How Spirit Speaks in Language
Words are a set of expressions we learn. And from an early age, we each begin to channel through them in our own unique way.
They become how we ask, declare, remember, connect.
They shape our thoughts and anchor our feelings in form.
Words are spells—but not in the way you might think.
I used to believe that meant we should pick the perfect words to manifest what we want. But over time, I’ve come to understand it differently.
Words are messengers.
They come to me in dreams, at the edges of thought, during meditation, or as intuitive messages from beyond. Sometimes I hear them in songs. Sometimes I pass them on the street, glowing on a sign. Sometimes they arrive fully formed through creative writing.
Words carry energy—not just in their literal meaning, but in the vibration of their sound.
As a Chinese immigrant in Canada, English is my second language. I once believed that knowing more complex words made me a better writer. But the truth is, good writing isn’t about vocabulary. It’s about resonance. It’s about letting your heart express what needs to be expressed in the moment, and trusting it to choose the right combination of words to carry that feeling through.
The Power of Simple Language
In her reflections in the Visions in Verse poetry book, Megan King wrote poems by sitting with each Poesis Oracle card image, engaging with it like a mirror. She described it as writing from “the deepest well inside.”
“There were no major edits to the poetry written from original intuition. This was a deep practice in the art of contemplation.”
Poetry as a form of non-doing. A way of listening rather than active thinking. When words come from that place, they hold medicine.
Using Words for Divination
Try one of these:
✦Ask a question. Open the Visions in Verse poetry book at random. Let your finger land on a word or phrase.
✦Write a letter from that word or phrase. Let it speak to you.
✦Read the line out loud. Notice how it feels in your body.
✦ Use the word as a journaling prompt or mantra for the day.
Spirit Radio: Listening Beyond the Veil
Sometimes, spirit speaks through songs.
You might wake up with a song in your head, or hear one loop during a hard moment. Pay attention.
Once, during a tough week, a nursery rhyme played in my mind:
“Row, row, row your boat…
gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily…
life is but a dream.”
It reminded me not to fight the current. I made it my mantra that whole week.
That’s how spirit speaks sometimes—in unexpected yet familiar tunes.
Mantra as Energetic Transmission
When my father was sick, certain mantras would come to me. I’d play them softly in the background, letting the sound fill the room. The energy would shift, and those in the room would feel soothed.
It’s not just the words themselves—it’s also the intention behind them. Some sounds are ancient, charged with collective prayer over centuries. Saying or singing them out loud repeatedly activates our ancient intelligence inside. Even a simple song, when sung aloud repeatedly, can shift your energetic state. The vibration fills your body, like a cat purring to restore its balance.
During the process of creating the Poesis Oracle deck, I kept returning to the poetry of Rumi and Hafiz. I would read their words aloud to feel them more fully.
Try this:
✦ Choose a phrase that resonates, or a poem from the Visions in Verse book.
✦ Speak it gently, then firmly. Try putting the accent on a different word each time until it feels right.
✦ Repeat it until something in you settles or opens.
Let it work through you.
The Hidden Codes of Mother Tongue
For those of us whose first language isn’t the one we live in now, spirit sometimes speaks in the original tongue.
Once, I was trying to send a message to my grandma, who passed away in 2022. In the moments just after waking the following day, Chinese poems came to me—lines I hadn’t thought of in a long time. Later, I realized they were some of the first things my grandma taught me when I was a child.
It felt like I could hear her voice through them. And what struck me even more was how relevant those poems are to what I am currently going through. They carried meaning for the present, not just the past.
They reminded me that language can be a bridge—to memory, to connection, and across generations. Even if we don’t use our first language every day, it can still carry emotional weight, cultural memory, and messages that speak directly to us.
Pay attention to the words that rise up in your mother tongue. They’re part of your lived experience and your lineage. In that way, language becomes a kind of ancestral technology—something passed down that still knows how to speak to you, even across time and distance.
Closing
Words can be messengers.
They don’t need to be big or clever to be powerful.
They just need to be true.
Let the right ones find you—
and let yourself be changed by them.
✨ If this resonated with you, join The Circle—a monthly letter with reflections, rituals, and poetic prompts to support your journey.