Verbalisation can be a double-edged sword. Once you hear it come out of you, after being silenced for so long, in that moment you get your voice back, but you also admit you have work to do. We are not to blame for what happened, but we are responsible for transforming it. No one can do that for us. It sounds harsh, but when you think about it, it puts the power right back where it should always have been - in our hands.

I verbalised in stages. I was afraid of hearing many things out loud, but what I found was that those things I was most afraid of saying, once spoken, lost their power over me. the secrecy of abuse, the lurking in the shadows, is what gives it so much power - that isolates us and disempowers us. Verbalisation shines a light in the shadows of our experience, and helps to melt the witch.