By Brandon Alter:
It's no secret that words are powerful. To name something is to know something. To speak something out loud is to cast a spell. Having the courage to claim your dreams and give them VOICE allows them to find their way to you. But as potent as our words are to create good, they can also inflict tremendous pain. We need to be more careful with what we say. Not because we will be punished. But because we are all wizards and witches and if we are sloppy with our magic EVERYONE LOSES.
In Amazonian Shamanism, there is a practice of magic called pura blancura, which literally translates to the "pure white way." It is a practice of healing and divination that acknowledges that just because you can do something, doesn't mean it's best for all living beings. Just because I could bring this beloved family pet back from the dead, doesn't mean I should.
The underlying principle of this way of life is that what we do comes back to us because we are all connected. So if we go against nature, even with the purest intentions, we inevitably go against ourselves.
This is true with our words as well. When we speak ill of someone, when we gossip (even if we have been wronged), we inevitably cast some black magic out into the world. So when your mama said, “if you don’t have something nice to say don’t say it at all” she wasn’t trying to be prohibitive. She was trying to protect you from yourself. Because even if you’ve been fucked over and you have every right to talk some mad shit, the energy of those words will come back to you.
Imagine every nasty word you say about somebody else is a big black spider crawling out of your mouth. Eventually those spiders are gonna find their way back to you. That’s the law of the world we live in.
What we say and do comes back to us, always. It isn’t always easy to take the high road, and it’s rarely fun, but when we remember that our words are weaponized, we empower ourselves to only use our powers for good. And then the good we give comes right back to us!