obody tells you about the silence.
Nobody tells you about the closed doors, the unanswered calls, the long empty moments when the spirits simply say no.
When people first step onto the shamanic path, it is easy to fall into the idea that spirit always welcomes us, that every journey will be rich, vivid, and full of revelation. But true apprenticeship teaches something far less comfortable and far more real: there are times when spirit withdraws. When nothing happens. When you are refused.
In traditional shamanic cultures, this was understood as part of the path. It was not seen as failure. It was seen as a test, a mirror, a recalibration. Sometimes the refusal comes because we are asking the wrong questions. Sometimes because we are not ready to hold the answers. And sometimes simply because spirit is reminding us that this relationship is not one of command and control. It is one of respect, patience, and humility.
When the spirits say no, it can feel like rejection. Our human ego recoils. Doubt creeps in. Maybe I am not good enough. Maybe I imagined everything. Maybe I have lost my connection. But deeper than that doubt is an invitation: to surrender the illusion of mastery, to drop the hunger for outcome, to return to the path with empty hands and an open heart.
Energy blockages, dead-end journeys, disorienting silences — they are not signs that you are broken. They are signs that you are learning. Real shamanism is not about constant visions and fireworks. It is about relationship. And real relationship includes absence. It includes challenge. It includes the long waits at the edge of the forest when nobody answers your drum.
Sometimes the most powerful teaching you will ever receive is no answer at all.
Because in the waiting, you find yourself. In the humility, you remember you are not the one in charge. In the quiet, you learn to listen differently, more deeply, more honestly. You stop performing for spirit and start being with spirit. Even if all you hear is the wind and your own breathing.
The spirits are not vending machines. They are not obligated to come just because we call. And that is exactly what makes the connection sacred.
So if you find yourself journeying into silence, if the power animals turn their backs, if the trees have no words for you — sit with it. Honour it. Bow to the no as deeply as you would to the yes. You are still walking the path. Maybe more truly than ever before.
Real apprenticeship humbles you. And in that humility, spirit finds a vessel worth speaking to again. Our Shamanic Teacher Training goes deeper. Learn more here.