The Power of Words

​We have talked about how our thoughts and words have power. We pour our intent into words to manifest our desires, and we try to phrase our thoughts and words into positive statements to attract positive energies to ourselves. This is a basic tenant of manifesting and plenty of spell work. It has been said that the universe does not “hear” the negatives, which is why we rephrase for the positives, and I agree with this. That said, not all of life is rainbows, unicorns, and sunshine.  This world is full of shadows, and they must be addressed, not ignored or denied.
 
Words can have immense power over how we think and feel about anything and everything, including ourselves, if we let them. They have the power to both hurt and heal. I am sure many of you remember the saying “Sticks and stones can break my bone, but words can never hurt me” from your childhood. A good “come back” or mantra to help a child in that situation, though not always as effective as we maybe would have liked. Words, have in fact, hurt all of us at one time. The adults in our lives were trying to arm us with what they thought was an age-appropriate defense mechanism to help us realize our own power over our feelings and reactions. I believe we seem to have somehow failed to remember this lesson, and pass it on to the following generations.
 
The other day I was doom scrolling, as I sometimes do, and started watching a video by a content creator I often stop to watch. They were talking about how they could no longer use the word “fat” when making content anymore; that they could be shut down for saying it. This reminded me of all the times I have read stories and articles using words like “abuse”, “killed”, “drugs”, and so many more blurred out or spelled with special characters so that they would not be flagged or have their work taken down. When did the mere mention of a word become so wrong, so debilitating, that we, as a collective, had to censor their use? How are we expected to tell our stories so that others may learn from them, or understand us better, if we cannot use the proper words needed to convey our message?
 
While we may find the meaning behind some words distasteful, we should not be made to feel guilt or shame for having to use them for this purpose*.  Words were created so that we could convey thoughts and ideas in such a way that our message could be heard and understood by others. It is inevitable that these thoughts and ideas, if conveyed properly, will have an emotional response of some kind upon its recipient. Good or bad, this is a good thing. We, as individuals, are responsible for how we react to that emotional response. If they make us uncomfortable, we need to look at why. Censoring the word does not make issues like abuse, addiction, or murder go away. It only makes it more difficult for those affected by it to talk about it, and therefore deal with it. It is also not other people’s responsibility to tip-toe around, talk in hushed tones, or censor their thoughts and opinions for fear of upsetting or offending someone else. That strong emotional response is a sign you yourself have some personal work to do; an issue to address. Whether you tackle it on your own or with the help of a professional is your choice.
 
So while it is good witchy practice to try to try to manifest positivity into our world and our lives, it is also good practice to face the shadows head on. Not just our own, but those of the collective as well. We are all connected.  How do you feel about this rise in censorship? How has it affected you or your loved ones? Do you see it as a problem at all?
 
*Relevant side note: I am not saying that hate speech, bullying or actual threats should not be monitored and dealt with. This is not ok, and they should. I am talking about blanket censoring words regardless of their context.