we are just a small piece of a much grander picture.

It teaches us we don’t have to know everything immediately. We can slow down. We can listen. We can just be.

Try This…

You don’t need to travel to the mountains to sit in silence.

Start small. Even just five minutes will do.

Leave your phone behind. Sit under a tree.

Watch the clouds roll by. Listen to the rain as it falls from the sky.

Walk slowly through the woods and be present with every step you take.

Light a candle and be with yourself.

Allow yourself to sit with whatever arises.

Your mind will try to resist at first.

You may receive endless to-do lists.

You may feel anxious or uncomfortable.

That’s ok. Allow yourself to sit with it anyways.

When we allow ourselves to be with silence, the most profound gifts reveal themselves gently.

They won’t scream for your attention like your to-do list.

Something sacred will arrive when it feels safe to do so.

Like a deer wandering out of the forest.

Untouched.

Wild.

Real.